Sovereign of the Ashes

Sein had indeed amassed a great fortune during his time in Faeloria.

With Zorro and Faye now both at Rank Two, the gifts he brought were more than enough to sustain them for a long while.

Of course, they were fully capable on their own. Even without Sein’s help, they could stand their ground in Blackhaven.

But with his support, their progress would be much faster.

While he was there, Sein also took the time to discuss alchemy with Zorro and pyro elemental magic with Faye.

Now that he had reached the rank of demigod, Sein’s insights into both fields were far deeper than theirs.

If not for his concerns about the situation at the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, he would have happily stayed and continued the exchange.

***

After spending a few weeks in Blackhaven, Sein and Leena rode on Tourmaline’s back and made their way to the Divine Tower of Star Trail, located in the southern part of the Western Archipelago.

Thanks to the divine tower badge Leena had received from Lorianne back in the day—and with Tourmaline escorting her—no one dared to question her status as a black mage.

Although both Leena and Faye were black mages, Tourmaline seemed to dislike Faye. She had no problem with Leena, though.

In fact, she seemed to enjoy spending time with her.

When Faye found out that Leena could accompany Sein to the Western Archipelago but she could not, she pouted and gave Sein several hard pinches before he left in protest.

Unfortunately for her, Sein was no longer the weak little black magic initiate she used to push around.

Back then, Faye had been like a tigress that could to drain him with ease. But now? She could barely last a round with him.

Traditional mages simply were not on the same level as body-tempering mages like Sein when it came to strength and stamina.

The Divine Tower of Star Trail had been established many years ago.

When Sein presented his Divine Tower of Verdant Spring badge, he quickly gained access to the tower’s long-distance communication array after paying the required magicoins.

The connection to the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring went smoothly, and before long, Sein was speaking with his mentor.

As expected, Lorianne yelled at him the moment she saw him—for vanishing from the Magus World for years and for failing to stay in touch with the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

But her bark was worse than her bite.

Lorianne knew her apprentice had to grow up eventually, spread his wings, and step onto his own stage. He could not stay under her protection forever.

Besides, she was also curious about where exactly Sein had disappeared to all this time.

It was not as if she had not tried to find him over the years—she had, but her efforts had all come up empty.

If the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring had not been so busy recently, she might have already paid a visit to her old friend, Tower Master Cipher, and asked her to help track down her lost apprentice.

The Divine Tower of Verdant Spring had been growing and expanding rapidly in recent years.

Even during Sein’s long absence, the tower successfully completed two interplanar wars.

One of the larger campaigns was against a relatively resource-rich, low-level world civilization.

That civilization controlled four complete planes—two classified as low-level and two as microplanes.

The war had been initiated by the Divine Tower of Blazing Sword.

Aelid, the “Blazing Sword”, was probably the most popular rising star within the Verdant Flame Faction in recent years.

As the first of his generation to establish a divine tower, Aelid possessed immense potential and received full support from the faction.

Even among newly promoted Rank Four mages, his abilities were beyond question.

The low-level civilization on “Jellyfish Star” had already been wiped out by Aelid and the Verdant Flame Faction.

Sein’s mentor made a fortune during that war.

In addition to that interplanar war, she also led the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring in another campaign—this time as external mage support in a conflict spearheaded by a knightly order.

In short, the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring had not slowed down just because Sein was gone.

Lorianne had proven herself far more capable at developing and managing a divine tower than even the Master of Dark Flame.

With encouragement from Grandmaster Feylis centuries ago, it might not be long before Lorianne’s Divine Tower of Verdant Spring surpassed Bernice’s Divine Tower of Floating Flame.

As a member of Verdant Spring, Sein was naturally proud to see the tower flourishing.

Lorianne spent quite a while enthusiastically updating him on the tower’s recent growth. It took her some time to finally notice that something was different about Sein in the elemental projection.

The magic array used for long-distance communication between divine towers could transmit images in fine detail but not a person’s aura or elemental pressure.

Lorianne could tell that Sein’s body had changed significantly, but even with all her experience, she had not yet realized he had reached Demigod rank.

“I went into a unique foreign world, and there... I successfully advanced to demigod,” Sein said with a faint, slightly sheepish smile.

His words hit Lorianne like a brick to the head. She froze for a moment, completely stunned.

Sein continued, “The nature of that world is really unusual. It’s hard to explain everything right now, but I’ll tell you more once I’m back.”

“It’s a rich world, and its laws are... unique. If the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring ever gets the chance, we should consider joining in the conquest,” he added, still rambling and completely unaware that his mentor had mentally checked out.

After a long time, Lorianne finally came back to her senses and asked, “What kind of world is it? What level are we talking about?”

Sein frowned slightly, thinking it over before replying, “It should be a large-sized plane. But launching an invasion there... that might be complicated.”

“You’re telling me that you went to a large-sized plane—and one that the Magus Alliance has never discovered?” Lorianne asked, rolling her eyes in disbelief.

“Seems like it.” Sein nodded.

Lorianne was so floored that she could not even form a full sentence. She raised a slender finger to point at him, but in the end, not a single word made it out of her mouth.

“I brought back a lot of gifts from that world. I think you will like them, Master Lorianne,” Sein said, smiling.

Her mood instantly lifted.

After all, her apprentice’s success reflected well on her as a mentor. And the fact that he had been thoughtful enough to bring back exotic gifts for her only warmed her heart even more.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have! Just having you back is already the best one I could ask for!” Lorianne said, smiling gently.