Sovereign of the Ashes

Fierce battles had raged for years along the border of the Divine Descendants Star Domain.

The sector under Sein’s responsibility mainly involved fighting the native deities from Divine Descendants World who had returned as reinforcements.

Over the years, Sein had made a fortune by acquiring seven divine relics in total. Two of them had even belonged to Rank Five beings.

Of course, he was able to gather such a bountiful harvest in so short a time only because he was not fighting alone.

Fermera was undoubtedly one of the greatest contributors.

In addition, Yuri and her Burning Flame Unit, along with the God of Black Mist, the God of Twilight, the God of Scorching Wind, the God of the Black Dog, the God of Dusk Desire, and the God of Rotten Soil, all served as Sein’s loyal henchmen.

A large portion of the war profits they earned had to be handed over to Sein, who would then redistribute them as rewards.

Of course, when it came to the Dawn Empire, Sein had no way of interfering with their war spoils.

Although Ximen Feixiao and the others were nominally under Sein’s command, it would not be appropriate for him to take a share of their gains.

However, as the leader of this particular theater of war, and thanks to his close relationships with Gongsun Wudi, Ximen Feixiao, and the others, Sein could still carry out fair trades with them.

Materials imbued with strange laws were not appealing to most Rank Four and Rank Five Dawn Empire powerhouses.

In fact, many Dawn Empire martial warriors did not place much value on the rarity or research potential of their spoils. Instead, they valued things like energy crystals, body-tempering potions, and restorative items far more.

During this period, Sein had made quite a profit from the Dawn Empire warriors by selling the ordinary potions he usually brewed.

The Dawn Empire’s apothecary system was not particularly advanced.

If Gongsun Wudi had not been too busy to meet with Sein lately, she might well have asked him to teach the Dawn Empire’s artisans.

Artisans were a profession unique to the Dawn Empire, responsible for a wide range of disciplines, including pill refinement, artifact forging, array techniques, and much more.

Dragon Howlers, which had performed so well on the battlefield earlier, were actually created by these artisans.

Every civilization had its own distinct traits. But as for this group of artisans... Sein could only say that they still had a very long way to go.

***

The war raging along the borders of the Divine Descendants Star Domain did not last long.

The frontlines guarded by Sein and his forces were indeed difficult to break through, but the legions of Divine Descendants World and the Gallant Federation could still force their way through gaps in other sectors, especially those struck by the federation’s apocalyptical weapons.

Completely encircling and isolating an entire large-sized star domain was simply unrealistic.

For a top-tier civilization like the Magus Civilization, such a feat might be possible by deploying overlord-level beings alongside massive war legions to establish an energy blockade.

The Grand Eye Demon World, which had been utterly annihilated, had suffered precisely such a fate.

But things were different here. The Dawn Empire had not yet reached the Magus Civilization’s terrifying level of power.

Moreover, the Dawn Empire’s main forces were still fighting within the star domain against the native pantheon led by Marduk.

The force led by Sein and his companions could only be considered a secondary detachment.

Having held off the reinforcements from Divine Descendants World for several years, Sein and his team had already completed their mission quite successfully.

After the war along the border of the Divine Descendants Star Domain came to an end, Sein and his men took only a brief rest before swiftly leading their legions back into the depths of the star domain.

With the support of the Gallant Federation’s ships, the Divine Descendants World legions that had broken through the encirclement were moving at a fairly impressive speed.

The Dawn Empire still had obvious shortcomings in shipbuilding and large-scale legion operations.

For a moment, they actually struggled to keep up.

“Once this star domain war is over, you should petition your Dawn Emperor to place an order with the Magus Civilization for a batch of space fortresses,” Sein suggested, stroking his chin as he spoke to Ximen Feixiao beside him.

“Given the friendly diplomatic ties between the Magus Civilization and the Dawn Empire, I believe our leaders will offer your empire a reasonable price.”

Because Sein had a modified planetary-class war fortress, the legion he led was actually the fastest in pursuit.

Having witnessed the advantages technological creations held over pure martial power, Ximen Feixiao nodded firmly in agreement with Sein’s suggestion.

After years in the military, he understood the value of such versatile combat platforms better than most.

Ximen Feixiao cast an envious glance at the planetary-class war fortress beneath Sein’s feet.

He would have loved to capture such a prize for himself. Unfortunately, the Dawn Empire legions under his command lacked the ability to operate federal fortresses or starships.

***

As the balance of power shifted, the next phase of the war would most likely unfold within the planes themselves.

Moreover, with Sein and his forces taking the offensive, the retreating Divine Descendants World legions had now become the defenders.

Although Sein’s legions were the fastest pursuers thanks to their planetary-class war fortress, he was currently only tailing the Divine Descendants World legions. He was not pressing the attack too aggressively.

It would be better to wait until the entire Dawn Empire Army had arrived before launching a full-scale assault.

At his core, Sein was a cautious man.

During this period, the Arriba Chamber of Commerce’s resource supply to the Divine Descendants Star Domain battlefield had been extremely smooth, with no issues whatsoever.

It seemed that the surrounding star domain civilizations, which had previously been undecided or neutral, were now gradually leaning toward the Magus Civilization.

Sein had remained in contact with the Arriba Interstellar Chamber of Commerce, and had long ago instructed them to secure a production line for the Icarus Group’s intelligent robots on his behalf.

Unfortunately, even after so much time had passed, the Arriba Chamber of Commerce had still failed to fulfill his order.

In the end, they merely delivered a batch of production lines for standard-model robots.

In the laboratory of the planetary-class war fortress, Sein stroked his chin thoughtfully and murmured, “Granting robots intelligence through the Magic Cube consumes its law energy, and ordinary robots offer little tangible benefit.”

“The ones truly worth granting intelligence to are those angel-type robots with stronger combat capabilities. Or perhaps Nexon’s intelligent robots.”

He sighed and concluded, “As for ordinary robots... I’ll use them as cannon fodder.”

With that, he began integrating the robot production lines sent by the Arriba Chamber of Commerce within the Magic Cube’s Mechanical Space.

For Sein, this experiment marked a milestone.

From this point onward, Sein possessed the ability to mass-produce and deploy an army of cannon fodder under his own command.

Moreover, the manufacturing process was far more efficient than Lorianne’s way of cultivating Viridescent Seeds.

Despite the significance of this milestone, the integration process itself was not particularly complicated.

That was because Sein had already mastered nearly all the core technologies and prerequisites required for the experiment.

The Mechanical Space was already in place, as was the ability to integrate the robot production lines with the Magic Cube. The necessary law energy and basic energy reserves had also been prepared in advance.

All Sein had to do was bring everything together.

Thus, before arriving at his next battlefield, a low-level plane known as Florenza, Sein had already assembled a robot legion of eight hundred thousand units, all stored within his Magic Cube.