Sovereign of the Ashes

The excavation of the tempered crystal vein was going smoothly.

The Komodo War Beast—Azelia's new familiar from Beastmen World—had a unique knack for eating ore and digging through the ground.

In the food-scarce Beastmen World, this kind of Komodo War Beast could even survive by munching on rocks.

Yuri, piloting her mecha, and the dark creatures summoned by Leena also proved incredibly useful for mining.

The tempered crystal vein, which held a sizable reserve, had originally been the main nesting ground for this family of Scoragons.

The special energy pulses released by tempered crystals helped accelerate the growth and evolution of Scoragons.

But now that the vein had been mined, it was time for the Scoragons to find a new home.

The Knight Continent was vast and resource-rich, but every spot abundant in treasure was already guarded by magic beasts or powerful native creatures.

Even the less intelligent beasts knew to protect such treasures, driven by a natural instinct to hoard valuable resources.

Because of this, anyone hoping to claim the riches of the Knight Continent had no choice but to challenge its stronger inhabitants.

True to his word, Sein left the Scoragon family alone.

After collecting the samples he wanted, he let them go.

Not only that, Sein even generously offered to share some of the vein's yield with Master Brock, the Rank Three mage from the Byrne Empire.

Over the years, Sein's personality had changed even more.

If this had been back in his younger days, when he was still more influenced by the ways of black mages, he definitely would not have even considered sharing his gains with anyone.

But now, with more life experience under his belt, a broader perspective, and a personal fortune that had reached heights most mages could not even dream of, he no longer cared as much about these smaller slices of profit.

A poor man with ten copper coins might cling to every last one, but a rich man with tens of thousands of gold coins probably would not think twice about letting a silver coin slip through his fingers.

Sein's generosity left Brock genuinely delighted.

The mage, who served in the Byrne Empire's military, was an easygoing, straightforward man.

Although Sein was incredibly powerful, and Leena carried that icy, unapproachable aura, Master Brock's conversation with him ended up being surprisingly warm and friendly.

According to Brock, he had already been in this trial zone for ten years.

Given that each trial zone remained open anywhere from a few decades to a hundred years, that meant they could stay here for at most another ninety years.

Sein was considered a latecomer.

The value of a tempered crystal vein was beyond anything even someone as wealthy as Sein could imagine.

For a Geomancer like Brock, these tempered crystals were especially precious. It was no wonder he had dared to provoke the Scoragon family in the first place.

Originally, Brock had only planned to quietly take a portion of the resources from the Scoragons' home.

But with the arrival of a demigod-level mage like Sein, the Scoragons were ultimately forced to relocate their home.

Sein's generosity instantly won Brock's friendship.

Before Sein could even bring it up, Brock was the first to offer to trade parts of his personal collection with him.

Among mages in Magus World, it was quite common for those who got along to build camaraderie by swapping rare items and sharing academic insights.

Having spent ten years in the Knight Continent, Brock had accumulated a fair number of rare specimens.

As for Sein, he had just returned from Bouldrak World, a geo elemental world.

Eugene, the God of Half-Beastmen, had gifted him a large batch of Bouldrak's native ores. Sein figured Brock would definitely find something of interest in that collection.

While the two mages were busy exchanging specimens, something unexpected happened.

Azelia, the fox maiden, had approached a green Scoragon.

It was a female Rank Two Scoragon, whose parents were still busy relocating their nest.

To most beings, the Scoragon—with its poisonous stinger and scorpion-like appearance—was the very embodiment of terror and ugliness.

But to Azelia, who was deeply attuned to nature and liked to observe other creatures through the lens of her soul, the ten-meter-tall green Scoragon standing before her looked adorable.

Beautiful, even.

From Azelia's lips came a gentle soul war song, carrying profound and mysterious elemental fluctuations.

This type of war song had the ability to soothe souls.

Back in Faeloria, whenever Sein was deep in exhausting experiments, he would ask Azelia to sing it to ease his fatigue.

The war song's effect reached the young Scoragon's heart.

Faced with Azelia's genuine goodwill and peaceful aura, the green Scoragon let out a clear, melodic cry.

A small speck of soul light emerged from it, drifting toward the center of Azelia's brow.

It was a sign that the Rank Two Scoragon had accepted Azelia's summons to become her familiar.

Last time, when the fox maiden had managed to summon a Komodo War Beast back in Beastmen World, Sein had already been amazed.

Now, seeing her acquire a Scoragon right after arriving at the Knight Continent, Sein paused his conversation with Master Brock and turned toward her, stunned.

Master Brock was also staring at the fox maiden, his expression equally dumbfounded.

Even the two Arachadrake Lords, who had been busy relocating their nest, froze mid-motion.

The two smaller Arachadrakes tilted their heads and stared curiously at their older sister.

***

At this point, Azelia had three familiars—a Rank Two Thunder Beast, a Rank Two Arachadrake, and a Rank Three Komodo War Beast.

In Beastmen World, shaman priests faced natural limitations when it came to forming bonds with familiars.

Most shaman priests could only have one familiar. A rare few, blessed with exceptional talent, could bond with two.

Those capable of controlling more than three were almost unheard of.

In Sein's view, the way this soul war song worked felt somewhat akin to the summoning techniques used by Magus World's summoners.

Having three familiars meant the fox maiden had pretty much reached the upper limit of what her soul could handle.

If she ever wanted to reach Reksha's level—being able to control Ursa the giant bear, his porcupine familiar, and summon an entire army of Thunder Lizards—she would need to ascend to Rank Four first.

Still, even with just these three companions, Azelia had already secured herself a solid standing among Rank Two and Rank Three beings.

And that was not even counting the powerful war songs she had mastered.

One moment, they were foes; the next, a member of the Scoragon family had joined their side.

The world really worked in funny ways.

To make up for Azelia "kidnapping" one of their children without even asking, Sein gifted the Scoragons a few of his own magic potions.

These potions would help accelerate the growth of their remaining two children.

"It's fine. If Gianna wants to see the world beyond, we'll respect her choice," the female Arachadrake Lord said, watching the green Arachadrake now standing proudly beside the fox maiden, its gaze filled with complex emotions.

Gianna—that was the name of this Rank Two female Arachadrake. Sein did not expect a magic beast like it to have such an elegant name.

Just like Azelia's view, even if this Scoragon looked fearsome and intimidating on the outside, deep down, it was truly beautiful.