Legacy of the Dark Sage

For the next few minutes, Kyran walked around the room. When he was at least five feet away in front of a door, the label would light up, and rune writings would appear on the door's surface.

The runes written on each door were brief descriptions of the labels above them.

Under the Array showed the study of rune formula construction, its relevant materials, and its applications.

In Alchemy, it showed, knowing all about the 37 million types of herbs and their more than a hundred million variations.

Astrology; the study of star formation and their meanings.

Divination; the study of different types of divination techniques and interpreting signs.

Elements, learning in-depth analysis of all elements.

Incantations; the study of all runes and their corresponding magic.

Puppetry, learning how to create automatons and their core system.

Spirit Contract, learning all about Spirits and the different contract types.

And so on.

From the descriptions, Kyran noticed most of them described only the basic things one would learn from each branch. As for the Dark and Light Arts, their descriptions were too vague for Kyran to determine whether it was basic knowledge or not.

Light Arts; finding the light in every path.

Dark Arts; learning the true face of magic.

Kyran looked at the labels with a thoughtful expression. None of them caught his interest. He was also a little disappointed at the big difference between his first training to the next one. Clearly, his next training was to study. But he was not interested in most of the choices.

He was not even interested in the Light or Dark Arts, which had a vague description.

"True Void, can you tell me which of the doors my predecessor had taken?" Kyran asked after much contemplation. He decided to avoid picking the same path since his Void core would have the information on it, and it would only be a matter of time before Kyran learned it.

"Hm... My master swore not to say a word, but I didn't, so I guess I can tell you. My master chose the Incantation room," True Void replied. He sat down on Kyran's shoulder and added, "Master is originally a Magic Scholar before discovering he had Void magic. He already studied quite a number of different runes, but he thought it best to further his knowledge on it instead of choosing a different branch of magic that will not benefit him."

Kyran nodded in agreement, "I understand his reasoning. Mastering one branch of magic is no simple feat. Even after studying one branch for several years, one should never claim he already knows everything."

True Void looked at Kyran's profile and patted his head, "Bahahaha! Yes! Yes! My master thought the same. And he was right. He learned that the things he knew about runes were just a small drop in a vast ocean. After all, he only learned the runes available in the Human Plane!"

Kyran silently agreed. Now that he was aware of the existence of different planes, he knew there were more runes out there. One example was the runes on the Numas. The strokes on each rune were very different from the runes of the Human plane.

Initially, Kyran would have settled in entering either the Array or the Incantation rooms if he could not decide. The Array room because he thought it wouldn't hurt learning more about arrays. As for the Incantation room, he believed knowing how to write different runes would also help him create unique array formulas.

"Just one room," Kyran muttered with a sigh.

The other branches might not have piqued his interest, but he did not mind learning all. Knowing a few of each branch might be helpful for him in the future—especially when dealing with different mages with different specialties.

True Void also sighed and shook his head.

"I know, right. My master also had the same dilemma. He was very interested in learning about the Elements too. He had an early theory that Void magic could create all elements as long as he understood every element's essence. He believed the only reason mages could rouse different types of magic elements as long as they knew its rune language but could not use its full power was because the essence of the magic element was missing. Alas, he was only allowed to enter one room."

While True Void prattle on about his master, Kyran could not help but mentally scratch his head. Was he doing it on purpose? Did he not realize he was giving away a lot of information about his master?

Kyran was not really complaining. He did not mind learning more about his predecessor. For this reason, he remained indifferent and just let True Void talk.

'Elements, huh.' Kyran thought and looked at the Elements room.

However, before he could decide whether to enter the Elements room, True Void's words repeated in his mind.

'Only allowed to enter one room... only allowed to enter....'

Kyran's eyes widened in realization. He walked toward the door with the Array label at once. The label lit up as he drew near, and he unhesitatingly took the remaining steps before opening the door.

"Oi! Oi! What do your think you're—."

True Void was shocked at Kyran's decisive actions. He wanted to tell him to think carefully before choosing a room but lost his chance.

As soon as Kyran opened the door, he did not enter but remained outside while looking inside.

It was a small white room, with several five by two feet tall and a depth of half feet black marble tablets. Kyran guessed the tablets were similar to the slips he received as a reward.

There were two significant differences between getting information on books and those recorded on slips. First, reading books was a long, tedious task, but with slips, one only needed to use their magic sense to know all the information inside. And last, once you read a book, there was a chance one would miss a few thoughts, but with a slip, the information would be 'imprinted' in one's mind, making it easy to recall everything.

Just as Kyran contemplated his next move, a monotonous female voice spoke from inside the room.

"Please know that you are only allowed to enter one room. Once you enter a room, the door will automatically close, and you will be required to completely absorb all knowledge inside. After absorbing all the knowledge, you will be tested. Passing the test will allow you to return to the tower. If you fail, you will be transported to the Task Room, where you will be given a task to complete. After completing the task, you will gain another chance to take the test."

Kyran listened to what the voice said before asking, "If I don't enter and I stayed right here, what would happen?"

He was not expecting an answer, but he asked anyway. Who knew maybe this voice was similar to the overlapping voices back at the tower.

"Huh?" True Void looked at Kyran incredulously. "If you don't enter, then how are you going to absorb the knowledge—."

"No presence has been detected inside. The door will remain open for an hour, after which it will automatically close and will have a half-day cool down before it can be opened again. The timer will start now."

As soon as the voice finished, a golden sandglass appeared floating above the middle of the room.

"EEEH? That's allowed?" True Void looked at the opened door in complete shock. He did not know there was a rule like that. Because after his master heard the voice's reminder, he entered right away.

A smile tugged at the corner of Kyran's lips as he looked at the tablets inside the room. He had thought of this after pondering what True Void had said.

Another reason why Kyran thought of this possibility was the overlapping voices' last words before he and True Void were transported.

He found their parting words unnecessary, but now he realized a pattern. Their words actually had a clue what he should expect in his training. After confirming that their first and second parting words were different, he noticed this.

The first one was more generic-sounding. That was why Kyran did not think too much. But thinking back, he now understood why they said, "May you succeed in this path" was due to the complexity of the first training. Their second parting words were, "May you enrich your knowledge on your chosen path," which meant his next training was to enrich his knowledge. Not necessarily one knowledge in particular but knowledge on his chosen path.

Exploiting the rule would be tricky because he only got an hour to exploit it. Obviously, an hour was not enough to absorb all of the knowledge inside. There was also a cooldown of half a day before he could try again, which was too long, to be honest. But he had other rooms to open, and half a day was more than enough to open the rest of the doors and absorb all the knowledge he could before he could re-open them again.

"I find the words you said tricky," Kyran told True Void. "Why did it not say 'I am allowed to open only one room' instead of 'I am only allowed to enter one room? So, it got me thinking. I can open the doors, but I can only enter one of the rooms. When I do, I can't leave the room anymore."

True Void gaped at Kyran with a slight shake of his head.

"Y-You... Have you been conned before? Do you make it a habit to analyze all meanings behind every word someone tells you?"

Kyran looked at him awkwardly. He did start overthinking what others told him after what happened when he was in military school. But after his encounter with the Sovereign of Ruin, his mind cleared. Instead of overthinking things he learned, he decided to absorb everything first and think about each if it was necessary for his current situation.

And today happened to be such a situation.

"I just realized a loophole in the rule," Kyran replied, avoiding True Void's accusation. "Besides, there is no written rule here that says I have to choose one specialty."

True Void tilted his head to one side, "Hm. You have a point."

"I'll do what I can to absorb all the knowledge I can for the next few days," Kyran said and, without further delay, sat cross-legged in front of the door. After all, the timer had started, and he only had one hour.

"Fine, fine. Do what you have to do. I'll keep an eye on the sandglass," True Void replied.

Kyran thought it was unnecessary because the voice did say the door would automatically close after an hour, but since True Void would not be doing anything, he let him be.

"Alright," he said before closing his eyes. He then roused his magic sense, spreading it inside the room and letting it fill one of the tablets.

When his magic sense filled one of the black marble, a large amount of information rushed into his mind.