Star-Plucking Sovereign

Orloff stroked his beard and laughed. Among the Overlords, whose influence could rival his? He had never been afraid of searching for things. "Good. Then we'll do as you say!"

Lilith smiled too. "You rascal, playing both sides to keep everyone happy. But I like this proposal. You'd better not go back on your word later."

Desterie only smiled without replying. If they could find them, then Hongmeng must have given them special treatment. If things really came to that, he'd be willing to give away not only the Supreme God Token, but even the Supreme Artifact!

Lilith teased him again. "I still remember how, when you first made a name for yourself, you were called the Star-Plucking Fate Master. Who would've thought that after just a few tens of millions of years, you'd really pluck the Star Sovereign's fate right out of the heavens?"

Lilith's words brought the past to mind, and Desterie reminisced. "Back then, I was a Seven-Star Fate Master, but I hadn't earned any particularly impressive title. That changed after I successfully challenged the previous Prefect of Jinyang Prefecture. It was nighttime, and the stars glittered across the sky. As I faced the long-renowned Prefect, a veteran powerhouse, I felt no fear at all—only excitement.

"At the time, I clenched one hand as if I were holding a star, and borrowed a line from a great literary master: 'I hold the sun and moon in my hand and pluck the stars; none in this world is my equal.' Then I killed the previous Prefect in an instant, and everyone kindly bestowed the title on me.

"It was fortunate that I became your Sovereign's Emissary not long afterward. Otherwise, if another Sovereign had heard that line, who knows how much trouble it might have caused."

Orloff nodded. "Star-Plucking Sovereign. A title well deserved!"

Vivian teased him too. "You certainly have a keen eye. That Heaven and Earth Exotic Item you happened to pick turned out to be a Supreme God Token. In just ten thousand years, you've obtained two Mid-level Sovereign Sparks and a Supreme God Token. Orloff's investigation was right after all—you really are the Darling of Fate."

You can't envy the benefits of Strong Luck! Desterie thought, then replied in agreement, "If we're talking about being favored by heaven and earth, I can't compare to you, my lords. You were born to rule the Supreme Planes, and you've held that position for countless years."

Vivian sighed. "It wasn't as smooth as you imagine. Before you became a Sovereign, those Paragon Highgods were always claiming that we Sovereigns had merely been born earlier and gotten lucky enough to obtain Sovereign Sparks. In truth, not long after the world was created, when the Sovereign Sparks descended, all the Supreme Planes were plunged into bloodshed.

"It wasn't just that most people received Sovereign Sparks that didn't match their affinities, which caused killing and plundering to spread everywhere. Many had barely obtained a Sovereign Spark before countless attacks blasted them to death the very next moment. Very few managed to obtain and refine a Sovereign Spark that matched their affinity.

"Even after becoming Sovereigns, there was no end to the turmoil and killing among us. Some did it for themselves, others for their loved ones; all wanted to kill other Sovereigns and seize their Sovereign Sparks. Many Intermediate and Lower Sovereigns were replaced during that period."

Orloff also reminisced. "That's right. The turmoil only settled after the eleven of us Highgod Sovereigns jointly established the Sovereign rules."

Lilith laughed and called him out. "You were the first to kill a Highgod Sovereign. With power like that, who would dare disobey you? Vivian and I had to band together for comfort back then, or we wouldn't have been able to relax for a moment."

Desterie exclaimed in surprise, "Lord Orloff killed a Highgod Sovereign? Which one?"

Orloff coughed twice and didn't answer. Vivian smiled and said, "In all these years, only two Highgod Sovereigns have died: the Sovereign of Light and the Darkness Overgod. The 'culprits'... are both standing right in front of you."

Only then did Orloff shake his head and take up the thread. "Haiye opposed me at every turn. To put an end to that chaos, I had no choice but to kill him."

Desterie gave a knowing grin. "I see. That explains why Augusta has always stayed so closely connected to you. It's just like how Black, the new Darkness Overgod, has always followed Lady Lilith so closely."

Lilith gave a cold snort at his words. "As Orloff said, sometimes you have to use a few methods to make your reputation known."

"Hahaha, let's not dwell on the past. I'll be off first. I'll do my best to find the remaining Supreme God Tokens as soon as possible!" After saying this, Orloff shot off, leaving behind a telepathic message as he went. "Desterie, have Iluka wait a little longer. You've just killed a Destruction Intermediate Sovereign, so now isn't a good time to kill another Destruction Sovereign. Tell him not to worry. He should get out more. With your protection and my support, Karin and the others won't dare do anything to him."

Once Orloff had gone far away, Lilith changed the subject. "Desterie, I've always known that your soul defense was strong. But when did your physical defense and soul attack reach this level? If I remember correctly, you're an ordinary human. Before, you said you were born with a powerful soul, which was why your soul defense was strong. Now, how did your soul attack and physical defense suddenly 'become naturally powerful' too? How many other surprises do you have that I don't know about?"

Desterie smiled smugly. "There aren't any more. My trump cards can't go on appearing one after another!"

Vivian recalled the moment Xingyi had been struck and praised him. "That move was terrifying. Though we were too far away to feel it, the moment that gate opened, Xingyi seemed to lose all ability to resist. You could kill him at will."

Desterie nodded. "That move of mine is called the Gate of Spirituality. Anyone struck by it loses consciousness and, with it, the ability to resist.

"But it only sounds frightening. I'm not even counting the Innate Divine Abilities or ultimate moves of the few lords whose abilities I've never seen. There's also the Four Divine Beasts' Combined Innate Divine Ability, which can increase its power by at least ten thousand times.

"Or take Hermes, the Sovereign's Emissary of Arturo, the Earth Overlord. I heard a few years ago that he'd only recently become a Highgod, yet his physical attacks were already close to the Asura level. That's nearly a ten-thousand-fold increase too. And since becoming a Sovereign's Emissary earned him a Soul Defense Sovereign Artifact, he'll be terrifying once he grows stronger."

"Hermes's talent is indeed astonishing. But for a super life-form like him, fusing profound mysteries will be extremely difficult," Lilith said with a sigh. As the Overlord of super divine beasts, she knew this all too well. So far, among all the super divine beasts, only Uthred had reached Paragon.

Desterie smiled faintly. No matter how difficult it was, if Hermes got a Sovereign Spark—even a Lower Sovereign Spark—he'd sooner or later be able to fuse five profound mysteries. Then, with his extraordinary strength, he'd have attack power on the level of a Highgod Sovereign. Unfortunately, his attack power would only match that level, not surpass it, while his physical and soul defenses would still be at the Lower Sovereign level. He'd be an unusual Lower Sovereign with a physical-attack specialty, but very short reach.

...PS

I've already made a separate post on the book review page analyzing physical strength and the physical-attack increase provided by a Sovereign Artifact Body. If readers have different opinions, please cite evidence from the original text. There's no need to argue against unsupported claims.

1. Volume 20, Chapter 48: Beirut fights Teresia. The original says, "Beirut, as a God-Eater Rat divine beast, has an incredibly powerful body. Combined with Sovereign might, his physical attacks are terrifying." His powerful physical attacks are attributed to his powerful body, not to a Sovereign Artifact Body. (If you assume the two are equivalent, please disregard this point.)

2. Volume 21, Chapter 6: After refining two Sovereign Sparks, Linley believes his Willpower (Sovereign Spark + soul) is equal to that of an Intermediate Sovereign. On that basis, Fused Divine Power multiplies it tenfold, and the Supreme God of Life's sword multiplies it tenfold again, allowing him to rival an ordinary Overlord. Here, Beirut, Linley, and Bluefire all tacitly leave out any attack increase from a Sovereign Artifact Body. If it mattered, there'd be no reason not to include it.

3. Volume 21, Chapter 22: When Linley wants to kill Augusta, Augusta says, "Linley, your strength isn't much greater than mine. Your only advantage is that your draconic body is comparable to a Sovereign Artifact, and you can use it as one. If I fight with everything I have, it's still uncertain which of us will survive." At this point, Augusta is still concealing the fact that his body is at the Sovereign Artifact level. If such a body could increase physical attacks a hundredfold, Augusta wouldn't need to say this.

4. Volume 19, Chapter 35: The original says, "Take Hermes, for example. His true form is a Gold Mountain born on the Earth Divine Plane, which took countless years to nurture. The strength of his true form is at the limit. Even without fusing profound mysteries, he surpasses a Seven-Star Fiend and approaches the Asura level. That's why he was made a Sovereign's Emissary as soon as he was born." Hermes's attacks are powerful not because of a Sovereign Artifact Body, but because his body is incredibly strong.

Volume 19, Chapter 55: Hermes is beaten by Linley until his bones shatter, proving that although Hermes has strong physical defense, it hasn't reached the Sovereign Artifact level. At that point, Linley still didn't have the power to damage a Sovereign Artifact. The same chapter also says that Linley, who had only recently entered the Plane Battlefield, could pierce Hermes's cheek with a full-strength sword thrust. At most, Linley was a Seven-Star Fiend then, which further confirms that Hermes's body wasn't at the Sovereign Artifact level.

Hermes's and Beirut's powerful attacks came from their own tremendous strength.

Therefore, a Sovereign Artifact Body doesn't increase attack power, or increases it only slightly. A body strong enough to reach that level will not be weak, but not everyone will be like Beirut and Hermes.

There's another passage used to argue that a Sovereign Artifact Body increases attack power: when the Red Diamond Crystal was contested in the Aokaren Plane, in Volumes 20, Chapters 42 and 43, Linley badly wounded Clementine. When asked about the difference between them and other Paragons, Linley explained that "the Sovereign Artifact Body made him dozens, nearly a hundred times stronger." In reality, Linley badly wounded Clementine through the combination of his Four-Element Fusion Divine Power—which was ten times stronger than Sovereign's Might—and his Sovereign Artifact Body.