Sovereign of the Ashes

Lorianne summoned Sein today, intending to discuss more than just her impending deployment to Thunderfall World.

Sein, her apprentice, had proven to be a true blessing.

Among his peers, Sein displayed a maturity and insight uncommon among low-ranked mages.

“As soon as the Thunderfall World War concludes, it’s time for the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring to undertake new endeavors,” Lorianne declared abruptly.

“Master Lorianne, have you identified another plane suitable for conquest?” Sein asked curiously.

Lorianne was impressed that her apprentice caught on quickly without any explanation, mentally aligning his thoughts with hers.

Lorianne nodded in response. “I currently have coordinates for two foreign worlds, both dendro elemental planes, but I have yet to decide which one to conquer.”

Among billions of planes in the vast expanse of the Astral Realm, only very few were complete with a set of well-established laws that could support intelligent life.

It was rare to find even one complete plane in a hundred, with most being either demiplanes or broken planes.

The Astral Realm was mostly filled with asteroids, which held little value.

The coordinates of the two unclaimed planes in Lorianne’s possession represented significant potential wealth and value.

Even if Lorianne chose not to conquer these planes herself, she could earn hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of magicoins by offering their coordinates and related information to the Magus Alliance.

Despite her considerable magicoin debt, Lorianne appeared to have a solid foundation and ample resources.

She had dedicated over nine thousand years to gathering the coordinates of these two foreign planes.

One of them was a microplane that Lorianne stumbled upon when she was a Rank Two mage. Through various means, she gradually pieced together its vague coordinates until they were eventually fully verified.

The other was a low-level plane, discovered when Lorianne had become a demigod-level mage, conducted a void communication experiment and fortuitously made contact with a fellow demigod-level otherworldly plant creature.

Lorianne’s mastery of dendro magic gave her a natural affinity for plant-based creatures.

After winning the trust of the demigod-level otherworldly plant creature, she gradually earned its confidence and negotiated a relatively fair law-based contract.

When Lorianne advanced to Rank Four, the demigod-level plant creature fully pledged allegiance to her.

Should she choose to attack that low-level plant realm, the native demigod-level plant sovereign would serve as her guide and facilitate the invasion.

Naturally, Lorianne kept these details confined to her closest circle.

To date, only Sein, her apprentice, and Feylis, her mentor, were aware that Lorianne had the coordinates to two complete planes.

Her seniors and the deans of the divine tower academy remained oblivious to this.

Lorianne shared these secrets with Sein to expose him to a higher-level interplanar warfare strategy.

At the same time, she was also interested in Sein’s opinions.

Having demonstrated his maturity and composure, Sein was someone whose insights Lorianne greatly valued.

After reflecting for a moment, Sein commented, “I’m not yet familiar with those two dendro elemental planes, so it would be premature to draw any conclusions about such a significant matter at this point.”

“However, there are two logical actions we could consider,” Sein added.

Lorianne nodded, encouraging him to continue.

“This Thunderfall World war could serve as excellent training before the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring initiates the next interplanar conflict,” Sein began.

“The conflict is now entering its final phase, with over seventy percent of the territories secured. Though only two Rank Four entities continue to resist, the losses should remain manageable. With three orders of knights and a sizable legion of enslaved creatures at the front, our mages are well-positioned to execute long-range attacks from the rear with minimal risk,” he explained.

What the three orders of knights in Thunderfall World most lacked was substantial long-range magic support.

After decades of conflict, the knights were already exhausted, and a large number of enslaved creatures had been depleted.

Initially, the knights could charge forcefully, relying on sheer momentum and strength.

However, this aggressive tactic became less effective as the war neared its conclusion.

It was common for efforts to wane as victory approached; war, it seemed, was no exception.

In battle, the morale of soldiers often peaks at the first drumbeat, wanes at the second, and collapses at the third.

The morale of the three orders of knights had not collapsed yet, but their leaders had to consider the potential losses to their legions in the final battle.

With nowhere to retreat and spurred by the desperate resistance of the Rank Four gods of their homeplane, the creatures of Thunderfall World were prepared to fight to the bitter end.

Such desperate opponents, cornered and determined, meant that the battle would be fierce and costly. Naturally, the three seasoned knights of Rank Four or above hesitated to face such heavy losses.

It was quite expensive to employ Lorianne and the war mages from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring too.

The decision by these senior knights to finalize this plan indicated that, in their estimation, the cost of a final assault on Thunderfall World would far exceed three million magicoins.

These knights were not mere brutes incapable of strategizing and financial planning.

After all, these were leaders who had established their own knightly orders and led tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of knights.

If they were not skilled at financial management, their orders would likely have dissolved long ago—an all too common scenario in the Magus World.

In instances where divine towers or knightly orders struggled to operate, they could apply for dissolution through the Magus Alliance.

The alliance would then reassign the ordinary knights and mages from these organizations.

However, for tower masters or grand masters of Rank Four or higher, the consequences could be quite bleak.

Carrying tens of millions in magicoin debt, like Lorianne, was considered relatively minor; some faced debts they could never repay in their lifetimes.

Loans from the Magus Alliance carried interest.

Even the basic loan that Lorianne secured to construct a divine tower came with interest, albeit very low. Nonetheless, this meant additional magicoins were due.

Many knights and mages of Rank Four and above found themselves in crippling debts that they could not repay within their lifetimes due to the high interest on the magicoins they had borrowed.

This lending practice was not exclusive to the Magus Alliance but was also common among the major powers within the Magus World.

Within the alliance, some wealthy foreign gods also dared to lend money.

However, these foreign gods generally preferred to lend their magicoins to other members of the alliance rather than the powerhouses within the Magus World.

In terms of ruthlessness, some of these foreign gods were even worse.

The Magus World, as the head of the Magus Alliance, had to exercise restraint as it was expected to guide and support its lesser members.

Lacking such constraints, the behaviors of these foreign gods could be downright predatory.

In summary, the waters were deep here.

Despite owing tens of millions in magicoin, Lorianne never intended to resort to robbing Peter to pay Paul. Doing so would only make things worse for herself!