Sovereign of the Ashes

As the intensity of the three suns in the sky lessened slightly, Sein rose to his feet and resumed his journey.

Before departing, he let out a soft sigh and left half a vial of his remaining nutritional potion for Marlon and Stenson.

He wondered if it was the last shred of his conscience resisting full integration into the world of black mages, or if he was truly moved by the unique bond between Marlon and Stenson, or perhaps he was merely adhering to the principle of equivalent exchange commonly upheld by mages.

Nevertheless, his act of goodwill prompted Marlon to bow respectfully to Sein and declare in a solemn tone, “Stenson and I owe you our lives, and we will certainly repay this debt in the future!”

Without acknowledging Marlon’s promise, Sein continued on his journey.

***

Four days later, just halfway into the estimated ten-day journey provided by Marlon, Sein spotted the camp of the black magic initiates.

Upon seeing Sein’s inquisitive look, Marlon, who had been trailing behind him, responded with a sheepish look on his face, “Stenson’s judgment isn’t very reliable, perhaps he remembered incorrectly?”

Sein shook his head and said, “No, it’s not necessarily his memory that’s at fault. The camp might be on the move.” His gaze was fixed on the campsite built behind a massive dune in the distance.

Sein’s subtle observations over the past few days in this unfamiliar desert environment had led to a significant discovery.

The dunes were shifting. Sein had come to realize this on one particular night.

Nonetheless, Sein was relieved to have located the camp set up by other black magic initiates.

The sight of the camp rekindled his spirits, which had been dulled by the unforgiving desert. He was eager to reunite with Leena.

With a mixture of excitement and apprehension, Sein proceeded toward the camp.

Before they could reach it, a senior initiate took the initiative to approach them.

“Hand over your elemental beads. They serve as your identification to enter the camp.”

The senior initiate, whom Sein did not recognize, spoke with a cold and disdainful tone that irritated him.

Realizing that the senior initiate was stronger and in better condition than Stenson, Sein chose to avoid trouble and took out an elemental bead.

Following his mentor’s advice before leaving, he chose to reveal only one of his elemental beads, keeping the rest hidden.

As Sein handed over the bead, a familiar and comforting voice rang out.

“Get lost, Canther! He’s my junior from the same faction. Do you want a taste of my pyro spell?”

Faye’s voice cut through the air like a surge of refreshing oasis water in the desert, revitalizing Sein’s parched heart.

Faye was no weakling among senior initiates. She was known for her impressive array of magic items and consistent recognition in the academy’s annual assessments.

Canther, the senior initiate who had confronted Sein, was only moderately skilled among his peers.

Under normal circumstances, Canther would not stand a chance against Stenson, not even in Canther’s prime.

Faye’s presence left Canther looking embarrassed.

Without further troubling Sein, he quickly retreated back to the camp, clearly intimidated. It appeared he held some fear of Faye, possibly due to past encounters.

Faye’s appearance was not significantly different from Sein’s memories.

While her complexion was a bit darker due to the sun, it did not diminish her overall beauty. Instead, it gave her a healthy glow.

“Sein, you’ve finally arrived! I’ve missed you so much these past few months!” Faye’s vivacious personality shone through as she approached Sein, embracing him with open arms.

Feeling the softness of her chest pressing up against him, Sein felt his heart race and something in his pants stir.

He chose not to indulge in the moment and instead focused on a critical piece of information in Faye’s words.

“Months? How many months have you all been in this Sand World?” Sein asked.

It had only been about twenty days since his descent into the Sand World.

Considering he had departed a week later than Faye and the others from the Shadow Valley, Faye could not have been here for a few months.

Faye appeared somewhat perplexed by his question as she replied, “It’s been a long four months since we arrived.”

***

“That’s because as we pass through a space-time rift, a portion of time is consumed. While it may seem like a mere instant from our perspective, in reality, a considerable amount of time has passed in both the Materia Plane and the Astral Realm,” Zorro explained as they sat in the central tent of the camp.

“Zorro, your profound understanding of these facts and your spatial-related knowledge is truly remarkable,” Sein praised with an impressed look on his face.

“It’s just fundamental spatial knowledge. When you create magic items like space rings in the future, having a grasp of this related knowledge is necessary,” Zorro replied modestly.

“In fact, I didn’t actively seek out this knowledge. Master Morsidor casually mentioned it during our journey from the Western Archipelago, where we had to use several teleportation arrays.

“The space-time rift in the Shadow Valley is still quite rudimentary, even after the vice deans and Master Morsidor worked on it. It remains a relatively primitive space-time rift. If we could set up a more advanced teleportation array, we could minimize the time deviation, even during planar travels,” Zorro shook his head and said with a sigh.

Black mages capable of constructing teleportation arrays were relatively scarce.

Such cross-dimensional teleportation arrays would typically require a mage of at least Rank Two, if not Rank Three, to construct.

Given the size of Mystralora City, finding a mage with this specific skill set was no easy task.

“Right, where’s Leena? I haven’t seen her.”

After reuniting with Zorro and Faye, Sein quickly inquired about Leena’s whereabouts.

“Leena is in another similar camp, where four Quasi Mages are stationed. Their camp serves as the complementary coordinate point to form an ordered pair with ours, which is necessary for setting up the space generators requested by the academy’s fully-fledged black mages,” Faye replied.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already passed on the news of your arrival at this camp to Leena. The other camp is not far from here. I’m sure she’ll be here in half a day,” Faye added.

Upon hearing Faye’s answer, Sein let out a long sigh of relief.

He noticed that the relationship between the girls had improved after Faye and Leena had to share a tent in the Shadow Valley for a few days.

At that moment, Zorro chimed in, “Give me your crystal ball, I’ll help you modify it.”

“The environmental conditions and elemental energy here are different from our Magus World, causing disruptions in many crystal ball communications. After I make the modifications, it should function at closer distances, making communication easier for us,” Zorro said.