Sovereign of the Ashes

The process of renewing the divine tower badge was straightforward.

With Jessica leading the way, no one doubted Sein’s identity again.

To Sein’s delight, the teleportation infrastructure at the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring had reached an impressive level of advancement.

If he wanted to travel to Grandmaster Feylis’s Divine Tower of Verdant Flame, all it took now was a single step through a teleportation gate.

After helping Sein update his credentials, Jessica turned and left, her hips swaying slightly with each step.

It was obvious she had no desire to converse with him, and as she walked away, her cheeks seemed just a little bit more flushed.

Given Jessica’s strong, capable image, very few people ever paid close attention to her, or dared to. That probably explained why no one had ever noticed certain details before.

Once she disappeared from view, Sein clicked his tongue in mild amusement.

“Wew... Are mages these days that bold?” he muttered, then turned and headed back to his residence on the upper floors of the divine tower with the other women following behind him.

At the moment, the place was empty.

Selina, who usually lived there, was probably off teaching a class at the divine tower academy.

She had already reached Rank Two. Though she was not a cohort leader, she was responsible for several elemental courses.

Compared to Sein, Selina was far more responsible.

While Sein had always found it hard to keep up with the courses assigned to him at the academy, Selina genuinely enjoyed teaching the younger initiates.

Eileen was not around either—she had her own room in the tower.

Natalya and Reina were also away, making Sein’s spacious residence feel a bit quieter than usual.

Then again, the size of the place had its advantages. With several floors of this divine tower assigned to him, it was easy enough to find rooms for Maya and her granddaughter to settle into.

“I have already removed the elemental brands placed in your bodies, and by the look of things, you’ve recovered quite a bit over the past few days,” Sein said to the two female centaurs in front of him.

“As for returning to Centaurworld, reorganizing the tribe, and rescuing the others... that will have to wait a little longer. I need to have a proper conversation with my mentor first,” he added.

“Yes. Thank you, Master Sein,” Maya expressed her gratitude with a reserved smile on her lips.

Although Sein had removed the elemental brands in their bodies, he had not said anything about the soul enslavement contracts. The two female centaurs did not bring them up either.

The contracts had been included as part of the auction purchase, so for now, both women still legally belonged to Sein.

But having those soul enslavement contracts in place was not necessarily a bad thing. The very fact that the contracts were still in Sein’s hands gave Maya and her granddaughter the greatest sense of safety.

It meant that Sein was responsible for them.

The same applied in reverse—having that contract gave Sein complete authority over the two women.

In this world, relying on gratitude alone was naive. Sein trusted that Maya and her granddaughter would not betray him—not now, at least—but no one could predict the future.

With the contracts in his hands, the Maya Tribe was, for all intents and purposes, his.

Sein had not saved them purely out of kindness, and he certainly had no plans to support anyone who could not pull their weight.

And of course, with the authority those contracts gave him, he fully intended to take care of the two women.

Having been away from home for years—and with far too many experimental materials and elemental resources piled up—reorganizing the laboratory turned out to be a long, exhausting task.

Fortunately, Yuri and Azelia had become more and more in sync with him over the years. With their help, Sein could at least save himself a good chunk of the workload.

He had just gotten into the rhythm of things when he realized Selina would probably be back soon from her classes. But before he could get much further, a transmission from Lorianne interrupted his work.

Although he had just returned, Sein had chosen not to disturb her, knowing she was probably in the middle of an experiment.

Still, Lorianne had somehow managed to find out almost immediately that he was back.

Leaving Yuri and Azelia to tidy up, Sein made his way to his mentor’s residence on the top floor of the tower.

He could enter the area freely through aura verification. That permission had been set long ago, when Lorianne first encouraged him to observe her work in the world laboratory whenever he had spare time.

That access still remained, even now.

Controlling the Faceless Mask to release a faint trace of his aura, Sein pushed the door open and entered.

Inside, Lorianne had already finished her experiment and changed into a loose, warm green robe.

“Let me see how much you have changed after all these years!” Lorianne beamed.

Her composure had been perfectly maintained until the moment she saw Sein. Like an excited girl, she jumped down from her high stool and hurried over.

Lorianne had always carried a pleasant fragrance. It was the scent of nature, a clear reflection of the dendro elemental law she commanded.

Although Sein’s current aura did not resemble that of a typical demigod-level mage, Lorianne still studied him closely, even excitedly—unlike Jessica, who was quick to judge him.

After all, this was her apprentice.

As a Rank Four mage with exceptional insight, Lorianne knew better than to treat Sein like just another Rank Three grand mage.

The aura he gave off while wearing the Faceless Mask was completely unremarkable, so plain that most Rank Four mages would not have given him a second glance.

But Lorianne knew him too well for that.

She circled him a few times, frowning slightly. Being a head shorter than him did not stop her from reaching up toward the mask on his face.

Despite the exceptional quality of the robe he wore, it was the mask that caught her attention. Something about it felt off.

Besides, Sein had already told her long ago that he had advanced to the demigod level.

He was not the type to boast. If anything, he tended to be overly modest.

So when Lorianne suddenly reached up and tried to remove the Faceless Mask without warning, Sein nearly jumped.

“STOP!” he hurriedly yelled.

The mask’s self-defense mechanism activated instantly. A crackle of purple electricity sparked out, zapping Lorianne’s finger.

Fortunately, being the mask’s owner, Sein had full control over its defenses. If he had not, the reaction could have been far worse.

The Faceless Mask gave him the strength to stand against Rank Four opponents. Sein definitely did not want Lorianne getting hurt right after their reunion.

There was another reason the mask could not be removed yet: it was still suppressing and stabilizing his physical state, keeping the chaotic energy inside him in check.

If it stayed off too long, that volatile force might trigger his forced breakthrough into Rank Four.

And he was not ready for that yet.

At the very least, he still needed to resolve several elemental mysteries that would allow him to properly form his lawful body.