Luckily or not, the pain didn't start, and what appeared in its place was the mutation menu with all the previous selectable choices plus a whole host of new ones.
[ Mutations ]
Mutation Points Left: 1
| Acidic Blood | Your blood becomes acidic to the point that it can easily eat through stone and metal.
| Animation | Gain the ability to animate inanimate objects with the ability to move and act on their own.
| Beast Fusion | Receive the ability to temporarily fuse with another creature you are extremely close with for enhanced abilities and access to special powers that's dependent on the one you fused with.
| Biological Manipulation | Acquire the ability to manipulate all things biological.
| Bone Armor | Gain bone plating all across your body that you freely manipulate however you wish.
| Brute | Transform into a brute.
| Cybermancy | Manipulate technology as simply as you breathe.
| Dimensional Rift | Tear open rifts to cross vast distances in an instant.
| Dragon's Breath | Gain the ability to release an explosive, fiery breath from your mouth.
| Earth Manipulation | Receive the ability to manipulate earth.
| Fire Manipulation | Receive the ability to manipulate fire.
| Flight | Gain the ability to fly as freely as a bird but with none of the effort.
| Fungal Symbiosis | An intelligent fungal colony will integrate itself with your body and form a symbiotic relationship with you.
| Ice Manipulation | Receive the ability to manipulate ice.
| Invisibility | Obtain the ability to turn invisible whenever you wish.
| Lycanthropy | Take on the traits of a werewolf, both those seen as positive and negative.
| Magic Vision | Your eyes will undergo an evolution and will in turn gain the ability to see mana and all manner of invisible magical energies.
| Magnetism | Control metal and magnetic fields as you see fit.
| Mana | Gain a beginner level of mana and some basic information about it, several simple spells, and knowledge about how spells are constructed and what not.
| Marked One | Transform into a marked one with a random set of abilities and have a certain percentage of your body covered in tattoo-like marks. You will have the ability to customize the color of your tattoos and their shapes.
| Qi | Gain a base of level qi and some basic information about it and how to cultivate it.
| Plant Manipulation | Gain the ability to manipulate plants.
| Psionic Power | Unlock the power of your mind.
| Random Bloodline | Receive a random bloodline.
| Random Mutation | Receive a random mutation.
| Random Perk | Receive a random perk.
| Solar Manipulation | Harness the power of the stars and use the power gained in all sorts of fantastical and mystical ways.
| Transcendent | Become a transcendent with a random set of powers.
| Transmutation | Acquire the ability to transmute matter and its various elements into whatever form and elements you desire.
| Vampirism | Take on the traits of a vampire, both those seen as positive and negative.
| Water Manipulation | Receive the ability to manipulate water.
Hmm, there are quite a few choices here, many of which I would love to have. Unfortunately, I have but only 1 single point to spend, so I better decide wisely... Well, for starters, I don't really require any of the elemental-based mutations since I'll be able to accomplish similar feats with magic; I imagine, so those can be eliminated. I also have access to mana already and just picked up the | Mana | perk moments ago, meaning I have no real need to grab another version of it when I've yet to see what obtaining the perk will do, thus I'll take a pass on that... For now.
Marking off that mutation, I continued marking off one mutation after another.
I pretty much have | Cybermancy | with | Mechanical Domination | so it seems unnecessary to invest a point in it. I mean, how much more potent could my ability to influence and dominate technology become... | Lycanthropy | and | Vampirism | can go too since the negative side effects are probably something I don't want to deal with, like who wants to lose the ability to bask in the sun's light, certainly not me when I've been stuck underground for nearly 20 years.
| Dragon's Breath | and | Fungal Symbiosis | could be cool, but the former isn't really compatible whilst I'm wearing power armor and some full body version of athlete's foot doesn't sound all that appealing, so I'll take a pass on that.
The choices dwindled lower and lower as I continued to get rid of mutations from my pool of choices, and eventually my sight settled on one mutation in particular.
I was in a toss-up between | Biological Manipulation |, | Dimensional Rift |, | Psionic Power |, and | Transmutation | but after stewing on the four of them I think I'm going to have to go with | Dimensional Rift |. The power to tear open rifts and use them to instantly arrive somewhere is one hell of a busted power to possess. And who's to say I won't encounter another situation where I need to get somewhere as fast as I possibly can, like with the coup attempt that just occurred at the undercity.
Yeah, I can't reasonably pass up on securing a method that will literally give me the ability of instantaneous travel… So even though I don't know exactly how it will work I just can't pass up on the opportunity to obtain that sort of power.
Having come to a reasonable conclusion, I went ahead and selected the desired mutation and locked it in, and a second later the holographic screen swapped from the mutation one to the class one, which I hadn't seen in a minute.
[ Classes ]
Class Points Left: 1
[ Basic ]
| Cleric | Gain apprentice knowledge regarding this class and how to sense and absorb divine energy, and gain access to a new skill and attributes. +1 Divine power, +1 Endurance, +1 Strength, and +2 Divinity skill for every increase in level.
| Martial Artist | Receive beginner knowledge regarding this class and how to sense and cultivate qi. Besides that, gain access to new skills and an attribute. 1+ Agility, +1 Endurance, +1 Intelligence, +1 Perception, +1 Strength, +3 Qi Power, +3 Martial Arts skill, and +2 Qi skill upon every increase in level.
| Random Class | Acquire a random class.
| Ranger | Gain basic knowledge regarding the ranger class and access to new skills and attributes. +2 Agility, +1 Endurance, +2 Perception, and +3 Bowmanship every level up.
| Rogue | Gain beginner knowledge regarding this class and access to new skills and attributes. +3 Agility, +3 Perception and +3 Lethality skill for every level increase.
| Warrior | Gain beginner knowledge regarding this class and access to new skills and attributes. +1 Agility, +2 Endurance, +1 Perception, +2 Strength, and +3 Combat skill for every level increase.
[ Intermediate ]
| Arcane Archer | Requirements Mage Class, Ranger Class: Combine the power of magic with archery for incredibly lethal firepower and versatile abilities. Obtain basic knowledge regarding this class and how to best put your new powers to work. +3 Agility, +2 Endurance, +3 Intelligence, +5 Magic Power, +4 Perception, +5 Bowmanship, and +3 to Magic for every level gained.
| Dark Disciple | Requirements Mage Class:『 The dark powers call for you. Become immersed in the dark side of magic and the unexplainable and establish powerful but dangerous pacts with devils, demons, eldritch powers, and other such entities. Alongside that, you'll gain access to a whole new attribute, namely Dark Power, which will enhance all dark-aligned magic and power damage and effectiveness by 10%, plus 1% mana regeneration for each point of Dark Power.
And that's not all; you will also gain access to a new skill, The Black Arts, which encompasses all magic and similar powers that fall under the darker and more evil side of things, and this will raise dark magic and power damage, effectiveness, and resource efficiency by 0.25% per skill point. [Warning!] This class is not for the faint of heart and is quite the dangerous path to tread, but with that danger comes the potential gain and command great power! +10 Dark Power, +5 Intelligence, +10 Magic Power, +5 Perception, +5 Magic, and +10 The Black Arts for every level gained. 』
| Elementalist | Requirements Mage Class: The power of the five elements can both create and destroy, and both those who stand by your side and those who stand against you will bear witness to that truth. Your affinity for the fire, water, nature, earth, and wind elements will rise substantially, and so will your knowledge of those same elements. To go along with that, you unlock the attribute Elemental Power, which will boost all elemental magic and power damage as well as its effectiveness by 10% per point. Furthermore, you will be granted the skill The Five Elements, which will raise elemental magic and power damage, effectiveness, resource efficiency, and affinity by 0.25% per skill point. +7 Elemental Power, +5 Intelligence, +6 Magic Power, +4 Perception, +5 Magic, +7 The Five Elements for every level gained.
| Healer | Requirements Cleric Class, Mage Class: A healer does what a healer does, and that is heal those in need. This class specializes in healing through a combination of divine abilities, magic, and science, but besides that, it doesn't excel at anything else. That said, access to the Healing skill will be granted upon taking this class. +3 Divine Power, +4 Intelligence, +3 Magic Power, +5 Divinity, +5 Healing, +5 Magic, +10 Medicine, and +10 Science for every increase in level.
| Magic Gunner | Requirements Mage Class, Ranger Class: And I started blasting. The magic gunner is a peculiar mage specialization that focuses on guns as their means of magical delivery, which has the advantage of being able to instant cast magic, usually of the combat variety, though it can be used to deliver things such as ranged healing and sealing. However, this class is quite advanced and requires a good bit of setup before it can be properly utilized. Good thing for you, you won't have to worry about the learning bit too much because you'll be granted the relevant knowledge to do so. +3 Agility, +3 Intelligence, +5 Magic Power, +5 Perception, +10 Ballistic Weapons, +10 Energy Weapons, +3 Explosives, and +5 to Magic for every level gained.
| Necromancer | Requirements Mage Class: Let the armies of undead do your bidding and fight your enemies. Receive a plethora of knowledge regarding necromancy and how to raise all sorts of undead. Aside from that, you'll unlock the Necromancy skill, which will raise the damage and effectiveness of your necromancy spells by 0.25% and the parameters of your undead by 0.1% for every single skill point you possess in it. +5 Intelligence, +4 Magic Power, +2 Perception, +3 Magic, and +9 Necromancy for every level gained.
| Shaman | Requirements Mage Class: Nature and the primal spirits wish to assist; accept their goodwill and empower your body, mind, and spirit. Acquire a talent for interacting with primal and beastial spirits and an acceptable understanding in this field of magic and mysticism. Besides those benefits, you will unlock Primal Power, which will increase all shamanic abilities and power effects by 1% per point you possess. On top of that, the Spirit Magic skill will become available to you, and it will grant you +0.25% to spirit magic damage, effectiveness, and resource efficiency per skill point. +4 Agility, +5 Endurance, +3 Intelligence, +4 Magic Power, +5 Perception, +5 Strength, +3 Magic, +6 Primal Power, and +6 Spirit Magic for every level gained.
| Warlock | Requirements Mage Class: Magic is meant for war, and this class represents that fully. Acquire the basic knowledge regarding this class and the know-how to use all things magical to cause the most amount of damage possible. +2 Agility, +2 Endurance, +4 Intelligence, +7 Magic Power, +3 Perception, +2 Strength, and +5 Magic for every level gained.
| Wizard | Requirements Mage Class: Knowledge is power, and the more you gather, the stronger and bigger of a threat you become... Although frail one. Taking this class will expand your knowledge base across all areas of magic pretty significantly. +7 Intelligence, +5 Magic Power, +2 Perception, and +8 Magic for every level gained.
[ Advanced ]
| Mystic Knight | Requirements Mage Class, Knight Class: Sword and armor have treated you well, but they weren't enough to fulfill your desire for power, so now you've stepped onto the path of magic to further your growth and combat abilities. Gain the knowledge to combine your physical prowess as a knight in shining armor with the versatile and magical abilities of a mage and wield these incredibly destructive forces through your sword and other similar cold weapons. Besides those benefits, you will also obtain the skill Magic Melee Weapons, which will raise Magic Melee Weapon Damage by 0.25% per skill point. +5 Agility, +12 Endurance, +4 Intelligence, +5 Magic Power, +3 Perception, +10 Strength, +20 Combat Skill, +8 Magic, +10 Magic Melee Weapons, and +20 Melee Weapons for every level increase.
Hmm, decisions, decisions... There are a few obvious choices that would be the most optimal to choose, such as | Dark Disciple | for the insane power it would bring right out of the gate. However, the obvious warning has me concerned since I'm not stupid enough to think I'm some sort of mighty all powerful and undefeatable god-tier entity when I worry about the Zetans firing a deathray at me from one of their ships on the daily. So, this doesn't sound like the safest option considering the piddly sum of knowledge I've accumulated in the magical field thus far.
*Sigh*
As much as I would love to have this class, I don't particularly want to risk all I've worked for on a boost of power, no matter how large when it poses a huge risk, one I'm unwilling to take... At least not yet. If I were more knowledgeable and further along the path of magic, I would seriously consider taking this class, but for now, it's not in the cards for me.
Throwing that class on ice for the meantime, I turned my attention to another potential candidate, | Wizard |.
| Wizard | is an obvious choice given it's the next level up of the mage class and will probably unlock something far more powerful seeing how | Mystic Knight | is viewable thanks to me taking | Mage |. However, I don't want to specialize in just one thing, especially when I've yet to really embark on this uncharted path, so I think I'll go with something I believe will bring me far more benefits in the long run.
The instant I finished that thought, my eyes went to the class I couldn't stop thinking about as soon as I finished reading through its description.
Out of all the classes that have become available through this round of level ups | Shaman | is the most fitting for a jack of all trades such as myself, since it will provide a sizable boost to nearly all of my attributes every level up. And that's not even mentioning the load of knowledge it'll grant on spirit magic, which I had no idea existed prior to this class selection.
I mean, it's not like I couldn't come up with reasons to choose something like | Wizard | or | Necromancer |. But I value a more balanced distribution of stats compared to sacrificing a large general increase to my abilities for biological versions of robots and just maxing out my Intelligence attribute and nothing else. I'm also spec'd into anything that will improve my overall physicality, and | Shaman | will do that better than any of the currently available classes; hence, my decision is an easy one.
Confident that | Shaman | was the best choice for me class-wise given my overall abilities and what I wished to become in the future, I selected the class and hovered over the lock-in before I finally pulled the trigger. And when I did, an unimaginable flood of information and knowledge regarding countless subjects came pouring into my mind with an equally colossal amount of pain unlike anything I had experienced before.
Gnashing my teeth together, I refused to yell out in pain as veins that weren't normally visible all across my body rose to the surface, pulsed with a fiery burning pain. Any moron could tell shit was beyond fucked for me, so as I was resisting the hellish effects of my mass level up, I near instantly sent out a signal for my robots to come running to my aid and begin filling my body with medstims and dumping their contents into my system before I inevitably passed out.
My machines were close, but none were in the room with me, and I knew they weren't going to make it to me nor have enough time to gather the drugs and meds I desperately needed at this critical moment. So I did what I could and expelled nearly every bit of the meds I was carrying in my inventory for my robots, who were racing their way through the facility to me and retrieved the two precious meds I was planning to save for research purposes.
It's unfortunate, but my life is on the line here.
Although I very much wished to save both my Regenerade Injector and the Vital-X Injector I'd been holding onto I felt a sense of existential dread fall upon me, and I wasn't about to risk things and find out what that meant when I had increasingly stronger waves of pain washing over the entirety of my frame with each passing second. Thus, I needed to use absolutely everything at my disposal that could help stave off the Grim Reaper from claiming my life.
This was by far the direst situation I'd encountered between my two lives, so I grabbed both injectors, pushed their needles into my skin, and injected their precious and incredibly valuable contents into my body without a second thought. While I still had those injectors sticking out of my thighs, the pain jumped to another level, so I shut down my body's passive defenses i.e. my damage threshold and attempted to scramble for the Medstim Mk IIs scattered all around me.
But before I could take any other measures, everything went dark along with my consciousness, and I collapsed to the hard floor of my personal workshop with a thump as my impromptu medical crew of Multibots came barging in.