Sovereign of the Ashes

After meeting with his mentor, Sein headed directly to the recuperation area within the fortress.

More than four years had passed since the Verdant Leaf World War began. Although the war yielded significant gains, it left many knights and mages of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring Army with varying degrees of injuries.

Sein had spent several months in this recuperation area the previous year, and now he returned in perfect health to visit others.

He went straight to the ward reserved for those most seriously injured and found Sia among others who had been given a separate room.

The Divine Tower of Verdant Spring took great care of its wounded knights and mages, subsidizing their recovery generously.

Thanks to Lorianne's proficiency in healing and her array of rare plant-based recovery aids, the cost of recuperation here was far lower than at other divine towers or knightly orders in the Viridescent Land.

This could probably be considered a distinctive feature of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

Inside the ward, Sein was reunited with Sia, immobilized in a brace, along with Wilson, Natalya, and several knights with familiar faces.

All of them were registered knights from the Order of the Steel Fist, who had come to visit Sia.

When Sein arrived, Wilson and the others were just about to leave.

The war in Verdant Leaf World was still going on, and they were needed for an upcoming assault on the Ancient Verdant Banyan, making their schedules particularly hectic.

Sein had a much warmer relationship with Wilson than with Sia. Upon seeing Sein enter the room, Wilson greeted him with a pat on the shoulder and exchanged a few words before he and the other knights departed.

After their departure, only Sein, Natalya, and Sia remained in the ward.

Natalya soon excused herself to check on Reina next door, leaving Sein and Sia alone in an awkward silence.

Reina's injuries from the previous battle were relatively minor given her constitution.

Since she was only a Rank Two knight, there was no way she could defeat a Rank Three Bamboo Leaf Dragonfly King and get away unscathed.

As Sein contemplated offering the healing potion he had prepared and then departing, Sia called out to him.

It became apparent that Natalya had left them alone intentionally, hoping to resolve the tension between Sein and her mother.

Sia, straightforward as ever, waved Sein over from her bed and said, "I have something for you."

As Sein approached, Sia pulled a pitch-black metallic armored shell, about two meters tall, from her space ring and placed it on the floor.

"This is...?" Sein murmured, frowning slightly as he sensed a subtle yet profound energy emanating from the armored shell.

"The molt of a demigod creature after a natural death! Impressive, right? I went through a lot of trouble to get my hands on it," Sia said proudly before her voice took a dark turn.

"I just didn't expect that a Rank Three Bamboo Leaf Dragonfly could wear this molt," she added glumly.

This was demigod-level material! What Sia had offered to him this time was indeed a generous gift.

Such material was coveted, not just by Sein but also by long-promoted Rank Three grand mages.

Sein looked at Sia who was lying on the bed, aware of the sacrifices she had made to mend their relationship.

He knew he should acknowledge her efforts.

Moreover, the demigod-level armored shell before him was a rare treasure at this stage in his journey.

Running his fingers along the armored shell, Sein could feel its icy coolness.

"I'll accept this gift, but not without giving something in return. I don't have any magicoins on me right now, but I can use this armor as raw material to craft some defensive magic equipment for you," Sein offered.

With his current level of alchemy as well as the experience from refining the Verdant Flame Heart Rod and Dark Crystal Rod, attempting to craft magic equipment out of demigod-level materials should not be an overly ambitious endeavor.

Normally, such materials were best utilized by Rank Three grand mages skilled in alchemy.

Yet among the Rank Three grand mages in the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, none were exceptionally skillful alchemists.

If outsourced, the cost of materials and labor would be substantial.

Thus, it was ideal for Sein to undertake the task himself, as a way to also further his alchemy experience.

Becoming an exceptional alchemist required not only immense talent and consistent practice but also a vast supply of quality materials.

The saying that an alchemist and an apothecary were almost always made of money held some truth.

Upon hearing Sein's reply, Sia said, "Come on now, we're family. Don't act like a stranger. Just take it, and use it however you want."

Sein opened his mouth but found himself at a loss for words.

Sia and Natalya were indeed alike in many ways.

Perhaps because he had fully accepted Natalya as his wife, and given the demigod-level materials Sia had secured at great personal cost, any previous dissatisfaction Sein felt toward her had significantly diminished.

Since both of them had been severely injured, Sein felt the score was settled.

***

After leaving Sia's ward, Sein stopped by Reina's to drop off two healing potions he had prepared for her. Once done, he returned to his magic tower.

With the destruction of the Bamboo Leaf Dragonfly Royal City, Sein was no longer required to participate directly in the ongoing conflicts of this war.

The overwhelming superiority of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring's forces allowed for a degree of leniency within its ranks.

While many mages like Sein chose to step back from the front lines, a significant number of knights and mages still volunteered for battle.

The potential gains from the war against the Ancient Verdant Banyan were enticing, comparable to those reaped in Bamboo Leaf Dragonfly Royal City.

Moreover, the perceived risk of the final battle was relatively low.

If the Ancient Verdant Banyan acted prudently to prevent further casualties among the native creatures of Verdant Leaf World, the most honorable course of action would be to end its own life—a sacrifice not uncommon among planar guardians seeking to spare the inhabitants of its homeplane from further sufferings.

Upon returning to the magic tower, Sein did not immediately resume his routine experimental research.

Instead, he descended to the tower's basement and activated a specialized magic array to communicate with Leena, who was far away in the Magus World's Western Archipelago.

Over the years, the frequency of communication between them had diminished.

This was not only due to Sein's intermittent battle commitments but also Leena's ongoing experimental research and the disturbances within the Black Tower of Cinderbones in recent years.