Sovereign of the Ashes

The figure before them was a male humanoid.

At a glance, he looked remarkably similar to the humans of Magus World.

A closer look revealed six fingers on each hand, and four of those fingers were weighed down by massive gemstone rings.

Each ring pulsed with a faint yet unmistakable energy fluctuation.

Given this Rank Five creature’s reputation as a “collector”, those divine-artifact-grade rings likely packed frightening, destructive power on their own.

The Collector stood atop a white platform, and Sein vaguely sensed that one of his legs seemed to be lame.

“Now then... who might this be?” the Collector mused as soon as he appeared, his gaze predictably locking onto Sein.

Sein kept his aura suppressed, further concealed by the Faceless Mask.

Without overwhelming power or keen senses like Darian Wraith, the Collector could not discern Sein’s true nature.

However, that only made him more curious.

The Collector leaned forward on his platform, staring at Sein for a long moment before suddenly straightening, his eyes widening in surprise.

“Hm... are you from the Magus Civilization?” he asked.

“Oh? How did you figure that out?” Sein asked, genuinely curious.

To identify him that quickly, this man truly deserved his reputation in Freedom Star City.

“I’ve known well enough by now the aura you Magus World folks carry—I can sense it the moment I get close. You must be a mage, right? And you seem to possess an incredibly powerful concealment artifact on you... Even I can’t see through it,” the Collector replied.

“Damn it. Has the war between the Gallant Federation and the Magus Civilization finally reached here? Looks like that intel was right after all. I had better start packing,” he muttered irritably to himself as he turned away and began barking orders at the slaves working in his laboratory.

“Singis, Coleman! Get out here and get to work! We’re moving!”

The Collector’s residence inside Freedom Star City was anything but small—he had carved out an entire gigantic meteorite to make this place.

Tens of humanoid and non-humanoid servants emerged one after another. Most were Rank Twos or Rank Threes.

It was clear the Collector loved indulging himself. Many of his humanoid servants were breathtakingly beautiful men and women. Sein wondered where he had acquired so many exotic species.

Among them, a pair of twin girls with matching ponytails stood out the most. They looked identical down to the last detail, and both exuded demigod-level auras.

Sein could not help wondering where the Collector had even found such extraordinary slaves.

Many of the servants, including the non-humanoid ones, held immense collectible value in Sein’s eyes. Each one qualified as an exceptionally rare biological specimen.

Seeing the Collector’s vast collection, Sein felt a familiar itch deep in his bones. Most mages possessed a strong urge to gather specimens, and Sein was no exception.

However, he and Karazo had not forgotten the real reason they were here. Even earlier, the Collector had not bothered to hide his muttered complaints from them.

Karazo, who was far more familiar with the man, spoke up first.

“How did you find out that the war between the Magus Civilization and the Gallant Federation is about to reach this region?” he asked.

“This mage, Sein, is my friend,” Karazo continued. “He ended up here by accident. He’s not a representative of the Magus Civilization’s war legions.”

Karazo’s words made the Collector pause.

He turned back toward them, then nodded slowly. “Oh, right. The Magus Civilization’s legions are currently active in the Sanok Star Domain... That’s two star domains away from here.”

The Collector continued muttering under his breath, “And from what I hear, the Gallant Federation’s forces have only just landed in the Golden Rock Worlds. That means I still have plenty of time to run.”

As a wealthy interstellar broker, he never dealt lightly with powerful planar civilizations.

The power imbalance made such transactions more trouble than they were worth.

His crippled leg was the clearest reminder of that fact.

His choice never to heal it served as a permanent warning to himself.

The Sanok Star Domain... and the Golden Rock Worlds...?

Sein and Karazo exchanged a look—they were definitely going to walk away from this meeting with far more intelligence than expected.

“We need all the information you have, especially updates on the war between the Gallant Federation and the Magus Civilization. And I want the latest star charts showing routes into the Magus Civilization’s territory,” Karazo demanded.

“Name your price,” he said.

The Collector chuckled.

He signaled for his servants to pause their packing, then led his two guests to a sofa set.

The Collector was clearly... an eccentric man. He crossed his legs right in front of the two of them, shaking his good foot leisurely.

He slipped on a pair of sunglasses and drawled, “My price is not cheap.”

***

The information they obtained from the Collector was worth the price.

In addition to handing Karazo a star map, one that at least covered the route into the Magus Civilization’s controlled star domains, the Collector also sold them several crucial pieces of intelligence.

One was the Magus Civilization’s ongoing conquest of the Sanok Star Domain.

Another revealed that the Gallant Federation had deployed forces to the Golden Rock Worlds, and they seemed to have formed some kind of strategic partnership with Arid Expanse World.

The Magus Civilization had made a move against the Sanok Star Domain because of the medium-sized civilization’s earlier dealings with the Gallant Federation.

During the Magus Civilization’s string of major defeats in the Netherworld Star Domain, it was rumored that the Sanok Star Domain had secretly supplied the federation with large amounts of war resources.

Believing the Gallant Federation would come out on top in this Clash of Civilizations, the impatient Sanok Star Domain natives had defected early.

Unfortunately for them, the Gallant Federation suffered severe losses in the Netherworld Star Domain shortly afterward.

Once the Magus Civilization legions finished dismantling the federation’s vanguard fleets there, their forces were freed up—giving them the perfect opportunity to deal with the Sanok Star Domain.

A brutal war was now raging there. Word had it that the Magus Civilization had deployed multiple legions specifically to punish the natives of the Sanok Star Domain.

Meanwhile, the Gallant Federation’s move to the Golden Rock Worlds stemmed from the discovery of massive rare metal deposits in that region. These included metals that were crucial resources for building their ships, drones, and mobile suits.

Arid Expanse World did not share a border with the Magus Civilization’s territory.

So the Federation’s deployment to the Golden Rock Worlds was almost certainly an attempt to convince Arid Expanse World to join the war against the Magus Civilization.