Legacy of the Dark Sage

"Done," Kyran replied and withdrew his arm above the cauldron.

He took out a piece of cloth and a low-grade healing potion from his pouch. He wrapped his bleeding arm with the cloth before drinking the potion.

"This..." Silas looked at the solution dumbfoundedly. He was too shocked that he forgot to ask for Kyran's wound.

It was no surprise. The solution in the cauldron was reddish-gold just a moment ago, and suddenly it turned to gold after Kyran mixed his blood. If one was to look at it logically, the solution should have turned dark red, not gold.

"If the solution is a success, it will turn to gold. Otherwise, it is a failure." Kyran explained, hearing the confusion in Silas's voice. "This applies to both array and magic scroll creation."

Silas looked at Kyran, "This solution will be used as an ink to write the calculation on a magic scroll, right?"

Kyran nodded.

"But the calculations written on a magic scroll are black."

"That is because of chemical reaction. The ink will turn black when it is used on a Duali parchment. If it is used on a different parchment, the color will differ. I'm sure you've used a magic scroll before and have seen that when you rouse the scroll, the calculation's array appears in gold."

Silas's eyes grew wide. What Kyran said was true. However, he never really thought of it. He even believed that a magic scroll's golden array was its default color.

As an elemental mage, he rarely used magic scrolls. When he did use one, mostly, it was a support-type scroll that was inexpensive. After all, magic scrolls were not practical for use because of their consumable state. If you could learn the spell on the scroll, what was the point of buying one?

But hearing Kyran's explanation made Silas think that there was more to magic scroll creation. He admitted that he was both intrigued by it and also embarrassed.

Looking at Kyran's profile, Silas realized that his understanding of magic was limited to elemental magic. It made him remember how much he accused Gage of having all brawn and no brains, but he too was all talk. He might be a little smart, but that did not mean he had 'brains'.

If Silas had to be perfectly honest, those who had real brains were those mages who never stopped learning about one aspect of magic, like Kyran.

If Silas did not know that Kyran had no prior magic knowledge until a couple of weeks ago, he would think Kyran was a mage whose magic attainment had reached a level wherein he could choose his specialization.

Silas recalled his short exchange with Kyran. Initially, he thought that the knife Kyran threw at him was a magic weapon he took out from his space storage. That was the reason why he used ice shards to counter it. Instead of countering the knife, however, one of his ice shards vanished before his eyes. It was clear that the knife was not a tangible item but was created through molding technique.

'It's hard to believe that he did not know magic a couple of weeks ago." Silas thought with a faint smile. 'Now, not only does he know how to use his magic, but he also knows Array Creation and also has knowledge in Magic Scrolls.'

Then he remembered the bodies of the dead Theihorns —a clear reminder of Kyran's combat ability.

...

'This guy... does he even have a weakness?' Silas wondered in exasperation.

Silas turned his attention to the boiling cauldron and decided to focus on the situation instead of thinking about unnecessary things that would only depress him.

"That is a lot of solution," he started. "Is it really necessary for you to prepare a lot?"

Kyran shook his head and, without looking at him, answered in a monotonous voice.

"This is just enough to make one scroll."

Silas's eyes grew wide.

"What? One scroll? For that full cauldron of solution?" He exclaimed in surprise.

His eyes immediately darted at the Duali parchment that was on the table. No matter how he looked at it, the solution was too much to use on such a small parchment. Even if Kyran planned to soak the parchment in the solution or apply multiple layers when writing the calculation on the parchment, it was still too much.

Kyran finally looked at Silas.

"This is not an ordinary ink. Are you not aware of that?" He asked, looking at Silas incredulously.

Silas laughed uneasily.

"It is a shame but I am really ignorant of this things."

Kyran did not reply, but his stare made Silas feel a little uncomfortable.

Finally, Kyran nodded his head and said, "Makes sense."

"What does?" Silas could not help but ask after seeing the condoling expression on Kyran's face.

Kyran merely replied with a sympathetic smile.

Black lines appeared on Silas's head. His self-esteem had been dealt with a huge blow.

'This is all because of Lady Lumi's teasing...' He sighed in his heart.

​ "By the way, are you okay?" Kyran asked, suddenly shifting the topic.

Silas raised his brows, clearly perturbed by his question.

"Why did you ask?"

Kyran walked over to the table and took the Duali parchment and the quill before replying, "The Ice Spirit, Lumi, was it? She used her domain earlier. That means she took quite an amout of your magic energy."

Silas smiled in appreciation. He did not realize that this young man would be worried about him.

"It's true. But she did warn me to brace myself before she used her domain. Besides, the size of that world, and our magic affinity, the amount of energy she required is not much."

"How much is not much?"

Silas slightly frowned at Kyran's question. He did not expect him to be this concerned. It was a little weird.

"Half?"

Kyran nodded as he returned in front of the cauldron. Using his free hand, he took out an energy replenishing potion and threw it at Silas.

Silas caught it and looked at the potion in puzzlement.

"Please make sure to drink and recover your magic energy. If not, you'll waste this scroll if it is below half."

Silas's brow twitched.

'So he was only worried about wasting the magic scroll,' he thought.

Remembering how much blood Kyran used to make the solution, Silas understood his worry. If he wasted the scroll, making another one would require Kyran's blood again, which was not advisable.

A thought crossed Silas, and he asked, "But what exactly is it that you're doing? I mean I understand it is some sort of teleportation scroll which is kind of obsolete, but as far as I understand, if you include the coordinates of the destination you want to go to in the calculation, then anyone can use it, and it will not require a crazy amount of magic energy. I actually know the coordinates to Noser City."

Silas might be ignorant about Array Creation, but he knew how to create Magic Arrays. Although the two were different because Arrays use a combination of magic and materials to complete the calculation, while the Magic Arrays use magic runes to form calculations, the logic in writing calculations was the same.

Kyran paused for a moment. He seemed to ponder how to answer Silas's question from the way his brows creased thoughtfully.

After a short pause, Kyran answered, "I don't know how to make teleportation scroll. Even if I know the calculation, and the materials needed to make one, the key element needed in making it is the presence of space magic during the compositing stage. Meaning, the person making the solution and writing the calculation must know space magic. Having a specific coordinates in a teleportation scroll is also non-profitable so there is no calculation available where it is easy to include that information."

Silas frowned slightly, but he understood what Kyran meant.

If a teleportation scroll had a specific coordinate, it would only sell to a particular target market, unlike a teleportation scroll with no set coordinates where a mage could freely choose where to go.

"That is reasonable," Silas agreed.

Kyran looked at him and said, looking a little reluctant, "The one I'm making is... a transmission scroll, and it requires a great amount of magic energy. Its usage is to transport a person to a location he thought of after burning the scroll."

The moment Silas heard him, his eyes almost bulged out.

"What?" He exclaimed.

His surprise was not an exaggeration. A transmission scroll was actually very rare.

No.

It was more like a legendary item!

Silas remembered that three transmission scrolls were auctioned by the Chamber of Commerce a few years ago, and the mage who submitted it was a mystery.

'So those scrolls were auctioned by the Regis Clan?' He thought, looking at Kyran's arm covered in a white cloth.

Seeing the bloodstain from where Kyran cut himself, Silas fell silent.

If the Chamber of Commerce was not part of the Conclave who had deep ties with the Regis, then if the information about them being the one who commissioned the transmission scrolls, then the Regis's would've suffered in the hands of other factions. All of them coveting the calculation.

'And if they realize that the blood of a Regis is needed then...'

Silas's shivered. No wondered Kyran did not want Stella and the others to see what he was doing. Most likely, the Conclave only knew the Regis commissioned the scroll, but they did not think they made it or how it was made.

Silas clenched his fists and looked solemnly at Kyran.

"I will not breathe a word about this," he assured him.

A small smile appeared at the corner of Kyran's lips as he said, "I'm not worried. You're a Regis Emissary. If you so much as think of telling anyone about this, you'll be dead before you could breathe a word."

A cold shiver ran up Silas's spine.

The way Kyran said it was too blunt that Silas was reminded how dangerous this young man was.

"But I'm sure you're already aware of this," Kyran added.

Silas nodded.

"I am."

Kyran only nodded in acknowledgment and returned his attention to the cauldron and the parchment.

For the next couple of minutes, Silas watched Kyran drop the Duali parchment into the cauldron and wrote the calculation in midair above the cauldron using the quill.

To Silas's amazement, the Duali parchment did not melt, and with each stroke Kyran performed, gold liquid rose from the cauldron and appeared on the parchment. In seconds, the solution was absorbed by the parchment.

However, the parchment remained blank. It was not until when the solution was almost halved that black writings appeared on the parchment.

Finally, after almost half an hour, the parchment glowed and flew in the air. It rolled itself and dropped on Kyran's hand.