Sovereign of the Ashes

The reaction of the three Rank Four and Five Magus World mages made Black Oblivion’s lips twitch almost imperceptibly.

Shit. I was too careless. How could I forget there are three mages with insatiable curiosity standing right beside me?!

Born and raised in the Magus World, Black Oblivion naturally understood these mages far better than his two relatives from the Immortal Realm.

Sein and the others were not coveting Black Oblivion’s wealth. Their interest stemmed purely from scholarly curiosity.

In terms of grade, Black Oblivion’s Four-Refinement Golden Pill clearly surpassed the immortal pills Qixiu had taken out earlier.

Tourmaline likely had never possessed this type of Four-Refinement Golden Pill before. Otherwise, Sein would have talked her into handing it over long ago.

Sein guessed that the pills in Black Oblivion’s possession had most likely been entrusted to him by White Stella before he departed the Marvelous Plane battlefield, as a precaution.

Now that the pills were already out in the open, putting them away again would only make things awkward.

Qixiu, puzzled by the subtle tension in the air, blinked his large eyes. Even he could tell that something felt slightly off.

Only Hanliu was still groaning in pain.

The Rank Four dragonkin, still in its true form, continued to endure the torment of his severe injuries.

Clearing his throat, Sein said, “Ahem. I don’t think it is necessary to use such rare pills on Hanliu just yet. Let me re-assess his condition first.”

Grethel quickly chimed in, “Yes, yes. It’d be better to re-examine him first.”

Roth blinked innocently, silently agreeing with them.

In the end, Sein, Grethel, and Roth each received one of the immortal pills Qixiu had taken out, for research purposes.

As for the even more precious Four-Refinement Golden Pills, only Sein and Grethel obtained one each. Roth could only look on with envy.

Given Sein’s relationship with Black Oblivion and Tourmaline, requesting a Four-Refinement Golden Pill was entirely justified.

After all, he had invited Black Oblivion to join interplanar wars before and had just risked his life to cover their retreat.

As for Grethel, her receiving a Four-Refinement Golden Pill definitely had nothing to do with her looks. It was simply because she had offered them hydro elemental potions earlier.

Black Oblivion was a man who kept score. Grethel’s potions were nowhere near the value of a Four-Refinement Golden Pill, yet he still gave her one, though it clearly pained him to do so.

Of course, it was not like he was giving it away to Grethel. She was just going to study it...

Roth received nothing. Black Oblivion saw no reason to extend favors to an unfamiliar Rank Four mage.

With a precious Four-Refinement Golden Pill in hand, Sein’s mood improved considerably, and his progress in examining Hanliu’s injuries sped up noticeably.

Hanliu’s condition was indeed troublesome, but fortunately, Sein still had access to several resources suited for treating radiation-infested wounds.

When Black Oblivion saw Sein take out the space conch his sister Tourmaline had given him, he said nothing.

He likely assumed that her younger sister had been “scammed” by Sein.

As they flew southwest toward their destination, Sein continued mixing potions while tending to both his own injuries and those of the others.

In the end, Sein formulated a remedy specifically tailored to Hanliu’s radiation injuries.

During the final stage of preparation, he paused briefly, then added a generous amount of Black Merlot Civilization genetic fluid he had obtained recently.

“Based on Black Oblivion’s feedback, using this fluid in small quantities does not cause significant physical harm. Moreover, it improves compatibility with other potions and may even help unlock latent potential,” Sein explained as he slowly swirled the blended concoction in his hand.

As soon as the genetic fluid was added, an instinctive craving rooted deep in bloodline and cellular memory made Hanliu lift his head and sniff the air.

His earlier pained groans vanished entirely.

Instead, the sound of his hungry gulps echoed through the air.

“Is this stuff really that appealing to them?” Grethel asked, visibly surprised.

Qixiu also turned his head in Sein’s direction.

Having sampled quite a bit of this “exclusive menu”, Black Oblivion’s reaction was noticeably calmer.

After pouring part of the mixed concoction onto Hanliu’s spinal wound and feeding the rest directly into his massive maw, Sein added, “I don’t have much of this specially blended Black Merlot Civilization genetic fluid left.”

“If either of you are interested, I can trade some of it for items of equal value,” Sein offered, directing the remark toward Hanliu and Qixiu.

The dark concoction poured onto Hanliu’s wound immediately triggered a reaction—a sharp stinging sensation accompanied by faint sizzling sounds.

Yet Hanliu appeared completely unfazed. His massive dragon head swayed gently from side to side, clearly savoring the sensation—much like Black Oblivion’s first experience with the genetic fluid.

He was utterly intoxicated by it.

“This stuff isn’t meant for excessive use. Back in the day, the Black Merlot Civilization used this genetic fluid primarily to cultivate war beasts,” Sein said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

“Aside from the risk of bloodline collapse from overuse, there may be other side effects as well. I still need to research this more,” he added.

The three dragonkins paid no attention to Sein’s warning.

For them, the greatest allure of entering the ruins of this top-tier civilization was undoubtedly the Black Merlot Civilization’s genetic fluid.

After consuming the potions Sein had prepared for him back then, Black Oblivion had indeed shown a noticeable increase in strength.

Now that the same concoction was producing healing effects on Hanliu’s injuries, even the usually calm Qixiu could not help but lick his lips.

***

By the time Sein and his group reached the vicinity of their intended experimental base, they were already too late.

Their extended journey had likely contributed to the delay.

The facility, once recorded in the archives, had been reduced to ruins.

Numerous signs suggested that the battle had ended only recently, with a handful of federal ships still patrolling the area.

As soon as Sein arrived, those federal vessels clearly detected them.

Unfortunately for the federation, they were unable to engage.

Sein and his group now stood within another grid, protected from the ships by a translucent energy barrier.

Even the eight-winged angel Fermera would require considerable time to breach this barrier. By the time the Gallant Federation legions managed to break through, Sein and his group would have vanished without a trace.

“Where do we go now?” Roth asked.

Despite being far older than Sein, his adaptability on the battlefield paled by comparison.

Perhaps long years confined to laboratories and the tranquil environment of divine towers had dulled his instincts...

Sein remained deep in thought. Everyone around him now depended on his decisions, and he wanted to lead these knights and mages to safety.

“You should know the passages to other regions, right? We hadn’t seen you before, and earlier it was you who led us through that underground passage into this new area,” Sein said, turning toward HALL-E.

Although it had traveled with Sein and the others for a while, the cube-shaped robot remained silent, much like an inanimate object.

Only Sein, who had previously interacted with Nexon’s intelligent robots, understood that this one was actually “alive”.

HALL-E’s eyes fixed on Sein. After a long pause, it nodded hesitantly.