Sovereign of the Ashes

In the trial space, Sein gazed down at the lifeless bodies of two Divine Tower of Shadow initiates before him in silence.

Reality had proven to him that dealing with magic initiates might sometimes be easier than contending with extraplanar creatures.

Many of these initiates were inexperienced in real combat. They crumbled under the pressure of Sein’s sudden and overwhelming presence, offering little resistance.

Upon entering the Divine Tower of Shadow Academy’s territory, Sein quickly encountered three of its initiates.

Distinguished by their black badges, the majority of this divine tower’s initiates were known to wield umbra magic spells and necromancy.

This was precisely what drew full-fledged mages specialized in these two areas to the Divine Tower of Shadow.

Among the three initiates Sein faced, one was a senior initiate and the other two were intermediate initiates.

The senior initiate managed to escape the trial space using his badge after a brief struggle. However, the other two, perhaps paralyzed by surprise or lack of experience, failed to utilize their escape mechanisms.

Sein’s approach was direct and uncompromising.

In battle, he was relentless, aware that the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War was far from a trivial matter. It was a brutal contest where many initiates perished each session.

While many initiates struggled to adapt upon entering the trial space, Sein was not among them.

He made effective use of his invisibility cloak, an advanced magic item in his possession.

Though Sein had confidence in his abilities, he was far from conceited.

Upon venturing into the Divine Tower of Shadow’s unfamiliar territory, he wisely chose to utilize his magic equipment.

This equipment proved more valuable than Sein had anticipated, particularly for executing stealthy surprise attacks.

The demise of the two intermediate initiations from the Divine Tower of Shadow did not weigh heavily on Sein’s conscience.

He understood the ruthless nature of the competition—it was kill or be killed. By entering the territory of the Divine Tower of Shadow Academy, Sein had braced himself for the worst.

The demise of the two initiates before him was a result of their insufficient strength and unfortunate luck.

After a brief pause, Sein began to collect his spoils.

The encounter with the three initiates—two now dead, one escaped—netted Sein over 500 points.

This proved that eliminating opponents was an efficient way to amass points.

Additionally, on the bodies of the two fallen Divine Tower of Shadow initiates, Sein discovered two space rings.

Among various items and energy crystals inside the rings, what caught Sein’s attention were several special resources available in the trial space.

“There must be a few resource points nearby. I wonder if any initiates from the Divine Tower of Shadow are guarding them,” Sein mused.

“Too bad the senior initiate escaped. He likely had more valuable loot,” Sein reflected with a sigh after tallying his gains.

After incinerating the bodies of the two initiates with a Fireball spell, Sein proceeded deeper into the Divine Tower of Shadow’s territory.

***

Upon entering the Divine Tower of Shadow’s territory, Sein found his opportunities for points gain significantly increased.

However, he did not indiscriminately target the abundant junior initiates, and sometimes even spared intermediate initiates.

Sein’s focus was primarily on senior initiates and Quasi Mages.

His decision was not out of a sense of compassion. He was not a saint after all.

The junior initiates, with their lesser strength and modest point totals accumulated since the onset of war a month ago, offered only minimal rewards.

After encountering and dispatching several junior initiates from the Divine Tower of Shadow, Sein refrained from further pursuing these “small fries”.

The effort expended for the few points they offered—often just about ten, was not justifiable, especially considering Sein’s finite focus and mana levels.

Moreover, these initiates could easily escape danger by activating their badges.

Rather than wasting his energy on them, Sein would rather pursue senior initiates from the Divine Tower of Shadow.

The points gained from a single senior initiate were equivalent to those from dozens, or even nearly a hundred, junior initiates.

As a magic initiate, Sein understood the math well.

He decided to treat those junior initiates as... pigs being fattened for slaughter.

The trial space’s rules provided these weaker initiates a way to accumulate points.

In another year or two, these intermediate and junior initiates, having accumulated enough points through defending resource points, would become ripe for “harvesting” by the stronger participants.

This perhaps explained why the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War typically reached its climax in the second year.

Like a patient hunter, Sein stalked his prey within the Divine Tower of Shadow’s territory.

Given that this tower was stronger than the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring and had more senior initiates and Quasi Mages, there remained an abundance of more rewarding targets despite Sein’s decision to temporarily spare the intermediate and junior initiates.

***

Outside the trial space...

The continuous surge in Sein’s score left Jovian feeling numb.

Unbeknownst to Sein, he had begun to carve out a reputation among the full-fledged mages from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

As he ventured into the Divine Tower of Shadow’s territory, his score continued to soar.

Within just a week, Sein ascended from ninth to fifth place in the overall standings.

The top ten, especially the top five on the scoreboard, were typically elite of the divine towers.

Their fame extended beyond their own towers, recognized even by full-fledged mages from the Divine Tower Verdant Spring like Jovian.

For instance, Gade, currently leading the scoreboard, had been the strongest initiate from the Divine Tower of Land Academy over the past century.

This time, he was spearheading the academy’s initiates in the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War to maintain the Divine Tower of Land Academy’s supremacy.

He also vowed to redeem his past performance in the last regional war and secure first place in the overall individual rankings.

(Author’s Note: The last Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War had seen the Divine Tower of Land Academy’s initiates lead in total points, but it was Martinez from the Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder who topped the overall individual rankings.)

Beyond Gade, the names in the current top ten were familiar to all full-fledged mages.

Talent, akin to gold, invariably drew attention.

In this list, only Sein’s name was a new addition, an enigma yet to be unraveled.

One of the full-fledged mages in front of the scoreboard commented, “I hope this young man can keep up his momentum. He could be the darkest horse in this year’s Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War.”

The others nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, Jovian took a deep breath and silently urged, “Keep it up, kid! If you manage to secure a spot in the top ten, I’ll give Medich that prized extraplanar Cloud Fairy from my laboratory’s collection as a gift. After all, that guy has given the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring a real treasure!”