Sovereign of the Ashes

After the academy war ended, the Tower Master of Flowlight Waterfall approached Sein.

"Master Sein, the overall quality of your initiates is really high. It's hard to believe these children are taking part in the academy war for the first time. Do you have any tips for training initiates that you can share?" he asked.

The Divine Tower of Flowlight Waterfall had ranked fourth overall in the academy war.

If it were not for one phenomenal initiate with the highest individual score carrying the team, this tower master would have looked as dismayed as the Tower Master of Hosta.

Before the academy war began, the Tower Master of Flowlight Waterfall had been quite confident in his academy's initiates.

"You flatter me, Master Rex. There's no special trick to it. Maybe it's just that the harsh environment and constant battles in Ashenreach have forced these young initiates to grow up fast," Sein replied.

"Back when I was a Rank Three mage, I came to realize that under equal conditions, commoner initiates tend to grow faster than noble initiates—though nobles might have a slight edge at first when they are just starting to learn magic," he added with a smile.

Sein's words made the other tower masters furrow their brows, lost in thought.

Then Sein added, "Master Rex, that phenomenal initiate from your academy, Sean, is also quite talented. If he had refined his Ice Storm spell a little more, he might have been considered the Despairer of this academy war."

A small smile touched Rex's face. That phenomenal initiate was his grand apprentice, and the boy had truly made him proud.

Rex was already considering mentoring him personally once they returned to the academy.

***

After exchanging pleasantries with the other divine tower masters for a bit, the regional academy war was officially concluded.

The resources and magicoins awarded during the academy war were mostly subsidized by the Magus Alliance, with only a small portion covered by the six divine tower academies themselves.

Sein also took the time to meet with Kayne and Emia—the two initiates who had performed exceptionally during the academy war.

Although neither had been promoted to Rank One yet, their outstanding talent and achievements earned them special privileges from Tower Master Sein.

This included preferential treatment in their divine tower contracts once they became full-fledged mages.

Both Kayne and Emia had their own mentors, and both were registered mages of the Divine Tower of Ashes.

When asked if he had any wish he wanted fulfilled, Kayne's reply was a surprising one—he hoped the great Tower Master of Ashes could help him revive someone.

Sein shook his head at Kayne's request. He had never heard of any mage capable of truly bringing someone back from the dead.

Even Grandmaster Feylis had been helpless when two of her apprentices lost their lives—what could he possibly do?

If it was about transforming a corpse into an undead creature or creating an undead chimera beast... that was something Sein might be able to help with.

Some high-quality undead creatures could even inherit fragments of their past memories. But Sein was not sure if that could really be considered revival.

Since his first wish could not be fulfilled, Kayne said his second wish was to purge all black mages from Ashenreach, and that he would dedicate his life to that goal.

Sein praised Kayne's character highly for such a request. The boy might be young, but his ambitions were anything but small.

Sein promised that as the tower master, he would take full responsibility for the peace and stability of Ashenreach.

When Sein offered Emia—who in his eyes had even greater potential—a mechanical arm, she politely declined.

"Master Flacq has already promised to personally craft an elemental arm for me after this academy war ends," she said.

Emia, who usually came across as cold and unapproachable to other initiates, blushed like a ripe apple at the mention of her mentor.

Only mages of Rank Two or above could create an elemental arm. Flacq had probably held off on giving her one during the academy war as it could have been seen as a form of cheating.

"Flacq? The mage who saved you back then?" Sein asked, recalling Emia's story.

The initiate nodded shyly in response.

***

After meeting with the two promising initiates who had stood out in the academy war, Sein returned to the underground levels of the Divine Tower of Ashes, where two distinguished guests were waiting for him.

They were none other than the Tower Master of Crimson Golden Dragon and the Tower Master of Lava Volcano, whom Sein had recently parted ways with.

Perched on the shoulder of the Tower Master of Crimson Golden Dragon was a mini golden dragon.

The little dragon radiated an air of majesty, but the moment it entered the Divine Tower of Ashes, it cautiously restrained its aura.

Aside from keeping a low profile, there was another reason—Tourmaline was asleep in the lake above.

"Ah, so this is Master Sein's divine tower? It's truly unique! I can tell that the magma environment and the intensity of the pyro elemental laws at the lowest level would be a huge help in exploring the deeper truths," the Tower Master of Crimson Golden Dragon said in amazement.

Meanwhile, the Tower Master of Lava Volcano was quietly taking in the surroundings.

Since both were Pyromancers like Sein, they could appreciate far better than others the brilliance of Sein's choice of location and the structure of his divine tower.

Unlike his talkative demeanor during the academy war, the Tower Master of Lava Volcano had grown quieter upon entering the underground space of Sein's divine tower.

It was the Tower Master of Crimson Golden Dragon who did most of the talking.

After humbly accepting their praise, Sein began discussing cooperation in areas like resource exchange and trade with these two Rank Four mages from the Byrne Empire.

The reason they had not discussed this openly during the academy war and had chosen to meet in secret down here was that the topic was not meant for public ears.

In fact, from certain angles, what Sein and the others were about to do would be seen as a violation of the Magus Alliance's and Byrne Empire's strict laws.

These two Rank Four mages from the Byrne Empire had been introduced to Sein by the Spider Queen.

And they were probably not the highest-ranking people the Spider Queen had spoken to; they were just representatives sent by a certain faction within the Byrne Empire to negotiate with Sein.

The scale of the smuggling profits, reaching tens of millions or even hundreds of millions, was simply too tempting.

Perhaps Sein had never been a righteous man to begin with.

When involved in things like this, he felt no moral burden, no guilt at all.

All that mattered to him was how much benefit he could gain.