Sovereign of the Ashes

As they advanced toward the upper levels of the skyscraper, Sein and his group discovered and collected a considerable amount of technology and materials left behind by the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization.

Even items that lacked law or energy fluctuations were still deemed to possess immense research value by Sein’s team.

They even wished they could pack up the entire skyscraper and take it with them.

From another perspective, if the Magus Civilization were to emerge victorious in the war over this subspace and its surrounding star domain, then the ruins of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization would indeed become theirs.

As they continued their ascent, Sein and his group made use of special passageways along the sides of the skyscraper to climb higher.

“The Eiyurant Papillon Folk seem to be fond of preparing special escape routes,” Grethel remarked.

With their relatively frail constitutions, those creatures clearly would not have chosen the same slow, exhausting route Sein and the others were taking to reach the tower’s upper levels under normal circumstances.

Yet now, these simple escape routes had become one of the few viable paths available to Sein’s group.

As an expert deeply familiar with the ruins of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization, Grethel had also carved out several entirely new passages through hidden corners and obscure sections of the building.

“This is a ventilation duct that connects the interior and exterior of the tower. The Eiyurant Papillon Folk seems to have set up an alternative purification system here, so we won’t be able to reach the top floor through it. At best, it should take us only about halfway up,” Grethel explained.

She pointed toward the pitch-black duct, which was barely half a meter wide. “It’s a bit cramped and narrow inside, but that shouldn’t be a problem for us.”

Sein remained unfazed. The paths he had taken in his pursuit of truth had been far more grueling than this.

Noticing Black Oblivion’s slight hesitation, Grethel chuckled. “This route is already fairly decent. I haven’t even shown you the special waste-disposal channels used by the Eiyurant Papillon Folk yet.”

“I absolutely refuse to crawl through that kind of place!” Black Oblivion declared without hesitation.

Then he leaned closer and whispered to Sein, “If we really have to go in there, let me stay inside your spatial living device for a while.”

Sein’s spatial living device was capable of holding Yuri and the Burning Flame Unit, so accommodating Black Oblivion was certainly possible.

However, its internal space was limited, and at most only two of them could squeeze inside. There was no way all three could fit.

Well, there was Sein’s Magic Cube. While absorbing the law energy from the secret treasure fragments, the cube had also taken in laws related to space, granting it considerable storage capacity.

Whether it could hold the Black Oblivion and his cousins inside, however, remained to be seen.

Sein had already tested it before and confirmed that it could accommodate both Yuri and the Burning Flame Unit.

Grethel’s earlier remarks had been nothing more than jest. Even after climbing hundreds of floors, the group had not encountered any routes that Black Oblivion strongly refused to take.

However, upon reaching the 734th floor, they encountered the first real crisis of their ascent through the towering skyscraper.

The danger came from above.

The lower-ranking knights and mages had somehow triggered a hidden mechanism. With two sharp clicks, rows upon rows of densely packed energy barrels emerged from the ceiling, all aimed at Sein and his group.

Despite the passage of countless years, these energy barrels were still fully functional.

Each energy beam they released was powerful enough to threaten Rank Three creatures.

Even though the group reacted quickly to intervene, several of the low-ranking youngsters were still riddled with holes.

This incident prompted Sein to immediately gather all the low-ranking combatants into his spatial living device.

The earlier battle against the Gallant Federation’s special forces had already taken a heavy toll on them.

Those who remained alive were elites, and in a sense, they represented the future of the Magus Civilization.

Sein himself had risen from the lower ranks, so there was no reason to expose them to such danger prematurely.

Within this towering skyscraper, these lower-ranking beings could only handle limited, menial tasks anyway.

Exploring the core regions of a top-tier civilization like this one required only Sein and the other Rank Four or Rank Five beings.

Also on the 734th floor, they discovered another secret treasure fragment that resembled a pistol.

None of them showed much interest in it, although it would likely fetch a decent price if sold to the mechanics of Steel City.

After advancing several more floors, they reached the 742nd floor and discovered the inert crystal vein exactly as predicted.

Master Gilbert had once again demonstrated his expertise, as his estimate of the deposit’s location matched the reality precisely.

This inert crystal vein, exposed along the interior surface of the towering skyscraper, clung directly to the building’s inner walls.

The surrounding space was saturated with such an absurdly high concentration of inert energy that even Master Gilbert could not determine how many floors of the structure were occupied by these crystals, which continued to climb upward along the walls without end.

“At least several hundred floors, possibly even more than a thousand! The inert crystal veins here are astonishingly abundant, especially at this level of purity...” Master Gilbert murmured as he stepped closer to the wall, gazing at a branch of the crystal vein extending before him.

The inert crystals before the group were markedly different from the Gray Quartz Sein had previously seen around Blue Star.

Here, the inert crystals displayed a much whiter hue, ranging from pure white to milky white, with a handful of rare specimens showing a clear, crystalline white.

These color variations suggested that the inert crystals found here belonged to a different category, likely distinct from the Gray Quartz discovered before.

Perhaps driven by professional instinct, Master Gilbert immediately began collecting and measuring specimens on the spot.

He gathered samples of every visible type of inert crystal.

Master Valerie also provided considerable assistance throughout the process.

Sein had wanted to ask Gilbert to first determine the approximate location of the highest-quality crystals, but seeing how focused the old mage was, he changed his mind.

Before long, Roth made another important discovery.

It turned out that the presence of this inert crystal vein had directly influenced and altered the materials of the walls between each floor of the building.

As a result, Sein and the others no longer needed to progress floor by floor. They could simply break through the already extremely fragile barriers separating the levels and reach the upper floors directly.

Sein was particularly curious about the origin of these inert crystals.

They were embedded directly into the walls, forming vast, mountain-like exposed deposits. This clearly was not something the Eiyurant Papillon Folk could have created through ordinary means.

Later, inside a research laboratory on the 778th floor, Grethel made a major discovery and immediately notified Sein.

“This appears to document a top secret of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization. Since entering this building, I’ve come across this terminology in numerous records,” Grethel said.

“What is it?” Sein asked.

“Something known as Infinite Energy. Evidence suggests that the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization’s understanding of Infinite Energy goes beyond what our Magus Civilization defines as a world-class secret treasure,” Grethel replied, her voice tinged with uncertainty.