Sovereign of the Ashes

“How have your training been going?” Sein asked after taking a sip of the green juice, turning his attention to the fox maiden.

Although the fox maiden was the most recent addition to Sein’s group, her stature—similar to Leena in her teenage form—quickly endeared her to him, elevating her status above that of the mermaid, who primarily served as a chef and a pretty trophy.

In the Beastmen World, the lifespan of an average beastman was sixty, with many living even shorter lives.

There were exceptions, however—the turtlefolk could live for several centuries due to their unique constitution, which even Rank One creatures fail to achieve. Some could even surpass a millennium, their longevity rivaling that of the undead.

Sein had learned from various spellbooks and texts that the elemental particles in the Beastmen World were particularly volatile, contributing to the plane’s harsh environment.

Frequent large-scale famines and natural disasters further reduced the life expectancy of the beastmen, even though they lived on a large plane.

Sein suspected that the actions of the guardian were partly to blame for the troubling conditions in the Beastmen World.

The Magus World had enjoyed years of favorable conditions without major disasters, thanks to its guardians’ efforts.

This year, the fox maiden turned thirty—not particularly young by beastmen’s standards.

Sein dreaded losing the fox maiden in another twenty or thirty years. It had taken him immense effort to train a servant as capable and loyal as she had been.

Thus, his greatest hope was for the fox maiden to advance to Rank One, where the lifespan of a beastman could stretch between three to five hundred years.

As a large world, the systems of governance and evolution in the Beastmen World were remarkably robust.

The fox maiden clasped her hands in front of her apron, looking down as she replied, “Master, I have diligently practiced the material you provided. I do feel a new energy within me, and even Aragorn has noticed the change too.”

Sein had acquired the training material from the Magus Alliance via the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

Ordinary beastmen and shaman priests in the Beastmen World follow distinct evolutionary paths, much like the difference between knights and mages in the Magus World.

The material Sein bought for the fox maiden was, of course, related to the shaman priests.

It was a thick bronze book, resembling the codices found in temples.

Sein had taken a look at it. Over eighty percent of the book’s content was dedicated to exalting a beastman god known as the God of White Feather.

With hundreds of beast gods of Rank Four and higher in the Beastmen World, Sein was not sure who this God of White Feather was.

His interest lay primarily in the actual training content detailed in the bronze codex, which comprised less than twenty percent of the text.

The evolution system for beastmen shaman priests bore similarities to that of Magus World mages, both focusing on enhancing their mental focus.

Mages used focus as a medium to amplify their power—sometimes by a factor of dozens or even hundreds—by uncovering and exploiting elemental truths.

In contrast, the beastmen shaman priests reinforced their faiths through continuous praise of the great gods, thus intensifying their focus.

Besides the war song’s halo and familiars, the most devout beastmen shaman priests could summon and wield a portion of the divine power.

Since the fox maiden was living with Sein—a mage devoted to unraveling the mysteries of truth—she found it difficult to believe in these so-called gods.

Despite the numerous beastman gods in the Beastmen World, they did little to alleviate the suffering of their world.

In contrast, the mages of Rank Four or higher from the Magus World frequently captured similarly ranked creatures from the Astral Realm for experimentation.

Hence, these so-called gods were merely more evolved intelligent beings—sufficient to deceive the uneducated beastmen but no match for the ancient beings dwelling in the depths of the Magus World’s divine towers.

Few could endure having their body cut open and studied, even if they were gods.

With faith in these gods lacking, the fox maiden used Sein as a substitution during her daily training.

Sein viewed such methods of using prayers and faith to enhance focus as primitive and inefficient.

He had attempted to introduce a meditation technique used by Magus World’s mages to the fox maiden, but she had yet to embrace it.

After all, erasing the historical and cultural heritage of a world was no small feat.

Although skeptical of the God of White Feather, the fox maiden held profound reverence for the God of Beastmen, the supreme deity of the Beastmen World.

Raised within the temple from childhood, it was difficult for her to change her deeply ingrained beliefs.

The fact that the fox maiden now directed her prayers and beliefs toward Sein, rather than the elusive God of Beastmen, indicated some effectiveness in Sein’s influence over her.

The fox maiden trained diligently on most days. With a Rank One Thunder Beast named Aragorn as her familiar and feeding her electro elemental energy, her growth was rapid.

Yet, among the three female servants under Sein’s command, it was Elisa who exhibited the fastest growth.

Unlike the fox maiden, Elisa did not assist Sein with his experiments nor did she seek his attention.

Apart from cooking and occasionally cleaning Sein’s laboratory, she dedicated the remainder of her time to training.

This pink-tailed mermaid had been on the verge of breaking through to Rank One for quite some time now.

Sein did not mind concocting potions to aid her breakthrough; he was just waiting for her to ask.

For some reason, the mermaid had never mentioned anything about her breakthrough attempts to Sein.

The mermaids from the Magus World typically had much longer lifespans than the ordinary beastmen of the Beastmen World, with some living several hundred years.

Hence, Elisa did not share the fox maiden’s urgency in advancing to Rank One.

Caught up in his experiments, Sein often neglected Elisa.

Just as Sein finished giving the fox maiden some pointers on mental focus and was about to inquire about the mermaid’s training progress, Yuri, stationed at the experimental table, announced, “Master, it’s ready.”

Passing the remaining half glass of juice to the fox maiden, Sein cleared his mind of distractions and strode toward the experimental table, ready to commence a body tempering experiment.