Sovereign of the Ashes

Sein’s respite in Sandstorm World was brief as he was soon assigned to a demiplane orbiting Sandstorm World—Violet Chrome.

As its name implied, the Violet Chrome was a resource-rich demiplane known for its abundance of the special metal known as violet chrome.

Approximately half a million subgorilla laborers from Sandstorm World had been dispatched by the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring to conduct resource mining there.

Alongside these subgorilla miners, hundreds of full-fledged mages and roughly twenty thousand high-ranking magic beasts were stationed in the Violet Chrome Demiplane.

While the magic beasts served as overseers, the mages, including Sein, were tasked with identifying violet chrome ore deposits and devising the general mining strategy.

Violet chrome was regarded as a medium to high-grade resource. Its versatility made it valuable for crafting magic artifacts, constructing magic towers, and even building space fortresses.

The mages from the divine tower assigned to the Violet Chrome Demiplane were permitted to keep a small amount of raw violet chrome ore for themselves as a perk.

Thus, being assigned to a mission on the Violet Chrome Demiplane was considered a lucrative opportunity.

Sein’s only companions on this assignment were Selina and Leena.

Although Eileen was not assigned to this mission, Sein had prepared a gift for her.

In addition to overseeing resource extraction, Sein’s assignment to the Violet Chrome Demiplane served another purpose.

The Magus Civilization had begun its total conquest of the star domain where the Wild Gorilla World was, and the campaign’s progress was even smoother than anticipated.

In just two years, the Magus Civilization had already occupied eighty-seven of the hundred-odd complete planes within that star domain.

Although the remaining two dozen or so planes continued to resist, it was clear to everyone that Wild Gorilla World was on the brink of defeat.

Amidst this backdrop, Blue Violet Star, which had secretly allied with the Magus Civilization, publicly declared its intention to join the Magus Alliance and pledged to lead a dozen other civilizations under its command to do the same.

Meanwhile, the Feral Beast Star, which had previously supported Wild Gorilla God and was located farther from the Magus Civilization’s sphere of influence, declared half a year ago that it would sever all ties with Wild Gorilla World after the Wild Gorilla Clan had lost more than half of its planes.

Although it had not expressed any intention to join the Magus Alliance, the Feral Beast Star was now careful to distance itself from the Wild Gorilla World.

In just two years, more than eighty complete planes had changed hands!

That was a staggering number and an unsettling reality.

This raised a critical question—how many complete planes did the Blue Violet Star and the Feral Beast Star possess?

Unlike the Wild Gorilla World, known for its relentless conquest and colonization, the Feral Beast Star and Blue Violet Star were not civilizations focused on domination.

While both controlled numerous vassal low-level and microplane civilizations, the number of complete planes directly under the control of these two medium-sized world civilizations only numbered in the dozens, far fewer than the hundreds under Wild Gorilla World’s governance.

The Violet Chrome Demiplane, where Sein was assigned for this mission, was close to a low-level plane known as Arbitor World.

It was one of the few worlds within the Wild Gorilla Star Domain that remained unconquered by the Magus Civilization.

This was not due to its fierce resistance but rather because the leaders of the Magus Civilization had not reached a consensus on its ownership, along with its two surrounding microplanes.

By the time Sein arrived at the Violet Chrome Demiplane, the matter of Arbitor World’s ownership had been mostly settled.

Before departing Sandstorm World, Sein learned from his mentor that Arbitor World and its neighboring microplanes had been allocated to the warlocks from the West Coast of the Magus World.

Given the proximity of the Violet Chrome Demiplane to Arbitor World, Lorianne was concerned that the Bloodline Warlocks might set their sights on it as well.

This worry was not unfounded; since the Violet Chrome Demiplane was considered a resource-rich extension of Sandstorm World, it was reasonable to assume that the Bloodline Warlocks might claim it as part of Arbitor World.

Such close proximity between a valuable resource demiplane and a complete plane could easily lead to disputes.

Lorianne preferred not to rely on the simple-minded magic beast kings to handle such conflicts.

Aside from Sein, there was another Rank Three grand mage from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, who held the title of dean, stationed in the Violet Chrome Demiplane.

Lorianne was confident that if any issues arose that Sein and the other grand mage could not handle, they would at least be able to buy enough time for her to arrive and intervene personally if necessary.

Fortunately, the anticipated conflict never materialized.

When they first arrived, the Bloodline Warlock legion that had just landed in Arbitor World was too preoccupied with conquering the low-level plane and its two surrounding microplanes to concern themselves with the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

It was not until three months later after the primary resistance forces in Arbitor World had been wiped out that the Bloodline Warlocks deployed a contingent of around five hundred warlocks and twenty thousand enslaved creatures into the nearest resource demiplane to the Violet Chrome Demiplane—the Enigmatic Copper Plane.

Enigmatic Copper was a medium to low-grade magic material and naturally not as valuable as the violet chrome found in the Violet Chrome Demiplane where Sein and the others were stationed.

However, due to the high output of its veins, the total value of the Enigmatic Copper Plane, though potentially lower than the Violet Chrome Plane, was still considerable.

Lorianne had always been a reasonable mage, and astrographically speaking, the Violet Chrome Demiplane was clearly a resource plane belonging to Sandstorm World.

For this reason, she sent her forces to secure it and asserted her claim.

The Enigmatic Copper Plane, however, was farther from the Sandstorm World and more likely aligned with Arbitor World, so Lorianne had never considered extending her reach to it.

Despite the potential wealth that the Enigmatic Copper Plane could offer—estimated at five to six hundred thousand magicoins—Lorianne remained courteous.

Fortunately, the Rank Four Bloodline Warlock Clan from the Magus World, which occupied the Arbitor World, exhibited similar restraint.

They did not challenge the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s claim over the Violet Chrome Demiplane either.

This might have been due in part to information that the Sandstorm World was backed by several Rank Four or higher magic beast kings, in addition to the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

During Sein’s fifth month in the Violet Chrome Demiplane, just as he was nearing the completion of his mission, the Bloodline Warlock Clan of Arbitor World sent a small delegation of twenty warlocks to visit the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

During this time, Sein had been deeply absorbed in his lab work.

As long as the Bloodline Warlocks did not cause any trouble, he paid them little attention.

The Enigmatic Copper Plane was so close that Sein could see its outline in the starry sky from the Violet Chrome Demiplane.

However, he knew little about the specific Bloodline Warlock Clan occupying the Enigmatic Copper Plane.

“Isn’t it the Dragon Warlock Clan?” Sein asked when Empyrean, the Rank Three grand mage, called him out of his laboratory.

“No, it’s a vassal family of the Dragon Warlock Clan. I think they’re known as... the Kermoine Serpent Warlock Clan,” Dean Empyrean replied.