Survivors received missions through radio broadcasts. Sure enough, since he was a mutant now, he received quests in a different way. These quests appeared to be triggered by specific events, such as stumbling upon recent traces left by another mutant.

Jake closed his eyes and attempted to access his quest menu, or whatever it was called. It worked—in his mind appeared the quest menu. It currently displayed only one quest, the one he had just received.

Type: Hunt

Objective: Track down and defeat an elite ex-human walker.

Reward: +1 to Body, +1 to Claws

Status: In Progress

It was the same info he’d just seen when he spotted the scratches on the wall. Aside from the status of the hunt, no additional details were provided. Thus, the objective was straightforward and simple—to hunt down and eliminate an elite walker.

Elite mutants were basically more powerful versions of their regular counterparts. As a survivor, he’d once had to deal with an elite whipper, a pretty formidable foe. As a reward for defeating it, he’d received a rare assault rifle, which he’d been using until losing it during the fight with the beefed-up leaper just before being drawn into the Dark Void. Now that he was a mutant, rewards for completing quests differed as well. Upon hunting down the elite walker, he would gain one increase in Body and another in Claws.

He wasn’t certain what aspect of Claws would be enhanced, though. With a mental command, he accessed the information on his Claws ability. Having already read its description and by that point being well aware of how Claws worked, he saw no need to reread it. Instead, he focused just on one particular line of text.

Upgrades: 0 of 3 (Common)

He was aware that each of his skills and abilities was currently of common rarity and had three available upgrades. Having delayed studying them earlier, the time had now come for him to delve into the task. With a mental command, he expanded the list of available upgrades.

Ability: Claws

Upgrade Options (Common):

1 - Strengthen Claws to cut through solid materials like metal. Cost: 1 SP

2 - Extend Claws by two inches for increased reach. Cost: 1 SP

3 - Significantly reduce transformation time from hands to claws. Cost: 1 SP

To get an upgrade, he needed a skill point. So, perhaps, he would be given a free upgrade for Claws after completing the hunt. Nice. Jake opened his eyes, and all the info disappeared. Looking around, he noticed another set of scratches on the wall across the room next to the staircase leading to the upper levels. Climbing one flight of stairs to the half-landing, he spotted another series of long scratches extending along the wall further up the staircase. Quickening his pace, he bounded up the steps, taking several at a time.

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The scratches led farther and farther up. Instead of following them continuously, Jake stopped on each floor to search for loot. In one of the rooms on the fourth floor, he found a mana chunk. After picking it up, he squeezed it in his fist, extracting the magical energy and consuming the precious mana. In a large room on the seventh floor, he came across a group of mutants, mainly walkers. Since the scratches led farther up the staircase, he knew his target wasn’t among this group. Nevertheless, he decided to take care of them. He could definitely use some more XP. There was never enough of it.

As soon as Jake entered the room, one of the walkers caught sight of him. Without giving it a chance to alert the others, he swiftly darted toward the group, making almost no noise at all. With a powerful slash, he nearly severed the head of the nearest mutant. It plopped onto the mutant’s shoulder, attached to its neck by a few remaining strands of flesh. Just as another ex-human spun around, Jake dug his claws into its throat and tore out a huge chunk of flesh, causing a fountain of blood to pour from the nasty wound. He ducked under the arm of another walker as it lashed out at him. With two of the claws on his right hand, he pierced the mutant’s eyeballs, drilling his talons so deep into its head they penetrated its brain. He yanked his claws out of the mutant’s head and swung them at the last mutant’s face, leaving long bleeding gashes across it. With the claws on the other hand, Jake slashed the creature across its stomach, causing the steaming intestines to spill out of the mutant’s body.

Multiple enemies killed. +40 XP

Having taken care of the ex-humans, he searched the room for loot. Despite its size, the room was empty except for some scattered debris. Roaming around, he noticed a familiar item in one of the corners. Using his clawed hand, he retrieved it from the floor and summoned its description with a thought.

Magical Scroll: Push (Common) (Cost: 100 MP)

As a survivor, he could learn magic spells from scrolls. He wondered if he could do the same as a mutant. He morphed his claws back into normal hands so it was easier to unroll the scroll. He had to wait a few seconds for the transformation to complete. While it wasn’t all that long, he wished it had taken less time than that. In certain situations, timing could be critical.

After examining the mysterious symbols written on the ancient piece of paper, he issued a mental command to learn the spell from the scroll, but, alas, nothing happened. He tried a few more times, but no luck. He either couldn’t use magic at all—which he could hardly believe considering he wasn’t just a typical mutant but rather a magical creature—or he could learn magic in some other way. Perhaps magic spells would become available for purchase in the Genetic Development Interface later on.

Jake followed the scratches up the staircase until he reached the door that led to the roof of the ten-story building. The setting sun had already dipped below the high-rises, casting a gloomy light in the air. Despite the diminishing light, Jake could still see pretty well. His night vision wasn’t perfect, but he could definitely see in the semi-darkness much better than an ordinary human. He also was confident his sight would further improve after he increased the Rank of Enhanced Senses.

In the middle of the roof stood a mutant. Jake summoned its description with a thought.

Ex-Human Walker – Level 10 (Elite)

Special ability: Flurry of Swings – The mutant enters a frenzy state, swinging its claws violently for a few seconds.

Jake studied the mutant for a moment. It was much larger and more muscular than a typical walker. The ex-human was bare-chested, with ragged pants cropped just below the knees, resembling shorts. Its claws were significantly longer than those of a regular walker, reaching a length of at least six inches. The mutant’s lower jaw hung open due to its extremely large yellow teeth, preventing its mouth from fully closing.

The elite walker gazed at the darkening sky, seemingly captivated by the unfolding twilight. When Jake took a few more steps closer to the ex-human, it detected his movement from the corner of its eye. It spun to face him, emitting a threatening roar to assert its dominance. Jake wasn’t impressed. The elite walker surpassed him by a few levels, but it didn’t bother him much. With a thought, he morphed his hands back into claws. He paused briefly, waiting for the transformation to fully finish before dashing toward the enemy.