Sovereign of the Ashes

A world’s elemental concentration and environmental laws were usually constant—it was unlikely for the former to rise without cause.

On top of that, a 5.6% increase was a significant surge!

In reality, Faeloria’s overall elemental concentration had been steadily rising for the past six months.

Yet Sein, having holed himself up in the laboratory, had been so engrossed in unraveling truths that he failed to notice the gradual increase in elemental concentration around him.

The Avatar Crisis, occurring once every ten thousand years, was both a calamity and a blessing in disguise.

It affected not only Rank Three beings striving for godhood but also existing deities who were forcibly cast down to the mortal world.

While the deities may have been swept from their altars, that did not mean they gained nothing from it.

As a closed-off world, Faeloria lacked the external pressures of civilization wars or conflicts that typically drove evolution.

Yet, its rate of divine ascension and the birth of new deities remained on par with other civilizations in the Astral Realm.

The total number of deities within this world far surpassed that of most large worlds in the Astral Realm, and the Avatar Crisis was one of the primary reasons behind this phenomenon.

When deities fell from their altars, and the Prime Materia Plane was thrown into turmoil, Faeloria’s elemental concentration increased steadily.

While it still could not rival the Magus World, it was not far behind.

Sein had never encountered a world with a higher elemental concentration than the Magus World—a top-tier plane in the Astral Realm!

With this increase in elemental concentration, Faeloria’s biological evolution accelerated.

At the same time, a tremendous surge of precious resources would begin emerging across the land.

Throughout history, many mortals in Faeloria had ascended to godhood by the end of the Avatar Crisis—some in as little as a few hundred years!

Of course, most of these newly ascended gods were nothing more than lesser deities wielding weak divine power.

Even so, their path to godhood was a shortcut—achieved by absorbing or stripping divine relics and abilities from fallen deities.

Regardless of the methods, they still attained godhood!

Such rapid ascension was nothing short of astonishing in any world.

The Magus World certainly had its own share of talents who ascended to godhood within a few hundred years.

However, that was only possible due to the immense foundation and vast resources of the Magus World.

Sein could only describe the situation in Faeloria as... eye-opening.

After witnessing the spectacle of descending deities, and with Anastasia clearly feeling unwell, Sein chose not to linger on the high ground.

Instead, he accompanied the Succubus Queen toward the rear ranks of the demonic army.

The location where he would teach the fundamentals of magic to the native Faelorian creatures had already been decided—it would be within his own territory, with the demons providing the necessary manpower and resources.

“There aren’t many coming this time. The Godslayers seem to have faith in their own strength and are eager to begin the God Hunt. Most of the ones entrusted to you are their children. They’ve already mastered the basics—I hope you’ll guide them well,” Anastasia said.

Sein had not realized just how deep the connection between the Purgatory demons and the Godslayers ran—strong enough for them to entrust their children and future generations to demons for training and care.

In Faeloria, demons were supposed to be the embodiment of chaos and evil.

This world... was simply absurd.

No wonder the Godslayers had been perpetually hunted by the major camps of the Prime Materia Plane.

Without the silent backing of the demons, they would have been wiped out long ago.

During past Avatar Crises, there had been no shortage of cases where Godslayers had successfully ascended to godhood.

That raised an interesting question...

What became of those former Godslayers after their ascension?

Did they remain loyal to their old comrades, continuing to support and protect the other Godslayers?

Or did they choose to join the ranks of the other deities, turning their weapons against their former allies?

The human heart was indeed a complicated thing.

***

In truth, the Godslayers never fully accepted or trusted the Purgatory demons.

In the end, only a little over a hundred members of this organization—built on the pursuit of godhood yet plagued by deceit and betrayal—managed to reach the second level of Purgatory.

These hundred were mostly the old, the weak, women, and children.

Among them, only three were Transcendent beings capable of putting up a fight.

There were no Legendary or Epic Beings.

That, of course, was expected.

If they had reached Legendary or Epic realms, they would be out hunting gods in the Prime Materia Plane.

With the arrival of the Turbulent Times, more and more dragons were flocking to the main continent.

These dragons, however, were mostly Legendary Beings.

So, if one could not become a Godslayer... Then becoming a Dragonslayer was not a bad alternative.

A dragon blood bath was known to greatly enhance the physical constitution of Faelorian creatures.

If one wishes to slay a god, one should first slay a dragon—this was the core belief passed down within the Godslayers’ organization.

Those who had succeeded in the past were living proof that this was the best path forward.

Most of the new arrivals at Purgatory’s second level were humans.

Come to think of it, most Faelorian deities were human, and humans were also the ones most prone to causing trouble.

Other races had their own gods, of course.

But it was rare for them to even consider slaying their own race’s deities and taking their place.

After a long period of observation, Sein finally nodded.

He could tell that these native creatures had trained themselves to varying degrees, but their techniques were rudimentary—crude and shaped by trial and error.

After all, the Faelorian deities had long forbidden self-cultivation and the development of advanced techniques.

In this world, power could only be attained through faith in the gods.

Sein also paid close attention to the three Transcendent Beings, equivalent to Rank One creatures according to Astral Realm’s power system.

Two men and one woman...

These three would become his primary subjects for training and experimentation.

After all, he did not have the time to personally train an entire group.

Instead, he would give these three a little guidance and let them pass down the knowledge to the others.

More importantly, Sein was quite pleased that these three had chosen to stay behind to protect their families and friends rather than join the others in hunting gods.

As an erudite mage, Sein had no interest in nurturing ingrates.

Whatever these three learned would depend entirely on them.

Just because Sein was willing to teach did not mean they would turn out great.

That would be too far-fetched.

Even setting aside how much effort he was willing to invest, talent and enlightenment were not things he could simply bestow upon them.

Even Grandmaster Feylis, a Rank Six mage, had been forced to watch helplessly as two of her own apprentices lived out their lifespans, unable to advance any further.

There were simply too many challenges in this world.

In Sein’s opinion, with his experimental modifications and the cultivation methods, it would already be a remarkable achievement if these three could even reach Rank Two, like Lou!