Sovereign of the Ashes

When Sein finally regained consciousness, the intense pain coursing through his entire body forced him to emit a groan.

His hoarse and feeble voice resonated within the massive, funnel-shaped sand valley, a terrain entirely unfamiliar to him.

It appeared that the colossal sandstorm had deposited him here.

At the heart of this sandy valley, an unsettling aura hung in the air, accompanied by an eerie, rustling sound.

There was nothing visible to account for this sound, yet it sent shivers down Sein’s spine.

Regaining his senses, Sein quickly assessed his condition.

Numerous fine cuts inflicted by the sand in the sandstorm, marred his face and extended down to his legs.

He bore two severe injuries.

One was a gash on Sein’s abdomen. While the bleeding had ceased, even the slightest movement would reopen the wound. The pain was excruciating enough for beads of sweat to form on Sein’s forehead.

Sein knew he had to give this wound immediate attention.

The second injury was a dislocated left arm.

Having only one functioning arm to rely on was the biggest challenge and most severe injury Sein had ever experienced encountered.

As Sein struggled to rise, he pondered how he had managed to survive.

In a sandstorm of such magnitude, even a Quasi Mage would most likely meet their demise.

It was unlikely that sheer luck was the sole factor contributing to his survival.

Apart from the geo elemental shield provided by this ring, it must be the effect of that black light I saw. But what is that exactly?

Sein cast a glance at the magic ring, now devoid of any remaining energy, then remembered something. He promptly forced open his temporarily immobile left hand.

As expected, he discovered Leena’s black crystal bracelet in it.

While Sein had known that the black crystal bracelet possessed a remarkable umbra magic enhancement effect and seemed to contain an offensive magic spell, he had not anticipated that the bracelet would provide protection in dire moments.

I expected no less from a treasure bestowed upon Leena by her former mentor, a Rank One full-fledged black mage. The value and function of this bracelet exceeds even the Acid Wand I received from my mentor.

After a sigh of appreciation, Sein began the process of self-treatment.

Since he was still alive, his priorities now were to address his injuries and eventually find his way back to the Gloomhaven.

With his remaining functioning right hand, Sein retrieved two intermediate healing potions from his space ring.

He consumed one and carefully applied the other to the wounds on his body.

The treatment elicited a dull numbness and stinging pain, causing Sein to occasionally wince.

However, he welcomed the pain. In his understanding of human anatomy, he knew that feeling pain was a positive sign.

Not feeling pain would indicate only two ominous possibilities: death or the need for amputation.

After resting for half a day and drinking a rejuvenation potion and nutritional potion, Sein finally regained some strength and focus. He then turned his attention to his dislocated left arm.

“I hope Master Collance’s compliments in the anatomy class were justified. After all, I’ve only worked with cadaver specimens and never on a real body,” Sein muttered to himself before drawing a deep breath, and then proceeded to reset his left arm with his right hand.

CRACK!

A crisp sound of bone realignment echoed through the valley.

Sein winced as more beads of sweat formed on his pale face. He could not decide whether he should celebrate his successful self-treatment or lament his less skillful technique.

Having attended to all his injuries, Sein began to survey his surroundings.

When he first awoke, he had assessed that there was no immediate danger nearby.

He suspected there was something mysterious in the central depths of the valley due to the unsettling “rustling” sound coming from there.

“That sandstorm couldn’t have brought just me here. There were thirty to forty black magic initiates who did not manage to escape near the spatial passageway back then, not to mention the bodies of those who perished,” Sein pondered with his head lowered.

Sein had no particular inclination to search for survivors. Back then, any stronger black magic initiate had likely already exited the Sand World.

He harbored little hope for those who did not manage to leave the Sand World, mainly the weaker initiates and those seriously wounded.

Furthermore, Sein held no fondness for them.

Their chaos and infighting had mostly caused his and Leena’s separation and his current predicament.

On the other side of the spatial passageway, the duel between the two peak Rank Three grand mages was an unanticipated, uncontrollable factor.

Though Sein was tempted to blame the dean, he realized that he was not qualified to do so, at least not yet.

Currently, Sein was invested in his quest to escape from the Sand World, and it involved searching for other survivors.

His last ray of hope for escape rested in the black key given to him by his mentor.

To activate the black key, Sein needed to amass enough elemental beads to activate it, which presented a challenge as he had given his last beads to Leena in that dire moment earlier.

His sole remaining plan was to determine whether he could gather all the required elemental beads from the corpses of other black magic initiates.

Failure to amass these beads would leave Sein stranded in this vast expanse of yellow sand for the rest of his life, ultimately making it his final resting place.

***

Sein was quite fortunate, or perhaps this was the turning point of his fortune after a series of unfortunate events since arriving in Sand World.

The first body he stumbled upon was that of a fellow initiate, a Quasi Mage named Krover, whom Sein vaguely recalled.

Krover had lost his mind and attacked other initiates indiscriminately near the spatial passage. This forced Sein, who had been carrying Leena at the time, to take a detour.

It was quite likely that Krover was also responsible for Sein being struck by a stray elemental projectile.

The Krover before him now was far from the reckless and manic individual Sein remembered.

He was just an ordinary, lifeless body, albeit its imperfect condition.

His eyes had been completely concealed by yellow sand, and most of his body lay buried beneath it, with only half of his head exposed.

Sein, who had worked on countless cadavers and specimens, was unfazed by Krover’s lifeless body.

To conserve his mana, Sein used his Acid Wand as an improvised digging tool.

As he had lost track of the time he had spent unconscious, he was uncertain whether his wand had fully recharged.

As for Leena’s black crystal bracelet, Sein had yet to have the chance to thoroughly examine it yet.

At this moment, he relied primarily on his own equipment.