Danger Zone

After paying the man 100 Credits, I exited the building, it hurt to use that much money at once, but I kept telling myself it was necessary. With the new Mercenary ID in hand, I could finally enter the areas that contained the Combat Arts I was looking for.

The reason that I had chosen these two Combat Arts was because they had both been the easiest to acquire. There were stronger one that I knew the location of but going for the now would be suicidal and some of those locations didn't currently exist and most of them were not compatible with my elements.

The backstory of both of these villains was a lust for power, a common motive for many to become a Corrupt Awakened and so at the beginning of the story, they were both low rank awakened and so couldn't go to high rank Danger Zones.

'I need to get at least one today.'

I thought as I made my way to the metro station, the first one I was going for was the Bow Combat Art located in a zone called the Howling Cliffs.

Danger Zones were basically natural environments that were in severe contrast to their surroundings, for example sharp rocky cliffs surrounded by plains on all sides and also had a higher density of mana than its surroundings which made it a perfect place for mana beasts to live.

I showed my Mercenary ID to the woman working the front desk causing her to look up questioningly to verify my age before sighing.

"Where do you want to go dear?"

"Northeast Station."

"Thought so. Be safe." She said smiling as she gave me a ticket.

There wasn't much else there, so she most likely figured out my intentions. After some time of waiting a train resembling those futuristic bullet trains from the east that I would see on travel pamphlets arrived. It emitted a blue glow at the bottom and was seeming not in contact with the rails at all as the grey exterior floated slightly midair.

I wasn't used to seeing the technological wonders of my world so seeing their enhanced version using mana caused me to have a sense of awe, I would admire it all if it weren't for the sense of urgency I felt and also how stupid I believed I would look if I did so.

Unsurprisingly, no one else was on the train as I doubted there were many who wanted to visit a danger zone in the noon. A short metro ride later, I got off at the desolate and significantly lesser modern northeast station.

The front desk worker and the guards were all either very surprised to see me or were dozing off but as I stepped outside, all I saw were a few shops catered towards awakened followed immediately by the imposing stony monoliths of the Howling Cliffs. The wind in this area was pretty violent and caused for every tree in the area to sway.

Tall rock spires rose higher than any skyscraper I had seen in the city and with the numerous amounts of them, I began to realize just how difficult this was going to be. Checking out some of the storefronts in front of the danger zone, they sold low tier potions which went for at least 2000 Credits per bottle, other medical supplies, navigational tools and even some weapons.

For the time being I ignored them as I headed to the gate to the danger zone where two guards were playing cards against each other and as I got closer, one of them noticed me and both seemed confused by my presence.

"You need something?" The older and gruffer one spoke.

"I want to enter the Zone."

"Now? Most people enter after lunch but sure. ID?"

I nodded and gave him my mercenary ID which prompted him to respond jokingly

"A child mercenary, now I've seen it all."

The other guard also laughed in disbelief after inspecting the ID but then got up and headed inside a cabin.

"He's going to open the gate. This your first Zone?" He asked after seeing my curious gaze.

I nodded.

"Well, it's a good one. Place has plenty low rank monsters of the wind attribute, like Horned Rabbits, Flying Snakes and Mephits which is why most low rank mercenaries make coin here but make sure not to get ambushed and watch out for Windstepper Hounds, they are at least G+ rank, got it?"

"Thank you."

He nodded and soon with a loud screech, the metallic gate opened, exposing the rocky terrain underneath the spires and cliffs. There were also several small maps of the place placed on a stand just ahead of the gate. As I was about to head in, the second guard, handed me a small compass like device.

"It's a tracker, in case you get injured so we can send someone after you. It also always points to an exit so if you are feeling lost, just look at the little arrow on it and it should guide you out of here."

I nodded and pinned it to my shirt before reaching out for a map.

"Can I take one of these?"

The guards both looked at me and then each other in confusion before saying.

"Yeah... but can't you just pull up the map on your phone?" The younger guard asked.

"I don't have a phone."

"... You can take as many as you want. I'm rooting for you kid." Said the older guard.

Nodding I walked ahead and heard the gates close. I hadn't really thought about getting a phone yet, I had only been in this world for half a week, but it would be necessary in the future. However, if I was successful in getting this Combat Art then I would have to get a bow which would surely deplete a lot of my limited cash reserve.

I decided to think about that after I did get the Combat Art, according to the novel Katz or the Demon Archer had found the Manual in a small cave found in the cliff face, close to the tallest rock spire he could see.

Looking straight up I found very easily the tallest spire, it rose so high that the top of it was among the clouds. I unsheathed my knife and imbued my legs with mana before converting it to wind in an attempt to bolster my speed and shot towards it.

Running towards the spire, I felt the wind brushing against my face and it felt liberating. I created a small gust of wind that was inconsequential to the flow as I moved and leaped from rock to rock as I did once in the destroyed city.

However, I noticed a few figures floating in the distance and slowed down to a jogging speed as I instead attempted to use Dark mana to blend my body in with the shadows of the tall rock formations.

Now that I was close to the figures I could see what they actually were.

'Mephits.'