Sovereign of the Ashes

In Sein’s thirty-first year in the Black Tower of Cinderbones, he organized an academy assembly.

One of the main reasons for this assembly was the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War, set to begin in just two years.

The academy war, held every fifty years in each region of the Magus World, was a major event for all participating divine towers.

This event not only provided an important opportunity for the Magus Civilization to replenish its reserve forces, but also served as a performance evaluation for the full-fledged mages and deans who had dedicated themselves to training the next generation for decades.

After each Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War, the major divine towers received substantial rewards from the Magus Alliance based on their performance.

These rewards, allocated as development funds, were part of the Magus Civilization’s efforts to invest in nurturing young talent.

Sein vividly recalled the time when he had just been promoted to Rank One. At that point, he had amassed an extraordinary sum of nearly ten thousand magicoins in savings.

This was thanks to finishing at the top during the academy war, where his score was ten times higher than anyone else’s.

Normally, the initiate with the highest score during the academy war was fortunate to receive a reward of almost one thousand magicoins, while the top ten initiates in the overall rankings also enjoyed generous rewards of several hundred magicoins.

Such rewards symbolized the high expectations placed on the young initiates by their respective divine towers.

These initiates were seen as the future of both their towers and the Magus Civilization.

Known for its generosity, the Magus Civilization always ensured exceptional talent was duly rewarded.

The academy assembly organized by Sein was a crucial preparatory event for the upcoming divine tower academy war.

This event, which only took place every fifty, was of immense importance to the initiates.

For Sein, it was equally critical as it was a reflection of his abilities as a dean and the results of his teaching efforts.

The most notable difference from the previous Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War was the number of participating initiates.

In two years, the Divine Tower of Dark Flame was set to field only about fifteen thousand initiates, less than half the number it had sent in previous wars.

In contrast, older neighboring divine towers, such as the Divine Tower of Astral Sun, were expected to send over fifty thousand initiates to the war.

Even the slightly younger Divine Tower of Gray Plume was estimated to field around thirty thousand initiates.

For a divine tower with a Rank Five tower master and a history spanning over twenty thousand years, the Divine Tower of Dark Flame’s modest participant count of about fifteen thousand thousand initiates was pretty underwhelming.

Even some divine towers led by Rank Four mages would probably send out more initiates.

This was not Sein’s fault—he had done everything in his power.

Besides, the number of participants was not the sole measure of a divine tower’s teaching abilities.

Sein had confidence in the group of initiates he had trained.

Unlike the sheltered flowers cultivated in the greenhouses of other divine towers, the initiates of the Divine Tower of Dark Flame clearly possessed a tougher edge.

The high pressure of competition and frequent combat missions had shaped these initiates into pragmatic individuals who were far more grounded than their peers.

Having once participated in the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War himself, Sein was eager to see how these young initiates would fare in this upcoming war.

After the assembly concluded, Sein met with the Tower Master of Dark Flame.

Initially, Sein had hoped to persuade the Tower Master to share a few words of wisdom with the initiates during the assembly, but Dark Flame showed little interest in speaking to a group of young mages.

Instead, he promised to make an appearance on the eve of the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War in two years and deliver a motivational speech to inspire the initiates.

In addition to providing a report on the progress of the divine tower over the past few decades, Sein and Keith extended their palms toward the tower master once again.

The divine tower’s public funds had been exhausted, and they still owed the Magus Alliance a significant amount of money.

Without the divine tower’s backing, the Magus Alliance probably would not have been willing to lend Sein and Keith such substantial funds.

The training program for commoner initiates was simply too expensive.

Despite Sein’s efforts to reduce costs—eliminating underperforming initiates and cutting unnecessary expenses—the funds required for the remaining initiates were enough to make even a tower master feel faint.

The Tower Master of Dark Flame was no exception.

Dark Flame scrutinized the financial reports submitted by Sein and Keith.

For once, he refrained from losing his temper outright. Instead, he rested his palm heavily on the table.

He wanted to scold Sein but suppressed his anger. He had heard about Sein’s accomplishments over the past few decades and had personally witnessed the academy’s growth.

Dark Flame was especially pleased with how Sein had taught the Divine Tower of Astral Sun a lesson during their battle in the Petrified Forest.

Even this formidable Rank Five mage could not ignore Sein’s unique constitution or the strange pyro elemental magic he wielded.

Pointing a finger at Sein, Dark Flame gritted his teeth and said, “If we don’t secure a good ranking in this Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War, you’ll be the first to go!”

“And not only that, you’ll be my next experiment to pay off your debt!” he added angrily.

Sein did not take Dark Flame’s anger to heart.

After securing another sum of money from the tower master, Sein and Keith promptly allocated a portion of it as rewards for the initiates of the divine tower academy.

This served as both an incentive and a motivation for their performance in the upcoming war.

Two years passed in the blink of an eye, and soon, the day of the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War arrived.

This particular academy war seemed to have drawn an unusual amount of attention.

Not only did the Rank Five Tower Master of Dark Flame arrive before the war began, but the Rank Five Tower Master of Astral Sun and the Rank Four Tower Master of Mystic Maze also appeared.

The Divine Tower of Gray Plume, Divine Tower of Flamewoven Sandbox, and Divine Tower of Ripple Wheel were initially represented by only their demigod-level deans.

However, upon learning of the presence of other tower masters, these deans hurriedly summoned their own tower masters.

This led to a rare gathering of six tower masters from the surrounding divine towers—an occurrence that had not been seen in nearly a thousand years.

The relationship between Dark Flame and the other tower masters was far from harmonious.

Except for the Tower Master of Mystic Maze, Dark Flame openly ignored the others, not even sparing them a glance.

For Sein, this event was a valuable opportunity to meet and acquaint himself with the tower masters of the surrounding divine towers.

Sein was no longer a newly promoted full-fledged mage.

While he could not accurately determine the strength of these tower masters, he could still make educated comparisons between them.

Among the six tower masters present, Dark Flame was undoubtedly the strongest.

Like a blazing black sun looming high above, this Rank Five mage exuded an overwhelming presence that seemed to suppress the other tower masters around him.

Second and third in strength were the tower masters of Astral Sun and Gray Plume respectively, separated only by a narrow margin.

The Tower Master of Astral Sun radiated the aura of an impenetrable cluster of bright stars. Though not as domineering or aggressive as Dark Flame, his aura was just as oppressive.

The Tower Master of Gray Plume, on the other hand, appeared as a bundle of gray feathers. Their abilities remained shrouded in mystery, lending an enigmatic quality to their presence.

These three represented the Rank Five mages in the region.

The remaining three divine towers were led by Rank Four tower masters.

One appeared as a giant box of burning sand, another as a white tower accompanied by the faint sound of ringing bells, and the third as an azure mirror.

None of these tower masters revealed their physical forms, instead choosing to embody the power of laws and elements that defined their strength.

Even the divine tower mages, including Sein, could not help but gaze in awe at the sight before them.