Legacy of the Dark Sage

Kyran woke up inside the Recovery Room. Feeling a little disoriented, he remained still and stared at the ceiling as he recalled his 'training' with Nolan.

The training itself was not long. It took only a day. However, during that time, Kyran had died countless times in Nolan's hand.

Of course, Kyran did not really die in its complete sense.

To better explain how it happened, after Nolan tested Kyran for almost five hours, Nolan summoned a massive array that covered 10,000 kilometers of the gray space. After that, without explaining anything or even warning, Nolan attacked Kyran. This time, the former did not hold back and really aimed to kill Kyran.

It happened too fast that Kyran ended up getting killed. At the moment of his death, he was left reeling. But even before the thought of dying could sink into his mind, he was suddenly 'revived.'

The moment he opened his eyes and found he did not really die, Nolan did not give him any slack and attacked again. In the end, Kyran died once again.

This cycle happened for some time until after dying more than ten times, Kyran managed to stay alive long enough for him to spread out his magic sense to inspect the array formation Nolan had summoned. Just before his death, he managed to see a formula about 'revival.'

And so, for the remaining time of that one day of training with Nolan, Kyran experienced countless deaths. Which was why he was mentally and even emotionally exhausted after Nolan called it a day.

Who else would not feel that way? After experiencing death so many times in a day, it was a marvel how Kyran managed to stay sane. Others would have surely given up after experiencing death ten times in a row, but Kyran was different. The more he died, the more his spirit was kindled. It took at least a hundred death before he managed to stay alive for more than ten minutes.

Staying alive while facing Nolan using almost 100% of his magic was already a feat.

Kyran's experience from Nolan's training left him reassessing his own resolve and even his will.

For the most part, Nolan had a point. Kyran was indeed soft. He thought, his experience in killing all those bandits was enough to awaken his sense of killing. However, he now understood that he did not mind killing the bandits because he subconsciously thought of them as 'evil.'

However, once he subconsciously labelled a person as 'non-aggressor' or even 'safe,' Kyran could end up getting backstabbed. He must change his mindset. He could not show any weakness that his enemies could use against him. Having his loyalty and love for his clan as his weakness was enough. But even then, he should not let his enemies use his weakness against him. When the time comes, he should be able to decisively kill even when his clan was being threatened. He could even use the threat against his clan as a kind of tempering to further push himself to his limits.

Keeping all of these thoughts in mind, Kyran sorted his somewhat unstable emotions.

A quarter of an hour later, Kyran took a deep breath and finally got out of bed. He inspected his body and was surprised to find a seal imprinted over the Mark of Ruin on his left arm. The seal was new and he was shocked to find he could not recognize the materials used in it. He instantly thought of Nolan and felt mixed emotions.

Kyran did not tell Nolan about the mark. To be precise, there had been no time for them to talk about anything during the training. Still, it looked like Nolan recognized the mark and even used a powerful and probably expensive seal, to seal it.

'He probably realized I can't properly use my left arm. Father's essence also noticed it but did not say anything,' Kyran thought and his brow made an involuntary twitch when he recalled how his father's essence aimed at his left side more frequently as soon as he realized it.

Kyran was beginning to see another side of his father. A big bully.

After inspecting that his body had fully recovered, Kyran inspected his magic cores next.

The first thing he inspected was his Void core. Obviously, it was his only active magic core and he wanted to check True Void's condition.

'He's still replenishing his magic energy,' Kyran thought with a sigh. He looked at the seal on his left arm and felt gratitude toward Nolan.

If Nolan did not seal the Mark of Ruin, Kyran was not sure how he could exert his full strength if True Void was not around. Seeing the latter's condition, Kyran guessed it would take him a few days before he woke up.

'That's if we stay in this tower. The richness of the magic energy here is different from the Human plane. If we go back, True Void will probably need weeks or even a month before he wakes up,' Kyran thought.

With a sigh, Kyran left the Recovery Room and once again returned to the white room. He decided to continue with his training to give True Void enough time to replenish his magic energy.

As soon as he stood in front of the gold tablet with the Void rune, the overlapping voices spoke once again.

"You have failed to defeat the Champion in the Tower's Special Place. However, you can still re-enter and challenge the platforms once again as long as you acquire the platinum key.

"Will you proceed with the next training?"

"Yes," Kyran replied without hesitation.

"May you strengthen your heart and resolve in every battle you face."

Kyran's brow immediately furrowed after hearing the overlapping voices' parting words. It was already established that the overlapping voice's parting words were a clue to what training he would face next. Right now, it seemed as if they were telling him his next training would be full of battles.

Before Kyran could contemplate more, a blinding light erupted from the gold tablet. Soon, an invisible force wrapped around him and he was transported to his next training.

As soon as the blinding light lifted, Kyran's sense of smell was assaulted by the mixture of magic attack residues, and metal, which he knew was the smell of blood. After that, he heard shouting and explosions everywhere. The ground even shook every now and then.

Kyran opened his eyes and instantly felt stifled.

True enough, the tower indeed brought him to do battles.

Right now, he was standing amidst an intense battlefield.

==================

Two days after the Crown Princess entered the Winfrey's Ancestral Land, Lira, the three Royal Knights and Royal Guards had set up a makeshift camp a few hundred meters away from the entrance.

From time to time, a group of Royal Guards would leave to patrol the surrounding area and kill off any wandering forest beasts. So far they had not encountered any humans during their patrol.

Nevertheless, if they saw a human or a group of humans, they would clean up the forest. It was ordered by the Crown Princess to keep the area clean, after all.

Lira, who had removed her armor stood in front of one of the makeshift tents, facing the entrance to the ancestral lands. She was looking at the entrance intensely with her green eyes while subconsciously twirling the tip of her braided long brown hair. From her expression and stance it was obvious she was waiting for someone to come out from the Winfrey's Ancestral Lands.

"The princess will come out tomorrow," the lead Royal Knight told her as he approached. "You can rest easy."

Without looking at him, Lira replied, "She is expected to come out tomorrow. But it was not guaranteed"

"Are you doubting the princess' ability?"

Lira sighed and shook her head, "No. I am just..."

"You have gotten close to her highness."

Though the lead Royal Knight did not say anything further, it was obvious what he wanted to tell her.

"I know, sir Dillon."

"Get ready. I'll have you join the rest during night patrol."

"I understand," Lira replied as she turned to look at Dillon, the lead Royal Knight. She lowered her head in respect, before going inside the makeshift tent to prepare.

That night, a tremor originating within the Winfrey's Ancestral Land had shaken the whole forest.

Curiously, even when the tremor's intensity looked as if it would affect a larger area and might even alarm the nearby towns they all realized that the tremor was only felt approximately 500 meters around the ancestral land.

The tremor lasted for almost three hours, which ended with a beam of light that pierced through the sky.

Again, the beam of light, which would have been witnessed by every person within Meliora, surprisingly had not been seen. It appeared as if a veil had been placed around the ancestral land which could conceal everything that happened from the inside.

Only those within 500 meters around would be able to witness anything. However, with the royal guards patrolling the area, it was safe to say that no outsiders had witnessed what had happened.

No one knew it yet.

But that night, was the turning point that would really change the whole Human plane.