Sovereign of the Ashes

Would the Arriba Chamber of Commerce remain neutral?

On this point, even Sein dared not draw hasty conclusions.

He knew that Arriba was overseen by an overlord-level being, one that appeared to share close kinship ties with Tourmaline and the others.

The last time, it had been through the Arriba Chamber of Commerce that Sein obtained several crucial devil and demon materials.

He had to admit that the goods offered by Arriba were astonishingly vast and diverse.

Even Sein, a Rank Five mage, found himself impressed by the sheer selection.

Many of the items and artifacts on display were things he had never encountered before—so much so that when the Arriba Chamber of Commerce arrived near Marvelous Plane, Sein ended up spending a small fortune.

The Arriba Interstellar Chamber of Commerce refused to conduct transactions in magicoins.

Their recognized hard currencies were energy crystals, biological cores, rare metals, souls, and high-quality enslaved creatures.

Beyond these primary forms of payment, Arriba accepted other trade items only after a thorough commercial evaluation by professional appraisers.

Magicoins circulated only within the Magus Alliance, as well as a limited number of star domains and civilizations aligned with Magus World.

In and of themselves, magicoins held no inherent value—their worth existed solely because the Magus Civilization designated them as official currency.

The Arriba Interstellar Chamber of Commerce operated independently of Magus World, and its commercial network appeared to span multiple top-tier civilizations.

Expanding trade to such a scale was a skill in its own right.

Leveraging his connections through Tourmaline and Black Oblivion, Sein managed to acquire two rare materials from different top-tier civilizations through Arriba’s internal channels.

The first was known as the Lumina Heart, said to be a Rank Four biological core from a top-tier civilization known as Luminara.

It looked like nothing more than an ordinary gray spherical stone.

Yet the moment Sein held it in his hand, he clearly sensed an immense, vibrant surge of lumen elemental power contained within.

Sein possessed deep expertise in lumen elemental magic. Master Jorces, the creator of the Faceless Mask, was a renowned lumimancer himself.

Through Jorces’ legacy, Sein had also gained profound insight into the truths and mysteries of the lumen element.

As a result, Sein was genuinely captivated when he examined this Rank Four biological core known as the Lumina Heart.

The other material he acquired was known as the Dorrondo Horn. It was said to originate from the Amenkha Empire and came from a Rank Five monster called Dorrondo.

This was an exceptionally pure umbra elemental material. The surface of the sharp horn radiated an astonishingly potent umbra elemental energy.

Moreover, according to the auctioneer from Arriba, the horn also contained a trace of Dorrondo’s blood essence that held considerable bloodline power.

It seemed the members of the Arriba Chamber of Commerce were quite familiar with the Magus Civilization. They even knew that many Magus World mages were interested in bloodline power.

Naturally, the horn could just as easily be sold to knights, where it would fetch an equally hefty price.

Many knight houses would surely be drawn to the origin bloodline power sealed within it.

Sein himself had never delved deeply into bloodline studies, nor had he used umbra elemental laws much in recent years.

He had purchased the Dorrondo Horn with the intention of gifting it to Leena.

She would definitely be fascinated by it!

Sein had actually gotten one more extremely rare item from Arriba—a botanical treasure known as the Thousand-Root Herb, which originated from the Immortal Realm.

This one was a gift from Tourmaline.

“What’s that money for? Aren’t we friends?” Tourmaline blinked at Sein when he tried to pay her back.

With that, Sein could only give up.

Indeed, after so many years of friendship with Tourmaline, bringing up money at all felt unnecessary.

In the end, Sein kept only the Lumina Heart for his own research. The Dorrondo Horn would be given to Leena, while the Thousand-Root Herb was reserved for Lorianne to refine into potions.

Although Sein had only paid for the Lumina Heart and the Dorrondo Horn, the total price was far from small. He settled the bill using energy crystals and profits accumulated from recent wars.

In the end, Sein had spent nearly twenty million magicoins.

That sum was nearly enough to purchase two standard-model space fortresses. Yet in the eyes of the Arriba Interstellar Chamber of Commerce, Sein had still secured an excellent deal.

Indeed, within the Magus Civilization, the heart core of a Rank Four creature could never sell for ten million magicoins.

Such a price only made sense if it came bundled with additional high-grade components from other Rank Four beings.

However, this did not take into account the logistical cost and additional expenses the Arriba Interstellar Chamber of Commerce incurred in procuring the Lumina Heart from the distant Luminara Civilization.

In that light, ten million magicoins was not an inflated price at all.

And this opportunity existed only because Sein had accessed internal channels and purchased the item in advance.

If the Lumina Heart were placed on the open market, mages obsessed with experimental research would surely bid twenty or even thirty million magicoins. As long as they had the funds, they would not hesitate for a moment.

To many spellcasters, magicoins were nothing more than a string of numbers.

What truly mattered to them was the pursuit of truth and the unraveling of profound mysteries.

After all, if one missed this Lumina Heart, who knew when another might appear?

The Magus Civilization had never established stable ties with the Luminara Civilization. Only an organization as vast and far-reaching as the Arriba Chamber of Commerce could procure treasures of such caliber.

As for the Lumina Heart, its appeal to the pure lumimancers of Magus World would be nothing short of overwhelming!

And that beast horn from the Amenkha Empire was just as rare as the Lumina Heart.

The Amenkha Empire was an exceptionally brutal and aggressively expansionist power.

Its monster legions were infamous across the surrounding star domains. They were far more notorious even than the Magus Civilization’s enslaved legions.

Doing business with the Amenkha Empire required extreme caution. One misstep, and they would devour you whole, skin and bones.

Sein could not help but wonder what connections Arriba leveraged to obtain such a large quantity of resources from the Amenkha Empire.

The Dorrondo Horn Sein acquired was merely one of the most precious items among them. Beyond that, he had also purchased quite a number of mid-tier and lower-grade materials.

Even these materials commanded prices comparable to high-grade local materials within the Magus Civilization.

Faced with this, Sein was not sure whether it was fair to label Arriba as a profiteer.

Still, he had to admit that he was pretty satisfied with his shopping spree.

Perhaps out of concern that Lorianne, Gregory, and others lacked access to proper purchasing channels, many of the rare materials Sein acquired at great expense were intended as future gifts for members of the Verdant Flame Faction.

While these items could not compare to the Lumina Heart, their rarity meant they were treasures seldom seen even within star domains under the Magus Civilization’s control.

Sometimes, a gift did not need to be rare or priceless. It was the thought that mattered.

Before Sein could further explore the exotic wares brought from distant civilizations by Arriba Interstellar, an urgent mobilization order arrived.

The directive came directly from the Magus Civilization’s high command, seemingly issued by an overlord personally.

The fact that the order bypassed Feylis entirely and was delivered straight to Sein and his group spoke volumes about the seriousness of the situation.

The command required Magus Civilization legions stationed around Marvelous Plane to dispatch a powerful detachment to designated star-domain coordinates immediately.

Their mission was to provide cover for a specialized team operating there, ensuring the successful exploration of the core ruins of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization.

Just as Sein and his group received this order, noticeable movements began among the Gallant Federation legions on this same battlefield.