Sovereign of the Ashes

"Greetings, Master Sein. I'm Crist, inspector from the Alveroth Empire. I'm here to investigate a cross-border smuggling case involving initiates."

A Rank Four mage in red leather armor approached Sein and spoke politely.

The fact that he wore leather armor made it clear he was one of those rare and powerful dual cultivators.

Crist definitely qualified as a "powerhouse". Even though Sein was not wearing the Faceless Mask at the moment, he could tell from the man's aura and battle qi that Crist's strength was no less than his own.

Crist did not come alone. About two hundred knights and mages were behind him. They were clearly well-prepared, so it seemed they were serious about investigating something.

"Hello, Master Crist. I'm Sein. How can I help you?" Sein smiled as he greeted him.

Even though Crist cultivated battle qi as well, Sein still regarded him as a mage of equal rank.

Crist gave a slight smile. "In the southern region of the Alveroth Empire, there have been frequent attacks on airships carrying initiates over the past millennia. We would like to request Master Sein's cooperation as we carry out some investigations."

"We've also gathered intelligence, and much of the evidence points to Ashenreach," Crist added.

Anyone who walked by the river was bound to get their shoes wet.

More than eighty percent of the initiates in Sein's Divine Tower of Ashes came from the Alveroth Empire.

After doing this sort of thing so many times, it was only natural that it would eventually leave traces. But Sein had already prepared for that and appeared unfazed.

He nodded in agreement to Crist, then he turned to the Byrne Empire mages beside him and said, "Looks like the black mages of Ashenreach have gotten too bold and drawn the attention of our friends from the Alveroth Empire. I'll have a word with Master Crist first. See you all later."

The Tower Master of Lava Volcano and the others nodded.

They all knew just how chaotic Ashenreach—the former Darwell Region—had been.

In fact, black mage activity around their divine towers was even more rampant than in most other parts of Magus World's main continent.

Sein's bold move to build a divine tower in Ashenreach caught the attention of many powerful beings of Rank Four or higher in the surrounding regions, who watched with curiosity and amazement.

Many even wanted to get to know Sein because of it.

After excusing himself from the other divine tower masters, Sein and Chris flew off to a quiet corner of the trial secret realm.

The visitor was an inspector from the Alveroth Empire, not an overseer from the Magus Alliance, so Sein knew there was no need for concern.

If the Magus Alliance had sent someone, he would have had to be careful.

"Master Sein, what are your thoughts on the increasingly rampant smuggling of initiates in our Magus World?" Crist asked first.

"These black mages have gone too far. I think the Magus Alliance should really step up its efforts and crack down on them!" Sein replied.

Crist nodded in agreement, then went on, "I hear your Divine Tower of Ashes has done a fine job recruiting initiates these past few years."

"Those are your initiates down there, right? Looks like you already have thousands of them. That is pretty impressive for a newly built divine tower," he added, glancing down at the trial secret realm below.

Right below where they hovered was the Divine Tower of Ashes Academy's main trial zone.

The number of initiates in Sein's Divine Tower of Ashes had indeed exceeded the expectations of the other tower masters.

As another first-timer in the academy war, even the Divine Tower of Hosta had just over a thousand qualified initiates, despite being backed by family resources and the Byrne Empire's policy support.

The Byrne Empire was not like the Alveroth Empire, where magic was made accessible for all. As a result, almost all the initiates in those five divine towers came from noble families.

Learning magic cost a fortune. Just the training expenses for initiates at Sein's Divine Tower of Ashes were about three to four times higher than what other divine towers spent.

"Ah, these children really are unfortunate. Most of them were rescued from black mages. I've always had a wish, ever since before I reached Rank Four... to purge all black mages from our Magus World," Sein said, his voice filled with compassion.

"This has something to do with my past," he added.

Sein's words made Crist's expression stiffen slightly.

But the mage quickly composed himself and continued, "I hear there's a mage named Bousse from our Alveroth Empire who has joined the Divine Tower of Ashes."

"Surely you know this person, Master Sein. We want to investigate him," Crist said, meeting Sein's gaze.

"I'm sorry, I have never heard of this mage. Is he a Rank One or Rank Two mage?" Sein asked calmly, sounding curious.

"I've been caught up in several experimental projects these past decades, so I'm not too familiar with the academy's internal situation." Sein furrowed his brow and let out a small sigh. "I'll call my dean over and check."

Before long, Marie, who had been watching the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War, arrived at Sein's side.

She had no idea what was going on. Just moments ago, her attention had been on the young mages from the academy.

When Sein called her over, she shot a curious glance at Crist, as well as at the Tower Master of Lava Volcano and the others who were not too far away at this moment.

"Marie, do we have someone at the academy named Bousse? He's..." Sein turned to Crist, expecting him to finish the sentence.

"He should be a Rank Two mage," Crist said.

"Ah, a Rank Two mage named Bousse... Is there anyone by that name among the registered mages of our divine tower?" Sein asked.

Marie blinked at his question.

She glanced at Crist, then shook her head without hesitation. "Master Sein, our Divine Tower Academy doesn't have a Rank Two mage named Bousse. But I do know that a Rank One academy mage named Boris joined us not long ago. I was the one who interviewed him."

"All the records of our 527 registered mages are with me. If you'd like to review them, you're welcome to do so now," Marie offered, pulling a crystal ball from her robe.

A little over a hundred years ago, right after the White Sand World War ended, the Divine Tower of Ashes had only about three hundred registered mages. Now, more than a century later, nearly two hundred more had joined.

This was a sign that the Divine Tower of Ashes was growing nicely.

As the dean of the Divine Tower Academy, Marie was truly doing an excellent job!