Legacy of the Dark Sage

His frown deepened as he recalled Leif checking a record of the Lacus Clan\'s spells and probably teachings. She browsed it briefly and learned some of the spells there to back up her act as Anahia. She wanted to learn as many spells as possible but could only use basic to mid-tier ones because the more complicated and complex spells could not be replicated by non-Lacus Clan members.

Nonetheless, Kyran considered the Lacus Clan\'s record a treasure, but it would not be useful to anyone outside the Lacus Clan.

Unless...

Kyran looked at Leif and knelt beside her.

Aki and Auto-one caught his action and watched him curiously.

Kyran remembered Leif putting the Lacus Clan\'s record in her robe pockets. But he was not sure if she did that in motion only and put it in her storage ring or pouch instead. If it was the former, then he could check the record to see if his guess was right.

But if it was the latter, then he might have trouble taking it out— unless he used his Void magic to void the magic energy recollection saved on her storage ring or pouch. It was fine either way, but he wanted to avoid leaving any residue of his Void magic energy in Leif and her belongings.

Fortunately, Leif did not put the record in her storage space but instead kept it inside the robe pockets. The Lacus Clan\'s robe pockets were enchanted to carry a lot of stuff in it. Thus, it did not look bulky.

Leif said that the Lacus Clan was a new clan. But rather than being formed recently, they were new in terms of gaining strength or influence— the latter thanks to their managing to establish a good relationship with the Dragon Clan.

Looking at the situation from this angle, the Solis Clan might have thought the Lacus Clan received valuable information or even teaching from the Dragon Clan after forming a good relationship with them, or vice versa.

Vice versa because, from what Kyran understood, the Lacus Clan were non-humans and like the Dragon Clan, they could change into a human form to interact with the rest of the clans in the Higher Realm.

The Lacus Clan\'s true form was sea serpents, and Kyran remembered reading in the Regis Clan\'s archive that these creatures were related to sea dragons. Ladon was a sea dragon himself, which was why he had a soft spot for the Lacus Clan representatives.

The Solis Clan likely knew of this fact and believed that the Lacus Clan\'s sudden rise in power and influence had something to do with unearthing an ancient teaching.

Now, the question was if they unearthed it themselves and used it as leverage of some sort to get in the good graces of the Dragon Clan or if they found proof that they were related to the Dragon Clan and the latter were contemplating absorbing the former into their fold.

Regardless, Kyran first had to know if the Lacus Clan held anything valuable.

Kyran took out a silky dark blue and green tablet the size of a human palm. He contemplated whether to use his Void magic energy to check its content but ultimately decided to use his Draconic magic energy. He reckoned that since the Lacus Clan were sea serpents the record might respond to his Draconic magic energy rather than the Void.

For the record, Leif used her Water magic energy to check the record and had no trouble browsing it because the Lacus Clan also possessed similar magic energy. However, she admitted to not being able to read some of its contents because she believed it was written in Lacus Clan\'s own clan runes.

Kyran had an inkling that if he used Draconic magic, the record would deem his magic energy similar to the Lacus\'s because of their sea serpent origin, and it would show him more information than what Leif managed to see.

If not, then tough luck. At least, he tried.

Luckily, the tablet responded to Kyran\'s Draconic magic energy, and the information recorded in it flowed inside his head like a stream of flowing water. His eyes glowed silver as streams of information entered his mind.

"Master?" Aki looked at Kyran in slight concern.

"Looks like master discovered something."

Unlike Aki, Auto-one did not seem to be worried about Kyran at all. Not that he cared less about their master, but it was due more to the fact that he more or less guessed what their master was trying to do.

Kyran could hear Aki and Auto-one but only raised his left hand in a gesture of silence. He wanted to focus on the information flowing into his mind at that moment.

Seeing his gesture, the two automatons nodded and stayed silent.

After a few minutes, Kyran closed his eyes. When they opened them again, they returned to their original color— or at least, their color under disguise.

"There might be more to the Lacus Clan than we believed," he said while looking at them. "Although the record had only focused on Water-based magic spells, it explained in great detail everything there is to know about the Lacus Clan\'s magic spells. Apart from that, they also have ancient teachings connected to the Dragon Clans— or, at least, their sea dragon members."

"So this Solis guy is really after the Lacus Clan?"

"In particular, he is aiming at Anahia and is probably looking for this record. They probably plan on studying it and learning their ancient teaching, using them to exploit any weakness related to the Dragon Clan\'s sea dragon members."

Auto-one sighed after hearing their master\'s explanation, "I did not expect the beef between the Dragon Clan and the Solis Clan to have reached this level. To think that the latter would aim at another clan just because they believed they might be related to the former. If their guess were wrong, then their endeavor would have been futile."

"They aimed at them precisely because they are sure to produce something good," Kyran told Auto-one.

"You mean they are sure that the Lacus Clan is related to the Dragon Clan?"

Kyran nodded, "Yes."

Aki frowned, "But as far as I know, the relationship between the Dragon Clan and the Lacus Clan is still a secret. As a matter of fact, only a few are in the know, even among the Dragon Clan members."

"You mean to say that there is a spy among the Dragon Clan? Or the Lacus Clan?" Auto-one asked with narrowed eyes.

"Don\'t jump to conclusions," Kyran told them while shaking his head. "I said the Solis Clan is aware of the connection between the two because the Lacus Clan is a clan of sea serpents."

"Ah," Auto-one\'s eyes widened as he thought of something, "I remembered something in the past, before The Fall. The dragons were still at odds against each other. There was this one sea dragon that was truly at odds with the Dragon Emperor\'s tribe. However, some of them did not share that sea dragon\'s sentiment and surrendered to the Dragon Emperor."

Based on what Auto-one said, Kyran reckoned that the sea dragons that surrendered to the Dragon Emperor\'s tribe were likely Ladon\'s tribe.

"Now that sea dragon and the rest who did not join joined the Demon Clan. At that time, the Demon Clan was still considered allies of the Solis Clan, but... anyway, even among the Demons, there was internal strife. In the end, during The Fall, some of the sea dragon\'s subordinates who \'admitted to their mistake\' wanted to turn into good leaf. Unfortunately, the war had been a mess, and well...

the record of what happened after was too blurry, to be honest," Auto-one sighed, recalling how their information was no longer 100% reliable after the tower got lost in space. They could only rely on the data they gathered from the representatives of different clans that managed to enter the tower. "In any case, I remembered some of those sea dragons fell to the Lower Realm during The Fall."

Kyran tilted his head as he recalled something. Wasn\'t Tritus\'s weapon possessed a sea serpent? Kyran did not know if it was related, but he remembered how powerful that sea serpent was.

Kyran pushed the thought aside as it was quite irrelevant to the current situation.

"Regardless of the Solis Clan\'s target, we\'ll have to stay vigilant," Kyran told Aki and Auto-one. "At least now we know the Solis Clan representatives also managed to enter the seventh level."

The two automatons nodded their heads. Needless to say, they did not really need their master to remind them to stay vigilant. They would always be alert to ensure their master\'s safety.

"About this guy," Auto-one gestured at the unconscious enemy mage. "Will you let me handle the interrogation, master?"

Kyran looked at him with raised brows and said, "I don\'t really mind, but... be careful that you don\'t kill him until you wring every bit of information."

"Leave it to me, master."