Sovereign of the Ashes

Lorianne shared strong bonds with her seniors.

Though Sein was a generation younger than them, he was close to Master Bernice due to being Lorianne’s apprentice.

After establishing the Divine Tower of Floating Flame, Bernice had taken on apprentices and grand apprentices, though they were few in number.

Since Sein was accompanying Lorianne to visit Bernice, he decided to take the opportunity to get acquainted with Bernice’s apprentices while his mentor attended to her.

Sein remembered how much he had benefited from his last conversation with Selphy.

Bernice’s apprentices were likely Verdant Flame users, and some might even possess their Rank Four mentor’s unique insights into the pyro elemental energy.

For Sein, this was an excellent opportunity.

Lorianne and Sein quickly set off.

By this time, nearly a month had passed since the end of the battle.

The once-sprawling metal front had been reduced to ruins, buried under yellow sand.

The main forces of the Wild Gorilla Army had either been decimated or pushed back deeper into the heart of this plane.

Although Lorianne had not said so explicitly, Sein deduced that future battles were unlikely to involve large-scale engagements across such an extensive front.

With the heavy losses sustained, the Wild Gorilla Army would need to rely on fortified cities or defend key terrains to resist the Magus World Army’s advances.

On the way to the base of the Divine Tower of Floating Flame, Sein decided to ask about something that had piqued his curiosity on the battlefield.

“Master Lorianne, was that a lumen elemental forbidden spell you used a month ago?” he asked.

Lorianne smiled and shook her head.

“It wasn’t.”

Under Sein’s surprised gaze, she revealed a special plant seed in her hand.

“The forbidden spell I used is called Blazing Sun Burst Core. Although both the power it released and the name sounded like it was a pyro or lumen elemental magic, it was actually a dendro elemental forbidden spell,” Lorianne explained with a smile.

Sein took the seed, feeling the slight heat it emitted on his palm as he examined it closely.

The concept of a forbidden spell was still beyond Sein’s reach.

However, that did not stop Lorianne from explaining the basics.

In truth, part of her motivation was a desire to show off.

The basic forbidden spell that had made its debut on the battlefield a month ago was one of Lorianne’s most recent achievements, completed only in the past few years.

Many assumed that with Lorianne busy building her divine tower, waging interplanar war, and purchasing a space fortress, she had little time left for magic research.

This assumption was not entirely wrong.

However, reduced time for experimentation did not mean that Lorianne’s progress had stalled.

Blazing Sun Burst Core was the culmination of her research into the secrets of photosynthesis after she dissected and studied the leaves of the demigod-level plant known as the Blazing Sunflower.

While photosynthesis was rudimentary knowledge for any Dendromancer, transforming that process into a weapon with the destructive power of a forbidden spell was a feat that required exceptional skill.

When Lorianne chanted the forbidden spell in the sky, it triggered a dramatic shift in the surrounding elemental energies.

At the same time, Lorianne also scattered a large number of specially cultivated seeds with her magic rod.

These seeds were the true “cores” of the Blazing Sun Burst Core forbidden spell.

The burning silver stars that Sein had seen on the battlefield were actually those seeds emitting intense heat.

Sein grasped the general idea of Lorianne’s explanation, but not entirely.

Satisfied with the perplexed look on his face, Lorianne smiled and asked, “Let me ask you, what do you think is the primary energy source for the vast majority of plants?”

“Water and soil,” Sein answered without hesitation.

Seeing Lorianne’s smirk, he quickly added, “Or is it... light?”

Lorianne nodded and replied, “I guess you’re not entirely hopeless. Light is indeed more vital to most green plants than water and soil.”

“Keep working harder. Remember, all branches of elemental magic research have commonalities. The birth of life and the structure of green plants isn’t something I can sum up in a few sentences. In addition to your studies of pyro elemental magic, you should also broaden your understanding in other fields,” she advised.

“Do you know the true difference between a Rank Three grand mage and a Rank Two or Rank One mage? It lies in their accumulation of comprehensive knowledge across various systems and their ability to integrate that knowledge,” Lorianne explained.

“The major divine towers of the Magus World choose Rank Three grand mages as academy deans not because they’re the most powerful, but because they possess the most extensive knowledge among those below Rank Four.”

***

Lorianne brought her apprentice, Sein, to visit Bernice, but their timing was far from ideal.

At that moment, Bernice was also preoccupied with something extremely private.

“Let me take a look at your chest, Benny. That’s where you were injured, wasn’t it?” A concerned voice appeared in Bernice’s private quarters within the space fortress.

“Benny” was Bernice’s childhood nickname—a name so private that not even Lorianne had heard of it. Perhaps only Feylis, their mentor, might have been aware of it.

Lorianne would not have been surprised if that concerned, caring voice had belonged to a handsome man.

However, the person beside Bernice on her bed was a woman dressed in green.

She was no ordinary woman, but a Rank Four knight and the grand master of the Order of the Green Bounty.

Earlier, when the divine towers of Verdant Spring, Whispering Flame, and Verdant Flame had all advanced into Wild Gorilla World, the Divine Tower of Floating Flame had stayed behind in the Verdant Wilderness World.

Bernice was actually waiting for this “old friend” of hers.

In public, the Order of the Green Bounty’s grand master typically dressed in gender-neutral attire, exuding the aura of a competent and formidable female knight.

Though she rarely wore armor, the fierce determination in her gaze was unmistakable.

Now, at Bernice’s bedside, the woman in green revealed her softer side, appearing more like a delicate, lovesick young lady.

Her hair, usually tied up neatly, now cascaded over her shoulders, adding to her feminine charm.

“I’m fine. That blue particle beam was highly paralyzing, but not too lethal,” Bernice said, lying on her side and clutching her own waist.

“Still, it’s surprising that the beam could injure even beings of Rank Four and above like us...” she murmured.

Bernice’s voice carried a neutral tone, rough and husky as usual, making her seem more “masculine” in this intimate setting.

The female knight leaned closer to Bernice’s chest, tending to her wounds with both concern and heartache.

Like Lorianne, this Rank Four knight wielded the power of dendro elemental law, which made her a perfect healer for Bernice.

Feylis had asked Lorianne to visit Bernice precisely because Lorianne, as a Rank Four Dendromancer, could craft potions that might aid in her recovery.

The tender care from her lover made Bernice’s heart stir with emotion.

Sometimes, in moments of love, feelings surfaced unexpectedly.

Just as Bernice smoothly removed the metal ring from her wrist and snapped it onto the wrist of the female knight, whose face flushed with embarrassment, a notification of Lorianne’s arrival appeared before Bernice.