Sovereign of the Ashes

After leaving the Underworld, Sein flew straight north toward the Alveroth Empire.

The prosperous Alveroth truly lived up to its name as the "Magic Empire".

Compared to other regions, the atmosphere here was clearly more welcoming to spellcasters.

Thanks to the widespread adoption of magic, its infrastructure far surpassed that of most other places in the Magus World.

Now a powerful Rank Four spellcaster, Sein arrived in a major city in the southern part of the empire.

Upon releasing a trace of his Rank Four aura, official representatives from the empire quickly made contact.

"Esteemed Master, is there anything I can assist you with?" a Rank Three grand mage asked respectfully as he approached Sein.

"I recently ascended to Rank Four and am in the process of selecting a site for my divine tower. I came to the Alveroth Empire because I've long been fascinated by its environment," Sein replied frankly.

Although Sein had made plenty of acquaintances across the Magus World, very few were of much help when it came to selecting a site for a divine tower.

Since even Grandmaster Feylis had known Master Jorces, the creator of the Faceless Mask, he must have been quite influential in the Western Archipelago back in the day.

But Sein had no intention of establishing his tower there. Besides, he was not super familiar with the region.

Besides, staying within the Pyro Secret Society's sphere of influence and relying on his grandmaster's support would have been a better choice than choosing the Western Archipelago.

As for staying in contact with Leena, he had successfully constructed a teleportation channel using the Undead World as a transit point in the past. Now that he had reached Rank Four, this was even less of an issue.

While it could be a hassle, Sein no longer cared much about the energy crystal cost.

That said, Leena would need to be the one to come to him. If Sein had to visit her often, the hefty cost of using a teleportation array as a Rank Four would eventually become a problem.

For the moment, Sein's main concern was whether or not to establish his divine tower in the Alveroth Empire.

His request was far from unprecedented. In its long history, the Alveroth Empire had welcomed many powerful mages seeking to establish towers within its borders.

The Rank Three grand mage's eyes lit up with understanding. He bowed slightly and said,

"Please wait a moment. Our professionals will brief you on the many benefits of joining the Magic Empire shortly."

Shortly after the Rank Three grand mage left, a demigod-level male mage—clearly more experienced, though still relatively young—appeared before Sein and introduced himself.

"Greetings, Master. My name is Schubert. I'm here to help you with settling down in the Magic Empire and to answer any questions you may have."

"I'm Sein," he replied with a nod. "But I haven't fully decided whether I'll join the Alveroth Empire yet. I'm still exploring my options."

"For Rank Four masters planning to establish divine towers, the most critical step is selecting the right planar node and securing the necessary policy support," Schubert began.

"I'll now take you on a field visit to several planar nodes and explain in detail the resources the Alveroth Empire is prepared to offer to support your potential integration as a grand mage," he said.

Sein nodded, signaling for him to proceed.

"I'd like to ask first—what's the attribute of your origin law power, Master Sein?" Schubert asked politely.

"Perhaps my eyes have failed me; I couldn't even tell what category of mage you are," he added apologetically.

With the Faceless Mask concealing Sein's aura, it was no surprise that Schubert could not discern much about him.

A ball of Ashen Flame ignited in Sein's hand.

"I'm a Pyromancer. I'd prefer a planar node situated in an area rich with pyro elemental law," he replied.

"I see—pyro elemental law, huh? Please wait a moment," Schubert said, nodding he looked at the flame in Sein's palm. A crystal ball appeared in his hand.

"In the southern part of the Alveroth Empire, there are currently seventy-three vacant pyro elemental planar nodes. Four of them are quite close to this city. Shall I take you to see those first?" he asked, while working on his crystal ball.

"Alright," Sein said, giving his approval.

If one wanted to assess the prosperity of a world, a good place to start was by looking at the number of law nodes it had.

Even in just the southern region of the Alveroth Empire, there were over seventy vacant pyro elemental planar nodes. In theory, each one could support a Rank Four or higher Pyromancer in establishing a divine tower.

But of course, it was not as simple as the numbers suggested.

Planar nodes themselves were not inherently valuable. What truly mattered were the rare and exceptional law nodes.

To put it bluntly, out of those seventy-three pyro elemental planar nodes, fewer than twenty would likely meet the standards of a Rank Four mage and actually be chosen for divine tower construction.

Building a divine tower was not about picking a random node and settling down there.

The purity of the pyro elemental law near the planar node, the condition of the surrounding environment, whether any unique resources were produced there, and which divine towers or knightly orders were established nearby... all of these were important factors to consider.

While heading toward a nearby planar node for inspection, Sein also took the opportunity to learn more about the Alveroth Empire's talent recruitment policy from the demigod-level mage named Schubert.

What counted as "talent"? Mages of Rank Four and above, like Sein, were undoubtedly in that category and were highly sought after by major factions.

When it came to recruiting foreign mages of Rank Four and above, the Alveroth Empire's approach shared some similarities with the Pyro Secret Society.

The empire was also willing to allocate at least one million magicoins to help fund the construction of new divine towers for these tower masters.

One million magicoins might sound like an astronomical amount to mages below Rank Four, but for building a divine tower, it was barely a dent in the actual cost.

Constructing a divine tower typically required at least tens of millions.

The Alveroth Empire definitely had its perks, like a high number of magic initiates and a supportive environment for spellcasters, but the cost of building a divine tower here was also several times higher than in other parts of the Magus World.

In addition to basic loans from the Magus Alliance and other low-interest funding options, the Alveroth Empire also provided slightly better low-interest loans specifically for Rank Four mages seeking to build towers within its territory.

"Actually, our Magic Empire also offers interest-free loans for divine tower masters," Schubert added with a smile.

"But that comes with conditions. You will need at least three local divine tower masters to act as guarantors, and you must travel to the imperial capital to make your case. The empire is fully prepared to support mages who show real potential."

Sein gave a slight nod in response, but made no further comment.