Chapter 1: Hidden Dangers

(AD 3000: 9th Domain, division 33, outer base perimeter, 13:46pm)

Slash! A sharp whistling sound could be heard as a worn out but still functioning magnetic dagger was brought down a strange beast. Having the head of a dog and largely enlongated teeth with a body that looked like a goat this strange mutated beast currently looked like the bastard child from the unholy union of a dog and goat. Howling in fury and covered in blood, dirt and grime the dog-goat beast provided a stark contrast to the handsome man currently facing it.

Covered in a battered and mostly patched anti-magnetic suit that reached up to the neck, Blade used a triple knife skill on a mutated beast that attacked him. This mutated beast had long since lost it's calmness and mostly attacked with rage powered but well calculated blows.

Face to face with this savage and mutated beast, Blade felt the tiredness of today's scavenging seep into his bones even as he focused his concentration on the beast before him. He had been trudging through this yellow zone for a very long time now and didn't know how many savage mutated animals he had encountered. But this one seemed to be a tad bit annoying. Battling a mutated beast that could go beserk at the end of it's life was bad, but one that could still retain most of its intelligence was worse.

Making a quick feint to the left, he pushed up some of the loose sand with his right foot while also using his right hand to shoot a very little black dart through the dirt in the air. Of course, the beast had other methods of senses other than the sense of sight. It quickly reacted to the feint and jumped over the sand but in doing so, it exposed its belly to the hidden dart. In just a split second, the beast stiffened and that was all Blade needed. A straight jab to it's skull ended the poor beast's life. Panting a bit, he started to move as this was just a normal thing in his daily activities.

This was the least and not too powerful scavenging grounds that his strength could carry. Being just a shackle breaker didn't give him much edge over mortals in this post apocalyptic world, rather most shackle breakers had to scavenge for the resources they needed to upgrade their class.

He was already familiar with most of the habits and habitats of some special animals that had been marked as deadly by the SAA especiallly the ones that were almost meant to be in the Orange zone. Yet, his body was already covered with bruises and gruesome slash marks due to the sheer number of mutated animals he met on his way. He just couldn't avoid them even after mapping an area because of the strange migrating patterns among these beasts. It had only been a decade since there was a worldwide magnetic storm and humans did not have enough time to make notes of the migration patterns of all mutated animals.

All of these seemed inconsequential to Blade as all of a sudden, he stopped and listened attentively for about three seconds, then with a systematic method of movement, the same dagger shot out from his left hand, a sharp wooden like spear was thrown further to the right and he had jumped up with an anti-magnetic rifle that he had drawn out from the strap at his back. His aim while in the air was frighteningly accurate on the animal coming in the distance.

Swoosh!

The blade got to the animal first. It ducked it's head low and rolled over but ended up being pierced by the spear through it's legs. In anger, it jumped out of the shrubbery it was using as camouflage and shook its head from side to side to dislodge the spear head but was met face to face with the well trained rifle.

BANG!

Blade shot the mutated leopard down to the ground. It's howl got stuck in it's throat before it died.

Such precision and timing! The calculations were all simulated in Blade's head four times within a two seconds before he decided to take action. This was done in a fluid manner which showed that he had been doing something of the sort constantly to the point of instinct.

Not all superhumans had extraordinary mental abilities like Blade. Even before becoming a Class I, shackle breaker, he had been calculating like this. Only his breakthrough to superhuman had improved his cognition to about four times faster. There were times he had detested calculating because his dad used to force him to. Now that same calculation was his helper.

Without sitting down to rest, Blade continued his journey before savage animals that are attracted by the smell of blood from the dead leopard's body come looking for easy meat.

That would be a serious headache to deal with. Imagine being surrounded by lots of mutated beasts! Crap!!! It's better to stop thinking about it lest he jinx himself.

After making a number of turns, his face broke into a relieved smile!

He had found it!!!

Yes he finally found it!

The magnetic pulse detector on his arm had picked up an unusually large magnetic field previously which had prompted him in this direction. It was amazing to find out that it was an item that looked old, worn out and broken Blade had fought for so many hours for. It was definitely a wreck of a fuel pump but Blade knew that so long as he could salvage what's left and take it to base, he would get 50 black Magnetic tokens for getting an item from the pre-magnetic era!

Why did he need to scavenge for these things? Well it was because the SAA discovered that every time a normal object of the pre-magnetic era was gathered together and refined continuously, they could get rid of the Earth's magnetic field around an area using special machines.

The purified magnetic objects were used as a power source for the machines and were also used for a variety of purposes.

As Blade finished unearthing the half buried fuel pump, his magnetic pulse detector picked up another strong signal nearby.

Blade grew excited, this was such a lucky haul he was going to get today!

Immediately he was done with the fuel pump, he added an anti-magnetic film on the body of the fuel pump so that it's magnetic energy wouldn't dissipate. The anti-magnetic film cost just 2 Black Magnetic tokens so it wasn't a stretch to wrap up a magnetic source of 50 black Magnetic tokens.

Then he moved forward in search of the object that radiated such strong magnetic energy. As he got closer, his hair began to stand on end. This was a feeling of discomfort or danger but could also be interpreted as his own excitement. But from Blade's experience, he felt that it could be danger from the intense magnetic field which could hurt him. So he activated his suit's anti-magnetic shield.

Pop!

A thin film of energy popped out and spread over him. This prevented his skin from coming into contact with magnetic energy directly.

All of a sudden, his eyes widened in delight! What was that in front of him?

It looked like……. the remains of a military grade jeep!

Blade looked up to the sky and laughed, the heavens were really good to him today.

Now he just had to sit back and enjoy the rest of the month without scavenging. His efforts had rewarded him and surely he would get more than 1000 black Magnetic tokens!

Meanwhile at his blind spot there was movement in the grass, and a small black head rose up slowly. The vertical slits for eyes gave this animal away. A mutated snake!

Blade was feeling on top of the world at this moment. His brain started whirring about and making calculations and at the end of it all he laughed whimsically like a mad man.

Do you know what level of supplies he would be qualified to buy from now on? 

All those weapons he couldn't access, the body suit he was in need of, the...

All of a sudden from the corner of his eye, he saw something black extending towards him, his reaction was very fast as he quickly dodged and used the tree branch over head to pull himself up.

Before he could complete his actions, he felt gravity pulling him down. The earth's gravity around him had suddenly increased.

"Sh*t" Blade cursed as he let go of the tree branch and with well practiced movements, began flailing about to balance his centre of gravity. Once he stabilised himself somewhat, he sliped out a small button like device from a pouch on his hips and activated it.

Instantly, a small Magnetic energy dispersing domain formed around him and allowed him to counter the gravity pulling him.

Before he could celebrate, he saw something huge out of the corner of his eyes,

"What the f**k!" Blade nearly screamed.