Legacy of the Dark Sage

"So you still intend on going to her place," Aillos concluded, recalling what Kyran intended to do after finishing what he had to do for the Dragon Clan.

"Yes," Kyran replied.

They were referring to Estrid, the famous high-ranking Alchemist in the Higher Realm who was also the head of an underground organization that dealt with secret auctions and intelligence. The clan she belonged to could be considered neutral. However, unlike the other neutral clans, her clan did not steer clear from The Emperor in fear.

The Emperor himself granted them— or her, to be more specific— a special privilege because of her title as an Exalted Alchemist. Her potions and pills were known for their high efficacy, making her concoctions always in high demand.

While Alchemists were not uncommon in the higher realm, the art of alchemy was a complex and demanding one. Researching the effects of a potion or pill could span several years, leading to only a select few reaching the esteemed Emperor level, with most remaining at the level of a Venerate Alchemist.

Compared with Array, where one could create a formation as long as they knew the formula and how to arrange it, concocting a potion or pill through Alchemy could result in different medicines even when using the same recipe. This was because a medicinal herb's quality might affect another herb's quality. There was also the matter of how much and when herbs should be mixed.

Simply put, even if two Alchemists used the same recipe, the medicine's effect would differ if they used different concoction techniques.

Estrid was considered the most knowledgeable regarding concoction techniques in the Higher Realm. Thus, she could concoct a variety of medicines with high efficacy. It was also rumored that she could concoct a potion that could bring someone on the brink of death to full recovery.

However, the ingredients required to create such a miracle potion were close to impossible to gather, and The Emperor was the only one capable of collecting them.

Even with his unparalleled strength, The Emperor could only concoct simple to above-average potions. For this reason, he was very fond of Estrid and gave her and her clan special treatment. Because of this, some even believed that The Emperor harbored deep feelings for Estrid. After all, she was also known for being an unparalleled beauty that rivaled The Emperor's strength.

Of course, the latter was only empty speculation since the two were never seen together. Or at least, no one had seen the two in public together.

In any case, Kyran planned to go there even before Ruin decided to assist him with intel gathering. It was where he could get intel and find rare materials while staying anonymous, after all. Aside from those two, he could also sell items without revealing where he got them, and of course, while remaining anonymous.

Still, Kyran knew his identity would not stay anonymous 100%. After all, if he wanted to do business with Estrid's organization, he had to reveal some of his information. It would only be a matter of what information he revealed.

He also could not lie about it, because Oceanus confirmed that one of the reasons Estrid remained untouched by the other clans and factions, was that her innate ability allowed her to know if someone was lying to her.

Others might find such ability as troublesome, but not Kyran. It was not because he had a counter to it, or that he was immune— maybe he was, he just did not know of it yet— he just knew how to bypass it.

How?

He just had to avoid telling a lie. If he was asked questions or information where he would rather not tell, he could just give a vague answer— an answer where technically it was not a lie.

"You have to be careful when dealing with her," Aillos reminded Kyran once more. He already told him about Estrid from their previous talk, but he still wanted to remind him, nonetheless. "She is an old sly fox."

"I will," Kyran replied, trying to reaffirm Aillos. "In any case, there is still a couple of weeks before go there." He then looked at Aillos with a wry smile, "I still need to help you ascend."

"It's not like you will need to stay with me throughout the ascension," Aillos snorted at his remark. "Though... are you sure you don't need anything when you create the formation? Materials? Array Saints?"

"Yes."

"You're not saying that because you can create the materials you needed, are you?"

"You can actually view it that way. But I won't be creating materials, but I will need my magic energy to create the formation."

"I see," Aillos nodded his head, understanding what Kyran meant.

Basically, the formation would be created purely with Void magic. Since Kyran was the only one who could produce it, he was also the only one who could create the formation.

"From I remembered, your servants could also use Void."

"Yes, but the Void they use is mixed with their innate magic."

"For short, it's not pure."

"Yeah... you can also put it that way."

"Alright," Aillos said, ending the discussion on the matter. But then he opened another subject that they had put off some time, "And? I get that you want to ensure that everyone, both your people and the clan gets to prepare and improve their combat experience and strength but what about you?"

Kyran raised his brows in confusion.

"Me?"

"I did tell you I'll teach you about Chaos magic," Aillos reminded him. "Frankly, I am surprised that you can now circulate it by yourself. Not that I'm complaining, since that part is the hardest one in using Chaos magic. Now that you know how to circulate it, teaching you how to use it properly will be easier."

"Ah... you're talking about that," Kyran replied sheepishly. He did not mean to forget. He just had a lot of things in mind that learning Chaos magic from Aillos slipped his mind.

"...Your ascension is a priority at the moment."

"You learning Chaos magic will greatly improve our overall strength," Aillos pointed out. "It will also become a very powerful trump card."

Kyran contemplated on the matter in silence. He understood where Aillos was coming from, but at the moment, Aillos's ascension took priority. After all, he did not know until when he could keep The Emperor on a goose chase. In fact, he made some noise in the Lower Realm when they went there just to give The Emperor some things to think about apart from the Void Master.

Kyran also needed to meet up with True Void, and they could not do that if The Emperor remained fixated on him.

"One day," Aillos said, after some time passed yet Kyran remained undecided. "Let's set aside a day to train Chaos magic before I ascend."

Kyran looked at him with raised brows, "Will one day be enough?"

Aillos snorted at Kyran's expression and said, "Don't you have a very convenient ability to ensure that is possible?"

Kyran's brow twitched. Aillos was basically telling him to rely on his 'monstrous ability to understand concepts and use it in person even without prior testing.

"Learning magic concepts is different from learning Chaos from scratch," Kyran pointed. In fact, it took him weeks, maybe more, but because time was twisted when he was stuck in his sea of consciousness, he could not be sure, just to learn Void magic. Even then, he already had enough knowledge with using Void magic.

Chaos magic was different. Yes, it was the complete form of Draconic magic, but the concept between the two differ a great deal. Moreover, Kyran's knowledge about Draconic magic was limited to him molding and combining it with Void magic. There were a lot of things he did not know about it. He also heard the dragons talking about Draconic Arts.

And since they called it Arts with an S, it meant there were a lot.

Kyran did not expect Aillos to teach him all Draconic Arts but if he wanted to improve his knowledge about Draconic magic then he would need to learn all their concept at least. Only after he learned more about Draconic could he only have better chance in understanding Chaos better.

Or at least that was how Kyran believed.

"I believe in you," Aillos replied with such solemnity Kyran had an urge to squirm.

"Don't throw me that speech."

Aillos shrugged, "I do believe in you. You've exceeded most of my expectations. You even managed to win Ducal's approval just by flaunting your Array abilities."

"F-Flaunting... I didn't flaunt..."

"Who're you trying to fool?"

"In any case, one day is not enough. How about we do this? Ascend in three days, then you will have more time to train me before I go to Estrid's."

"Bullsh*t," Aillos scowled.

Kyran was slightly surprised at his cursing because it was the first time he heard him do that.

"Who ascends in three days?"

"Who learns an entirely new magic in one day?"

"..."

"..."

Knock! Knock!

A knock on the door broke the slowly rising temperature in the room.