Legacy of the Dark Sage

As night fell in the greater part of Somuli, Midnight utilized her innate ability to observe the area around the Great Divide. According to the information Deus left her, their target was seen helping the Eidums on two cases. From this, they surmised he had a close relationship with them. Still, they could not determine if their target was a native of Somuli or an outsider who was part of a Sovereign faction that planned to participate in the coming War of the Sovereigns.

Initially, Deus was convinced that their target was not a native of Somuli. After all, the latter was suspected to have the Heart of the Cosmos, which the Dragon Emperor claimed was lost during the last War of the Sovereigns. In that war, Somuli was only a small plane with no Sovereign. As a matter of fact, other Sovereigns also did not want to conquer it due to its strange environment— it had thin magic energy in the surroundings and, instead, produced mana in abundance. While its inhabitants could produce magic energy naturally due to their Divine Armament, their magic knowledge and development were too weak and might become a liability to any Sovereigns if they tried to conquer it and add them to their army.

Putting the matter of the Somuli aside, after Deus reviewed MEx-δ 54's memories and witnessed its initial contact with the target, he discovered that the latter did not use any type of magic before being trapped in a Dimension by MEx-δ 54.

This discovery gave Deus a headache because he instructed MEx-δ 54 to confirm the target's affiliation with dragons.

It was not initially part of Deus's mission, but the Emperor wanted to put some pressure on the Dragon Emperor.

Though the previous Dragon King—now Dragon Emperor— and his tribe, who were once branded traitors for hiding the Heart of the Cosmos, were given amnesty, the Emperor still could not trust them. For this reason, the latter wanted to know if what the Dragon Emperor claimed before— about losing the Heart of the Cosmos— was true or if he left it with a few of his people in some hidden plane.

Unfortunately, MEx-δ 54 did not even allow the target to resist before trapping him inside a Dimension. It seemed there was a slight problem with Deus's automatons in this regard. Or maybe the problem was not in the programming, instead, the system of his automatons suffered a bit after coming to the Lower Realm. After all, the magic energies and even the atmosphere in the Lower Realm were a far cry from the Higher Realm.

Whatever the reason was, Deus had to check his automaton's programming first. Thus, he asked Midnight to do the scouting first.

This time, Midnight's mission was to find the target. But she was not allowed to engage yet. That was reserved for a later time. She first had to confirm if he had any relationship with the Dragon Emperor.

With Midnight's ability to blend into the night sky, no one could spot her. Frankly, the only ones who might be able to spot her were outsiders at the peak of Sovereigns or those on the verge of stepping to the next level.

Midnight slightly frowned after sensing how thin the magic energies in the surroundings were. Although her ability to blend, as well as her innate ability to observe a large area, did not consume magic energy, the feeling of being unable to bask in rich magic energies was a little stifling to her. It made her wonder how Somulians survived living in such a place.

Alas, planes in the Lower Realm were truly a pain.

Even the magic law in Somli was strange. They did not use a magic array and instead relied on Divine Armaments.

Midnight could not help but sigh. As she did, a mellow gust of wind swept over the long stretch of the Great Divide. If one listened to the wind, they might even be given the impression of hearing her sigh.

'Ah... if the Higher Being did not destroy the Land of the Ancients, magic laws would not have been scattered all over the Lower Realm,' Midnight thought.

To be honest, Midnight is considered to be one of the older generations who witnessed the war where almost every clan in the Realm made a move against the Ancients. But she was still young compared to the rest, so she did not participate in the war.

In any case, that war devastated the whole Realm. It also caused its division.

Ultimately, most of the powerful Ancients, including their four greatest minds, were destroyed, while those who managed to survive drifted along the vast space encompassing the Lower Realm.

The Higher Being tried to locate them, fearing their possible retaliation in the future. In the end, no one could find them. After so many years had passed, and those surviving Ancients had yet to show and enact revenge, the Higher Being finally relaxed.

Even those powerful beings who assisted the Higher Being in destroying the Land of the Ancients breathed a sigh of relief. They all believed that those survivors likely died out.

Midnight continued to search the surroundings and could not help but frown. Deus gave her a sample of the target's signature. But she found it strange that she could not even find any sliver of the target's signature anywhere around the two borders that were made of the Great Divide.

'Is it because of the array formations on both borders?' she wondered.

Looking at both the array formations, Midnight realized minute differences in them. She did not think much of it at first. But then she remembered that Somulians could not replicate or even 'tweak' array formations because it was considered lost technology.

'According to Deus's information, MEx-δ 54 also considered the possibility that the target knew how to change arrays,' Midnight thought as her mind started to come up with different possibilities of the target utilizing this ability to escape from their radar.

However, she shook her head dismissively even after the idea crossed her mind.

Thus far, the target only appeared to have tweaked a token in his possession to teleport. That was not enough to convince her he had the capability to hide from their radar.

'What about the target's knowledge in Alchemy?'

Like in the Human plane, the Higher Realm, also called the magic branch, which deals with the concoction of pills, potions, and the study of herbs and other materials with the idea of mixing or creating a new potion or pill from it, Alchemy.

Based on MEx-δ 54's memories, the target was also proficient in Alchemy. It might be possible if he managed to concoct a medicine that allowed him to remove any of his traces.

The Heart of the Cosmos had the ability to hide one's aura and presence, but there would still be the remnant of magic fluctuation and even a signature once the mage possessing it used magic. Thus, Midnight was convinced the target could not hide from them for long.

Nevertheless, no matter how much she amplified her innate ability with magic sense, it was impossible for her to find any trace of the target.

'He did not die out there, did he?' Midnight wondered.

According to MEx-δ 54's memories, it damaged the target much before Ruin appeared and helped him escape.

'Ah... Ruin... that guy is truly a handful. He did not even know how to use Dimension before the Demon plane fell to the Lower Realm. Even if he had the qualification of creating it, since he is still considered a being from the Higher Realm, he should not have been able to learn its usage to that degree.'

In the end, Midnight pushed the matter of Ruin aside. She still had to find the target.

'If he is not at the border, let's check inside....'

The moment she let her innate ability— which had been amplified by her magic sense— sweep inside the borders, she felt an uneasy feeling that forced him to retract her ability and magic sense.

'What is that disgusting feeling? It felt like someone, or something would devour me if I tried to insist on observing the inside of the border,' Midnight thought as she frowned at the Eidum's border. 'It is because of the border's array formation... is it the target's handiwork?'

She then turned her attention to the opposite border, which was the Armkakea's.

'These two array formation should have the same base, but since that disgusting feeling is only present in this side, then it is good to assume that the Armakea did not have such a feat.'

After thinking this, Midnight continued to probe the Armakea's array formation. Indeed, it did not give her that disgusting sense. Nevertheless, she probed inside carefully because she did not want to trigger its defensive array.

'This border did not seem to have that many people...!'

Midnight suddenly took a sharp intake of breath as her innate ability made contact with something.