Sovereign of the Ashes

With the full support of the Order of the Steel Fist, Sein had just enough time to bid farewell to Natalya and the others through the knight badge before stepping into the teleportation array back to the Magus World.

As members of the Magus Civilization, no matter how far they traveled, Magus World was always their home—a sanctuary for both mental and physical rejuvenation.

It was only upon returning to the warm, welcoming embrace of Magus World that their bodies, wearied from a decade of interplanar war, could finally relax.

***

Stepping out of the interplanar teleportation array, Sein found himself back in the Order of the Steel Fist’s main hall.

Nestled among the mountains, this ancient structure stood majestically, exuding both simplicity and grandeur.

Sein could not resist taking a deep breath of Magus World’s fresh air.

Although the Order of the Steel Fist’s main palace stood at a higher altitude where the air was cooler and thinner, Sein still felt the unmistakable warmth of home—a feeling absent in Thunderfall World.

“Every time I return from another plane, I’m struck anew by the beauty of Magus World. It’s no wonder there hasn’t been a mass exodus of black mages or black knights, despite the rules against them. After all, this world is home to billions upon trillions of beings!” he exclaimed.

Sein’s return this time was particularly significant to the Order of the Steel Fist.

They had gone to great lengths to facilitate his journey, and an airship was waiting just outside the main hall, ready to take him back to the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

Unbeknownst to Sein, during his travels across the Magus World, the end of the Viridian Venom Flame World War had led to significantly increased interactions between the Order of the Steel Fist and the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

It was not just the Order of the Steel Fist; the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring had also been actively engaging with other surrounding divine towers and knightly orders over the past few decades.

This surge in cooperation and business transactions had made the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring more prosperous than ever before, reinforcing the notion that war often spurred rapid growth among such organizations.

The Divine Tower of Verdant Spring did not play a major role during the Viridian Venom Flame World War.

As the youngest tower master in the Verdant Flame Faction, Lorianne was well-supported by her mentor and seniors.

Consequently, the war profits of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring in the Viridian Venom Flame World were comparable to those of others, and they even acquired the largest share of intermediate and basic pyro elemental resources.

With these resources came considerable wealth.

The influx allowed the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s development over the last fifty years to far exceed that of the previous two centuries.

By now, Lorianne had likely recognized the benefits of interplanar warfare. Now a well-established Rank Four mage, it was only a matter of time before she might initiate her own interplanar conflict.

Sein was looking forward to the day his mentor would command a majestic space fortress as her base.

Such a development would mean that during wars, he would no longer have to endure the cramped living conditions he had experienced in Thunderfall World.

Currently, the airship Sein was aboard was heading toward the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring for trade.

Its hold was filled with valuable electro elemental resources that would likely interest many mages.

The other passengers were unaware of Sein’s true identity or that he was carrying a letter from a Rank Four knight to a Rank Four tower master.

***

The airship was flying at a very high speed.

It had already completed loading its cargo and was set to depart earlier, but had to delay its departure to wait for Sein to board.

The airship was managed by a corpulent Rank One knight who lacked the typical bravado or roughness expected of his rank.

Instead, he was polite and well-spoken, resembling a merchant more than a knight.

Just as there were “academy mages” among the mages, there were also “noble knights” among the knights, like the fair, chubby knight before Sein, who excelled in commerce rather than combat.

However, only truly powerful and ancient families could afford to employ a Rank One knight focused solely on such specialized matters.

House Grantt was still too young. The three ranked knights it had produced were all currently risking their lives in the Thunderfall World war.

There was no way they could spare any resources to support a family member dedicated exclusively to family development and commercial trade.

Others might have been unaware of Sein’s true identity, but this knight, named Harry, seemed to suspect something.

He had been instructed by the Order of the Steel Fist to delay departure until Sein was aboard, but made no inquiries about Sein’s identity and refrained from probing further.

However, the way he handled his interactions with Sein suggested that this Rank One knight was deliberately trying to ingratiate himself with the Rank Two mage.

From the Order of the Steel Fist, the airship sped toward the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

Half a month later, Sein finally saw the familiar Jewel Sea and the towering green divine tower.

Time truly flew!

It had been almost fifty years since Sein had left the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

He had spent over twenty years on the Knight Continent alone, another ten fighting in the Thunderfall World, and the remainder traveling extensively.

He traveled southward from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring to reach the South Coast, then west and north through the Marmett Union Alliance, Steel City, and eventually to the Western Archipelago.

From there, he traveled east to the East Coast, passing through the Summoner Alliance, Alveroth the Magic Empire, and the Ylli Knight Alliance—effectively circling half of the Magus World before returning.

While not the first to do so, knights and mages of Sein’s rank who traveled as extensively were exceedingly rare.

At the end of his travels, Sein was promoted to Rank Two on the Thunderfall World battlefield.

With that, his long journey had come to a perfect conclusion.

Accounting for the time difference in Thunderfall World, Sein was now ninety-six years old, approaching a century.

Yet, Sein was still extremely young for a Rank Two mage.

With the theoretical lifespan of a Rank Two mage in the Magus World being three thousand years, he had plenty of time ahead of him.

“The Divine Tower of Verdant Spring has changed so much over the years!” Sein mused, looking at the increasingly prosperous Jewel Sea shoreline and the new, vast canal stretching southward.

He could not help but sigh at the transformation.