The smoking ruins of the shelter were dead silent under the inky-black night sky, a stark contrast to the absolute chaos Max had unleashed upon it hours ago. Raggedy-looking columns of shattered stone and melted alloy jutted upward like jagged teeth, cast in dark silhouettes by the pale moonlight and the stars, which were especially dazzling tonight.
Max strolled casually through the devastation, completely unbothered by the fact that he was walking around in nothing but his underwear. There was no point in getting dressed if he was going to take a dip in the near future anyways.
From the shifting shadows of the collapsed structures, dozens of glowing, feral eyes tracked his every step. With the shelter's boss spirit dead, the local predatory creatures had begun to creep back into the ruins to scavenge.
Yet, despite Max looking nearly naked and entirely defenseless, not a single beast dared to move a muscle.
The heavy, lingering pressure of his presence bled into the air, an invisible aura of pure dominance that made the creatures' instincts scream a single word: Run.
Max ignored them entirely. With a thought, he summoned his trusty backpack from his sea of soul, letting it materialize into his hand. He unzipped the front pocket, rummaged around for a second, and pulled out his last remaining cigarette.
"The absolute last one," Max muttered, a small smile turning up his lips. "Gotta make it count."
Before lighting up, he pulled up his interface to both check and appreciate his current status. The text flickered to life in front of his eyes, displaying his hard-earned geno points and his newly acquired Silver Dragon Crest armor resting safely alongside the rest of his spoils from the 2nd God's Sanctuary in his sea of soul.
--------------------------------------
-Maximillian Nakamura-
Class: Jumper - Grade 2 Planes-Walker
Race: Human - Mutated. God seed empowered.
Age: 49
Lifespan: ?
Body Modifications: [Cosmetic Refinement]... expand/collapse
Abilities/Skills/Powers/Perks: [Blending in]... expand/collapse
Items on hand: Alliance grade cigarettes x1
(GP) Pool: (1000 GP)
Bank: $3,812,440,056.00
Status: Genes in excited state. Alliance visitation days: 6/7 remaining.
Fitness (current power scaling system): 360
--------------------------------------
Super God Gene Sub System(Absorbed by interface)
Maximillian Nakamura:
Super body - Twins of Fate
Status: Evolver
Lifespan: ?
Requirements for evolution: 100 Geno points
Geno points gained: 100 Ordinary Geno points, 100 Primitive Geno points, 100 Mutant Geno points, 100 Sacred Blood Geno points, 100 Super Geno points.
Beast Souls owned: Super grade Super Gene Novel, Super grade Master Map of Super God Gene...
--------------------------------------
Seeing his progress laid out like that never got old.
Max snapped a spark from his thumb using a tiny bead of [Electromagnetism], lighting the tip of the smoke. He took a long, slow drag, letting the smoke curl up into the cool night air.
He exhaled a perfect ring, looking up at the stars beyond the ruined canopy. The anticipation of what was coming next sent a genuine spark of excitement through his chest. 'Civilization!' he thought, a wide grin spreading across his face. 'Hot, gourmet food, beer, air conditioning, all kinds of shops, and absolutely no killer spirits and creatures trying to skin me for five or six glorious days. Plus, no damn theft target... A real vacation.'
Max finished the smoke, tossing the butt into the ashes of a destroyed pillar and then spitting on the ground. The fact that he couldn't get a single spirit to yield like Han Sen did in the novel had suddenly popped into his mind.
'Ugh...dumb bitch-ass spirits... Whatever, there's always the 3rd God's Sanctuary, I'll just try and try again, speaking of which, let's cap off this beach party with a nice rinse off...'
Turning toward the center of the ruins, he put his disappointment with the spirits aside and stepped up to the edge of the evolution pool. The pristine, softly glowing liquid hummed with pure, concentrated energy, entirely untouched by the violence that had leveled the rest of the shelter.
Max didn't hesitate. With a swift mental command, he sent both his underwear and his backpack back into his sea of soul, leaving himself completely bare. He took a deep breath and stepped downward, letting his body submerge completely into the radiant, evolutionary waters.
...
The 'God Seed' inside of you is reacting to a nearby power, allow genetic changes and spiritual upgrades to occur? Y/N?
...
The interface screen materialized yet again, waiting for Max's reply.
"Yup, let's go!" Max's response sounded a little garbled underwater, but his intent was not lost at all.
The experience was more or less the same as when he became an Evolver.
"Evolution Successful; you have achieved the rank of Surpasser. You have gained an additional one-hundred-year lifespan. Your super body has evolved - Twin Queens of Fate."
Max slowly floated out from the Evolution Pool, freshly minted as a Surpasser.
Crystalline water clung tightly to his body, but with his [Electromagnetism] power fully realized ever since the Marvel Jump, he had no need for a towel.
Max snapped his fingers and generated a hyper-concentrated, localized electromagnetic forcefield less than a millimeter above his flesh. He gave the field a sudden, violent outward surge.
Woosh!
The invisible magnetic wall slammed into the moisture with incredible force. Instantly, every single droplet of the heavy pool water was violently repelled, forcefully lifting off his skin and shooting outward in a perfect 360-degree spray.
The liquid hit what remained of the surrounding stone walls of the chamber and came back down like a sudden downpour.
Max deactivated his forcefield and stood on the platform beside the evolution pool completely, flawlessly dry, but the raw friction of the magnetic blast left his hyper-dense body superheated. Thick trails of white steam and smoke began to roll lazily off his skin, dissipating into the cool night air as his body naturally cooled down from the sudden exertion of power.
"Ah, that's better, let's take a quick look at my new fitness level and see what's changed with my super body." Max spoke to himself while his go-to tracksuit and sneakers appeared on his body. The Image Inducer also made an appearance on his thick wrist.
--------------------------------------
-Maximillian Nakamura-
Class: Jumper - Grade 2 Planes-Walker
Race: Human - Mutated. God seed empowered.
Age: 49
Lifespan: ?
Body Modifications: [Cosmetic Refinement]... expand/collapse
Abilities/Skills/Powers/Perks: [Blending in]... expand/collapse
Items on hand: None
(GP) Pool: (1000 GP)
Bank: $3,812,440,056.00
Status: Normal. Alliance visitation days: 6/7 remaining.
Fitness (current power scaling system): 720
--------------------------------------
Super God Gene Sub System(Absorbed by interface)
Maximillian Nakamura:
Super body - Twin Queens of Fate
Status: Surpasser
Lifespan: ?
Requirements for evolution: 100 Geno points
Geno points gained: None
Beast Souls owned: Super grade Super Gene Novel, Super grade Master Map of Super God Gene...
--------------------------------------
Max was super excited with how much stronger his base physical power had gotten. He was now twice as powerful as he had been, and upon checking the information of his super body, not much had changed. An increase in the natural buff it provided to his base fitness was really the only change he noted.
"Whelp, time to do this thing. It was nice knowin' ya, 2nd Sanctuary." With that, Max headed right towards the still-intact teleporter in the remains of the shelter, took a deep breath and activated it.
Max's vision lost sight of the shelter's teleporter as it did its thing, depositing Max right into the gleaming, high-tech transit sectors of the Alliance hub.
Moving with practiced ease, Max immediately activated the abilities [Blank] and [Blending In], with a localized pulse of [Electromagnetism] to top it off, bending the ambient light and cloaking his electronic footprint.
To the city's hyper-advanced security grids and identity scanners, the space he occupied was completely vacant.
He ghosted through the automated arrival bays, drifting past rows of high-tier security and digital checkpoints entirely unseen. Slipping away from the main entrance of the building housing the teleporter station, Max turned into a quiet, shadow-drenched alleyway between two towering synth-glass structures.
Ensuring he was completely alone, Max deactivated his cloaking combo.
He looked down at the ultra-handy, unassuming device on his wrist—the Image Inducer.
He tapped its interface, selecting one of the presets he'd calibrated for basic reconnaissance back in Marvel with the help of Forge, the mutant tech wizard who was always tinkering in the lab of the X-Mansion.
A hum of localized hard-light and static washed over his body. In the reflection of a dirty alleyway window, his towering, muscle-bound physique melted away.
In its place stood a man in his late twenties, slightly above-average height, yet strikingly handsome, with blonde hair that caught the light just so. He wore a light-grey, nearly white suit paired with a crisp blue undershirt, an ensemble instantly recognizable to anyone who had ever watched Jujutsu Kaisen—especially if their gaze fell upon the leopard-print tie knotted flawlessly around his collar.
'I mean, I could just use the image of my original self too, but... stepping into the skin of Nanami Kento is pretty freaking dope too...'
Max turned his head, watching the hologram copy his movements perfectly from his 1st person perspective. He grinned at his reflection; his imposing, intimidating frame was hidden beneath a slim, somewhat inconspicuous civilian disguise, if you ignored how handsome Max appeared now.
"Perfect," Max chuckled under his breath, adjusting his invisible, massive shoulders. 'Time to find a room to stay, but first, before that...smokes and a soda!'
He walked out of the alleyway, blending effortlessly into the bustling, neon-lit crowd of the upper-tier commercial district.
Two minutes later, a large cigar, containing the same healthy properties as the Alliance cigarettes, hung out of Max's mouth, and he carried a large, blue-colored bottle containing a citrusy, bubbly liquid.
Max was in heaven after going so long without a carbonated beverage.