Chapter 499 – Magical Barriers
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It took Jaka a few minutes to get ready, which was a shocking thing to Eldrian. And naturally, Eldrian wouldn’t let the opportunity to observe a mage in action slip. Even during their talk, Eldrian had been using mana sense constantly to try and figure out what Jaka was up to.
For the most part, Jaka had just been standing there, moving his hands and mumbling under his breath. Eldrian could faintly make out the words, but he had no idea what was up with the hand movements.
Thanks to mana sense, Eldrian didn’t miss a thing on what Jaka was planning. While he might not be able to copy it, and he had no idea what would actually happen, the collection and arrangement of mana told him a great deal.
Around Jaka, at around a 2-meter radius, with him at the center, there was a bubble-like formation of mana. The mana here wasn’t dense, in fact, it was truly thin just like the water of a bubble. However, all the natural elements were visible in this bubble.
‘How is that supposed to stop anything?’ Eldrian had asked himself and found no answer. It appeared extremely flimsy.
“We can start,” Jaka said, “Seeing as this is your first time facing a magic barrier, I will give you some time to attack me and discover how it works.”
Jaka didn’t offer this selflessly, rather, he wanted to see if Eldrian could figure out what a magic barrier was. Similar to how Eldrian had tested them by asking them how he controlled the ice, Jaka wanted to test Eldrian.
“Thanks,” Eldrian said with a bright smile, sticking to his ice spells which he was by far the most comfortable with. Eldrian flung a Tier 1 Frost Needle (Velona Pa) into the barrier without much thought. Not even controlling the spell’s flight.
Upon reaching the barrier, the ice didn’t shatter as if it had hit something as Eldrian had thought it would. No, instead, the ice lost all the mana it was made out of. Causing it to disappear in a similar way to when Eldrian canceled the spell.
“Interesting, what about higher Tier spells?” Eldrian mumbled, throwing a Tier 2 Frost Needle (Velona Pagetou), and after a Tier 3 (Konos Pagou) at the barrier.
In a near perfectly similar manner, these two also simply disappeared after crossing the 2-meter distance from Jaka. However, Eldrian did realize that the Tier 3 spell had made it slightly deeper in.
He had also managed to see that the barrier reacted by forming the spell’s mana composition where the spell entered and was.
“How are you keeping the barrier active?” Eldrian asked, and of course, everyone turned to Jaka in expectation. Considering he was the only Tier 5 mage here, no one else knew anything about magical barriers.
Jaka however disappointed everyone by just smiling as a reply.
‘Each time I cast a spell he was very focused on it, and also.’ Picking up a pebble, Jaka’s expression immediately changed. When Eldrian cast Vrachos and sent it flying at Jaka, the centaur was forced to jump away to avoid being hit.
‘I was right, the mana disappeared after crossing the barrier, but the pebble still had its velocity.’ Eldrian smiled, “The barrier has one big weakness.”
“Indeed, spells that are similar to skills can also pass through almost unhindered. Though, the mana supporting them is stripped, unlike with skills.”
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“Then what is the use?” Eldrian asked.
If simply turning to a formation-type spell could basically nullify a magical barrier that required minutes to set up, then why bother with it?
“What I am using is the personal variant barrier, which is less mana draining and requires less focus to maintain. There is also a battle variant that can be ten times or even a hundred times as large. Though, admittedly my limit is a barrier covering twenty-four meters.”
‘Twenty-four meters of stopping all creation type spells. That is indeed very impressive, and…’ Thinking back to way back when Eldrian and a select squad had left to go and find Vivian, Eldrian recalled how Evapius had seemingly done nothing when they faced the shaman.
‘He must have been maintaining a barrier, and now I am curious.’
“How do you strip my spell’s mana?” Eldrian asked, realizing that it might be possible to stop someone from even using magic inside the barrier. Jaka’s smile informed him he was onto something. “I see, then how about when I actually try?”
Eldrian returned back to Frost Needle (Tier 1), forming it into a ball for in case and sending it at max speed into the barrier.
Jaka’s smile quickly disappeared when the ball made it half a meter into his barrier. Heart racing and his shock clear for all to see, he stared at Eldrian with a hint of fear.
‘Indeed, it seems that this might be limited to the spells he knows.’ Eldrian smiled, sending another ice ball, but this time, upon entering the barrier he had it morph into a disk.
Jaka’s surprise at Eldrian’s trick causes it to pass the meter mark this time.
“And that is another weakness, not only do you need to know the spell I am casting. Or at least the mana composition, you also need to take control, or rather, nullify my control of the spell’s mana.” Eldrian said with a smile as he continued.
“I guess that is why normally you would assume only Tier 5 spells and above can pass through. As no one is normally able to control the mana of spells below that. And if they could, doing so versus doing the same with a Tier 5 spell would be dumb.”
“Impressive, truly impressive.” Jaka’s smile returned as Eldrian managed to more or less figure out what magic barriers were and how they were used.
“Indeed, if the mage you are fighting has no idea what element your spell is then they would be completely incapable of canceling your spell. And, normally, when Tier 5 spells are used, the result is a fight of wits between the mages. With the stronger willed normally coming out the victor.”
“The barrier really does have plenty of issues,” Eldrian said while throwing another ice ball at the barrier. This time, he had modified the amount of darkness, having taken note of Jaka’s use of element instead of mana composition.
Sadly, the spell faltered the same as those before. Though, Eldrian could feel that fighting the effect of the barrier was easier. Thus, it wasn’t totally useless.
Repeating this with the Tier 3 variant of Frost Needle, Eldrian managed to come within half a meter of Jaka. At which point Jaka declared his own defeat.
“Don’t you want a magic duel? Thus far only I have been attacking.”
“True, but knowing the weakness of the barrier to formation spells, you can claim victory easily through using Vrachos.”
“We can exclude formation type spells.” Eldrian offered, thus far he hadn’t managed to learn anything of Jaka’s abilities other than the magic barrier.
“No, I won’t be able to cast any spells if you continue doing what you have been doing. In fact, I believe just a few more tries and you will be able to make it through to me.”
‘He is certainly aware of his own strength and limits.’ Eldrian noted, indeed, Eldrian knew that with his amount of willpower and control he could push his spells through with just a little more practice.
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