Legacy of the Dark Sage

Looking at some of the council member’s expressions, Kyran could more or less guess what they were thinking. Then, with a sigh, he told them, “You didn’t really think that boosting your members’ magic level is enough, right?”

As soon as he asked this, Avrum and Sigma looked guilty.

They were one of the few, along with Malia and Callan, who did think it.

“Why not?” Malia asked in confusion. “It is true it required many resources just to break through to the next level, but there are potions and pills that could boost a mage’s magic level, albeit, temporarily.”

Kyran thought of the red pill Max had used when Malia had spoken.

If Malia was confident to suggest this, it meant she knew how to make one.

However, of all people, Kyran did not expect her to recommend this because Malia struck him as a very righteous and good person.

“A medicine like that are double-edge,” Kyran pointed, his tone sounding a little cold.

To be honest, he did not approve of those level-boosting medicines.

Such medicines were addictive.

Kyran had met mages who took such medicines and became dependent on them, ruining their future.

All of them noticed Kyran’s disapproving tone.

Malia realized why and immediately shook her head, “Oh, I am not talking about those taboo concoctions. I will never suggest such abominations!”

Malia looked at Kyran and smiled gently. Instead of feeling offended, she appeared relieved.

The truth was Malia somewhat feard the Kyran before them today. Her fear started from what happened to Brigadier General Rhys.

She might not have witnessed the spar between them, but she had seen Brigadier General Rhys’s injury report.

A clean snap of the bones he suffered could only be possible if the person responsible for it had done it without hesitation.

That scared Malia.

Though they healed Brigadier General Rhys’s injury, it had left a permanent scar on him.

The break did not appear fatal, but his bones suffered physical strain and the person himself suffered mental trauma without realizing it yet.

There was a big chance that if Brigadier General Rhys met ‘Tyr’ again, his body would tremble involuntarily, and his mind would remember the pain when his bones snapped. Anything that would remind him of Tyr would make him feel vulnerable if that happened.

To Malia, a person who could inflict such injury to another human was too cold and ruthless to be considered a human, not to mention causing such a trauma to that person.

It was why Malia felt relieved, knowing Kyran was against potions and pills that could harm a mage. It meant he had not entirely become a cold and ruthless person.

Pushing this thought out of her mind, Malia explained, “There are safe potions and pills that a mage can take to boost their magic level. The effect also lasts longer.”

She opened her palm, and a small bottle with light metallic gold liquid appeared. She waved her hand and let the bottle fly toward Kyran.

Kyran took the bottle and let his magic sense inspect its content while Malia continued with her explanation.

“The reason why a mage will not suffer a side-effect from that kind of potion, is that the potion must be taken ahead of time. By doing this, the potion will gradually take effect, ensuring the mage’s body can adapt to the changes at an acceptable pace.”

Malia then smiled bitterly and added, “The real reason most boosting potions or pills are harmful is because of the use of different opposing medicinal herbs that stimulate the mage’s body to improve in almost an instant.”

Kyran nodded. He knew about this.

In the Red plane, he managed to inspect the contents of a boosting pill and noticed how each of the medicinal herbs was trying to overwhelm each other.

A medicine made up of non-complementary herbs would end up unstable unless one included a stabilizing herb in the mixture.

Kyran found a stabilizing agent in Malia’s potion.

Before, he had little knowledge of Alchemy and could only understand the effect of a potion or a pill by looking at them. Now that he had acquired more knowledge in the Tower of Tribulation, he could now determine the herbs and other items one used in a concoction just by letting his magic sense inspect it.

Malia did not use one herb to stabilize the potion. Instead, she used a solution— probably an original. The solution was created using different stabilizing herbs, ensuring the rest of the herbs on the potion would not overwhelm each another.

“Impressive, the solution you came up with can also be used on other concoctions. As expected of Chairman Malia,” Kyran commented, looking at Malia with a smile.

Solutions such as this were hard to make because herbs with stabilizing effects could only be used with specific herbs.

To succeed in creating such a solution, one must understand hundreds of thousands of medicinal herbs and their effects. Studying this would already take up a lot of time. What more if one had to experiment on them to confirm this?

Kyran’s comment immediately rendered everyone inside the conference hall speechless— Stella included.

Sensing the awkward silence, Kyran looked at them with raised brows and asked, “What?”

“Kyran, you…” Stella started and hesitated for a second before continuing with a skeptical tone, “You also know Alchemy now?”

Kyran belatedly realized what his remark implied and cursed inwardly. However, his expression remained indifferent that none of them sensed his internal chagrin.

It was not that he had forgotten to hide what he could do. It was just that; he was really impressed at Malia’s solution he could not help but comment on it.

“A little,” Kyran replied vaguely and decided to change the subject. “But this kind of potion will not be enough. At most, this can only be effective to mages on a verge of breaking through….”

His voice trailed off as he realized that, once again, he was revealing how much he understood Malia’s potion at a glance, which a person who only had ‘little’ knowledge of Alchemy could not do.

It seemed his exhaustion was already rearing its ugly head, making him make stupid misses.

The others looked at Kyran with a wry smile as they watched him close his eyes in exasperation while rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Avrum and Sigma also sneered, knowing that Kyran’s ‘a little’ answer was complete bullsh*t.

They understood why Kyran did not want to tell them how much he had improved.

A mage who had equally great knowledge in more than two branches of magic was almost impossible.

Studying one branch took up more than ten years of an average mage’s lifespan, and that was only mastering the basics. Depending on the mage’s progress, one might waste another ten or even double that time to master the next level.

Kyran was only eighteen— well, plus five years in experience—, but for him to know more than two branches of magic: Array, Alchemy, Runes— this he already proved when he summoned magic arrays and talked about recognizing Soul runes— and who knew what else, was outright impossible.

Apart from this, Kyran did not only know these branches of magic, but his mastery appeared to be on a level that could rival Chairman Noir and even Chairman Malia, who were an Array Master and an Emperor Alchemist; respectively!

“Please… keep this a secret,” Kyran finally said after a few seconds of contemplation.

Finally admitting his knowledge in Alchemy, the rest could not help but chuckle.

Kyran knew he had to show them a portion of his real strength if he wanted to make them trust his decisions in dealing with the Royal Family.

Initially, he did not want to tell them because he did not want them to guess his involvement in ‘Nar’s’ movement once he started his plan.

Another reason he only thought of after meeting the Crown Princess was the possibility that she possessed Soul magic.

Now that Kyran confirmed this, he was more inclined not to tell anyone else his real strength in fear of the Royal Family getting hold of this.

Alas, it seemed he could no longer do this.

Helping Kyran off the hook this time, Malia smiled gently and nodded, “You’re right. It is not enough. If we only choose our members who are on the verge of breaking through to participate in the exercise, the Royal Family may pick up on something.”

Kyran looked at her and smiled in appreciation. Then he nodded and said, “That’s right.”

“There are magic items.”

This time it was Callan who had spoken. This reason made him think it was possible to help their members increase their magic level.

“Of course, such items are difficult to create and will only grant a temporary increase in one’s level,” Callan added. “But I think it should be enough for the duration of the joint exercise. We can think of a permanent countermeasure after that.”

“I don’t think it is necessary,” Hugh said, looking at Kyran with a slight smile. “Before you told us about the Crown Princess’s limitations, you said there is a way. You are not talking about increasing our member’s magic level, correct?”

Kyran smiled, “Yes. But for this to work, I need you to let me, or at least us, join in most events.”

The council members looked at him incredulously.

What did he mean by ‘us’?

Stella also looked at him worriedly, “You’re not planning on disguising yourself and join in all the events are you?”

Kyran turned to her with raised brows. Then, wearing an expression of disbelief, he said, “I know I’m overpowered, but I’m not omnipotent. If I joined all of the events, I’d exhaust myself.”

A huge sweat appeared on each council member’s head from Kyran’s bold statement that he was ‘overpowered.’

Even Stella gave him a blank look while blinking stupidly.

Was that something one should say with a straight face?

Sigma’s brow also twitched. Right now, he had the urge to smack Kyran’s indifferent face.

The guy was getting on his nerves!

On the other hand, Malek chose not to comment and only gave Kyran a disapproving look.𝑶𝒱𝗅xt.𝗰𝑂𝓶