Sovereign of the Ashes

Upon hearing that Bousse had extended his lifespan by purchasing an Activator Fairy Potion and successfully advanced to the late stages of Rank One, Sein could not help but feel a little emotional.

The higher life level one reached, the fewer friends they tended to have.

This was simply because those who once walked beside them often fell behind or perished along the way.

Sein was genuinely glad that Selina and the others had managed to advance.

But seeing Bousse again brought his thoughts back to Marie, who remained far away in the Divine Tower of Dawn.

Of the few companions he had made during his black magic initiate days, only Marie was still around.

It had been many years since they last saw each other, and now Sein found himself wondering how she was doing.

To be honest, at this stage of his life, there were very few people he could still call "friends".

Bousse was more like a subordinate than a friend to him.

The man no longer had much ambition to pursue the truth. Perhaps it was the comfort of luxury that had dulled the edge of a mage who once clawed his way up from the bottom ranks of the academy.

Sudden wealth—and years of living on the edge between risk and reward—had made Bousse thoroughly accustomed to a life of indulgence.

Now, he believed pleasure was more important.

Perhaps influenced by Bousse's values, none of his descendants showed much diligence in their training. Instead, they had all gravitated toward business.

Thanks to Bousse's connections in the Divine Tower of Dark Flame, along with certain channels in the Alveroth Empire, a new merchant family had begun to thrive.

However, aside from Bousse himself, there were no full-fledged mages in his family.

If he had tried to use his resources to forcibly produce a Rank One mage... he might have succeeded in the past.

But ever since the Divine Tower of Dark Flame stopped poaching initiates—cutting off a major source of income—that path had become far less feasible.

Bousse still craved comfort and luxury, and his current savings were only enough to sustain his own lifestyle.

Perhaps, when the end of his lifespan drew near, he would choose to use the last of his fortune to help the next generation rise.

Or maybe he would keep buying longevity potions to extend his own life instead.

No one could say for sure what the future held.

"Thosefriendsof yours in the Alveroth Empire... are you still in touch with any of them?" Sein asked.

In front of Sein, who knew him inside and out, Bousse did not dare to hide anything and nodded honestly. "Yes, I'm still in touch with a few of them. Some have even been promoted to Rank Two, or even Rank Three."

"I heard that one of them is now the vice dean of a public magic academy," Bousse added.

These days, with enough resources, knowledge, and potential, advancing in rank was just a matter of time.

The group that had worked with Bousse back then ended up reaping the biggest rewards.

For those who survived, reaching Rank Three was no surprise.

Sein nodded. Seeing his interest, Bousse scratched his head and said with a sheepish grin, "Since the Divine Tower of Dark Flame stopped poaching initiates, they haven't been making much money either."

"Over the years, a few divine towers have been poaching initiates through them, but none have done it on the same scale we used to. Most are worried the Alveroth Empire might come down on them," he explained.

"Oh? Other divine towers are still poaching initiates through them?" Sein asked, clearly surprised.

"Hmm, I don't know if we set a bad precedent... or if people have just always been doing this since the old days," Bousse replied with a shrug.

"Anyway, while we stopped poaching initiates, others never fully did. They're just not doing it as aggressively as before."

Rank Five mages with the same level of influence as the Dark Flame were rare across the entire Magus World.

So it made sense that none had ever reached the scale the Divine Tower of Dark Flame had during its prime.

After chatting for a while longer, Sein felt unexpectedly sentimental.

Before leaving, he handed Bousse a crystal ball.

It was one of the few magic artifacts Sein had personally crafted after reaching Rank Four.

It had no combat capabilities. It was just purely a communication tool.

This was an ultra-long-range device that ignored geographical limits.

In theory, it could even connect to foreign planes close to Magus World.

Only beings of Rank Four and above could craft such magic artifacts.

When it came to communication across vast distances beyond the star domain, Sein still lacked the skill to create anything capable of that.

Communication at that scale likely required more than just magic artifacts—powerful magic arrays would also be needed.

Sein left the crystal ball with Bousse because he had a vague sense he might need to contact him again someday.

Along with the crystal ball, he also left behind several high-grade magic ingredients.

These Rank One and Rank Two materials were no longer useful to him, but Bousse and his family would definitely benefit from them, especially his descendants.

After respectfully seeing Sein off, Bousse stared at the pile of magic ingredients in front of him. He carefully packed most of them away, then called over his most beloved grandson.

***

After leaving the Divine Tower of Dark Flame, Sein paused for a moment and did not immediately head toward the Alveroth Empire. Instead, he made a detour to revisit the underground world near the divine tower.

The underground city built by the followers of the Spider Queen was still there.

It should have been destroyed and buried long ago, yet somehow, it had been rebuilt.

The massive full-body statue of the Spider Queen left Sein in awe.

These underground sculptors did a great job, perfectly capturing the Spider Queen's cold elegance.

Gazing at the massive statue before him, Sein could not help but marvel at how beautiful the Spider Queen truly was and wished she could maintain her human form permanently.

He still remembered the terrifying form she had taken on when she was battling the Moonlit Cat Goddess.

With the Silver Spider Ring on his finger, Sein was immediately recognized by the underground dark creatures and demihumans as a noble divine messenger.

They brought him offerings, one after another.

But by now, those items no longer interested him.

As he stood before the full-body statue and looked up at the Spider Queen's lavishly decorated temple, a thought crossed his mind: maybe he could try using the Silver Spider Ring to contact her.

In theory, since the ring had once been worn on his finger, the Spider Queen should have been able to contact him at any time.

Yet ever since he left the soul tower in Blackhaven, she had not reached out even once.

Perhaps she was still preoccupied with the Moonlit Cat Goddess, the intermediate deity she had captured alive.

What began as a casual impulse to reach out unexpectedly drew a response from the Spider Queen.