Sovereign of the Ashes

Chapter 1814: Jessica’s Advancement

As the war in the Arid Expanse World was drawing to a close, Sein received another piece of good news.

At least, it was good news to him.

Jessica, the demigod-level dendromacver who had often assisted him in his research experiments on the power of emotions, had successfully advanced to Rank Four!

This made her the third mage from Lorianne’s Divine Tower of Verdant Spring to reach Rank Four since Grimm!

For a single divine tower to produce three law-wielding mages within just a few thousand years was already remarkable!

What was more, the strongest among them had already advanced to Rank Five.

Lorianne had never been famous for her combat strength. Her reputation had mainly come from her apothecary skills, and even that was limited to certain circles.

This time, however, she had made a name for herself again through the growth of her divine tower and her talent for mentoring initiates.

How had she managed to cultivate so many law-wielding mages in only a few thousand years?

That was the question on many people’s minds.

Concrete results always spoke louder than theory.

With Jessica’s promotion to Rank Four, enrollment at Lorianne’s Divine Tower of Verdant Spring surged once again.

In the most recent recruitment cycle, the number of low-level initiates admitted by Lorianne’s Divine Tower of Verdant Spring far exceeded that of Sein’s Divine Tower of Ashes.

Jessica had made her breakthrough in the laboratory.

More precisely, she advanced to Rank Four right in front of Sein.

At the time, the two of them were conducting research on the power of emotions.

Since Sein had recently developed several new ideas about controlling Lustfire, he called Jessica over, not realizing that she was already in the middle of her qualitative transformation, as he had not been paying much attention to her lately.

Jessica had also kept it to herself. She had not told him about something this important in advance.

As a result, Sein, who had been completely absorbed in his research, was caught off guard when he suddenly sensed an intense eruption of Lustfire law power around him.

With Sein’s level of self-control, along with his years of research into the laws of emotions, he could have withdrawn almost immediately when the flames burst forth.

But Jessica was trapped in the middle of it alone, and he had no idea what terrible consequences might befall her.

Besides, Sein himself was deeply curious about this unusual flame of emotion, so he chose to remain where he was as Jessica’s origin flame erupted.

Thinking about it now, the whole thing was rather amusing.

The identity Jessica showed to outsiders was clearly that of a dendromancer.

Pyro elemental magic, by contrast, was something she usually treated as a last resort and rarely used.

Yet when she pushed toward Rank Four, the true source of power behind her advancement turned out to be the law of Lustfire, a unique fusion of emotional and pyro elemental energies.

Even Lorianne herself had been stunned by Jessica’s promotion to Rank Four.

She had not heard a word about it beforehand.

If Jessica had not been standing right in front of her as a newly advanced Rank Four mage, Lorianne might have thought someone was playing a joke on her.

***

After the intense session in the laboratory finally came to an end, Sein looked at Jessica, whose skin was still flushed red.

“Aren’t you a dendromancer? Why do you seem more like a hydromancer to me?” he teased her.

His experimental table was wet.

Of all the women he had been with, Jessica was by far the most “adventurous”.

Driven by surging emotions and the power of Lustfire, Jessica had even requested Sein to activate his demonic form just now.

Sein had only ever tried something like that with his wife, Natalya.

Since both of them could assume demonic forms, it had never caused any problems.

Jessica, however, could only remain in human form. Even so, she was the only one bold enough to make such a request...

Among all the women Sein had encountered so far, he had to admit that Jessica was the one who could stir his deepest desires.

Perhaps that was the power of the Lustfire law? Even beings one or two ranks above her could be affected by it.

This was Jessica’s first time. Crimson blood dripped down from Sein’s experimental table. Jessica’s eyes were hazy, but her mind was still clear.

“I used to hate men. I thought they were filthy. It’s only with you that I don’t feel that way. I like being tainted by you,” Jessica confessed shyly.

Mages were all perverts in one way or another, and since Sein himself was even more extreme than most, he was not surprised by Jessica’s confession.

He merely gave a slight nod, then rose to his feet. As he reached for his magic robe, he asked Jessica what path she intended to take from here on.

It had clearly been the Lustfire law that helped Jessica break through to Rank Four.

As for this type of law... whether Magus World had ever produced any law-wielding mages who wielded it was difficult to say.

Even if such people had existed, they almost certainly would not have admitted it publicly.

It was simply too unconventional and too strange. The image Jessica had always presented to others was that of a cold and strict divine tower dean.

Only when she was with Sein did she let her true nature show without reservation. To everyone else, she remained the respected and dignified dean.

Jessica flicked her long green hair, then crossed her long legs and sat on Sein’s experimental table.

“I still plan to focus on dendro elemental law power and establish a divine tower of my own,” she replied.

“It doesn’t matter if my understanding of the dendro elemental law is not as deep as my grasp of Lustfire law. Now that I’ve already advanced to Rank Four, I can always spend more time studying it,” Jessica said, swinging her legs.

Now that she and Sein had crossed that final line in their relationship, Jessica seemed far more open and at ease around him than before.

She was nothing like the reserved woman who had first stepped into Sein’s laboratory.

“Where are you planning to build your divine tower?” Sein asked after putting his robe back on.

Jessica was a rational and ambitious mage. She would never allow herself to drift through life as idly or aimlessly as Reina.

For her future growth, establishing a divine tower would clearly be the better path.

With a smile, she replied, “I plan to do it in Ashenreach. What do you think?”

Having used up quite a bit of stamina and feeling somewhat dehydrated, Sein picked up a glass of specially prepared juice beside the experimental table.

Hearing Jessica’s answer, he set the glass back down.

“I think that’s a good choice,” he said.

***

Once again, Sein had managed to poach another divine tower mage from Lorianne.

When Lorianne heard that Jessica planned to establish her divine tower in Ashenreach, she felt both relieved and a little suspicious.

“Are you even close with her?” she asked.

“Not really. We’ve always had a normal relationship. Besides, Jessica’s been the dean of your divine tower academy this whole time,” Sein replied.

“As for why she chose to establish her divine tower in Ashenreach, I suppose she was attracted by the more spacious environment there, along with the better development opportunities,” he explained.

“That must be it. The Viridescent Land is simply too small,” Lorianne agreed with a sigh.

“There’s not much room left around here for Jessica to build a divine tower, and the competition is actually much fiercer as well. If she goes to Ashenreach, then at least in the early stages of her divine tower’s development, she won’t have to face too much environmental pressure,” she added, analyzing the matter from her experience.

Sein seized the chance to flatter her a little.

“Your reputation for nurturing the next generation has already spread far and wide, Master Lorianne. For your divine tower to have produced three Rank Four mages is an achievement many Rank Five mages could not hope to match.”

“Of course. Do you even know who your mentor is?” Lorianne said, lifting her chin proudly.