Sovereign of the Ashes

“Bernice, are you sure Master Feylis told us to gather three months ago?”

Inside the top floor hall of the Divine Tower of Verdant Flame, Gregory, who had shown up late, sidled up to ask his junior, Bernice.

By now, more than three months had passed since Sein and Lorianne had arrived at the tower.

Strangely enough, Feylis—the one who was supposed to lead this faction gathering—had not shown up yet.

Lorianne was nowhere in sight either.

Bernice had asked Lorianne over two months ago where they were and when they would arrive.

Lorianne’s reply was, “Soon.”

But two months had gone by since then, and there was still no sign of either of them. Gregory could not help feeling a little confused.

The woman with strange patterns on her skin and metal rings around her wrists said, “Hmmmm... I think it really was three months ago.”

She rolled her eyes and added, “Maybe we somehow remembered the wrong year, and Master Feylis actually meant for us to come next year instead.”

Of course, it was unlikely for these Rank Four and Five mages to mess up the date. Their conversation sounded more like an excuse for their mentor.

It was not surprising for Feylis to forget her apprentices and grand-apprentices—Sein had been asking questions that were way too complicated these past few months.

Even Feylis had to spend quite a bit of time thinking before she could give accurate answers.

Teaching an apprentice was never just a one-way street—where one side always gave and the other just took.

In truth, guiding her grand-apprentice often gave Feylis new insights and fresh ideas for her own experiments.

Lorianne often complained that her own apprentice was difficult to guide, but little did she know, she had been just as much of a headache for Feylis back in the day.

For a Rank Six Pyromancer to guide a Dendromancer to Rank Four was a great accomplishment. It spoke volumes about Feylis’s depth of elemental knowledge, and it reflected the hard work and sweat she had poured into Lorianne’s training.

In fact, Lorianne’s arrival had helped make Feylis’s own path toward truth more complete.

It was while teaching Lorianne that Feylis managed to derive the law of poison from her foundation in pyro elemental laws.

Lorianne also wielded the law of poison, so a Dendromancer did not necessarily lack combat power.

With Sein constantly seeking advice and Lorianne supporting him from the side, Feylis soon slipped back into that immersive, truth-seeking state.

Even the setting of their discussions had changed—Feylis brought both Sein and Lorianne into her private laboratory.

Sein had to admit, a Rank Six mage’s laboratory was way more extravagant than anything a lower-ranking mage could imagine.

Sein had thought Master Lorianne’s laboratory was already luxurious, but he had not expected Grandmaster Feylis’ setup to be a full tier above that.

There were seventeen biological specimens of Rank Four and above inside Feylis’ laboratory, and some of them still alive.

Any one of those would fetch an astronomical price at the Magus Alliance’s market.

Compared to that, Sein’s little haul in Faeloria seemed like pocket change.

It was only after witnessing the sheer scale of his grandmaster’s wealth that Sein developed even greater respect for his own mentor, Lorianne—who had built a name for herself in the Viridescent Land from scratch.

If Lorianne had stayed under Feylis’ wing, the early days of her divine tower would not have been nearly as difficult.

She definitely would not still be buried under a huge loan.

Even so, it was Lorianne’s spirit that Sein admired and hoped to learn from.

An eagle would only grow strong by learning to fly on its own.

As Sein’s understanding of lawful body formation deepened, he also began forming concrete ideas for how he would build his own divine tower in the future.

Meanwhile, in the hall on the top floor of the divine tower, Gregory and Bernice were still chatting, but most of the other mages had turned their attention to Aelid, the Blazing Sword.

Aelid was senior among the five apprentices under Andres, which placed him in the same generation as Sein.

Several Rank Three mages from Andres’ generation were also present in the hall.

Compared to Gregory and Bernice, who held higher positions in the faction thanks to their early fame, Aelid was seen more as a peer by the others.

To the current generation of Verdant Flame Faction mages, he was nothing short of an idol!

Being promoted to Rank Four, establishing a Divine Tower, leading an interplanar war... Those were goals most people only dreamed about.

Yet, their senior had already done it.

Right now, in the entire Verdant Flame Faction, there were only two demigod-level mages expected to have a real shot at reaching Rank Four.

One was the apprentice of Feylis’ late first disciple, and the other was Master Gregory’s apprentice.

However, the former was getting too old, and the latter lacked the necessary resources. Neither seemed likely to break through anytime soon.

No one could say for sure who the next Rank Four mage from the Verdant Flame Faction would be.

“The future is in your hands. I believe you all will one day achieve what I have—or maybe even surpass me,” Aelid said with a smile to the juniors gathered before him.

He was strikingly handsome. Unlike Gregory’s rugged apperance, this young Rank Four mage had a look much more in line with the Magus World’s ideals of beauty.

After he spoke, more than a few female juniors were swooning on the spot, their eyes practically sparkling with stars.

A few of the younger guys even clenched their fists in silent resolve, fired up with dreams of reaching the same heights as their idol.

When Sein entered the hall, Aelid was in the middle of recounting his recent experience during an interplanar war.

Stories about fighting Rank Four creatures were especially captivating for the younger mages, most of whom were still at Rank One or Two.

And judging by the title “Blazing Sword”, it was obvious Aelid was not a typical backline spellcaster.

In truth, conventional mages were rare in the Verdant Flame Faction. Feylis had passed down a body-tempering lineage, and most of the faction had followed that path.

Sein’s mentor, Lorianne, was considered one of the more traditional types.

Shortly after Sein arrived, both Feylis and Lorianne entered the hall as well.

Feylis had gotten so deep into her own lecture that, if not for the surge of power from Sein’s Faceless Mask—barely managing to suppress his body, which had already passively entered a law-level transformation—she might not have realized that three months had already passed.

Sein had to admit, Aelid had a real knack for storytelling.

Or maybe Aelid, being newly promoted to Rank Four and the youngest genius of their generation, simply could not resist showing off a bit.

There was definitely a bit of embellishment in the way he described his battle with a Rank Four creature.

Sein had fought more than one such opponent in Faeloria.

He knew very well that at that level, basic energy strikes and standard elemental attacks were no longer effective.

Only energy imbued with the power of laws could pierce the defenses of creatures at that rank.

So when he heard some of Aelid’s more dramatic claims, Sein could not help but laugh.