Chapter 2093: Catherine

Throughout the rest of the academy war, the female initiate continued to perform remarkably.

She rarely fought alongside the other magic initiates from the Divine Tower of Radiant Sun. Most of the time, she operated alone, constantly searching for opportunities to hunt down her opponents.

Given how much modern divine tower education emphasized teamwork, her approach was certainly somewhat unconventional.

In that respect, she actually resembled the black magic initiates of Blackhaven.

Those black magic initiates were often trained to operate independently at the forefront, and the environment they grew up in was even harsher. Naturally, that also fostered greater patience, resilience, and the ability to endure hardship.

However, there was one important difference between this female initiate and the black magic initiates of Blackhaven.

Despite preferring to operate alone, she still possessed the sense of responsibility and dedication to the collective commonly instilled in initiates from regular divine towers. She would still fight to secure resource points for the Divine Tower of Radiant Sun and contribute toward the overall objectives of its legions.

She simply did so in her own way, roaming the more dangerous areas near the front lines and lying in wait for opportunities.

Whenever necessary, she would also join the other initiate legions, casting ranged spells alongside them and taking part in coordinated strikes.

***

This Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War lasted a total of two years.

By past standards, that would have been considered relatively short, though such a duration had gradually become the norm in Magus World.

A total of four Despair Bearers emerged during this academy war.

The Divine Tower of Ashes alone produced two of them.

Aside from Smark, the Ashen Hand, who had already attracted considerable attention before the war even began, another initiate named Sophie, known as the Faint Glow, unexpectedly proved to be one as well.

It turned out that Sophie had been concealing her true strength all along. She had not even revealed it to her own academy instructors, apparently because she wanted to make a spectacular debut during this Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War.

The other two Despair Bearer-level initiates came from the Divine Tower of Dawn and the Divine Tower of Ocean Blue.

By comparison, the Divine Tower of Radiant Sun, whose tower master had been unable to attend in person, performed somewhat more modestly and failed to produce a single Despair Bearer.

Yet when the final academy rankings were announced, the Divine Tower of Radiant Sun surprisingly placed third, behind only the Divine Tower of Ashes and the Divine Tower of Dawn.

The reason was that its Rank Six tower master seemed to place particular emphasis on discipline.

Aside from the female initiate Sein had been observing, most of the other initiates from this Byrne Empire divine tower had also demonstrated some proficiency in close-combat techniques.

That made Sein wonder whether close-combat training was actually a specialized part of the academy’s curriculum.

It was only because the Divine Tower of Radiant Sun failed to produce a single Despair Bearer in this year’s academy war that the Divine Tower of Dawn managed to hold onto second place.

Even so, Savoye, the Tower Master of Dawn, still looked rather displeased after the war ended.

“The fact that the Divine Tower of Ashes produced two initiates with combat prowess already comparable to Rank One mages also caught us by surprise,” Sein said.

“If that Sophie hadn’t suddenly revealed her true strength, first place would probably have gone to your tower, Master Savoye.”

Sein was speaking truthfully. The final scores of the top three divine towers had actually been quite close.

The Divine Tower of Ocean Blue, which placed fourth, lagged much farther behind.

As for Jessica’s Divine Tower of Green Flame and Mussor’s Divine Tower of Black Forest, there was even less to say. The two had firmly occupied the bottom of the rankings.

In fact, their combined score did not even amount to a quarter of the points earned by the Divine Tower of Ocean Blue alone.

If the results were grouped by region, the two divine towers from the South Coast had clearly performed the best overall, followed by Ashenreach in second place and the Byrne Empire in third.

There was not a trace of insincerity in Sein’s words. Anyone who had spent enough time around him knew that he was not the type to flatter others.

Naturally, Savoye’s expression brightened considerably after hearing his words.

“The quality of the initiates at the Divine Tower of Ashes is truly impressive. It seems there is much our divine towers on the South Coast could learn from you.”

Savoye smiled before continuing, “Aside from your own profound accomplishments on the path of truth, Master Sein, the Divine Tower of Ashes also seems to have an excellent academy dean.”

Sein beckoned Marie over.

During the conversation that followed, Marie mentioned that she had once studied at the Divine Tower of Dawn herself.

“Oh?” Savoye looked genuinely surprised. “Then it seems I’ll have to call those deans of mine to account and ask how they managed to let someone like you slip away back then, Master Marie.”

Marie smiled.

“Dean Dobron and the others took very good care of me back then. Leaving was my own decision.”

As she spoke, Marie glanced at Sein beside her.

Savoye nodded and said nothing more.

Dobron had served as dean of the Divine Tower of Dawn several deans ago. Unfortunately, he had perished five thousand years earlier, during the early stages of the Clash of Civilizations.

The fact that Marie even knew Dobron confirmed that she had indeed come from the Divine Tower of Dawn many years ago.

Realizing that such a promising mage had once belonged to his own divine tower only made Savoye feel worse, though he kept smiling.

“The former dean of the Divine Tower of Dawn, Medich, who is now the Tower Master of Luminaris, is a powerful mage who once helped me immensely. It seems the Divine Tower of Ashes and the Divine Tower of Dawn on the South Coast have shared quite a deep connection for a long time,” Sein added at just the right moment.

And indeed, that connection ran deep.

After all, Mystralora City, the underground city where Sein, Leena, Marie, and the others had once lived, had been destroyed by the Divine Tower of Dawn...

Savoye could not help but marvel at just how far back their ties went.

Bellefont, the Tower Master of Ocean Blue, quickly seized the opportunity. “With a connection this deep, we should certainly strengthen our cooperation in the future.”

Sein extended his hand toward Savoye. “I look forward to cooperating more closely with the divine towers of the South Coast, as well as the Dawning Secret Society.”

And so, the Rank Five and Rank Six mages shook hands once more.

***

After the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War concluded, there was still one special trial reserved for the top one hundred initiates in the individual rankings.

Virtually all of these initiates had the potential to advance to Rank One. Past records had made that abundantly clear.

Among initiates who had ranked in the top one hundred, the success rate for advancing to Rank One stood at an astonishing 98.78 percent.

In other words, nearly all of them would eventually become registered mages of their respective divine towers and form part of the backbone of those institutions.

The female initiate who had attracted Sein’s attention was also among them.

However, her strength was not particularly outstanding among the senior initiates, and she had yet to reach the level of a Quasi Mage. As a result, she ranked only 82nd in individual points.

This year’s academy war had produced four Despair Bearers, while another fifty-six Quasi Mages had made it into the top one hundred!

“Deploy a portion of the robot legion,” Sein instructed. “Let’s see what these top initiates are really capable of. Aside from that...”

As Sein spoke, a flash of blue light appeared before him.

Twelve intelligent angels emerged from the Magic Cube, spreading their metallic wings behind them.

The deep blue glow of law energy radiating from the Magic Cube immediately drew repeated glances from Savoye, Bellefont, and the others.

The twelve robot angels clearly possessed a high degree of intelligence. The moment they appeared before Sein, they dropped to one knee in perfect unison, displaying absolute deference toward him.

Because of Fermera, Sein personally felt that these mechanical angels, having already developed intelligence of their own, did not need to behave this way.

Perhaps their behavior stemmed from the fact that the Magic Cube had served as the womb that created and nurtured their intelligence. There was also Fermera, their leader, who herself addressed Sein as “Master.”

Whatever the reason, these intelligent angels obeyed Sein’s commands without question.

Even if Sein ordered them to their deaths, they would carry out the command without hesitation.

Of course, if circumstances allowed, Sein could always recover the black boxes left behind on the battlefield afterward and “resurrect” those fallen intelligent angels.

Twelve intelligent angels were enough to form a complete battle formation.

In fact, the smallest formation required only six.

Among the twelve before Sein, the one leading them already possessed Rank Two strength.

“You lot should head down as well and test what those little ones are capable of. Just be careful not to accidentally hurt them,” Sein instructed.

The initiates who had made it into the top one hundred individual rankings were different from those who had already been eliminated during the academy war.

These were promising talents whom the major divine towers would spare no effort to protect. Some might advance to Rank Two or even Rank Three in the future, while almost all of them were expected to become Rank One mages at the very least.

The leading Rank Two angel immediately acknowledged Sein’s order.

After Marie opened a passage into the trial space, the twelve intelligent angels entered alongside a legion of more than a thousand cannon-fodder robots.

Watching Sein make these arrangements, Savoye could not help but remark, “Master Sein, it seems you’re raising the difficulty for these young ones even further.”

“It never hurts to test their limits.” Sein smiled. “Besides, exposing them early to mechanical combat units similar to those used by the Gallant Federation may help them survive longer on the civilizational battlefields in the future.”

Savoye nodded. It was obvious that he was also quite interested in Sein’s Magic Cube.

However, this was only their first formal meeting. No matter how deep the connection between their two sides might have been, it would hardly be appropriate for Savoye to ask to examine such a prized artifact right away.

And even if Savoye were thick-skinned enough to ask, Sein might not necessarily agree.

For now, everyone’s attention remained on the “closing ceremony” of this year’s academy war.

The final trial for the top one hundred initiates had already begun below.

Twelve intelligent angels, accompanied by more than a thousand cannon-fodder robots, launched an assault on the hundred initiates representing the six divine towers.

As the battle unfolded, Marie leaned toward Sein.

“I looked into that girl for you. Her name is Catherine, and she’s an orphan.”

“Because of the shortage of mages on the front lines, the Byrne Empire’s military followed the example of the Alveroth Empire and began establishing public magic academies around three thousand years ago. They also started providing financial support to particularly talented magic initiates.

“Catherine was one of the children who received special funding from the military. Later, because of her outstanding performance, she earned the opportunity to study at the Divine Tower of Radiant Sun.”

Marie shrugged.

“If you really want to take her on as your apprentice, it could be rather troublesome. You’ll need the Divine Tower of Radiant Sun to release her, and you’ll also have to notify the Byrne Empire’s military headquarters.”