Sovereign of the Ashes

Chapter 213: An Early Confrontation

The Quasi Mage standing before Poppuri wore an extremely gloomy expression, contrasting sharply with the relief on Poppuri’s chubby face as she let out a long sigh.

Poppuri had not lost as many points as the Quasi Mage. Most of the resource points she occupied were in the eastern part of Divine Tower of Shadow’s territory.

This probably explained her ability to withdraw without much concern when faced with the onslaught of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s forces.

Furthermore, a subtle golden glow emanated from Poppuri’s body, indicating that her score had not only surpassed 10,000 points, but she had also ascended into the top ten of the individual score rankings.

Poppuri speculated, “If the initiates from Divine Tower of Verdant Spring have any sense, they won’t continue their invasion eastward. But if they do come over...”

“I’ll show them the might of our Divine Tower of Shadow’s necromancy and umbra elemental magic spells!” the sullen Quasi Mage interjected.

Poppuri glanced at the morose Quasi Mage but remained silent.

After a pause, she continued, “Based on past academy wars and the intel we’ve received, the clash between the Divine Tower of Land Academy and Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder is likely to conclude soon. The victorious academy will then conduct a sweeping operation across the five territories.”

“This year, the Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder hasn’t produced any notable initiates. They won’t withstand the onslaught led by Gade the Heart of Land. To prevent the Divine Tower of Land Academy from invading too many of our remaining resource points, we should maintain a defensive stance.”

Her words made the sullen Quasi Mage’s eyebrows twitch in agitation.

After a moment, the Quasi Mage sighed deeply and said, “I never imagined two formidable initiates would emerge this term. What misfortune! I wonder if my score will still make the top twenty by the end of the regional academy war.”

Poppuri offered no words of comfort. In their academy, point values could not be exchanged among initiates.

To secure a place in the top twenty and receive the academy’s rewards, they had to rely solely on their own prowess.

Indeed, sometimes luck was just as important as strength.

***

After the conflict at Blackgrave Forest and its neighboring resource points concluded, the initiates of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring enjoyed over two months of tranquility.

Stationed at fixed resource points, they continually amassed points along with gathering various rare magic materials produced by each site.

For the initiates from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, this period was an extraordinary boon, the likes of which had not been seen in centuries.

During this time, Sein occasionally ventured out to accumulate more points, maintaining his top position on the scoreboard.

However, he spent most of his time engaged in quieter pursuits.

He organized the substantial gains from the trial space and reviewed several prized magic books he had acquired.

Assisting Sein with organizing and categorizing his loot and magic materials was his cousin, Selina.

Given the immense value and secrets involved, Sein trusted no one else with this task.

Selina diligently executed the task that was assigned to her, but she was also repeatedly astonished by the magnitude of Sein’s acquisitions.

Selina was a girl who knew contentment and gratitude, never exploiting her role for personal gain.

Sein, having discerned Selina’s character long ago, had chosen her for this responsibility precisely because of her integrity.

Sein had encountered all kinds of people in Mystralora City.

He recognized that Selina’s innocence and sensibility were both her strengths and, at times, her vulnerabilities.

In fact, Sein would not have minded if Selina was a little more selfish. He was willing to let her take the items he did not need, provided she informed him beforehand.

Unfortunately, Selina was extremely honest.

She never requested anything from him unless he offered it first, a trait he found endearingly naive.

***

The two months of tranquility swiftly came to an end when a group from the Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder and the Divine Tower of Land Academy entered the Divine Tower of Shadow’s territory, signaling a renewed onset of conflict.

The first to arrive in the Divine Tower of Shadow’s territory were initiates from the Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder.

After nearly half a year of intense conflict, the Divine Tower of Land Academy, with its superior numbers and higher-caliber forces, overpowered the main forces of the Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder, seizing nearly a third of the latter’s resource points.

Within the territory of the Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder, two of the five large resource points, along with numerous smaller and medium-sized points, had been occupied by opposing forces.

At present, half of the remaining initiates from the Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder tenaciously held onto their remaining resource points, posing a significant challenge to any invasion attempts by the Divine Tower of Land Academy.

The other half, having lost many points, ventured into the Divine Tower of Shadow and further into the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, hoping for better fortunes.

Initially, the Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder had plans to strike at the Divine Tower of Shadow.

However, the defeat of their top initiate, Cyrus the “Boltwave Adept”, and the aggressive front-line tactics of the Divine Tower of Land Academy thwarted these plans.

The initiates from the Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder, now invading the Divine Tower of Shadow, could be best described as a defeated force.

Frustrated after multiple unsuccessful attempts to capture a medium-sized resource point in the eastern part of the Divine Tower of Shadow’s territory, a Quasi Mage from the Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder, leading several hundred initiates, exclaimed in exasperation, “What’s going on! How are their defenses tougher than a turtle shell?”

“They’ve gathered so many initiates to defend these points! And what’s with all those magic prohibition arrays and undead creatures used like cannon fodder?!” he continued grumbling.

Unfortunately, none could assuage his humiliation and anger.

As this Quasi Mage considered leading his group to bypass the Divine Tower of Shadow and move toward the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, a group from the Divine Tower of Land Academy caught up.

Leading them were two top initiates from the Divine Tower of Land Academy and Gade, known for his despair-inducing prowess and being seemingly invincible.

Gade’s golden aura was even more pronounced than months before.

His successful elimination of numerous initiates from the Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder and conquest of several resource points had significantly boosted his individual score.

Currently, Gade’s total score had surpassed 70,000 points, though it still lagged behind Sein’s score.

It was evident that Gade was striving diligently to close the gap between their scores.

Had it not been for the exceptional performance of Sein, Gade’s score would likely have surpassed 100,000 points by the end of the regional academy war.

However, given Sein’s current standing, it remained uncertain whether Gade could surpass him, even if Gade’s score did eventually exceed 100,000 points.

Determined not to be outdone, Gade advanced to the Divine Tower of Shadow after his confrontation with the Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder.

Apart from him, three other top initiates from the Divine Tower of Land Academy were also leading other groups of the initiates into the Divine Tower of Cipher’s territories from the west.

With these converging forces, it seemed they were intent on cornering Sein for a confrontation in the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s territory.