Sovereign of the Ashes

Having a tower master who barely cared about the affairs of the divine tower academy was both a curse and a blessing.

Tower Master of Dark Flame’s delegation of power left much of the responsibility to the deans.

As a result, Sein and Keith could implement their ideas and ambitions freely, without interference.

The working relationship between Sein and Keith was remarkably smooth and cooperative.

Being older and more experienced, Keith was naturally the more diplomatic of the two.

In the rare instances where disagreements arose, it was often Keith who would concede in the end.

For example, he had tacitly approved Sein’s bold decision to lead a team and poach initiates from the Alveroth Empire.

While Keith could not help but sigh at Sein’s youthful audacity and fearlessness, Sein was thankful for Keith’s easygoing personality and lack of arrogance.

Although the Divine Tower of Dark Flame was in a period of decline, its current state gave Sein the flexibility to experiment.

Had the tower been in its prime, Sein would not have had the freedom to act as boldly with two demigod-level deans around.

The deans’ collaboration gradually steered the Divine Tower of Dark Flame in a better direction.

Together, Sein and Keith spent hundreds of thousands of magicoins upgrading every aspect of the academy’s facilities they could.

Their efforts earned them the favor of many full-fledged mages.

Not all mages within the tower had the financial means to maintain their own fully functional laboratories.

While the upgraded equipment was primarily intended for the initiates, the full-fledged mages could also use it for their private experiments.

These resources, offered freely as a perk of the tower, made the divine tower more attractive.

A better-equipped tower meant fewer mages would consider breaking their contractual ties and leaving.

Having entrusted most of the administrative duties to Keith, Sein once again focused on achieving Rank Three and unraveling the mysteries of pyro elemental qualitative transformation.

Keith, understanding the significance of this period for Sein, willingly took on the administrative burden.

In truth, Keith wanted the Divine Tower of Dark Flame to thrive even more than Sein did.

Ever since that moment when Sein stood up against the tower master on the top floor of the tower and forced him to compromise, Keith had fully recognized this young mage’s capability.

Sein’s potential, personality, skills, and enviable youth left Keith both impressed and wistful.

“This is a mage who will achieve more than I ever could,” Keith thought to himself.

***

Having delegated and explained all the necessary tasks, Sein returned to his residence on the top floor of the Divine Tower of Dark Flame.

The benefits provided for the deans and vice deans were quite satisfactory.

While the facilities were not as exceptional as those at the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, they were nearly comparable.

To aid in his promotion to Rank Three, Sein had rerouted the large elemental pool energy pipeline from the divine tower itself.

By activating the hexagram formation in his meditation room, he would never have to face the issue of insufficient elemental energy during critical moments.

Before him, more than ten flames hovered in a mesmerizing display, each of varying colors.

The one closest to him was his primary flame—the Verdant Flame.

Behind it were the flames he had extensively studied, such as the Everburning Violet Flame, Decomposing Azure Flame, Pale Flame, and Dark Flame, along with other special fire seeds collected during his travels across foreign planes over the past century.

One of them was the divine fire he had received from Lorianne during the Wild Gorilla World War.

Aside from the Verdant Flame, which Sein had researched extensively, the other special flames still held aspects that eluded his complete understanding.

This was entirely normal—if Sein could unravel the mysteries of every flame he possessed, he would already be hailed as the God of Magic.

Among the many flames in his collection, the ones that stood out the most to Sein were the Verdant Flame, the Pale Flame, and the Dark Flame.

The Pale Flame was a mysterious treasure given to him by Lorianne before he departed the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring. According to her, it was a gift from Grandmaster Feylis.

The Pale Flame was even more bizarre and special than the divine fire Sein had obtained previously.

However, it lacked the strong power of laws imbued in the divine fire. It seemed entirely natural rather than an artificially condensed flame.

When Sein asked about its origin, even Lorianne confessed she did not know.

In fact, “Pale Flame” was the name Sein had given this peculiar grayish-white flame.

This flame was far from ordinary—a fitting gift from a formidable Rank Six mage like Feylis. She was truly generous when it came to her own grand apprentices.

Although the Dark Flame bore a few similarities to the Pale Flame, it was completely opposed in certain aspects of its nature.

Any one of the three flames would have been a lifetime resource for a typical Rank Three mage.

Yet Sein possessed all three, in addition to the myriad other special fire seeds he had collected over the years.

No wonder Sein often remarked that the deeper he delved into his research, the more novel and fascinating mysteries he uncovered.

Faced with an overwhelming number of new research directions, Sein decided to pause his endless experiments and focus on breaking through to Rank Three first.

Once he reached Rank Three, he would have plenty of time to unravel these mysteries.

The flames hovering in front of him began to converge toward the center, drawn by the movements of his palm.

Sein was a greedy person. He did not intend to use just one flame but all of them.

Even the azure flame, with its only ability to break down metals, had its utility in certain fields, particularly in alchemy.

Sein knew he could not fully develop every flame in his possession—reaching even fifty percent across the board was an ambitious goal.

But if he could achieve just thirty percent, he would be more than satisfied.

The diverse mix of flames would make the pyro elemental energy capable of qualitative change he possessed significantly more “comprehensive” after reaching Rank Three.

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, white, black...

Over ten flames of varying colors slowly merged together above Sein’s palm.

During this process, Sein quietly activated his Pyro Elemental Body and Flame Demon Transformation.[1]

Externally, he appeared as a pillar of fire, constantly burning intensely.

But internally, at the cellular level and within his very soul, profound changes were unfolding.

Ranking up one’s life level involved improving all aspects of one’s being.

This moment marked a complete transformation, setting him apart from his previous self.

Dense elemental energy gushed out from the countless engraved hexagram arrays within the meditation room, converging on Sein at the center.

Compared to his promotion to Rank Two, Sein’s breakthrough to Rank Three created a bigger commotion.

Sein was fortunate to be inside the divine tower, fully shielded by its inscriptions of protective arrays, ensuring that nothing unusual could be detected from the outside.

The initiates of the Divine Tower of Dark Flame Academy went about their classes as usual, unaware that their dean, whom they saw during the opening ceremony not long ago, was now experiencing one of the most pivotal moments of his life.

At this moment, Sein’s entire focus was locked on a special fire seed at the center of his flaming body.

This seed represented something entirely new—unlike any fire elemental energy he had harnessed before.

Perhaps this was due to the sheer variety of flames involved in the fusion, or maybe it was the unique reaction triggered by the convergence of multiple high-level flames.

The newly-formed flame was gray, with a mesmerizing blend of colors.

From one angle, it appeared tinged with white; from another, a veil of green emerged within the gray or even streaks of black—its properties and color shifted subtly with every perspective.

This flame, born from a remarkable qualitative transformation, carried a marvel that even Sein found breathtaking.

“This is... the power of ashes...? Is that where every flame’s journey inevitably leads...?”

1. Please take note that there is a term change for ”Demon” and ”Devil”. For more information, please visit the footnote of Chapter 910. ☜