Ian's face was full of ecstasy now that he has gotten stronger. He wanted to test his newfound strength by a simple jump. He took a deep breath, and he squatted down with his ten fingers on the road. With the push of his leg, he jumped high - way higher than humanly possible. The air pushed outwards from the force of his jump. Ian reached the height of a two-story building. Ian didn't anticipate that he would jump this high; he flailed his arms violently as he fell back down with his eyes tightly shut closed. Ian crashed into the ground with a loud thud.
He felt the pain from the hardness of the concrete road as he let out a loud groan. He checked his body for any injuries. Surprisingly, no evidence of wounds appeared on his body. After the transformation, his body strengthened, as if he's been reforged in steel. Ian still had adrenaline rushing through his system. He would never think that he would achieve something like this in his lifetime.
"Unbelievable," Ian was baffled on how the system was able to do something like this, let alone summon a beast out of nowhere.
Everyone stared at him with astonished expressions. None of them registered in their minds what he had just done. The only time they would see something like this was in superhero movies. Conner, however, was laughing delight. He expected humanity to gain superhuman abilities, but he didn't expect it to be this strong. The extent of supernatural abilities given to humans was not yet known.
"Holy shit!" Ray still could not believe Ian had jumped that high. "What happened to you!"
"I gained a skill that was able to strengthen my body." Ian had a silly grin on his face like a kid with a new toy. "In other words, I might be the strongest man alive." Ian laughed with glee.
Ray was now interested in the powers of the system. Perhaps he could gain an incredible power himself. The attractiveness of shooting magic out of hands overweighed the rifle he currently held in his hand.
"Maybe I should try summoning too." Ray fiddled with his system status.
He signaled everyone to step back before pressing the [Summon] button. Seconds later, another bright white magic appeared on the road. However, this time, the magic circle turned a dark crimson light in color. Just like Ian, Ray felt anxious, at the same time, excited. Ray hope that a power beast will appear, or at least, one with a powerful skill.
"Come on, come on!" Ray couldn't stand the suspense any longer.
A blurry figure appeared inside of the dark crimson pillar of light. It cast a long shadow under everyone's feet. When Ray saw this, he gleamed with joy thinking that this might be the one. Everyone held their breaths from the presence of the unknown beast. The dark crimson light began to fade, and it slowly revealed the beast's appearance - a small, yellow smile ball about as big as an average person's head. Inside its transparent body were two pitch black eyes looking up at Ray. It slowly moved towards Ray before snuggling against his foot. Ray uncontrollably twitched his eye before checking his summoned beast's status.
Lily laughed hysterically and imitated an old man's voice, "Only those with great power can summon a beast such as this."
Ray squatted down, and squint his eyes at it. "Although Slimebob looks weak, it's the skills that matter."
"Slimebob?" Conner asked.
"That's its name apparently," Ray replied. The small slime next to him wiggled its body in agreement.
A bright red light surrounded Ray's body and transformed him. Ray felt an unknown force penetrating through his skin. He didn't expect the process to feel incredibly relaxing. Minutes later, the bright red light faded away, and Ray checked out his body.
"Weapon Absorption?" Ray had a confused look on his face. "It says that I'm able to absorb up to three different types of weaponry."
"Anything that is considered a weapon?" Conner asked.
"Probably. The thing is, I can't absorb the same type of weapon twice."
Ray suddenly had an idea, and his eyes brighten. He held the semi-auto rifle in front of him and placed his right hand on top of it. He closed his eyes and concentrated on absorbing the rifle. Moments later, the rifle turned into white particles and flew into his head.
Ray's right upper arm was covered in metal plating. Tubes of glowing, blue substance flowed between the holes of the plating. His forearm transformed into a flesh-like gun barrel. Metal was wrapped around on the inside of the barrel. His whole right eye turned blue and had a graphical pattern commonly used in rifle scopes - four lines surrounding a dot in the middle.
Ray stared at his right arm with complete awe.
"Damn, I'm a cyborg now!" Ray showed off his new arm to everyone. "Maybe I should give my self a complete robotic build."
Mrs.Willard awkwardly laugh. "A little strange looking, isn't it?"
"What, this? No!"
"What are you waiting for, boss!" Ian was getting impatient. "Test it out!"
"Crap, you're right!" Ray slapped his forehead with his other arm.
Ray aimed at a building across the street and spread his legs apart. He concentrated his mind and imagined a bullet firing out of his arm. A bright yellow light shined at the end of the barrel.
BOOM!
A large bullet made up of flesh and bones shot out of the barrel. It broke the sound barrier and penetrated through the wall. However, it didn't stop there as it penetrated the other side of the building before exploding. Blood was stained on the wall from where the bullet penetrated through.
"That's gross." Lily's face cringed at the sight of the blood-stained hole.
"Disgusting but awesome," Ray said with a smile. The little slime next to him wriggled its body in excitement.
"But the real question is, are you able to shoot it infinitely?" Conner asked.
"Sort of," Ray answered. "But each bullet wears me down physically and mentally."
"That makes sense."
"Hey, I want to test out my new abilities." Ian looked at everyone. "Let's try hunting a Dragger."
With his new powers, Ian felt that he could take on Draggers with his hands alone. Coupled with better accuracy and perception, he shouldn't have any problem taking out a few Draggers from far away. Ian felt a fighting spirit lit up inside of him, and he clenched fist tightly. Just as he said that four draggers charged towards the group that was attracted to Ray and Ian's loud disturbance.
"They came at the right time." Ray didn't feel any fear towards them anymore.
Ian smiled before charging straight for them. He was able to travel eighty feet(24m) in a second. He appeared in front of a Dragger and gave it a roundhouse kick. Ian's kick burst its head open and black blood came gushing out. He grabbed its headless body and tossed it aside. Another Dragger swung its arms and hit Ian's back. Ian smiled before turning around. The dragger swung its bony arms again, but it was caught in midair before it struck Ian's face. Ian twisted and broke its hands before slamming the Dragger on the ground. He then grabbed the whole arm and ripped it off before crushing the Dragger's head into mush. Ray aimed his right arm and shot both bullets at the last two Draggers. Both bullets penetrated and split both bodies open in half. The bodies fell to the ground and squirmed violently.
[Two Draggers killed! 250 Souls gained. Party bonus included.]
The battle ended in minutes, and Ian didn't feel tired at all. With his improved stamina, Ian felt like he could fight for hours without rest. He headed back towards the group with a sense of accomplishment. Bounye barked with delight on top of his head.
"That was awesome, Ian!" Lily's eyes sparkled in delight.
"Damn, I need myself a summoned beast." Conner felt jealous of Ian.
"What about me, guys?" Ray complained that he wasn't getting any praises. However, everyone ignored him.
"I think you look pretty cool there." Mrs.Willard smiled and patted his shoulders. Her compliment only made Ray more discontent as he had a frown on his face.
The night came, and they stopped searching for a working car for the day. They went inside a random building to stay for the night. While they were sleeping, countless portals tear through space all over Condria. A dense miasma poured out of the portals and spread throughout the surrounding area. Monsters, grotesque in appearance, all came out one-by-one with the intent to kill the inhabitants.