Chapter 8 - 7. The Red of Amber Eyes
The Borderland; an even more treacherous area than the red-zone.
Zen might not know much about history, but he at least knew that the zones in this continent were determined based on how safe they were. And that safety was determined by the presence of towers and temples that came down after the Age of the Apocalypse. Like a beacon, the towers and temples got rid of the miasma and prevented dungeons from forming.
But the further the area was from these beacons, the weaker the purification effect. The accumulated miasma would be more persistent, and dungeons would form more frequently. Usually, the influence range of these towers and temples would be enough to cover each other. But sometimes, there was just an area where the influence was so thin that it was barely adequate for humans to live in. And that was the red-zone.
But these pitiful red-zones, which were equivalent to slums, really, were still preferable to the place called Borderland.
No, it wasn't a border between areas or states.
It was the border between where humans could live and couldn't. It was the land in front of the area choked full of miasma and where the beasts ran rampant; the Deathzone, the leftover territory of the beast since the Age of Apocalypse where the power of towers and temples could not reach.
The Borderland, in another word, was the frontier safeguarding the human's territory from the beasts.
And that was where Zen headed off to.
In the continent where he lived, there were three Borderlands; the north, west, and east. Since Zen lived in the Eastern Federation, his destination was set to the eastern Borderland.
As a frontier, the Borderland was somewhat similar to the red-zone; it was a place where suicidal mercenaries, unwanted ran away, and criminals on parole gathered. Half of them were there against their will, and the other half were there because they had no choice.
Zen headed there because his fake license wouldn't get scrutinized there.