After departing from the dungeon door, Jake roamed the sewers for a couple more hours. He engaged in combat with every group of mutated rats he came upon. Now and then, he stumbled across a devourer and had to fight it as well. At some point, a system notification popped up in his mind.

You have gained enough XP to level up. Your level went up from 9 to 10. You have gained 1 SP.

Jake now had two skill points at his disposal, so he decided to take a moment to allocate them. First of all, he checked his attributes: Body was at 3, Mind was at 1, and Magick was at 1 too. He had recently advanced Enhanced Senses, Enhanced Agility, and Enhanced Intelligence each to Rank II, so they were slowly progressing: they were at 22%, 31%, and 15% respectively. After he elevated them to the next level, each of these three skills had become more acute and powerful.

His Claws ability, however, remained at Rank I, and because of that, the progression bar for the ability was still stuck at 100%. A thought occurred to him that if he raised the ability to the next rank, perhaps his claws would become strong enough to penetrate the devourers’ scaled skin much more easily.

He focused on the ability.

Claws: Rank I (100%) (Upgrades: 1 of 3) (Common)

He shifted his gaze to the rank of the Claws ability, and a piece of additional information emerged.

A raise to the next Rank is available.

Requirements: Body 5

Cost: 1 SP

Raise to Rank II: Y/N

He wanted to increase its rank, but he didn’t meet the requirements to do that just yet, with Body standing at only 3. He could invest both his current skill points into that attribute, and after he leveled up again, he would be able to raise Claws to Rank II.

However, after giving the matter some thought, he decided to do something else. Instead of allotting the skill points to his attributes, for now, he opted to acquire some upgrades for his skills and abilities. He accessed the upgrade menu for his current sole combat ability.

Ability: Claws

Upgrade Options (Common):

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

Having previously obtained the reduced transformation time upgrade, Jake now had two additional options to choose from. He didn’t see much reason to increase the length of his claws—at least for now—so he went with the first option. He opened his eyes and morphed his hands into claws. They did look nastier now. While their length remained the same, they now appeared more intimidating.

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He closed his eyes and called up his stats once more. He had another skill point to allocate, which he wanted to use to acquire another upgrade for Enhanced Agility.

Upgrade Options (Common):

1 - Master acrobatic skills for climbing, jumping, performing aerial maneuvers, and navigating challenging terrain. Cost: Already Owned

2 - Enhance body coordination for faster movement and speed by 20% as well as executing rapid directional changes. Cost: 1 SP

3 - Sharpen reflexes for quicker reactions in combat, enabling agile dodges, swift maneuvers, and precise counterattacks. Cost: 1 SP

The decision was made pretty quickly. He allocated the skill point to the third option to sharpen his reflexes. It would definitely make him even more dangerous in combat than before. With that, both skill points were allocated. Before opening his eyes, he took a moment to review his stats.

Name: Jake Turner

Race: Ex-Human Morphus

Evolution Stage 1: “Primordial Form”

Level: 10

HP: 100%

XP: 20/1375

SP: 0

MP: 1,025

Body: 3

Mind: 1

Magick: 1

Claws: Rank I (100%) (Upgrades: 2 of 3) (Common)

Enhanced Senses: Rank II (22%) (Upgrades: 0 of 3) (Common)

Enhanced Agility: Rank II (31%) (Upgrades: 2 of 3) (Common)

Enhanced Intelligence: Rank II (15%) (Upgrades: 0 of 3) (Common)

After that, he opened his eyes and continued to explore the sewers. Now and then, he encountered mutated rats and engaged them. The newly acquired upgrade for Enhanced Agility made him even more agile in combat. The mutated rats deftly attacked him from several directions, but he swiftly dodged every attack and retaliated with lightning speed.

At some point, he encountered another devourer. He charged at the huge monster, eager to test his strengthened claws on it. As it turned out, with the recently acquired upgrade, his talons improved significantly, slicing through the monster’s tough scaled skin effortlessly. Dealing with a devourer was now a much easier and faster task. The upgrade had proven to be completely worth the skill point invested in it.

After spending a few hours in the foul-smelling sewers, Jake realized that the underground tunnels were not as extensive as he had initially believed. More often than not, he encountered blocked paths obstructed by massive piles of concrete and rebar collapsed from the streets above and was forced to backtrack and search for alternate routes.

Eventually, every available tunnel had been explored, every creature slain, and the splashes from his footsteps were now the only sounds to be heard. It was time to ascend back to the street level. It should be evening now. Tomorrow, when the system refreshed the world, respawning monsters and loot, he might return to the sewers to gain more XP. For now, there was nothing left to do down here, so he headed back to the section of the sewers where the ceiling was split open by huge cracks.

Thanks to his Enhanced Intelligence skill, Jake easily retraced his steps back through the sewers. As he made his way back, he took a moment to evaluate his remaining mana.

MP: 935

It was quite low. He recalled his previous calculations on the amount of mana his body consumed in idle and active states in a day. At level 3, he estimated using about 1080 MP daily while physically and mentally active. However, now that he’d leveled up a few times, increased his skills in ranks, and acquired upgrades for some of them, he needed a significantly higher amount of mana on a daily basis to support his increased capabilities.

Finally, he reached a tunnel with a split-open ceiling. Only he quickly discovered he couldn’t jump high enough to reach the edge. He continued exploring until he stumbled upon another crack where sturdy vines cascaded down from above. He took hold of two of them and tugged to test their strength. They seemed tough enough to bear his weight, so used them to deftly ascend back to the street level.

Upon reaching the surface, he took a moment to survey his surroundings to reorient himself. The street he stood on was quiet, and not a single mutant was in sight. As he’d predicted, the evening had arrived. The sun was setting, gradually casting the city into shadows. He picked a direction and set off on the mana hunt.