Chapter 27: Leveling Up

Over the course of the next few weeks, Cyanide spent that time roaming the streets and stacking up on levels and resources. As he progressed, he noticed that it became tougher and tougher to level up, as each level required more XP. Even after about two weeks of pure farming, all the mutants on the streets of the southern parts of this city had pretty much been cleared, yet Cyanide was still only Level 20 — and a majority of that was thanks to the Scarlet Hour every night.

The good news was, levels weren't the only thing he gained. For instance, he obtained blueprints for a full set of simple metal armor, which only required metal and rope to craft — both of which were easy to find. The former from killing mutants, and the latter from simply collecting them from the streets or buildings.

Of course, Cyanide was hesitant at first and didn't want to wear something that could weigh him down and slow his movements, but after learning about the Infusion process from Luna, he was relieved. All he needed was something called an 'Infusion Module', and he could infuse certain weapons or armor pieces into other weapons/armor to grant the latter the effects of the former.

Thankfully, Cyanide was able to obtain 6 Infusion Modules in the past two weeks, as Stage Two mutants could drop them. He still hasn't met any Stage Threes, but he had no doubt they would drop even better items. Now that he was Level 20, he believed he could take them on... probably.

Infusion Modules weren't almighty, however. For instance, they could only infuse one effect from the infused armor piece to the one receiving the infusion, like how Cyanide chose to take the metal armor's defense and infuse it into his current lightweight cloak. The metal armor also had better durability, meaning it could be used for longer, but Cyanide ultimately decided defense was more important.

Yes, he could've simply crafted another metal armor set and ran the Infusion process again, but Infusion Modules weren't exactly easy to come by. Although Stage Two Mutants could drop them, the chance was incredibly low. That was understandable, however, given they had the ability to infuse weapons as well using the same theory as armor.

In any case, after two weeks, Cyanide's new stats looked like this:

[Level: 20]

[HP: 200/200]

[SF: 25/25]

[STR: 50]

[AGI: 50]

[VIT: 40]

[INT: 25]

[DEX: 16]

[LUC: 15]

As for the 10 SP he received for reaching this new level, he spent 2 of those upgrading Invisibility from Tier I to Tier II, 2 purchasing Stealth Takedown 2 and Stealth Takedown 3 to cover all angles of possible stealth attacks, 2 on the Boomerang Knife Throw skill that required Knife Throw to first be learned, and the remaining 4 on unlocking four new Soul Arts: Life Drain, Touch of Malice, Petrify, and Toxin Air. The last one worked similar to poison, which Cyanide could appreciate.

Surprisingly enough, despite gaining so many levels, not a single additional Core Skill was unlocked. The last one he received was [Inspect] at Level 3. Luna had said there weren't many of them, but this is... far too few. It made Cyanide wonder just how many levels there were in total. What was the maximum potential he could reach?

"Good morning, Cyanide," Luna said with a smile as her master woke up from these thoughts. "Where are we off to today? All the mutants roaming the streets of this sector of the city have been cleared out."

"In that case…" Cyanide sat up and hopped off the metal rack inside the convenience store's backroom. "What do you say we go back to Aterra?"

"Hm, that wouldn't be a bad idea," Luna replied. "You are strong enough take on multiple Level Two Mutants at the same time now, and it would be a good opportunity to obtain some ammo for that gun you still have."

Cyanide nodded. "Exactly my thoughts. The thing's been sitting in my cloak for two weeks now without getting used, after all the trouble I went through to get it."

"Then there's no time to waste," Luna said. "I've marked the location on your map, Cyanide. Follow the waypoint."

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Cyanide nodded and brushed his teeth using the items available in the convenience store, then rinsed his face with some bottled water. Once that was done, they set out.

*****

The streets were now relatively empty and free of danger, after two weeks of just clearing it out. Of course, some mutants may still wander outside from inside buildings, but they were few and far between. For the most part, Cyanide was able to walk openly through the fractured roads without any worry.

It didn't take long for them to reach the Aterra building. Even without the waypoint, Cyanide would be able to reach it, simply due to it being one of the tallest buildings in the city. It was also the only one that high near the outskirts, so it was easy to identify.

Cyanide hid behind an abandoned vehicle, eyeing the situation inside. There were roughly eight mutants in the front lobby. After using [Inspect] on all of them, he judged that they were all quite low-level and mere Stage Ones.

Using his enhanced [Invisibility], Cyanide got closer and opened the door. The Stage One Mutants weren't smart enough to know the doors couldn't just open by themselves, and weren't alert because of it.

'Toxin Air.'

With a mere thought, Cyanide used one of his Soul Arts. Black gas radiated from his body and coated the entire room in an instant, leaving the mutants confused. However, that confusion quickly turned to agony as the poison hit them.

"G-GRAH…."

"AGH…"

"ENGH…"

Their movements slowed and dulled as they began clawing at their own faces, eyes feeling like they were on fire. Unfortunately, no amount of clawing was going to save them as they collapsed one by one, unable to do a thing but gurgle a bit before their undead lives were taken away.

Soon, the gas cleared, and Cyanide emerged completely unharmed. His enhanced invisibility, now with a duration of 15 seconds instead of 5 but also a shorter cooldown of only 120 seconds, wore off at around the same time.

The bodies of the mutants exploded into shards of light, which then flew into Cyanide's body.

[Obtained Mutant Blood (Low-Grade) x8.]

[Obtained Metal x34.]

[Obtained Wires x 58.]

[Obtained Solar Panels x 5.]

[Blueprint: Pen — unlocked!]

"… Seriously? Only a pen?" Cyanide sighed in disappointment. There were Blueprints for quite literally anything that could be made given the right materials, so as much as he wanted Blueprints for weapons and armor, most of the time, he would only receive useless Blueprints like this one.

Of course, the Blueprints he could obtain varied from mutant to mutant depending on their type, so if the RNG gods were on his side today, he could possibly find ones for guns and ammo from those Stage Two Mutants down in the basement.

Without any further delay, Cyanide began heading down the stairs that led to the basement. Last time he came here, he was forced to flee for his life, but not today.

It was time for some sweet, sweet revenge.

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