Sovereign of the Ashes

As Sein and the others pressed deeper into the heart of the Steel Ruins, flashes of memory occasionally surfaced in HALL-E’s mind.

Some of these were memories HALL-E had recalled before—fragments involving its owner, or the promise that its owner had once made to return for it.

Others were scenes HALL-E had only begun to remember recently, such as time spent in a secluded research laboratory, where it assisted its owner with experiments.

Sein had once asked about the appearance of HALL-E’s owner. The robot pondered for a long time, yet it still could not fully recall it, even as its body overheated and wisps of smoke rose from it.

It only remembered that the owner seemed quite old and always wore a white lab coat—unlike Sein, who usually wore a black magic robe in the laboratory.

“I don’t recall this place at all. I’ve probably never been here before,” HALL-E said, shaking its head.

Sein and his group were now inside an underground research facility near the heart of the Steel Ruins.

The faint law fluctuations detected by the Magic Cube had guided them to this location.

“Search for anything of value. Record the coordinates. We won’t be staying here for long,” Sein instructed the group.

Whether it was because both combat legions had shifted their main battlefield into the subspace, or due to the sudden unease he had felt moments earlier, Sein urged his group forward with a growing sense of urgency.

In truth, ever since learning that both combat legions had entered this subspace, Sein and his group had significantly reduced the time they spent at each ruin they discovered.

As rational mages, they could not assume that the next group they encountered would be reinforcements from the Magus Civilization.

They also had to remain wary of threats from the Gallant Federation.

Even so, the recent string of discoveries—both valuable treasures and crucial intelligence—had filled Sein’s group with a crackling sense of excitement.

Following Mussor, a Rank Two female mage named Loretta discovered a fragment of a world-class secret treasure.

Though the fragment was only thumb-sized and emitted extremely faint law fluctuations, Loretta’s find still sent a ripple of excitement through the lower-ranking knights and mages.

By contrast, Roth and Grethel had grown noticeably more restrained in their treasure-hunting pursuits.

Perhaps after amassing sufficient wealth, these Rank Four mages had finally refocused on their true purpose within this subspace ruin.

Guided by the Magic Cube, Sein and his group arrived at a technological base of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization.

The fact that artifacts bearing faint traces of law power had survived to this day suggested that the preservation of these facilities remained relatively intact.

Within these scientific laboratories and covert research facilities, Grethel and the others relied on their exceptional expertise to extract a wealth of technological knowledge from the immemorial era of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization.

Knowledge was universal within the Astral Realm.

Through research and verification, the Magus World mages had determined that the Astral Realm was composed of minute elemental particles, with law powers permeating its very fabric.

It was precisely this diversity of laws that shaped the countless planes of the Astral Realm.

From that diversity arose varied ecological environments and distinct racial civilizations.

Lower-ranking mages studied elemental particles, while higher-ranking mages began to comprehend the laws themselves.

Although the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization had pursued a path of technological advancement, fully deciphering its scientific achievements and translating them into the universal framework of the Magus World would allow the Magus Civilization to reproduce those same “technological achievements” through “magic.”

Though small in number, Sein’s expedition into the heart of the subspace was remarkably well balanced, encompassing every necessary type of talent.

In an extremely short period of time, the combined research achievements of Sein and his group nearly matched those of Master Howard and his team, who had labored for years on the outskirts of the subspace.

Even the few knights in the group, who had originally been assigned purely to guard duty, had developed trained eyes after accompanying Sein and the others on their journey for so long.

Something good always happened when they handed artifacts they could not decipher directly to the mages.

After entering the Steel Ruins, Sein’s group began to discover fragments of technological treasures with increasing frequency.

Not all world-class secret treasures from technological civilizations were designed for warfare.

This research facility was a prime example. The source of the law fluctuations that Sein and his group eventually pinpointed was a spherical metallic device that resembled a “furnace”.

Sein and his group exchanged puzzled glances; none of them could tell the purpose of the contraption.

Given enough time, they could have studied it in detail. With other texts or experimental equipment found within the base, they might have deduced the furnace’s function.

But time was not on their side.

“Let the Magic Cube devour its law essence. As for this furnace... let’s pack it up and take it with us. If we can figure it out, great. If not, we can sell it as a fragment of a world-class secret treasure,” Sein said.

These points of law fluctuation, which contained fragments of world-class secret treasures, were all located by Sein through the Magic Cube.

Nearly everyone present had also been saved by Sein at one point or another.

Coupled with his overwhelming strength, it was only natural that Sein claimed the lion’s share of the gains from the Steel Ruins.

No one raised any objections.

After absorbing the law energy from the furnace, the cube revealed that it had gained a new function that resembled “smelting”.

Following its recent bout of “gluttonous feasting”, the Magic Cube seemed to be growing increasingly versatile in its capabilities—so much so that even Sein found it difficult to judge its true grade.

For a treasure, however, more functions were not always better.

More often than not, a jack of all trades was a master of none.

Take the cube’s newly acquired abilities as an example. Because the origin law energy it absorbed was inherently limited, the new functions were not particularly powerful.

Just as Sein would not blindly study every branch of magic, the same principle applied to crafting world-class secret treasures and alchemical equipment.

A world-class secret treasure that tried to be everything might ultimately become nothing at all.

Even so, Sein had not stopped the Magic Cube from devouring the origin laws contained in other secret treasure fragments.

Such an opportunity was simply too rare.

If he had not entered this top-tier civilizational ruin, where else could Sein have found the chance to feed the cube such vast and diverse technological laws?

His current approach to managing the cube bordered on reckless indulgence—stuff it full first, then worry about the details later.

He could always figure out how to harness those vast and diverse law powers afterward.

After all, “overeating” would not damage it!

Having devoured the law energies from numerous world-class secret treasure fragments, the Magic Cube was already showing signs of yet another transformation and upgrade in the near future!