Sovereign of the Ashes

Chapter 776: Heavy Hammer

After a long discussion with several Rank Three grand mages from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, Sein returned to his temporary quarters arranged by the divine tower.

Given the ongoing intensity of the war, the divine tower had not granted all participating mages a period of recuperation within the space fortress.

Hence, everyone was resting in the temporary base.

Those who had experienced several interplanar wars prepared portable alchemy tents and advanced resting props well beforehand.

Since the Verdant Leaf World War had just ended recently, most of the divine tower mages were relatively well-off.

As a “privileged member” within the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, Sein naturally did not need to prepare his own accommodation like other mages.

Although only dozens of magic towers had been constructed in this temporary base, one of the more spacious five-story magic towers was allocated to Sein.

This tower served not only as Sein’s residence but also as living quarters for Selina and Eileen, who had invited themselves over upon hearing of Sein’s return.

Natalya and Reina, the Rank Two female knights, naturally stayed with Sein as well, making this magic tower a home for Sein’s “big family”.

Since Sein, Leena, Selina, Eileen, and Faye each required their own laboratory, the originally spacious magic tower quickly became somewhat crowded.

The war had proven fruitful for Sein, Leena, and the others.

Although they had been too busy to conduct any experiments, the practical experience gained in battle allowed Sein to deepen his understanding of his existing pyro magic spells.

During these few months, Sein’s focus, mana, stamina, and other attributes had all improved.

War served not only as a means for knights to hone their skills but also as an opportunity for mages to enhance their capabilities.

Unexpectedly, the one who benefited most from the war was not Sein, Leena, or any other Rank Two beings, but Faye, a Rank One black mage.

For a pure black mage like Faye, a large-scale conflict presented an ideal opportunity to leverage her skills and thrive amidst the chaos.

Sein had not paid much attention to Faye during the war.

He had simply grouped her with Sev, Azelia, Elisa, Heisse, and the other three Sea Lizards.

These Rank One creatures were also accompanied by a contingent of plant creatures for protection. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

However, Faye was never one to play by the rules.

Under her leadership, Sev the owl and the four Sea Lizards also learned to target the weakest and most vulnerable foes on the battlefield like Faye.

Sev, having grown alongside Sein, naturally developed considerable combat acumen.

Heisse and the other three Sea Lizards, born during the trial on the Knight Continent, also demonstrated unique talents in sensing danger and hunting prey.

The war at Blackhaven proved to be a significant growth period for Faye.

Despite being Rank One, her boldness on the battlefield even surpassed Sein’s at that same rank.

Azelia and Elisa were usually obedient to only Sein’s commands.

However, under the influence of their peers and Faye’s urging, they too began to fight recklessly.

As Sein’s senior in his former faction and his woman, Faye certainly had the authority to order Azelia and the others around to a certain extent.

Her influence made it unsurprising that Heisse and the others would copy her example, diving headlong into chaos.

Sein raised an eyebrow at Sev, who was perched on his shoulder, and reprimanded it.

“How can you be as immature as the others? What will happen if something goes wrong? I heard that Azelia’s pet has been severely injured?”

Sev only cooed in response, even though it was fully capable of human speech. It turned its head to the side, not daring to talk back to Sein.

As Rank One beings, the war was much more dangerous to them.

Even Rank Two mages like Sein and Leena had faced peril multiple times.

Without the protection of demigod-level fighters, Sein would never have considered leading charges on the frontlines.

Yet, with high risk came high reward.

Beyond acquiring numerous Wild Gorilla specimens and a few demigod-level materials, Sein’s gains from the divine tower alone had already surpassed a thousand magicoins.

The medium-sized interplanar war had commenced less than three months ago, so the gains had not yet been fully tallied.

The most substantial gains for Sein came from the spoils and corpse materials he collected.

For instance, the several Rank Three Wild Gorilla corpses and half of demigod-level remains Sein had secured could fetch thousands of magicoins if sold on the Magus Alliance market.

If auctioned or sold to resource-starved regions like Blackhaven, the demigod-level corpse could fetch even higher prices, as its value would be multiplied several times over.

Participating in interplanar wars was indeed the fastest way to amass resources.

With several demigod-level creatures under his command, Sein could leverage them to maximize his earnings from this war, securing enough resources to sustain his research for the next few centuries.

For an ordinary Rank Two mage, an interplanar war might yield two to three thousand magicoins after exhaustive efforts—paltry compared to what Sein had amassed in just a few months.

Such was the advantage of having powerful allies to rely on.

After reprimanding Sev and Faye and urging them to be more cautious in the subsequent battles, Sein found himself with some downtime and returned to his daily experiments.

This time, he set aside his studies on pyro magic and body tempering to focus on the vast array of specimens he gathered from the Wild Gorilla World, as well as special resources unique to this plane.

During the heat of battle, Sein had forgotten to collect the unique plant and mineral materials from this world.

Thankfully, the others remembered about it.

During their rest period, Natalya and Reina purchased a variety of materials from the trading market at the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

These items had been scavenged and gathered by the mages and legions of enslaved creatures advancing through the battlegrounds over the previous months.

With Sein pausing the body tempering experiments, Reina breathed a sigh of relief, while Natalya licked her lips, exhibiting a mix of regret and yearning.

With Reina, Sein’s body tempering experiments involved dissolving a couple hundred pounds of fat from her body.

As for Natalya, their “body tempering sessions” were more... interesting since they were a married couple.

In any case, Sein’s body tempering experiments were a mix of pain and pleasure for Natalya.

Over time, as Natalya’s constitution and resilience increased, the sessions involved less suffering and more pleasure.

The details of these sessions remained a private affair, known only to the participants themselves.

While tempering their bodies, they could also relax their minds and enjoy the process.

Clearly, Natalya was more enthusiastic about these sessions than Sein.

Back in his laboratory, Sein was meticulously measuring some kind of substance at his alchemy table after sending Natalya away.

At the corner of Sein’s alchemy table, a wet patch of strangely-smelling liquid caught his eye.

Without shifting his gaze, Sein effortlessly cleaned it up with a magic spell and continued with his experiment.

Proper relaxation had cleared his mind, allowing him to focus better.

Sein was currently working on a melee weapon suited to his unique needs as a mage with a strong constitution.

In previous battles, Sein had relied on his magic rod for close combat. While the rod material was robust enough to withstand the strain, its finely engraved magic arrays were susceptible to damage.

Sein was determined to prevent any wear that might compromise the magic rod he had meticulously crafted.

Therefore, he decided it was time to create a melee weapon that could withstand the rigors of close-quarters combat.

The design Sein settled on was a trapezoidal metal hammer.

This choice was not influenced by Reina’s preferences but was selected for its dual functionality.

In war, it could serve as a formidable weapon; in the laboratory, it could become an essential piece of experimental equipment.

For an alchemist like Sein, carrying a hammer that could channel elemental power was a practical necessity.

The only issue was that the hammer might be slightly oversized.