"Where was the promised stroll?"
Cain dashed forward, boots skidding across slick ice.
One turn, then another.
He weaved through skeletal trees, his movements light as a snowflake in the storm.
Flight magic? Worst. Idea. Ever.
'This is what I'm talking about. Actual learning is really different from those e-books.'
Going back a few minutes midflight, he felt gazes upon gazes piled up.
'That's nothing, maybe the long distance cameras? Er… Curious animal perhaps?'
Assuming the cold numbed their instincts, he confidently flew like a free bird.
"What's that smell?"
"Meat! Meat!"
As if speaking, feathered creatures caught a scent of succulent meat and flew up one by one and swarmed en masse.
'Ten. A hundred. Aren't these birds being too eager?'
Beams shot out from his firearms. Fast, precise and with minimal movements.
Modern fireballs — short, sharp plasma bursts.
The smartest of them all charged straight in from the front — a bird nearly two meters wide.
Fortification — flesh and bones had become tough as forged steel.
Each casting needed no incantation, thanks to technological firearms.
Slamming into the small skull of the predatory bird with his elbow — its cranium fractured, caved, and shattered.
With a skull-splitting crack, sloshes of brain matter spew all around.
The ragtag crowd of birds, each with different sizes and colors cawed and tore apart the flesh of the fallen.
Cain watched the chaos with keen interest.
'Nature is so amazing.'
Eyes sharp, he looked forward.
'Someone was looking at him, but where?'
"Hey! Why sneak around if you're so strong!?"
Feigning bravery, Cain shouted to call back the attention of the birds.
Squinting, an undiscernible gleam flashed, his intuition buzzed.
Night stretched every second.
Cain's heels pivoted left, then a sharp object came to view.
'Is… Is that a claw?'
A hundred centimeters — a lethal distance.
A killer's eyes, snow as white as fur, and rows of razor teeth.
'Magical beast? Too careless!'
Obscured by the snow and concealed by ice, a leopard lunged — target, Cain's neck arteries.
'Parry? Shoot? Dodge? Would my bullets even pierce that hide?'
He sidestepped left — the leopard's eyes followed.
Midair, the cat adjusted its orientation.
Fifty centimeters.
The acrid stench of the beast blew into his face.
Cain glanced left. The predator's eyes tracked him again.
Twenty centimeters.
A jaw opens wide, about drawing blood.
Cain slid left — bait.
Boots squealing across the ice and tundra, frost scattering in every direction.
He pivoted sharply right — a tight crossover.
The leopard missed by a hair.
Feline crashed to the avian flock, its hisses a clear sign of struggle.
Watching the scuffle and the beaks that pecked the fur of the bad cat, Cain stifled his laughter.
'Aimed for wool, came back sheared. Literally!'
Deodorize. Light Manipulation. Silence. Heat Cloak. — No hand seals. No rituals. Just modern magic.
Smell eliminated, his body was obfuscated, sound vibrations were slowly muffled and eliminated. A shell of mist covered his perspiration and heat. — Mankind had come far in six hundred years.
'I think there's more to history, who knows?'
Magic of men relied on four things — calories, mental stamina, and physical endurance.
The most important — magicule density on one's body.
Cain knew his limits. At most, half an hour before fatigue hit him.
Pausing on a thick branch, he pulled out a tube and sipped on the gel ration.
'Licorice, taste's bittersweet.'
Bittersweet — like the memories it stirred.
Minutes crawled, shrieks once filling the air faded into snowy stillness.
Far sight. Echo Location.
In the distance, a cat with a bird on its back was a clear winner.
'Let's play it safe for now, maybe that bird would only be an appetizer.'
Leaning against a tree, he cleansed himself by vaporizing the sweat and sebum.
Intensifying his light manipulation, he started checking out his terminal.
Glancing at the news for a bit, Cain decided to check out the Trifecta Association page.
[Trifecta Job Association: No man is too powerful to not have another job!]
[Updated Requirements:]
[10 Gold Coins]
[Magi-ores 100 kilograms (Poor Quality - Inferior)]
[Shardling core (Usable quality - Intact)]
[Last Updated: June 6,669 of God-slaying Calendar.]
"Isn't this a year ago? Grandpa told me… Inflation, I think? It makes money less valuable. Isn't the Trifecta Association to generous then? Really sus."
Living frugally, one could survive a year with one gold.
'I need to save up, I don't want to eat this jelly paste for the rest of my life.'
Remembering the map, he should encounter at least four spots where these shardlings dwell.
Up ahead stood the Borderwall, impossible to miss with its nonstop barrage. Using it as a compass, he decided it was best to arrive during the day.
"Time's up."
Striding forward, he didn't dare fly anymore.
He moved forward — pace silent, steady as he passed by a mutated animal.
Drawing closer and closer to the first destination, he felt a blistering prick despite being in a wintry field.
"Terminal, scan my vitals."
[Anomaly Detected]
[Radiation Level: 510]
"Figures."
Radiation Shielding protected his cells from further damage while Cell Purge — remove contaminated cells and sweated them out as blood.
'This cell purge hurts like hell despite all that training.'
Animals become weirder and weirder as Cain examined them thoroughly.
He crouched to get a closer look at the animal — a small shivering rat.
Eyeballs blinked from every inch of its trembling skin, its translucent body displayed its beating organs.
'Should I keep this thing as a pet? Those big eyes are begging for adoption.'
Recalling the old man's words about responsibility, he walked on, though he kept glancing back at the creature.
Drawing closer to the location, more and more grotesque creatures feasted Cain's eyes.
'A fir tree! This would look good during Chrisma — '
The tree swayed — Splat!
A two-headed, six-legged hog was pulped before Cain's eyes. Roots wriggled through the blood, which dried too fast, and the meat was drawn into the earth as if the soil itself were drinking.
Cain couldn't help but gulp and glance at the tree. Blood still dripped from its pristine green leaves like a murder weapon.
'Oh no! Another — yuck what's that?'
Two pairs of bird-like wings, a body of hairless and featherless pulsating mass of flesh. Its base, a mass of writhing amalgamation of tentacles. Rot and disease festered to its awkwardly sprouted mandibles.
The tree gave it no attention, as if disgusted by its presence. Cain figured even trees had their limits.
Walking away with a grimace from the scene, Cain turned away, he'd seen enough grotesquery for one day.
Treading slowly, the billowing ice started to die down, a cliff face came into view.
A sound of clangs echoed through the distance, as Cain approached. A small vehicle and a man could be seen in the distance.
'Looks like that man is out here to make money.'