After emerging from the portal, Jason and Jennifer found themselves inside a small town.
It seemed to be recently built because all the structures shone with the glint that every newly constructed structure has.
There were no signs of wear and tear or nature taking over the walls.
There were small alleys spreading out like spiderwebs, giving leeway for people to find several possible routes in which one could reach or leave the center of the town in which three portals were located.
Having emerged from one of them, the use of the other two portals was clear.
Either they led to the Shadow walkers' other camps, or other races, which was most likely to be the case.
There was no clear evidence of other races being in control of the two portals because Jason could only see numerous humans around him.
However, upon a closer look, it was possible for him to easily tell that many humans had different cultivation manuals. which were subtly changing the mana fluctuations of the practitioner.
Through this, one could easily see that there were a total of three main cultivation techniques that were largely used followed by a few rarer techniques that were probably used by the Cultivators with a higher potential.
Other than mana fluctuations, there were a total of three types of Auras around the small town that resembled a village one would spot in the middle ages.
It was currently nighttime, but there were numerous brightly ignited flames that had been placed on top of small poles, making it look like a cheap replica of streetlamps.
This caused Jason to feel a little bit odd because the white wooden pole and the fiery red flame were a huge contrast to the surrounding, making it seem as if the small construction was out of place.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"}) Despite that, it fulfilled the purpose it had been given. With the surroundings lit up, they were at least able to see a little without the need to focus on perceiving their surroundings' energy fluctuations.
Unfortunately, this was not helpful enough for Jason and Jennifer to make an informed decision of quickly leaving the central area of the town.
After all, one could say that they were fleeing from the Shadow walkers, knowing that humans from the Shiman camp might be ordered to attack and capture them if possible.
Thinking about it, the Shadow walkers might even falsely claim that the two were out to kill the other humans or races.
Thus, both of them had to leave the places that were affiliated with the Shadow walkers.
Because Jason believed leaving the town to be a necessity, they didn't enter one of the other two portals either.
It might be possible for them to emerge in a great location that allowed them to leave without any hindrance, but the opposite was more likely to be the case.
Entering the core area of a hostile race would be amongst the worst possible things for strangers to risk.
Thus, the first mission Jason and Jennifer had was to leave the town and the vicinity of the humans all around them.
He had not expected to encounter such a large number of people inside the Ninad beast realm, so when he emerged Jason had been stunned for a moment.
As such, he required a few seconds to get his act together.
Taking the surrounding into consideration, the windy and cold environment, and the fact that nobody seemed to care about the numerous beasts that were flying through the air, Jason predicted that they were on a plateau on top of a mountain.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"}) However, this was just something he assumed, and it didn't make a huge difference for him if his prediction was correct or not, to begin with.
Knowing that there were numerous portals through which he and Jennifer could leave the Ninad realm, made them relieved from the tension of finding an escape route.
Now, the only thing they had to do was to find a race that accepted humans like ordinary living beings, and not as their tool to fight.
Other than that, Jason knew that safeguarding Jennifer was different to handle than other humans because she had three cultivation paths that were merged together.
Wanting to protect Jennifer, and possibly himself, he didn't want to be anywhere close to an alliance that was similar to the Shadow walkers.
Even if he had to acknowledge that he wasn't aware of what the Shadow walkers had been up to during the last few years, what he had seen on Argos, was already more than enough for Jason to determine how little the Shadow walkers valued other beings.
And to figure this out, Jason didn't even have to add the information Linus had shared about the Shadow walkers when he was still inside the Shiman camp.
Despite not being able to curse the Shadow walkers or to do something that could harm their reputation, Linus was able to dish out many questionable facts about them.
Initially, Jason didn't understand what Linus had implied with his words but only now did it finally click.
'Did he really want to make me join the Shadow walkers' rows, or am I misinterpreting the words he had told me? Why does it feel like he wanted me to run away, yet join them at the same time?... Weird!'
Jason thought that his encounter with Linus was weird, and his first impression of him was not great. Like all other humans in the camp, he treated his soulbonds like garbage, but deep inside, Linus was a good guy.
As such, Jason was glad that he had conveyed the importance of treating one's soulbonds well to Linus. Now, he could only hope that the people inside the Shiman camp would listen to him as well.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"}) This was something he was hoping for, but it was not highly likely to be the case.
Because of that, Jason decided to circle back to find a way of leaving the town unharmed which was way more easily done than he could have hoped for.
It might be night but there were still more than enough humans roaming around, but none of them was bothered about Jason and Jennifer.
The only thing they might be interested in was their cultivation base and the fact that Jennifer was cultivating in all three paths while this was not the case for humans from Argos.
However, even then, nobody seemed to spare them another glance, which was weird.
Unfortunately, their fortune didn't last for long because the first thing they faced upon leaving the town were a total of five beasts. They looked like over-dimensional bison with eyes that were yellow and devoid of pupils.
At first glance, it looked creepy, and Jason noticed that his mind was becoming fuzzy the longer he looked into their eyes that were intertwined with Spirit force.
It took him mere seconds to deduce that this was one of the tactics the bison were using to weaken their opponents.
To their misfortune, they were facing someone whose special traits were his eyes.
Jason's eyes protected him against any kind of hypnosis influenced by such abilities. Similarly, Jennifer's Spiral cultivation prevented the Bison's ability to have any severe effects on them.
As such, they were able to face the five Bisons without much problems, The only issue would be the fact that they were at the Low rank of the Ascendion stage.
Yet, this was not something that would have caused Jason to hold back from attacking!
With that in mind, Jason geared up for a counterattack. The fact that they were attacked almost immediately after leaving the town didn't worry him.
Instead, he manifested Byakur in his hand before he catapulted himself towards his opponents. His eyes were gleaming in bright golden light as they radiated joy.
'Finally…free!'
