Sovereign of the Ashes

Sein was acquainted with both the Green Spikefur King and Kingfisher.

The little beautiful bird, in particular, had accompanied him throughout the Wild Gorilla World War.

Even after all these years, Kingfisher recognized him.

Letting out a clear, resonant cry, it flew over and perched on Sein's shoulder.

The creatures of the Verdant Wilderness World were very different from the enslaved creatures used as cannon fodder in the space fortress.

The most obvious difference was that the creatures from enslaved planes like the Viridian Venom Flame World were kept in cages and suppressed through soul seals.

By contrast, the plant creatures of the Verdant Wilderness World were not caged, and most of them carried no soul seals on them.

This difference in treatment came from the fact that the Verdant Wilderness World had been introduced into the Magus Alliance by the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring as an allied plane.

And creatures of allied planes could not be treated so "barbarically".

Many of the higher-ranking enslaved creatures serving as cannon fodder possessed a high degree of intelligence.

The glances they cast toward the plant creatures of the Verdant Wilderness World clearly betrayed their envy.

Joining the Magus Alliance indeed came with many benefits.

Lorianne had even promised the native creatures of the Verdant Wilderness World that, if the war in White Sand World ended smoothly, she would allocate a share of the war spoils to them.

The Rank Four Verdant Wilderness God was a stationary plant deity; otherwise, it would likely have joined the war effort without hesitation.

Even without any compensation, the opportunity to appear before Lorianne and the Magus Alliance was already a great honor.

However, Lorianne rejected the Verdant Wilderness God's proposal to send its divine clones to the war.

With the plant legions already assembled from the Verdant Wilderness World, it was more than enough.

Hearing the Kingfisher's loud chirp brought a rare sense of ease to Sein, who had been working nonstop for years.

He brought his finger close to its sharp little beak and gave it an affectionate nudge.

Sev also liked to perch on Sein's shoulder, though compared to the Kingfisher, the owl was much weaker in strength.

Even so, Sein shared a stronger bond with Sev.

Lorianne had been waiting for Sein in the command center of the space fortress.

In the hall just outside, Sein also spotted the demigod-level mage named Jessica.

After letting his gaze linger for a brief moment on her chest, he nodded to her and stepped into the command room.

"I didn't expect you could gather so many lower-tier legions. Looks like I've underestimated you," Lorianne teased.

Given her intelligence, it should not be hard for her to guess that Sein could easily rally a large sea race legion, given his close relationship with Tourmaline.

Sea creatures had appeared in past campaigns of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring as well.

"Please do not tease me, Master Lorianne," Sein replied with a wry smile. "We still need to stop by Beastmen World and Centaurworld—two of my lower-tier legions are waiting to be loaded."

Lorianne nodded, then asked, "Where's Tourmaline? I don't see her."

"She'll be here later. Said she has something to pack at home," Sein answered.

Then, as if recalling something, he commented, "Actually, the fastest way to train initiates is to let them experience real war."

"The strength of Magus World magic initiates already surpasses that of most cannon fodder legions. If we could bring initiates and squires onto the battlefield, there would be more full-fledged mages and ranked knights in this world than there are now," Sein added with another sigh.

"What, are you starting to feel the difficulty of running a divine tower academy now that you finally have one?" Lorianne laughed.

Sein nodded. "With the number of initiates at the Divine Tower of Ashes right now, I have no idea when I'll finally see a full-fledged mage raised by my own academy."

"Why the rush? The development of a divine tower does not yield results overnight," Lorianne chided.

"Your divine tower academy still has a two-hundred-year protection period, so it won't be joining the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War right away. Once you are eligible to participate, the breakthrough rate of full-fledged mages will rise sharply. What you need to do now is focus on steady development and recruit more initiates," she explained, offering him a bit of comfort.

"How many initiates does your academy have now?" Lorianne asked.

"Not many. Just over a thousand," Sein replied.

He did not want to linger on the topic—some things were simply not appropriate to share with Lorianne.

In terms of personality, she and Master Dark Flame could not be more different.

"Oh? Already over a thousand? That's pretty fast!" Lorianne said in surprise.

Since leaving the Divine Tower of Ashes last time, Lorianne had not returned to visit her apprentice.

For beings of Rank Four or higher, a few years or even decades were nothing more than fleeting moments.

When Lorianne last left, there had only been around three hundred initiates at the Divine Tower of Ashes, and that was because Sein had brought back an entire ship of initiates.

"Don't be discouraged. Your divine tower is making good progress. As for your suggestion about bringing initiates and squires onto the battlefield... Perhaps one day it might be possible, once you reach a point where you can modify the regulations of divine towers and knightly orders," Lorianne said, giving Sein a pat on the shoulder.

"The rules governing divine towers and knightly orders in Magus World strictly prohibit any action that would endanger native creatures without cause, unless under extremely special circumstances, knights and mages below Rank One aren't allowed to participate in battle," she added.

That specific rule also served as a legal protection for native creatures under Magus World's system—though currently, it only applied to humans.

Other beings, such as demihumans, sea races, and magic beasts, were not bound by any rule that required them to be Rank One or above in order to join interplanar wars.

Sein only grumbled, nodded, and chose not to pursue the topic further.

Once Tourmaline and the combat legions were all in position, the Verdant Spring Space Fortress slowly lifted off from the public starport.

At the same time, another space fortress from the Order of the Green Bounty departed from a different starport.

It was unclear how many cannon fodder legions the Order of the Green Bounty had brought along, but they had certainly mobilized a large number of knights.

In the recent Eversurge War, nearly fifty thousand ranked knights from their order had taken part in the conflict.

That alone showed how much more numerous knights were in Magus World compared to mages.

Sein and Tourmaline's quarters aboard the space fortress were located in a special residential wing reserved for Sein when Lorianne first acquired the vessel years ago.

They were on the top floor of the fortress, right next to Lorianne's own chambers.

Perhaps exhausted from her recent efforts, Tourmaline did not even greet Sein upon arrival. She walked in, collapsed face-first onto Sein's bed, and fell into a deep sleep.

Her two long green arm ribbons floated gently above her body.

Who would have thought that this young lady was actually as powerful as this space fortress itself?