Chapter 53: Ancient Magic I

The study room of Stella was not the 'room' Kyran had expected.

Same with her room, it was circular in shape but thrice its size.

Kyran had an inkling that this room was only connected to Stella's quarters through magic. This whole room might be located on a different floor in the tower.

Bookshelves as high as seven meters covered its walls, with narrow same-height windows every five meters. There was an adjustable mobile ladder at one of the bookshelves used to reach books located at the top.

Three-meter-high bookshelves also lined up on the ground floor of the room.

At one end of the room, there was a circular staircase leading to a mezzanine.

Above there was a strange-looking chandelier. But upon closer inspection, it was actually a huge physical array with intricate runes and clocks drawn around it.

As soon as Stella closed the door behind them, the chandelier-like array lit up, and the whole room gave a faint golden glow. A similarly drawn array appeared on the floor, and smaller octagon-shaped arrays lit up one after another on the windows along the walls.

"Time here is now flowing separately from the outside. Is a 1:24 rate okay with you?" Stella asked and looked at Kyran.

"1:24 rate? You mean one hour is equivalent to 24 hours?" Kyran asked.

"Yes. Or one day is equivalent to 24 days," Stella agreed with a smile. "I can adjust it if you need more time."

"No. 1:24 rate is fine," he immediately declined.

Kyran did not expect Stella's time magic to be this powerful. At most, he expected it to be a 1:3 ratio, one day to three days. He was even prepared to select only the most vital information and pull an all-nighter to learn everything. But now, it was nice to know that he could study more.

"Okay," Stella replied with a nod. She gestured at the mezzanine and added, "I'll bring you the records you need. You can go up to my office and make yourself at home."

"Thanks," Kyran replied and made his way to the mezzanine.

On the other hand, Stella moved to one section of the study and started picking out books with a wave of her hand.

When Kyran reached the mezzanine, he surveyed Stella's 'office' and could not help raising both his brows.

Instead of stiff chairs and tables, a low height rectangular wooden table surrounded by fourteen red and gold square seat cushions was located in the middle. On the side of the wall, a big map of the Ylfaen Empire was mounted behind a long couch with end tables on each side.

Floating golden lamps hovered above. It also gave a faint vanilla scent.

Stella's office had a very relaxing feel to it, contrary to what Kyran had in mind.

He peered at her below. She was still busy walking around the section she entered, waving her hand as one book after another flew out from the shelves.

A random thought crossed Kyran's mind as he saw the mobile ladder on the opposite side.

'So she doesn't really need that. She can also levitate. I wonder if I can also do something like that,' he thought.

Kyran shook his head and went over to the couch and studied the map of the Ylfaen Empire.

The four big cities of the empire: Meliora (center), Northbliss Castle (north), Timen Port (east), and Thunknam Peak (west), could easily be distinguished on the map because of their size.

Kyran's brow creased slightly as he looked at the location of the Regis Estate on the map near the east border of Meliora. His eyes then wandered further southeast of the forest and saw the Starhorn City.

The distance between the two seemed small on the map, but the truth was different in reality. His focus shifted to the Royal Army Headquarters near the middle south of Meliora City.

Kyran's heart started to beat faster just remembering the army. He immediately closed his eyes and clenched his fists as he tried to control his breathing.

'Calm down,' he told himself.

Nothing good would come out of him getting angry. He knew he had been reckless when he decided to 'get the attention of the Conclave'. It turned out favorable to him, but what about next time?

Honestly, he did not believe that Stella nor the Conclave could help him save his clan. They were a neutral faction and would not aggressively attack the Royal Army. But it didn't matter to him, now. He realized that it was best to have the Conclave work with him in secret.

Based on Celine's explanation about the Conclave's influence on the empire, they had the biggest intelligence network. Because of their neutral status, they had certain freedom with their operations, and Kyran wanted to keep it that way.

Of course, he had not given up on the idea of diverting the army's focus away from his clan. But he would need to plan a different approach on that. That was the reason why he needed to learn all he could on every faction within the empire.

He would also need to learn to control his magic on top of that.

Remembering this, Kyran suddenly thought of Nolan. He frowned slightly and wondered if Nolan went out on an errand as a mercenary to kill time because he thought he'd be unconscious for some time.

Nolan would not be plotting something.

"Here you go," Stella's voice broke Kyran's thoughts.

He turned and saw her arrive with three floating columns of neatly piled books following her.

With a wave of her hand, all these books flew to the side of the table and slowly descended on the floor.

"And here are the rest," Stella said, and her golden ring lit up. Seven worn-out books appeared in front of her and flew to the table.

"Thanks," Kyran said and went over to the table and sat on one side. He took out a map, a pen, and blank parchments from his pouch.

"You have brought some useful items with you," Stella noticed and sat on the cushion opposite Kyran.

"I guess. My family prepared well," he answered absentmindedly and spread out the map on the table.

Stella fell silent. Although Kyran acted and indifferently, she belatedly scolded herself for being insensitive.

Kyran, on the other hand, was not really bothered by what she said. He immediately got to work and checked the books Stella had brought.

The first column of books consisted of all the volumes of the Ylfaen Empire, records of its cities, and biographies of known individuals through the years. The second column of books was records of wars between the empire against different nations outside. There was also a book on all known hero families through the years. The last column was books about magic.

And the book on top immediately caught Kyran's attention. He reached for it and read the title out loud, "Ancient Magic?"

Stella, who had been silent, suddenly straightened and said, "I thought you'd like to know the story behind your magic, so I included that."

Kyran immediately frowned and looked at her, "Void magic is ancient magic? I thought it's categorized as forbidden magic."

Stella shook her head and looked Kyran in the eye, "Our magic is not forbidden. It was only categorized that way after the Royal Family started to expand their territory."

"They're afraid of the threat of these magic," Kyran guessed and opened the book. Immediately he saw four runes drawn on the cover page. He was surprised he could read the first rune.

'Void.'

"Yes. But it is not like anyone can use it. Besides, from the original four, there are only three Ancient Magic that are still around."

"Four? So these runes...?" Kyran started and showed the page to Stella. "These are the names of these ancient magic in their runic language?"

Stella nodded, "That's right. Void. Time. Soul. And last, Draconic."

"Draconic? You're not talking about the rumored Regis blessing, are you?"

Stella chuckled, seeing the incredulous expression on Kyran.

"Yes, actually. Well... the reason why draconic magic didn't become 'forbidden' is that; the Royal Family knew this magic would never manifest again."

Kyran looked at the last rune and remembered a story his grandfather once told him.

The ancestor of the Regis Family was the only one who had the Regis blessing. Because, in order to manifest this blessing, a mage must be bonded with a real dragon. And real dragons no longer existed in this world.

There were reptilian beasts with part dragon blood, but they were not considered real dragons. Their size was smaller, and even their magic was inferior compared to the real ones.

"Because there are no more dragons," Kyran followed up on Stella's statement.

With brows raised, Stella nodded and agreed, "Yes. I'm surprised, you know."

"My grandfather told me about the Regis blessing once."

"I see."

Kyran browsed the book and immediately frowned. His frown deepened as he turned the page faster. Finally, he closed the book and looked at Stella.

"I can't read it," he told her.

"Huh?" Stella leaned over and took the book. She also opened it and frowned. "How come?"

"It's written in runes. I don't read runes," Kyran replied with a sigh.

Stella looked at him in confusion. "You don't need to know how to read runes to understand it. You only need to use your magic sense."

"I don't know how to," Kyran answered.

Although it was understandable that he didn't know how to use magic sense because he just started learning magic, it still annoyed him that he was a complete noob.

Seeing the annoyed expression on Kyran's face, Stella laughed uneasily as she returned the book to him.

"Sorry, I thought Nolan already taught you how."

"We haven't really gotten the time to learn more things. Can you tell me how?"

"Well, I don't know how to explain it. I'm not really good at explaining these things. But if you have anything you want to know about ancient magic, I can answer in the meantime."

Kyran pondered for a while before finally relenting, "Okay."

Stella immediately beamed and leaned on the table. She looked at him expectantly and asked, "So. What do you want to know?"

"Everything that you know."

"Hmm..." Stella took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay, first, I'll tell you what Ancient Magic is."