Sovereign of the Ashes-Chapter 1443: Upgrading Magic Rod

“The Magus Alliance will carefully review your personal request and expects you to be ready for deployment within two hundred years, Master Sein,” the Rank Five mage from Sky City said.

With that, the remote call came to an end.

Given that his previous infiltration mission had greatly benefited the Magus Alliance, and that he had voluntarily forfeited his rest period to request deployment, the alliance would not simply assign him to a random warring plane.

Instead, they would take his personal preferences into account before deploying him to a suitable warfront.

After raising his deployment application, Sein refrained from large-scale experiments. Most of his days were spent on research projects of manageable scope, the kind that could help prepare him for what lay ahead.

During these years back in Magus World, he also uploaded his discovery of the Decomposing Azure Flame to the Arcane Light.

It was not some advanced pyro spell, but a unique flame he had stumbled upon in Wild Gorilla World.

Before this, he had only used it for routine alchemy work.

The knowledge he shared with the Arcane Light revealed nothing about his core Ashen Laws. It covered only the Azure Flame’s basic properties and its principles of decomposition.

Even so, the Arcane Light rewarded him with a generous sum of Arcane Points.

With the Clash of Civilizations underway, any truth that could be turned against the Gallant Federation was eagerly received and generously rewarded by the Magus Civilization.

Sein was not the only Rank Four mage to receive such a benefit from the Arcane Light.

Rumor had it that in a distant corner of the Western Archipelago, a mage skilled in sonido magic had pioneered a new technique.

By amplifying sound to a critical threshold and supplementing it with elemental energy, he could induce resonance within the metallic hulls of Gallant Federation warships, causing them to fracture or even disintegrate.

There was also the electromagnetic magic pioneered by Magus World mechanics, which Sein had first witnessed on Black Tide Plane.

The Magus Civilization was a sea of talent that could constantly come up with countermeasures against the Gallant Federation’s fleets.

Naturally, the federation also had its own established tactics to deal with the Magus Civilization in return.

For instance, they had devised blast techniques specifically designed to break the high-powered magic shields the Magus Civilization so often relied on.

That day, Sein was in his laboratory, working on his magic rod.

Over the years, his power had grown steadily, and the truths he pursued had only deepened. Little by little, he found himself beginning to outgrow the once-lavish rod.

Even without equipment, Sein’s law power and elemental power had already reached the late stage of Rank Four.

Because he had tempered his body, his combat style was very different from that of most mages.

Unlike others at his rank, he did not suffer from a frail constitution. Once he activated his demonic lawful body, he could even take peak Rank Fours head-on.

With the Faceless Mask and the newly acquired Magic Cube, Sein’s strength far exceeded the limits of his rank, making it possible for him to directly challenge Rank Five beings.

After all, what other Rank Four had two world-class secret treasures in their possession?

Some Rank Fives would have been overjoyed to own even one, and there were even Rank Six beings who had none at all...

A significant share of Sein’s power came from his equipment, and his magic rod remained a crucial part of it.

Though it was not yet time to replace the rod entirely, he intended to make adjustments.

In addition to re-engraving and modifying the elemental patterns on its surface with his improved knowledge of array arts, his most important change was to replace one of the two divine relics mounted at the tip.

The God of Fire Crickets’ divine relic was no longer useful to him at his current stage.

After prying it off, Sein set in its place a low-level pyro elemental Star Core that he had received for his contributions on Planet Nocchi.

The brilliant, scorching Star Core infused his rod with powerful pyro elemental energy.

Unfortunately, a lumen elemental divine relic to balance it was not something he could easily stumble upon at this point.

As a result, the rod that had once maintained equilibrium between pyro and lumen elemental energies now leaned heavily toward pyro.

But this imbalance did not bother Sein.

In the war against the Gallant Federation, pyro elemental energy had proven far more effective than lumen.

And more importantly, the origin law he pursued was rooted in flames.

***

Sein, who had been on standby at the Divine Tower of Ashes, did not have to wait long.

In the twenty-first year after submitting his deployment application to Sky City, the Magus Alliance finally issued him a precise combat order.

–Conquer Radbow Plane and purge all traitors!

“I thought I would have to wait another hundred years. Never imagined I’d receive the mission after just twenty,” Sein murmured, gripping his magic rod tightly.

For a Rank Four mage, twenty years was barely the blink of an eye.

He had just completed upgrades to his own magic rod and crafted several other magic artifacts in the process.

As soon as the combat order arrived, Sein summoned the combat-ready war mages of the Divine Tower of Ashes to assemble at the Ashen Fortress beyond their homeplane.

At the same time, the enslaved creature legions were mobilized.

Before departing, Sein made a trip to the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring. Beyond bidding farewell to his mentor, he came to collect the Golden Apple Potions Lorianne had recently brewed.

Her skill in potion-making had steadily grown.

The last time, she had managed to brew eleven potions from a single Golden Apple.

This time, with another Golden Apple provided by Sein, her experience enabled her to reduce waste and produce a total of thirteen.

Sein took six.

Since this Golden Apple had been acquired through his own efforts, he was under no obligation to share it with others.

He kept half for himself and left the other half to his mentor because the potions were her creation, and she deserved her share.

The extra vial accounted for the one Lorianne had used on Natalya.

“Why leave me so many?” Lorianne asked, her brow slightly furrowed as she gazed at the row of seven shimmery golden potions.

“If I were the one crafting them, a single Golden Apple might not even yield three. This is what you deserve, Master Lorianne. Even if you don’t need them, you can always trade them away or keep them for Grandmaster Feylis and the others,” Sein replied.