Legacy of the Dark Sage

Armak and Breira led the way to the castle's underground section.

Similar to the path that led to the Throne Room, the castle's underground had several turns. They would at times go down a few levels and then go up the next second. If Kyran had no good sense of direction as well as bearing, he would probably wonder if they were truly going underground or above.

Soon the path darkened, prompting Armak and Breira to summon their Divine Armaments and use their natural glowing aura, to light the way. They did not need the light to see their surroundings because they were quite familiar with the castle's underground section, but they took into consideration their new Master's ability to see in the dark.

Sensing the intentions of the two, Kyran telepathically talked to them, 'It's okay. You can unsummon your Divine Armaments. We can't let Aran know we're coming.

'Breira, conceal any sounds we might make, Armak, you can mask our scent. I'll deal with concealing our presence and aura.'

Although Kyran said this, Aran was already expecting them. Thus, concealing their movements would only give them a slight reprieve once they found his location.

Armak and Breira nodded in response. They did as they were told and the three traveled once more in silence, only talking through telepathy.

Along the way, Kyran asked them to brief him on what to expect in the castle's underground.

The two answered at once, providing all the information they knew.

According to them, the castle's underground was a huge labyrinth where all Armakean Kings hid the Lost Technology they gathered through the years. At the moment, the very bottom part of the underground hid the King's so-called trump card: Automatons.

Armak and Breira did not know exactly how many were there, only that it could easily overpower an ordinary battalion of the King's Knights.

From this, Kyran guessed the number of Automatons in Aran's possession would not go lower than a hundred. Given those Automatons were elites and could fight five or so knights at the same time.

This piece of information could frighten any opposition of the Armakea King, but not Kyran. As a matter of fact, he could barely contain his excitement. If he could reprogram those Automatons and make them his, his personal force would improve by leaps and bounds.

Half an hour later, they arrived at a spacious clearing where two metal doors could be seen from the far end.

'Master, this place is full of traps. They are not my doing, though. But something a previous King built using several lost technologies.'

Armak's warning sounded in Kyran's head when they arrived.

Even without his warning, Kyran had already seen the telltale signs of several magic items crafted with Array Creation and Smithing in that spacious clearing. Not only that, he could also sense several presences behind the doors at the far end.

Kyran smiled wryly. It seemed Aran had already made preparations for their arrival.

'If that is the case then…' Kyran looked up and saw a thin veil concealing large amounts of spirit stones, which were embedded in the ceiling.

As expected, there were spirit stones there that would provide the magic energy on all Array Creations in that place.

'Where did you mine all those spirit stones?' Kyran asked them with a slight frown.

His interest in the origin of those spirit stones would not have been piqued this much if those were low to mid-grade ones. He might not even show much interest if they were high-grade. But those stones were those rare exquisite qualities and there were more than 800kg of those on the ceilings. If he included those in the Throne Room's doors, they might even amount to a ton.

'Spirit Stones?' Armak and Breira repeated in confusion.

Kyran inwardly scratched his head. That was right, he might call them spirit stones but they might be using a different name for them.

Magic Energy Stones? They were not obviously Mana Stones since the energy inside them was not Mana.

'Those,' Kyran pointed at the ceiling. Just in case Armak and Breira could not see through the veil, he also used his bond with them to lend his eyes.

Armak and Breira's eyes turned a shade of silver as they looked at where Kyran was pointing. They then saw the stones there and said, 'Ah. Those Philosopher's Stones?'

Kyran looked at them with raised brows. He read about a legendary stone with that name in one of the books at the Eidum's archive and did not expect it was referring to those spirit stones.

According to what he read about the stone, it could ignore the energy limitations of any Lost Technology. Somuli were said to possess vast amount of those stones, but after a calamity befell the plane, no one had seen the stones again. Moreover, the Somulians' Array became a thing of the past and hence called Lost Technology. After all, Array Creation was depended on magic energt and materials. Even if they possessed the necessary materials to create a formation, with no magic energy to activate and maintain it then it would would become useless.

This was also one of the main reasons they could not replicate an existing Array Formation.

Mistaking Kyran's reaction as doubt, Armak and Breira hastily added.

'Although those stones are said to be extinct, the first King of Armakea discovered a deep reservoir near the Magical Beast Community's territory where they could be mine.'

'That's right, Master. The other reason Armakea wanted to establish a good relationship with the Magical Beast Community is precisely because King Aran wanted to ensure they would not discover the reservoir and claim it for themselves.'

Kyran felt an incoming headache after hearing their explanation.

He did not expect there to be a far more important ploy behind the Armakea's alliance with the Magical Beast Community. If he knew this beforehand, he could use it as leverage to win them over his side completely and not request their cooperation.

Even if the leaders of the Magical Beast believed they could win over ownership of the reservoir on their own, Kyran could remedy that by conquering the reservoir first. Doing so would even put a huge pressure on both Armakea and the Magical Beast Community.

Alas, an in-depth understanding of every situation of his targets could truly make a huge difference. Unfortunately, Kyran did not possess enough people and strength to do a thorough investigation.

Shaking his head and pushing the thought of those reservoir aside, Kyran returned his focus to their current situation.

'How far down are we?' Kyran asked, deliberately changing the topic.

'About thirty levels underground, Master,' Armak replied.

'Then the room at the other side of that room is not where the Automatons are stored?'

Armak and Breira shook their heads, 'No.'

'Unless King Aran already activated them and have them change locations.'

Kyran gave a wry smile, 'Judging by those presences behind those doors, you can expect that to be the case.'

The expressions on Armak and Breira's faces turned grim.

As previous aides to the King, they had the privilege to observe the strength of an Automaton.

King Aran did not pit them together. Rather, he had an Automaton showcase its strength while a group of Armakean Researchers observe it. His intention was for the researchers to find a way to create something similar.

All twelve aides were present during the test for insurance. In case King Aran lost control over the Automaton, they would step in and protect him.

Yes, him- the researchers were not included.

On another hand, Armak and Breira's admiration to their new Master grew by the second. Both of them were ranked fourth and fifth among the King's aides, yet they could not detect the presence lying in wait behind those doors.

'Make full use of the Sigil's Blessings. I'll lend you my senses too, but be careful not to destroy any of them. I want those Automatons intact.'

'Yes, Master. We will do our best to ensure your safe passage-.'

Armak and Breira, who were determined to fight to the bitter end against King Aran's trump cards abruptly stopped their dialogue before gaping at their new Master with a blank expression.

What did he say? Did he just ask them to hold back on those Automatons because he wanted them intact?

More importantly, they should first focus on disabling those traps, right? Was their Master forgot their initial warning?

Cold sweats run down Armak and Breira's backs. They did not dare correct their new Master, but they were worried he would get hurt before they could even do anything.

Before the two could make up what to do, Kyran had already taken a step into the clearing.

Armak and Breira braced themselves, determined to step in protect him from any incoming attacks from the traps.

One step.

Two steps.

Three…

Ten….

Armak and Breira had a blank expression on their faces as they watched their new Master walked in the middle of the clearing in an almost leisurely manner.

Sensing the two were not following him, Kyran looked at them and tilted his head, 'Are you two not coming?'

The two snap out of their dumbfounded state and joined him.

'Master… the traps…' Breira could not help but start.

'I already changed the target sequence of this array formation. We won't trigger the traps.'

Armak and Breira wore an indifferent expressions but inwardly they felt their worldview crumbling.

Just who was their new Master? How could he change an array formation without even touching it? More importantly, this was the first time he was seeing the formation. How could he understand and change it just like that?

Unbeknownst to them, Kyran could use his magic sense to scan and change most arrays without problem. But he did not use that this time. Thus, Armak and Breira felt he did not do anything.

Anyhow, Kyran was able to understood the formation simply because he saw countless numbers of formations and evencreated a few before.

Besides, Kyran did not have to give a thorough check of the whole formation. He only needed to locate where the target sequence was in the formation and change that.

Of course, doing this while an array was active was not advisable because it would affect all connected formulas. There were important steps one had to take when changing a compelete formation.

But since the array before them was still inactive, it was easy for Kyran to change one part without affecting the rest.

It also did not take Kyran long to find the target sequence because it was located close to where they stood a moment ago. Thus, in every step he took a while ago, he made slight changes on the target sequence by using the magic energy he channeled to his feet.

Such action was not really new. It was similar to how one would channel their energy in one part of their body, strengthening it with the nature of their magic. It was just that Kyran used it in an unprecedented way. Besides, he was the only one who could use it like that because of the Void's nature.

'Follow my lead,' Kyran added and continued to walk forward.

Armak and Breira no longer hesitate and followed suit.

After a few minutes they finally arrived in front of the doors at the far end of the clearing.

Kyran's eyes turned silver with reddish purple slits. When dealing with the Automatons, he preferred to use Draconic magic rather than Void magic. Because there was still a chance to fix parts of an automaton destroyed with Draconic magic than those with Void magic.

Still, to ensure he was on top of things especially when something unexpected happened, he would circulate both innate magic with the Draconic as the main. Silver and dark blue plates appeared on Kyran's body, which connected and formed into a silver armor with dark purple assets.

After that, Kyran pushed the doors open.

The room behind the doors were dark. However, the moment the doors opened, he pairs of glowing golden eyes opened, one by one.