Sovereign of the Ashes

The mission to infiltrate Nexon was scheduled to take place twenty-seven years later.

By then, the Magus Civilization would use a special covert channel to send Sein to the Gallant Federation’s flank.

A frontal infiltration was far too dangerous, with an extremely low chance of success. Only approaching from the flank offered any real hope.

Twenty-seven years might sound rushed, but with war between the Magus Civilization and the Gallant Federation looming, it was understandable to have him depart as soon as possible.

Besides, Sein’s journey to Nexon in the Gallant Federation’s central region could not be made on a space fortress, and there were no existing ultra-long-distance interstellar teleportation arrays he could use either.

As a top-tier civilization, the Gallant Federation’s star domain might not be vastly larger than the Magus Civilization’s, but traversing that vast stretch of space was still no easy feat.

Factoring in the need to move in secret and avoid detection along the way, reaching Nexon within two to three hundred years of departure would already be an achievement.

This was also the time limit set by Klopp and other high-ranking officials of Magus World for Sein.

If it was missed, too many variables could come into play.

At that point, whether he could still complete the mission would be uncertain, and the dangers would increase sharply.

After receiving the relevant mission details from Klopp, Sein signed a non-disclosure agreement before leaving Sky City.

This time, he had no interest in browsing the city’s archives.

With one last glance at the towering buildings in the distance, he turned and flew south toward the Divine Tower of Ashes.

***

On this mission to infiltrate the Gallant Federation, Sein did not plan to bring many people along.

At this stage, there were fewer and fewer who could be of help to him.

Azelia, the fox maiden, was excellent at handling his day-to-day needs, but her combat ability was fairly average.

Although he already had a Rank Three familiar, the strength of such a creature was insignificant to him now.

Yuri would likely be the only companion he brought.

At her current level, Yuri was strong enough to be of some use. The skills she had learned from the Neisse Civilization and the mechanical engineering of the Magus Civilization shared certain similarities with the technology of the Gallant Federation.

This trip might give Yuri the chance to shine in unexpected ways, and it would also serve as a trial for her.

Because of the non-disclosure agreement he had signed, Sein did not tell anyone about his upcoming departure from Magus World for a mission beyond its domain.

Even so, through the various directives he had been issuing within the divine tower lately and the occasional remarks he muttered to himself during quiet moments, Marie was the first to realize something was up.

But she did not confront him. She was the kind of person who always waited for him to speak first.

If he did not bring it up, she would not ask and would simply focus on her own responsibilities.

Natalya stayed her usual carefree self, showing no signs of sensing anything unusual with Sein.

Reina, however, was sharp enough to suspect something.

This time, there was no telling how many centuries Sein would be away from Magus World to carry out his mission.

Aside from settling affairs at his divine tower, Sein had plenty of other tasks to handle before leaving.

For Reina, he completely melted down the Ax of Power, the God of Brute Force’s divine artifact he had acquired in Faeloria, and reforged it into a massive warhammer suited to her build and fighting style.

He also embedded the precious divine relic of the God of Brute Force into the hammer.

With her immense strength, Reina could just barely tap into the weapon’s full power.

Sein was equally generous with Natalya. He still had plenty of spoils from Faeloria, including high-grade magic materials he had recently obtained from the Pyreling World.

Using Obsidian Metal, a specialty of Purgatory, as the base, he augmented it with various rare divine-grade materials and forged two greatswords for her.

These twin black blades could merge into a single weapon in battle, perfectly matching Natalya’s preferred fighting style.

Still, she had her complaints.

“Why does Reina’s weapon get a divine relic embedded in it, while mine has nothing?” she grumbled.

“Is this favoritism?” Natalya teased, poking Sein with her finger.

Sein almost burst out laughing at this silly woman.

“If you had Reina’s formidable constitution and strength control, I’d forge you a weapon with a divine relic embedded in it. Since you clearly don’t, go train instead of disrupting my experiment!”

He gave Natalya’s perky backside a firm slap and pointed toward the gravity training room.

It was not a light slap.

Natalya rubbed the spot with a pout before leaving his laboratory, glancing back at him every few steps.

Sein had also recently set aside time to craft equipment for everyone around him, including Sia, Selina, Eileen, Marie, and the members of House Grantt.

Sometimes, he also brewed mid and low-grade potions for them.

House Grantt had been developing rapidly in recent years. Though it still could not compare to his Divine Tower of Ashes, its growth rate under Sein’s support had already far surpassed that of other knight houses!

When Sein first returned to Magus World, he had refined and improved House Grantt’s battle qi training.

This time, he skipped the techniques and instead poured his efforts into creating a more scientific and effective training regimen for its knights.

On top of that, he privately purchased a batch of pyro-attribute resources from Pyreling World for them.

Sein did not expect House Grantt to produce a Rank Four knight in the future, but as a house with a bloodline tie to him, he had already done more than enough.

“I didn’t expect to get a gift too.” Scarlet, Natalya’s grandniece who had been staying at Ashenreach, examined hers with delight. It was a full suit of armor made from the God of Fire Crickets’ crimson scales.

Of course, Sein had not left her out. After all, they had shared a few intimate moments long ago.

Sein then merely nodded to Sia, ignoring her hopeful look, before flying toward the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

***

“Master Lorianne, have you finished the Golden Apple Potions?” Sein asked.

“It’s mostly done, but I’d like to give them a few more tests. What’s the matter?” Lorianne asked curiously.

“Can I have one now? I might need it soon,” Sein replied.