Legacy of the Dark Sage

\'So choosing the Void path meant I can\'t use Draconic magic,\' Kyran thought, his brows creased in frustration.

The reality of not being able to use any of the Regis Technique hit Kyran deeply. He did not realize how much he had been relying on them until now. Since he was young, the Regis Techniques had been deeply engraved in his system, and activating it had become second nature to him.

Now that he could not use it, he felt vulnerable and weak.

Kyran sat cross-legged on the ground. The moment he moved, pain shot up on his shoulders and legs. He gritted his teeth, enduring the pain, while examining first his shoulders then his legs. There he found that the beast\'s claws earlier had cut his skin. It was not a deep cut, so he did not bleed much.

Even so, with the foul stench in the surroundings as well as the dry, sweltering air, his wounds might end up getting infected if he did not dress them. Fortunately, the enchantments on his clothes were still working, and the torn parts had been mended, covering his cuts well.

\'There\'s a chance that the enchantments are working because when I made them, I branded them using Void magic. If not, I have a feeling it will not work,\' Kyran thought.

After confirming that apart from the wounds on his shoulders and legs, his body was still okay, Kyran let out a sigh of relief. He also confirmed that he could not use Draconic magic because his Draconic core was not responding to his summons. Event the two other magic cores were unresponsive. Most likely, the light that enveloped him before getting transported to this place sealed the rest of his magic cores.

\'But it left my central core,\' Kyran thought in confusion. \'Maybe it did because there are traces of my Void core passing through it.\'

Regardless of the reason, Kyran could think of the answer later. First, he had to focus on what was important.

Taking a deep breath to clear his mind, Kyran adjusted his mindset.

There was no point in crying over spilt milk. Now that Kyran knew he could not rely on the body tempering and other physical boosts his Draconic magic offered, he had to focus on really understanding his Void magic.

After learning magic sense, he already had some ideas on what Void magic could do. But since Nolan and Anette did not allow him to practice back in the cottage, he could only ponder all come up with theories based on these ideas. Now was the perfect time for him to test them.

However, Kyran had to be mindful when trying out his theories because he knew how much Void magic consumed his magic and mental energies. Without potions or pills to replenish both, his magic usage was limited.

\'First things first, I need to know where I am,\' Kyran thought while wandering his eyes to observe his surroundings.

Right now, he was sitting in the middle of the crater he created after using his Void Barrier.

The ground Kyran sat on was a combination of red and black soil. There was a putrid and metallic smell coming from it, making him think that the earth had been drenched by blood and maybe all sorts of internal organs and body matter.

The sky above was dark, with reddish clouds drifting by here and there. However, there were no stars, which made Kyran wonder where the light source on this place was coming from.

Kyran stood up and cautiously walked to the edge of his manmade crater. Even if he could not use the Regis Body Tempering Technique to heighten his senses because of his past combat experiences, he could easily sense any danger around.

Right now, his sense of danger had been gnawing at him. He had dealt with the six weird-looking beasts earlier. But because he panicked, he dealt with them in a very conspicuous way. He would not be surprised if he attracted more beasts.

\'If beasts do appear and attack me, then I can finally have a better understanding of why they avoided me in the first place,\' Kyran thought, slowly coming into terms that right now he could only rouse the Void.

Kyran always felt that the beasts avoided him because they probably thought he was some higher beast that resided on top of the food chain because of the Draconic magic. But this thought felt a little off now that he knew he had been using Draconic magic even before he knew he had Void magic, and beasts never avoided him. In this place, however, he might finally understand why.

As soon as Kyran emerged from the crater, he immediately noticed a blood-red tower in the distance. It emitted a weird dark red light which filled the whole surrounding.

\'So the light source of this place was due to that tower?\' Kyran wondered with a slight frown.

He then wandered his eyes to observe the surroundings and finally understand why the foul stench in the air was pungent.

As far as Kyran could see with his normal eyes, there were decaying bodies of beasts everywhere. There were bodies of beasts that had a reptilian tail but had a horse on the upper part of its body. It looked incredibly weird. There were also large-sized beasts with a body of a black panther, and strangely, its head was a human face.

There were actually more, but Kyran\'s thought process short-circuited at the strangeness of all the beasts. It was needless to say that it was his first time seeing so many strange beasts in one place, albeit all of them were dead.

\'What exactly is this place?\' Kyran wondered. \'Why is my first training here?\'

Seeing that there were no beasts nearby, Kyran ventured forward while making a mental list of what he needed to survive in this place, as well as what he had to do.

\'I need to secure survival items, weapons, food, water... Where can I even find water in this place?\' Kyran thought, looking at how dry and desolate the whole place was.

As for food, Kyran swallowed a hard lump on his throat while looking at the decaying carcasses of the beasts everywhere.

\'Who knows how long these bodies had been here. Besides, I\'m not familiar with these beasts. Their flesh might not even be suitable for human consumption.\'

Kyran walked over to the nearest beast, which had a horse head and front hooves for its upper body and reptilian tail for its lower half.

The beast\'s head had been half smashed to a pulp, with blood, brain matter, and flesh splattered on the ground. There were four angry claw marks on its chest where flesh, blood and internal organs were spilling out.

Kyran\'s expression did not change as he approached the carcass. He touched the back of the beast\'s head and felt it was still warm.

\'It seems this guy has been killed recently. Maybe those six beasts killed it and probably planning to eat it. However, I suddenly appeared. No wonder they\'re pissed.\'

Kyran thought while continuing to examine the beast\'s body.

After a few minutes, he turned his attention to the next beast near him.

The next one was a bird-type large-sized beast. It had the head of a goat and a body of a... chicken.

Kyran could not help but scratch his head at this weird-looking beast. Another weird thing about this beast was it had furs instead of feathers.

Looking at the shrivelled appearance of its beast, Kyran guessed it had been dead for some time. Its chest was opened, and most of its internal organs were gone.

It made Kyran look back at the first beast he examined as an idea crossed his mind. He looked at the rest of the carcasses nearby, and true enough, they all had their chest ripped apart, and their internal organs were missing.

\'Maybe it was not missing, but was eaten. And maybe, it is not all their internal organs but some parts only,\' Kyran pondered. \'But why?\'

He then looked up at the red tower in the distance.

Looking at the tower again gave Kyran a bad feeling. It was as if the light it emitted had a sinister glow and might even affect everything within its vicinity.

Kyran continued to walk and, from time to time, would examine the beast\'s carcasses. He also collected some of their parts, like bones, feathers and skins, which he would need to create survival items.

He had seen more weird-looking beasts along the way. However, he veered out of their way. There was no reason for him to engage them in a fight to the death. At least, he did not think his training was to clear this place of beasts.

As Kyran wandered around, he suddenly had a nagging thought about this place.

Was this place even real? Or was it created inside the tower for the purpose of training? If it was the latter, then the tower\'s creator was really something else to be able to create such a realistic place. However, if it was the former, then where exactly was this place?

Once again, Kyran looked at the ominous looking red tower up ahead. It really gave him a bad feeling. But he also had an inkling his training had something to do with going to that tower.

Finally, after hesitating for a few minutes, Kyran decided to go to the tower.