Legacy of the Dark Sage

Kyran got his hands full that morning. He first met with Dante to find Celine's message.

Her message confirmed Kyran's assumption on why the Team Competition suddenly had a preliminary round. Her coded message said that the Lumley Family's top talents had gathered last night and left early in the morning with a Courtenay messenger.

Since Kyran or the Conclave did not have any dealings with the Montgomeray Family, they did not keep watch on their movements. But they did have information that another Courtenay messenger went to visit the Montgomeray Family residence in Starhorn.

To avoid getting their messages, even coded ones, getting tapped, Kyran gave Dante a communication device he made himself.

He also avoided giving Dante any response while they were inside his room because there was a possibility that the room was being monitored.

An Array Specialist could easily perceive a Surveillance Array with visuals. So, it was likely that the Courtenay Family was using a Voice Tap array only.

Kyran did not try to use his magic sense to confirm this yet. His reason was simple.

The Three Noble Families was a faction that he had little understanding of. However, since he had always believed that his enemies would only involve the Royal Army and the Royal Family, he focused on them.

Of course, he also gathered enough intel about the Three Noble Families. But they had never proactively made movements. While it was rumored that they supported one of the Deputy Marshals, Imman, there was no concrete proof.

Even the Conclave did not find anything.

In any case, Kyran did not ask Stella for their information. He already had someone else looking through it.

With little knowledge of the Three Noble Families, Kyran had to stay lowkey within the Courtenay's property.

It went without saying that using magic sense might not be easily detected. However, if there were an Array that would trigger at even a small detection of magic sense, then the Courtenay Family would put up their guards against the Conclave. Since they could not trace it back to Kyran, their likely suspects would be the Conclave Council Members with the highest mage level among them.

Besides, even if there were no Array in place, if high-level mages were hiding in the Courtenay property, his magic sense would get detected— not that there was a high-level enough mage that could detect Kyran's magic sense.

To be on the safe side, Kyran would not take chances. He was not in a hurry to place countermeasures against the Three Noble Families.

Just as he told the Conclave council members earlier, 'there was no need to make a mountain out of a small hill.'

That was how Kyran saw this situation.

There might be a lot of things happening at this moment, but what mattered was discovering the Royal Family's plot.

To be honest, Kyran had a feeling that the Royal Family was entertaining the Three Noble Families' hidden agenda to trap them.

The reason why he thought this, he confirmed that Mimi and Millie had not fallen under the Crown Princess's control.

The Royal Family possibly agreed to have the Three Noble Families join in this event to make it easier for them to control their top talents as well.

A saying went like this: Hitting two targets with one arrow or hitting two birds with one stone.

It was how Kyran perceived the current situation.

After advising Dante to stay lowkey while being on guard, Kyran returned to his room.

Without wasting any time, Kyran worked on placing a Defensive Array in the room. As he expected, there was an Array placed inside; however, Kyran did not try to study or adjust it. Because he already noticed that the Array was only a part of a bigger one that was likely connected to the whole dome and then the entire Courtenay property.

That was a massive Array that would take even Kyran a while to decipher and adjust.

No, he could not adjust it. Not because he could not modify it, but because, if he did, he would require a massive amount of magic energy.

That would rouse the Royal Family, not to mention the Courtenay Family— or the Three Noble Families.

When Kyran finished placing a defensive array in the room, he left and went to Noir's room.

Going there took a while because the Conclave members invited him to check the whole place.

Kyran convinced them he had to speak with his Master first and let him off after agreeing to meet up at the lounge before the program started.

Callan, Malia and Vaness were already in Noir's room when Kyran arrived.

Different from the participant's quarters, the room the Conclave Council Members were staying in was more luxurious. To be precise, the other half of the dome's third floor was also fully furnished.

The hallway walls were painted white with carved gold ornaments, and the doors leading to the rooms were not black and made of ordinary wood but were made of the finest oak steel doors.

The rooms were also more extensive and had a living room, kitchen, and dining area.

The four council members were gathered in the living room and were already discussing the matters at hand. They had already received the updated information on the events and the program.

Of course, Chairman Noir placed a defensive array to counter any Surveillance array in the room before they started their discussion. In any case, since he was able to create an array, it meant there was no array placed in the room.

As Kyran guessed, the Three Noble Families would indeed join some of the events; Solo Competition, Team Competition, Alchemy and Array Creation. Each family would have two teams.

To ensure it would not jeopardize the purpose of the joint military exercise between the Royal Army and the Conclave, the first teams of the Three Noble Families would compete with the Royal Army, and the second teams would compete with the Conclave.

,m These were true for all the events they would join.

Whoever won did not matter because the finals and the rest of the events would still have the Royal Army and the Conclave as primary participants.

Kyran smiled wryly at this forced rule. He knew this was the Three Noble Families' answer to Callan's threat earlier because it destroyed the purpose of the joint exercise if they agreed to let them be included in the results.

The Conclave council members felt the same way. If even they felt like this, the Royal Family likely also did, but they still went with it anyway.

Clearly, the Three Noble Families still wanting to pursue to have a friendly competition with them meant they had a hidden agenda. Whatever it was, however, Kyran doubted the Royal Family would let them.

As for the Lumley Family, Kyran felt he would be their primary target after the events between them and the Blacksmith Order.

The Lumley Family still had nerves about targeting him, knowing that the Royal Family had set their eyes on him.

The Program would go as follows:

Day 1 ==========

Dome Center Hall 

2:00 - 3:00 pm - Opening Program

3:00 - 3:30 pm - Special Intermission by the Three Noble Families

3:30 - 4:00 pm - Preparation

Dome Function Hall 1 (1st Floor - Right Side)

4:00 pm - Solo Competition (Royal Army | Montgomeray Family)

Dome Function Hall 2 (1st Floor -  Left Side)

4:00 pm - Solo Competition (Conclave | Lumley Family)

Dome Function Hall 3 (2nd Floor - Right Side)

4:00 pm - Team Competition (Royal Army | Courtenay Family)

Dome Function Hall 4 (2nd Floor - Left Side)

4:00 pm - Team Competion (Conclave | Montgomeray Family)

Day 2 ==========

Forest (East Terrain)

9:00 am - Material Gathering (Royal Army | Conclave) - Time Limit: 6 hrs.

Dome Function Hall 2 (1st Floor -  Left Side)

4:00 pm - Alchemy (Royal Army | Lumley Family)

Dome Function Hall 1 (1st Floor -  Right Side)

4:00 pm - Alchemy (Conclave | Courtenay Family)

Dome Function Hall 4 (2nd Floor -  Left Side)

4:00 pm - Array Creation (Royal Army | Montgomeray Family)

Dome Function Hall 3 (2nd Floor - Right Side)

4:00 pm - Array Creation (Conclave | Lumley Family)

Day 3 ==========

Dome Grand Hall (4th Floor - Half Side)

9:00 am - Smithing (Royal Army | Conclave) - Time Limit: 6 hrs.

Dome Function Hall 3 (2nd Floor - Right Side)

4:00 pm - Solo Competition (Royal Army | Courtenay Family)

Dome Function Hall 4 (2nd Floor -  Left Side)

4:00 pm - Solo Competition (Conclave | Montgomeray Family)

Dome Function Hall 1 (1st Floor -  Right Side)

4:00 pm - Team Competition (Royal Army | Lumley Family)

Dome Function Hall 2 (1st Floor -  Left Side)

4:00 pm - Team Competion (Conclave | Courtenay Family)

Day 4 ==========

Small Island (South Terrain)

9:00 am -  Beast Hunt (Royal Army | Conclave) - Time Limit: 6 hrs.

Dome Function Hall 4 (2nd Floor -  Left Side)

4:00 pm - Alchemy (Royal Army | Courtenay Family)

Dome Function Hall 3 (2nd Floor -  Right Side)

4:00 pm - Alchemy (Conclave | Montgomeray Family)

Dome Function Hall 2 (1st Floor -  Left Side)

4:00 pm - Array Creation (Royal Army | Lumley Family)

Dome Function Hall 1 (1st floor - Right Side)

4:00 pm - Array Creation (Conclave | Courtenay Family)

Day 5  ==========

Dome Grand Hall (4th Floor)

[Right Half] 9:00 am - Alchemy (Royal Army | Montgomeray) - Time Limit: 3 hrs.

[Left Half] 9:00 am - Alchemy (Conclave | Lumley) - Time Limit: 3 hrs.

[Left Half] 12:30 pm - Array Creation (Royal Army | Courtenay Family) - Time Limit: 3 hrs.

[Right Half] 12:30 pm - Array Creation (Conclave | Montgomeray) - Time Limit: 3 hrs.

Dome Function Hall 1 (1st Floor - Right Side)

4:00 pm - Solo Competition (Royal Army | Lumley Family)

Dome Function Hall 2 (1st Floor -  Left Side)

4:00 pm - Solo Competition (Conclave | Courtenay Family)

Dome Function Hall 3 (2nd Floor - Right Side)

4:00 pm - Team Competition (Royal Army | Montgomeray Family)

Dome Function Hall 4 (2nd Floor - Left Side)

4:00 pm - Team Competion (Conclave | Lumley Family)

Day 6  ==========

Dome Grand Hall (4th Floor)

[Left Half] 9:00 am - Alchemy (Royal Army | Conclave) - Time Limit: 3 hrs.

[Right Half] 9:00 - 11:30 am - Solo Competition - Preliminary (Royal Army | Conclave) - Match Time Limit: 25 mins.

[Left Half] 12:30 pm - Array Creation (Royal Army | Conclave) - Time Limit: 3 hrs.

[Right Half] 12:30 pm - Solo Competition - Quarter Finals (Royal Army | Conclave) - Match Time Limit: 25 mins.

Day 7  ==========

Dome Center Hall 

10:00 am - Solo Competition - Finals (Royal Army | Conclave)

Open Field (West Terrain)

11:00 am - Team Competition (Royal Army | Conclave)

Outdoor Terrain (Courtenay Family's Land)

Base 1 | Forest (East Terrain)

Base 2 | Small Island (South Terrain)

1:00 Field Operation (Royal Army | Conclave) Time Limit: Indefinite

********************

After going through the program and checking the detailed map of the Courtenay's Land, Kyran admitted that the whole thing was feasible. However, he was also surprised that they managed to come up with this in such a short time.

A week-long event like this took months to prepare. The number of resources, whether materials, food, or manpower, an event like this require was huge. To ensure it would be completed in less than a month meant they burned more resources.

Kyran smiled bitterly.

It annoyed him how these people could waste so many resources when he struggled to earn them. True, he already had the Templar Code under him and was planning to take over the Blue Lotus, but they were still a new faction compared with the Royal Family and the Three Noble Families. The latter's resources were richer.

Besides, the Royal Family had full access to every excavated ruin in the empire.

Sighing inwardly, Kyran pushed the thought to the back of his mind. It was not the time for him to think of his misfortunes.

He then looked at the council members waiting to hear his opinion.

They had already discussed their own and now wanted to see if their guess was the same with him.

"The Royal Family agreed to these changes, making use of the Three Noble Families' hidden agenda to gather their top talents and also control them," Kyran finally told them his thoughts with a wry smile.