by William Hill
Nevertheless, Jason wasn't sure how good this was as he had nobody to compare with.
The only thing he knew was that the Azure feisty Ape was one of the weakest martial arts techniques of the federation, which was also the reason it was free for everyone.
He understood that the next three weeks were extremely important for him in order to increase his combat prowess and experience by huntin weaker wild beasts before he dared to fight against five-star wild beasts.
Jason had to face real beasts in order to get used to them.
This was why Jason decided to head into the one-star wild zone next to the city, soon
It was a plain, infested by many kinds of wild beasts and it was mainly used for Novice ranks to train there.
These trainees were the most dangerous threat to them, as awakened beasts would be killed as soon as they were found inside the borders of a one-star wild zone to keep the new generation safe.
Jason's physique reached a normal degree and there were no signs of malnutrition seen, as muscles began to slowly covered his small body.
He grew a few centimeters and was now 1.63 meters tall which was the common height for a 13 almost 14-year-old youth.
Except for receiving the files about the Heaven's Hell soul technique, nothing special happened and Jason finished his practice, went for a long jog in the park.
Eating something he washed up and went into the bed with a satisfied smile on his face.
Chapter 24: First Blood
Waking up early in the morning, Jason opened his eyes slowly.
Today he would leave the safety of the city for the first time in his life.
He was expectant and scared at the same time.
After washing up and eating a little bit, Jason called a shuttle which would drop him of at the oculist.
He made an appointment after Greg told him about his remark.
Today he would get his remark removed and maybe a special remark added.
It was relatively easy to become 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 AI also called Aurora.
Only half an hour passed and everything was over.
The remark in his exam result was instantly removed which made Jason quite happy.
The test he took right now was more complicated as it involved a few magic devices and the doctor could only detect that Jason had mana eyes but the test wasn't accurate as the graph ran riot with the stage of his mana eyes remaining 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.
Calling another shuttle Jason was brought to 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 only go 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, a soulbond or one of the few beasts used for errands that had either special emblems or specific mana fluctuations radiating from them, saying that this beast was a soulbond to detect.
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.
Scanning a few hundred kilometers around the city's outskirts to prevent even the slightest accident 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 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 high reproductive beasts nearby once they break through a certain threshold.
This helped in order to prevent some beast tides from reaching their city.
However, to protect the city, the security including the hunter-bureaus had to be well developed and armed.
Jason entered the plains territory, while he shuttle drove closer to the transparent dome that came 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 see so far because there was not a single construction obstructing his sight.
Around a kilometer away from the dome, the shuttle stopped and Jason had to leave it after paying the fee.
Walking closer to the dome, Jason noticed 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, and so on around them.
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 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 training 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 did the same thing over a whole week but he was just learning at home because of his blindness.
The middle-aged men as women were the teachers and they were strong enough to save the students in dangerous situations.
Jason was now in front of the dome and touching it Jason felt the huge amount of mana flowing through him.
Stepping through the dome Jason shuddered for a short moment before he was attacked by 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.
For Jason, it looked like everything was alive.
Mana was everywhere 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 seeing that and he wandered around the borders while holding his dagger firmly.
He wasn't completely
on guard but his brain didn't forget, that 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 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 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 beasts.
This was somewhat annoying but even after walking around a whole hour, Jason couldn't find smaller groups.
Thus he decided to give it a try against the smallest one he could find.
A group of three harmless herbivore one-star wild beasts called horned zebras was his target.
They did not attack humans without any reason and eat grass so most hunters let them alife.
Horned zebras were the weakest beasts on the plains, even before the ember rabbits, and were prayed by most carnivores.
Nobody hunted them for credits because it was almost negligible for their credits and they were not used 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 said he shouldn´t.
He knew that the only advantage these horned zebras had was their speed as it was comparable to two-star wild beasts.
More than 100 meters apart from the beasts Jason saw them grazing without noticing his silent approach.
The plains were almost empty as there were not many hiding spots, so Jason had to be as silent as possible.
A single noise and the horned zebras would notice him while Jason hoped that they wouldn't turn around.
Approximately 30 meters apart from them Jason's adrenaline began to soar and he couldn't hear anything because of his throbbing heart.
Each step took an eternity and the moment he crossed the ten-meter range between him and the horned zebras they sensed something amiss.
Turning around one of them saw a young human with something sharp in his hand.
Noticing the danger encroaching it, one horned zebra cried out as it ran away causing the other horned zebras to startle, 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 read and common knowledge.
Most beasts have good senses and could feel danger lurking around them.
While the horned zebra cried out Jason had pushed himself as strong as possible from the ground 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 it being able to react accordingly.
Jason could only see both horned zebras being startled before Jason pierced out with his Jade Iron dagger which was enveloped with a paper-thin mana membrane.
Piercing through one of the horned zebras' chest like butter, its eyes turned dim before it could even cry out in pain.
Blood splattered on Jason´s face, as he shuttered for a second in fright, before he pulled out the dagger, causing another fountain of blood to spout out on him.
His golden pupils brightened 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.
Getting stabbed 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 and only now did Jason realize that he had killed living beings.
Chapter 25: Accepting reality
He was shocked about his own calmness and bloodthirstiness as it felt amazing to have the power about life and death.
But only a second later Jason was frightened as he shuddered violently before vomiting his breakfast and other stomach fluids.
His legs gave in and he looked shocked at the horned zebra corpses while his hands trembled.
The hand around the dagger loosened up and it took him quite some time until he regained his senses.
Jason heard some noises a little bit away from him which helped him distract himself before he saw that a two-star wild beast fanged coyote fought another two-star wild beast scaled wolf for a horned zebra corpse some distance away.
He noticed that this was probably the corpse of the third horned zebra and Jason slowly began to understand that outside the dome the strong ruled while the weak can only hide in misery.
Being at the bottom of the food chain, the horned zebras were considered prey of all carnivore beasts, while five star wild beasts were the strongest in this wild zone with the exception of humans.
Before, Jason was also seen as a nuisance and useless because he was blind, even if his theoretical results were more than excellent.
Everybody knew that knowledge was important but what is the use of it when you can't survive against the weakest beast during beast tides or other accidents.
Relying on others? Don't kid yourself.
There are only a few humans who care about strangers and even fewer with enough strength to help them.
Jason started thinking and a sudden thought appeared in his head
`The rules of the jungle don´t solely apply outside the dome.`
Jason noticed that the whole society including the government and federation system was built according to one's strength.
The stronger one was, the higher was his or her position.
Excluding the fact that some strong humans didn't have and leading or managing abilities which made them useless as executives, humanity was still relatively well off, compared to 300 years ago
Sometimes powerhouses understood their shortcomings, turning them to step back for more knowledgeable authorities but that wasn't always the case and it was still unknown how safe laws were if one was weak.
It was the same with his mother's death.
He received some credits but Jason doubted that the mysterious heir was punished for killing innocent humans.
Jason understood one thing for sure.
If he wanted to live his life without getting forced to do something he didn't want to, Jason had to get stronger--fast.
Without relying on somebody else that could throw him away any moment, Jason's mindset changed slowly.
Greg was a friend to Jason but he had to understand that he couldn't believe everyone naively.
If Greg was a bad person, he could use Jason as a marionette or even worse without receiving any punishment, as long as Greg´s family was powerful enough.
Suppressing his disgust he stored the horned zebra corpse before looking at the fighting two-star wild beasts.
Both were injured and it looked like they were evenly matched.
Jason went closer as the scaled wolf ducked under the coyote's claw in order to bite into its abdomen while using its claws to rip the flesh apart.
He saw this and began to rush towards the two which were a few dozen meters apart.
His speed was slower than before because he didn't use any mana to reinforce his lower body as he had used up a lot of it previously.
There was only a little mana in his core left to make a quick stride.
The coyote which was now heavily injured gripped the wolf with its front legs to bite in its shoulder while it used its hind legs to slash at the wolf's lower body.
Both were now heavily injured as the coyote that layed on the ground noticed a human behind the wolf.
It shrieked out in fear but unfortunately was already too late and the wolf's neck was already pierced by the bloodied dagger.
But the dagger didn't stop there, as the wolf's neck was only an obstacle required to reach the coyote.
Jason could see the beast's fear which caused him to almost hesitat
e before the dagger penetrated the coyote's chest.
Both beasts died without much pain and Jason vomited some gastric fluids before he gathered himself.
He felt still disgusted to kill a living being but the second time was much easier than the first time.
It took him only a few seconds to regain his senses before he picked up the two two-star beast carcasses and the third horned zebra corpse which laid only a few meters away from the small battlefield as he looked out for a Tree which he climbed up.
Not many beasts were able to climb up trees in this one-star wild stone except a few four and five-star wild beasts in the core areas.
Jason was at the outskirts of the wild zone and extremely close to the dome but the dense mana he felt was perfectly fit for him to replenish his mana.
It took him no time until his Mana was replenished.
He had enough time to think about many things like his attitude towards beasts, how he fought, and which flaws he made during the short fight.
The biggest problem was his mental state but this would only last for a few more fights until he made up his mind.
Following this Jason went down the three and searched for more one-star beasts.
He wanted to use the one-star wild beasts to clear his mind before he would try fighting two-star wild beasts.
His dagger was sharp enough to penetrate all kinds of wild beasts and Jason focused his mana consumption on his lower body to look after his speed.
Following this, a few hours passed until the sun went down and Jason went into the dome again with clothes full of blood.
Jason attacked another three small one-star wild beast groups but he killed only four beasts because one time he made a noise missing his timing while another try caused him to almost die as he was almost crushed by the one-star bison he attacked.
But Jason found out something important.
His eyes the closer a beast was to him the easier it was for Jason to predict where he would be attacked.
It was still a theory but Jason found his eyes more and more interesting which made him curious.
'What special eyes did my mother have and are my eyes a mutation from her eyes or is there something else I don't know about them? I doubt these eyes are normal mana eyes.'
