Chapter 2082: Return to Magus World

The days spent pursuing truth were brief, fulfilling, and enjoyable.

Before they knew it, the time had come for Feylis and the others to set out on another expedition.

White Stella and her group near the border of the Apocalypse Star Domain had already departed half a year earlier.

Since Sein was now on a pretty good relationship with the Dragon Clan, White Stella had specially sent someone to inform him before they left.

The person she sent was Orric, the Rank Five Ocean King.

By now, Orric had firmly aligned himself with the combat forces of Magus World’s sea races.

During the years he had led his Aquarian Legion under White Stella’s command, he and his people had also gained considerable benefits.

White Stella was indeed one of the few generous powerhouses in the Magus Civilization willing to share benefits with the allied forces fighting under her command.

Most other powerhouses, including Sein, were usually more inclined to squeeze as much value as possible out of the forces under them.

As for rewards, those would only be distributed according to merit once the war was over.

Sein did have one advantage over many of them, though. He was more generous and, more importantly, a mage of his word.

Once Sein promised someone something, he would generally do his utmost to see it through.

During their meeting, Orric told Sein that he was still hunting Orven in hopes of reclaiming the Ocean King’s Crown.

Not long ago, on the battlefield of a medium-sized plane within the Apocalypse Star Domain, Orric had nearly succeeded.

Unfortunately, Orven had managed to escape by the skin of his teeth.

By now, there were not many places left for him to hide within the Apocalypse Star Domain, unless he fled deeper into the heart of the Gallant Federation’s star domain.

But no matter where his half-brother ran, Orric had no intention of giving up the hunt.

“If you ever need help, you can come to me. Or Beatrice, Darian, Karl, Auron, and the others. We’re friends, aren’t we?” Sein said, patting Orric on his broad shoulder.

Over the years, Orric’s strength had risen to the late stage of Rank Five.

Sein could also sense that he still had considerable room for further growth.

Perhaps even without the aid of the Ocean King’s Crown, Orric might one day advance to Rank Six on his own.

If that happened, perhaps he could finally break the curse of short lifespans that had plagued every Ocean King before him.

Orric nodded. Come to think of it, it really had been a long time since he had kept in touch with his old friends.

He still remembered those days during the war in the ruins of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization, when they, all Rank Four and Rank Five beings at the time, had formed a small alliance and fought side by side against their common enemies.

***

Gregory’s legion departed slightly earlier than Feylis’ group.

Feylis had assigned him to escort a fleet of Magus World transport ships to their target star domain.

And now, it was time for Feylis to leave.

Watching one familiar figure after another depart, Sein, who had only recently returned to the Magus Civilization and had reunited with everyone, felt an inexplicable loneliness.

Before leaving, Feylis summoned him one final time.

She went through the various doubts and questions that had troubled Sein recently, explaining everything she could as clearly as possible.

As for some of the more difficult questions he had raised, even Feylis could not provide a clear answer in such a short time. Those were problems Sein would have to explore for himself in the years ahead.

“Access to my private laboratory will remain open to you indefinitely. Whether it’s the next time we meet or after you return to the front lines, you may come find me whenever you wish,” Feylis told him.

“Thank you, Grandmaster!” Sein replied respectfully.

Although they had spent only about two years together, what Sein had gained from his time in Feylis’ laboratory far exceeded what he could have achieved over two hundred years of research on his own in seclusion!

More importantly, his experiments involving the fusion of various special law flames had greatly shortened the time he would otherwise need for his future advancement.

Feylis quietly studied Sein for a few moments before giving a slight nod.

She was not the only one preparing to leave. Sein’s mentor, Lorianne, was also scheduled to return to the main battlefield in the Gallant Federation.

Fortunately, she still had some time before her deployment, allowing her to accompany Sein for part of his journey back.

On the eve of their departure from Primeval Wilds Plane, Lorianne distributed the main result of her research over the past two years.

Life Potion Number Seven.

She gave two vials each to Sein, Feylis, Gregory, and several others.

Life Potion Number Seven was the first top-tier restorative potion Lorianne had successfully concocted using the Insectoid’s life mucus Sein had brought back.

“Take these for now. I still think there’s room to improve the concoction process. I’ll continue researching it later. If I manage to develop a higher-grade potion, I’ll send some to you,” Lorianne said.

Sein had brought back more than enough Insectoid life mucus for her research.

Combined with the top-tier ingredients Lorianne had received from other members of the Verdant Flame Faction, the top-tier potions she could produce in the future should be enough to support Sein and the others for nearly a thousand years.

Having a peak Rank Four mage skilled in apothecary by their side was indeed reassuring.

With the successful creation of Life Potion Number Seven, Sein, Feylis, and the others could tell that Lorianne was drawing closer to Rank Five.

Through her years of research in apothecary, she had gradually begun touching upon the deeper mysteries of life itself.

Perhaps the only person who had yet to realise this was Lorianne herself.

Even as she saw Feylis and the others off, most of her thoughts were still occupied by the experiments she planned to conduct next.

“I won’t let you get too far ahead of me!” Lorianne declared. Standing on her tiptoes, she gave Sein a firm slap on the shoulder.

Sein immediately pretended to wince as though the blow had genuinely hurt.

Seeing his exaggerated reaction, Lorianne burst into giggles.

***

One after another, everyone departed from Primeval Wilds Plane and headed toward the battlefields deeper within the Apocalypse Star Domain.

Sein, meanwhile, boarded the Ashen Fortress and began his journey back to Magus World.

Accompanying him this time were Leena, Marie, Reina, Sia, and the other women.

Reina and Sia were also entitled to periods of rest, so they chose to use all of their accumulated leave at once.

Marie’s situation was somewhat different. Since advancing to Rank Four, she had yet to take any proper rest.

According to the Magus Civilization’s wartime arrangements, she was entitled to a lengthy “adaptation period” following her breakthrough.

As for Leena, she was technically still considered a Black Mage.

However, ever since Sein rescued her from the Atlan Interstellar Prison, Blackhaven seemed to have temporarily forgotten about her and had not assigned her any combat missions in recent years.

In fact, the activities of black mages behind the Magus Civilization’s front lines had decreased considerably over the past few years.

It seemed that they had collectively entered a period of rest and recuperation. Only occasionally would traces of their activities appear on certain battlefields deep behind enemy lines.

Even then, those black mages were usually acting on their own initiative rather than carrying out missions assigned by the Magus Civilization.

Before parting ways, Sein had also asked his grandmaster and the others to continue looking after the Huusians, Klytherans, and the other allied legions closely associated with him, including Beatrice’s forces.

According to the regulations of the Magus Alliance, these allied legions participating in the war were also entitled to periods of rest and recuperation.

Unfortunately, amidst such an intense Clash of Civilizations, few people had the time or inclination to pay much attention to them.

With large numbers of Immortal Realm legions now fighting alongside the Magus Civilization, the pressure on the front lines had eased considerably.

Sein had already decided that once he returned to Magus World, he would help these allied legions apply for the resources and rest periods they were entitled to.

This was one of the benefits of aligning with Sein.

Some alliance planes had been unfortunate enough to follow unreliable Magus World powerhouses into battle, only to watch their own legions get completely wiped out without those powerhouses ever lifting a finger to help them!

As Sein parted ways with his grandmaster and the others, Sein once again felt a lingering sense of loneliness and emptiness.

But when he turned around and saw Leena, Reina, and the other women still beside him, warmth quickly returned to his heart.

It had been far too many years since Sein last returned to Magus World.

At that moment, he suddenly found himself missing the familiar atmosphere and warmth of his homeplane so much that he could hardly wait to return.

There were also plenty of matters waiting for him there, including purchasing several space fortresses from Steel City and the Capiche Business Alliance.

Standing in the control room of the Ashen Fortress, Sein looked toward the mages around him.

“Set the coordinates for Magus World. It’s time to go!”