Chapter 2090: Apprentice

Sein gradually began to uncover the Omnipotent trait contained within the overlord soul.

Leena, Fermera, HALL-E, and the others provided considerable assistance throughout the research, and almost every day brought some new discovery.

The mysterious energy within the overlord’s eye greatly fascinated Sein. At one point, he even considered extracting it from the eyeball for further study.

“Apart from the overlord soul, which is already an extremely special form of energy, the eye itself is also incredibly valuable,” Sein commented as he carefully examined the eyeball before him.

“A material of this calibre would be more than enough for crafting a world-class secret treasure. It’s just a shame there isn’t enough of it.”

Based on his findings, Sein suspected that the eye had once belonged to the overlord of the Grand Eye Demon World, who had betrayed the Magus Civilization.

The Evileye Tyrant Monarch had been really unlucky. Even at the moment of its death, its overlord soul had not been completely exhausted. Instead, the creature had been slain and dismembered by a Magus Civilization overlord.

The eye in Sein’s possession was merely one of the Evileye Tyrant Monarch’s secondary eyes.

As for its far more precious primary eye, Sein had no idea whose hands it had ultimately fallen into.

One day, while studying this secondary eye in greater depth, Sein suddenly stopped.

By then, he had already confirmed that the Omnipotent Soul contained within the eye could very likely help someone like him, who already stood at the peak of Rank Five, cross the final threshold and advance directly to Rank Six.

Even so, Sein chose to put the research aside.

Studying something at this level too early certainly has its advantages, but it also has its drawbacks. And judging from my current situation, the drawbacks seem to outweigh the benefits.

My accumulated knowledge is still insufficient, and my perspective remains too narrow. Not only am I struggling to fully unravel the mysteries of an overlord’s soul, but lately, I’ve been spending more and more time thinking about how I could use this Omnipotent Soul to advance to Rank Six.

That realisation left him vaguely uneasy.

Even if I used it to advance quickly, what path would I take afterward?

Advancing with the help of a treasure is ultimately not the same as reaching Rank Six through my own understanding. I would rather continue climbing step by step along my own path toward the truth. Only by truly understanding every stage of that journey can I hope to go farther in the future.

With a sigh, Sein finally made a decision.

“I’ll leave this Omnipotent Soul for Leena or Natalya instead.”

But that decision immediately raised another question...

Who should he give it to?

Leena had suggested giving priority to Natalya, but Sein could not bring himself to simply favor one over the other.

Fortunately, there was no need to decide immediately.

Sia had already contacted a powerful necromancer from the Marmett Union Alliance regarding Natalya’s condition, while Sein himself had also begun using his connections to seek out mages with deep expertise in soul studies.

For now, keeping the overlord’s eye for future use seemed like the better choice.

The Omnipotent Soul within it could potentially be used to restore Natalya’s damaged soul, but that was hardly its only purpose. A treasure of this calibre could prove useful in all sorts of unexpected ways during future battles.

Even after Sein advanced to Rank Six, or perhaps even reached the peak of Rank Six, there was no guarantee that he would ever come across another treasure of this level.

Besides, the eye had originally been given to Tourmaline by her father.

Tourmaline had simply passed it on to Sein afterward. That little dragon turtle had always preferred shiny treasures anyway.

As for a somewhat gruesome piece of biological organ like this... It was probably better suited for Sein’s laboratory.

***

After setting aside his research on the overlord soul for the time being, Sein found that his mood had improved considerably. He even felt a rare sense of serenity.

Obtaining a treasure far beyond his current level ahead of time was, in some ways, a pleasant dilemma to have.

With the overlord’s eye temporarily pushed to the back of his mind, Sein returned to the experiments he had originally planned.

The Magus Civilization had granted him more than five centuries to rest and recuperate. To most people, that would have seemed like an incredibly long time.

But for Sein, those five centuries could easily pass in the blink of an eye if he devoted himself entirely to research.

***

It was now the twenty-third year since Sein had returned to Magus World.

Another Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War was about to begin.

As one of the leading divine towers in Ashenreach, the Divine Tower of Ashes fielded an astonishing three hundred thousand initiates in this year’s academy war!

Such a massive pool of initiates also ensured that the Divine Tower of Ashes would continue producing a steady stream of full-fledged mages.

Judging by the results of previous academy wars, once this year’s event concluded, nearly a thousand initiates were expected to advance to Rank One over the following decade.

Although Sein himself had been granted several centuries to recuperate, not every mage of the Divine Tower of Ashes had withdrawn from the ongoing Clash of Civilizations.

They had certainly benefited from Sein’s status, but many still had duties assigned to them by the Magus Civilization.

At present, the Divine Tower of Ashes was responsible for guarding three frontline logistics bases and collecting resources from several allied planes. [1]

As usual, before the start of this year’s academy war, the dean of the divine tower academy reported to Sein on the most promising talents among this year’s initiates.

Looking over the crystal ball Marie had presented to him, Sein saw the names of dozens of young initiates with all sorts of strange nicknames.

For some reason, the sight stirred a faint sense of nostalgia within him.

Youth really was a wonderful thing.

“Smark, the Ashen Hand, is the most promising youngster our Divine Tower of Ashes has produced in nearly five hundred years. Judging by the standards we’ve used in previous academy wars, he has already reached the level of a Despair Bearer,” Marie said to Sein with a smile.[2]

“I’ve also heard that he has prepared a few surprises for this year’s academy war. Quite a few of our instructors are looking forward to seeing what he can do.”

“Ashen Hand, huh?” Sein touched the crystal ball before him as his gaze settled on the image recorded within.

Smark was a slender young initiate with short, greyish-white hair. He looked to be under thirty, yet he had already earned the title of Despair Bearer. That alone was enough to show how extraordinary he was.

As the name suggested, a Despair Bearer was an initiate powerful enough to make the other initiates participating in an academy war feel genuine despair.

According to the standards commonly used by the major divine towers of Magus World, an initiate who reached this level already possessed combat prowess comparable to that of a full-fledged Rank One mage, despite still being only an initiate!

Sein himself had once been a Despair Bearer. Back then, he had even defeated another Despair Bearer, Gade the Heart of Land.

Looking at the young man in the crystal ball, Sein could not help but see a reflection of himself from those days.

The fact that Smark had managed to earn such a prominent title as the “Ashen Hand” within the Divine Tower of Ashes already spoke volumes about his strength.

“Several Rank Two and Rank Three mages have already expressed interest in taking him on as an apprentice. Even our vice deans have their eyes on him,” Marie continued.

“But I’ve temporarily turned them all down on Smark’s behalf. At least until the academy war is over, I think it would be better for him to focus on preparing for it.”

Marie then glanced at Sein with a meaningful smile.

“What about you? Any thoughts?”

When Sein had first returned from Primeval Wilds Plane in the Grand Apocalypse World, he had mentioned to Marie that he was considering taking on an apprentice.

He had not expected her to still remember it after all this time.

1. Author’s Note: Naturally, Sein did not need to handle such matters personally. He simply dispatched mages from his divine tower to carry out these assignments. These duties also formed an important part of the economic foundation that allowed a divine tower to operate and prosper over the long term.

After all, if divine towers relied solely on interplanar warfare for income, quite a few of them would probably have gone bankrupt long ago. ☜

2. Translator’s Note: Yes, the original translated term was “Despairer”. However, someone pointed out way back in the early chapters that it sounded a little odd, since these initiates are supposed to be the ones bringing despair to everyone else. I thought that was a fair point, so I’ve decided to take the feedback and rename the title to “Despair Bearer” from here onward. (Yes, inspiration is from the Eagle Bearer of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey) Hopefully, it’ll sound a little less jarring! The old chapters have also been fixed, so if you’re a new reader, you can safely ignore this note. And thank you, as always, for all the feedback! You guys really help me improve as a translator and make this translation better along the way. ☜