First Blood

The next day Jason woke up with the early morning sun rays that filtered in through the window pane of his apartment. He slowly opened his eyes while stifling a yawn.

Today was going to be a big day for him. He was going to venture outside the safety of the city for the first time in his life!

The thought excited him as much as it scared him. But, before that, he had an important thing to look after. 

He was nervous with excitement and could barely eat though he forced some food down his throat after washing up. Then, Jason called a shuttle that would drop him off at the oculist.

He had made an appointment with the doctor after Greg had asked him to get his blindness remark removed.

Today, he would get his remark removed and maybe a special remark added.

It was relatively easy to get his remark about blindness removed as it was obvious that he could see once again and the doctor would only have to send the information to the federation's AI also called Aurora.

Only half an hour passed and the test confirming his ability to see was completed.

The remark in his exam result was instantly removed which made Jason quite happy.

The test he had taken right now was more complicated as it involved a few magic devices. The doctor could only detect that Jason had mana eyes but the test wasn't accurate as the graph had turned chaotic and the stage of his mana eyes remained a mystery.

Furthermore, Jason kept the special effect of his eyes a secret and a special remark was added to his exam results after some time.

'Special remark : [Mana eyes]'

This made Jason quite happy and he left the office immediately after paying the 500-credit bill.

It was more expensive than he had expected, but Jason had to do it, so it didn't really matter.

After hopping in another shuttle, Jason reached the outskirts of the city where the protection sphere was situated.

Each city was constructed inside a protection sphere operated by mana which looked like a transparent dome.

One could walk in through this dome because it wasn't in a solid state.

The dome was like an all-embracing wall that would let everything through.

However, it would detect and eliminate foes as it could comprehend if the invading being was a human with criminal records or not. It was also adept at detecting a soulbond or one of the few beasts used for errands that had either special emblems or specific mana fluctuations radiating from them, that made them identifiable as a soulbond.

It was maintained by an AI which made everything possible. Otherwise, it would be quite hard to detect which humans were harmless and which ones were known for associating with terrorist organizations.

But the dome used up a high amount of mana which was its downside.

Continuously scanning the perimeter of a few hundred kilometers around the city's outskirts to prevent even the slightest accident and nip illicit activities in the bud was very energy-consuming.

This was also partly the reason why higher graded cities were more expensive to live in than Artes-City, Jason lived in.

They had stronger defenses, causing the prices for almost everything inside these cities to subsequently increase due to higher fees, taxes, and so on.

That however wasn't the biggest issue cities had to face as beast tides occurred every now and then.

Every few years thousands of beasts gathered together in order to charge through the lands.

These beast tides were considered the most dangerous threat humanity had to face after the dark ages began.

Only now humanity really began to have a certain degree of control over the beast tides as hunters hunted down the highly reproductive beasts nearby once they broke through a certain threshold.

This method drastically reduced the number of beast tides from reaching their city, though they would still occur now and then.

However, to protect the city, the security including the hunter-bureaus had to be well developed and armed.

Jason entered the plains territory, while the shuttle drove closer to the transparent dome that swam into his view.

Due to his mana eyes, Jason could see the dome´s mana fluctuations. while normal humans could only see small reflections when they looked at the dome.

The plains were vast and it was the first time for Jason to be able to view the vast expanse of flat land lying before him. He had gotten used to the city view of tall buildings and skyscrapers because it was devoid of even a single construction obstructing his sight.

Around a kilometer away from the dome, the shuttle stopped and Jason stepped out of it after paying the fee.

Walking closer to the dome, Jason noticed that many youths were having a picnic, while their soulbonds strolled around, playing together.

The closer he came to the dome, the more youths Jason could see and he noticed that more and more youths wore armors, with weapons like bows, pistols, etc. on their person.

In this era, humanity modified all kinds of weapons to operate them with mana as it was the strongest energy one could use.

Furthermore, mana was a high-quality resource that seemed to be unlimited.

Some pistols operated by mana could instantly crush the skull of a strong beast but these weapons used up a lot of mana and were manufactured with rare materials.

Even if Jason was allowed to use guns to defeat five-star wild beasts, he wouldn't even be able to buy the weakest pistol operated by mana as he had only around 100,000 credits left.

Ammunition was also expensive and killing wild beasts with them would end up in a huge loss.

The youths Jason saw were probably honing their skills and would only use their gun in life-threatening situations.

He could also see some bigger groups of youths surrounding some middle-aged men and women.

Looking at their uniforms, Jason concluded that even in the summer holidays some classes would make a trip to the wild zones to hone their martial art technique.

Jason remembered that a year ago his class had done the same thing over a whole week but he had been confined to learning at home because of his blindness.

The middle-aged men and women were teachers and they were strong enough to save their students in dangerous situations.

Jason was now in front of the dome and raised his head to look at the gigantic shape. He reached for it and touched lightly with his hand as he felt the huge amount of mana flowing through him.

Stepping through the dome, Jason shuddered for a short moment before his senses were assaulted by a gush of fresh air, Mana, and nature itself.

Comparing the amount of mana inside the dome with the outside, one could easily understand why the plains looked so different.

Inside the dome, the plains looked relatively lifeless with small specks of flourished land, lively trees, and bushes but the outside was completely different.

To Jason, it looked like everything was alive.

Mana was everywhere, filling in every nook and corner, and there was not a single inch without it.

Looking at the trees and bushes all around, Jason felt pure nature invading his pores.

Jason felt happy to witness the beauty of nature and he wandered around the borders while holding his dagger firmly.

He wasn't completely on guard but his brain didn't forget those wild beasts could attack him any time.

Nevertheless, the scenario surprised Jason and he was too astonished to focus on hunting for the moment.

After half an hour of admiring the surroundings, Jason was able to focus on his mission once again.

He noticed that he could see beasts from far away and he thought it was because of his special eyes as Jason was told the same during this morning's test.

His eyesight was extraordinary and so were his reflexes and other functions that included his eyes.

Looking out for solo one-star wild beasts Jason noticed that most beasts moved in small groups of 3 to 5.

This was somewhat annoying but even after walking around for a whole hour, Jason couldn't find smaller groups.

Thus, he decided to give it a try against the smallest one he could find.

After glancing around for a while, he selected a group of three harmless herbivore one-star wild beasts called horned zebras as his target.

They did not attack humans unless provoked and ate grass so most hunters usually left them alone.

Horned zebras were the weakest beasts on the plains, even weaker than the ember rabbits, and were preyed upon by most carnivores.

Nobody hunted them for credits because killing them hardly added anything to their credits and they were also not the preferred choice for training either as they were just too weak.

But Jason had never killed any living being so he wanted to hunt a peaceful beast even if his mind was against killing a harmless soul.

He knew that the only advantage these horned zebras had was their speed as it was comparable to two-star wild beasts.

Clutching the dagger in his hand firmly, he watched them from a distance of more than 100 meters. The beasts were grazing peacefully, oblivious to the threat that was approaching them one step at a time.

The plains were almost empty as there were not many hiding spots, so Jason had to be as silent as possible.

Even the slightest noise would alert the horned zebras and they would notice him while Jason hoped that they wouldn't turn around and flee.

Jason's adrenaline began to soar as he stood approximately 30 meters apart from them. His heart was pounding so loudly that he couldn't listen to anything else as he felt it trying to break free of his ribcage and jump out of his mouth any minute. 

Each step took an eternity and the moment he crossed the ten-meter range between him and the horned zebras they sensed that something was amiss.

Turning around one of them saw a young human with something sharp in his hand.

Noticing the danger encroaching on it, one horned zebra cried out as it ran away causing the other horned zebras to be startled, looking for danger in addition to the direction they had to run away.

Jason knew that the 10-meter range was the furthest he could go without being noticed as it was written in many books he had read and common knowledge.

Most beasts had good senses and could feel danger lurking around them.

While the horned zebra let out a cry, Jason had pushed himself up from the ground as strongly as possible with mana enveloping his lower body as support.

He reached a striking speed before he appeared in front of one of the horned zebras without giving the hapless beast any time to react.

Jason could only see both horned zebras being startled before he lashed out with his Jade Iron dagger which was enveloped with a paper-thin mana membrane.

The dagger pierced through one of the horned zebra's chest like a hot knife through butter. Its eyes turned dim and the life force left its body before it could let out an anguished cry.

Blood splattered on Jason's face, as he shuddered for a second in fright, before he pulled out the dagger, causing another fountain of blood to spout out on him.

His golden pupils lit up as he gripped the other horned zebra´s mane with his free hand before it could escape from the shocking death of his comrade.

Stabbing with the bloodied dagger, Jason killed the horned zebra with a clean strike.

After the second horned zebra died, Jason pulled out the dagger once again. After the heat of the moment had subsided Jason realized that he had killed living beings.