Sovereign of the Ashes

“Useless boy! I’ve taught you so many times, yet you still can’t create a perfect specimen! Look at how much stuff you have wasted! Maybe you’re better off becoming the subject of my experiment instead.”

Master Collance cackled as he grabbed the neck of a male initiate. His bulging eyes gleamed with madness and malevolence.

“Ah, fresh flesh and blood... My little Ratty will surely find you a delight, hehehehe!”

The male initiate found himself in the plight after botching his experiment.

Unlike Sein, who stood on the podium as Master Collance’s assistant and had a complete body to work with, the other initiates were provided with only dismembered parts due to the academy’s limited resources and concerns about wastage.

Before the male initiate was a severed forearm. Out of nervousness, or possibly due to other factors, he inadvertently severed three veins, rendering his specimen utterly useless.

A shrill squeak erupted from the sleeve of Master Collance’s black robe.

A grotesque rat, with three-quarters of its fur missing and unsettling red flesh exposed, leaped out.

Its sudden appearance sent a shiver down the spines of every initiate in the classroom, including Sein, who was on the podium.

Over the course of his ten years at the Black Magic Academy, Sein had borne witness to the rat’s gruesome feasting on humans more times than he could count. The sight had often invaded his dreams on countless nights.

It would be no exaggeration to claim that more than seventy percent of the initiates at the academy had been traumatized by this rat.

Having witnessed the battle between the two black mages, Sein surmised that the rat was likely to be more powerful than Master Katherson’s towering plant monster.

The rat’s red eyes gleamed with a cruel and sinister light.

As the other initiates remained frozen in shock, the rat, initially the size of a palm, transformed into a two-meter-long shadow. It leaped up and devoured the male initiate before it in one swift motion.

Upon landing, the rat reverted to its original palm-sized form and returned into the sleeve of Master Collance’s robe.

Its faint squeaks lingered in the air and the initiates could catch a glimpse of a pair of ominous red lights gleaming in the shadows of Master Collance’s sleeve.

They could feel its insatiable gaze, akin to that of a predator fixed on its next meal.

Someone in the classroom gulped audibly. The other initiates immediately redirected their attention to their specimen, striving to complete their tasks to the best of their ability without obvious errors.

Any slip-ups were hastily covered up well enough to remain unnoticed by the keen eyes of a full-fledged black mage.

Sein was equally immersed in his work. As Collance had praised at the beginning, Sein’s handling of the specimen was impeccable.

His perfect execution made it clear that he might possess a natural talent in this field. Perhaps, with Master Collance as his mentor, he could become a prominent initiate in necromorphic sorcery, just like Michael.

Yet considering Master Collance’s nature and his penchant for using initiates as subjects of his experiments, Sein had no regrets about his initial choice.

As Sein intently scrutinized his specimen, he noticed a female initiate seated in the front row of the classroom. She was trembling slightly, silently begging for Sein’s help with a pleading look in her eyes.

Sein did not recognize this female initiate, but her face appeared vaguely familiar. She was likely an initiate who had only joined the academy two years ago.

Her youthful appearance suggested that she could not have been older than ten.

She was dissecting a human palm. Sein evaluated her specimen with a professional eye and identified at least two glaring mistakes.

The female initiate was clearly frightened, which was only normal after witnessing Master Collance’s pet rat devouring another initiate in the class.

Making three blatant mistakes amounted to a death sentence. The girl had committed two glaring errors, leaving her on the precipice of doom with only one more mistake to spare.

Master Collance could only tolerate those who had made a maximum of one error.

After all, initiates like Sein, who could flawlessly execute the entire dissection, were considered extremely rare within the Black Magic Academy.

Sein was seemingly born for this task, a natural at it. With proper guidance and knowledge, he could have a bright future as a necromancer.

The female initiate’s plea for help weighed heavily on Sein’s heart.

He could see that one of her two glaring mistakes was rectifiable, but trying to intervene under the watchful eye of Master Collance could put both of them at risk.

The girl wore her black hair in tiny braids. Her unique hairstyle added to her beauty, setting her apart from the other female initiates.

The look of desperation in her eyes reminded Sein of a situation from years ago when Marie, another fresh initiate who had sat next to him, sought Sein’s assistance in a similar way.

At the time, Sein was only a junior initiate. He could not be certain whether his decision to assist Marie was influenced by her imploring gaze or simply because he had recently arrived in Gloomhaven and had yet to fully adapt to the environment of the Black Magic Academy.

Now, faced with a situation reminiscent of his past, Sein questioned whether he would extend his assistance to this female initiate, just as he had done for Marie back then.

As Sein pondered, he glanced at Master Collance, who was engrossed in evaluating the other initiates’ work.

Since his inspection proceeded in a vertical pattern across the classroom, there was still some time before the female initiate’s specimen would be evaluated.

Sein took a deep breath, then reached for the scalpel on the table.

Rather than getting off the podium to physically assist the female initiate in correcting her mistake, Sein opted for a more discreet approach.

He made subtle gestures in the air to communicate the solution by demonstrating with his complete specimen.

The other initiates were all focused on their specimen, so Sein’s discreet actions went unnoticed, save for the female initiate who sought his help.

Being able to survive two years in the Black Magic Academy typically implied a certain level of intelligence.

When Sein demonstrated the solution in the air for the second time, the female initiate quickly grasped the unspoken advice and promptly picked up her scalpel to rectify her work.

Fortunately, she was only dealing with a hand specimen, which did not require too much effort in the first place.

By the time Master Collance reached her station, the female initiate had already rectified her specimen and was waiting respectfully.

“Hm? Not bad. You actually corrected a mistake using the Cross-Stitch Technique. Have I even taught that in the class? I guess I’m so old that my memory is starting to fail me.”

Master Collance shook his head dismissively, then moved on to assess the work of the next initiate.

All of this transpired in a brief span. Yet both the female initiate and Sein found themselves drenched in cold sweat.

It had indeed been a close call!

Had Sein known that Master Collance had yet to introduce the “Cross-Stitch Technique” to the fresh initiates, he would not have dared to assist the female initiate.