Sovereign of the Ashes

Despite Sein’s tightly packed experimental schedule, he did not urge Eileen to show her the rare Black Jade Bamboo as soon as they arrived at her quarters.

He continued chatting with the Rank One female mage but their conversation eventually led them to her bed.

Mages were generally known for their weak constitutions. Even though Eileen had consumed numerous constitution-enhancing potions provided by Sein over the years, she still found herself pleading for mercy after two hours.

For mages, physical pleasures were merely a fleeting distraction, a spice of life.

Their true pursuits lay in the quest for knowledge and truth.

After the passionate session, Sein sat topless at the experimental table, studying intently at the Black Jade Bamboo with a small scalpel in his hand.

Sein’s physique was very different from that of most mages. His bare upper body appeared robust, but not muscular like knights. Instead, his frame was slender yet deceptively strong.

When clad in a loose magic robe, no one would have suspected that beneath his unassuming frame lay an unfathomable and terrifying strength.

Eileen’s laboratory also had a bed—a necessity for mages who often required rest after mentally exhausting experiments.

At that moment, Eileen lay on her stomach near the edge of the bed, her chin propped on her arm as she watched Sein. Her gaze was filled with a mix of admiration and contentment.

No matter the angle or the moment, Sein always appeared perfect in her eyes.

Compared to the other younger full-fledged mages of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, Sein was truly in a league of his own.

When Sein was almost done with his research and observation, he brought up another topic with Eileen, seamlessly multitasking between his work and their conversation.

“I heard Mark recently broke through and became one of the registered full-fledged mages in the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring?” Sein asked casually.

Mark’s achievement was not particularly surprising. After all, he was considered a “genius” during his years at the divine tower academy.

Even so, his breakthrough had come much later compared to Sein and their peers.

Mark had nearly reached the age limit for advancement, and it was likely he had relied on life-extension potions provided by his family or other magic-enhancing potions to increase his chances of a successful breakthrough.

This highlighted a fundamental reality of the Magus World—while the influential families thrived and endured, the smaller ones often experienced rapid generational changes and faced the constant risk of extinction if they failed to remain vigilant.

Older families, with their greater wealth and resources, naturally achieved higher success rates in nurturing talent.

Additionally, political marriages were common practices among them. They were constantly seeking talents to strengthening their bloodlines.

This was essentially the case with House Grantt and House Ernst.

Since Mark had been promoted to Rank One, it was only natural for Sein to send him a congratulatory gift.

Although Mark was actually the grandson of Eileen’s late older sister, Eileen treated him like her own grandson.

Furthermore, Sein and Mark could also be considered “old friends”, which made it all the more appropriate for Sein to send him a nice gift.

Perhaps it was the rapid generational changes within House Grantt in recent decades that stirred in Sein a growing appreciation for the bonds of kinship brought about by shared bloodlines.

It was often said that only when something was lost did one come to truly cherish it.

Sein’s younger brother, Solon, had passed away long ago, and among the sons and grandsons he left behind, only a handful had achieved notable success.

Sein maintained relatively close ties with those within three generations of his own. Beyond that, however, his connections to the younger members of House Grantt, now in their prime, had significantly weakened.

Even so, Sein could not abandon them completely as Kelman, Julius, and the others were still away from the Magus World.

In fact, when the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring was recruiting initiates last year, Sein even sent Sev home to inform House Grantt.

Although he was a lost cause when it came to nurturing squires into knights, he could offer guidance to those who studied at the divine tower.

During the latest two generations of House Grantt, their status in the Lysian Alliance had risen, allowing them to forge connections with older magic families through marriages.

This had finally led to several descendants showing promising aptitude, particularly in their initial focus.

Taking advantage of Julius’ absence, Sein gathered the family’s most talented youth who were of age and brought them to the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

For the rare few who had already begun studying battle qi and successfully condensed battle qi seeds, Sein did not hesitate to encourage them to switch to the magic path.

After all, Sein had encountered magiknights who mastered both battle qi and magic.

For children only a few years old or in their early teens, the transition from battle qi to magic was entirely possible.

At such a young age, their potential was limitless.

If it were a family member who was over twenty years old, Sein would not recommend abandoning battle qi to pursue magic.

Sein’s question immediately caused Eileen, who was leaning against the bed, to blush.

She was well aware that Mark had once had a minor conflict with Sein, so she was uncertain whether Sein was just casually asking or if he still held a grudge against Mark.

With her understanding of Sein, he was not a petty person, so it was likely the former.

“Yes, he just broke through. He came to the divine tower to register a while ago, and Dean Archimedes even assigned him to work with Jovian as a cohort leader,” Eileen replied.

After experiencing the Wild Star Domain War, Jovian was now a strong peak Rank Two mage.

Mark was a cohort leader now, whereas Sein remained an ordinary lecturer mage.

Although Lorianne had offered Sein a cohort leader position, he was not interested. The extra magicoin wage held little appeal to him, and teaching was already something he did reluctantly under Lorianne’s mandatory requirements. He had no desire to divide his energy further into nurturing initiates.

Even House Grantt’s descendants received limited attention from Sein after joining the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring. He only gave them a little guidance and left them to their own devices.

That said, if any younger family member of House Grantt found themselves in trouble and came to him for help, Sein would definitely send Sev to handle the issue.

After Sein prepared two potions as congratulatory gifts for Mark, he shifted the topic of the conversation back to Eileen.

“Look at you... Mark’s already a Rank One mage now. Don’t you feel the slightest bit ashamed that you’re still stuck at the same rank, especially as his grandmother?” Sein asked in a slightly reprimanding tone.

Eileen had been promoted to Rank One long before Selina, but unlike Sein’s cousin, she lacked the same drive to delve deeply into the mysteries of truth.

It was evident that Selina, having spent years around Sein and his obsessive research, had absorbed much of his influence.

Eileen had chosen not to live on the top floor of the Divine Tower with Sein, partly because he was now a married man, but primarily because she simply could not keep up with his relentless research routine.

With a physique comparable to that of a magic beast and a work ethic akin to a machine, Sein’s dedication to research was borderline inhumane.

Eileen often wondered—did Sein have any hobbies outside of his endless experiments?

Fortunately, Eileen occasionally dragged him to masquerade parties held by other divine tower mages.

It was useful for Sein to make acquaintances among his colleagues so that they would not feel slighted when encountering him within the tower.

“What are you talking about? My focus and mana levels have improved recently! You think everyone’s as obsessed with training as you and Leena? Oh, and that wife of yours, Natalya, too! Sheesh, you’re all crazy,” Eileen retorted.