"However, An'an, if you're going to say things like that, at least wait until you've seen my gift before saying them."
"How is that nonsense..."
Loran chuckled as he came to Lilia's side and wrapped his arm around hers.
"I really do think so."
Seeing the smile on his mother's face, Loran inwardly sighed.
His mother was wonderful in every way, except that she was just a bit too competitive.
Even if the gift she gave him wasn't as good as Father's, Loran still had to go against his conscience and praise it as being superior.
Otherwise, Mother would keep bringing it up in front of him afterward.
"At least you know what's good for you."
After lightly tapping Loran's forehead, Lilia waved her hand.
Immediately, two drops of blue Sovereign's Might appeared in her palm.
Buzz!
Even though their power hadn't been activated, the aura emanating from those two drops alone caused Loran, Little Black, and Carlene's expressions to change drastically.
Over the years, after becoming Fiends, they had completed many missions and encountered many experts. Their mental fortitude had improved considerably.
However, this pressure—which was extremely similar to the aura emitted by the Sovereign giant faces outside the Fiend Castles, yet thousands of times stronger—was something they had never experienced before.
"T-This is Sovereign's Might?"
Only after a long while did Loran speak in shock.
"Sovereign's Might?"
Hearing Loran's words, Little Black and Carlene both sucked in a cold breath.
Having become Fiends, they naturally knew some common knowledge taught within the Fiend Castle.
Sovereign's Might was the power used by the supreme Sovereigns themselves.
Just a single drop could increase one's strength by more than a hundredfold for a short period of time.
However, Sovereign's Might was extremely precious.
Apart from the occasional rewards bestowed by Sovereigns upon their Sovereign Emissaries and Sovereign Army soldiers who had accomplished tasks for them, ordinary people had not only never seen Sovereign's Might—they had never even heard its name.
And now, Loran's mother had actually produced Sovereign's Might.
Not just one drop, but two!
The three of them stared at the two drops of Sovereign's Might in Lilia's hand, each lost in their own thoughts.
"Thank you, Mother."
"I really do like your gift more than Father's."
Loran solemnly thanked Lilia before putting the two drops of Sovereign's Might into his interspatial ring.
"You little rascal, your mouth is certainly sweet."
"I only hope that after you learn what your father actually gave you, you'll think carefully about the words you're saying now."
Lilia poked Loran's forehead and spoke helplessly.
It was only because Loran currently lacked experience.
After all, what his father had given him was a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact forged from the faith accumulated over a hundred years from countless Water-style Deities.
A Sovereign could bestow at most one Sovereign artifact upon each of their emissaries or children.
Naturally, the soul-protecting Sovereign artifact Locke had prepared for Loran was one he had personally forged.
No matter how precious Sovereign's Might was, it was still merely a consumable.
How could it compare to a Sovereign artifact that could be used forever?
As parents, Locke and Lilia both hoped that Loran could safely pass through his weakest stage.
However, Loran's path was not like Locke's secluded cultivation path, where one could comprehend Profound Mysteries in quiet meditation.
Instead, it was a path of battle and combat.
Only sufficient pressure and danger could stimulate Loran's comprehension and inspiration to their limits.
Thus, Locke felt that before Loran reached the limits of his potential, giving him an offensive Sovereign artifact or a material-defense Sovereign artifact would only hinder his growth.
It would deprive him of any sense of crisis and ultimately cause him to fade into mediocrity.
In any case, compared to Sovereign artifacts, divine spark weapons lacked some special properties, but in terms of hardness alone, they were more than enough to protect Loran.
As the child of two Sovereigns, apart from the soul-protecting Sovereign artifact Locke had already bestowed upon him, only after Loran had reached the limit of his own strength would Locke consider having the Death Chief Sovereign grant him a Sovereign artifact corresponding to the Laws, allowing him to possess Paragon-level power.
Of course, if Loran could become a Paragon on his own, that would be even better.
Perhaps then he might glimpse scenery beyond the Paragon level and reach a realm comparable to that of a Sovereign.
As for Sovereign's Might, there were no such restrictions.
As long as a Sovereign wished, they could casually provide thousands or even tens of thousands of drops to their children.
The reason the Four Divine Beasts clan enjoyed such prestige across the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes was inseparable from their habit of using Sovereign's Might during battles.
After all, even if the attribute wasn't compatible, a single drop of Sovereign's Might could still increase a Deity's power by at least a hundredfold.
Thus, even though many Four Divine Beasts clan members weren't particularly powerful, the amplification from Sovereign's Might allowed them to threaten Five Star and Six Star Fiends.
Only experts at the Seven Star Fiend level and above caused them to exercise caution.
After all, even with Sovereign's Might, one needed at least Five Star Fiend-level strength to contend against a Seven Star Fiend.
Although Locke and the Death Chief Sovereign could provide Loran with a large quantity of Sovereign's Might, as they had worried before, this power was ultimately not the proper path.
If Loran became addicted to this illusory strength like the members of the Four Divine Beasts clan and neglected his cultivation of Profound Mysteries, then without question, both Locke and Lilia would be deeply disappointed.
If they hadn't harbored hopes that Loran might become a Paragon, then together they could have simply given him the highest-grade Netherfruit and instantly elevated him to Prefect-level strength.
"An'an!"
Seeing how much importance Loran placed on Sovereign's Might, Locke frowned slightly.
"Father."
"An'an, you must understand that no matter how much Sovereign's Might can increase your strength, it is still only a consumable. Once used, it is gone."
"But your own strength is real. It will always remain with you and grow stronger as your cultivation advances."
"Of course, Father isn't saying that you shouldn't use Sovereign's Might."
"I'm simply telling you not to be bewitched by the power it brings."
"If you encounter danger, use it when necessary. Staying alive is what matters most."
"Yes, Father. I understand."
Loran respectfully replied.
At the same time, he began to form some guesses regarding his parents' identities.
To use Sovereign's Might as his hundredth birthday gift...
Perhaps his parents were Sovereign Emissaries?
That's right.
Throughout all these years, no matter where he went or how much danger he encountered, his parents had never shown the slightest concern, as though such dangers were beneath notice.
If his parents were Sovereign Emissaries, then everything made sense.
According to Loran's understanding, every Sovereign Emissary possessed at least Prefect-level strength.
Such experts could rank within the top two hundred of any plane.
And that was including Prefecture Lords and those hidden experts.
As for Sovereign Emissaries, because they possessed Sovereign artifacts bestowed by Sovereigns, they were ten times stronger than ordinary Prefecture Lords. Across the various planes, the strength of Sovereign Emissaries ranked at least within the top thirty.
If Locke and the Death Chief Sovereign knew that Loran had imagined them to be Sovereign Emissaries, who knew what they would think?
More likely than not, they would simply allow him to continue believing so.
After all, Sovereign Emissaries possessed considerable power without being the strongest. Giving Loran a goal to chase—and perhaps surpass—wasn't a bad thing.
Locke's group did not slow down their journey because of Loran's hundredth birthday.
Over the following period, the focus remained on Loran, Little Black, and Carlene.
Every time they arrived at a city, Loran would spend a few days fighting on the battle stage before accepting Fiend missions heading toward the Plane Transfer Array...
More than seven hundred years later, they finally arrived at the Plane Transfer Array.
"Frostsnow Plane."
Having reached the Plane Transfer Array, the special training of Loran and the others could finally be considered complete.
Locke wasted no words and directly tossed out a Sovereign token.
Upon seeing the token, the Sovereign Army soldiers didn't dare ask Locke for the transmission fee.
After respectfully returning the token, they activated the Plane Transfer Array.
"So, light..."
As they emerged from the white radiance of the transfer array, Locke's group stepped out.
For Loran, Little Black, Carlene, Fanny, and the others who were visiting a material plane for the first time, the gravity—which was hundreds of times weaker than the Netherworld's—and the fragile space that could be torn apart with only a little force felt extremely novel.
It was as though in the Netherworld they had been rookie's incapable of even causing spatial ripples.
But here, they had become supreme experts who could casually tear open huge spatial cracks.
Rip!
Little Black circulated divine power and casually waved his hand, instantly creating a spatial tear dozens of meters long in the Frostsnow Plane.
A powerful suction force emerged from the crack.
However, the material plane's spatial stability was too weak, so the suction produced by this tear wasn't particularly strong.
Of course, this was only because Little Black had merely torn through the outermost layer of space, revealing nothing more than a black spatial fissure.
"Honored lords, welcome to the Frostsnow Plane."
After Little Black casually demonstrated his power, a God nervously flew over toward them.
"Oh? A God?"
Loran and the others looked at him curiously.
After all, based on what they had learned over the years, even becoming a Deity in a material plane was rare, much less reaching the God level.
Any person capable of cultivating to Deity level in a material plane had a very high chance of reaching the Highgod level after entering the Divine Planes or Higher Planes.
People who could cultivate all the way to the God level while still in a material plane would surely soar to great heights after entering the Divine Planes or Higher Planes.
Previously, Loran and the others hadn't fully understood this.
But now, sensing just how incredibly sparse the Laws and elemental essence were within the material plane, they found it difficult to imagine whether they themselves would have been able to sense the Profound Mysteries and reach the Saint-level had they been born here.
Without reaching the Saint-level, after four or five hundred years, all that would remain would be a pile of yellow earth...
(End of Chapter)
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