Night had fallen by the time Jon finished wandering the streets putting down the infected and drones as he came across them using the fighting as a chance to get used to his increased strength.
He had discovered that he was at least strong enough to rip a door off of a parked car using it to bash to death quite a few zombies opting to save the guns for the drones and warriors that he occasionally ran into.
Through the fighting he had managed to gain another four levels as well as multiple levels in all of his skills.
He had also learned that apparently ripping the door off of a car counted as crafting in the sense that he had repurposed an item to use for both defense and attack.
Jamming the car door in the floor right behind the last door Jon did a once over of what had once been a very nice one-story house the windows secured with a number of car parts and the doors sealed with well car doors themselves.
He had fortified it to the best of his ability to get some sleep even if it was only an hour, he knew that it would make a world of difference when having to fight through more of the same.
Grabbing the sofa that had been overturned in whatever struggle had seen the house abandoned Jon pulled it away into the corner of the room against a brick chimney that he had clogged up.
Leaning it against the base stones Jon examined the makeshift bed of pillows and blankets he had set up before laying down grabbing the sofa and pulling it over himself letting the cushions fall over his body.
He had set of similar looking sleeping areas all of the house disguising them as tossed aside furniture leaving the rifle half disassembled in the floor of the room he was in as a distraction while his boots were set down in the kitchen.
If anyone came in, he didn't want to make it easy to find him at all the pistol tucked securely underneath the edge of the couch and the little slit left would allow him to fire across most of the room.
Within minutes Jon relaxed drifting off to sleep though if it was an actual dream or not, he couldn't say because the moment his eyes closed, they opened again in a different place.
He was standing in an open field as what looked like orcs and elves clashed experiencing rapid flashes of death until Jon was left standing alone on stones a stream of water passing through it.
A great tree with yellow leaves that seemed to release light itself loomed over him a woman standing facing away from him looking out over the edge of the platform that they were on.
"Excuse me..." Jon spoke loud enough to be heard yet the woman seemed to hesitate before turning towards him eyes sweeping right over him before she turned back around.
Moving towards her Jon came to a stop next to her looking the sea and everything else sparing her a glance as he worked at trying to figure out if this was a dream or something greater.
"If you can hear me what is this?"
The woman looked around once more this time lingering over where he was beside her squinting hard at the space, he occupied hand reaching out.
It was when her hand landed on the air where his shoulder was that the weird dream or vision became odder the feeling of light yet strong fingers on his shoulder being transmitted clearly.
The woman seemed shocked to have actually touched something yet instead of reacting violently she reached up with her other hand putting it over his heart tracing down from his other shoulder to it.
"What is this?" She muttered to herself.
"I don't know." Jon was quick to answer even if she couldn't hear him something in her eye's seemed to call out to him.
"What spirit are you?"
That response caused a stunned expression to appear on his face for a moment his heart hammering.
[Soul Link Detected!]
[Bloodline awakening! Bloodline Mutating!]
[???????????? Mutation In Progress]
Jon staggered slightly grasping the hand over his heart without thinking about it feeling the grip that had been slack tighten around his hand trying to hold him.
"Find me." The woman spoke fast somehow feeling Jon slipping away while the man himself jerked upright in the house once again.
He could still feel the hand in his a blinding rage and emptiness hitting him as he yelled the sofa being hurled away.
An irrational series of emotions were burying the razor logic that had kept him going it felt like he had just discovered his whole world only to have it ripped away from him.
Roaring Jon put his fist through the bricks and stone making up the chimney fingers digging into them as he ripped at it for a few moments ignoring the flipped nails and broken bones.
He was going to find this woman and where she was before ripping apart anything in his way to her.
[New Quest!]
[The Ties that bind!]
[Some force has linked your life and the life of another across verses you will find no peaceful moment until you are united with the other half of the bond]
[Rewards: ???]
Jon stood before the fireplace blood dripping onto the ground as his bones cracked loudly in the quiet sliding over each other as the damage seemed to reverse itself.
Flexing his fingers Jon watched as the flipped nails fell off hitting the ground while new ones grew in having a slightly darker tint to them.
It created a contrast with his other hand as the nails simply reconnected to his fingers on that one due to not being as heavily damaged as the right hand.
Snatching his pistol off of the ground Jon moved to the partially disassembled rifle quickly putting it back into working order before heading to one of the windows peering out through a small gap.
A small horde was roaming the street outside seeming to not have heard the loud noises of brick crumbling or the couch being tossed that was now laying in the connecting hall behind the front door.
Though while still looking outside Jon could also tell that there was a xenomorph on the roof across the street watching the horde and where there was one there was bound to be more.
Yet, it was the fact that it wasn't attacking the obvious targets in front of it that really concerned Jon as he watched a number of the zombies circle around the building the single xenomorph was on.
They had willingly separated from the rest of the horde without a single sound drawing them away and it was as one shifted slightly that he saw how they were different.
A half-emerged chest burster was sticking out of the chest swaying weakly seemingly resisting an infection by virtue of its acidic blood.
Though it was already a cause for major concern as the chestburster showed an odd change that he could see with his enhanced eyesight.
It had far more characteristics of a mass of muscles the usual beginning stages of its life seemingly confused as it hadn't departed the host or even grown bigger.
Deciding to take a wider look at the hosts Jon could see the problem almost immediately the virus was about mutation on an overtime basis, but the implanted embryo would draw dna from its hosts.
Thus, while doing exactly what it was supposed to do the embryo was infected causing a sort of feedback loop. If the slight sheen to the skin of well all of the infected hosts was any indication, they were beginning to sprout the same exoskeleton that the xenomorphs had.
While observing the mutated infected Jon was still keeping an eye on the drone resting on the roof above them able to see it stand up tall suddenly as a bigger form crashed through the house it was on.
A couple more faint booms sounded out as more things rolled down the street bringing with it the crushed bodies of the horde that had wandered past.
Jon tucked himself safely against the wall still peering out into the road a bit more brazenly now. He was completely interested in seeing what exactly was happening without taking too big a risk.
3rd Person Pov
Five predators landed at the end of the street blades extended and shoulder cannons already firing as they blew massive holes in the horde with only a couple of shots.
While a PredAlien burst through the wall of the house with the drone on top of it smashing aside the infected hosts without a single concern.
More of its kind came charging out behind it trampling over the infected resulting in an almost mournful wail from the drone that rang out across the radius of a few blocks.
Both sides roared at each other colliding in a display of strength and resolve as they tossed cars around smashing through houses all the while unaware of the single observer that was on the street with them.
Not that it would have mattered as a familiar figure lounged in the sky above them all frowning deeply while staring the house that Jon was currently in seemingly staring right through it at him.
There were little flecks of a pure light drifting into the house overtime concentrated on the entities latest play toy and it was the direct result of another higher being interfering.
Someone else at his level had designs on this man and that was interfering with his own designs.
"Fine you want to play that game then! Let's see your precious system handle the removal of a whole verse from it." The man was practically spitting with each word spoken in rage.
With no warning at all he disappeared the barrier around the town quaking from the smallest iota of his power that had spilled out a single infected and drone escaping in that one instant.
They would prove the beginning of the end of this verse as well not just the one that the man was on his way to end.
All it takes to destroy a verse for those like him is being willing to sacrifice something of equal value.
Now two verses would suffer as fate converged on a single man.