Sovereign of the Ashes
Chapter 1149: Summon

Chapter 1149: Summon

The development and takeover of Bouldrak Plane no longer required much involvement from Sein and the others.”

Truthfully, Sein had already gathered most of what he wanted from this world.

As for Tourmaline, she had been eager to leave for quite a while. She never liked Bouldrak World with its heavy geo elemental energy and lingering scent of war and death.

After saying their goodbyes to Eugene and the others, Sein took Tourmaline, Leena, and the rest of the group back to Beastmen World to continue their travels.

This time, instead of trekking across the barren lands near No Man’s Land, they headed east to the Karemdor Steppe—the most prosperous region of Beastmen World.

This was home to the Drunken Panda Immortal, and most of his kin lived on a large island at the far eastern edge of Beastmen World.

The fertile plains of Karemdor Steppe completely changed Sein’s impression of Beastmen World as an impoverished world.

What thrived here was not forests or decorative plants, but food crops—clear evidence of how dire the food shortage was across the rest of the world.

The sight of vast golden wheat fields swaying and rustling in the breeze was both stunning and mesmerizing.

As for the home of the pandafolk, which the Drunken Panda Immortal had recommended they visit, it turned out to be an island drifting across the seas of Beastmen World.

And the reason for that was because the “island” was not a real island at all—it was the back of a massive native sea beast.

This enormous creature, resembling a giant sea turtle, was native to Beastmen World, and the pandafolk had built their entire settlement atop its shell.

Tourmaline was large, but compared to this sea turtle, she was tiny. This beast carried the entire homeland of the pandafolk on its back.

The sea turtle was not particularly intelligent, but its sheer size and tremendous lifespan had made it incredibly strong.

It was at least Rank Four or higher, though it never fought and was practically incapable of leaving Beastmen World.

Most of the time, it floated calmly near the warm eastern seas, like a silent, drifting island.

It rarely ventured near the harsher western sea or the icy northern sea.

Only occasionally, when it was asleep, would it unknowingly drift into the waters of the southern sea.

Sein could not have known the “island” was actually a turtle’s back without looking beneath the island where the pandafolk lived.

The Astral Realm was indeed vast and strange.

While staying in the pandafolk’s homeland, Sein ended up meeting quite a few powerful pandafolk as well.

Some of the elders among them had even reached Rank Four or higher.

However, none of them possessed the same kind of clone ability as Mangius, the Drunken Panda Immortal.

That unique skill was something only the Drunken Panda Immortal had.

“While traveling through the Immortal Realm, my master gave me a gift—besides teaching me a strange technique,” the chubby Drunken Panda Immortal said, rubbing his round head with his own paw.

A red gourd hanging at his waist floated into the air, clearly the gift his master had once bestowed upon him.

“I have not fully refined this gourd yet, so I did not use it during the last war. The weapons I usually use are stored inside this gourd. My master also said it could nurture spiritual ingredients and elixirs,” the Drunken Panda Immortal explained.

As an alchemist, Sein’s curiosity was immediately piqued, and he leaned in for a closer look at the gourd.

The Drunken Panda Immortal usually carried his bamboo pole and wine barrel on his back, but the twin sabers, lightning orbs, and brick he used when split into three clones were now all tucked away inside that red gourd.

There was something undeniably extraordinary about it—Sein could sense it was not a crafted artifact, but something more like a naturally formed treasure.

The mysterious Immortal Realm that the Drunken Panda Immortal had once visited stirred a deep curiosity in Sein’s heart.

Tourmaline, too, was staring at the gourd, her eyes practically sparkling.

***

With the Drunken Panda Immortal as their guide, the rest of Sein and Tourmaline’s journey through Beastmen World was incredibly rewarding.

During this time, Azelia managed to bond with a Rank Three Komodo War Beast in the Rolling Stone Range, down in the southern part of the Karemdor Steppe.

This war beast had not been recruited by Sein—Azelia had drawn it in with her improved war song.

Judging by how she managed to summon a Rank Three Komodo War Beast, it looked like it was only a matter of time before she advanced to Rank Three herself.

Meanwhile, Eugene had sent over a large batch of shamanic books and bronze codices.

Much of this knowledge came from Reksha, the Champion of Wilderness.

Of course, Azelia was not planning to follow Reksha’s dual cultivation of songs and martial arts, but even just learning his war songs was enough to benefit her for a lifetime.

By the time Sein wrapped up his travels in Beastmen World this time, thirty years had passed.

Honestly, spending thirty years exploring such a large plane was not that long.

But with everything they had gained during their earlier travels, it was more than enough to head home fully loaded.

After saying their goodbyes to the Drunken Panda Immortal, who had been their guide all this time, Sein took Tourmaline and Leena and returned to Magus World.

Originally, Sein had planned to visit a few other allied planes, but he suddenly remembered Mayne’s invitation and decided to stop by his knightly order first.

Mayne welcomed Sein and his group warmly.

Without wasting time, he led them to a teleportation array.

“My grandfather wants to meet you,” Mayne said, without offering much more explanation.

A Rank Four knight’s grandfather was probably not some nobody in Magus World.

Sein glanced at Tourmaline, who was in her human form. She blinked back at him, clearly just as clueless.

Then he turned to Leena—her background likely was not much of a secret to the upper echelons of Magus World.

The fact that Mayne and his grandfather were willing to treat even a black mage like her neutrally was at least a sign that they were probably not the difficult or hostile type.

“May I ask... why is your grandfather interested in me?” Sein asked as they followed behind Mayne.

“It could be because of your name, or because of what you did in Beastmen World... or maybe it’s because of her.”

He nodded toward Tourmaline with a smile.