Sovereign of the Ashes

After assisting Sein in transporting the specimen back to his dormitory room, Cindy kept glancing at Sein and seemed reluctant to leave.

She was contemplating to remind Sein about something he might have forgotten.

However, the detached and emotionless tone of Sein’s farewell changed her mind. With a final glance, she decided to leave.

Once Cindy had left, Sein nodded his head approvingly. The specimen on the experiment table could last for two more months without decaying.

Despite spending the entire morning in the anatomy class, Sein resolved to continue his studies.

He picked up one of the five tomes his mentor had given him, then went over to his bed and began reading it.

“Introduction to Pandalea in the Magus World” was by far the thickest book Sein had ever read.

It covered a wide range of general magic knowledge and also contained his mentor’s handwritten notes at the end of many sections.

Apart from the invaluable general magic knowledge, Sein was also deeply intrigued by the various cultures of the Magus World and Magus Continent mentioned in the book.

Is Magus World the name of the world we live in?

Where is Gloomhaven located in the Magus World?

Where is my home in the Magus World?

These questions filled Sein’s mind as he flipped through the tome.

Unfortunately, the tome only covered basic knowledge, and Sein could not find answers to his burning questions.

The details about the culture in various parts of the Magus World in the tome was kept very vague. It was almost like the author had reservations about disclosing too much about the current state of the Magus World.

From the tome, Sein only learned that the size of the world he lived in was beyond his imagination.

In the notes written by Master Morsidor, he alluded to his sentiments of insignificance within the vast Magus World, despite being a full-fledged mage.

Now that Sein thought about it, he had been in Gloomhaven for ten years, yet he had never heard of any initiate who managed to leave Mystralora City and return to the surface.

The morning sun and the stars in the night sky had become nothing but distant memories now.

In Gloomhaven, all Sein could see was the faint glow of the lumenstones embedded in the rocky ceiling above his head.

The black mages had sealed off all routes to the surface. Despite Sein’s efforts to explore the borders of Mystralora City, he had never discovered a way back up.

Whenever the black mages brought fresh blood from the surface, Sein would observe a massive flying ship responsible for transporting them to Mystralora City.

The origin and mechanics of that massive flying ship remained a mystery to Sein.

All he knew was that it was used to transport large groups of children to Mystralora City.

After unloading the children, the ship would vanish the next day as if it had never existed in the first place.

Under the dim light of the magical crystal lamp in his room, Sein buried his nose in the tome for a very long time.

Eventually, he heard the sound of the door opening, followed by a familiar presence in the room.

After reading five more pages of the tome together, Leena gently urged, “It’s getting late, you should get some rest. Don’t you have classes to attend tomorrow?”

Sein nodded and closed the tome in his hands before sliding it under the bed they shared.

The magic crystal lamp went out. Sein and Leena held each other close on the bed.

Amidst the suppressed gasps in the darkness, Sein whispered to the person beneath him, “Master Collance gave me a specimen today. The embalming fluid used to preserve the specimen is really unique. I’m not exactly sure how it’s made.”

After letting out a moan, Leena replied breathlessly, “I’ll... take a look at it for you tomorrow.”

As a senior initiate, Leena’s expertise in human anatomy, dissection and necromancy far surpassed Sein’s.

In fact, Sein’s steady hands in dissection were honed through numerous sessions spent shadowing Leena.

As a senior initiate specializing in the pyro and umbra elements, Leena had a keen interest in related fields.

Besides, exploring the mysteries of Master Collance’s embalming fluid, even if it meant uncovering only a fraction of its secrets, promised long-lasting advantages for Leena and Sein.

Both of them were not psychopaths for discussing such morbid subjects during their intimate moments. In the Underworld, it was simply the norm.

Furthermore, Sein and Leena had grown accustomed to discussing matters related to deaths and corpses.

This went to show that they had adapted to the ways of a black mage and the environment of the Black Magic Academy.

It also indicated their superiority among initiates, whether in terms of strength, adaptability, or mentality.

***

Apart from Master Collance’s anatomy class, other public classes including “Introduction to Apothecary”, “Identifying Magic Beasts” and “Fundamentals of Constructing Spell Models” also commenced.

Sein would attend any courses that aligned with his interests or held practical value.

Classes with words like “introduction” or “fundamental” included in their names made it clear that they only offered surface-level knowledge.

This was hardly surprising, as true knowledge was priceless. It could only be gained through apprenticeship under a renowned black mage who was an expert in the field.

Sein knew that with the basic knowledge provided in these public classes, there were limits to what one could achieve.

In reality, the public classes primarily catered to fresh and junior initiates within the academy.

Intermediate initiates like Sein had probably covered all the topics discussed in these lessons.

After all, the full-fledged black mages who delivered these lectures rarely introduced fresh content.

Given the black mage’s cold and unpredictable nature, even intermediate initiates faced the risk of incurring their wrath.

The silver lining for intermediate initiates was that they were less likely to fall victim to unfortunate situations compared to the fresh and junior initiates.

The academy had invested more than a decade in nurturing them to this level.

Those black mages were not allowed to simply take the lives of these precious initiates on a whim.

As Sein attended these public classes, he ran into his mentor teaching the “Basics of Alchemy” and the “Fundamental Knowledge on the Pyro Element”.

Perhaps because of Sein’s presence, Master Morsidor always shared more profound knowledge during his lectures.

This in turn led to a surge in the number of initiates attending Master Morsidor’s lectures.

Sein was also often selected to take on the role of his assistant and class representative.

Being on the podium allowed Sein to learn and experience the deeper mysteries of magic up close.

During one of these classes, Sein also encountered Cindy.

The fresh initiate often seized the opportunity to strike up a conversation with Sein after class.

As a result, many other initiates assumed that she was part of Sein’s exclusive circle. This acted as a protective shield for her and discouraged others from harassing her.