Sovereign of the Ashes

After leaving Blackwater City, Sein flew westward.

Based on the information he had obtained from the Church of Bones, as well as the many records he had collected, Sein estimated that Blackwater City was likely located on the southern coast of Faeloria.

This world was... rather peculiar.

From Sein’s understanding and experience in exploring the truth, most worlds and planes were round.

Many technological civilizations referred to their worlds as “planets” because they had discovered that their homes were spherical.

Faeloria was different.

This strange, expansive plane did not appear to be a sphere but rather a flat, three-dimensional structure.

The mere thought of it stunned Sein, as even the Magus World, the place he hailed from, was spherical.

In the Magus World, traveling far enough east would eventually bring one back to the same spot from the west.

But here, in Faeloria, east and west seemed to be strictly divided.

Sein simply could not understand this world just yet.

Could this world truly be flat?

He wondered what shape Faeloria would take if viewed from the starry sky beyond its boundaries.

Sein instinctively tilted his head skyward, but the vast, deep-blue expanse above offered him no answers.

In his current state, attempting to ascend beyond the planar barrier was unwise.

Doing so would only expose him more quickly to this world’s native inhabitants, branding him a heretic to be hunted.

His final destination for this journey was Purgatory, located in the far west.

Perhaps, by reaching that place, he could unravel some of these mysteries.

“It is said that the divine nations of this world’s deities lie above the sky. If I were to ascend toward the planar barrier, I fear those deities would detect me before I can even get close,” Sein murmured.

He then recalled something from the Church of Bones’ records and continued talking to himself.

“That high-altitude region... I think the records referred to it as the ‘Battlefield of Gods’?”

In the end, Sein shook his head and dismissed his thoughts for now.

***

During his journey to the far west, Sein did not forget the task assigned to him by the Spider Queen.

In his early years, during the Verdant Leaf World War, he had completed a similar planar nodes marking mission.

Though Faeloria was a vastly different world, certain fundamental principles remained the same.

Beyond relying on his past experience, the Spider Queen, who remained far away in the Magus World, had also provided him with an additional tool through the Silver Spider Ring.

It was a specialized device designed to make locating and recording the Faeloria Continent’s planar nodes significantly easier.

Shaped like a wrist guard, it had a black, mirror-like surface that functioned like a radar.

This wrist guard could help locate nearby planar nodes, as well as store and record data.

When Sein inquired about its operating mechanism, the Spider Queen answered him without hesitation.

“This wrist guard works by resonating with the laws of nearby planar nodes.”

Whether it was this wrist guard or the various other tools she had provided, it was clear that the Spider Queen harbored a strong ambition to conquer Faeloria.

As Sein continued his westward journey, traversing multiple regions, he began to notice an undeniable pattern—one that, while not entirely secret, held great significance.

It seemed that all the temples or churches in this world were constructed on the planar nodes.

Even in Blackwater City, there was a small planar node present, which had likely contributed to the establishment of its three places of worship.

It was not merely Blackwater City’s population that had attracted so many places of worship—the presence of a planar node played a crucial role.

Curious about this correlation, Sein questioned the Spider Queen about it and her response was enlightening.

“The major divine towers and knightly orders in Magus World are also built on top of key planar nodes. Doing so facilitates the training of Rank Four and above powerhouses, as elemental concentrations near planar nodes tend to be higher. These regions also foster greater biodiversity and have richer natural resources and minerals. Even in the absence of Divine Towers or temples, the natural instincts of lower-ranking creatures to seek safety and prosperity will still drive these areas to develop into thriving regions.”

The study of planar nodes and laws fell under an advanced category of knowledge. Even in Sky City, researching such topics would be extremely difficult without sufficient Arcanist Rank.

Had Sein been in the Magus World at this moment, Master Lorianne would have gradually introduced him to these more advanced concepts and knowledge related to laws upon his return to the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

In truth, the golden period for delving into this area of knowledge was when one reached peak Rank Three.

Since Sein had already advanced to Rank Three, there was no harm in acquiring such insights slightly ahead of time.

Beyond his curiosity about planar nodes, Sein would occasionally seek more advanced knowledge from the Spider Queen regarding laws.

Whether due to the limitations of long-distance communication or her own priorities, the Spider Queen rarely answered questions that were unrelated to his mission.

She was especially tight-lipped when Sein inquired about advanced knowledge in the pyro and lumen elemental magic.

In contrast, when it came to necromancy and umbra elemental knowledge, she seemed more willing to share bits of insight when asked.

Despite being in different worlds, this knowledge exchange had been immensely beneficial to Sein.

Setting aside the fact that the Spider Queen was merely using him to accomplish her own objectives, from a purely academic standpoint, she could still be considered Sein’s mentor.

The Spider Queen also fully approved of Sein’s westward journey, particularly with Purgatory as his final destination.

While Sein himself was deeply curious about the demons appearing in Faeloria, it was clear that the Spider Queen had her own agenda regarding these creatures.

Unlike dragons, which were likely entirely different species in the Magus World and Faeloria, the demon bloodline was not as widespread or diverse.

So why did the demon depictions recorded in the murals and scrolls of the Church of Bones bear such a striking resemblance to the demons the Magus Civilization had encountered?

This question could only be answered once Sein reached the far west.

Now that he had re-established contact with the Spider Queen, Sein gradually became less concerned about his safety in this world.

The Spider Queen had too much at stake to let him die, and more importantly, the gray stone slab was still within his Silver Spider Ring.

Due to the unique properties of Faeloria and the stone slab, the Spider Queen was unable to directly retrieve it while Sein remained in this foreign world.

For now, the only way to recover the slab was to wait until Sein returned to the Magus World.

According to the Spider Queen’s instructions, Sein needed to mark the coordinates of two hundred planar nodes in this world.

Only once that task was completed would she pull him back to the Magus World using her divine spider silk.