Sovereign of the Ashes

The warm welcome Sein received in Kameron Kingdom got his visit to Beastmen World off to a great start.

The many beastman specimens he gathered also added some nice variety to his personal collection.

His only complaint was that Beastmen World did not seem to produce any particularly valuable materials.

Kameron Kingdom, for instance, was a small nation in the southern region of the Du’Nahl Great Wasteland. It had no interesting mineral deposits—just an endless stretch of ordinary soil with no research value.

Its only real “specialty” was its population.

This explained why the bearfolk king had been so generous.

From his conversations with the Rank Two king, Sein also learned that the Kameron Kingdom would soon be at war with one of its neighboring nations.

In Magus World, they had “Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy Wars” and the “Nation War Plans” to train up future elites.

Beastmen World had something similar, but far more brutal.

Wars here were not just for nurturing stronger warriors and priests; they also helped thin the population.

Strong slaves and beautiful maidens from Beastmen World sold well across the major allied planes of the Magus Alliance. Yet, they made up only a tiny portion of the total population.

The vast majority of beastmen were the weaker races, like the ratfolk, who also did not fit the Magus World’s standard of beauty.

“In your wars with neighboring kingdoms, do you rely mostly on ratfolk?” Sein asked curiously.

“We’ve got a few stronger tribes in Kameron Kingdom, and my own descendants will fight too, but they’re still the minority. For this next war, most of the troops will indeed be ratfolk,” King Vayril replied.

“Even among ratfolk, there are powerful warriors?” Leena asked with interest.

She had spent years in Blackhaven, so her general knowledge and exposure were slightly behind Sein’s.

“Yes, esteemed mage. In fact, the commander of my personal guard is a Wild Rat warrior from the Maus Tribe,” King Vayril replied, then turned and motioned to one of its attendants.

Not long after, a tough-looking ratfolk warrior appeared before Sein and the others. It stood about 1.6 meters, clad in black leather armor.

It was nearly three times the height of the ratfolk Sein had seen earlier in the wilderness.

Unlike those others, this one did not have a bloated belly. Instead, its small reddish eyes gleamed with a ruthlessness that surpassed most beastmen Sein had encountered.

In terms of personal strength, this ratfolk had already reached the level of a Quasi Knight and was well on its way to breaking through to Rank One.

Even more surprising, it was already in its forties—quite old for a ratfolk—yet it still seemed full of energy.

Wars between nations were common in Beastmen World. A peaceful stretch longer than half a year was rare.

At most, there might be a truce for two or three years.

While King Vayril had only taken part in three interplanar wars, it had fought in over a hundred of these smaller, internal conflicts before it even reached Rank One.

All that experience meant it was no pushover, even among Rank Two beings.

It might have gotten a bit rusty after taking the throne, but from what Sein could tell, King Vayril’s real combat power was probably in the late stage of Rank Two.

Honestly, that was pretty impressive.

Sein did not stay long in Kameron Kingdom. After gathering his samples, he headed west with Leena and the others.

According to King Vayril, the richest region of Beastmen World—the Karemdor Steppe—lay just to the east, but Sein was not particularly interested in that fertile land. He preferred exploring the wilderness instead.

So, naturally, he went straight for the poorest, most miserable part of this world.

No matter how rich the Karemdor Steppe was, it could not possibly compare to even a corner of Faeloria.

After everything he had seen in that large-sized plane, Sein had a strong feeling that when the Magus Civilization finally launched its invasion of Faeloria, it would set off a frenzy.

Poorer allied planes like Beastmen World would definitely want in on the action.

There was another reason he chose to head west—King Vayril had mentioned that something “big” might happen there soon.

“More and more half-beastmen are gathering in the west. They’re not just building their own kingdoms, but preparing to raise their own god,” the king had said.

The idea of “ascending to godhood” was not new to Sein anymore, not after everything he had experienced in Faeloria.

What was new, though, was this race called the “half-beastmen”.

A beastman was a purebred—the original species of Beastmen World.

Half-beastmen, though... they were a race born of blood and sorrow.

In Beastmen World, interbreeding was harshly restricted, and each race remained deeply closed off in mindset.

By their moral code, half-beastmen should not even exist.

Yet in reality, more and more half-beastmen kept emerging in this world.

By now, their numbers across Beastmen World had already surpassed a hundred million.

The reason was simple—slavery. The slave trade had long been the backbone of Beastmen World’s economy.

These half-beastmen were not born of love between two different beastman races.

They were the result of abuse, cruelty, and millennia of unchecked exploitation in the booming slave trade.

Half-beastmen had no place in this world—their status was even lower than the ratfolk, who were already scraping the bottom of society.

In a world already suffocating under the weight of survival, their lives were even harder.

Treated with contempt by other beastmen, these half-bloods had no place to call home and no gods to hear their prayers.

Many still clung to their belief in Kampas, the God of Beastmen, but Kampas had never answered the prayers of this struggling race.

Vayril, as the king of even a small kingdom, knew more than most.

It also knew that the one rallying this rising force in the west was a half-beastman named Eugene.

Eugene was something of a living legend in Beastmen World.

His bloodline was a tangled mess—wolf, fox, cat, deer, and some even whispered ratfolk as well.

This complex heritage gave Eugene an almost otherworldly appearance: green skin and a broken horn.

That mixed bloodline made for a harsh start in life.

Eugene had no idea who his father was and did not even know what race he belonged to.

After years of searching, Eugene finally realized that he was a half-beastman!

And from that moment on, he vowed to carve out a future for his kind—a land where all half-beastmen could stand tall, live freely, and call their home.

In its youth, Eugene traveled across planes in search of answers.

Rumors said it even visited Magus World and sought counsel from one of its great powers.

Then, a hundred years ago, Eugene returned to Beastmen World as a demigod.

Its return caught the attention of many beast gods.

A half-beastmen demigod... was Beastmen World truly about to give rise to such a god?

With how fast the half-beastmen population was growing, if Eugene ever ascended, Rank Five might not even be its limit. It could potentially reach Rank Six.

But the pantheon of Beastmen World had long since been divided. There was no more room to share.

If Eugene ascended, it would mean the start of a revolution.