Progress

A chapter of progress

Diya stared at Lincoln without answering. He knew Lincoln had a Sovereign Artifact Body, so his physical attacks and defenses would be no weaker than Diya's, but their souls were still a hundredfold apart.

Still, Lincoln's confident demeanor made Diya wary. Lincoln's Innate Divine Ability was renowned—who knew how powerful it had become now that he was a Sovereign? The Four Divine Beasts could kill an Intermediate Sovereign outright with their combined divine ability. The Death Chief Sovereign wasn't a Paragon, yet was no weaker than the other three Chief Sovereigns. Sovereigns had been caught off guard before.

Just then, Miror smiled. "My lord, Mr. Lincoln came here today to make progress in the Laws and Mysteries. Of all of us, Teresia is best qualified to help him. If even Teresia can't help Mr. Lincoln advance, there's no point in sparring any further."

Diya nodded, his expression displeased, and took the opening Miror had given him.

While smoothing things over, Miror also sent a voice transmission to the other Sovereigns. "Could Lincoln have already reached Paragon? Otherwise, why would he dare talk back to a Chief Sovereign?"

"He probably hasn't," another Intermediate Sovereign speculated. "When Lord Orf called that meeting last time, I heard that Lincoln had gone into seclusion for a thousand years after refining a Sovereign Spark, hoping to use Faith Power and the Creation Divine Plane to break through to Paragon. But he failed. If he couldn't do it then, how could he now?"

"Even if he hasn't, he probably has strength equal to a Chief Sovereign. We'd better be careful around him from now on. After all, he has a Wind Divine Clone, too!" Miror added.

The Wind Sovereigns reached a consensus, while Lincoln and Teresia's fight had already reached its climax.

Teresia split into countless clones and surrounded Lincoln. Each clone unleashed a Dimension Blade at him. As the blades flew, strange music rang out—sometimes grating, sometimes beautiful—striking directly at the soul.

Before the fight, Lincoln had suppressed the power of his defensive Sovereign Artifact. Unless he was injured so badly that he could no longer suppress it, the artifact would automatically recover and protect him.

Lincoln endured the discomfort. He struggled to dodge the Dimension Blades while resisting the strange music with his soul power, all the while trying to grasp its mysteries.

In Lincoln's Laws of Wind, the Sound Wave Mystery and the Dimension and Music Mysteries had not yet fused. This attack was exactly what he needed.

With a thought, the flow of time in the space around Lincoln turned strange. The Dimension Blades still tore through everything, but their influence on him through sound was disrupted to some extent.

"Lincoln, this isn't my most powerful attack, but it brings the characteristics of all nine Mysteries into full play. You can't break it with those moves alone," Teresia explained.

Lincoln struggled to dodge the Dimension Blades. His wounds were worsening faster than his body could heal, but he didn't care. Most of his attention remained on figuring out how the Dimension Mystery, Sound Wave Mystery, and Music Mystery could fuse.

"Lincoln, give up. The difference may be no more than a hair's breadth, but a hair's breadth is still a difference. That tiny gap makes all the difference in the world!" Teresia's voice came from all directions. The strange music flowed endlessly from the dimensional rifts, piercing Lincoln's soul.

"So that's it." Lincoln's eyes lit up. "I've been stuck on the idea that sound travels through matter, while dimensions tear open space and cut off that material connection. But I overlooked the fact that the endless Spatial Turbulence and all kinds of planes in this world are made of matter. Spatial rifts only temporarily change the way matter is composed and its stable form. And the soul itself is also a kind of 'particle.' It can be observed and disrupted, so..."

A jade-green flute suddenly appeared, spinning in Lincoln's hand. He raised it to his lips, and Wind Divine Power spread through the space with its melody, suffusing everything around him.

Lincoln's Wind Divine Clone sank completely into his insights, oblivious to the attacks around him. Of course, with his suppression lifted, his Sovereign Artifacts had resumed their full power. With a Dual-Defense Sovereign Artifact, even a Paragon wielding Sovereign's Might and an Attack Main God Artifact couldn't kill him, let alone these attacks.

"Sound attacks?" Teresia wondered. But then he felt his emotions shifting, now agitated, now calm, now sorrowful. "How is this possible? It's a soul attack! But how can the Wind Element produce such a strange soul attack?"

The flute's melody flowed without end. Under the vibrations of its notes, the Dimension attacks unleashed by Teresia's many clones gradually crumbled and vanished. Yet even as the attacks faded, spatial rifts silently appeared, growing more numerous and steadily destroying Teresia's clones.

"Not just a soul attack, but a physical attack too." Teresia's expression turned grave. To fuse them together and wield such power—and to see that power continuing to grow—Lincoln might be about to take that final step.

He had no intention of interfering with Lincoln. He simply maintained the original power of his ultimate move. If a Sovereign's Divine Clone became a Paragon, that would certainly be remarkable, but it wouldn't increase the Sovereign's strongest combat power. If he interrupted Lincoln's insights, though, he would create a serious grudge. Teresia wasn't afraid of that, but there was no need.

After a long while, the flute's melody gradually weakened. Lincoln remained immersed in his insights, but even after some time passed, there was no sign of the Laws of the World descending.

Lincoln opened his eyes and sighed. He still couldn't take that final step. Becoming a Paragon really was too difficult.

From what Lincoln had learned over the years, in all the countless years that had passed, each of the seven elemental laws and Four Edicts had produced only one or two Paragons at most—and that included Sovereigns of the same element or law. Among those confirmed to be Paragons, besides Vivian, the Chief Sovereign of Life, there was another Paragon High-God, Roman, in the Life Law. The Death Rules had only one Paragon High-God, Dunnington. Besides Orf, the Chief Sovereign of Fate, there was another Paragon High-God, Magnus, in the Laws of Fate. Besides Uterede, the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, there was another Paragon High-God, Solis, in the Rules of Destruction. The Laws of Light had only one Paragon High-God, Clementine. The Laws of Darkness had once had Aikes, an Intermediate Sovereign who had already fallen, and Black, a Paragon High-God. Now only Lincoln remained. The Lightning Law had only one Paragon High-God, Ninisha; the Laws of Earth, only Clark; the Laws of Water, only Palhouse; and the Laws of Fire, only Bamo. Of course, in the future, there might also be Bluefire, a Low-Sovereign. The Laws of Wind had only Teresia, a Low-Sovereign, and Bayer, who would come along in the future.

As could be seen, of the laws and edicts with two Paragons, one was always a Sovereign. They had relied on the endless power of faith to become Paragons. And that was over a thousand Epochs! In Linley's Main Universe, just two Epochs had passed, yet dozens of God Kings had already been born—even after the descent of Heaven's Venerable Mountain twice, when countless God Kings had fought and fallen.