Sovereign of the Ashes

Deep within the core ruins of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization, Sein took out the Magic Cube and cast a thoughtful glance toward the west.

Just moments earlier, Sein—whose consciousness was linked to the cube—had suddenly sensed a faint stir from within it.

Although it was a world-class secret treasure, the cube was far less useful to Sein than the Faceless Mask, which offered direct combat enhancement.

The Magic Cube’s primary functions lay in granting intelligence to robots and assisting Nexon robots in repairing damage.

If they were ranked based on their functions, the Faceless Mask would qualify as a mid-tier world-class secret treasure, while the Magic Cube was, at best, a low-tier one.

That said, its ability to bestow intelligence upon robots was rare, and recently, Sein had even unlocked its function of producing Energy Amethysts.

Among low-tier world-class secret treasures, the cube could be considered relatively outstanding.

Even so, it still fell short in Sein’s eyes—especially when it came to combat utility!

Sein had long considered upgrading the cube, or even fusing its functions with the Faceless Mask, to see whether the mask could be endowed with an artifact spirit or true intelligence.

However, such experiments were far too advanced.

The required knowledge and resources were well beyond what Sein currently possessed.

In times of peace, spending thousands or even tens of thousands of years on such research would have been perfectly acceptable.

After all, as an exceptionally young Rank Five mage, time was one thing Sein had in abundance.

Unfortunately, with the war still raging, his priorities remained firmly fixed on body-tempering techniques, the Ashen Flame, and his recent obsession with super-magic bombs.

Research into upgrading the Magic Cube or integrating it with the Faceless Mask could only be postponed until further notice.

Such was the unavoidable reality of a Rank Five mage during wartime.

“Master Sein, is something wrong?” a nearby Rank Four mage asked, having noticed Sein’s unusual pause. His gaze flicked toward the cube in Sein’s hand.

“Nothing,” Sein replied, putting the cube away. “Are Master Gilbert and the others still down there?”

The Rank Four mage nodded. “Yes, they are. Who knows? Maybe this time we will uncover something new.”

Gilbert was the mineralogy expert who had previously gifted Sein that exceptional Gray Quartz specimen.

The inert crystal energy activation principle incorporated into Sein’s magic bomb had originally been obtained through a transaction with Master Gilbert.

As a leading mineralogist within the Magus Civilization, Master Gilbert had also been transferred to the core ruins of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization.

This decision stemmed from the high command’s suspicion that the subspace ruins contained substantial deposits of inert crystals.

The facts soon proved the Magus Civilization’s leadership correct.

After entering the core ruins, Master Gilbert and his team quickly discovered two small inert crystal veins in succession.

The internal space of this subspace ruin rivaled that of a large-sized world.

So far, the Magus Civilization’s exploration team had surveyed less than three percent of the entire site, yet they had already uncovered two veins.

Once the ruins were fully explored, even more exciting discoveries were likely to emerge.

The inert crystal veins found within the ruins, combined with earlier evidence, unanimously confirmed that the origin of Gray Quartz was closely tied to the ancient Eiyurant Papillon Civilization.

According to Master Gilbert and his team, the Gray Quartz veins likely represented the “standard energy” once stored and used by Eiyurant Papillon Folk.

After enduring prolonged erosion, the passage of time, and geological shifts, these deposits had reappeared as mineral veins encountered by the Magus Civilization.

In fact, tens of thousands of years ago, the inert crystals used by Eiyurant Papillon Folk did not take the form of Gray Quartz. Instead, they existed as another type of inert crystal with a structure similar to it.

The Gray Quartz now observed by Sein and the others was simply a new product formed through the long process of time and transformation.

The pit where Master Gilbert and his team were currently working had already been surveyed and mapped.

In addition to inert crystal ores, numerous artifacts from the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization had been uncovered.

The most common discoveries were fragments of metal.

Sein himself collected quite a few, some of which bore the rare characters once used by the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization.

These metal fragments held almost no research value. After surviving tens of millions of years, their significance lay mainly in their worth as antiquities.

Like Sein, many knights and mages who entered the core ruins also took similar unimportant items as keepsakes.

If one were to name the most research-worthy discovery made so far, it would undoubtedly be the square-shaped spacecraft excavated from tens of thousands of meters beneath the yellow sands.

Millions of years ago, the creatures of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization seemed to have had a particular fondness for square shapes.

Many of the valuable artifacts uncovered by the Magus Civilization from this ancient civilization were square in form.

The site where that spacecraft was excavated lay in another region of this sandy expanse. It had also become the primary focus of Howard and the other Rank Five archaeology mages from the Magus Civilization lately.

Sein had learned that Gilbert and several other mages he knew were working within this subspace ruin as well, which was why he made a special trip to check on the situation.

At present, the main obstacle preventing Magus Civilization mages from pushing deeper into the ruins was the presence of semi-transparent, invisible energy barriers scattered throughout this vast sandy world.

Before departing, the ancient Eiyurant Papillon Civilization appeared to have divided this central secret realm into grid-like zones.

Without special access credentials, even law-wielding would be confined to their assigned areas.

As a result, despite the endless stretch of yellow sand visible in the distance, Sein could easily find himself abruptly stopped mid-flight by an unseen barrier.

At the moment, there were two primary methods for breaching or bypassing these energy barriers.

One involved specialized instruments, developed by Magus Civilization mages, that were capable of slowly dissolving the barriers.

The other relied on natural gaps that existed between them.

These gaps might have been passageways deliberately left behind by the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization for their own use, or they could have been weak points formed over countless eons of erosion.

After extensive investigation, the Magus Civilization mages leaned more toward the second explanation.

Past ruins research had shown that the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization possessed unique passage markers of its own. There was little reason for them to deliberately create additional openings and leave unnecessary vulnerabilities in their energy barriers.

After dismissing the Rank Four mages before him, Sein prepared to descend deeper into the pit to review the research findings of Master Gilbert and the others.

As a mage, Sein held authority over related research, which granted him access to most areas within the ruins.

In fact, he had far more access than Agathis and Black Oblivion.

Before entering the pit, Sein could not help but cast one last glance toward the west.

“What was that actually?” he mumbled to himself.