5 The Forbidden Territory

After two days of traveling across lush forests and tall mountains at a speed that made horses look nothing more than a joke, Kirk's group began to notice a strange phenomenon manifest itself in their surroundings. It could be found everywhere from trees to rivers; even the air started to smell differently. It felt as though something was interfering with their five senses, sending chills down their spines.

One of the officers finally couldn't keep up with the sensory overload and collapsed on the ground, alerting everyone else.

"Halt!" Hezekiah commanded, and the small, mobile army soon set up a camp.

The squad of clerics didn't find the situation surprising as they calmly walked up to those with similar symptoms and helped them get back to their feet.

Kirk experienced occasional bouts of dizziness, but it was something he could deal with on his own. At the same time, his body constantly went through a cycle of intense cold and heat, making him wish he really were unconscious. Much to his relief, the torture did not last long, and he soon felt normal.

"Take a deep breath and feel the river of energy that flows through you."

Suddenly, Kirk heard a familiar voice.

"Master?"

He looked around.

"Just do as I say."

Kirk was a little shocked to hear someone's else voice in his head for the first time. But knowing that no danger was present, he quickly calmed down, though a bit confused about his master's intentions.

Back at the Regal Phoenix Academy, they attended lectures on cultivation stages. Everyone knew from an early age that the most important thing in cultivation was to lay a solid foundation, which for the vast majority of them consisted of two stages: opening the 256 chakra points and connecting them into a single entity, also known as the Etheric Body.

It was simple on paper, but the execution was difficult, as all the kids were eventually bound to realize. Every step required a lot of mental energy and a proportionate amount of time. Halifax would sometimes joke that the greatest enemy most of the students would face was not a dragon or any other legendary beast, but simply – puberty.

In fact, the number of promising youths, who encountered their first bottleneck and failed in their cultivation during that period, was recorded in history books as the most disheartening one, left as a reminder for future generations.

Kirk took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and soon misty images of every color in the world started to flash through his mind. He immediately noticed that the precision with which he could see them skyrocketed since his last cultivation session. Now he could discern strange patterns in their behavior, which gave them a whole new layer of depth and meaning, best described with the word 'profound'.

After observing the images for a while, he noticed strange marks as if someone accidentally spilled ink on a beautiful painting, ruining it in the process. There was no end to them, and they seemed to become more dense and numerous as one traveled deeper into the Forbidden Territory.

"Haven't you seen enough?" His master's voice rang in his head. It sounded distant, seemingly on the verge of dissipating. "Don't... look at it for too long."

Kirk stopped meditating and opened his eyes; the world looked the same as before. "What happened?" His mind was in slight disarray.

"It's good that you recovered so quickly."

Kirk could hear the voice much more clearly this time.

"Master, can you hear me?" he asked mentally.

"Let me explain first. What you saw was the true essence of elemental energy, its ultimate manifestation. But you should already be aware of it."

"As for why your head feels so heavy, well, I think you should know the answer to this question as well."

Kirk heard the last sentence from somewhere behind him as a hand soon reached to grab his shoulder. He quickly turned his head and saw his master standing there.

"It's the Forbidden Territory," Halifax sat down on the ground next to Kirk and began to explain. "Nature was shaken off its balance and disfigured beyond recognition in the deepest parts of these lands, which makes it harder for us—those who can control elemental energy—to tap into its resources. For example, if a mortal came here, he wouldn't necessarily feel any different than anywhere else."

Just as he was about to continue, Kirk's voice interrupted him.

"Master."

"Yes?"

"What is the likelihood that my father is still alive?" Kirk stared deep into the monk's white eyes, looking for answers.

"All I can tell you," Halifax said in a calm voice after a moment of silence, "is that you need to concentrate on things you can control. The rest is up to fate."

"I... understand." Kirk was somewhat dissatisfied with the answer.

The bald monk nodded and said, "There are still lots of things you need to learn before you can become a real expert. For example, the mysterious energy core inside you. Why is it that you almost died on that platform? Do you know the answer? Or, would you believe if I told you that there are experts that don't have the Profound Core and can still crush you without moving a finger?"

"Master, of course, I would believe you. Actually, I've heard of such people. It was my father who told me. He said that they are too few and far between."

The monk didn't look surprised at all.

He sighed and said after a moment of hesitation, "Your father sure knows a lot of things. He has lived for centuries, after all. If truth be told, he may be even older than me. Fifty years ago, when he first came to the city, he was already an expert on my level. As for what he was doing before that, only heaven knows."

"I... didn't know." Kirk stared at the monk with a shocked expression on his face. "Why didn't he tell me..."

"Not many know of his past. Not even the City Lord himself is aware of everything that happens inside the city walls, to say nothing about the rest of the world. After tens of years, hundreds of years, or even thousands of years, you will forget most of your past. The people you met, the things you did, it all sinks into oblivion in the end... But, I digress, haha!"

"So my father is actually this old..." This information was a bit hard for Kirk to process. He thought his father was less than a hundred years old. His master, for example, has lived for more than seven centuries, which made him the oldest expert in the city. And now this person was telling him that there was someone even older, and it was his father?

"What about my mother?" Kirk suddenly asked.

"Hmm," the blind monk furrowed his brows in thought and then said, "I haven't personally met her, but... I think she was much younger than me."

"Mother..." Kirk reached out his hand to touch the grey, knitted scarf that hung around his neck. He always took it off whenever he was traveling or fighting, but here on the road, surrounded by dangers from all sides, he couldn't help but put it on.

All of a sudden, Kirk realized that it was difficult for him to remember his mother's face. How long was it since he last saw her? How many years have passed in continuous training and fighting? He hastily reached into his spatial ring and pulled out a pendant, similar to the one on his wrist. But this time, there was a portrait of a woman in her thirties, no less beautiful.

Unlike Kathryn, she had shoulder-length blonde hair and dark blue eyes, while her smile was the warmest thing in the world. He took a deep breath, recalling his master's previous words.

The monk noticed that it wasn't the best time to continue with their conversation and postponed it for a later time.

Hezekiah waited for everyone to recover—something they always had to go through after entering the Forbidden Territories—and gave a command to continue the expedition.

***

The deeper they went, the more difficult their path became. This was not because of the strange atmosphere but because of the fact that they had to constantly fight off the ferocious beasts. To their relief, after recovering, the officers felt much better. No more headaches or other symptoms, as if they had acquired immunity.

The beasts came in all shapes and sizes; some even possessed human intelligence and could speak human language. Unfortunately, no one listened to them as Hezekiah and his officers mercilessly massacred them en masse. Kirk and his squad didn't slack off either as they arranged themselves into a six-man tactical formation and swept through the enemy lines.

After taking the pill, Kirk noticed that his body and soul became more stable, making it easier for him to control the energy he possessed. Now, whenever he activated his Profound Core, the energy would evenly spread throughout his body without harming it and significantly increasing his strength. If he so chose, the energy could burst out of his body at any moment, obliterating his enemies on the spot.

"More than half a day has passed since we entered these God-forsaken lands. A few more miles, and we are there. Push!" Hezekiah shouted while leading his squad of high-ranked officers.

Everyone felt the blood boil in their veins as they followed their commander and continued the carnage. After less than half an hour, all the beasts were killed and their bodies stored into spatial rings. Fortunately, none of the officers got seriously injured during the battle.

"Still no news from the other group?" Hezekiah asked.

"I haven't received any messages for a while now," Peregrine replied gloomily. "Their last confirmed location was two hundred miles to the east."

"Then we have a problem. We cannot wait for them. The longer we stay here, the more beasts will come and exhaust us; it's an endless cycle. We need to preserve our energy for the main battle."

"Enemy at 3 o'clock, get ready!"

Suddenly, the bald monk's voice echoed through the forest. Everyone looked in the direction of the nearest mountain but didn't see anyone.

The mountain looked rather strange, to put it mildly. It was utterly black, and there was no snow visible at its summit, in stark contrast to other similar mountains in the region.

"Halifax?!"

"Underground!"

The earth shook, and the world turned dark.