Legacy of the Dark Sage

The training ground itself was square in shape, with half was an open field, and the other half was a building with three floors. At one side of the field was the target area for archery. The other side was reserved for field exercises.

When Kyran and Stella entered the training ground, he noticed that it was empty even though the whole place was lit.

Stella led Kyran to the entrance going to the building. The entrance at the center were huge oak doors. It led to a small reception where two huge double doors were on each side. The door to the left led to a hall where smaller to medium-sized private training rooms were found. And the one on the right led to an arena.

"An arena?" Kyran suddenly asked and looked at Stella. "You hold matches here?"

Stella chuckled after seeing the incredulous look on his face.

"The matches were actually an assessment. At the beginning of each year, all mages, combat mages, and combat specialists from the security would hold competitive matches among themselves to select the Elite Team that would guard the Main Tower." She explained.

There was a moment\'s pause before Kyran replied with,  "I see."

Hearing his curt reply, Stella sneered and guessed, "You just thought badly of our Elite Team, did you?"

"I didn\'t," Kyran denied with a straight face.

Stella giggled and proceeded to the left doors.

"The members of our Elite Team are really the best among our talents. You\'re standard is just too high. They can fight evenly with the Royal Army\'s Field Team, you know."

She stopped and pushed the double doors open.

Kyran slightly frowned and said, "As I said, I didn\'t think badly about them. And What\'s with me having high standards? I don\'t have any of that."

"Okay, okay," Stella replied with a laugh and entered. "I\'m surprised you did not react to what I said about the Royal Army."

"Joint activities are normal among different military factions. It is a way to assess each faction\'s current strength while also keeping each other in check," Kyran replied and entered as well. He immediately saw a long hallway up ahead and followed behind Stella.

With a slight nod, Stella commented, "Right. You learned that from military school. You also had joint activities with other schools, right?"

Kyran looked at her, "Yes."

"How was it?"

"It was educational."

Stella laughed, "I can\'t decide whether you\'re just honest or conceited."

Kyran raised both his brows but did not reply. He had a feeling that no matter what he said, Stella would interpret it differently.

To be honest, Kyran did not want to explain nor share his experience in the military school. Especially the joint activities with other military and even magic schools. That was why he said the closest word he could think of to describe his experience. Besides, he had a vague feeling that she already knew all about it.

Kyran decided to change the subject and asked, "Why is this place empty? Do your people end their practice early?"

Suddenly, Stella burst out laughing.

"You\'re really asking that question?" she asked while turning around to look at him.

Kyran frowned, "I just did."

"Did you forget how you thrashed my people a few days ago?" Stella replied with a raised eyebrow.

"That was—ah, right—different time flow," Kyran said mostly to remind himself.

Stella smiled, "Yes. Right now, most of them are still in the infirmary. And those who can already move have to help out in creating the defensive array while also maintaining security."

Kyran fell silent. He did not mean to forget what he did here a few days ago. But because Stella acted carefree around him, he thought everything was already okay.

He actually agreed to meet the Conclave\'s Council Members to apologise and explain why he did what he did. If they were not satisfied with just an apology, he was willing to compensate.

"Sorry." Kyran finally said after a long pause.

"You can tell them that yourself when you\'re free," Stella replied with a smile.

"I will."

Then he paused and added, "Will they be fine seeing me? I mean, I did hurt them."

Stella giggled, "Probably not."

Kyran did not reply and instead pondered how he could apologize before \'scaring\' them off.

Soon, they arrived in front of the room at the end of the hall.

This room was actually the largest medium-sized private training room in the building. The room\'s height occupied at least two floors, and its width was equivalent to four small private training rooms.

With this much space, Stella was sure that Kyran would be able to move around as he pleases. She also chose this room because of its array.

All training rooms had an array formation. And each had its own specialities. In this room, it had the ability to reconstruct any damaged area of the room in seconds.

With Kyran\'s magic, if he accidentally destroyed part of the room, it would be able to reconstruct itself in a minute. Of course, if the damage was bigger, then it might take more than a minute.

Stella opened the door, and both she and Kyran entered.

Kyran slightly nodded his head in approval when he saw the space of the room. The size was just right for him to try out his idea with his magic, given that he succeeded in molding his magic first.

The room was painted white. And apart from faint rune writings of array formation written on the walls, floors and ceiling, the whole room was empty.

"Alright. Then I will leave you to your training, while I inform the rest about the meeting. I\'ll come back thirty minutes before it starts," Stella told him.

"Okay, thanks."

Stella nodded her head before leaving.

The moment she closed the door, Kyran walked into the middle of the room. He lifted his left hand and summoned his purple rings.

\'Molding is when you use your magic and shape it into a different form with a solidity of a real object,\' he thought, remembering the information he read about the molding technique.

\'The three important qualities a mage must possess to mold his magic are attention to details, imagination, and ability to focus.\'

Taking a deep breath, Kyran closed his eyes and cleared his mind. He let his magic circulate inside him and direct it to his palm.

Since it was his first time to try out molding, Kyran\'s first objective was to reshape his rings.

\'First, try a square.\' He thought and imagined a square solid object.

The moment the image in his mind became clear, he felt the rings in his hand shifted. His heart started to pound in anticipation. But he immediately calmed his heart, or else he would lose his focus.

The clearer the image in his mind appeared, the more he felt his rings shifting.

After a few minutes, Kyran finally opened his eyes and looked at rings in his hand.

Black lines appeared on his head.

\'What in the world is this?\' He thought in exasperation.

In his hand, his rings were still rings. But instead of their usual layered arrangement, there was a horizontal ring at the bottom; four rings in a vertical position formed four sides around the ring at the bottom, and another horizontal ring to form the top.

Technically, it was a square... formation. Not a shape.

Kyran sighed and cancelled his magic before sitting cross-legged on the floor.

He opened his left palm and summoned one purple ring, and glared at it.

"You can form into a disc, yet you can\'t fill the gaps when you do that square thing?" He scolded.

The purple ring simply rotated on his palm.

...

This was not good. Being holed up with only books to accompany him for days made him a little strange in the head.

Kyran sighed and lightly shook his head. He closed his eyes to try again.

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

Stella took out a small crystal disc and contacted Malek as soon as she left the training ground.

This disc was her own communication device with her private channel. She only used it for emergencies, and Malek was the only one who knew its code to contact her.

"Malek, where are all the council members right now?" Stella asked the moment Malek\'s silhouette appeared on the disc.

"Lord of the Tower," Malek bowed his head in greeting before answering, "Noir with Sigma and Vaness are currently at the center of the new array formation. It seems there are additional materials Noir needed to complete the core, and they are discussing how to acquire them. Malia and Avrum are at the alchemy chamber concocting new supplies of potion for our men at the infirmary while Hugh, Callan and Emery are helping with security rounds."

Stella nodded, "Okay. Tell them to gather in the conference hall at eight. We\'ll have a meeting."

Upon hearing this and knowing that Kyran was already awake, Malek\'s eyes narrowed.

Stella noticed this and could not help but chuckle.

It was not only Kyran who wanted to get even. Malek also felt dissatisfied with their first meeting and wanted to have a chance to \'compare notes\'.

"Yes, Malek. I\'ll introduce Kyran to the council. We can now discuss our next move."

Malek nodded respectfully and replied, "I understand. I will relay your message to the rest."

"Thank you, Malek. I\'ll meet all of you at the conference hall," Stella said before disconnecting.