Sovereign of the Ashes

The Blue Star delegates met little resistance on their way to see the Klytheran leader, Karazo.

At the moment, the Rank Five Klytheran was busy mobilizing his legions.

Seven hundred thousand Klytheran fighters would serve as the main force, launching a full-scale assault on Blue Star.

Smaller groups were already moving to seize the other three life planets and several resource worlds.

It was a campaign promising immense rewards, but Karazo still had to be responsible for his men’s lives.

Any opportunity to reduce casualties was worth considering.

The Blue Star natives’ plea for peace caught Sein completely off guard.

When they offered to surrender one of their planets for the Klytherans to settle and rebuild, Sein found himself struggling to understand their logic.

He had never encountered a species this... “meek”.

To a powerhouse born of the Magus Civilization like him, the Blue Star people’s meekness was actually extremely reassuring.

If they ever joined the Magus Alliance, the leadership would almost certainly welcome such agreeable allies and treat them generously!

After all, the upper echelons of Magus World had always favored “reasonable” alliance members who would back their interests and help negotiate more favorable terms whenever disputes arose.

If the Blue Star Civilization could set a positive example, the Magus Civilization’s leadership could more easily replicate similar treaties across the entire alliance!

After hearing all this and seeing for himself what kind of people the Blue Star natives were, Sein suddenly felt a desire to protect Blue Star.

It was an absurd idea, but the reasoning behind it was perfectly sound. In truth, it aligned neatly with the Magus Civilization’s own interests.

Blue Star’s vast reserves of Gray Quartz were not something only the Klytherans needed.

Sein was certain that Magus World would also take great interest in them!

Compared to the Klytherans, who were superior in both combat strength and evolutionary systems, Sein felt that the Blue Star natives were a much safer choice as potential proxies for expanding the Magus Civilization’s influence in this star domain.

Sein had once represented the Magus Civilization on diplomatic missions to the Eternal Sand World and the Phantom Crow World.

As such, he was deeply familiar with the procedures of the Magus Alliance and the unspoken attitude it held toward its vassal planes.

That was the advantage of experience. Some lessons could never be learned from laboratory research alone.

Had Master Gregory come here instead, he might not have been able to consider the situation more thoroughly than Sein.

The Blue Star natives’ meekness and tendency to compromise make them especially easy for the Magus Civilization to bring under its sway.

Help the Klytherans rebuild their homeland?

Come on, Magus World was not that noble. Sein would not throw himself into their cause just because Karazo and the others flattered him.

Sein ultimately stood with Magus World.

Alone in this unfamiliar star domain, he was thinking not only about how to get back safely to the Magus Civilization’s territory but also about how to secure the greatest benefit for himself and for Magus World.

He had found sizable reserves of inert crystals and had the chance to fold an entire civilization into the Magus Alliance.

With the Clash of Civilizations still underway, Sein believed these achievements would earn him generous rewards from the Magus Alliance!

For mages, the pursuit of power and truth was inseparable from material resources.

Without the vast supply of high-quality materials and top-tier artifacts provided by the Magus Civilization over the years, Sein could never have advanced so quickly.

Although the Clash of Civilizations had drastically reduced the number of law-wielding knights and mages, many new powerhouses had emerged during the conflict, and countless others had broken through to higher realms.

The war was dangerous, but it was also full of opportunities.

When the Blue Star delegates put their proposal to Karazo, he fell silent, visibly torn.

Securing Blue Star without bloodshed would be ideal.

After temporarily dismissing the delegates, Karazo glanced at the Rank Four fighters gathered around him, then looked at Sein, who had stood at his side the whole time.

“Master Sein, what do you think?” he asked.

Sein replied evenly, “Blue Star can definitely give up more than just one life planet. I think we can push for more.”

His answer made his stance clear.

Karazo nodded. “At least two life planets. Otherwise, why bother negotiating? We might as well wipe them out and take what we want.”

“But that would also cost the Klytheran Legion dearly,” Sein reminded.

On the surface, Sein’s answer seemed to benefit the Klytheran Legion, but it was actually meant to protect Blue Star.

Karazo frowned, unable to make up his mind.

The surviving Klytherans did not have a large population, with only around seven hundred thousand fighters above Rank One.

Two life planets would be more than enough for them to recover and rebuild their civilization.

And the idea of taking Blue Star without spilling much blood was undeniably tempting.

Even so, Karazo hesitated. Could the Blue Star natives really be trusted? Were they scheming something? Or did they have a trump card up their sleeves?

The safest path, of course, would be to wipe them out completely, claim Blue Star by force, and turn it into the Klytherans’ new home.

But there was no such thing as a perfect plan.

Sein’s advice did not push Karazo to decide right away. Instead, the Klytheran leader chose to consult the other Rank Four fighters before moving forward, temporarily putting the full-scale invasion on hold.

The massive Klytheran fleet stationed outside Blue Star alone was enough to put immense pressure on its inhabitants.

During this time, Sein wisely kept out of their internal matters. He simply asked for a spacious ship hangar to use as a temporary laboratory.

Talking too much was rarely wise, and Karazo was not someone who could be easily persuaded anyway. A few well-placed words were enough.

Meanwhile, Sein shared his own potions with the Klytheran fighters, earning their trust.

Kram, the Rank Four female Klytheran fighter, began visiting his laboratory often with no particular reason.

Sometimes she brought along Misori, another Rank Four powerhouse, who was even more striking in appearance.

But unlike Kram, Misori always carried an air of quiet sadness and showed little interest in the experimental devices cluttering Sein’s workspace.

That day, Sein was tinkering with an energy cannon developed by the Blue Star natives. It was a technological weapon powered by Gray Quartz as its energy core.

Their method of channeling energy from this inert crystal fascinated him deeply. For a mage devoted to studying elemental power, this was eye-opening.

Lately, he had examined several wounded Klytheran fighters and dissected the dead ones, gaining an impressive understanding of their anatomy.

“Master Sein, what are you working on this time?” Kram asked as she strolled in, her red bob-cut hair bouncing slightly. She had dragged her good friend Misori into his laboratory yet again.

This female fighter seemed fascinated by Sein’s experiments.

Even though she could not understand a word of his theories, she never got tired of asking questions.

“This energy converter is quite something. I’m studying how it works,” Sein replied without looking up, fixing his attention on the Blue Star energy cannon before him.

The two women knew he disliked being interrupted during experiments, so they spoke softly and moved around carefully.

After a long while, Sein finally straightened up from the workbench. As he tidied his tools, he asked casually, “So, how did your talks go? Still planning to take Blue Star by force?”

“Nothing’s been decided yet. I don’t really care either way,” Kram said with a shrug, nudging her friend forward. “Terras and the others want to go straight to war, but Misori thinks negotiation’s the better option, since poor Karl’s stuck in the middle.”

Sein glanced at Misori, the quiet woman, but said nothing more.

After a moment of silence, he spoke again. “I also think it’s better to avoid a direct fight with the Blue Star natives.”

“Oh?” Kram, who had been scanning the shelves, turned to him in surprise.

Misori lifted her head too, looking at Sein.