Legacy of the Dark Sage

Cyneah's side also fared well with the swarm of puppets. Unlike Aki, whose moves were limited to those stored in his program, Thorn showcased his resourcefulness, using a plethora of moves and even resorting to Draconic spells to combat the puppets, a testament to his strategic thinking and adaptability, even when outnumbered.

When the timer hit zero, the number of puppets coming at them was greatly reduced. Contrary to their initial expectation that the puppets would cease all movement when the timer ended, they were still functioning. Thankfully, with their reduced number, it did not take long for Thorn to destroy them all.

"Where did you sense the presence, Sisi?" Thorn asked as he dealt the finishing blow to the final puppet. It shattered under a single punch with relative ease. "I'll create our door there."

"I don't think there is a need to create one," Ladon remarked while looking up ahead.

When they were teleported inside the tower, they were only aware they were sent into a huge room through their powerful senses. The dim lighting made it hard for them, even with Ladon and Thorn's dragon eyes, to see the walls. At the very least, they only knew there was a wall on all four sides but no door.

The moment the final puppet was destroyed; however, the wall up ahead became visible, and a portal appeared on its surface.

Thorn looked in the direction Ladon was looking and saw the portal as well. He frowned slightly and said, "I don't like the feel of that portal."

"There is a strange energy coming out from it," Cyneah told them, somewhat alluding there was a cause for Thorn's uneasy feeling.

"Hm..." Ladon also agreed with a nod. He and Thorn had no idea how Cyneah perceived things, but their senses were telling them that whatever was behind that portal was anything but good. "But if we're to compare this portal to past experiences of previous clan representatives, the more dangerous a place they entered, the better their enlightenment would be."

"The thing is," Thorn said with a wry smile, "They started off at a relatively low level, right?"

"The highest entry pass level the clan received was at the fifth level," Ladon said, but more for Cyneah's benefit since she had no prior knowledge of their clan's record in the tower. "Well... until now, that is. I don't know why we are sent to the seventh level, to be honest. Since the previous representatives that were sent to the fifth level are far stronger than us both."

"If that is the case, then the danger will likely be double... no, maybe even tripled if we decide to move forward," Cyneah replied, not commenting on Ladon's last thought. "Then again, it's not like we have any choice."

"True."

"Yeah."

Ladon and Thorn replied, respectively.

"But one thing I know, the energy coming out from that portal isn't from the powerful presence I am sensing."

"You can still sense it?" Thorn asked, turning his attention back to her.

Cyneah nodded as she lowered her gaze to the floor. She was not really looking at it per se, but Ladon and Thorn understood her gesture was to show them where she believed the powerful presence was.

"The tower is a maze in itself," Ladon explained with a sigh of resignation. "So, we might as well move to the next area and see where it leads us."

"I hope we'll get enlightenment, though," Thorn pursed his lips in disappointment. "We are teleported in the seventh level but fighting these puppets didn't exactly give me any enlightenment."

"I believe receiving that enlightenment is a matter of one's perspective," Cyneah said with a bitter smile. "If you looked for enlightenment from fighting them, you may never receive any. But if you looked for enlightenment after seeing their movements, which seemed almost similar to an automaton, you may actually see one."

Thorn raised his brows. He was so focused on fighting the puppets that he had not thought of it that way. True, the puppets were relatively weak, and their bodies were too fragile for him, but their movements and even teamwork were something he noticed but did not pay much attention to. He only thought they were programmed that way.

However, what if they were not, and they were programmed independently and still were able to coordinate their movements? That would truly make them seem more like automatons than mere puppets.

"Hm..." Ladon was equally impressed at something Cyneah pointed out.

Unlike Thorn, Ladon also believed that the enlightenment the tower could offer would depend on how a group would perceive their situation. But he did not think that they might actually receive any enlightenment in fighting the puppets simply because the Dragon Clan was not exactly fond of puppets. This was because they were not real.

Of course, this was not the case with automatons, especially since they already possessed sentients.

From this, it was not wrong to say that Ladon also failed to understand their situation, thus failing to attain enlightenment. All because he had his own prejudice with puppets.

"You've raised a good point there."

Cyneah shook her head, "Actually, I was just thinking that if he is here, then maybe... no... never mind. Let's go."

She was about to say that if Kyran were there, he would probably take advantage of the opportunity of seeing so many puppets attacking together to examine their attack patterns and programming. After all, he was an Array Saint in the Lower Realm.

Alas, in the Higher Realm, Array Saints were not really that valued because there were plenty of mages who could create powerful arrays. Not to mention the Dragon Clan, who had the power to destroy powerful arrays with just their brute strength, practically made Array Saints in the Higher Realm useless.

"Just who is this person you're searching for?" Thorn could not help but ask.

He and Ladon knew Lady Ames brought Cyneah and a few others from the Lower Realm because they believed the person they were looking for had likely gone to the Higher Realm through the Land of Desolation. That person also happened to be someone from Lady Ames's family in the Lower Realm, who also marked Cyneah. But apart from these, they had no idea who that person was.

Cyneah only replied with a forlorn smile.

Seeing this, the two stopped probing her. They were there because the previous group said they almost made contact with someone inside the tower.

That was right. Rather than receiving enlightenment, Ladon and Thorn's objective in participating in the tower hunt this time was to find that someone.

When the tower last opened about five hundred years ago, the Dragon Clan representatives reached the eighth level. They were initially teleported to the fourth level, and after going through a lot of things, they endured and managed to reach the next level until they arrived at the eighth floor. On their journey, they became aware of someone's presence inside the tower.

Unfortunately, they could not pinpoint that person's exact location. After returning to the clan, they reported it to the Dragon Emperor and the rest of the elders. The discovery of that presence became a basis for their clan's objective for the succeeding tower hunt moving forward. Thus, Ladon and Thorn were tasked to find the location of that someone.

As mentioned previously, Cyneah was not meant to join them. But because of her strong control over magic energies in her surroundings and her strong perception of others' auras and presence, they allowed her to join. Rather, they wanted her to join.

They did not have to beg her to join them because she was also keen on coming to the tower. She and Lady Ames believed the person they were searching for caused the portals to the Tower of the Ancients to open prematurely, and they insisted that she was the only one who could find him.

In any case, Cyneah's participation might not have been planned, but it was a good one for them. Since they knew the powerful presence was on the seventh floor, they just had to venture in and find where it was hiding.

With that in mind, the group of three made their way to the portal.

*

One more group was sent to another location on the seventh floor. They were all dressed in white hooded robes with gold ornaments. Their faces were hidden under their hoods, making it hard to see their features. Nonetheless, just by looking at their attire, it was clear which clan they belonged to: the Emperor's clan, Solis Clan.

This group was teleported to a relatively safe location because there was no immediate danger in the vicinity. This was because they were surrounded by floor-to-ceiling high shelves filled with books or scrolls. Then again, who could say that there was no danger lurking within those books? They were in the Tower of the Ancients, after all.

The mage in the middle raised his hand, and a long golden staff with a hovering ball of flames at the top immediately illuminated the path ahead.

"A library, huh?" he muttered.

"Each floor has a library, and the higher one goes, the more advanced and even forbidden books or scrolls these libraries possess," another responded.

"True," the first mage replied. "But we can't look at these books yet. First, we need to find what we're looking for."

"Yes."

The three then split up, with the two on each of his sides making their way toward the left or right directions. The one in the middle, who presumed the role of a leader, remained on the spot and continued reading something on her tablet.

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