Legacy of the Dark Sage

The scene that greeted Aron upon his arrival outside the Regis Terram made him reel in wonder.

Gold and silver pillars of light surrounded the floating island as an otherworldy aura emanated from within.

'Could Kyran have really used the Heaven's Conch to seek the Dragon King's assistance?' Aron thought, recalling Zephyr's notion of why Kyran would enter the Regis Terram.

Aron initially rejected the idea because Kyran could have entered the terram for an entirely different reason. A reason that only the latter would know. But seeing and sensing the state of the floating island made Aron reconsider Zephyr's notion.

'If he really used the Heaven's Conch... could the Dragon King be speaking to him at this moment? Will my arrival interrupt their meeting?'

To be honest, Kyran was supposed to be the only one who could sound the Heaven's Conch because of the alternative path they painstakingly planned for him to take. However, Kyran had already accepted his original path, which was to become the next Void Master.

Could Kyran still sound the Heaven's Conch if this was the case?

Maybe. He might still be qualified since among the Regis family members who had taken a drop of the Dragon King's blood, Kyran took a larger amount. But would the Dragon King listen to him? Kyran might be Zane's descendant, but he was not the next Dragon Lord.

Aron's doubts were quite reasonable. As far as they knew, Kyran accepted his original path and had not chosen the path of becoming the next Dragon Lord. None of them knew that it was possible for Kyran to receive both paths. After all, they did not know Kyran possessed both Draconic and Void cores.

Aron pushed all these thoughts aside and circulated the dragon blood in his body.

There was no point dwelling on his own doubts. It was better to enter the Regis Terram and find the answer himself.

With this thought in mind, Aron flew toward the floating island.

*

Unlike what others speculated, Kyran had not used the Heaven's Conch. Besides, he only had one reason for entering the Regis Terram: to create materials that would not be found in the Human plane. After confirming he could create the needed materials, Kyran focused on creating magic items that would benefit his side. After that, he proceeded to fix Neo and complete the rest of the unfinished puppets he kept in his storage.

At the moment, Kyran had already finished Neo's repair, and the latter was already assisting in completing the remaining puppets.

Kyran estimated it would take at least twenty to thirty minutes to complete one puppet, even with Neo's help. He could reduce the time by half if he were in his workroom. However, he could not open the path to his workroom while inside the Regis Terram.  He wondered if it was because his workroom was connected to his Void World.

Kyran could warp the items he created in the terram outside but could not take them into his Void World for some reason. He could not take out the items he placed in the Void World to the terram as well. Good thing the items in his storage space and pouch could be taken out. Thus, Kyran was able to work on his unfinished puppets.

In any case, Kyran planned to limit his stay in the Regis Terram to three hours. He would leave regardless of how many puppets he would complete within that time. He also believed three hours was enough for Tritus and his weapon to complete their advancement. After that, he would take them and go to the Ravenpass.

Of course, Kyran had already learned his lesson that his enemies would not wait for him to complete his preparations. That was why he left coded messages to every key person on his side informing them of his whereabouts and to call him if there were any developments from the Crown Princess's side.

Alas, Kyran did not consider his messages to become corrupted. Because of this, no one knew where he was and what he was doing. They could not even inform him of the current situation.

One thing Kyran also failed to consider was the time difference.

Since the Regis Terram was still part of the Dragon plane, it followed the latter's time.

That was right. Half an hour inside the Regis Terram was equivalent to three hours in the Human plane.

Aron and the others who had entered the terram to collect some of the Dragon King's blood did not notice the time difference either because they never stayed longer than a minute.

As always, as soon as Kyran started doing something, he became oblivious to his surroundings. But knowing this side of himself, he ordered Neo to take note of the time.

With the two absorbed in the task on hand, they did not notice the change in the magic fluctuation around the Dragon King's blood.

Rather than 'not noticing,' they did not sense any change in the surroundings because the signature of the fluctuation was similar to Kyran's— or, to be precise— when he was using his Draconic magic.

Soon, the magic fluctuation around the Dragon King's blood took form. But the form was translucent and almost impossible to detect. Nevertheless, from the distortion in the space around it, one would recognize the form as a head of a huge seven-horned dragon— and its piercing gaze was focused on Kyran.

Kyran, oblivious of this, was currently surrounded by different shades and sizes of purple-colored magic arrays. Each time the space at the center of these magic arrays distorts, several puppet parts would form. After which, Neo would collect and connect them to an unfinished body of a puppet.

After a few minutes, the translucent silhouette of a seven-horned dragon's head shifted and slowly turned into a human.

Based on the shape of the human, it could easily be likened to a woman.

Unlike the earlier translucent form, she appeared solid as soon as she changed into a human. The magic fluctuations converged into her body before turning into a gold and silver flowing dress, which appeared to have been showered by diamond dust by the way it glistened.

The dragon-head-turned-human did not look 100% human. Although her face, which possessed an unearthly beauty, was human-like, her seven horns protruded from her head, appearing like a diamond crown. Her piercing golden eyes were also made of diamond, and her skin seemed to glisten. Upon closer look, one would realize that her skin was actually skin-colored dragon scales.

The woman did not speak, nor did she make any noise when she looked at Kyran.

After a few minutes and Kyran still did not notice her presence; her beautiful brows creased slightly. Finally, she took a step forward.

Time seemed to slow down as soon as she took a step, and the whole terram crackled with magic energy.

Kyran finally snapped out of his focused state. Sensing the incoming danger, he waved his hand, taking Neo along with the unfinished puppets and newly created materials to his storage pouch. Then he released his domain, instantly removing all the harmful magic energy directed at him that entered its range.

He turned toward the direction where the magic energy came from and was taken aback after seeing the woman.

The woman's magic energy was enough for Kyran to realize what she was— he no longer had to check whether her 'crown' was really a 'crown' or her horn.

The woman before him was a bonafide dragon.

But the question was, how did she arrive there? Or had she been there all along?

No. That was impossible. Kyran would have noticed her presence upon his arrival if she had been there all this time. However, he did not sense anything apart from the dragon king's blood...

Kyran's blood turned cold as his expression turned odd.

This woman could not have come from the dragon king's blood, right? Because if that was true, then this meant the woman was...

"Such insolence," the woman said. Her voice alone carried such power that shook the whole Regis Terram. She raised her hand toward the rapidly increasing range of the Void domain, and in an instant, it stopped.

Kyran's scalp tingled as a crushing power pressed down around him as soon as his domain stopped. The power was so overwhelming that it did nothing, even when his domain was supposed to stop any circulation of magic energy within. Besides this, Kyran felt his whole body protest from the pressure and was about to get crushed.

"Ngh!" Kyran's eyes turned silver as he roused his Draconic magic.

He already knew that his Void magic was ineffective against Draconic magic, just like Soul magic was ineffective against Void magic. The latter he confirmed from True Void after he proudly admitted Caelan would always run away when Zane was around.

Nevertheless, Kyran did not expect the difference between the two. Fortunately, even if Kyran were attacked by Draconic magic, he would not be as helpless as Caelan. After all, he also possessed Draconic magic!

Translucent silver scales slowly merged into the dark purple surface of the Void domain.

"Hm?" The woman's creased brow deepened upon sensing the Draconic magic coming from Kyran.

In that instant, her golden diamond-like eyes glowed, and her magic aura erupted, sweeping through everything in the Regis Terram.

As soon as her aura passed through the Void domain that had been reinforced by Draconic magic, it shattered like fragile glass.

Kyran was taken aback. Before he could react further, his Draconic core stirred, and he almost keeled over from the sudden pain that shook his whole body.