Sovereign of the Ashes

"It could be a medium-sized world," Lorianne suddenly commented after Sein's interrogation ended.

Medium-sized worlds were governed by an exceptionally complete set of laws and capable of spawning Rank Six creatures.

These worlds were ranked among the more formidable, occupying the upper mid-tier of the Astral Realm's hierarchy.

After all, there were only a handful of large-sized realms and top-tier civilizations within the boundless expanse of the Astral Realm.

These exceptional civilizations had typically undergone either an exceedingly long period of development or possessed highly refined evolutionary systems.

Hence, the majority of the Astral Realm was made up of low-level planes and microplanes, which, due to their relatively brief periods of development did not require as robust a power system within their civilizations.

Some low-level realms and microplanes with exceptional potential might eventually evolve into medium-sized or even higher-level planes in the future.

However, unforeseen events could easily disrupt a world's development. Disasters could come in the form of devastating meteorite impacts, or invasions from other foreign worlds.

Internal strife or deviations in the evolutionary system could also lead to the downfall of a once-promising small world.

Thus, discovering a medium-sized world in the Astral Realm was often a matter of luck.

Sein and Lorianne's unexpected encounter with such a realm during an interplanar war was an occurrence of exceedingly low probability.

Then again, probability was a profound and mysterious thing.

After all, the Astral Realm's magnificence was created by countless unlikely events converging together.

For instance, the birth of a plane with a complete set of laws was an exceedingly rare occurrence, which was why such planes were so scarce within the Astral Realm.

The majority of the Astral Realm was still composed of demiplanes, broken planes, and void meteorites, among others.

"A medium-sized world... So, are we still going to proceed with our invasion of this lower-level realm as planned?" Sein asked.

The appearance of another medium-sized plane's forces in the Verdant Wilderness World caught even Lorianne off guard.

If they proceeded as planned, the danger would undoubtedly escalate.

After all, the threat posed by a medium-sized plane far surpassed that of confronting a low-level plane.

Sein also doubted that the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring would be willing to ally with the Gorilla Gods from the Wild Gorilla World and share the spoils of this Verdant Wilderness World.

More crucially, Lorianne was backed by the formidable Magus Civilization!

Since when did the Magus Civilization need to share a world with other civilizations?

Even the Wild Gorilla World, formidable in the eyes of ordinary low-level and microplane creatures, was merely a tempting piece of meat to the mighty Magus Civilization!

The bones of this succulent feast might be tough to chew but the Magus Civilization would just need to strengthen their teeth and devour it whole.

"For the final decision, I'll need to consult with your grandmaster and the others. No, this matter might also need to be escalated to the Magus Alliance. A medium-sized world, huh? I wonder if the Wild Gorilla World has ever engaged with the Magus Alliance," Lorianne mused.

As a top-tier civilization, the Magus Civilization's renown and sphere of influence had long expanded across many star domains.

All member civilizations within the Magus Alliance knew their leader well.

Even those world civilizations not yet absorbed into the Magus Alliance and those relatively distant from Magus Civilization had heard of its formidable reputation and were daunted by it.

Belbacor, the foreign demigod with whom Sein had negotiated a deal over an interplanar communication, was one such being aware of the Magus Civilization.

Fortunately, at that time, Sein was only an initiate. Had Lorianne intervened, Belbacor would have been too intimidated to utter a full sentence.

Given that a medium-sized plane was likely involved, the next course of action was indeed beyond Sein's purview.

Such levels of conflict and pre-conflict strategy were beyond his level to participate.

He simply needed to adhere to his mentor's counsel and focus on gathering information before the war commenced.

Whether the outcome was war or peace, Lorianne, Feylis, and the others would decide.

Now that Sein thought about it, he had engaged in microplane and low-level interplanar wars so far but had yet to participate in a conflict involving a medium-sized realm.

If the Wild Gorilla World was truly a medium-sized plane, their power surely extended beyond their homeplane.

It was a huge cake!

High risk indeed promised high rewards!

If they could conquer the Wild Gorilla World and seize the resources of a medium-sized plane, the profits—just Lorianne's share alone—would suffice to finance several low-level interplanar wars.

It was no wonder Lorianne was tempted.

If she were lucky, this war alone could settle all her debts!

While the final decision by Feylis and the Magus Alliance was still pending, Lorianne was personally inclined toward initiating the war.

***

The Verdant Wilderness World had been tranquil since Sein captured the green-furred gorilla.

The conflict between the two large forests in the north had noticeably diminished, thanks to the mediation efforts of the guardian and many other parties.

Those green-furred gorillas had been missing, and Sein had heard no news of further conflicts erupting.

Yet, beneath the calm surface, all the well-informed individuals in Verdant Wilderness World were aware of the underlying fierce turbulence.

Invisible skirmishes and conflicts were unfolding in the hidden recesses of this world.

As an outsider, Sein merely needed to observe calmly from the sidelines.

"Another one of the node weakeners we set up before had lost response yesterday," Sein noted.

Since Sein had placed those node weakeners himself and activated them by channeling his mana, their removal was immediately noticeable on his end.

"It's fine. If the other side succeeds in invading this low-level plane, we won't need those node weakeners anymore. The Wild Gorilla World will help us significantly reduce the strength of this world's laws.

"The more complete the laws of the Verdant Wilderness World are, the more challenging it will be for the Wild Gorilla World to mount an attack. Conversely, Verdant Wilderness World can also help us weaken the Wild Gorilla World even further," Lorianne explained.

"Do you remember the Thunderfall World war? It took only two Rank Four creatures to force Thunder, a peak Rank Five knight, into a desperate situation, though that was also partially due to Thunder's own circumstances," she added.

"Verdant Wilderness World is far from defenseless. Never underestimate the power of plants!" Lorianne whispered into Sein's ear.