Legacy of the Dark Sage

Meanwhile, in the captain's cabin, below the ship's helm, Oceanus and Leif were watching Ogen through the window while discussing the reason for Leif's visit to Hull, the city where she found Kyran.

"... after witnessing them in action, the only ones I find worth cultivating are Cove and Irving. The rest are quite average," Leif told her father.

Oceanus sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before saying, "After a year's worth of training… only two talents emerged… This is not enough to secure the future of the clan."

"Well… there's actually another person I have my eyes on."

"Hm?" Oceanus glanced at his daughter out of the corner of his eye. "Is it someone from the commoners?"

"More like… I'm not sure if he is already part of a clan and will be interested in joining us."

Oceanus frowned, immediately realizing who Leif was referring to. "If you're referring to Null, I advise you to stop."

"Why not? According to our people, his research capabilities are very good, if not the best among the ones they knew. Moreover, they discovered that he was researching different branches of magic. They also confirmed that he was not merely browsing through the records and research materials in the library but actually comprehending them.

They came to this conclusion after seeing the relation of every record he pulled up.

"There is also the amount of records he managed to comprehend in such a short time. No one would have the capability and patience to read those old records and have an in-depth understanding of them. Nowadays, most mages his age will only look up the latest theories that have been modified and summarized by older mages through the years.

They will not bother reading the original record and receiving their own enlightenment. Just from this, we can already see his thirst for knowledge and that he will not do things half-heartedly."

"It is precisely because of this that we can't consider him."

"Why is that?"

Instead of answering her, Oceanus proceeded by saying, "For one thing, he is a visitor, and although he appeared decent, his origins are unknown."

"Our people have not discovered his origins yet?" Leif asked in surprise. Their side was efficient at gathering information. She found it strange that they could not find Kyran's origin.

Oceanus shook his head, "No. Because, at the moment, they can only base their search on his appearance, and it is hard to connect him with the other clans."

"Even so…."

"The fact that he did not attempt to decline your invitation and even went along with your pace also shows he does not want to draw attention."

"He said it himself," Leif tried to reason, "...that he did not want to piss me off if he declined my invitation recklessly. He only acted that way to avoid getting on my bad side."

"In my opinion, his statement can also be worded as him not caring if he pisses you off if he can help it."

Leif frowned, "Well, it is true. He must not piss me off. I am your daughter. If he tries to anger me, I'll…"

Her voice trailed off as she realized something.

Seeing Leif's expression, Oceanus guessed she had already figured out why he thought Kyran might already be part of a clan.

"Even as an Overlord, I could not sense him when he used his concealment ability. If he does not mind drawing attention to himself, the moment you approach him, and he does not care about pissing you off, he can just use his ability and escape, and you will be helpless to track him down."

"Since he did not, then…"

Oceanus nodded, "It may mean he is here in secret and doesn't want to implicate his clan or… He may be an exiled member or even a deserter."

"But he may also be on the run. If this is the case, then it doesn't necessarily mean he is part of a clan, right?"

"True, but let us say you are right. Will you still want to recruit him, knowing someone may be after him?"

"I… probably won't…" Leif admitted after a short pause.

"In any case, I haven't heard of any clan looking for a young man with his features. So, let's just keep that in mind. This leaves us with him being part of a clan and is probably exiled or a deserter."

An exiled member was treated with utmost care by the clans. To them, it was a disgrace, but it also needed to be treated sensibly. They would not want other clans to know of it for fear of them recruiting the exiled member and then trying to extract sensitive information about their clan from them.

Even if exiled members were stripped of most of their knowledge and some of their memories were forcefully removed, a mage with high mage level and Alchemy attainments could easily concoct a potion or pill that could restore their knowledge and memories.

On the other hand, a deserter was treated according to the member's rank and the value of the knowledge they had about the clan. For a high ranking member carrying a good deal of sensitive information about the clan, a manhunt would occur. Other clans might think of recruiting that member, but the risk was far too high than the gain, so no one would truly do it.

Besides, if the member could desert his previous clan, he could do it again. No one would want to risk the clan's future for a mage like that. For this reason, most clans would offer assistance to the deserter's clan in return for a handsome remuneration.

Thus far, there has been no order for a manhunt among the big clans. But that might not be the case with the small to medium clans. Oceanus has yet to confirm this. Until he confirmed Kyran was clear, he was not adamant about recruiting him.

Nevertheless, Oceanus's instincts told him that the younger man's background was not simple. This feeling stemmed from how composed the latter conducted himself when talking to Oceanus and his daughter. It was as if he was used to being in the presence of figures like him and his daughter.

"Either way, it is too risky to recruit him at this point," Oceanus did not elaborate on his thoughts and simply put an end to Leif's suggestion.

"I understand," Leif replied, not wanting to make a big deal out of their talk. Besides, she also had her own take on Kyran's origin.

"…is it fine to trust him with claiming the portal then?" Leif asked after a moment's pause.

Oceanus could not help but chuckle at her question, "… and here I thought you have blind faith in him."

Leif pouted at her father's teasing and said, "While I find him very pleasant in the eye and a rare talent if he ever joins the clan, I know my priorities. Besides, I am not a young maiden, alright. I will not allow my emotions to get over my head and cloud my judgment."

Oceanus nodded, pleased with her answer.

"That is good then. To answer your question, there is nothing to worry about. I may not be able to detect him if he is in active concealment, but that does not mean I will not be able to detect any malicious intent from him. The moment he decides to betray us, I will act accordingly.

"Still, I am confident he will not do that. If he doesn't want to draw attention to himself, he will not cross us."

"… That does make sense. I hope we can confirm if he is part of a clan soon. I do want him to become one of us."

Oceanus raised a brow at his daughter's remark. He could not blame her for wanting Kyran. The younger man's concealment ability alone was already a good asset. If they included his superb comprehension capability, then he would truly be a rare talent worth cultivating.

"We'll just have to wait and see…"

*

Oceanus and Leif met with Kyran and two other young men in the conference room of the ship. The latter two would join them in scouting the portal's location to gain experience.

Kyran recognized the two young men as two of the few entourage Leif had back in the city's library.

Leif then introduced them as Cove and Irving, the two talents from Hull that they planned to nurture.

Like most inhabitants of Ogen, the two had light blue hair and sea-green eyes. They were dressed elegantly in white and blue robes with fish-scale-inspired designs. Cove had shoulder-length hair, while Irving's was longer and tied in a ponytail.

The two also recognized Kyran and they were scowling at him.

Kyran ignored them.

After that, Oceanus's personal assistant, Maren, explained in detail the plane's terrain.

Contrary to what Kyran initially believed, the portal was located in a lush, full-of-life plane. His misconception was due to the fact that unclaimed planes in the Lower Realm were either desolate or had limited resources. If they were neither of these, then Sovereigns would have long fought over the plane's ownership.

Maren also showed them where The Council had set up their camp.

Kyran frowned slightly as he looked at the projection of The Council's Camp because, based on its size, it would not be wrong to assume that about a hundred of their members were staying there.

Just as Kyran thought this, Maren waved her hand to change the image projected in the middle of the round table.

"Currently, we estimate about a hundred Sovereigns guarding the portal. We have yet to confirm it, but there are signs of a High Sovereign overseeing the area."