Errecting the Barrier

Everyone were surprised by the sudden alarm and when they looked around they saw Pheonix standing there with a sheepish grin and scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry, I might have triggered the alarm by taking down the protective barrier around the Academy father."

"You what!!!!? How can you.....? It's impossible...!!!!"

Both Simon and Wesley were shocked. The ladies looked puzzled and Fiona looked Exited.

"Is it impossible to do that father? Wow, my brother can do impossible things. You are awesome brother."

Pheonix smiled at his sister's exited words.

Suddenly the huge gate started to creak open and more than Thirty horse mounted middle aged men and women rode out looking in all the direction, ready to use their magical power at a moments notice if necessary.

Simon sighed and started to speak loudly. " Hello everyone, we are sorry to cause you trouble. It was not an attack on the Academy. It was, he turned towards Pheonix disbelief clear on his face. It was my son who unintentionally triggered the alarm. "

The retinue stopped infron of them. Noticing the emblem on the carriage, they were surprised. A middle-aged sturdy looking man who was infront of the group got down from the horse walked a few steps and inclined his head to Simon and Wesley.

"Greetings sir Dragonheart's. Are you sure it was the doing of the boy?" Disbelief clear in his expression. "How can someone at the age of 15 able to do it? It's absolutely impossible."

Magical abilities generally will be awakened at the age of 17. And he had never heard of anyone having the ability awakened earlier than that. Rumors said and documented that there were a rare few incidents where over a period of thousands of years, a couple of people had awakened their magical ability at the age of 15 or 16.

"Yes sir, it was my doing. I was curious about the mana fluctuations all around the area. Unable to control my curiosity, I activated the alarm. Please forgive my lack of understandingand manners." Pheonix bowed deeply at the group of people he was facing.

Although everyone felt shocked by the news of a 15 year old boy able to use magic and can even sense the mana around him, they were impressed by his honesty and humble nature. Everyone looked at each other and nodded their head.

The middle aged man who was standing infront of his father looked at him curiously. "Lad, were you able to feel the mana fluctuation?" When Pheonix nodded his head in confirmation, he continued. " How did you took down the defensive barrier kid?"

Pheonix scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "It was not so difficult. I just pulled it down that's all."

"You did what.....!!!!?" Almost all Thirty of the people asked in disbelief, their mouths hanging down in astonishment. Fiona felt their expression comical and giggled.

"Yes, I just pulled and it came apart. If you want I will errect it back. Let me know what condition you want me to put while errecting the barrier please."

All the people including his parents and grandparents were looking at him dumbfounded. The only one who looked proud and as confident as Pheonix himself was, Fiona.

Out of extreme curiousity and looking at the confident face of the boy, the middle aged man said, " Kid, the Academy is spread over an area of 3 mile radius. Do you know how much energy you require to create a simple barrier for such a vast area?"

"3 Miles, Pheonix though for a few seconds, walked towards the wall and placed both his hands on it. The sudden outburst of magic from the young man made others gasp. The feeling was like a sudden outburst of wind destroying everything on its path. Uprooting huge trees, and even boulders. But in this case it was not destroying anything but was creating a protective barrier around the Academy.

From their point, they could make out the translucent barrier falling into place. A dome forming all around the stone wall and then it continued to flow onto the ground. The complete process took 15 minutes.

Pheonix then wiped the sweat from his forehead. " Phew..... It took more energy that what I initally thought. It would have been easy if I were in the center of the ground."

But Pheonix noticed that there were no voice around him. When looked around after wiping his sweat, he saw everyone looking at him, as if they saw some kind of a catastrophic level monster. Their mouth were hanging open and eyes looked like they could pop out at any moment.

"Im... Imposible !!!! It needs atleast 5 S-Rank adventures or our headmaster to cast such a barrier. How can you...." The man was unable to complete his sentence. Before anyone can say anything, they heard a voice from behind them.

"Well done Pheonix, I thought Bulan was exaggerating about his disciple but I think the old man was underplaying your abilities." A new voice sounded from the back of the crowd.

Hearing this voice, everyone lept down from their horses, made way and bowed deeply to an old man. Who looked like someone similar to Pheonix's grandfather's age.

"Headmaster...!!! "

Both Wesley and Simon bowed deeply to the old man, who walked towards them.

Pheonix was suddenly taken aback by the aura of the old man. It was close to what he felt from his teacher. After showing his respect to the headmaster, Pheonix looked at the old man again. " Headmaster, may I ask you something?"

"Ask away my boy." The old man happily came next to the boy and patted his back.

"Did you and Master Bulan studied together? Did both of you had the same master?"

The laughter from the old man that followed Pheonix's question made everyone look at him with surprise. After calming down, the old man smiled at Pheonix and asked.

"How could you say that lad?"

"Both your's and Master Bulan's aura feels similar. His aura have a slight force around it but your's feels calm. As calm as a pond ."

The smile widened on the old man's face. "You are right my boy. We grew up together and had the same master. Infact we were like brothers. As you said, his aura had a bit of force in it as he usually prefer to be in the wilderness and had to deal with many beasts. And as you can see, I live amongst humans peacefully."

"Well, I can see the barrier being errected flawlessly. But you had not yet activated it. May I ask why?"

"We need to define a condition headmaster. People who meets the condition would only be able to enter it."

"Is that so.....! So." Bulan had taught you that skill also?

"No headmaster, I learnt it myself observing the barrier he had errected around his house. And this was a kind of graduation test he assigned me." Pheonix said with an embarrassed look.

"Hmmmm..... Ok, assume I want only people having the magic inside them to enter? Can we do that?"

"Yes headmaster. I can make it allow only people with magical ability to enter. I can also make people with only certain level of magic ability to enter and block others with higher level of magical abilities."

The thirty or so people behind the old man gawked at him. Unable to believe his words.

"Ok boy. Give a condition where, only people without magic could enter and we will test it. We have some time before people starts coming in for the admission. I believe almost all of us her except the ladies from your family have magic."

Pheonix noded and touched the stone wall again and closed his eyes, after a few seconds, a tremmer ran down the translucent dome and the dome became invisible. Pheonix stepped back and nodded.

"Now lets test your handy work lad. Ladies if you may." The old man inclined his head and gestured the three ladies from the Dragonheart family to walk through the gates. They passed easily without a slightest difficulty.

"Please step back a bit further ladies." The old man instructed them.

Then he gestured the group of people behind him to enter. When they started to walk, their movements were halted at the gate. They found a translucent barrier blocking them. They all turned towards the Headmaster in surprise.

"How strong is the barrier you created boy?" The old man asked Pheonix.

After thinking for a few seconds he answered. " Master Bulan once tried to breach my barrier for 12 hours straight and failed."

"Amazing!!! Truely amazing...!!!"

The old man clapped his hand and walked to the gate. Everyone gave way. Gathering enormous amount of energy in his hand he tried to punch the barrier. It simply absorbed the shock. It was as flexible as a baloon.

"Ok lad deactivate it for now. We will workout on the condition and activate it later. Come everyone. It's almost time for people to start coming in for the first day. Lets not stay here and attract attention."

"And everyone let's keep what happened here a secret. As I am familiar with this type of barrier magic, I will get the input from the boy and activate the barrier myself. I don't want anyone to blabber around understood?"

Everyone nodded their head and bowed again before mounting onto their horses, gave a curious glance at the boy and trotted back inside the academy.