Sovereign of the Ashes

Compared to Gloomhaven, the underground world of the Summoner Alliance was more vast and challenging to fully explore.

During his time here, Sein learned that over a dozen demihuman nations with populations exceeding a hundred million were situated around the entrances to the Underworld, adjacent to the Summoner Alliance.

It was believed that even larger demihuman nations existed in deeper underground spaces.

The richness of the underground world’s ecosystem rivaled that of the surface. It was home to a diverse array of demihumans, along with magic beasts and numerous dark creatures.

Having conducted extensive research on the Underworld, Sein was aware that the apex predator of the Magus World’s underground was the Abyssal Dragon.

This formidable creature, surpassing even conventional dragons in power, resided in the deepest layers of the underworld.

Furthermore, Abyssal Demon Dragons were exceedingly rare and difficult to tame.

While the Byrne Empire’s dragon knights armies were renowned throughout the Magus World and beyond, none had managed to tame Abyssal Dragons on a large scale yet.

On the other hand, Sein had recently discovered that certain powerful Rank Three summoners had succeeded in turning Abyssal Dragons into their summoning beasts.

Rumors suggested that the tower masters of certain divine towers within the Summoner Alliance’s territory could even summon Dragon Kings of Rank Four or above.

Sein suspected these rumors were likely circulated to boost the prestige of their own divine towers.

The Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, in comparison, lacked such publicity. Its most notable recent achievement was its conquest of the Viridian Venom Flame World.

Additionally, Sein finishing first place in the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War back then also served as a promotional highlight for the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

Such achievements could help in attracting more outstanding talents and the favor of prestigious magic families.

***

“Let the 213th try in constructing the void summoning passage begin,” Sein said, pinching the bridge of his nose tiredly as he addressed Yuri, who stood before him.

Sein was currently in one of the magic towers he had rented in the Summoner Alliance.

Life was indeed good when one had enough money to spare.

Thanks to the substantial amount of magicoins Sein had disbursed, the nearby Deep Blue Summoning Divine Tower not only provided him with a magic tower within their premises but also supplied all the summoning arts books he required.

The facilities in the tower were top-notch in every aspect.

The experimental equipment in this luxurious magic tower was second only to that in the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

It was rumored that this tower was specifically prepared for Rank Three grand mages.

The last-minute rental of this magic tower was quite high. The two-year lease was a staggering four hundred magicoins, excluding the costs for the spell books he had borrowed from the Deep Blue Summoning Divine Tower.

Taking everything into account, Sein had spent over a thousand magicoins in less than two years since his arrival at the Deep Blue Summoning Divine Tower.

Such lavish expenditure was beyond the reach of ordinary Rank One mages. Indeed, the Rank Two mages in charge at the Deep Blue Summoning Divine Tower even speculated that Sein might be the illegitimate son of a certain demigod-level spellcaster.

Yuri, the engineer from the Neisse Civilization, had been instrumental in assisting Sein with his experiments due to her stronger focus.

More importantly, she was a quick learner and had significantly contributed to Sein’s body tempering experiments in the past.

With her enhanced focus, she had helped maintain the smooth operation of the magic arrays on the experimental table, allowing Sein to re-engage his mind and carefully observe the forming gray vortex passage in front of him.

The core of Sein’s magic array was a piece of finger bone exuding gusts of deathly aura.

The void summoning passage Sein was currently manipulating was complex. However, stripping away the superficial aspects revealed its true nature—it primarily relied on the finger bone left behind by Sanchez to construct a spatial passage to the Undead World.

The vast array of summoning and spatial magic books Sein had acquired at the Summoner Alliance managed to bridge his knowledge gaps in this area, spurring him to dedicate significant time and energy to his summoning experiments.

After over two hundred failed attempts, it seemed Sein might finally succeed.

The summoning passage, initially filled with gray deathly energy, shifted abruptly to an oppressively dark color once the energy resonance reached a certain frequency.

Rhythmic cracking sounds suddenly came from inside the passage, akin to the distinctive clatter of colliding bones.

“Oh? Did it work?” Sein’s fatigue lifted as he quickly scanned the passage with his mental focus.

However, to his dismay, the figure that emerged was not Sanchez the skeletal dragon but a Rank One skeleton soldier.

Sein surmised that this skeleton soldier must have been a subordinate of Sanchez, as it responded to its finger bone.

However, this skeleton soldier was not one of the Rank One undead creatures that Sanchez had taken with it when it departed from the subspace secret realm.

This suggested two possibilities—either Sanchez had acquired new minions upon his return to the Undead World, or some of the twenty thousand undead creatures that followed it broke through to Rank One.

Either scenario indicated that Sanchez’s influence had significantly increased in recent years.

This was a development that boded well for both Sein and Leena.

The appearance of the skeleton soldier quickly dampened Sein’s excitement.

However, the experiment was still deemed a success; the undead creatures he managed to summon were of the same rank as him, affirming his status as a Necro Summoner.

Just as Sein was about to deactivate the energy-intensive summoning magic array, a strange red light lit up in the eye sockets of the skeleton soldier.

“Huh?” Sein uttered in confusion.

A familiar voice then came through the red light via mental focus.

“Sein, is that you?”

“Leena?!” The exhaustion and disappointment on Sein’s face were swiftly replaced by a look of pleasant surprise.

The skeleton soldier before him was not Leena but merely a vessel hosting a fragment of her consciousness.

Leena’s expertise in necromancy and spatial magic far surpassed Sein’s.

Sein had only begun attempting to establish a connection to the Undead World through Sanchez’s finger bone after he arrived at the Summoner Alliance and quickly broadened his understanding of summoning arts and spatial magic.

In contrast, Leena had progressed further in this field, possibly reaching years earlier the level of research that Sein was only now beginning to explore.

Her possession of the Dark Crystal Rod also allowed her to communicate with the Undead World more easily compared to Sein.

Although Sein and Leena could not yet reunite in the Undead World, they were now able to communicate over long distances, using the Undead World’s passage as a conduit.