Ch-31 Ancient Barrier

They left Paradise Spring and headed in a northern direction. Jasper said ," We are headed the wrong way. I checked this route before so I know there is no path forward.

It's a dead end. "

"Jasper, let this be my first lesson. Never believe everything just by what you see. Most of the times the truth is hidden much deeper and is entirely something else.

"What do you mean??!"

"You will know very soon." Julian continued charging forward while Jasper and the lynx followed after him. The path forward became more denser as they kept moving forward until it reached a point where the trees joined together to form a dense area through which travelling practically impossible. The trees were so packed as if trying to forming a wall intentionally."

"Jasper, I want to know the first thing that comes to your mind looking at this dense area?"

"Why are the trees so dense, its like they are trying to form a wall of some sort. But that's just my wild imagination, right?"

"It's a barrier. "

Julian's inner thoughts:

' Taking Jasper as a student was a spur of a moment decision. It was a rare moment when I was overcome by my feelings and made the proposal, but the other reason was due the signals my instincts were sending.

My instincts were shouting to take him as my first student. I am not sure whether it was the right call, but not making the decision might have cost me a very big opportunity.

However, not knowing his mental, magical and physical abilities worries and excites me at the same time.

The excitement due to the chance to witnessing his rapid growth which would be fun to watch and worry because if his capabilities were below what I expect than he will have to stop being my first student .

It is a matter of my pride and reputation.

My first student has to be the best or else I will be ashamed of myself. Hmm, I need to test this boy at every instance I get to gauge his true potential and figure out if he is worth teaching. It will also help me formulate a training regiment suitable for him.

Jasper its going to be a tough route ahead for you, but at the end lies something beautiful you desperately which will change your life forever.'

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Jasper's eyes widen in realization as he was reminded of the restrictive force Jennifer used to stop. She had used a particular spell that formed a barrier to restrict Jaspers movements.

Julian quietly observed Jasper's expression while he disabled the barrier explaining its working to Jasper, " There are variety of barriers which can be setup with different methods. For this barrier, an array formation has been used. Its easy to notice because the source of energy for the barrier is the nature 's natural energy instead of a Magic Wielder's mana.

Such a barrier will last as long as the array formation is not tampered with or its source of energy finishes. There are other kinds of barriers like, the' Limited Barrier ' that lasts for a limited amount of time before getting dissipated and lose its form."

Jasper know had a shallow understanding of how Jennifer caged him.

Julian continued, " Disabling a self-sustaining barrier is easy but the difficulty lies is the time consumption. Every barrier has weak spots which was must be found by meticulously searching the whole barrier.

By targeting these weakened spots the barrier becomes unstable eventually breaking it. There are other methods of breaking barriers, but you are capable of using only this method at the moment.

Of course, absolute and overwhelming strength does not need to depend on these methods and do not face any challenges no matter their circumstances. That's why its known as Absolute Strength. "

"If a barrier was setup, then there must be a very important reason for it to be here?"

"Your statement rings true and my senses tell me a very a strong and ferocious beast is living here."

"Then, we should avoid breaking this barrier and find another path forward."

" No, this is the only way we can leave EverAwake Jungle. Also, in-front of superior strength everything becomes meaningless. Let me show you glimpse of it."

Julian brandished his fist and punched out at the barrier with a lot of strength. The barrier couldn't handle such immense power and broke like the shattering of glass.

A single punch broke off the ancient barrier that had been standing for ages. The dense coverage that lasted for ages had been cut into two parts exposing the clean and freshness of the hidden jungle.

But, that was not all that happened, the trees and surroundings experienced a similar fate as a scary wind picked up and the trees were uprooted from their roots, a few beasts met with a tragic ending, the lynx was luckily not one of these beasts and held on to Jasper for dear life fighting off the terrifying force with its small body .

Jasper was forced to sit down on his knees trying to save himself from getting crushed.

The terrifying force stopped only after Julian protected Jasper, lynx and the surroundings by negating his own force, "Oops, I used a little too much of my strength. Sorry about that."

"You think so??!"

Jasper wanted to complain for the scare had to endure but his current surroundings took priority.

The ancient barrier that had been blocking this hidden area had been broken. Now a new landscape was visible and a way to move forward. The sight in-front of him was not that special in-fact the view of Paradise Spring was much better, but Jasper still treasured the sight after witnessing all the dense and thick forests for the last few hours.

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Jasper had become a killing machine.

Julian did not let Jasper rest just because they had found an hidden area, they treaded through this area untouched by humans for ages which was more dangerous than the EverAwake Jungle known to the Outside World( Arcane World).

Because this region had been isolated from EverAwake Jungle due to some mysterious reasons, the creatures that could be found here were considered rare even in the Arcane World. Just selling their bodies was enough to earn a great fortune.

Jasper didn't know anything about this and although Julian knew these facts, his intention for entering this ancient and hidden area were unknown.

Whatever may be his intentions, after meeting Jasper, Julian used the hidden area to train and make him accustomed to physical strength of the Arcane World, perhaps too accustomed.

Whenever they encountered a beast Julian would order, " Kill the beast." He ignored the creatures that did not bother them , but Jasper had to kill every beast that dared to block their path forward.

Jasper had lost count of the number of creatures he had already killed and the types ranged from Black Bear, Leopard, Tigers, Chimpanzee and many more he couldn't recall.

Jasper cut a bloody path through the hidden forest for 5 days as he killed every beast that dared to stop them. Not all fights were easy with some of them being even life-threatening.

Just as the fifth day came to an end it occurred.

As the sun was about to disappear and the moon was getting ready to arrive. Jasper was tired after fighting beasts continuously for the whole day and was relieved upon seeing the sun setting because Julian had promised that he could stop killing beasts only after sunset.

But that's when the real problem started.

A black bear with a height of about 10-feet came in-front of them, blocking their path. Jasper was astonished, scared and then looked at Julian with pleading eyes.

Julian looked closely at the black bear determining its race, strength and current strength. His thoughts were:

'This is a bear with black colour fur and from the way its moving, I would guess that it is from the Gravity clan that specializes in using Gravity Magic possessing a very strong body believed to be unbreakable.

It would have been another matter if a Gravity Clan Black Bear King appeared, but this is just a clan member. Although the black bears of EverHidden Jungle( the hidden area in the EverGreen Jungle, Jasper and Julian currently are in. ) could be different from the ones in the Arcane World. Based on its aura and mana readings, Jasper should be able to deal with it, albeit might prove to be difficult to deal with and may even lose his life.

But if he ends up dying here, then he would never be able to bear the position of being 'My Number 1' disciple. Anyways, my disciple has to be able to face all challenges head on and emerge victorious. Best of luck, Jasper.'