Chapter 192

Chapter 192

Jake didn’t immediately make his choice. In fact, he wasn’t quite sure which of the three subclasses to pick. It seemed to be a very important decision, which was why he didn’t want to be hasty about it. The next evolution stage was called

Apex Manifestation

. Its name alone suggested it might be the final stage of evolution. The fact that he had to choose an evolutionary path further underscored its importance.

Since the System never informed him how many evolution stages there were in total, Jake didn’t know for sure whether

Stage 3: “Apex Manifestation”

was the final one. Nevertheless, since there wouldn’t be a chance to revert his choice, he decided to consider each of the three subclasses carefully and weigh their pros and cons to help him decide which one to choose.

The first subclass he had checked out was

Ravager

. In appearance, it looked like a mix of a human being and a two-legged prehistoric reptile. However, its serrated tail resembled that of a scorpion. It didn’t have a stinger, though. Instead, the tip of the tail was thicker than the rest, appearing slightly swollen. The reason for this was that the tip of

Ravager’s

tail could blossom open like a flower to shoot various projectiles.

Having a ranged weapon was one of this subclass’s advantages. Another benefit was that the

Ravager

form could apparently shoot different kinds of projectiles from its tail. In the vision, Jake first saw the Ravager fire what looked like a laser beam to bring down one of the two helicopters. Then the mutant fired some kind of acidic missile, which was similar to Jake’s

Acidic Spit

but definitely much more powerful in terms of traveling distance, velocity, and the speed with which it eroded the chopper’s metal fuselage. Next, the Ravager in the vision sprayed the interior of the chopper with acid, which was a different kind of ability from the previous one. The acid shot he had first fired was a single fast-moving projectile, while this third ability—the Spray of Acid, or whatever it was called—released acid in a continuous stream, much like a hose.

So the

Ravager

form could utilize a range of various ranged abilities, firing different types of shots from its tail. The laser beams were effective for taking down distant targets, the acidic shots were suitable for medium range, and the spray of acid worked well in close-quarters situations. Jake was confident there were likely several additional abilities that would allow the

Ravager

to shoot other types of projectiles from its tail.

Additionally, the

Ravager

form could sprout wings in no time at all. The ability to fly was undeniably invaluable. Besides being able to get anywhere quickly, it also offered major tactical advantages during combat situations.

Jake couldn’t help but notice that the

Ravager

could make sounds, unlike his current form. In his previous form, he hadn’t even had a mouth. The other two subclasses,

Corruptor

and

Devastator

, also seemed to be the silent types. Only the

Ravager

form could produce sounds, although Jake doubted it could speak. The ability to unleash screams was undeniably an additional perk of this subclass, designed not primarily to intimidate foes but rather to inflict specific status effects on its targets. In the vision, the

Ravager’s

scream prompted the horde of ex-humans to turn on one another. Jake was sure the

Ravager

could emit other types of crowd-controlling screams to inflict various status effects on its enemies. Perhaps it could even learn specific kinds of screams that affected survivors as well.

Right off the top of his head, Jake couldn’t figure out what downsides this class might have. Except, of course, that it was incompatible with the

Morph Disguise

ability, which was unfortunate. It seemed that this ability only worked with forms that resembled ordinary human beings, and

Ravager

definitely looked nothing like an ordinary human.

The next subclass was

Corruptor

. From the vision, Jake had learned that if he chose

Corruptor

, he would be able to create lairs in which he could develop various creatures. They would obey his telepathic commands, and he would be able to communicate with them over great distances, summoning them from their lairs if the need arose. The

Corruptor

could create creatures of different sizes and take control of them, either remotely or by merging with them.

It was definitely a very intriguing subclass, and Jake was tempted to choose this one. However, the obvious downside of this subclass was that it seemingly couldn’t possess any abilities of its own. If Jake selected it, he would retain all the skills and abilities he had acquired earlier, but he might not be able to learn any new ones. The

Corruptor

subclass appeared to focus entirely on creating new forms of life. At least, that was what it looked like in the vision he had seen, where the Corruptor relied exclusively on the creatures he had summoned, never employing any unique abilities of his own during a confrontation with a group of survivors.

The third subclass was

Devastator

. It was an extremely powerful form, with truly impressive defensive and offensive capabilities. This class seemed capable of taking on and dealing with an entire army of well-armed survivors single-handedly. If Jake chose this subclass, annihilating

Los Demonios’

bases wouldn’t pose much of a problem, that was for damn sure. However, it was clearly a completely melee-focused subclass. Unlike the

Ravager

form, it lacked any ranged weapons. On the other hand, did it actually need them? From what Jake had seen in the vision, the

Devastator

was perfectly fine without them.

While

Ravager

was cool, with the ability to fly and shoot various projectiles from its tail,

Corruptor

and

Devastator

were definitely Jake’s favorites. Besides, unlike

Ravager

, both

Corruptor

and

Devastator

were compatible with

Morph Disguise

since they were human-like forms. But which one to choose? Jake really liked both of them and hated the fact that he could only select one.

He thought it over and then thought some more, but he still couldn’t determine which subclass resonated with him the most. In the end, he decided to hold off on making a choice for a day or so. It was a very important decision, and one additional day wouldn’t make a difference.

So he decided to contemplate the matter for one more day to make sure he made the right decision. There was no immediate urgency to evolve. He remembered that there was a time when some of his skills advanced to a specific level, but he couldn’t upgrade them to the next rank, because he needed to evolve first. However, that wasn’t the case right now. Currently, none of his skills and abilities had reached 100%, so there was no pressing need to evolve into the next form.

He also remembered that after evolving into the second stage and unlocking the second section of the

Genetic Development Interface

, he couldn’t immediately afford any of the new skills because they had steep requirements and were quite expensive. The same situation would likely apply when he evolved into the third stage. He would probably need to level up several more times and upgrade his attributes before he could buy any of the skills from the third section of the

Genetic Development Interface

.

So yeah, there was no rush, and he definitely had some time to think about the matter. For now, he decided to visit the sewers. The System had recently upgraded the area, making all the mutants in the city significantly more powerful. As a result, the dungeon hidden in the underground tunnels was likely to have seen an increase in danger level as well. It was time to check it out.