Sovereign of the Ashes

“Could this be the planar suppression effect that my mentor told me before?” Sein pondered, enveloped in a flame shield, as he descended like a meteorite toward the Viridian Venom Flame World’s continent.

Upon entering this world, a unique, indescribable pressure enveloped him, unlike anything he had felt within the confines of the space fortress.

Ever since Sein left the space fortress and experienced the foreign environment firsthand, he experienced a sensation distinctly different from that of the Magus World.

For a magic initiate, such pressure would undoubtedly significantly impair their abilities and physical state.

Fortunately, Sein was now a full-fledged mage. His superior mental focus and constitution mitigated the impact, allowing him to retain about 85% of his optimal capacity.

This was a favorable situation compared to the potential suppression of up to 50% upon entry to more formidable worlds governed by thoroughly established laws!

Sein was currently flying toward a towering, pitch-black volcano situated directly beneath him.

As the three space fortresses neared the completion of their descent, Sein, along with the other mages, exited the fortresses ahead of time. One of their missions involved neutralizing any potential threats surrounding the landing zones of these colossal structures.

The imposing volcano, rising approximately two thousand meters above sea level, fell within the designated landing area of the Divine Tower of the Verdant Flame’s space fortress.

Alongside him, about ten other mages were tasked with securing the area while thousands of various enslaved creatures were doing the same in the surrounding areas.

According to the instructions from their crystal balls, Sein and his peers had certain command over these enslaved creatures.

“Each of you, take your designated landing points as the center and ensure the clearance of any threats in the vicinity. Work quickly! We still have other missions to accomplish during the early stages of the descent,” instructed the voice of a Rank Two mage coming from Sein’s crystal ball.

For the sake of combat efficiency, the crystal balls of participating mages were automatically synced with those of nearby mages.

This setup was crucial for emergency situations, enabling weaker mages to swiftly call for support from their peers in the vicinity if danger arose.

All the mages, Sein included, accepted the directive from the Rank Two mage without any objections.

Preparations for the operation had been meticulously handled by the Divine Tower of Verdant Flame, ensuring that the mage troops were optimally organized and ready to engage in combat.

Sein noted the absence of Rank Three grand mages around the volcano, and assumed they had some other missions to accomplish.

The area around the pitch-black volcano, where Sein was preparing to land, was probably under the authority of that Rank Two mage, since he was the highest-ranking presence in the area.

Other mages, including Sein himself, were at Rank One only.

Sein’s final landing spot was a depression on the volcano’s western side, a direction he discerned based on his view of the Viridian Venom Flame World from outside the realm.

The area seemed relatively unremarkable and peaceful for the time being.

He was not surprised, as the three massive space fortresses hovered nearby, continuously deploying legions of enslaved creatures.

He wondered what sort of native creatures typically inhabited this volcano.

The stronger ones had likely already heeded the guardian’s call to defend against the invasion, while the weaker ones might be cowering in dark underground caves.

“During the faction gathering, the Grandmaster mentioned that the Viridian Venom Flame World lacked any particularly notable native creature groups. It’s a low-level plane, home to various pyro elemental creatures living together. Its overall ecological and developmental patterns somewhat mirror those of the magic beast groups in Magus World,” Sein recalled.

The so-called “notable native creature groups” referred to distinct races like the “human beings” in the Magus World, who had established dominance in their plane.

In the Magus World, humans were superior to demihumans, aquatic races, magic beasts, and other species.

This was because they had formed a powerful civilization through two major professions—knights and mages!

As a Rank One mage, Sein’s mental focus was formidable. Using his Reconnaissance spell, he identified over ten unique pyro elemental creatures in the vicinity.

These beings, small in size, ranging from a few centimeters to half a meter, often concealed themselves in rocky crevices and caves.

In any plane, creatures of Rank One or higher were a rare and prized occurrence. It was entirely possible to not find a single high-level creature among ten thousand low-level creatures.

After all, biological evolution had never been easy.

In intermediate and low-level planes that lacked strength and development, the rarity of high-level creatures was even more pronounced.

Picking up a dark-colored stone, Sein mused, “Could this be a typical stone from the Viridian Venom Flame World? Its texture and hardness remind me of the obsidian used in the Magus World.”

However, with no time for in-depth research, he tossed the stone into his space bangle and refocused on his surroundings.

In reality, the two hundred thousand-strong mage army alone might suffice to overcome all resistance in the Viridian Venom Flame World without even needing the legions of over a million enslaved creatures.

The enslaved creature army’s role was primarily to reduce mage casualties and manage the more numerous low-level creatures native to this plane.

Initially, Sein showed interest in the pyro elemental creatures he encountered. He would store them in his space bangle after defeating them.

However, as the number of these creatures increased, he lost interest in the low-level ones.

Sein reserved his attention for those comparable to intermediate-level magic beasts, dispatching them with a Fireball spell before casually stowing them away in his bangle as trophies.

After casting another Fireball spell and observing an elk-like pyro creature that had been charred, Sein furrowed his brow. “Do the creatures of this realm naturally have high resistance to pyro elemental spells?”

He pondered as he stowed the elk in his space bangle.

It was at that moment, an urgent message from a male mage blared from his crystal ball. “A family of Flame Salamanders, including Rank One creatures, has been spotted in this area. Nearby support needed immediately!”