"I remember that the inkstones used in Hell are refined by the Sovereigns."
"No—not just inkstones. To be precise, the currency used across the Seven Divine Planes and the Four Higher Planes is all refined by the Sovereigns."
"That means these currencies contain traces of corresponding Sovereign power."
"And some powerhouses with extremely profound attainments in the soul can extract the Sovereign power contained within them."
After gifting the wind-element Demigod divine spark to Little White, Locke paid it no further attention.
In Locke's eyes, even if Little White became a god, it would still only be his mount.
If anything, Little White growing stronger might even reduce some of the trouble Locke would run into.
At the moment, Locke was idly toying with a black stone about one cubic centimeter in size.
A faint pressure emanated from the stone.
This was the pressure of Sovereign power.
That said, because the Sovereign power contained within was exceedingly thin, the pressure was something living beings could sense—but it held no real practical effect.
Perhaps if this inkstone were tossed into a material plane, an ordinary, untrained mortal passing over it might feel a slight sense of oppression…
"At present, my soul power hasn't yet undergone the baptism of Highgod-level heavenly laws, so compared to those people, it's still a notch weaker."
"I wonder… once I become a Highgod, will I be able to extract Sovereign power from inkstones?"
"…Should I try now?"
With the thought forming in his mind, Locke naturally didn't remain idle.
After instructing Little White to keep its movement steady, Locke released his soul power and slowly let it seep into the inkstone.
"Hm?"
What puzzled him was that even after his soul power thoroughly penetrated and analyzed the inkstone, all it returned to him was the sensation of an unusually hard stone.
He didn't sense anything else at all.
"How is that possible?"
"Is my attainment in the soul really that far behind those who can extract Sovereign power?"
"They can refine Sovereign power from inkstones, yet I can't even sense its existence?"
This time, even Locke felt a little mentally shaken.
All along, Locke's confidence in his soul attainments had far surpassed his confidence in cultivating the profound mysteries of the laws.
If he had only a fifty-percent certainty of reaching Paragon-level mastery of the laws, then when it came to his soul, he had been absolutely confident—one hundred percent certain—that he could reach the level required to extract Sovereign power from inkstones.
Yet now, this analysis of the inkstone felt like a heavy blow to the head.
The result seemed to be mocking his own ignorant boldness.
"Something's not right!"
"With my current level of attainment in the soul, it's impossible for me not to sense the Sovereign power inside an inkstone."
After a long moment, Locke's expression sharpened.
He would rather believe he was using the wrong method than admit that his soul attainments were inferior to others'.
"Let me think… inkstones were originally just the most ordinary minerals in Hell."
"They only became currency because the Sovereigns tempered them with Sovereign power…"
"So why can't I sense the Sovereign power contained within them?"
"Could it be that I've never sensed true Sovereign power before—and therefore can't distinguish it at all?"
"…Mm, that's not impossible."
"After all, anyone capable of extracting Sovereign power from inkstones must have encountered genuine Sovereign power before."
"And up until now, I've never truly witnessed Sovereign power…"
Tossing the inkstone up and catching it again, Locke let his thoughts wander.
At this point in time, the Sovereigns had amassed vast quantities of faith energy. They were using Sovereign power to fuse the profound mysteries of the laws, rapidly increasing their strength so as not to become prey to other Sovereigns.
Under such circumstances, it was unlikely that the Sovereigns would pay much attention to their Sovereign legions.
Even if a Sovereign granted some Sovereign power to their children or subordinates, given its importance, it certainly wouldn't be something casually shown to others.
"Sigh… still too weak…"
Locke considered many possible ways to encounter Sovereign power, but in the end, he could only shake his head.
With any of the methods he could think of, by the time he actually laid eyes on Sovereign power, it would probably also be the moment of his death.
Sovereign power lay at the deepest level of the Elemental Sea.
But that was a place only Sovereigns could reach.
The might of Sovereign power was hundreds of times greater than Highgod divine power.
Even if the attributes didn't match, as long as Sovereign power was used, a god-level being could boost their strength by a hundredfold before the power was exhausted.
A Demigod using it could rival a Highgod.
A god using it could kill an ordinary Highgod.
An ordinary Highgod using it could rival a Six-Star Demon who had fused three Law profundities.
As for Locke, with most of three Law profundities already fused and god divine power at five times the normal strength, he was stronger than an ordinary Highgod—but at best, he was only around the level of a Four-Star Demon.
If he truly wanted to witness Sovereign power, Locke would need to fuse at least four Law profundities and become a god capable of rivaling a Six-Star Demon.
Shaking his head, Locke temporarily cast aside those unrealistic thoughts.
"Little White, let's leave the forest."
"I'm heading to a city to buy some things."
After acquiring a massive fortune from those five gods, Locke naturally wanted to purchase items he could make use of.
Especially Amethysts.
With assets exceeding five hundred million inkstones, Locke had more than enough to purchase Amethysts needed to forge a Highgod-level soul defense artifact.
Unlike physical attack or physical defense artifacts—
Forging physical artifacts required the forger to possess at least Highgod divine power to temper them.
But soul defense artifacts were different.
As long as one's attainment in the soul was sufficiently high and one possessed enough soul power, it was possible to forge a powerful soul defense artifact.
That said, those capable of forging such artifacts were usually superpowerhouses who cultivated the Laws of Fate or Death.
Even so, not everyone who cultivated Fate or Death possessed strong enough soul attainments to forge soul defense artifacts.
After all, the strength of a law didn't necessarily reflect the depth of one's soul attainments.
Taking out a map of the Violet Thorn Continent from his spatial ring and confirming his current location, Locke identified the direction and pointed toward the front-right.
"Little White, this way."
"There's a city three hundred and twenty thousand kilometers ahead."
(End of Chapter)
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