Sovereign of the Ashes

Chapter 175: Pre-War Training

The area within the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s sphere of influence was known as “Viridescent Land”.

In the grand scale of the Magus World, Viridescent Land was comparatively modest in size, hardly substantial enough to be considered a “region” in its own right.

In addition to the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, the region was home to other major divine towers—Divine Tower of Shadow, Divine Tower of Cipher, Divine Tower of Land Academy, and Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder.

Among them, the Divine Tower of Land Academy held the highest rank. Being the oldest of the five, it was established 80,000 years ago.

Following closely was the Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder. Although younger than the Divine Tower of Land Academy, its 50,000-year legacy was impressive.

Recently, it had been gaining prominence, almost replacing the Divine Tower of Land Academy as the top in the last Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War.

The Divine Tower of Shadow and Divine Tower of Cipher were comparable in strength, but both surpassed the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

Sein viewed the “pre-war training” as a tactical briefing led by the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s full-fledged mages. They instructed initiates on securing resource points within the trial space and avoiding pincer attacks from initiates of other divine tower academies.

Given Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s relative weakness, innovative tactics were essential to avoid landing at the bottom of the rankings again in the upcoming war.

During the training, Sein gained a comprehensive understanding of the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War’s process and intricacies.

The war would take place in a special area, jointly created by the five divine tower academies, enclosed by an elemental energy shield that barred entry or exit.

Initiates could earn points by controlling resource points, defeating initiates from other divine towers, or eliminating extraplanar creatures introduced into the trial space.

It was almost like a simplified version of interplanar war, with strict rules against initiates from the same divine tower academy harming each other, which reflected the broader principle against infighting among Magus World allies in interplanar wars.

The full-fledged mage in the training session repeatedly emphasized the importance of being prepared to activate their badge at any moment once inside the trial space.

Before entering the trial space, initiates would receive a Gravitational Shield feature on their badges, strong enough to withstand a strike from a full-fledged mage.

Activating the badge during the trial would immediately extract the initiate from the trial space, transferring half their accumulated points to the initiate before them.

The Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s full-fledged mages stressed the importance of prudent decision-making in the trial.

In face of overwhelming danger, initiates were instructed to promptly activate the Gravitational Shield to exit the trial space.

This directive showed the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring Academy’s commitment to the safety of its initiates.

Given the nearly forty percent casualty rate in the last academy war, which incensed the tower master, the full-fledged mages and deans were now exercising increased caution.

The Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s dismal performance in the previous war was partly due to aggressive tactics by the Divine Tower of Shadow and Divine Tower of Radiant Thunder. Additionally, a desperation to reverse the losses from three consecutive wars led some full-fledged mages and a certain dean to take reckless actions.

In the end, their pursuit for superiority without adequate strength had resulted in a high casualty rate.

Fortunately, Sein and his cohort joined at a time when the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring was adopting a new strategy for the war.

In the context of secular human nations’ wars, a forty percent casualty rate was shockingly high, bordering on catastrophic. Such a figure could even be classified as a massacre. This explained the somber expressions often seen on the faces of the older initiates.

Compared to the previous war, the upcoming one seemed less daunting, especially with the protection of Gravitational Shield.

Initially, Sein paid close attention during the pre-war training sessions. However, his interest waned as it became clear that the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s strategy had shifted radically.

This time, the focus was on defense and securing secure public resource points with minimal risk.

The training scarcely covered confrontations with initiates from other divine towers or battles against extraplanar creatures.

The overall approach suggested the academy was content aiming for fourth place, a position previously held by the Divine Tower of Cipher.

This particular divine tower was known to have a somewhat amicable relationship with the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.

At least, they were different from the other divine tower academies, which tended to treat the initiates from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring as easy prey, swiftly eliminating them and seizing their points upon encounter.

Sein had already made up his mind that he would act independently as soon as the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War commenced.

On the one hand, he was not accustomed to working with the other initiates within the divine tower academy, and was more adept at solo combat.

On the other hand, in order to amass a substantial number of points and reap the benefits of the war, while still meeting the divine tower mages’ expectations, he realized that a standout performance would be unachievable.

Each point in the war equated to an intermediate energy crystal, and ten points equated to an advanced energy crystal.

Upon entering the trial space, junior initiates would start with one point, intermediate with ten, and senior initiates with a hundred.

With nearly ten thousand initiates from Divine Tower of Verdant Spring alone, and potentially more from the other divine towers, targeting them in the trial space promised a substantial reward.

This did not even account for the extraplanar creatures, which typically offered even higher point values.

Opportunity often favored those who were prepared and diligent; merely waiting would not bring the pie in the sky within reach.

This was especially true in the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War, where even intermediate initiates, with enough boldness and caution, could reap substantial rewards.

Sein’s ambitions were set higher; he aimed to amass enough points to rank in the top twenty.

The divine tower mage in the training session had mentioned that those in the top twenty would be awarded various potions and resources, significantly aiding their progression to full-fledged mages.

Naturally, the higher the rank, the more substantial the rewards.

Over the past few years, Sein had focused on alchemy, but he had not neglected the growth of his focus and mana levels.

His current stats were:

Focus: 81 points.

Mana: 79 points.

Constitution: 21 points.

His focus had increased by ten points in just a few years, not so much due to innate talent but because his alchemy experiments and magical research naturally boosted his mental focus.

Enhancing the Solar Eye magic spell was a formidable challenge, yet as Sein overcame knowledge barriers and broadened his cognitive scope, the boost in his focus level emerged almost naturally, akin to an incidental result of his learning journey.

In contrast to initiates who laboriously accumulate focus points through meditation, Sein’s approach to advancement and improvement represented a more authentic and effective mage’s journey to gaining strength.

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