Leif did not learn much from Kyran and Aki's conversation. Nonetheless, she more or less understood Kyran's relationship with the Dragon Clan. She also discovered that Kyran's name, Null, was neither a title nor a nickname but a random name he came up with.
To be honest, that annoyed Leif, but she did not voice her anger because of Kyran's relationship with the Dragon Clan. She considered his fake title payback for the disrespect she might have unintentionally shown since they met.
Another thing that Leif learned about Kyran was his strange magic, which she still could not figure out. Usually, she would have gleaned some clues after observing him for a while. But his concealment ability and refusal to use any magic array when summoning magic made it hard for her to find clues.
The dense magic energy in their surroundings challenged anyone trying to discern the type of raw magic energy that responded to a mage's use of magic. Kyran's infrequent use of magic and reliance on Aki for combat further complicate the matter, making it even harder for Leif to understand his unique magic.
Speaking of combat, they were met with more puppets after they left the hallway and entered what appeared to be a grand hall. However, unlike the ones in the hallway, these puppets were the size of an average human and mainly used elemental magic spells.
Aki remained their vanguard, and Leif assisted him from the rear. As for Kyran, he just stood to one side and watched as they dealt with the puppets.
Kyran's lax attitude aggrieved Leif. But after realizing that even if he was not doing anything, the human-sized puppets could not overwhelm them, she chose to ignore him.
There was a time when she thought the puppets would swarm Aki because there were too many. He needed two or three hits before he destroyed them, a testament to their superior exterior compared to the previous group of puppets they encountered. However, just as Leif felt a looming fear in her heart, the puppets' defenses would suddenly become nonexistent as Aki destroyed them in one hit.
She even managed to eliminate a few puppets using a mid-tier spell.
Another time, Leif saw Aki throwing a puppet at three approaching puppets. The impact of the puppet colliding with the three resulted in a small explosion.
If it had been any other time, Leif would have been convinced that the collision of the four puppets caused the explosion. But these puppets had sturdier exteriors, and a mere collision would not have been enough to make them explode. At least, Leif did not believe it was possible. Besides, she strongly felt that the explosion occurred before the puppet Aki held collided with the three puppets.
Leif became suspicious of Kyran's lax attitude, which might only be a front, but he was actually assisting them in the shadows.
Leif had no idea how and when Kyran assisted them, but his assistance significantly reduced the pressure on her and Aki.
After the number of attacking human-sized puppets had been reduced, an automaton appeared, and it emitted a very intimidating aura. Leif even sensed that the automaton's strength was no weaker than her. It might even be more robust. She was not intimidated, though. With Aki, who she already knew was an automaton with them, there was nothing to worry about.
Leif was wrong.
With a simple wave of the automaton's hand, a huge array formation appeared on the ground and sealed their magic circulation. After that, it summoned a thunderstorm that reduced the ground to smithereens wherever its lightning struck.
At that point, Leif started to feel despair. Not only was Aki's movement being hindered by the random strikes of lightning from the thunderstorm, but they could not even cast any spells. Then again, Leif's innate magic was useless against lightning. Thus, even if she could cast magic, she would not be able to do it any harm.
"Master, is opening Auto-one's databank impossible?" Aki asked.
Kyran straightened and looked at him with a sigh. "It's not impossible, but the runes used are too complicated. It will take me hours, even days, to decipher everything."
"Forgive me, master. As much as I wanted to provide you with all the information you required, I cannot force the removal of all previous authority and security locks in my programming."
"It's fine. I thought turning you into one of my automatons was enough, but apparently, I had unconsciously underestimated the Ancients' technology," Kyran replied while looking at Auto-one. "Will there be any conflict in your programming if I order you to do something?"
Auto-one was silent for a while, seemingly checking his programming internally. After a short time, he looked at Kyran and shook his head.
"Apart from asking for information that is classified inside my databank, there will be no conflicts in my programming."
Kyran nodded, "Alright. I'll leave it at that. I'll work on your programming when we return to..." His voice trailed off as his face distorted slightly.
Leif guessed that Kyran's reaction was that he did not know where he would return after leaving the tower. She thought he did not seem keen on going to the Dragon Clan yet.
Truth be told, that was not the case.
Kyran reacted as he did because he remembered Cyneah and her group were also at the seventh level and wondered if they were fine. The Dragon Clan's strength had a massive advantage over Array, but that did not mean they were already in the clear, especially when surprises like the Array formation that could seal movements and magic energy circulation were there.
Thinking this, Leif opened her mouth and thought of offering to let him stay in Ogen until he decided where to go. She believed that even if he threatened her just now, ensuring a good relationship with him was better than severing it after they left the tower.
But before Leif could say anything, Auto-one said something that made her speechless.
"Master, where exactly do you plan to return?"
"I'm... still thinking about that."
"But... are you not here because you have returned to the tower?"
"...?"
"Since you have returned, is there a need for you to go to leave this place?"