Ascension of the elder

Chapter 72: Smiling devil

"IT'S ALIVE!"

*Cough, cough* I'd better not do that again thought Kyle at least not in a dusty old building. The mana was continuing to increase in intensity as the crystal continued to strengthen, suddenly there was a pulse of mana which passed through the chamber and caused the arrays outside to respond.

Kyle saw this and wondered what was happening, why did the crystal pulse out mana like that when it obviously didn't have much to spare yet as it was still much smaller than the one in his mansion. The only thing he could come up with was this was a ping like sonar or when you ping a address on the internet to get a response but in this case it was trying to connect to any intact or active arrays.

Once the 'ping' had passed Kyle perceived new mana connections were forming with the arrays present. He also noted a small but continuous flow of mana wasn't following the other connections and was instead flowing down directly.

Thinking this may be his chance to see the strange altar below becoming active Kyle led the way back downstairs.

"Come on guys I want to have a look downstairs and try to work out what that altar is for."

"No prob bro lead the way." Bruno responded so Kyle headed down.

The altar was still exposed unlike the one at his mansion, but now there was a line of pure mana coming down from above. Within this line of mana the metal sphere was floating while spinning slowly on its own axis.

The strange arrays present on the green stone had begun to glimmer slightly but it was dim and barely noticeable to the naked eye. This must have been due to the lack of mana produced by the crystal but why would some of this precious mana be diverted to this thing before it had mana to spare?

Kyle still couldn't work out what this room and altar was for but it didn't seem to be detrimental to the system just a bit of a drain on resources. While Kyle was inspecting the room and the arrays the other 3 kids began to chat amongst themselves.

"What do you think this room is for?" Miranda asked with a shudder, the layout and kind of material used in its construction felt somehow alien to her. She couldn't put her finger on it but it didn't have the same warm feeling the crystal mansion or even the ruins above gave her.

"I don't know maybe they sacrificed children down here or something." Bruno responded in his usual blunt and somewhat brutal fashion.

"I don't think so, this seems like it had a purpose and was made for that purpose." One had silently approached them before saying his belief making all three jump.

"Why don't you make some noise, you scared the wits out of me." Clara chided One while placing her hand over her heart.

While the rest were chatting Kyle had used his soul sense to see if he could glean some information on this altar before it was completely covered in mana like what happened in his mansion.

He could see the array and altar with the mana flowing around but he could also see arrays being projected by the sphere. These arrays began to breakdown as they left the proximity of the sphere but a few which were closer to the sphere began to be maintained as Kyle watched.

As Kyle continued to watch the progress of the sphere he felt a brush against his mind. It was a warm and comforting feeling, even though it was only a limited and soft contact Kyle could easily recognise it. It was the same feeling his home gave him, somehow his mansion was now connected to this one if only in a limited fashion.

Was this due to this room or because of the new crystal that he had placed? Kyle didn't know yet but he intended to find out. As he couldn't learn anything more down here for a minute he headed back to the formation chamber. He didn't say anything as he was caught up in his own thoughts but the rest just followed behind him.

"Do you think Kyle knows what he's doing?" Bruno asked quietly, he trusted Kyle but all of this was beyond his understanding and he was unsure if he should be doing anything to help.

"I'm sure the Lord knows what he's doing." Miranda responded without any question in her mind, she had begun to develop a blind faith in Kyle which may be dangerous for her down the line.

"Well he understands more about these things than we do at the very least." Clara spoke her mind on the matter while One just kept his silence.

Arriving back at the mana crystal Kyle inspected it and could see that the mana output had continued to increase. Looking at the arrays the crystal was outputting Kyle was able to identify several which were used for concealment and disguise. It looks like his mansion knew that he needed this kept secret and was way ahead of him on this.

Deciding there was nothing more he could do here he looked towards his companions.

"We should head out, this will take a while to finish its process and we don't need to be here to watch it."

"Great where to next?" Bruno asked excitedly as he had begun to get bored of just looking at stone walls.

"Well since it isn't too late I would like to visit the Black family estate."

"Oh are you going to beat us some heirs from there as well?" Kyle looked at Bruno with a deadpan stare, when did he get a reputation for beating arrogant heirs? It was only one directly and he saw another getting beaten.

Kyle decided silence was the best answer for this situation so he turned away and exited the basement. Bruno stood there watching Kyle with a confused look on his face, why did Kyle react like that? Suddenly *WHACK* he was hit around the back of the head by Clara.

"What'd you do that for?" Bruno said while rubbing the back of his head. Clara just gave him a look while rubbing her hand.

"Because you are an idiot and your head is too hard." With this Clara left closely followed by Miranda who gave Bruno an apologetic look. Bruno glanced around seeking some support but only saw One who just shrugged before following the rest.

Bruno decided to think on this later before he buried this in a deep dark corner of his mind never to see the light of day again and followed them out.

On returning to ground level Kyle saw that there were still a few hours of daylight, more than enough time to visit the black estate and maybe take a peek of this tool they needed help fixing. As he was leaving the ruins Kyle looked at the arrays still visibly connected to the mana crystal and could see they were being replaced with new or complete arrays.

These were mostly new concealment arrays which if he was reading them correctly would maintain the image of the ruin regardless of the standing condition of the building. It would be a shroud which only those permitted would be able to pierce.

Kyle was thinking of the best way to utilise this new function. He had already earmarked this new base for 'shadow hand' so he would leave it in disguise for now but maybe when an enemy was getting close he could drop the illusion and BAM you're now facing a fort complete with over powered defensive arrays and a group of trained soldiers.

While Kyle was fantasizing about how badass this would be the rest of the group were watching him.

"Kyle seems to be happy about something." Bruno noted to the rest.

"Yes the lord seems to be in good humour about something. What do you think it is?" Miranda was also watching Kyle and could see the gleam in his eye and the smile that made her heart pound.

"Hum I think he's coming up with a prank or some mischief." Clara thought he looked like one of the kids she used to know who like to prank people and as soon as you saw that smile on his face you knew he was planning to poke someone with something pointy.

One had the worst reaction of them as he had seen this smile before. It was as Kyle was training them and was planning something new and painful. He began to shiver uncontrollably which was seen by Miranda who as a kind girl wanted to check on him.

"Are you okay Mr One?"

One was fully immersed in his own fears and delusions and could be heard mumbling.

"The devil smiles, the devil smiles."

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