When Jake emerged from the building, he was greeted by the morning light bathing the streets. A new day had just begun, signaling the System had refreshed the world, respawning monsters and filling it with loot. Jake wasted no time getting to explore. Adopting the brisk jog that had become his norm, he moved swiftly and silently like the predator he was. Noticing every little detail in his surroundings, Jake prowled through the abandoned city, which had become his hunting grounds.

At some point, he noticed that his body was now consuming slightly less mana than before. This change was likely a result of the skill point he had invested in Magick. It was an encouraging development. He decided to make good use of it by participating in more battles with mutants than he usually engaged in during a day. Up to that point, he had only obtained one upgrade for Claws, which reduced the transformation time from hands to claws to just about a second. His other skills had not received any upgrades yet, and to address this, he needed to gain more skill points.

With the aim of leveling up quickly, Jake hunted down one group of mutants after another. Occasionally, he stumbled upon a mana consumable, immediately extracting the mana and absorbing the magical energy. Through active exploration of the city and fighting mutants, it wasn’t long before he progressed to the next level.

You have gained enough XP to level up. Your level went up from 4 to 5. You have gained 1 SP.

It wasn’t even noon yet, and he had already leveled up to 5. If luck was on his side, he might gain another level before the day began to wane. However, there was no rush—since he didn’t need to sleep and his night vision was pretty good, he could continue hunting mutants even after dark.

Immediately after leveling up, he checked his current experience points.

XP: 10/750

He now had to gain 740 XP to level up to 6. Most of the mutants he encountered were walkers, worth only 10 XP each. He wanted to find new types of mutants to level up more quickly. Running into some shamblers would be nice too. As a survivor, he dreaded encountering huge, strong shamblers. Being now a mutant, he wanted to encounter as many of them as possible. As he’d recently learned, dealing with a shambler didn’t pose much of a problem to him. Besides, this kind of mutant went for 50 XP, which wasn’t bad at all. Jake was so confident in himself he had no doubt he could take on several shamblers at the same time and deal with all of them in no time flat. Unfortunately, he rarely came across shamblers.

Jake entered another high-rise building and surveyed the area. The vast room he stepped into was similar to many others he had explored. It had once been a lobby, but now it was an empty space with piles of debris scattered here and there. Ragged holes dotted the ceiling, and the staircase to the upper floors lay in ruins, making it impossible to ascend further.

Several ex-human mutants milled about the room, dragging their feet noisily across the dust-covered floor. As usual, most of them were walkers, but he also spotted several leapers as well. Jake reached one of them before they even became aware of his presence. With a swipe of his claws, he severed the walker’s head and instantly turned to slash another ex-human across its throat. A leaper jumped toward him, but Jake swiftly sidestepped, lashing out with his talons, severely wounding the creature in midair. The rest of the mutants lurched toward him from several directions, but Jake was ready for them.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

At some point during the fight, a system notification appeared in his vision.

Enhanced Agility reached 100%. You can now increase it to Rank II.

Not long after that, another one popped up, informing him that Enhanced Intelligence had reached 100% as well. In battles against mutants, his brain worked in overdrive, analyzing his enemies’ movements and figuring out the most efficient ways of taking them down.

All three of his skills had reached 100%, allowing him to advance each one to the next Rank. It was definitely a very productive day, and it wasn’t even finished yet.

The fight ended quickly.

Multiple enemies killed. +115 XP

With agile and bouncy steps, Jake moved across the debris-strewn room toward the exit. Just on the edge of his expanded field of vision, a flicker of movement caught his attention. His senses instantly sharpened as he turned his head to scan the room for more threats he might somehow have missed.

His gaze locked onto a menacing figure lurking in a shadowed corner of the room. Its completely black body was twisted and ominous, looking absolutely terrifying. The creature had a humanoid figure, but it had the appearance of a dangerous predator, with a slightly hunched posture, bent knees, and nasty-looking claws poised for attack.

Though completely motionless at the moment, the creature projected an air of imminent danger, hinting at being able to move with great speed and agility. The creature gave off very dangerous vibes. As a mutant, Jake had already forgotten what fear felt like. He now considered himself the most dangerous creature in this world, but looking now at the black-skinned ominous creature, a long-forgotten prickling of fear crept over him.

As he completely turned to face the new threat, preparing to confront it, the black figure mirrored his movement with eerie fluidity. Jake suddenly realized the menacing being before him was, in fact, a reflection of himself. The dark form was not an enemy lying in wait, but his own silhouette mirrored in the reflective front surface of an old piece of furniture.

He approached the piece of furniture half-buried under a layer of dust. With a hand, he wiped away the thick coating of grime, revealing a dusty mirror that had weathered the passage of time. His reflection stared back at him, distorted by cracks and imperfections in the surface.

Geez, I almost had a heart attack, he thought.

If he could laugh, he would. For a moment, he just examined his reflection. He looked really terrifying, but it wasn’t only because of the way his obsidian-black textured body looked. Just his movements and bearing radiated the unmistakable aura of a lethal predator.

His gaze shifted to his featureless face. Just after his transformation into a mutant, he had run his fingers over his facial features to find the absence of ears, a mouth, or a nose. Since he was already aware he was missing them, it came as no surprise to him when he didn’t see them reflected in the mirror. Not for the first time, Jake marveled at his ability to perceive his surroundings despite an apparent lack of some sensory organs.

He did have eyes, though, and they were quite extraordinary. Larger than a human’s, they lacked such familiar features as irises or pupils, instead displaying a solid greenish-blue hue, similar to the magical energy found in mana consumables. His eyes were absolutely expressionless, but despite their lack of emotion, their shape or some other quality gave them a menacing appearance. One would easily believe that a creature with such eyes harbored no desires other than to rip to pieces any living being unfortunate enough to cross its path.

It was the very first time Jake had the opportunity to see his own reflection. He took his time examining himself, feeling a mix of wonder and dread at the monstrous being he had become.

You’re one scary motherfucker, he mentally said to himself.

Finally, he tore his gaze away and made his way to the exit. Just as he stepped out of the building, the sudden, sharp cracks of gunfire pierced the air nearby.