Chapter 66: Valley of Skulls I

When Lydia, Twinia, Trikki and the other girls heard what Jennifer said, their eyes glowed in shock.

"B-But that could put you in great trouble, Jennifer" Lydia said.

"Haha. Well, my mom is going to do something about that. Do you think she would allow them to lay hands on me just like that? Eh? Besides, where do you think I would get such a book page that contains powerful evil spells in the first place? Huh? Nowhere of course. It was my mom that gave it to me so I could turn Helena into trash. She absolutely hated what Helena did by putting her smelly feet on my head. That insanely bold action that Helena carried out which my mom later told me about, had put Helena's name in her bad books. Therefore, ever since then, she has developed a strong feeling of aversion for Helena, and would try her possible best to make her useless and empty." Jennifer said with a smile in her face that would invoke the chilling feeling of wickedness in the heart of anyone that saw her smile.

"Hmm." Lydia uttered comprehensibly.

Then she proceeded to ask a question that abruptly flashed in her mind "But where did your mom get such a book page? If the keepers of the library find out that a page which contains mighty evil spells has been torn out from a magical book heavily secured in the library, it would be announced and everywhere would be immediately placed under lockdown. The guys from the Law Enforcement and Punishment faculty would search everywhere and then the students and instructors for it. And they would never lift the lockdown until that particular page has been retrieved. So, the culprit definitely wouldn't be able to escape through teleportation means. If they ever find the book page in your hands, your head and that of your mother's might roll off your necks when a blade descends upon them. I hope you know there is no forgiveness for whoever does that in this place? And that only gruesome death awaited such people, no matter their number?"

Haha!

Jennifer grinned.

"My mom doesn't need any of the stupid and shitty magical books in here. She fortunately got that page of uncanny evil spells from her adventurous journey to ruined ancient sites. So, out of the many magical book pages that she could lay her hands on at those ruins, my mom gave me this to practice and master and then use on Helena to turn her into an empty and magically incapacitated person. Haha!" She said proudly and cackled.

"Okay. We understand now, Jennifer. But I would advise that you and your mom plan this well or your scheme could backfire. Don't let your great anger and intense hatred for Helena cloud your senses from seeing the hidden, tiny flaws in your plans to render her totally useless for the guys in here" Trikki said worriedly.

Jennifer nodded.

"Exactly, Trikki. That's why we are taking this long to plan whatever we want to do. We would deal this people a heavy blow and leave without getting caught. Believe me, there would be no flaws in our plans that would ruin our plans. Everything would surely go smoothly" She said confidently.

Then she spoke further with a tone of disgust in her voice when she recalled something "My mother told me sometime ago that Helena was the one prophesied to bring balance to the world. That she was the Chosen One to bring light to the thick darkness that has engulfed the world. Well, Chosen One my foot. How would one person be able to change the situations of things in the whole world? A world that has tens of thousands of powerful summoners and highly adept magical warriors, and even strong and mighty, greedy folks from many other races? Haha!! The fools in this place are simply living under delusions. They need to be awakened from their foolish daydreams. Can't they properly reason that the small, inexperienced thing called Helena definitely can't go up against that many powerful spiritual warriors and magical warriors? Warriors who have reached a high level of power that they could basically be seen as gods or deities. Haha!! So, they want a girl who hasn't even reached the third stage of spellcasting all these while to prove that she's truly the Chosen One to go up against them? Fools! These people are. Anyways, when I damage all her Aetha veins and then they see how truly useless she is, they would truly wake from their fantasies."

Lydia and the rest of the girls nodded agreeably.

They felt that she was totally right about what Jennifer said.

How could one person go up against such great numbers of mighty and dreadful summoners and vastly experienced and versatile magical warriors?

Even an immensely powerful group that consisted of many heroes and were called the 'Order of the Greater Good' were vanquished and thoroughly destroyed. So, how could one person be able to change the situation of things in the world? Only quick death would await such a person.

"You girls should leave. I want to resume my training" Jennifer suddenly said.

Trikki and the rest of the girls in the room nodded their heads and then left so Jennifer could resume her secluded magical training.

***

Next day...

Everyone were gathered as usual at the training ground.

Then Amber who was the senior spell instructor could be seen on a tall platform before the crowd of people that consisted of both males and females. However, the massive assembly of people before her were mostly females, about ninety-five percent.

Amber at the moment was going to make an important announcement to the large gathering of people before her. So, she waited for the noises coming from the large numbers of people that had gathered before her to die down before she would speak.

Some moments later after decorum descended upon this place, Amber spoke "We have seen that the combat and magical prowesses of our students has increased by some degree. But to further sharpen and hone your prowesses, we are going to make you guys experience life and death battle where you would basically give it your all so that you could surpass your limits. Therefore, I and the other instructors have unanimously agreed to send you all to a place we call the Valley of Skulls. It's a place where you would come across wild beasts. These beasts aren't magical beasts. So, don't expect them to unleash magical attacks at you guys. However, these beasts have tough hides, powerful jaws and are towering in sizes. Therefore, you would have to be careful around them and give it basically your all to defend yourself from these beasts who would do totally everything to tear your fleshes apart and break your bones to satisfy their hunger."

After Amber stated all these to the large crowd before her, she asked "Am I clear enough?"

"Yes ma'am!" Everyone roared.

"Good." Amber said.

"Now, one other thing. Since everyone of you here are at the second stage of spellcasting which is the Earth-level spellcasting stage, I don't want you guys to journey too deep into the valley. And how would know where to stop? There is a blue thread of Aetha energy that connects to two mountain ranges that are at both sides of the valley. When you see this blue energy thread, you should immediately back off and return if you are powerful and fast enough to reach there. The blue energy thread was used in the past to demarcate the mountainous valley into many layers or zones. So, if you cross beyond the blue energy thread which is used as a demarcating line, you have crossed into another layer or region of the valley where you would meet intelligent, magical beasts if you go further in it." She said.

Everyone nodded their heads.

Amber then said to the other female instructors who stood behind her "Open the gate"

The female instructors nodded their heads.

Then they began to make different hand gestures and chant words which were indistinct and inaudible to the students that were watching them.

After sometime, a large stream of brilliant, resplendent light suddenly flooded the area, forcing all the trainees to quickly cover their eyes or their retinas would burn.

When the huge flood of colorful light disappeared, what could be seen before them and stood so tall that it seemed to want to pierce the heaven was an exceedingly tall gate that had hundreds of ancient inscriptions on it entire surface.

Shrrm!!!

The large and tall gate made a sound as it was slowly opened to reveal a vast mountainous valley that stretched into the distance and for as long as the eye could see.

"Go in, now!" Amber said out loud.

Then everyone began to run into the gate and appeared in the valley in an instant.

Just as Helena was about to make a move, a restrictive force suddenly came upon her.

She was shocked at first upon being wrapped up in a force that totally inhibited her movement.

However, she understood in the next instant what had happened. She comprehended that a constrictive force had been placed upon by an instructor. Perhaps the person that brought down the limiting force upon her didn't want her to go through the magical teleportation gate.

Then she raised her head to look up at Amber on the tall platform who was also staring back at her with a gentle smile in her face.

"Stay behind, Helena. Your basic training isn't complete yet. You can't do anything in there. But don't worry, there would be another time for you to go in there" Amber's voice suddenly rang in her mind.