Sovereign of the Ashes

After leaving the divine tower library, Sein headed straight back to his residence.

The wisdom contained in Mirage’s Almanac of Souls, valued at 76 Arcane points, had been saved within Sein’s crystal ball, ready for him to navigate into its complexities.

***

Three months later, in the laboratory...

After poring over Mirage’s Almanac of Souls multiple times, Sein began to grasp the essence of soul magic and felt a deep respect for its author, Mirage.

This admiration arose from one truth seeker’s recognition of the extensive wisdom of a more experienced mage.

Mirage’s Almanac of Souls systematically introduced the fundamentals of soul magic within the Magus World. Despite only presenting a fraction of the extensive scope of soul magic, Mirage’s work opened a new realm of understanding for Sein.

Yet, three months was barely enough for Sein to scratch the surface.

He only grasped the foundational principles and learned the “Mirage Soul Enslavement spell” he urgently needed.

“Soul magic is immense and complex, making it a niche field of study, unlike the pyro elemental magic. Mastery is not something I can achieve overnight. Mirage’s Almanac of Souls likely covers nearly the entirety of Mirage’s work in life. Given time, I plan to further explore the depths of this tome and the broader mysteries of soul magic,” Sein reflected.

As a rational mage, Sein was aware of his priorities at each stage of his journey.

Mirage’s Almanac of Souls covered a wide range of soul magic knowledge, yet Sein had no intention of shifting his focus at this juncture.

Moreover, the verdant flame magic, a legacy of Master Feylis, was more profound than the soul magic presented in Mirage’s Almanac of Souls.

Since Sein began practicing verdant flame magic and the Verdant Flame Body Tempering technique, his elemental power surged, and both his constitution and elemental affinity saw remarkable changes. His resistance to venom, an element he previously had no affinity for, notably improved.

With his venom resistance augmented, Sein decided to eventually explore the potential of boosting his constitution through ingesting venom and specialized alchemy potions.

Sein had no idea how the other mages in the Verdant Flame Faction tempered their bodies, but this method was actually a validated approach recorded in the verdant flame magic’s crystal ball.

Although he had yet to grasp all the knowledge in Mirage’s Almanac of Soul, Sein was sufficiently acquainted with the spell models within to apply them.

The complexity of soul magic indeed surpassed that of conventional elemental magic.

Nevertheless, the foundational knowledge of soul magic detailed in the almanac enabled Sein to construct the spell model in his mind after about two months of study.

To enhance the success rate of his soul binding spell, Sein also spent considerable magicoins to buy the necessary magic materials from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

Aware that he had only one engineer captive, Sein recognized that failing to bind her soul would mean losing a valuable asset.

After making sure that he had Bone Phosphorus Powder, Red Spiny Fruits and Cries of Fallen Bird Branch, Sein proceeded to the secluded laboratory he used to hold Yuri.

***

Sein seldom used the laboratory where Yuri was detained.

Apart from Yuri, the space was also used to store various trophies and specimens Sein had gathered from the battlefield of the Viridian Venom Flame World.

Rarely visited by Sein, perhaps once every ten days on average, Yuri’s only constant companions were the inanimate experiment tools and the eerie specimens.

Four years had elapsed since Sein’s return to the Magus World, and Yuri had spent an almost equal amount of time in this laboratory in solitude.

Initially, the unfamiliar environment and the specimens’ unnerving presence unsettled her, particularly the pyro elemental creatures from the Viridian Venom Flame World.

Their lifelike, penetrating eyes had haunted Yuri’s dreams and startled her awake from her sleep on more than one occasion.

However, as time passed, Yuri gradually got used to the laboratory’s gloom and loneliness.

She even secretly assigned nicknames to Sein’s specimens in a bid to stave off the boredom.

In Sein’s large laboratory, one of the living specimens caught her attention the most–a palm-sized creature resembling a bird, yet wingless. It appeared to be one of Sein’s acquisitions from the Viridian Venom Flame World,

The Flame Bird, which Yuri named Krukur, served as her pillar of support over the four years of solitude in the laboratory.

Observing it bouncing energetically within its cage offered her a vital reminder of her own existence amidst the prevailing gloom.

Truth be told, Yuri actually had another pillar of support deep within her heart even though she refused to admit it. The person who frequented her dreams the most was actually Sein.

She often replayed their past confrontation in her thoughts, wondering about the missed opportunities and whether a different approach might have led to Sein’s defeat.

Despite knowing that defeating a mage of the Magus World would not alter the fate of the Neisse Civilization Army in the Viridian Venom Flame World war, her initial feelings of resentment and animosity toward Sein persisted.

She yearned for vengeance and often fantasized about tearing Sein apart with her mecha.

Yet, as time elapsed and their situation solidified into permanence, Yuri’s animosity toward Sein slowly transformed into an indescribable feeling.

This shift might be attributed to changes in her emotional state, psychological factors, or even the impact of her environment.

Yuri, not being a mage dedicated to the pursuit of truth, found herself unable to pinpoint the exact cause of this shift in her feelings.

Likewise, Sein’s indifference to Yuri meant he remained oblivious to her changing perceptions.

Yuri found herself unwittingly looking forward to Sein’s visits now.

Previously, Sein’s experiments, which involved stripping her and subjecting her to inspections with strange, cold instruments, left her feeling deeply humiliated.

However, if Sein did not visit the lab for months at a stretch, the resulting loneliness and pervasive darkness triggered an unusual panic within Yuri.

Creak.

The laboratory door swung open, and light returned to Yuri’s dull eyes.