Another five years passed. During that time, the Destruction God Clone refined all the Inkstones into Destruction Sovereign Power. Adding the wealth looted from the bandits Hodan encountered on the road, he had a total of 15,003 drops of Sovereign's Might. Most of it came from Huoxie's commission, which paid 15,000 drops; the wealth he'd looted himself had yielded only three.
Hodan bottled the Sovereign's Might, putting a thousand drops in each bottle. He filled fifteen bottles. Including the Sovereign's Might he'd skimmed earlier, Hodan now had more than 20,000 drops.
Even for a Paragon High-God, that was an astonishing fortune. In the original story, when the Radiant Overlord asked Paragon Clementine to compete for the Overgod's mission—the Red Diamond—he offered only 10,000 drops. Hodan now had enough Sovereign's Might to hire two Paragon High-Gods for a job.
But Hodan wouldn't do that. The right path was to work hard to improve his own strength. Besides, would hiring two Paragons really solve the Four Divine Beasts Clan's problems? Who could compete with a Sovereign in a contest of Sovereign's Might? Beirut was a Sovereign himself.
Hodan shook his head and stopped dwelling on it. Once he was strong enough, the problem would resolve itself. What troubled him now was that refining Sovereign's Might was yielding less and less insight for his Destruction God Clone. His Death and Life God Clones had barely progressed, either. They were both at a standstill.
The Death and Life Clones were understandable. He lacked extensive insight into death, and he had no talent for the Life Law. He had only become a god in the Life Law thanks to the Life Fruit, but the fruit had lost its effect after that. Now it could only help heal injuries.
But even after refining all those Inkstones,