Sovereign of the Ashes

After leaving the gambling city, Sein and Black Oblivion wandered around Reyno Star City.

It was clear that the flood dragon's excitement had faded compared to when they first arrived.

Sein, on the other hand, was not too bothered. The hundred thousand or so magicoins he had made in the casino were quickly drained in this money-squandering den.

The last stop on Sein's tour was Reyno Star City's Blackhaven Commercial District.

Though the overall atmosphere was gloomy and cold, the place still saw a decent amount of foot traffic. Still, very few Magus World knights and mages came here to shop.

After walking around for a while, Sein noticed that the only ones around were foreign deities.

It seemed that only he and Black Oblivion were from Magus World.

Sein came to a stop in front of a ten-story building at the heart of the Blackhaven Commercial District.

Buildings in this district tended to be low-rise and lacked the lavishness of those in the gambling city.

Even so, the ten-story building before him stood out—it was the most eye-catching structure in the area.

Sein stepped inside, and before long, two pale-skinned, bright-eyed zombie dolls approached to welcome them.

Whether it was the questionable taste of Blackhaven's black mages or simply the result of their years spent working with undead creatures and chimera beasts, they could have chosen beautiful maids as hosts, but instead, they insisted on turning them into zombie dolls.

These two had clearly been stunning in life, and even now, as undead, they possessed an eerie sort of allure.

It was said that certain foreign deities with twisted preferences, especially undead or evil gods, were particularly fond of this aesthetic.

Thankfully, Sein did not share those tastes. When the two dolls bowed politely before him, he saw them as nothing more than puppets.

"I need some activated flesh. Bring me the top-quality batch you have. And if you have any high-grade necromantic ingredients in stock, bring those too," Sein said.

With Black Oblivion beside him, Sein was undoubtedly seen as a high-class client.

Unlike Tourmaline, who often suppressed her aura, Black Oblivion made no effort to restrain his at all.

The two could not be more different—the flood dragon loved to show off.

The two zombie dolls quickly left with respectful nods. Moments later, another one appeared, serving Sein and Black Oblivion two cups of dark tea.

Submerged in the tea was what looked like a piece of decaying bone, with faint black specks floating on the surface, which Sein suspected were its fragments.

Black Oblivion gave it a sniff, then pushed the cup away in disgust.

Sein, still wearing the Faceless Mask, studied the tea in his hand with curiosity before actually taking a few sips.

According to the Faceless Mask's data analysis, the floating particles were not bone fragments at all, but a rare herb known asFrightshade.

It was something Sein had never come across before; he did not recall seeing it in any of the markets back in Magus World.

Of course, that might be because he was not a Necromancer or Umbramancer, so his knowledge in those areas was far from complete.

Sein did not have to wait too long before he and Black Oblivion were led to the third floor by one of the zombie dolls, where a demigod-level black mage came out to meet them.

This black mage was most likely an expert in human body modification. He had grafted three arms onto himself, and the one on his shoulder was incredibly agile.

By the time Sein arrived, he had already sorted out all the materials Sein requested.

When it came to activated flesh, it was not the Necromancers who made the best in Magus World—it was the black mages of Blackhaven.

Leena had once synthesized several sea lizards for Sein. Although one had fallen in battle, the others had stubbornly survived.

Since they were gifts she had given him back then, Sein decided to purchase some top-tier activated flesh to see if those sea lizards still had room for improvement.

Leena could have bought activated flesh from Blackhaven herself.

However, with her current strength and life level, she did not have access to ingredients of this grade—not until she reached Rank Four or higher.

Now that Sein was here in Reyno Star City, he figured he might as well make the purchase himself.

As for the necromantic materials he wanted, it was mainly for Lou, the half-undead girl.

Her potential was solid. Even though Sein was not a Necromancer, Lou had continued to grow steadily over the years, and her intelligence had sharpened with time.

On top of that, she seemed to have become friends with Tourmaline.

While Sein had been busy constructing his divine tower over the past few years, Lou was the one who played with Tourmaline most of the time.

Sein had developed a keener sense over these years, and with the Faceless Mask handling all the data analysis, he quickly picked out the items he wanted to buy.

The overall cost was not too bad either. Due to the scarcity of resources and the black mages' desperate need to make money, their goods were generally priced low and remained affordable.

That was why so many foreign deities came specifically to the Blackhaven Commercial District to shop.

"The total comes to 117,652 magicoins. But if your companion would be willing to offer a blood sample, I can give you a twenty percent discount," the demigod-level black mage said, looking at Sein and Black Oblivion with clear interest.

Black Oblivion clearly had not expected anyone to show interest in him and let out a laugh.

Sein laughed as well. He shook his head and politely turned down the offer, then pulled out his magicoins to pay in full.

"Thirty! I'll give you a thirty percent discount. What do you think?" the black mage offered again, refusing to give up so easily.

"Forget it, I'm not letting my friend sell his blood." Sein placed a hefty stack of magicoins on the counter and turned to leave, ignoring the disappointed look on the mage's face.

Once they were outside, Sein could not help but chuckle at Black Oblivion beside him. "If you're broke next time, perhaps you can consider selling your blood."

"Forget about the black mages, I'll introduce you to a few clients myself. My grandmaster and one of her apprentices would probably be very interested in your dragon blood," he teased.

Black Oblivion rolled his eyes. "My dragon blood is worth way more than a few thousand magicoins!"

With some magicoins still left over, Sein took the time to explore more of Reyno Star City.

He picked out gifts for Lorianne, Tourmaline, even for Yuri, Azelia, and a few others.

Of course, he included Black Oblivion too. Sein had a massive, solid-gold dragon statue custom-made for him, over a hundred meters tall.

He ordered it from a specialty shop called Atelier Kurulu.

The Kurulu, who typically stood less than half a meter tall and had pink skin, were natural-born sculptors.

It was said that many deities in the Magus Alliance came here to commission full-body statues of themselves.

Despite their frail bodies, the Kurulus had carved out a place for themselves in the Magus Alliance through this seemingly modest talent.

Originally from a microplane, they were promoted to a low-level plane after joining the alliance and had since built strong relationships with many allied deities.

The dragon statue did not cost Sein much. It was made of ordinary gold, not some rare magic material.

Even so, Black Oblivion was absolutely delighted. His love for shiny things could not have been more obvious.

Back in Faeloria, Sein had heard demons say that the dragons there preferred to sleep in caves filled with gold coins.

Although Black Oblivion came from a much nobler lineage than ordinary dragons, it seemed he had not escaped that instinct.