Sovereign of the Ashes

As Sein and the Rank Two female mage ventured further into the white passage beneath the ruins of the silver fort, the clamor of the ongoing battle reverberated around them.

The ground shook with each impact of elemental magic, and the sounds of explosions filled the air as the space fortress and the numerous war airships in the sky unleashed their might.

The remaining mage formation of ten thousand strong were deployed, their overwhelming elemental power steadily eroding the defenses of the Neisse Civilization.

The breach of the silver fort by Sein, the Rank Two female mage, and their comrades was one of the many similar achievements made across the entire battlefield

As the time progressed, victory began to lean in favor of the Magus Civilization.

***

The Neisse Civilization’s base was a marvel to behold.

Sein was greeted by a continuous metallic corridor leading downward.

He studied the walls of the passage closely, and discovered the source of the soft white glow. It came from the white lights embedded within the crevices of the walls.

Sein reckoned that these white lights were similar to the simplest lighting tools in the Magus World—magic lamps made of lumenstone.

This observation served as a reminder of how the varied paths of development taken by world civilizations could lead to the invention of tools and technologies uniquely adapted to the specific requirements of each culture.

At this point, the Rank Two female mage who had led the way into the passage had vanished from sight.

All Sein knew about was that she hailed from the Divine Tower of Floating Flame. He did not even know what her name was.

While many mages had entered the ruins of the silver fort, most had remained above ground, scouring the debris for valuable resources.

Sein was actually quite interested in the energy crystal chests buried under the rubble.

However, driven by curiosity and his thirst for knowledge, Sein chose to continue his descent.

He occasionally paused to document his findings with his crystal ball or gather items of interest with specialized tools.

After all, the greatest source of strength for a mage was knowledge that often emerged in the adventure called life.

Sein was uncertain about the personal research habits or lifestyles of the other full-fledged mages, especially those of a higher rank.

Yet, he had found comfort and fulfillment in his own way of life.

Eventually reaching the base in the sea of molten lava, located perhaps a kilometer below the surface, Sein found himself among a few other mages and a handful of surviving enslaved creatures.

Unlike the chaos caused by the forts on the surface, the underground base was eerily calm.

Upon arrival, Sein encountered several creatures from the Neisse Civilization writhing in pain on the ground.

The clean white floor marred by bloodstains and the remaining traces of elemental particles in the air quickly allowed Sein to conclude that this was the work of the Rank Two female mage.

The base of the Neisse Civilization was far larger than Sein had anticipated.

Judging by its expansive space, Sein surmised that this place was a single massive underground complex under the Blue Fiery Trench.

The mountain ridge where they had breached the silver fort was not even a tenth of the vast base he was currently in.

Moreover, looking at the passages connected to the base, the vastness of this place was definitely not something that a mere Rank One Mage like Sein could fully explore.

Upon reaching the lowest floor of the base, Sein approached a creature from the Neisse Civilization instead of searching for the so-called strategic warehouses.

The creature of Neisse Civilization bore a resemblance to the humans of the Magus World, with notable exceptions such as an oval bump on their foreheads and slight variances in their shoulder blades, hips, and rear.

These differences stemmed from their distinct structure and number of their bones.

Determining any further internal discrepancies would necessitate a thorough anatomical study, a task Sein found intriguing, along with uncovering the power sources of the engineers from the Neisse Civilization.

Lifting the male creature up effortlessly with the Animate spell, Sein scrutinized the creature who seemed terrified.

“Hmm, no traces of energy fluctuation. This is an ordinary creature of Neisse Civilization,” he mused with a frown on his face.

Although the creature was over a meter in height and exhibited a Rank One life level, he appeared significantly weaker than even an average farmer in the Magus World.

Yet, his attire indicated a status significantly higher than that of a typical farmer in the Magus World, underscoring a profound disparity between expectation and reality.

Sein’s primary interest lay not with the ordinary creatures from the Neisse Civilization, but their engineers.

However, engineers were a rare breed among the Neisse Civilization, even more so than mages within the Magus World.

For Sein, capturing one alive was a stroke of considerable luck.

Should he wish to encounter more engineers on this battlefield, Sein would need to venture to the surface and try his luck against the mecha army.

Yet, with the knowledge that mecha armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands were embroiled in fierce conflict with the Magus Civilization above...

Sein realized that luck might not always be on his side. Therefore, until he possessed a certain amount of strength, it would be wise to avoid diving headlong into such dangerous pursuits.

Although the creature before him was not an engineer, Sein was aware that all engineers had evolved from such ordinary beings.

This was no different than the knights and mages in the Magus World, who had all evolved from the ordinary humans residing in that world.

Therefore, Sein was not overly selective. In addition to gathering some of the more intact corpses of the Neisse Civilization creatures for study, he also enlisted the help of two enslaved creatures nearby to collect and transport some of the living creatures for future research.

A crimson crocodile man, whom Sein had put to work asked, “Honorable mage, may I also eat a few of them?”

The question caught Sein off guard, especially since the creature spoke in the common language used in the Magus World.

The crocodile man was a Rank One being. The deep scratches it bore across its scales was proof of its participation in the southern conflicts alongside the Magus Civilization Army, where it had been a part of the conquest of numerous worlds.

It had probably also learned the commonly used language in the Magus World through close observation of the experts from the Magus World during the campaign.

The exact origin world of this crocodile man was unknown, and while Sein could see its craving for fresh flesh in its pale red eyes, such desires were restrained by its loyalty to the Magus World.

Sein saw no reason to deny the creature’s request.

Observing the corpses of the Neisse Civilization creatures strewn around them, he responded calmly, “Yes.”