Hagson arrived at the courtyard where Roger lived on schedule, his face glowing with health.
Judging by his appearance, the soul essence Hagson had used last time must have fully healed his soul injuries.
"Brother Hagson, you're here? Come on in."
They entered the house.
Roger immediately took out four crystal spheres filled with soul essence. "Take a look, Brother Hagson."
"Haha, you're as efficient as ever, Brother Roger. You must have a real talent for the Death Edict. Our tribe's future rests on you."
Hagson was clearly in excellent condition and high spirits.
"You flatter me, Brother Hagson."
"You're too modest, brother. Producing this much soul essence is no small feat." Hagson examined the four crystal spheres one by one.
He could not hide the amazement in his eyes. "Same arrangement as before? Half each?"
"Half each."
"Hehe, then I won't stand on ceremony." Hagson put away two crystal spheres. "When you think about it, I'm getting the better end of this deal. Once you become a Midgod, let's adjust the split."
Hagson said this out of the blue.
"There's no rush. We can discuss it when the time comes," Roger said with a smile.
Whether Hagson genuinely meant it or was merely testing him,
Roger did not care.
As long as he became a Midgod, everything else would be easy to settle.
"All right. These are the souls we collected over the past year, doing everything we could. Take a look, Brother Roger."
Hagson took out ten crystal spheres filled with Sanctuary Souls.
"Our tribe has been capturing Sanctuary beings so relentlessly that quite a few Sanctuary beings have fled the surrounding area. I only managed to catch this many by leading the men into other tribes' territories."
Hagson sighed. "It was pretty dangerous this time. If the soul essence you gave me last time hadn't healed my injuries, I might not have made it back."
Remembering the ambush they had encountered at the edge of the Black Bat Tribe's territory still left Hagson shaken.
Fortunately, their ambusher had not been Black Bat himself, but another Midgod who had brought relatively few Lowgods.
Otherwise, Hagson would truly have been in danger.
After hearing about Hagson's ordeal,
Roger reassured him. "Thank you for your hard work, Brother Hagson. But the Black Bat Tribe remains a threat. Once I become a Midgod, we'll find a way to wipe them out!"
"That's exactly what I've been waiting to hear, brother. I've already secretly allied with the chiefs of the Black Wolf Tribe and the Night Wind Tribe. Once you break through, we'll join forces and wipe out the Black Bat Tribe!"
Hagson's expression turned ruthless. "Once we eliminate the Black Bat Tribe, we'll have sole control over the territory for millions of li around us. Capturing Sanctuary beings will be much easier then."
"As for the Black Wolf Tribe and the Night Wind Tribe, I've promised that they can submit to us and join our Fire Rhino Tribe afterward."
The thought of uniting the three neighboring tribes under his rule filled Hagson with excitement.
"Then you'll be our second chief, Brother Roger. We'll stand as equals and manage the tribe together!"
"Thank you for thinking so highly of me, Brother Hagson." Roger cupped his hands in thanks, but remained noncommittal about Hagson's plan.
The Black Bat Tribe was not stupid. They would never simply sit and wait to be destroyed.
And whether the Black Wolf Tribe and the Night Wind Tribe were sincere about cooperating was another unknown.
In this chaotic world,
Roger trusted only his own strength!
After chatting with Hagson a little longer, Roger told him he could return for the soul essence in two and a half years.
Hagson nodded repeatedly in satisfaction, then left the ten crystal spheres behind and hurried away.
After putting away the crystal spheres, Roger did not immediately enter seclusion. Instead, he went out into the courtyard and chatted with Allen for a while.
He learned that Allen had already comprehended the profound mystery of earth essence to its limit and was only one step away from becoming a god.
Roger shared his cultivation experience before returning to the secluded chamber to resume his training.
He took out his two bottles of soul essence and absorbed them, clearly sensing that his soul had grown much stronger again.
After a careful comparison, he found that it was roughly 1.4 times as strong as it had originally been.
Half a year later.
Roger finished refining the ten bottles of Sanctuary Souls he had on hand.
As usual, he first absorbed twenty percent of the soul essence from each bottle, leaving the rest to split with Hagson.
Mm... my soul is 2.4 times as strong now. What a wonderful feeling.
After finishing his absorption, Roger quietly savored the sensation. Twenty percent of the soul essence in one crystal sphere can increase my Death God Divine Clone's soul strength by about ten percent.
But I absorb twenty percent from every crystal sphere first, and the number of souls in each sphere isn't completely fixed. Overall, after Hagson and I split the remainder, each crystal sphere strengthens my Death God Divine Clone's soul by around thirty percent.
Judging by the original story, the limit of soul strengthening at each stage is roughly tenfold. So strengthening my Death God Divine Clone to the Lowgod limit will take a little over thirty crystal spheres filled with soul essence...
With a few quick calculations, Roger determined how much soul essence his Death God Divine Clone needed at its current stage.
And filling each crystal sphere required around thirty thousand Sanctuary Souls.
By that calculation,
Roger would need to "eat" roughly a million Sanctuary Souls while he was a Lowgod!
Once he became a Midgod, that number would increase tenfold!
At the Highgod stage, it would increase a hundredfold...
Being a Sanctuary being... truly is a nightmare in a Higher Plane.
Even Roger could not help sighing after calculating that figure.
Then again, even if these Sanctuary beings had not been captured and refined because of him, most would have been killed by someone else or captured and refined by others.
There were plenty of powerful beings in the Netherworld who could practice Soul Refining.
So rather than let them die at someone else's hands, he might as well use them to strengthen himself...
Roger realized
that after refining so many souls, he had unknowingly grown far more coldhearted.
Another two years passed in the blink of an eye.
The date he had arranged with Hagson drew ever closer.
Throughout this time, Roger had been trying to break through the bottleneck barring him from fully mastering the soul refining branch.
Unfortunately, every time he felt he was about to succeed, he fell just short.
Meanwhile, his years of secluded cultivation had also brought the soul control branch to its limit...
But it, too, was stuck at a bottleneck.
This once again made Roger realize how important talent was.
Yet all these years, Roger's original body had been continuously supplying divine power and soul power to the Jade Disc Fragment deep within his consciousness.
The Jade Disc had indeed been growing, but only by a very small amount.
After all these years,
it had grown just another imperceptible sliver.
The boost it gave his comprehension was slight as well.
Roger suspected that his comprehension might only undergo another transformation when the Jade Disc experienced its next qualitative change.
Buzz-!
Just as Roger was pondering this,
a fluctuation in the laws of heaven and earth suddenly arose above a nearby secluded chamber.
Someone has become a god. Judging by the location, it's Allen's chamber!
Roger spread his powerful soul power outward and instantly confirmed that Allen had indeed become a god!
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