Sovereign of the Ashes

As soon as he saw Crist and the others off, Sein summoned the Dark Elf Queen and the others.

"Don't you think blowing up one of my floating ports is a bit pricey?" Sein asked, shooting a sideways glance at the alluring, scantily clad Dark Elf Queen.

The construction cost of a single floating port was already sky-high, not to mention this one was close to completion and had extra value.

Speaking on the Dark Elf Queen's behalf was the Goddess of Wealth, whose confidence had only grown over the years.

"We need to force that inspection team to leave as soon as possible. Thegoodsfrom the Byrne Empire have been piling up at the entrance to the Verdant Wave Canal for quite a while. If they end up being discovered..."

Aurelia's explanation earned a nod from Sein, and he did not dwell on it any further.

The supplies coming from the Byrne Empire covered all sorts of things.

It was clear that with the Clash of Civilizations looming, Blackhaven had started preparing resources on a large scale for the coming conflict.

The resources shipped from Blackhaven were, naturally, their "specialties".

Sein had kept a lot of high-quality flesh and necromantic materials for himself—after all, they had belonged to the Spider Queen.

He had also gathered quite a number of crystals produced by the Byrne Empire, especially those fist-sized dragon crystals.

Working in this gray area really was lucrative, and it was by far the quickest way for him to make money.

If he had tried to get these materials through normal channels, they would never have ended up in his hands so easily or at nearly no cost.

When he thought about Aurelia's recent business dealings, Sein could not help but feel a headache.

This so-called intermediate deity from Faeloria had been taking his money all this time without ever properly earning anything back for him!

All in all, Aurelia had taken at least twenty million magicoins from Sein.

More than ten million had been his own savings and profits from the White Sand World War, and another ten million had been gifts from the Spider Queen.

Considering that he was still carrying part of the divine tower's loan, letting Aurelia act so freely was already a big show of trust.

Sein was curious to see how she planned to double her assets within a thousand years.

Earning magicoins was no easy task.

The economic system of Magus World was nowhere near as complex or ever-changing as that of the Gallant Federation.

There was no stock market here, and the entire economic development of the Magus Alliance focused on real industries.

Aurelia had also been involved in real industries over the years, but Sein had not yet seen the profitable side of it.

Aurelia would always tell him,"Soon."

Sein could only nod and leave the matter to her.

As a mage, he fully understood how scarce these rare resources from Blackhaven were.

On top of that, Aurelia had been working to establish trade routes to the White Sand World, the Half-Beastmen World, and even the Verdant Wilderness World in recent years.

The reason Sein had not seen any returns yet was simple: Aurelia had spread her net too wide.

This foreign goddess was ambitious, and she had big plans.

***

After Crist and the others left, Ashenreach gradually settled down.

The Rank Three black mages and dark creatures that had stirred up trouble had all vanished without a trace.

Even when some Rank One or Rank Two black mages were unaware of the situation and kept causing trouble, the righteous fist of the Divine Tower of Ashes quickly put an end to it.

Sein once again immersed himself in his daily experiments and research.

Lorianne, had not yet returned. Word was that the Amethyst World was very far from the Magus World, and the longer she stayed there, the more benefits she was likely reaping.

Sein was not too concerned about his mentor running into trouble.

As for the second Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War coming up in a few decades, Sein did not plan to worry about it too much.

After injecting another round of funding into the Divine Tower of Ashes Academy and expanding its scale, he left the rest to Marie.

She would not only collaborate with the divine towers of the Byrne Empire to host the next academy war, but after a few more, she would also represent the Divine Tower of Ashes in forging connections with the divine towers along the South Coast.

When he learned that Master Medich had been promoted to Rank Four, Sein took the opportunity during a break in his experiments to visit the Divine Tower of Luminaris on the South Coast and pay his respects.

A mage's life was not all about the pursuit of truth; sometimes Sein made plans simply to relax and clear his mind.

Thanks to the Silver Spider Ring given by the Spider Queen, Sein also managed to travel to Blackhaven several times.

He was there not for the Spider Queen, but to meet Leena on the outskirts of Blackhaven.

Back in the day, meeting up with Leena meant going through Sanchez, the skeletal dragon, and using the Undead World as a stopover.

It was a real hassle.

Now that Sein had been promoted to Rank Four, breaking through space to travel was no longer a challenge, thanks to his deeper understanding of spatial magic and the Silver Spider Ring.

And given Sein's life level... the cost would be far too high if he still had to detour through the Undead World.

When he met with Leena, Sein learned that she had struggled to contact Sanchez for some time and had completely lost touch in recent decades.

The skeletal dragon was not dead; it had entered a deep slumber—hibernation, to be exact.

Undead creatures tended to hibernate in tombs, and it was not the same as sleep—undead did not need sleep.

There were generally two reasons Sanchez might have gone into this state.

The first was that it had been badly injured and needed to hibernate to recover faster. The second was that it was on the verge of advancing in rank.

Both Sein and Leena leaned toward the second explanation.

After all, Sanchez was not young anymore, being able to finally advance to Rank Four would be good news.

"I've picked up quite a few dragon crystals and dragon bones recently. If you can reach Sanchez again, send them over," Sein said to Leena.

Leena's magic rod still held some authority over Sanchez, thanks to the soul contract that bound it.

It was the same power its former master had used to keep it in check.

If Sanchez successfully advanced, it would benefit both Sein and Leena greatly.

At the very least, they would have one more capable ally when the Clash of Civilizations broke out.

Time passed in a steady rhythm of focused experiments and the occasional moment of rest.

Just as Sein thought he could continue on this path toward the 25th Magus Alliance Conference, a knight from the Western Archipelago came knocking again.

"We still need you to go to the Phantom Crow World. Others have nominated several Rank Four knights and mages, but none of them are as suitable as you," Mayne said with a shrug.