Legacy of the Dark Sage

"T-The portal is—!"

In one of the claimed portals, surrounded by ruined buildings and roadways, one of the two mages in red and gray robes guarding it let out a shocked cry.

The mage beside him also looked at the portal before them in shock.

"How could it be...? It's too early for the portal to open!"

The portal before them, which used to emit black, misty swirls and hover silently in midair, was now crackling with activity— the swirling black mist was turning reddish-purple.

This was a sign that the portal was coming to life and that the Tower of the Ancients was finally opening.

The first mage recovered from his initial shock. He immediately looked at the second mage and shouted, "We need to report this immediately."

"R-Right!"

Similar events occurred to every claimed portal to the Tower of the Ancients, confusing every clan they belonged to. Since the portals were discovered, it has been confirmed that it would take 500 years to open again.

This was because the portal needed to charge up on a particular magic energy, which would take 500 years to accumulate enough. For this reason, every clan with a portal had time to gather their representatives, who would enter and explore it a week before they opened.

But the portals opened ahead of time—two and a half months early, to be precise— which was unprecedented. The clans had yet to complete their preparations, and most of their representatives were either still under training or making preparations.

Although the portals would remain open for a whole day before closing, the clans could not possibly gather their representatives and complete their preparations in that short time.

In the end, the clans had no choice but to do just that. Those who were training had to stop midway and hurry to prepare the things they would take inside the portal. Simultaneously, the clan elders mobilized their people to prepare the rest of the items their representatives would bring with them. These included pills, pre-made arrays, talismans, and weapons.

Some clans also prepared relics, focusing on defensive measures to ensure their representatives' safety. After all, once all clan representatives entered the portals, no rules could bind them. They could all fight, and not even The Emperor could do anything.

Of course, that would be a different matter if those representatives successfully left the Tower of the Ancients.

For the record, once the portals to the Tower of the Ancients closed, the representatives could only leave the tower by accessing the portal from which they entered. They would then be transported back to where the other end of the portal was located. This meant that they could not use the portal from different clans. At least, portals that were claimed by other clans.

If they managed to find a portal that had not yet been claimed, they could use that to leave the tower. But doing that was risky because there was no telling if the unclaimed portal was in a secured location.

There was once an incident in which a clan representative tried to enter a different portal in hopes of securing a second portal for their clan. The representative ended up at the bottom of an ocean filled with aquatic beasts as powerful as High Sovereigns. He managed to send a coded SOS message to his clan, but that was the last they heard of him. His clan failed to locate him.

After that incident, the next time the Tower of the Ancients opened, no one risked entering a different portal.

Alta, who managed to extricate herself from the marshland beasts' encirclement, returned to their makeshift camp and was greeted with the news of the portal opening. Though exhausted, she informed her clan about it and immediately gathered four people to enter the portal.

However, she and her group failed to enter.

Alta was furious and wanted to destroy the portal. Unfortunately, these portals were indestructible.

Other clans tried to destroy the claimed portals of enemy clans but failed miserably. There was even a rumor that the Dragon Emperor tried to destroy the Dragon Clan's claimed portal when he gave out three invitations to others. But even he, who was known to possess the most penetrative magic attack, failed to scratch the portal's surface.

Alta immediately suspected the unknown mage was responsible for the portal's acquisition. For this reason, she decided to camp outside and wait for the time he would return and kill him.

Meanwhile, when Oceanus and Leif learned Kyran succeeded in claiming the portal, they were both exhilarated and frustrated at the news.

They were exhilarated because they did not expect him to claim the portal the same day they went to scout the area. But frustrated because the portal opened too soon, and they were not ready to enter. Moreover, The Council decided to camp outside the portal. Even if Leif and the others managed to complete preparations, how would they sneak in and enter the portal under their watchful eyes?

Leif was a High Sovereign herself, but so was the one in charge of guarding the portal, Alta. Even if Leif decided to force their way into the portal, she would only expose the Ogen clan's relationship with the unknown mage and put the whole clan at risk.

"We'll wait at the very last minute," Oceanus told them. "I will use the Lucina to blind their senses. You then take that moment to enter the portal."

Leif looked at her father in concern, "But using that relic will put a strain on your core. You don't exactly have an affinity with it."

What Leif meant was that the Lucina relic used Illusion magic. However, Oceanus' innate magic was Water. Though the latter's nature tapped into Illusion magic depending on how it was used, Lucina's Illusion magic was based on Soul Magic.

That was right. Lucina was one of the Spirits' treasures. Before their plane got destroyed and fell to the Lower Realm, the clans who attacked them stole several of their treasures.

Oceanus managed to acquire one of their treasures in a private auction. Given the Water magic's nature, he had initially believed he could forge an affinity for it. Alas, apart from activating it for a few minutes, he could only sustain its required magic energy using his own soul— after all, he did not have Soul magic energy. Because of this, his core would suffer.

"It is fine. You just need to focus on entering the portal."

"Shall I take Cove and Irving?" Leif asked.

Oceanus frowned slightly. Frankly, he wanted to give the remaining two months before the portals opened to train Cove and Irving before making his decision. But now that the portals were opened, he could no longer do that. Oceanus could choose other members of Ogen to go with Leif and Maren, but most of their qualified members were back in Ogen.

And if he compared the talents of these members to Cove and Irving, the latter two were indeed better.

"We don't have much choice," Oceanus replied after a short pause. "It will take a couple of days for our people to come here. Besides, the transmission point to this plane from Ogen has not been completed. Even if we rushed its creation, it would still take a couple more days."

"Yes," Leif replied, sighed helplessly. "We should have started its creation the first day we discovered the portal."

"No point dwelling over it. Tell Maren and the others of the plan."

"Yes."

"Hopefully, Null did what he had to do so the portal will recognize you."

During the briefing, Oceanus explained to Kyran what he had to do so Oceanus's people could enter the portal, even if he were the one who claimed it.

Oceanus would not mark Kyran as his people, so the portal would not emit Ogens' magic signature. To allow them entry, Kyran had to insert Ogen's token into one of the three slots at the statue at the other end of the portal. This statue was how one would recognize which clan had claimed it.

Of course, Oceanus changed the design of the token he gave to Kyran so that other clans would not recognize it.

Leif frowned after hearing her father, "Now that you said... What if he didn't? We didn't help him when Alta found him, too."

Oceanus chuckled. He initially thought his daughter had such blind faith in Kyran, but hearing her doubt him since they did not provide assistance, Oceanus was a little amused.

"It is fine. While observing his plight earlier, I did plan on interfering. But after a while, I realized he did not need my help. He seemed to have... a few helpful cards up his sleeves."

Unlike Oceanus, who could conceal his senses from Alta, Leif could not. Thus, she could only observe what was happening on a superficial level. Nevertheless, she knew Kyran had been in a very dire situation.

On the other hand, Oceanus managed to witness Kyran using a very powerful movement spell and summon a strange barrier. Unfortunately, he failed to recognize the younger man's movement and barrier.

"I don't think he will hold a grudge about not receiving assistance from us. Besides, he is aware of our stance. Not to mention, he knew nothing about the Tower of the Ancients. The only way for him to survive in that place is to wait for us at the other side of the portal."

As Oceanus had said, Kyran did what he was told and inserted Ogen's token in one of the slots on the statue a few feet away from the portal.

"Rather than a statue... isn't this just a block of stone?" Kyran wondered aloud.

[You're still honoring the agreement you had with Oceanus even when he did nothing when that woman attacked you?]

Shaiha asked in indignation.

'I will still need their help to navigate around here,' Kyran answered with a shrug. 'Unless you'd be kind enough to be my guide.'

[Forge it.]

Shaiha replied with a sigh.

[Even if I want to guide you, I have little knowledge of how the tower works. Besides, it has been lost in space for thousands of years. The terrain and its environment have undergone dramatic change.]

'...dramatic change, huh?' Kyran repeated as he finally took that chance to survey his surroundings.

After entering the portal, he arrived in the middle of a floating forest. From the distance, he could see a tower shrouded in swirling black mist. To the portal's right was a block of stone that Oceanus referred to as a statue, while on the left, there was a round platform with a Transmission array.

The array was currently inactive, and upon checking its formula, Kyran confirmed it would only activate at a specific time.

'Does this array lead inside the tower or...?'

[No. It will lead to the platform in front of the tower.]