Legacy of the Dark Sage

"H-How about we observe the Shaiha in your body first then plan for our next step after determining if it is safe—."

"Don't make me use the Sigil to force you to listen, Zephyr," Kyran warned, his voice sounding stern.

Zephyr flinched.

He remembered how the Sigil's mark activated when he tried to harm Kyran and did not want to experience it again. It was not that he could not bear the physical pain but the mental strain. After all, the Sigil's mark was planted in his core and could possibly rip his soul depending on the intensity of the pain.

"I..." Zephyr sighed in resignation and finally nodded, "Alright. But please be careful. You taught me about the advancement of human magic detection capability through magic devices. Those people after me may still have some installed devices nearby."

Kyran nodded and said dismally, "Don't worry about them. I took care of it."

"I see," Zephyr nodded and sigh with relief. "That's good then—."

He stopped short as Kyran's words sank in and he did a double-take before looking at him in disbelief.

"What did you just say?" He exclaimed.

"I'll explain later," Kyran said.

He did not want to delay anymore. Healing Zephyr had already taken too much of his time and he had to go back to Starhorn as soon as possible. Though he did not think anyone had the capability of deciphering the array he had setup in his workroom in the Blacksmith Order, he was worried his puppets had accumulated too many experience that their system would end up going haywire.

Before Zephyr could insist on hearing an explanation from Kyran, the latter had already closed his eyes and sent out his magic sense to study the temple's defensive array.

WEEEEENG!

As soon as his magic sense entered the defensive array, a deafening ring reverberated in the whole room.

"What?" Zephyr exclaimed in fright as he stood up.

Kyran, on the other hand, snapped open his eyes and was forced to retract his magic sense.

When he did, the ringing sound stopped in an instant.

"This..." Kyran's brow twitched.

Just now, when he had sent out his magic sense, he was unable to use his Draconic magic energy. Instead, the Shaiha took it upon itself and unleashed its own magic energy!

Zephyr turned to Kyran at once, his expression grim.

"Just now, that was the Shaiha, isn't it?"

Kyran did not reply and instead, closed his eyes once more. He had to properly check the Shaiha in his sea of consciousness. It would be troublesome if he activated his magic energy just to fail and have the Shaiha took over again when he was outside!

When Kyran opened his eyes, the scene before him almost made his scalp go numb.

The first time he checked the Shaiha, it was hovering right above his central core and its hum resonated with his other four magic cores.

However, right now...

"Where the hell is my central core?" Kyran exclaimed in shock.

That was right. Where his central core had now been replaced by the Shaiha.

Because the Shaiha was enormous to fit in his central core's previous space, his four other magic cores had to move outward to give it enough space. All four of his magic cores would have looked small around the Shaiha, however, all of them seemed to have gotten a boost and had grown larger.

"Did you just consume my central core without me noticing?" Kyran muttered in exasperation as he loooked at the Shaiha.

The Shaiha's multicolored lights suddenly blinked as if responding to Kyran's question.

Kyran's eyes widened as he realized he could 'sense' what the Shaiha was telling him.

"I... only returned to where I belong to...."

....

Kyran's expression turned grim.

This turn of events had gotten way out of his control.

"What do you mean you just returned to where you belong to?" He asked again after a few seconds of silence.

The Shaiha blinked again and it conveyed its message in Kyran's head.

"I am that which formed the great circle, without me, the four great magic will not be complete."

"S-Sorry?"

Kyran's mind reeled at the Shaiha's words. It was as if, it was saying, his four magic cores were supposed to represent the four great magic!

But that was impossible. Because, his third magic core appeared to be contaminated by several magic energies he had not gotten a chance to understand, while his fourth magic core was still inactive.

As if the Shaiha had read his thoughts, it blinked again.

"If one magic core is contaminated, then create a new one."

Kyran's expression had now turned blank.

After spending five years in the Tower of Tribulation, few, if none, could already faze him.

Today had been the first time, after his return.

He might have been surprised at how the Shaiha had replaced his central core and even claimed to belong with his other magic cores, but it was something he could still 'accept.'

But when the Shaiha told him to create a new magic core if one was contaminated, that was the last straw.

The Shaiha blinked a few times telling Kyran the following.

"There is no need to rush in understanding everything. You will eventually be able to do everything...."

Kyran's brow furrowed at what it said.

But then he shook his head, "That may be true. But in the outside world, I am far from being a match to those Sovereigns. If they know of your existence inside me...."

His voice trailed off as he recalled how many Sovereigns he had pissed off during his training.

"There is no need to fret. Since I am now back in my place, I will adapt your own magic energy."

"Adapt my magic energy?" Kyran looked at it with a wry smile. "Just now, when I used the Draconic's magic energy, it is your energy that leaked out and gave Zephyr a fright."

"That is because the Draconic had to transfer its energy into me, thus, I have to convert it into your energy."

The Shaiha explained as it blinked.

"My energy is your energy to begin with. There is nothing to fear."

It blinked some more as it continued to express its thoughts in Kyran's head.

"Rest assured, now that I have returned, others will no longer be able to detect your energy. As for Zephyr, he had sensed my movement because he is connected to you."

Kyran frowned slightly.

Zephyr had said: "Just now, that was the Shaiha, isn't it?"

His words might not mean he was referring to the Shaiha's energy. His words might imply that he had sensed the Shaiha 'activating' or something.

'Hm?' Kyran stopped short as he realized something.

The Shaiha's message replayed in his mind and what it had said about others unable to detect his energy came to him.

"You... Can hide my magic energy?" He asked the Shaiha, his eyes widened in both anticipation and surprise.

His Void magic energy would normally activate and protect him if there was any magic attack, probing or even magic sense, that wanted to infiltrate his body. But he knew that sooner or later, he would meet a mage whose magic energy was far too profound and would be able to detect clues about the Void energy in his body.

"Yes. My essence could only assist a little, but now that I have returned. I will be able to fully conceal it from others."

The Shaiha replied as it blinked several times.

'Essence...' Kyran's brow twitched involuntarily at this.

For some reason, he understood the essence it was talking about was his previous central core.

He never thought that magic cores could also create or have an essence. It would not tell him that magic cores had levels too would it?

Kyran took a deep breath. The matter about the Shaiha was too much for him to process in a short period of time. But since he could not take his sweet time to learn everything now, he decided to deal with it later.

"Basically, if you can hide my energy, it means you can also hide your presence," he started. "If that is the case, then its fine. I can't afford others to sense you."

The Shaiha did not respond immediately. It appeared to have fallen into silence. But then it blinked a few times in response.

"I do not understand what you mean about hiding my presence. Since I am now inside you, your presence is the only thing that they can sense."

Detecting a person's presence was different from detecting a mage's magic energy.

A person's presence was made up of other factors such as what that person's mood was, or how he smelled, sounded, or even 'felt.' Sometimes, when a mage was enraged, he would emit a pressure that could easily affect one of this factors. Especially his mood, making his presence appear 'domineering' and would also emit an almost visible killing intent.

Magic energy detection, on the other hand, was affected by a mage's magic.

At this point, Kyran still considered the Shaiha as a foreign object in his body, thus, he could not help but think it had a different 'presence' than him.

"I... see."

Kyran replied, but actually he was still a bit confused.

"Fine, just make sure to... keep yourself under control," he finally told the Shaiha.

The Shaiha blinked and hummed in response.

His other four magic cores also hummed as if to agree with the Shaiha.

Kyran felt his head throb.

With the Shaiha residing in his body, he felt as if he had now turned into a different species. He did not even felt this way when he completed the amalgamation of the Elixir and his body.

Sighing in resignation, Kyran finally left his sea of consciousness.

As soon as he opened his eyes, Zephyr sprang to his feet and said, "M-Master. How is it?"

Kyran gave him a wry smile and just said, "Its... fine now."

"What do you mean its fine now?" Zephyr asked in confusion.

"I'll... explain it later," Kyran told him.

"You said that just now..." Zephyr complained.

Could he blame him? Kyran had not even processed everything that he learned himself!

Without bothering to answer, Kyran looked up at the temple's defensive array.

Though he no longer need to study it or reinforce it after what the Shaiha had told him. He was still curious about it.

After all, he had to confirm the consciousness he sensed earlier.