Sovereign of the Ashes

This time, as he prepared to set out for White Sand World, Sein had only about a hundred mages under his command—a rather modest number.

However, he had already issued a call to arms in nearby regions, drawing traveling mages from across Ashenreach into the campaign.

These participants did not need to be officially registered with the Divine Tower of Ashes, though their war profits would naturally be a bit lower as a result.

The move also helped further promote the Divine Tower of Ashes.

It was expected that once the war concluded, some of these mages would choose to join Sein's tower.

Although his mage legion was relatively small, Sein commanded several other legions.

In Centaurworld, Maya and Luna increased their available forces to fifty thousand centaurs and two hundred thousand minotaurlings after receiving another substantial injection of magicoins from Sein.

Those figures represented the upper limit of what the Maya Tribe could currently manage.

For the two female centaurs, the White Sand World War was a critical turning point for their tribe, and they had essentially gone all in.

Beyond the centaur forces, Sein also hired a legion of roughly one hundred thousand half-beastmen from Eugene at a bargain rate.

Though fewer in number than the Maya Tribe's legions, these half-beastmen possessed far greater combat power.

Given the brief time the Maya Tribe had to rest and regroup, Sein suspected their ranks were filled mostly with the old, the weak, and the infirm—troops who could contribute little beyond token support.

In contrast, Eugene's half-beastman legions appeared to be hand-picked elite fighters, whose prowess Sein had already witnessed during the Bouldrak World War.

On top of that, since Tourmaline had agreed to accompany Sein to White Sand World, the sea races of Magus World assembled an amphibious legion nearly three hundred thousand strong.

White Sand World had only a few oceans, and its elemental makeup was heavily geo- and aero-based, so the sea races might struggle to fight at full strength.

Still, with the completion of the Divine Tower of Ashes and its surrounding artificial sea also nearing completion, more and more sea folk and aquatic creatures were migrating to the area through the Verdant Wave Canal.

This increasingly well-rounded ecological environment was a big plus for both Sein and the Divine Tower of Ashes.

Including the sea races, Sein now commanded roughly six hundred fifty thousand combat troops—a formidable force by any standard.

And that did not even include the support coming from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring and the Order of the Green Bounty, both of which were preparing large numbers of cannon fodder units.

Once all forces were assembled, the Magus World force bound for White Sand World was expected to exceed two million troops.

That was more than enough to conquer a low-level plane like this.

***

Three years later, on the day of departure itself, Sein still had not received any "gift" from the Spider Queen.

Whether she was tied up with other matters or had simply stood him up again, he had been unable to reach her.

This left Sein a bit disappotined.

After all, the Spider Queen had promised to gift him a demigod-level Dark Elf Queen.

A demigod-level being would be a useful asset on an interplanar battlefield.

And since dark elves were originally fallen creatures of Grand Elven World, their combat abilities should be quite formidable too.

Sein could not exactly head to Blackhaven to ask the Spider Queen about it, so he had no choice but to set the matter aside for now.

On the other hand, Old Peyton from Sky City had already delivered Yuri's four newly developed mechas long ago.

At Sein's request, he also examined and modified the silver mecha that Lorianne had sent to the Divine Tower of Ashes last time.

"I never thought you'd actually reach Rank Four!" Old Man Peyton exclaimed in disbelief when he saw Sein.

He had heard Sein mention his advancement before, but thought the boy was just bluffing.

However, Peyton's shock at Sein's promotion was quickly overshadowed by the silver mecha in the tower's underground research hall.

The old man was also a research junkie himself. His obsessive studies into the principles of mechanics over the years had turned him into a semi-qualified mechanic.

The silver mecha before him represented the pinnacle of the Neisse Civilization's mecha engineering.

In Peyton's eyes, this damaged silver construct was no different from a Rank Four creature's remains.

How could he resist studying it?

But even for someone like Peyton, such advanced engineering principles were not something he could figure out overnight.

He was only a half-expert, after all. He made no promises and only stated honestly that he would give it a shot.

If Sein could bring in a proper Rank Four or higher mechanic to help him, things would likely progress a lot faster.

Unfortunately, Sein had no such connections and had never met any high-ranking mechanics.

This made him wonder if Haywood, the demigod-level mechanic who had participated in the Faceless Secret Realm trial on the Knight Continent, ever managed to reach Rank Four.

Sein never liked that loud guy, so he had never even considered reaching out to him.

In any case, deciphering the silver mecha would take time.

Old Man Peyton did not give him a specific timeline either; he simply settled into the Divine Tower of Ashes.

By the eve of Sein's departure, the silver mecha was still nowhere near ready for Yuri to operate.

It appeared they would have to wait until the next interplanar war to unlock even a fraction of its combat potential.

Several airships appeared in the skies above the Divine Tower of Ashes.

Looking over the divine tower academy—now home to over two thousand magic initiates—Sein waved his magic rod above the five hundred or so full-fledged mages gathered below and gave the signal to depart.

Among those five hundred mages, only about a hundred officially belonged to the Divine Tower of Ashes.

The remaining four hundred or so were mages drawn from surrounding regions, attracted by the divine tower's open recruitment and promotional policies.

Some of them were already registered with other divine towers and were currently traveling Magus World. Others were hedge mages who were still in an observational state.

It remained to be seen how many of these mages would choose to stay and join the Divine Tower of Ashes after the war.

"Let's go!" Sein said.

***

Several airships carrying the mages of the Divine Tower of Ashes set off toward the Verdant Spring Space Fortress, which was docked at the starport outside the plane.

Relying on his Rank Four speed, Sein arrived at the fortress ahead of the others.

By this time, the space fortress was already packed with war legions.

Aside from the sea races' legions, Lorianne's plant giant legion and various types of slave cannon fodder legions filled most of the lower levels of the fortress.

The forces Lorianne had mobilized this time included nearly eight thousand full-fledged mages and close to eight hundred thousand lower-tier combat legions.

Among them, the plant giants cultivated by Lorianne alone numbered nearly three hundred thousand—likely her entire stockpile.

The rest of the lower-tier legions had been conscripted from various planes conquered by the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring over the last two thousand years.

There were pyro elemental creatures from the Viridian Venom Flame World, Wild Gorillas and their subspecies, as well as newly subdued cannon fodder from Eversurge.

Sein even spotted two demigod-level beings from the Verdant Wilderness World—a massive green porcupine and a small, elegant kingfisher.

This time, the Verdant Wilderness World had also mobilized a contingent of plant legions to take part in the interplanar war called for by the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.