Chapter 1696: Poaching Talent

Chapter 1696: Poaching Talent

Gilbert did not linger long at Sein’s place.

Before departing, Sein presented him with a few specialty materials produced by the Divine Tower of Ashes.

They were not especially valuable—just a gesture of goodwill, meant to strengthen their already promising relationship.

After seeing Master Gilbert off, Sein let out a soft sigh and returned to his laboratory.

***

At the very center of the experimental table in the laboratory, the Magic Cube floated and slowly rotated as it underwent its metamorphosis.

It had been some time since Sein returned to the Magus Civilization’s main base, yet the cube showed no sign of completing its transformation.

Sein had a feeling that this advancement process would take longer than he had anticipated.

Numerous tiny magic patterns covered the cube’s surface.

Many of them had been etched by Sein himself only recently. Even now, the work was far from complete—he had finished barely one-fifth of it.

The cube’s metamorphosis and advancement required more than simply devouring technological laws. Sein also had to guide through elemental energy.

Radiating specks of starlight and covered in complex magic runes, the cube cast a breathtaking glow throughout the quiet laboratory.

Beside it, the skull of a Rank Five creature floated silently above Sein’s experimental table.

It was his next research focus. The Magic Cube had absorbed a portion of the origin law energy from the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization’s Infinite Energy device replica.

He planned to forge a new magic staff for himself, using that law energy as its core.

Even with two world-class secret treasures at his disposal, Sein was beginning to outgrow the magic rod and robe he had been relying on after reaching Rank Five.

His current magic rod had undergone repeated refinements over the years.

However, its foundational materials imposed hard limits, and its potential for further improvement had all but been exhausted.

If Sein wanted meaningful upgrades to his equipment, replacing the magic rod outright was the best option.

This was also the case for his magic robe. The Spider Queen’s divine silk he had obtained years ago was fairly ordinary.

Although it carried faint traces of the Spider Queen’s divine power, the law energy it contained was minimal.

Sein could not help but wonder when he would ever find an opportunity to get new silk from the Spider Queen.

Naturally, such musings were nothing more than wishful thinking.

Rather than begging the unpredictable Spider Queen, Sein would be better off setting aside a budget and sourcing materials through the Magus Alliance.

His gains from the subspace secret realm had been considerable this time, leaving him with many secret treasure fragments stripped of their origin laws.

If these “blank treasure fragments” were placed on the Magus Alliance market, they would undoubtedly draw the attention of many law-wielding beings.

If Sein could find the right trading partners, gathering top-tier raw materials for a new magic staff and robe would not be difficult.

Beyond that, the ultimate flame mystery he had recently recorded could also be incorporated into the new staff.

This was not something to rush. It required careful, long-term planning.

The materials needed and the mysteries of law involved were far too numerous to tackle all at once.

Most likely, only after this subspace war ended would Sein have the time and peace of mind to continue his deep research and begin crafting new equipment.

Gently brushing his fingers across the Magic Cube, Sein was still deep in thought when his next combat orders arrived.

These orders were not directed at him alone. The entire Divine Tower of Ashes legion also received corresponding instructions.

Before this, the legion had already completed its mobilization and pre-battle preparations.

As a result, once the command was issued, everything moved forward smoothly and in perfect order.

Slowly setting the Magic Cube back in place, Sein put on his Faceless Mask once more and walked out of the laboratory.

***

For this operation, the Divine Tower of Ashes would be working alongside two knightly orders and four legions from the alliance.

The combined strength of their forces totaled roughly five million.

Sein’s Divine Tower of Ashes contributed the smallest contingent, with only a few thousand full-fledged mages.

However, when combined with the various enslaved creatures under its command, its total numbers reached nearly half a million.

The two knightly orders also fielded relatively limited forces. Heavy losses in earlier battles had completely exhausted their reserves of enslaved cannon fodder.

Even so, the two orders together still deployed nearly four hundred thousand ranked knights, forming an undeniably elite force.

The bulk of the remaining strength came from four allied legions.

These legions were led respectively by the Dreadwings of Ghost Grotto, the Leafborne God, the Giant Jaw King, and the Ice Tomb Enchantress.[1]

Among them, Dreadwings, the Leafborne God, and the Giant Jaw King were all Rank Four beings.

The Ice Tomb Enchantress was an early-stage Rank Five entity, though her aura was not especially imposing.

Each of these four alliance deities commanded close to a million combatants.

They were likely recent reinforcements, which explained the sheer size of their legions.

As far as Sein knew, allied deities who had been fighting for a long time on this subspace battlefield had only one or two hundred thousand followers left under their command.

In the command room of the space fortress, Sein remarked to Marie with a hint of regret, “The number of registered mages in our Divine Tower of Ashes is still far too small.”

He continued, “Many Rank Five mages command tens of thousands of registered war mages through their divine towers. Even some towers founded by Rank Four mages have reached that scale—like the Divine Tower of Dark Wind, led by Master Chakra, whom we once allied with during the war.”

“I take responsibility for this,” Marie said softly, lowering her head in shame.

Sein shook his head. “It’s not your fault. Our Divine Tower of Ashes simply hasn’t been around for long enough. In fact, it’s already five or six times larger than most divine towers founded around the same time. And that’s despite being based in a place like Ashenreach.”

“You’ve done exceptionally well,” he said, turning to praise Marie.

The Divine Tower of Ashes’ greatest challenge at the moment was that its growth simply could not keep up with Sein’s rapid rise.

After all, only a few thousand years had passed. Some Rank Four mages had not even fully secured their footing within their own realms yet—there was no way to rush this process.

When Sein mentioned the Divine Tower of Dark Wind, Marie followed up naturally.

“Chakra, the Rank Four mage, has fallen. I heard the Divine Tower of Dark Wind is on the verge of dissolution.”

“Chakra is dead? When did this happen?” Sein asked, stunned.

“Master Chakra fell in battle not long after you left the Marvelous Plane battlefield. He wasn’t killed by the Aquarians, but by a sudden strike by a powerful being from the Grand Apocalypse World,” Marie replied.

It was not uncommon to hear the deaths of Rank Four beings on the Clash of Civilizations’ frontlines.

Even divine tower masters of Magus World were not immune to such fates.

Hearing of Chakra’s fall, Sein fell silent for a moment. The old man, who had remained at Rank Four for many years, had left a deep impression on him.

It was not merely because he was a member of the Elemental Gate, but because had he survived this war, his depth of knowledge and experience would have made a breakthrough to Rank Five all but inevitable.

If even a seasoned divine tower master like Master Chakra had fallen, Sein could not help but wonder whether he and those he cared about could truly expect to emerge unscathed from this Clash of Civilizations.

The melancholy did not linger long before a new thought surfaced.

“Now that Master Chakra has fallen, is there any way we could attract and recruit some of the registered mages from the Divine Tower of Dark Wind?” he asked.

1. Translator’s Note: These are minor characters, but I refuse to use basic ass names. But in case you are interested, these are the original names in the raws:

Dreadwings of Ghost Grotto: Yin Bat of Ghost Cave

Leafborne God: God of Green Leaf Insect

Ice Tomb Enchantress: Ice Tomb Yao Princess

Giant Jaw King: Resisting my urge to call it Gigachad King ☜