Whoosh!
Roger rushed out of his secluded chamber. Gray divine power surged around him as he arrived outside Allen's chamber in an instant and quietly stood guard.
A short while later.
Allen emerged from his chamber, now an earth Lowgod.
"Haha, I finally became a god! That bottleneck held me back for so long, but at least I finally broke through."
"Congratulations, Allen! You finally became a god too."
Roger laughed as he stepped forward and gave Allen a hearty pat on the shoulder.
In the Netherworld.
Without enough strength of your own, even having a powerful backer might not save you from dying in the shock waves of a battle between experts.
Now that Allen had become a god, Roger felt much more at ease.
"Heh, it was all thanks to the Soul Essence you gave me. Otherwise, I couldn't have broken through so quickly."
Allen smiled and reached around to hug Roger.
"We're brothers. There's no need for thanks."
"Heh."
They went into the courtyard.
Roger took out two bottles of fine wine that shimmered with purple light, and he and Allen began drinking one bottle each.
Hagson had sent someone to deliver this wine some time ago.
Roger had been so busy cultivating and refining souls that he had never had time to taste it.
Now, celebrating Allen's ascension to godhood gave him the perfect opportunity to enjoy it.
"Ah... good wine!"
The fine wine, called Purple Flame Dew, slid down his throat.
First, Roger felt a scorching heat like fire. Once the wine reached his stomach, that heat turned into a pleasant warmth.
"This wine packs a punch!"
Allen took a large gulp and exhaled a wine-scented breath before praising it. "Looks like Hagson has plenty of good stuff."
"Haha, if you like it, I have plenty more." Roger took over a dozen bottles out of his interspatial ring in succession and drank to his heart's content with Allen.
After they had downed several bottles.
Hagson finally arrived.
"Haha, I was wondering on the way here who had become a god. So it was you, Brother Allen!"
His voice reached them before he did. "Brother Roger is here too. This is a fine day!"
Hagson landed in the courtyard, looking very happy.
He had come alone this time.
His deputy was probably leading the tribe's other Lowgods in capturing Sanctuaries.
"Haha, Brother Hagson, come sit down." Roger rose with a smile. "I've finished refining all the souls in those ten crystal balls, too. We can divide them up while you're here."
"You never let me down, Brother Roger!"
Hearing that there was more Soul Essence to use made Hagson even happier.
After using up the two bottles last time, his soul had grown considerably stronger on the spot, and even his cultivation had become much faster.
Most importantly, his stronger soul gave him greater confidence in his defenses against Soul Attacks.
Whoosh!
Roger promptly took out ten crystal balls.
Extremely dense golden mist churned within them.
The sight made Hagson hold his breath.
Under their agreement, he would receive five crystal balls.
Judging by the effects last time, the Soul Essence inside them could strengthen his soul by roughly twenty percent.
Twenty percent might not sound like much, but it was an enormous improvement!
It would allow Hagson to face Black Bat without fearing his Soul Attacks.
"Brother Roger, I won't stand on ceremony, then." After looking over the ten crystal balls, Hagson put away the five in front of him.
"They're yours by right." Roger smiled as he returned the remaining five to his interspatial ring.
After using this Soul Essence, Roger's death Lowgod clone would have a soul 3.9 times as strong as before.
That was still a substantial improvement.
It would enhance both Roger's Soul Attacks and his soul defenses across the board, while also increasing the speed at which he refined Soul Essence.
"By the way, Brother Allen, normally we'd all celebrate your ascension to godhood tonight. But the circumstances are unusual right now. Aside from those needed to tend the Fire Rhinos, everyone in the tribe has gone out to gather Sanctuary Souls."
Hagson set down his wine bottle. "So we may have to postpone the gathering. I hope you won't mind, Brother Allen."
"It's fine, Chief. It doesn't matter whether we hold a gathering or not." Allen waved his hands repeatedly.
Everyone in the Fire Rhino Tribe knew that their top priority was to devote all their efforts to gathering Sanctuary Souls.
Allen was naturally no exception.
"I'm glad you understand, Brother Allen." Hagson smiled, then took a suit of divine artifact armor and a divine artifact saber from his interspatial ring.
"The gathering may be postponed, but you'll still receive everything you're due. Please accept these two divine artifacts, Brother Allen."
Hagson handed the two divine artifacts to Allen. "As for your residence and the Sanctuaries and Fire Rhinos you'll oversee, just go see the tribe's steward later to arrange the handover."
Allen accepted the two divine artifacts without standing on ceremony and immediately bound them with drops of his blood. "Thank you, Chief."
"Haha, why call me Chief? Just call me your brother, Allen," Hagson said with a smile.
"Heh, then thank you, Brother Hagson."
With those matters settled, Hagson exchanged a few more pleasantries, then took out twenty crystal balls filled with Sanctuary Souls. He arranged to collect them from Roger in three years, then hurried away.
"Roger, Hagson seems pretty busy."
Watching Hagson leave, Allen muttered quietly.
"He's spent the past few years traveling all over an area spanning millions of miles to gather as many Saint souls as possible. Of course he's busy. He may only have happened to return today."
Roger put away the twenty crystal balls filled with Sanctuary Souls.
These alone represented six or seven hundred thousand Sanctuary lives.
Obtaining so many Sanctuary Souls through the Fire Rhino Tribe alone was clearly unrealistic.
Roger suspected that Hagson might have reached a cooperation agreement with the neighboring Black Wolf Tribe and Night Wind Tribe.
If that was the case.
With three tribes pooling their strength, gathering this many Sanctuary Souls was no surprise.
But such large-scale activity naturally could not escape the Black Bat Tribe's notice.
"Allen, take this bottle of Soul Essence. Heal the damage from splitting your soul and consolidate your cultivation. I think war with the Black Bat Tribe is coming soon."
"War?"
Allen's expression changed. He had been about to refuse, but he accepted it after all.
Tribal war was no laughing matter. His soul had just split in two, leaving him at his weakest. A bottle of Soul Essence like this would be enough to heal him completely and greatly improve his chances of surviving the war.
"Then I won't stand on ceremony. Now that you mention it, a tribal war really might be coming."
Allen looked serious. "Roger, how is your cultivation coming along? Has refining all this Soul Essence slowed you down?"
Although he did not know much about Soul Refining, Allen still knew that it took considerable time and effort.
Given how quickly Roger produced Soul Essence, he probably had little time even to rest.
"Haha, don't worry, Allen. I'm only one step away from becoming a Midgod now. Refining this Soul Essence is certainly tedious, but it actually benefits my cultivation too. It won't slow my progress too much."
Roger smiled. "As long as I can break through to Midgod before the tribal war begins, we'll be much safer."
"Yes, so focus on cultivating for now, Roger. Try to break through as soon as you can!"
Before you continue