Sovereign of the Ashes

Mayne's grandfather was the knight overlord who gave Sein many opportunities.

If he had not sent Sein to the Knight Continent back then, Sein might not have inherited the Faceless Mask.

Though the magic artifact he was working on was still unfinished, Sein thought about it for a moment and accepted Mayne's invitation.

After all, he was genuinely curious about this unfamiliar foreign plane.

He was not too worried about potential danger since Mayne was the descendant of a knight overlord. Surely he had to have some means of keeping himself safe.

Besides, the Eternal Sand Lord had no reason to be hostile toward powerhouses from Magus World.

Sein treated this journey as a trip to an unknown world.

Once he finalized the itinerary with Mayne, Sein had to put his experiments on hold.

Orethorn, the guardian of this plane, was also set to join them on the journey to Eternal Sand World.

Since he still had not found a suitable successor, Orethorn would only be traveling in the form of a clone this time.

Over the years, Lorianne had made some big strides in her research on the guardian's life essence.

According to her experiments, the reason Orethorn had lived far beyond the usual lifespan was due to a combination of factors.

One of them was the law power that came with his role as a guardian.

If Orethorn were to lose that status and the power that came with it, it would likely begin to turn to stone and die within the next thousand years. Maybe even sooner!

Another key factor was the deep well of law energy in its body, along with the life-giving worm mucus that the Sandworm Queen continually provided.

Both were keeping it alive far longer than expected.

While Sein had been immersed in his alchemy experiments these past few years, Lorianne had not been slacking off either.

By studying the nature of the guardian and the properties of the Sandworm Queen's mucus, she had developed three new types of restorative potions.

These potions could work directly on Rank Four or higher beings, and even extend their lifespan to a certain extent.

Lorianne's apothecary skills were just as impressive as Sein's alchemy.

In fact, many of the potions used by Gregory, Bernice, and the others had been crafted by her.

Still, like Sein's magic artifact, Lorianne's new potions were only prototypes and had yet to be fully refined.

Once she perfected them, she planned to sell them to the rich elemental kings of Amethyst World.

She had already promised to share a cut of the profits with Sein.

***

Sein brought along a few of the prototype potions his mentor had given him, using the journey to Eternal Sand World with Mayne and the others to study them further.

Being the generous Rank Four mage she was, Lorianne had even handed out a few of the potions to Mayne and the others.

Even though these were only prototypes, their effects were nearly indistinguishable from most other potions.

More importantly, these were potions that worked on Rank Four or higher beings!

Lorianne had spent years working on them and only managed to produce around ten in total.

The slim vials Mayne held contained a special orange-yellow liquid.

According to Lorianne, it could rapidly heal injuries and slightly enhance one's life essence permanently, though only on the first use.

After that, the potion would still work, but only as a high-quality healing elixir.

Coming from a prestigious knight house, Mayne had handled all kinds of rare items in his life and had seen more than his fair share of potions like this.

Still, he looked impressed as he studied the vial in his hand.

"This healing potion, made with ingredients extracted from the Sandworm Queen... I've seen something like it before," he said, intrigued.

"Oh? From where?" Sein asked, clearly curious.

He knew that within the Magus Alliance, there were several planes with 'beneficial insect' ecosystems. They provided essential resources to the alliance every year, just like the Activator Fairy World.

Mayne chuckled.

"It's a medium-sized plane called the Void Aphid World. You've only recently reached Rank Four, so you might not have heard of it. It's in a remote star domain in the alliance's territory. Most of the planes in that region have 'void' attributes due to the unique environment.

"That world is home to a Rank Six creature known as the Void Aphid King. Potions made from the honeydew it secretes are said to have some restorative effect, even on overlord-level beings."

Mayne had been promoted earlier than Sein and naturally knew more than he did.

He was right, this was indeed the first time Sein had heard of the Void Aphid World.

He only had a rough idea of the prominent large-sized planes in the alliance, but not the countless medium-sized, small, and microplanes.

"The entire star domain has Void attributes? That's rare. I really want to see it someday," Sein said, clearly fascinated.

"It's surprising to hear that a honeydew-producing Aphid King could make it to Rank Six," he added in disbelief.

Mayne gave Sein a meaningful look and said, "It's only Rank Six. With the Magus Alliance pouring all its resources into it, of course it can break through."

Sein nodded at Mayne's explanation. He recalled something his mentor had once mentioned about the Activator Fairy World.

That world was also classified as a medium-sized plane. Creatures that could only produce valuable potion ingredients known as activator factors typically lacked strong combat potential or the ability to evolve significantly.

But after joining the Magus Alliance, the Activator Fairy World had rapidly advanced in development.

It had started out as a mere microplane, but it was now a well-known medium-sized world!

Void Aphid World was the same. Since it produced rare resources with restorative properties potent enough to benefit even overlord-level beings, it had gained a status within the alliance that even some large-sized worlds could not ignore.

After all, those overlord-level powerhouses never knew when they might desperately need the help of these tiny creatures.

As the civilization war drew closer, the value of planes like the Activator Fairy World and the Void Aphid World had only grown within the Magus Alliance.

Sein's newly conquered White Sand World fell into a similar category.

While the Sandworm Queen lacked real combat power, her potential for resource generation was massive.

She was definitely not suited for frontline combat. Her real value was behind the lines, producing that special mucus. That was where she could truly shine.

Out of the blue, Mayne grinned and said, "I happen to know someone in the Void Aphid World. Just making sure, the Sandworm Queen of White Sand World is female, right?"

"The Aphid King over there is a Rank Six male. Shall I introduce them so they can mate?" he added with a chuckle, making it hard to tell whether he was joking or not.

"M-Mate...?" Sein blinked, clearly caught off guard by the knight's suggestion.