Sovereign of the Ashes

After leaving Lorianne’s place, Sein began preparing for his trip to the public starport beyond the plane.

This time, he would be traveling with Rank Three mage Lonas, who had recently been appointed the head of the divine tower academy.

Sein was well-acquainted with Lonas, having collaborated with him on several missions in the past.

The war in the Wild Gorilla Star Domain had inflicted significant losses on the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, leading to many changes in academy dean and cohort leader roles in recent years.

Lonas was not considered powerful among the Rank Three grand mages. In fact, he was not even eligible to be an academy dean as he had only recently been promoted to Rank Three.

However, his seniority made him a strong candidate for the position.

Sein recalled that Lonas had just broken through to Rank Three around the time Sein was making a name for himself during the regional academy war a century ago.

Lonas had been part of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring since his days as a Rank Two mage, which had cultivated a deep sense of loyalty and belonging to the tower.

As the tower master’s apprentice, Sein was also privy to the fact that Dean Archimedes, one of Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s most important pillars, was planning to leave the tower in a few decades.

The dean’s departure was not due to insufficient compensation or declining health but rather to support his most accomplished apprentice, who had recently ascended to Rank Four and begun constructing his own divine tower.

Once Archimedes’ contract as dean expired, he intended to dedicate the rest of his life to developing talent at his apprentice’s academy.

Compared to the Divine Tower of Verdant Sprint, Archimedes was definitely closer to his own apprentice.

In the Magus World, mentorship carried immense importance. The fact that Archimedes remained as dean for decades after his apprentice’s promotion to fulfill his contract was a testament to his integrity and profound sense of responsibility.

In preparation for Archimedes’ eventual departure, Lorianne had been grooming Lonas and other promising Rank Three grand mages for leadership roles, ensuring that the tower’s administration would remain stable and cohesive in the years to come.

Nevertheless, she could not help but feel a tinge of sadness at Archimedes’ departure. A Rank Three grand mage as knowledgeable and dependable as him was a rarity in the Magus World.

His departure was a significant blow to the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring—a loss Lorianne equated to losing two million magicoins in value.

With Archimedes gone, the pressing question loomed—which other Rank Three grand mage in the divine tower could fill the gap he left behind?

The thought was enough to give Lorianne a bad headache.

In light of this challenge, Lorianne began considering scouting for talented Rank Three grand mages to invite into the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

It would be even better if she could entice a demigod-level mage to join.

However, the financial burden of hiring mages of such a caliber was far greater than that of a typical Rank Three grand mage.

***

After finalizing the schedule for his trip to the public starport, Sein turned his focus back to his experimental research.

The body-tempering experiments, in particular, remained a gradual and methodical endeavor.

Sein’s constitution growth, which had once skyrocketed following his absorption of the Flame Devil bloodline, had now plateaued, progressing at a far slower rate.

There were no shortcuts in growth. Sein’s body-tempering techniques allowed him to progress steadily but offered no immediate leaps to the finish line.

The same principle applied to Sein’s other fields of research. Success was rarely achieved in just a few months—or even years.

During his days as an initiate, it had taken only a few months, or at most half a year, to analyze or refine a basic spell model.

However, at his current level, such rapid progress was no longer possible.

Delving into foundational spell models was an entirely different undertaking compared to developing an entirely new spell.

For many mages, it was common to spend decades, or even centuries, solving complex academic problems.

Yet, there were shortcuts available for uncovering the mysteries of truths.

One option was to use Arcane Points, a resource Sein could exchange at the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s Arcane Light to access the knowledge and discoveries of predecessor mages.

Throughout the long history of Magus Civilization, countless mages had followed paths similar to Sein’s or learned from the mistakes of those before them.

Unfortunately, Sein himself had grasped the difficulty of obtaining Arcane points as early as his Rank One days.

As his study of the truth deepened, Sein began to understand why so many mages were reluctant to share their research findings.

The arduous process of experimentation and the countless sleepless nights spent deciphering even a fragment of the truth made the idea of freely sharing such hard-won knowledge almost unthinkable.

Even though the Arcane Light operated under a balanced system of equivalent exchange—where the knowledge contributed by a mage would be rewarded with corresponding feedback from the repository—it was rarely enough for most mages to overcome their reluctance.

Anyone who confidently claimed willingness to share was either a fool or was simply not the original creator of the knowledge.

To Sein, handing over his research in body-tempering experiments or pyro elemental composite magic without a justifiable reason was utterly inconceivable!

To mages, the act of sharing their hard-earned knowledge felt no different from selling their own children.

To outsiders, this sentiment might seem absurd, but that was because they were unaware of the deep-rooted traditions in the Magus World or the relentless dedication mages poured into their research—working tirelessly, night after night, for even the smallest glimpse of the truth.

The only knowledge typically passed on selflessly was between mentors and the apprentices closest to them.

The alchemy knowledge Sein shared during his public courses at the divine tower academy was intentionally basic and non-exclusive, tailored for fresh initiates just beginning their journeys in magic.

To this day, Sein refrained from sharing the “private knowledge” passed down to him by Master Morsidor in his lessons.

Even when such “private knowledge” involved simple experimental methods that Sein now considered trivial, he refused to share them generously.

After all these “trivial” techniques had once been vital stepping stones in his own development, enabling him to overcome hurdles that might have otherwise stalled his progress for decades.

Lorianne had often suggested that Sein take on an apprentice, but he had never felt the desire to do so.

Even Lorianne had only taken on an apprentice after reaching Rank Four; there was no reason for him to rush.

With his youth and the luxury of time, Sein felt no urgency to pass on his legacy of knowledge just yet.