Chapter 2091: Socializing

Marie’s question did not receive an immediate answer.

Instead, Sein found himself recalling something from his time on Primeval Wilds Plane.

Grandmaster Feylis had asked him to set aside some time to give a few lessons to the younger members of the Verdant Flame Faction who were Rank Four or below.

Despite how busy Sein had been at the time, he had still completed the task entrusted to him.

During those lessons, he had not only shared some of his understanding of the deeper mysteries of the pyro element, but also touched upon the principles behind Verdant Flame magic.

Those accepted into the Verdant Flame Faction, particularly the Rank One to Rank Three mages, were undoubtedly exceptional talents with very high intelligence.

Yet throughout all his lectures, not a single one of them had truly caught Sein’s attention or left a particularly deep impression on him.

They were certainly clever. However, whenever Sein deliberately slipped some of his own more profound insights into his lectures, none of them seemed able to grasp what he was really trying to convey.

Afterward, Sein wondered if perhaps the problem lay with him. Maybe what he had taught was simply too advanced.

Even Bernice, who had attended several of his lectures, later remarked that some of the elemental knowledge Sein had shared was simply too advanced for most of those present.

Some of it would have been difficult even for a demigod-level mage to fully grasp, let alone mages of lower ranks.

Back when Sein was still at the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, Lorianne had always given him preferential treatment. Because of that, Sein had rarely taken the routine duties assigned to him by the academy very seriously.

His teaching duties were an especially good example. At the time, Sein had little patience for dealing with magic initiates who barely understood the fundamentals. Whenever he was required to teach, he usually did just enough to fulfil his obligations.

Naturally, that had not given him much experience as an instructor.

With that in mind, properly mentoring an apprentice would indeed be something of a challenge for Sein.

Besides, he had never intended to choose an apprentice purely based on talent.

The person did not necessarily have to be some peerless genius. Sometimes, a good first impression was enough.

Unfortunately, none of the younger members of the Verdant Flame Faction he had taught back then had managed to catch his eye...

Recalling all this, Sein lowered his gaze to the crystal ball in his hand and carefully went through the information within.

He did not look only at Smark’s profile. He also examined the records of several other promising initiates from the Divine Tower of Ashes.

Only after studying them for quite some time did he finally speak.

“Let’s see how it goes. This academy war shouldn’t last too long anyway. I can treat it as a break from my experiments.”

Marie’s face brightened as her smile widened.

“Oh? Is our dear tower master planning to personally oversee this year’s academy war?”

Sein shook his head.

“You’ll still be in charge officially. I won’t be making an appearance, but I’ll watch from the sidelines. If a good candidate really does appear, I’ll consider taking them on as my apprentice.”

Seeing that Sein was genuinely considering it this time, the teasing smile on Marie’s face gradually faded.

She nodded seriously.

“In that case, I’ll issue a notice and make sure this year’s initiates know to put their best foot forward.”

After a moment of thought, she added, “How about increasing the reward points for this year’s initiates by thirty percent?”

“Do as you wish. You’re the dean, so I’ll leave it to you,” Sein replied.

At his current level, Sein cared little about the modest expenses involved in an academy war.

On the civilizational battlefield, killing just one demigod-level opponent would probably earn enough to cover the rewards for several academy wars.

After discussing a few other recent developments concerning the Divine Tower of Ashes, Sein could not help but ask once more, “Are you really sure about this? You still don’t want to establish a divine tower of your own?”

Marie smiled.

“Managing your divine tower academy already keeps me busy enough. If I established another divine tower on top of that, wouldn’t I just work myself to death?”

Sein looked at her for a long moment before replying, “Then I’ll triple your allowance as dean.”

“Although you already gave me a raise back when we were on Primeval Wilds Plane, I won’t turn down another one.” Marie chuckled. “ After all, who would ever complain about having too many magicoins and resources?”

This year’s academy war was a contest between six divine towers.

Three came from Ashenreach: Sein’s Divine Tower of Ashes, Jessica’s Divine Tower of Green Flame, and Mussor’s Divine Tower of Black Forest.

Of the remaining three, two were from the South Coast, while the last belonged to the Byrne Empire.

Among Ashenreach’s three divine towers, only the Divine Tower of Ashes could truly be considered well established. Jessica and Mussor’s divine towers had both been founded only quite recently.

Jessica’s situation was somewhat better. Her divine tower already had nearly a thousand registered mages, and was able to field roughly ten thousand initiates in this year’s academy war.

Mussor’s divine tower, however, was in a much rougher position. According to Marie, this was only the second academy war the Divine Tower of Black Forest had ever participated in.

With barely more than a hundred registered mages in total, one could easily imagine both the number and overall quality of initiates Mussor could send into the war.

Even so, as the Clash of Civilizations continued, the overall quality of magic initiates throughout Magus World had also been steadily improving, along with the rate at which they advanced to Rank One and became full-fledged mages.

In the past, an initiate at the level of a “Despair Bearer” might appear only once every thousand years.

Now, talents of that calibre were emerging roughly once every five hundred years.

During particularly exceptional periods, several Despair Bearer-level initiates might even appear one after another within the span of just two or three hundred years.

For the initiates unfortunate enough to participate in those particular academy wars, it was nothing short of a disaster.

Yet against the backdrop of the Clash of Civilizations, talents like these were exactly what Magus World needed.

As long as such initiates did not perish prematurely, almost all of them had the potential to reach at least Rank Three.

Exceptional talents often needed only the right opportunity before they truly began to shine.

The fact that Magus World could continue producing such promising mages even during a civilization-wide war was yet another sign of just how deep its foundations ran.

***

Upon learning that Sein planned to observe this year’s academy war from the sidelines, Leena, Selina, Eileen, and the others decided to join in on the fun as well.

Even Reina and Sia, the two Rank Four female knights, had little else to do after completing their body tempering experiments. Before long, they too made their way to the designated area outside the Divine Tower of Ashes to watch the academy war.

Somehow, word of Sein’s presence eventually spread.

Among the other tower masters participating in this year’s academy war, only Izak of the Divine Tower of the Radiant Sun from the Byrne Empire was unable to attend in person due to his duties on the front lines.

Even Savoye of Dawn and Lady Bellefonte of Ocean Blue, both from the South Coast, had come in person.[1]

Master Izak was a powerful Rank Six mage who specialised in both lumen and pyro elements, with lumen as his primary element and pyro as his secondary.

Sein found it rather unfortunate that he would not have the chance to meet and exchange ideas with such a mage.

Master Savoye was likewise a Rank Six mage, though he specialised purely in the lumen element, while Lady Bellefont was a Rank Five hydromancer.

Both of them also belonged to the Dawning Secret Society.

Looking at the participants in the recent academy wars involving the Divine Tower of Ashes, it was not difficult to see just how much Sein’s circumstances had changed over the years.

The divine towers participating in each academy war were never fixed.

Sein had simply grown too quickly, and the Divine Tower of Ashes had developed just as rapidly.

As a result, the divine towers matched against his by the Magus Civilization had gradually become some of the finest institutions in their respective regions.

Unfortunately, Sein’s own research into lumen magic had fallen somewhat by the wayside in recent years.

Ever since mechanical art became his secondary field of study, he simply had not had enough time or energy to continue exploring the mysteries of the lumen element in great depth.

Because of this, his exchange with Master Savoye did not yield much.

Savoye, however, gained something else from their conversation.

With more than a hundred thousand years behind him on the path of truth, the Rank Six mage quickly sensed that Sein, despite still being at the peak of Rank Five, had most likely already found his path toward Rank Six.

“The younger generation truly are formidable,” Savoye remarked.

After a brief pause, he asked, “Sein, you’re not even twenty thousand years old yet, are you?”

Sein would not even reach ten thousand years of age for another hundred-odd years.

He shook his head.

“Not yet.”

His answer made Savoye and Bellefont exchange a glance.

Lady Bellefont was also a seasoned Rank Five mage with tens of thousands of years of experience behind her.

The female mage with long, wavy pale-blue hair that framed her face smiled at Sein.

“I’ve heard that you still haven’t taken on an apprentice. If any promising candidates appear in this year’s academy war, perhaps you could consider taking one under your wing.”

“Hehe, even if you happen to set your sights on an initiate from our Divine Tower of Ocean Blue, I wouldn’t mind.”

She then glanced toward Savoye. “I’m sure Master Savoye feels the same way.”

“Of course.” Savoye nodded. “For any initiate from our Divine Tower of Dawn, being accepted as Master Sein’s apprentice would be an extraordinary opportunity.”

In truth, the Dawning Secret Society that Savoye and the others belonged to was somewhat in competition with the Pyro Secret Society led by Feylis and the others.

Even so, that did not stop these Rank Five and Rank Six mages from building a good relationship with Sein.

Ashenreach’s rapid development over the years had been witnessed by everyone in the surrounding regions.

Moreover, while Feylis and the others had joined the Pyro Secret Society, Sein himself had never formally become part of it. Nor had he received much special attention from Zenasus, the soul overmage behind the organisation.

When it came to his own growth, Sein had relied on himself.

Naturally, Savoye, Bellefont, and the others were interested in building a closer relationship with him.

They were especially curious about two things. How had Sein managed to grow so quickly? And how had Ashenreach developed at such an astonishing pace alongside him?

Sensing the goodwill from the two seasoned mages, Sein smiled.

“Thank you both for your kindness. For now, let’s watch the upcoming academy war.”

“Very well.” Savoye and Bellefont nodded.

Among the tower masters gathered there, Sein was the one who spoke the most with the two mages from the South Coast.

Jessica and Mussor rarely joined the conversation.

Savoye and Bellefont merely exchanged polite greetings with them and did not engage them in any deeper discussion.

After all, tower masters who had only recently advanced to Rank Four naturally had little to discuss with seasoned Rank Five and Rank Six powerhouses.

Jessica, who had not seen Sein in several years, deliberately edged a little closer to his side.

Leena immediately frowned. Or rather, Mikaeli did, since she was the one in control of their body at the moment.

***

The academy war officially began under the joint supervision of the deans from all six divine towers.

Among them, the Divine Tower of Ashes naturally drew more attention than the others.

After all, while its academy dean was a Rank Four mage, the strongest deans among the other five divine towers were only peak demigod-level mages.

Once a mage advanced to Rank Four, very few were willing to continue working for another divine tower.

Even if they did, they would more likely choose one of the renowned soul towers of Magus World.

Most Rank Four mages simply went on to establish divine towers of their own.

Another thing that stood out about the Divine Tower of Ashes was the sheer number of initiates it had fielded.

The number fighting under Sein’s banner was actually tens of thousands greater than the number sent by Master Savoye, despite Savoye himself being a Rank Six mage.

When Savoye asked how the Divine Tower of Ashes had managed to recruit and train so many initiates, Sein briefly explained its competitive selection system, along with the long-standing partnerships it had established with numerous public magic academies throughout the Alveroth Empire.

In the end, the conversations between the tower masters were not the main focus of this event. It was the hundreds of thousands of young initiates fighting below.

They were the true protagonists of the academy war.

As the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War gradually entered its most intense phase, the conversations between Sein, Savoye, and the others became less frequent.

To the hundreds of thousands of initiates fighting below, the powerful mages hovering high above the battlefield probably seemed no different from deities looking down upon the mortal world.

From this lofty vantage point, Sein gained several new insights into how the academy wars had changed over the years.

Not only had the intervals between Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy Wars grown shorter, but the wars themselves were also ending much faster than before.

The cautious opening strategies Sein remembered, where initiates would first secure resource points before engaging the enemy, seemed to have disappeared from modern academy wars altogether.

Instead, the initiates began clashing fiercely almost as soon as the war started.

More noticeably, these battles were increasingly being fought as organised assaults involving squads or even entire legions.

When hundreds, or even thousands, of initiates cast their spells in unison and concentrated their strongest magic on the same area, the resulting bombardment and elemental chain reactions could rival the destructive power of Rank Two or even Rank Three mages!

“The Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War seems to have gradually aligned itself with the Clash of Civilizations. Its main purpose now is probably to cultivate promising young talent for the greater war. Under the influence of the ongoing Clash of Civilizations, even the rules of the academy war have changed accordingly, haven’t they?” Sein murmured.

“That makes sense. Given the current state of the war between the Magus Civilization and the Gallant Federation, there’s no longer any chance for either side to quietly secure resources before the other can react. The balance of power between the Magus Civilization and the Gallant Federation across the surrounding star domains was already largely established two or three thousand years ago,” he remarked, his thoughts drifting toward the greater war.

Those reflections were his alone.

Everyone else around him remained focused on the young initiates locked in fierce battle below.

At first, Sein had also paid close attention to the most outstanding participants in this year’s academy war.

The talents recommended by the Divine Tower of Ashes, in particular, had all performed remarkably well.

There was Smark, the Ashen Hand; Sophie, the Faint Glow; and Ozam, the Ghostly Flaming Vine.

Perhaps it was simply a matter of personal preference, or perhaps none of them possessed whatever quality Sein was looking for.

Either way, despite their impressive performances, none of them truly caught his interest.

That was until Sein’s gaze happened to fall upon a female magic initiate on the battlefield below.

Covered from head to toe in black ash, she hid quietly within a dense thicket of Woodthorn Grass.

Sein’s eyes suddenly lit up.

1. Translator’s Recap: Omg, you guys... Savoye was actually mentioned all the way back in Chapter 431! Back then, he had only just advanced to Rank Six, while Sein was still only Rank One. And now look at them. They’re basically peers, standing together as tower masters and presiding over the academy war. ?? Isn’t that actually insane when you think about how far Sein has come? Holy shit. One truly doesn’t simply make enemies in Magus World! ☜