Chapter 414
Jake looked around. On the wall across from the entrance was what appeared to be a human-sized mirror. Embedded into one of the side walls was a control panel. For a moment, he browsed through the available options, tapping and swiping on the touchscreen.
He quickly discovered that while the Change Machine allowed the user to alter their appearance, it refused to alter gender, race, or age. Nor did it allow major physical modifications such as increasing height or muscle mass. So, basically, the Change Machine didn’t allow the user to transform into an entirely different person.
Why this was the case, Jake wasn’t sure. The power of the System was absolute, so the reason certainly wasn’t a matter of limitation. It seemed that the System wanted humans to always retain their core appearance for some specific reason.
Probably, it was a safeguard of sorts: those who committed terrible acts couldn’t simply erase their identity and make themselves unrecognizable, preventing those they had wronged from ever finding them. Jake committed this piece of information to memory.
What the Change Machine allowed users to do was make minor alterations to their appearance, such as adorning their skin with intricate tattoos, changing the color and style of their hair, or adding piercings. It could also erase small scars and blemishes, leaving skin smooth and unmarked. The price for these services was surprisingly steep, though.
Jake spent a few minutes exploring the interface, cycling through hairstyles ranging from wild and untamed to sleek and refined, and scrolling through rows of tattoo designs both simple and elaborate. Each change was projected onto a shimmering, mirror-like display that reflected not his current self but the version he would become should he finalize his purchase. Naturally, if he went through with any selections, the changes would be applied directly to his skin or hair as though it had always been that way.
So the Change Machine actually allowed him to alter his human guise. It seemed to mistake him for a real human, failing to detect that he was, in truth, a monster beneath the disguise. This made sense. After all, he looked exactly like a human, so there was no reason the machine would refuse to modify his appearance if he wished.
Each alteration came at a credit cost, and he had none. For him, mana functioned both as nourishment and the means to gain new abilities. He had no credits for cosmetic changes.
However, when he attempted to hack into the control panel, he was able to do so without much trouble. Now, he could adjust his appearance in any way he wanted, free of charge to boot, ready to reshape his appearance in any way he pleased.
Out of curiosity, he tried a new haircut just to see if he could actually do it. It worked without a hitch, and the fresh hairstyle now adorned his head. However, he immediately decided to return to the original hairstyle, as he was quite pleased with how his alter ego looked. His main interest had been to test how the Change Machine functioned and whether he could use it, and now he had his answers.
Satisfied, he turned away from the mirror-like wall and pressed the button to open the door. With a quiet hum, the front panel split into two sleek halves, sliding outward until they aligned with the booth’s exterior walls.
He noticed that the human, Ragnar, was still there, remaining rooted to the same spot, eyes sweeping the area with a soldier’s vigilance, his assault rifle held firmly in both hands. The moment Ragnar caught sight of Jake emerging from the Change Machine, a grin spread across his face.
“You finished quicker than I expected,” he remarked, his tone mixing surprise with approval.
“Why are you still here?” Jake’s tone was flat, his eyes narrowing slightly.
“I was making sure no one tried to set an ambush while you were inside,” Ragnar said, flashing a cheeky grin. “Don’t thank me.”
“I won’t,” Jake said. “So, how many people have come through this street since I went in?”
Ragnar’s grin faltered, replaced by a small frown. “None.”
Jake raised an eyebrow. “Meaning you stood here all this time for absolutely no reason.”
“But if someone had tried, I would’ve been ready to protect you!”
Jake suspected that if anyone had truly wanted to arrange an ambush, Ragnar wouldn’t have stood a chance at stopping them from carrying out their plans. However, he was already growing bored of the pointless conversation, so he remained silent. Just as he began to step around the human, the guy spoke again.
“What have you changed?” he asked, scrutinizing Jake with narrowed eyes. “You look exactly the same.”
Without slowing down, Jake casually tapped his cheek. “Thought about removing this scar. But once I saw how many credits that machine wanted for something so minor, I figured I’d just keep the credits.”
Ragnar let out a short laugh. “Totally agreed, man! I myself only changed my…”
But Jake was already walking away, tuning out Ragnar’s voice.
“Mark, wait,” Ragnar called out, rushing to catch up with Jake, who continued striding down the street without slowing. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
Jake cast a quick glance at the human, activating Mind Reader to see if he could figure out why this guy kept bothering him. Nothing unusual stood out in Ragnar’s memories, and since this ability didn’t allow him to read human thoughts, Jake still had no idea what was going on in the guy’s head.
“What do you want?” he asked without breaking his stride.
“Can you slow down?” the guy panted, clearly struggling to match Jake’s long, purposeful strides.
“I’m in a bit of a hurry.”
“Just hear me out. I wanted to tell you the real reason I waited for you.”
Jake raised an eyebrow as he glanced at the man. “The real reason?”
“Yeah. That thing I said about standing guard while you were in the booth, that was just a joke, man. I actually need your help with something.”
“What kind of help?”
“Can you please slow down so I can explain without having to run after you?”
Jake decided there was no harm in hearing what the human had to say. He stopped and turned to face him.
“Alright, speak. But keep it short. I got places to be.”
“I came across an anomaly earlier today. It’s level 245 and elite. I tried to close it, but it was too much for me alone. Worse, it’s crawling with dangerous mutants. But if we join forces, we can take it down and split the XP. So what do you think?”
Jake took a moment to delve deeper into Ragnar’s memories. He found what he was looking for: earlier that morning, Ragnar had ventured into the crumbling remains of a mall, scavenging for anything of value. Jake himself had last visited that location a few days ago, and at that time, there had been no anomalies present. This was understandable. After all, the system updated the world every single day, introducing fresh anomalies, respawning loot, and bringing mutants back to life.
From experience, Jake knew that humans could close anomalies for XP and little else. For him, however, some anomalies offered challenges with a variety of rewards. Ragnar had mentioned that the anomaly was elite, and this fact immediately caught Jake’s interest, since he was aware that elite anomalies almost always presented challenges. More importantly, he knew that successfully completing an elite challenge guaranteed a useful ability. And he couldn’t possibly let the chance to gain a new ability slip away.
“Alright,” Jake said. “Lead the way.”