Legacy of the Dark Sage

Cyneah did not go down immediately after leaving the room.

First, she took her time to adjust her senses from all the magic energies in the surroundings. She leaned on the door and closed her eyes to concentrate.

In theory, magic energies could not pass through solid materials. As for what was the definition of a solid material it was, depended on the type of magic energy.

The floral-shaped lamps that Anette placed all over the cottage could attract magic energies, making the whole surrounding pact with it.

This made Cyneah able to see silhouettes of the ceiling, floor and walls. As for humans, she could see them by the floating lights within them.

Except for Kyran.

Taking a deep breath, Cyneah opened her eyes. Her mirror-like eyes glowed faintly and seemed to reflect all the different-colored magic energies around her. Then she tightened her hand which had held Kyran's earlier. Her expression filled with concern.

Contrary to what Kyran had expected, Cyneah had sensed something different about him.

She could not place her finger on it, but the way he held her hand was similar to how she had held onto his when they first met.

Back then, Cyneah had unknowingly started to depend on Kyran. And as she held on him, she was looking for an answer, an assurance of some sort, that it was okay to hope, and that everything that was happening was not just her delusion and that he was real.

'What assurance were you hoping for when you held my hand, Nar?' Cyneah wondered.

It saddened her that she could not outright ask him what was wrong. They might have gotten close, but she still felt there was a wall around him. As far as she was concerned, she had yet to cross that wall. He only allowed her to see a part of himself from a small crack.

The proof of this was how they would sometimes convene and would not allow her to listen in on their conversation.

When Cyneah asked her master regarding it, her master only explained it as them being considerate of her own circumstances. There was no need for her to worry about others issues and should focused on her own.

And her master was right.

'Yet, it is okay for them to worry about mine and I can't do the same for them?' Cyneah wondered with a slight pout.

'It is not like that. Even if you know, what can you do anyway?' She answered her own thoughts. Sighing inwardly, she finally straightened and went downstairs.

When Cyneah made her way downstairs, Kyran, who stayed inside her room had been silently checking on her through his magic sense.

He was still a little skeptic if she really could walk around on her own now.

Before he and Nolan had left, Cyneah had already familiarized herself around the cottage's layout. Since she was a fast learner, she rarely bump into walls, or trip. However, it had only been a week since then.

'It seems the lamps were really helpful,' he thought after confirming Cyneah made it safely to the first floor without a problem.

An idea flashed through his mind as he resolved to improve the lamps and amplify it with the cottage's array.

Kyran stayed there a few more minutes to sort out his thoughts regarding what he had to do, before finally warping to the room across, which was his room. There he started working on the magic items he promised.

An hour later, Annette arrived. She was surprised to know that Kyran was upstairs. However, she did not go check on him at once.

The fact he had come without Nolan said a lot of things. And since Annette knew where he had been to, she thought it best to let him be for now.

Speaking of Nolan, the reason why Nolan's essence seemed to have disappeared when the Crown Princess had arrived at the Tower of Conclave, was because he was outside investigating the 'people' who were keeping an eye at the Tower.

It was already late at night when Nolan found the location where these people were keeping watch.

These group of people were dressed in black, making it hard to distinguish which faction they belonged to.

They had also setup several enchanted make-shift camps that surrounded the Tower of the Conclave, and was at least fifty thousand kilometers away.

In truth, it would have been hard for these people to keep watch at such a distance. However, Nolan found a red-blood colored obelisks at each of the camps and so he used his magic sense to inspect them.

If Kyran had been there, he would have recognized these obelisks.

Surprisingly, they looked like miniature version of the red-blood tower he had seen at the Lignum plane.

As an Array Master himself, it was easy for Nolan to realize that these obelisks formed a connecting array. The array's main function was to record all activities within its area of effect and project it on a the obelisks.

Nolan's eyes narrowed as he watched what was being projected in one of the obelisks. At the moment, he was standing at one of the thickest trees, hiding his presence from the people below.

They might have put enchantments around the camp, but even as an essence, Nolan's magic level was higher than these enchantments, making them ineffective.

The obelisk had several projections that hovered around it. Currently, they were showing different locations around the Tower of Conclave.

There were six mages wearing black coats, standing around the obelisk with floating silver discs in front of them. They were muttering under their breath, and though Nolan could not hear them, he could guess they were transmitting the images on the projections into those silver discs.

'The array has been completed only recently. Most likely, it was when the princess and her entourage was on their way to the Tower,' Nolan observed. 'If that is the case, the Tower's defensive array had barely been completed.'

The Tower of Conclave had already planned to upgrade their defensive array and it was not exactly a secret. After they received the letter of the Royal Army's inspection, Stella had ordered the Chamber of Commerce to spread the story. In case the inspection happened without them completing it.

That was part of their contingency plan.

But because Kyran had appeared and completed the array before the princess could arrive, Nolan was unsure if these group of people had noticed it or even recorded how it happened.

Although the Tower of Conclave's defensive array did not make any obvious fluctuation upon its completion, there was no telling if this particular array this group had set up had not detected and even recorded anything strange.

Nolan had to know and make sure to destroy it. If not, they might find some clues that the tower's array did not undergone any improvements but had been created from scratch.

When that happened, and this group were actually the Royal Family's people, then they would try to investigate and there was no telling they would not find clues about Kyran coming there.

The last thing they needed was the Royal Family accusing the Conclave of treason for keeping the matter about Kyran's visit a secret.

The reason why Nolan thought like this, was because unlike them, he was aware that the Royal Family already knew about Kyran and even the Regis Clan. He did not tell them because his original self had gave strict orders not to breath a word.

Nolan had not told Kyran why his original self had suddenly decided to find Azaloth's Inheritance without waiting for him, but it had something to do with how he found the Royal Family already knew the truth.

The day Nolan had returned from the Tower of Tribulation, he used one of the Transmission Scroll and teleported a few kilometers outside the Regis Estate.

That was right. He first went to the estate.

The reason why Nolan had delayed going there to check the situation himself was because Cade and Rin had a way to sense him. He did not want the two to know he was close. He felt he had no right to be near them after what he had done.

Even when he had decided to come visit when he first met Kyran. He did not exactly intended to show up in the Regis Estate. He only planned to check on them from afar.

His way of thinking might be immature to some. But the guilt he felt for causing his sworn brother's magic core be destroyed and stopped his progress still gnaw at him.

But that day, Nolan had no choice but to go. He let Cade down once, but he would not do the same to his son.

After steeling his resolve, Nolan went to the Regis Estate's Outer Walls to investigate.

In only two short hours of looking around the outer walls, Nolan left and decided to go find Azaloth's Inheritance as soon as possible.  Before that, he left behind an essence who went to the Tower of Conclave to wait for Kyran.

Nolan's decision was not made on impulse. It was something he thought was the best course of action.

Because what he found in the Regis Estate's Outer Wall had left him scared witless.

As Nolan's essence recalled how his original self warned him not to tell Kyran anything about what he had seen in the Regis Estate, he could not help but sigh inwardly.

He was feeling an incoming headache. The truth, even though he was an essence from his original self, he had his own way of thinking. To be honest, he believed it was high time to let Kyran know everything. Besides, there was a good chance Kyran already guessed what was happening.

'No matter… I'll let my original self handle the matter about the Regis Estate while I handle this one,' he finally decided.

Shaking his head slightly to push all these thoughts at the back of his mind, Nolan looked at one of the black tent at the center of the camp.

He guessed that tent was where the big boss was currently residing, because among the other tents, it was the only one with two mages in black coat guarding outside.

If he wanted to find out how much these people knew about what had happened in the Tower of Conclave, who else was best to ask but the big boss?

Nolan looked at the two guards as well as the other mages scattered around the camp.

There were at least twenty people he could see and another ten to fifteen which were inside the tents.

'There are also those who were outside the camp patrolling the area.'

Nolan guessed that at most, there were at least fifty people in each camps. And there were six camps in total.

It might not be a lot, but the reason why Kyran had asked Nolan to investigate was because the highest level among these people, was an Exalted. And the lowest being at High Adept.

Something which was impossible for a small group to have. They should at least have a Paige or an Adept, to do small tasks. But the mages in front of the obelisks were all High Masters, and even the two guards, guarding that one particular tent were both Grand Masters.

'Well, it's not like I'll have trouble dealing with this guys…' Nolan paused as his eyes narrowed while looking at the tent.

'However, I can't sense anything in that tent. If Kyran is right, the big boss is an Exalted. But… why can't I shake off the feeling that I am dealing with something more I can handle here,' he wondered.

This feeling actually stemmed from the aura he sensed around the red-blood obelisks.

'Ah, screw it. Let's just go interrogate—.'

"Are you done observing? Cause I am."

Nolan's eyes widened as a man's raspy voice spoke from behind him.

Before he could turn, a hand shot out, piercing through his chest from behind.

"U-gah!"

Nolan coughed out some blood, his mind reeled in shock.  He had not felt the person's presence, nor his arrival. It was simply impossible!

He might only be an essence, and his magic level was lowered but his original self was not just an ordinary Magus!

For Nolan to not noticed that there was someone behind him could only mean one thing…

The person behind had a higher mage level than him!

"What? You're also an essence? Tsk, boring."

The raspy voice had said and was about to pull out his hand and grab what he could grab from inside Nolan, when the latter's eyes glowed and black spikes shot out from all over his body.