𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑏𝓃ℴ𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝒸ℴ𝘮

'Said the person who could not even detect an array formation,' Kyran thought.

Not bothering to argue with Dusk, Kyran walked toward the twin doors at the opposite end of the room.

Dusk did not mind Kyran's lack of response because he was already used to it. It annoyed him, to be honest, but he could not imagine the latter acting all friendly.

When Kyran arrived at the doors, he opened the door without so much of a pause that Dusk nearly broke out in cold sweats. It could not be helped because Dusk's experience thus far while roaming around the castle's underground section had not been a good one. 20% of the doors he encountered would lead him to a room full of traps, and 70% would lead into a room with a hidden array formation— like the room Kyran found him in.

If the Kyran had not come and prevented Dusk from stepping on the array formation, he would have suffered badly— worse, dead, just like Kyran said.

Putting aside Dusk's dislike of Kyran, he knew the latter was far more knowledgeable than him when it came to Arrays. Thus, although it annoyed him, Dusk did not doubt what Kyran had said.

Nevertheless, that did not stop Dusk from feeling scared about Kyran's lack of vigilance.

"Oi, aren't you even going to confirm first if the room behind that door is safe before entering?"

"There's no room on the other side but a hallway."

"Hallway?" Dusk frowned as he took out the map of the underground section. The map in his possession had gotten pretty useless when he got teleported randomly to one of the rooms in the castle's underground section. However, he believed he could figure out his location as long as he had enough time to find clues and landmarks around him and crossref them to the map in his possession.

"Don't bother looking at your map; it's useless," Kyran told Dusk before the latter could even open the parchments he had taken out from his storage pouch.

Dusk scowled at him, "How would you know?"

"I remembered most of the things on that map," Kyran replied indifferently.

"'Remembered most of the things...' where did you even see these...." Dusk's voice trailed off as his expression darkened. He then remembered the time when Kyran posed as the Prince of Armakea when Deception almost found them. Before that, Dusk found Kyran and led him to his hideout under an Ancient Tree. Since he left in a hurry, he left the map sprawled open atop a makeshift table.

But when Dusk ushered Kyran inside, he immediately tidied up the place and hid the parchment. Even if the latter saw it, the time was too short for him to actually remember it. Besides, the parchments were laid out on top of one another. Even though they were not properly arranged in sequence, there were a few places that were blocked by the parchment on top of it.

Before Dusk could point this out, Kyran already replied with a nonchalant tone, "Using that as the basis for the information I got from my people and cross-referencing them, I found a huge discrepancy. Based on that, I more or less confirmed your map is outdated."

"You..." Dusk was left speechless.

Was there even anything this guy would not know?

Wait.

That was not the main issue there!

"Did your people actually find updated information about the underground section?"

"No."

"What the f—."

"They have the information; they did not find them."

"'Have the information...'" Dusk repeated, his voice trailed off once more. He obviously understood what Kyran meant about that and was dumbfounded.

"You... when did you succeed in planting a mole inside the castle?"

Kyran's brow twitched. He knew from the start that he and Dusk would not get along. But he did not expect their wavelengths to be in such disarray that they were never on the same page.

In the end, Kyran could not really blame Dusk. The latter knew little about what the former could do and vice versa. Although Dusk seemed to know some things about Kyran's magic, from his attitude before they parted ways the first time they met in Somuli, that did not mean he was knowledgeable about it. Dusk's words could even be counted as him commenting on Ancient Magic in general.

"What?" Dusk scowled when Kyran did not answer. "Deciding not to answer again?"

Kyran sighed. But then a smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he said, "No. I'm just speechless after discovering your... cute side."

Dusk nearly choked in shock from Kyran's comment. He, like most others, never expected to hear him say such a word. However, that was not the case among the Regis Clan, especially the little ones.

To them, Kyran saying cringe-worthy words was pretty normal.

"You—!" Dusk started to say but ultimately failed to follow through. He had been too shocked at Kyran's comment that his mind short-circuited.

On the other hand, Kyran was unperturbed about Dusk's reaction. Frankly, if not for the lack of a better term to describe Dusk's stupidity in a nice way, Kyran would not use that word. But since there was no other way, and he simply did not want to dwell on it, he said the first thing he thought of— Kyra's use of the term cute to replace something she did not know how to describe.

Kyran was already walking down the long, dark hallway when he received an update from Armak and Breira. He was surprised to learn that they were already three levels below them. Their travel speed unexpectedly far exceeded his initial judgment.

Then again, Armak and Breira had fifty automatons with them. If they encountered more automatons, they would not be completely hopeless. As for the matter of coming across an array formation, Kyran already confirmed with the automaton with serial number 0901 that they had a way of deactivating an array formation. If not for this, Kyran would not ask them to scout ahead by themselves. At least, not until he created a device that could temporarily disable an array formation.

Kyran and Dusk walked down the hallway in silence. Kyran did not mind this because it allowed him to sort his thoughts.

He did his best to stay calm and wait for Chrysanthemum's update. But truth be told, he was barely keeping his emotions in check. If not for the token he gave Cyneah, which he knew she would not hesitate to use if they were truly in danger, Kyran would have long left the castle and gone over to their location.

However, after learning about the main array formation under the castle and how it possessed advanced and complex formulas, Kyran was worried it could block his connection with the token as well, preventing him from hearing Cyneah's call in her time of need. If not for this, Kyran would not have involved Chrysanthemum and her people, and have them check the situation over at Cyneah's side.

While waiting for Chrysanthemum's update, Kyran learned how agonizing it was to wait.

Meanwhile, Chrysanthemum and a few of her handpicked brethren were getting used to the temporary world Kyran created.

Though it was only temporary, feeling that familiar flow of thick magic energies in the surroundings was something they could not help but relish. Some of them even got teary-eyed because it had truly been a long time.

Apart from the rich magic energy flow in the surroundings, the temporary world also followed the magic law they were familiar with. Their magic cores suddenly came to life as they continuously absorbed the magic energies in their surroundings.

But then a thought struck Chrysanthemum, and she immediately told everyone not to be brazen when absorbing the magic energy.

"This is only a temporary world," she told them. "Which means the magic energies here are also limited. If we continue to absorb, this world might collapse."

Frankly, Chrysanthemum was being a worrywart. While her understanding of the temporary world was on point, she underestimated the Void's nature, which inadvertently underestimated Kyran's ability as well.

When Kyran created the temporary world, he did use the exquisite spirit stones as its core to ensure they could circulate enough magic energies and sustain it. However, he also made sure to properly utilize one of the Void's natures to allow the flow of magic energy in that world to flow in an almost limitless manner.

Basically, Kyran created a link between the temporary world and the Spirit world, ensuring that the magic energies on both worlds could supply each other.

But Chrysanthemum was unaware of those things. Even if she did, she probably would not be able to explain it to the others.

In any case, because of her reminder, her brethren had become mindful of their absorption of magic energy.

"Alright," Chrysanthemum started. "Although we are given only one coordinate, you know the drill. Form into three groups. Split up and gather as much information as you can."

They all arrived at the coordinate and cautiously exited the temporary world.

As soon as they did, their eyes widened as they sensed an ominous energy entering Somuli.