Sovereign of the Ashes

As expected, there were scarcely any creatures left alive in Green Spikefur King’s Emerald Forest.

When Sein and the others arrived, the once lush and vibrant landscape had been reduced to a graveyard of dry, rotting, ash-white tree trunks—silent remnants of the forest’s former glory.

Fortunately, Lorianne showed care for her “pets” that had pledged their loyalty to her long before the war erupted.

In addition to granting Green Spikefur King the opportunity to relocate to her world laboratory, she also allowed the hedgehog to bring along some of its clan members.

Despite this, Green Spikefur King chose not to follow the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring Army back to Magus World right away.

Instead, it stayed behind in Emerald Forest with the few surviving members of its clan.

Even a broken and desolate home was still a home.

Green Spikefur King remained deeply attached to its Emerald Forest.

As a demigod, Green Spikefur King could influence the planar power and its environmental laws to a certain extent.

With its presence here, Emerald Forest would undoubtedly recover more quickly than other parts of Verdant Wilderness World.

For now, its move to Lorianne’s world laboratory would be postponed.

Of course, Lorianne respected its decision.

After bidding farewell to Green Spikefur King, Sein began his journey back to the Magus World.

***

Inside the space fortress...

Lorianne looked at her apprentice with an air of interest.

Her complexion had improved significantly since her time in Sandstorm World, though it was unclear whether her recovery was due to proper rest or the invigorating effects of the bountiful spoils of war.

After returning to Verdant Wilderness World, the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring Army had finally completed the calculations for their gains from this civilization war.

Every mage from the Divine Tower had earned far more than they could have imagined.

Sein, for instance, amassed not only loot and special materials during the war but also a wealth of exotic specimens.

Beyond these personal acquisitions, the magicoin payout he received from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring totaled an impressive 37,386 magicoins.

The influx of over thirty thousand magicoins instantly replenished Sein’s once-depleted coffers.

For a Rank Two mage, a five-digit payout was almost unheard of.

A significant portion of Sein’s earnings stemmed from the contributions of the plant and undead creatures under his command.

Having slain numerous Rank Three Wild Gorillas and countless ordinary Wild Gorilla soldiers, many of those kills were credited to Sein, boosting his rewards exponentially.

Sein’s situation was unique within the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring—no other mage had received such exceptional earnings.

That said, the other mages had also profited handsomely.

On average, Rank One mages earned close to a thousand magicoins, Rank Two mages gained at least five thousand, and several Rank Three grand mages secured over ten thousand each.

Such lucrative interplanar wars were exceedingly rare.

Even the mages who had fallen in battle were not forgotten. In addition to the quest rewards logged in their divine tower badges, the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring also provided their families with substantial death gratuities.

These substantial payouts ensured that families who lost their pillars still had the resources to nurture the next generation of full-fledged mages.

Furthermore, the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring Academy also granted these families five generations of priority enrollment.

Aside from this, the tower also extended various forms of subsidies and provisions, though the list of benefits was too long to recount in full.

Whether by oversight or deliberate design, there were discrepancies in the calculations—not all of the kills made by the plant legions were credited to Sein’s record. Had they been, his post-battle gains would have been even greater.

Perhaps the Divine Tower’s accountants had made an error, or perhaps those in charge of the final tallies had received a subtle “suggestion” from Lorianne herself.

A significant portion of the kills made by the undead creatures, particularly the skeletal dragon, were credited to Leena.

Leena’s total earnings from the war exceeded twenty thousand magicoins—a sum that even the most hardworking Rank Three grand mages in Blackhaven might struggle to earn.

“Oh, the Verdant Wilderness God gave its tree heart fragment to you? They really thought this through carefully, knowing I’m not the type to rob my own apprentice of his treasure,” Lorianne said with a wry smile.

“Master Lorianne, you’ve yet to recover fully from your injuries. This treasure can help speed up your recovery,” Sein said, quickly pulling out the wooden box with the tree heart fragment stored in it.

Lorianne waved him off, saying, “This tree heart fragment is of limited use to me. I also secured a divine relic during this war.”

She tapped her chin thoughtfully before continuing, “With this tree heart fragment, I can teach you some advanced knowledge in dendrology. As my apprentice, don’t you think it’s only right for you to have at least a grasp of advanced dendro elemental knowledge?”

Her suggestion carried a clear double standard. After all, Lorianne herself had not deeply explored the mysteries of the pyro element, even though her own mentor, Feylis, was a renowned Pyromancer.

Of course, Sein had no intention of rejecting his mentor’s suggestion. With his impending promotion to Rank Three, expanding his knowledge base into other fields of study could benefit him in the long run.

Moreover, dendro elemental knowledge was closely linked to apothecary—a field in which Lorianne also excelled.

With the Wild Gorilla World War now over, dedicating time to learning dendrology and apothecary under Lorianne’s guidance seemed like a valuable opportunity for Sein.

“When Master Archimedes and the others were tallying the post-war gains, I asked them to exclude the kill counts from the plant giants under your command. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?” Lorianne asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Those plant giants were grown using the Viridescent Seeds I gave you. Technically, their contributions don’t count as your own strength,” she explained.

Then, with a pointed look, she added, “In fact, the only reason I agreed to credit part of the kills made by the Verdant Wilderness World plant creatures to you is because you’re my apprentice. Consider it a generous backdoor favor.”

“No problem, no problem! I have absolutely zero issues with that,” he replied hastily, waving his hands.

All the war gains, aside from the portion allocated to mages like Sein, were considered public funds of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring—or more accurately, Lorianne’s private earnings.

As Lorianne’s apprentice, Sein was not foolish enough to argue over profits with his own mentor.

If even Sein and every other mage who participated in this war had earned significant amounts, one could only imagine how much the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring itself had gained.

A war of this scale, if repeated, could potentially allow Lorianne to eliminate the debt she was burdened with entirely.

Beyond these immediate war gains, Verdant Wilderness World, Lavender Harmony Plane, Sandstorm World, and the surrounding resource demiplanes also came under the control of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

These planes held immense potential for development. With long-term management, they could provide sustainable profits.

Although the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring suffered considerable losses during the war, it also reaped significant rewards.

The only downside was that the gains were not directly in magicoins.

The immense war earnings were largely reflected as converted figures, with much of the loot comprising the corpses and materials of high-level Wild Gorillas or captured gorillas who had been subdued.

It would take time to convert these materials and enslaved gorillas into magicoins.

Fortunately, the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring had already partnered with Black Oblivion’s family and the Arriba Interstellar Chamber of Commerce, which would expedite the process of converting these resources into currency.

Of course, the Divine Tower also encouraged war mages to accept Wild Gorilla slaves or valuable specimen materials as substitutes when redeeming their war gains.

This practice would help the divine tower save on transaction fees.