God's Eyes 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.