chapter 11

Seeing his hand covered by a thin layer of ice, Paul felt his whole body filled with happiness. After all, his theory had been correct.

Now the only thing missing was to train a lot to be able to control and improve the magic.

After thinking of a training routine that now adds magic, Paul stopped controlling the magic causing the ice sheet that once covered his hand to quickly disappear.

-Well now that I checked my theory we can have our training match- Paul told Jack as he stretched a little.

-woof- Jack barked excitedly and immediately prepared himself in battle position.

Seeing that, Paul left any thought in his mind and immediately prepared himself in battle position.

Now with both of them ready to start, Jack decided to throw the first blow and ran off in the direction of Paul at a great speed.

Paul was not slow either and improved his body with energy before moving to the side dodging the blow that Jack sent him.

Without wasting time, Paul used his hips to turn and launch a strong spinning kick in the direction of Jack.

Jack quickly jumped dodging the kick and immediately countered using Paul's leg as a support to jump in the direction of Paul's neck to try to bite him.

Paul opened his eyes when he saw that and quickly sent energy to his legs before making a great leap back thus opening the distance between them.

Paul wiped the drop of sweat that was coming down his forehead before smiling and saying - that surprised me, but don't expect it to happen again -

This time Jack did not respond and only remained silent in the distance while watching Paul.

Paul seeing that Jack didn't want to talk. He also decided to remain silent and watch Jack while thinking about his next move.

After a few seconds of watching each other, they disappeared, leaving only smears behind. Shortly after they both appeared in the center of the training camp while Jack repeatedly threw bites and scratches at Paul, but Paul was dodging them all.

Jack was getting a little frustrated at not being able to hit Paul any hit, this caused him to neglect a bit leaving an opening in his defense while trying to scratch Paul with his leg.

Paul quickly dodged the scratch and managed to see the opening he left in the defense of Jack, this was something that Paul would not waste so he quickly counterattacked to throw an uppercut to Jack.

Jack failed to dodge that blow for what it gave him fully. He let out an aching growl upon receiving the blow and was sent through the air.

Paul did not stop with that blow and quickly jumped to position himself on Jack and kick down.

Jack could barely react and bit Paul's leg before turning his body in the air to use Paul's force against him and throw him against the ground.

Paul did not expect Jack to recover so soon and launch a counterattack, this caused Jack's attack to be successful and Paul shot to the ground.

... BOOM ...

Paul hit the ground leaving behind a small cloud of dust in the air. Shortly after Jack also landed on the ground agitated and a little tired.

A few seconds later, the cloud of dust cleared now showing Paul a bit bruised and tired.

Seeing him still standing, Jack immediately placed himself in a battle position and stared at Paul waiting for his next move. After staring at each other for a while, Paul raised his hands and said.

-I think we should leave it here and declare a tie- Paul told Jack.

Jack was confused by that, so he tilted his head and asked, -Woof?- Jack asked Paul.

Paul just nodded understanding his confusion and replied - I don't think we should demand so much today, later we should look for information about the snowy forest and if we are very tired I don't think we are very efficient-

Jack thought about it a bit and realized that Paul was right, if they went out to look for information when they were tired, they would probably not find much.

Thinking about that, Jack nodded and replied -woof-

Seeing that Jack had no problems with that, Paul also nodded and said - well, now let's go back to the inn and rest a little before leaving again - Paul said as he turned in the direction of the inn.

Jack agreed quickly and followed Paul to the inn.

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When Paul and Jack entered the inn, they went directly to their room and rested for a couple of hours before leaving and eating something in the inn's dining room. After that, they decided to start their search for information about the forest.

That is why we can now see Paul and Jack walking the streets of Lirilia in the direction of the city library. Of course, at first, they did not know where the library was, so they had to ask people who walked near them.

After a few minutes, Paul and Jack could be seen in front of a building. The building was shaped like a small circular tower and from what I could see it had two floors, its walls were white and in front of the entrance there was a sign that said "library."

After observing a little, Paul and Jack went directly to the library entrance and without thinking too much, they entered.

Just when they entered the first thing they saw were books and more books, the walls were all surrounded by books and all the halls were rows of books arranged in sections, as indicated by the posters hanging from the ceiling.

- * COUGH * - someone coughed, this woke Paul up from astonishment at seeing so many books. After leaving his astonishment, Paul turned and looked at the person who just caught his attention.

This person was a pretty woman in her twenties or twenty-four years, had long blond hair, her eyes were red, these were behind glasses with a frame of the same color that combined with them, and currently wearing a uniform what it supposed was for the workers of this library.

-Good morning Miss- Paul greeted the woman after watching her.

-Good morning child, what is it that brings you to the library today? - the woman greeted and without wasting time asked her objective.

-I'm here to get information about the snowy forest- Paul declared his objective.

-mmm- the woman put a finger on her chin and seemed to think before answering - the snowy forest ?, I think you could find a couple of useful books on this first floor, just go to the history section and you will find one in the row 3 column 8, and if that is not enough you can go to the myths and legends section where you will find another book that refers to the snowy forest in row 5 column 6-

Paul sometimes repeated the position of the books to make sure he remembered them. After being sure he could remember, Paul looked at the woman and said - thank you very much, I will go now and look for the books - Paul thanked the woman.

She just nodded and said - no problem, that's my job - said the woman.

Paul nodded with a smile and turned to head for the books with Jack following him just behind him.

The woman who now saw Jack for the first time was a little surprised at not having seen him before, but quickly put aside the surprise and reminded him of Paul - boy remember to keep an eye on your pet if it causes damage to a book you will have to pay it and just to remind you, any book in this place is very expensive - the woman finished explaining.

After hearing what the woman said, Paul nodded and turned quickly to look for those books.

...

Finding the books was easy, each section was organized by rows and columns so you just had to go to the place where the librarian indicated and find the books.

Now with the books in his hands, Paul went with Jack to a solitary table to start reading.

Now sitting, Paul decided to start reading the history book that was simply titled "The Snowy Forest." Deciding that, Paul opened the book and began reading.

"The now known as the snowy forest was not always called that way. A few hundred years ago that place was simply a normal and nameless forest that was in the kingdom, but everything changed when a strange event happened.

On a day like any other in broad sunlight, a silvery light exploded in the middle of the forest and blinded all the people inside the forest. What those people told after the strange silver light ended and that they could open their eyes, was that the whole forest began to freeze slowly until it reached its limits. After that day the forest began to be called, the snowy forest. "

Paul reflected surprised by that information, after all, he believed that the forest had always been the same. But with this new information, there is likely something strange in the depths of that forest.

Of course, Paul does not believe that he was the only one who thought about it in all these years, so he decided to continue reading the book in search of information about the light or the forest that could clarify his doubts.

After searching for a while and skipping unnecessary information, Paul finally found information related to what he wanted and began to read it.

"Throughout history, after the change occurred in the forest, many people have tried to dig deep into it to find treasures or anything that makes them rich or stronger, but unfortunately, all people who try to go too deep disappear. without any explanation and the few people who have returned from the depths of the forest explain that it is because they felt something very dangerous and their senses warned them to escape and they paid attention.

But those people although they escaped quickly, they could still see something from the depths of the forest and although there are some incongruous things in their statements, everyone agrees on one thing and that is that in the depths of the forest, absolutely no monster or animal can be seen and that the cold seems to increase greatly. "

Upon reading that, Paul's suspicions increased greatly on the fact that there is a great secret within the forest, but he also realized that this secret may be too dangerous for him.

Leaving aside the mystery that seems to be inside the forest, Paul continued reading the book to find any useful information.

...

After reading the book for a while, Paul did not find something particularly interesting or useful for his trip to the forest. So he decided to move on to the other book.

This book also had a simple name that was "myths and legends" and when perishing as the name implies, it was about myths and legends throughout the kingdom. After reading the title and knowing what the book was about, Paul began looking for the snowy forest section.

After a while, Paul was able to find a small section dedicated to the forest and began to read.

"The snowy forest as all people know is a very mysterious place within the kingdom, so people tend to think that they don't need their myths and legends. But unfortunately, there isn't.

However, there is a little legend among people who venture into the forest, this legend tells us that sometimes we can see strange golems made of ice that patrol near the depths of the forest as if they were protecting something.

Some people simply say that it could be a new species of monster that was created when the silver light appeared in the forest, others say they could be guardians that protect whatever it was that created the silver light and finally some people don't they believe the existence of such golems since these were only supposedly seen by 4 people in all these years. "

After reading that, Paul closed the book and prepared to return them. Paul now decided what to do, he will buy the right supplies and clothing for the trip to surround the outskirts of the forest and reach his next destination.

He initially had the idea of crossing the forest to get to the capital faster, but now after learning of the possible threats he could encounter and the high probability of dying, he decided to make the smartest thing to surround the forest.

After deciding that, Paul returned the books and returned to the inn next to Jack.