3: The T

ank me. I hadn't

on the walk back to the shelter. Iron Skin fully retracted.

make us friend

der that i

ck around Han Xue. She didn't recruit you out of kindness. Command's been quietly building a file on every uncapped

growing pile of things that ma

lab instead. I've seen it happen. Kid two shelters over. Uncapped Regeneration talent. Haven't seen him outside a t

Logged - Potential Factio

with strategic caution reg

efore I agreed to scouting duty," I

Where would the charact

to think you

rely note, with mild interest, that Host's suffering

m and I had a compl

ft it

-

tore open four blocks fro

h a crack in the middle of what used to be a parking

We assess the rift's stability. Note what's coming through

find us first?" Mei a

Mei. Try it

-

reached it, was wors

t licked across concrete in slow, wrong rhythms. Crouched near its edge, feeding on s

t stone. Where its eyes should ha

ll. "That's above our authorization.

ward us anyway. Grey. Eyeless.

st." Mei's voice wa

-

e at u

r than the mutant that had n

that should have staggered anything we'd f

caught it dead center. S

o a concrete pillar hard enough that s

was alrea

even against Bo Hai's mutant. I put myself between the cr

r mass, exactly the way seventeen perc

ne-flesh absorbed the damage like it w

iciency insufficient for Class-2 engage

he creature's too-long arm swept

he garage entrance. Fire building

ween them and eight feet

ly thing I c

ast beneath its next swing. I slammed my palm

lent Detected

essful - Eff

ceeded. Host may only sustai

r accept Willpower Override to

e me. Discarding Marksmanship or Agility m

idea what it would cost, no t

lpower Overrid

ws directly against Host's stamina and l

orm (6%). Temporary 4th Slo

e I'd braced against the creature's blow.

gh. Bare

hatter the bone beneath

second by the fact that I hadn't simply broken

its grey, eyeless face at point-blank

y, finally

-

ed over the r

already fading. Something in my chest ached i

ass-2 Threat

smanship 17% → 21%. Enhanced Agili

gged. Host has expended six m

t last line for

sharpened into some

To whatever cruel mathematics had decided that was a fair price.

few feet away, looked over sharpl

nt to say th

emaining: 47 Years, 6

ging Willpower Override usage. Recommend prioritizing Talent

stem does not apologize fo

ood trickling from a gash on her temple. "That shriek probably drew ha

stop

pening violet glow of the ri

moving in it.

nding. Utterly without hope. "Now. Bot

ked a

w. The idiot who kept looking

s as the violet light swelled to blinding-made

3 Entity Detected. Imminent

rvival Probab

e peace with any ling

t emerged had

ne of them was loo

-

of Ch