Sovereign of the Ashes

Two months later...

Sein’s score had soared to 7,000 points.

By now, nearly all the small resource points across the territories of various divine towers were occupied, yet Sein’s rate of acquiring points had almost doubled since the first month.

This clearly demonstrated that hunting other initiates was the most efficient method of accumulating points, a realization Sein had come to relish.

However, his frequent eliminations and the withdrawal of other initiates necessitated his constant movement.

Sein found himself delving deeper into the Divine Tower of Shadow’s territory.

One day, he reached the outskirts of a large basin, distinguished by its expansive size, surrounding hills, and distinctively red soil.

His Sense spell detected significant elemental energy fluctuations within, suggesting the presence of numerous initiates from the Divine Tower of Shadow.

Wearing his invisibility cloak, Sein stealthily entered the basin.

Upon reaching a vantage point with a broader view, he was finally able to get a clear view of the area before him.

It was a large resource point, the first he had encountered since entering the trial space.

Large resource points not only offered higher occupation points and lucrative resources, but also posed the greatest challenge in securing them.

Among the twenty-three large resource points in the trial space, only one had been occupied by the Divine Tower of Land Academy so far.

Traditionally, those large resource points, known for their difficulty to conquer, would only begin to fall into the hands of initiates from various divine towers in the third month of the war.

Within half a year, it was likely that almost all the resource points would be occupied.

However, not all divine tower initiates were strong enough to secure the large resource points in their regions.

In such cases, initiates from neighboring regions might step in to “assist” them.

This was what happened when the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring first participated in the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War.

Fortunately, in the three subsequent sessions, such an embarrassing situation did not recur.

That also indicated the steady progress and development of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

The large resource point before Sein was known as the Creek Orchid Grass Resource Point.

Characterized by its distinctive soil and elemental conditions, a special kind of grass thrived in the heart of the basin.

The verdant expanse was peppered with stalks of mature Creek Orchid Grass, characterized by their light blue hue tinged with pink.

Sein surmised that while only a few dozen of these plants were fully matured, there were thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands, of such plants throughout the basin.

As a large resource point, these Creek Orchid Grass would continue to mature and proliferate over time.

Apart from the Creek Orchid Grass, the dozens of bizarre-looking extraplanar creatures guarding the basin were equally eye-catching.

Most of those creatures appeared to be plant creatures, an unusual encounter for Sein, yet their considerable size and prominent saw-like teeth hinted at their carnivorous and intimidating nature.

Nevertheless, the nearly two hundred initiates from the Divine Tower of Shadow gathered around the basin were even more daunting than those plant creatures.

All of them seemed ready to claim the large resource point.

Sein could already make out four Quasi Mages and six senior initiates from his distant vantage point, not to mention others potentially concealed in the shadows.

“Should I proceed?” Sein pondered.

Meanwhile, the initiates from the Divine Tower of Shadow had already commenced their assault on the large resource point.

Since the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War had only begun two months ago, none of them anticipated initiates from other divine towers would venture into their territory so soon.

Furthermore, Sein’s decisive actions over the past month had been ruthless. He had not spared any prey he targeted in the trial space.[1]

As a result, most of the Divine Tower of Shadow’s initiates remained oblivious to the fact that a grim reaper had drawn near.

The initiates from the Divine Tower of Shadow were particularly distinctive in their approach to launch a unified assault.

Unlike their counterparts from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, who would bombard their targets with a variety of magic spells, the initiates from the Divine Tower of Shadow demonstrated greater organization in their tactics.

They first unleashed a horde of dark and undead creatures of various kinds.

These beings ranged in strength, with the weakest being low-level skeletons.

Sein was familiar with the Skeleton Summoning, it was a basic spell he had acquired at the Black Magic Academy.

However, these summoned skeletons were slow and lacked any special abilities apart from their considerable strength. They were essentially cannon fodder, easily dispatched with a single Fireball spell.

Consequently, Sein had seldom used this magic spell over the years.

Aside from these skeleton soldiers that the junior initiates summoned, more sophisticated entities like specters and zombies were also seen in the horde.

Specters, formless entities wielding psychic and sonic attacks, and zombies, with bodies and strength surpassing those of skeleton soldiers, were small elites comparable in power to intermediate initiates.

Sein had not come across the spell models for these more high-level undead creatures at the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring Academy, so he had not mastered them either.

After venturing into the Divine Tower of Shadow’s territory, Sein had acquired a number of useful magic books by defeating several initiates.

He planned to delve into these materials when time allowed, considering his notable affinity for the umbra element, which could offer him a tactical advantage in using such magic spells.

Besides the common undead creatures like skeletons, specters, and zombies, Sein observed two black samurais clad in iron armor and wielding metal longswords.

These formidable black samurais, demonstrating power akin to senior initiates, excelled in defense, strength, and speed.

They swiftly dispatched two low-level extraplanar plant creatures, showcasing their prowess.

While the performance of the black samurais was impressive, Sein’s focus was drawn to an elderly black-robed initiate positioned at the rear center.

Throughout the ongoing battle within the basin, this old figure had not ceased chanting incantations.

The wrinkles on his face and his jaundiced eyes betrayed his status as a Quasi Mage with advanced age.

As the black-robed initiate completed his incantation, a black hexagram array spanning roughly ten meters in diameter, materialized at the heart of the basin.

Accompanied by a whistling sound, a several-meter-tall, grotesquely stitched mountain of flesh wielding a giant sickle slowly emerged from the array.

This formidable summon was evidently comparable in strength to a quasi-rank magic beast!

1. Author’s note: Excluding those who managed to escape by activating their badges. ?