Dimont Submits

"Hm? Why are there only two ninth-rank Four-Armed Demon Apes? Where's Dimont?" When Rog returned to the ravine he had visited before, he discovered that Dimont was no longer there.

"Let's ask these two 'little fellows.'" Rog extended a finger, and an invisible strand of soul power entered one of the Four-Armed Demon Apes' souls. "Soul Search Technique!"

Soul searching was a skill characteristic of the Death Rule. Rog could sense that this magical formula also corresponded to a portion of the Death Rule, though he had yet to study that portion in depth.

"Hm? So this fellow went to the central region." By examining the Four-Armed Demon Ape's soul memories, Rog learned exactly what Dimont had been through in recent years, including that he had gained insight into part of the Edicts of Destruction.

But as long as he hasn't become a god, he can't escape my grasp.

The central region in the depths of the Lost Forest.

This territory had originally belonged to a Saint-level Black Dragon, which had also gained insight into part of the Edicts of Destruction. It was far stronger than the likes of the Blue-Eyed Flame Lion. Even Dimont would have struggled to defeat the Saint-level Black Dragon if he had not also gained insight into part of the Edicts of Destruction in recent years.

A beautiful lake made for a lovely sight, and a huge cave stood beside it. The cave had originally belonged to the Black Dragon, but it was now the territory of the Four-Armed Demon Ape clan. Aside from the two fellows left behind, all the other demon apes had "moved" here.

"Hm? The elemental essences here are so much clearer than elsewhere." As soon as Rog entered the cave, he noticed something unusual.

"Could it really be such a coincidence?" Rog was somewhat surprised. There was another "spatial weak point" here, connected to a Planar Prison. But there were no Sovereigns on the Glais Continent with the means to "seal" and open this spatial weak point, so Rog did not know when the beings inside would be able to come out.

"No wonder the strongest Saint-level magical beast wanted to claim this place. Dimont really is my lucky star. He's led me to another treasure land for cultivation." Smiling, Rog silently made his way into the depths of the cave, where he saw Dimont sitting cross-legged and cultivating.

"Become my capable subordinate!" Rog did not alert Dimont. In the dim light, the enormous demon ape sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, contemplating the Laws. The six muscular arms at his sides looked immensely destructive.

"God's Domain! Soul Control Technique!" Rog used his full strength the moment he attacked. Once God's Domain appeared, no matter how much of a genius or a Divine Beast Dimont was, he would struggle to break free as long as he remained at the Saint-level. Rog's means of Soul Enslavement followed immediately after.

"Ugh~" The gap between Midgod-level soul power and that of a Saint-level creature was simply too great. Even the black soul halo in Dimont's soul was utterly unable to stop Rog's intrusion. In the space of a single breath, Rog successfully branded a soul imprint deep within Dimont's soul.

Rog had not studied the Soul Control Technique very deeply, so he could not yet create a Soul Seed to control Dimont more perfectly. Even so, now that he had taken control, there was little chance of Dimont breaking free of him in the future.

"Dimont greets his great master." The black demon ape, now nearly five meters tall, stood up, becoming Rog's second soul slave. Compared with the utterly ordinary Wald, Dimont's talent was far greater. Not only was he a Divine Beast, but his own talent for cultivation was also exceptional. Before reaching adulthood, he had gained considerable insight into the Edicts of Destruction on his own. He was also fairly diligent in his cultivation, unlike those Divine Beasts that relied on their Innate Divine Abilities and idled their lives away.

"Dimont, how much longer do you think it will take you to reach adulthood?" Rog was quite curious about Dimont's Innate Divine Ability. "Master, approximately three more years," Dimont promptly answered.

"Good. Stay here and continue cultivating.

"Bring out all of that Black Dragon's treasures. I'll take a look." The time until Dimont reached adulthood was not much different from Rog's estimate. Fortunately, he had become a god first; otherwise, there would have been far too many uncertainties three years from now. "Deep-sea black iron essence, an advanced magic crystal ball... There really are quite a few good things here. Hm? There are even a Saint Magus's legacy notes? Now I won't have to waste time going out to look for other Lightning Element spells." The magical legacy Rog had obtained previously recorded only some Lightning Element magic, the highest being a few ninth-rank spells.

But the legacy notes now in Rog's hands were impressive. The Saint Magus was named Pu'an, a magus of both lightning and fire whose own talent for cultivation was quite remarkable. Besides recording the incantations for numerous ninth-rank spells and forbidden spells, the magic notes also contained Pu'an's insights into the Laws of both elements.

"Lightning can suppress evil and possesses a terrifying power of Judgment... The sound of thunder in nature contains a wondrous power that can awe the souls of living creatures... Lightning's radiance is a sign of lightning flashing through the air, and its speed is terrifying... Fire..." Pu'an's talent for cultivation had undoubtedly been extraordinary. The profound mysteries of the Laws he had recorded alone included at least three of the Lightning Element and two of the Fire Element.

Pu'an probably knew nothing at all about the path of cultivating the Laws, relying solely on his talent to gain insight into so many profound mysteries. Perhaps he had thought that becoming a god required insight into many different profound mysteries, when in fact one only needed to gain complete mastery of any one of them.

If Pu'an had specialized in a single profound mystery, he would probably have become a god long ago. What a pity.

"Reading these magic notes has given me many insights into the Laws of Lightning. Now that I've become a god, it's time I started gaining insight into them." And so Rog, Wald, and Dimont all stayed in the cave and began cultivating.

The cave was a spatial weak point connected to a Planar Prison. Both the concentration of elemental essences and the clarity of the Natural Laws were five or six times greater than outside. Though it could not compare to that planar pocket chamber on the Yulan Continent, the cultivation environment here was far better than in other places.

Rog's Death Divine Clone continued gaining insight into the Death Rule, while his original body began gaining insight into the Laws of Lightning. Although he had mainly cultivated the Death Rule over the years, he had gained some insights into the Laws of Lightning as well. Soon, he gained insight into two profound mysteries.

Of those two, one was the most basic Elemental Laws of Lightning profound mystery. Rog named the other the Judgment Profound Mystery. He had sensed the two of them almost simultaneously.

"It seems cultivating the Laws of Lightning is much easier than I expected." Rog had originally planned to devote himself to the simplest and most basic Elemental Laws of Lightning profound mystery and become a god, but he had barely begun contemplating it when he discovered that it and the Judgment Profound Mystery showed signs of fusing. Naturally, Rog chose to fuse the two profound mysteries directly.

He only needed to gain insight into and fuse ten percent of both profound mysteries to break through to the Lowgod level. On the day the two profound mysteries were completely fused, his Lightning Divine Clone would naturally break through to the Midgod level, becoming a Midgod with Fusion Profound Mysteries as soon as he did.

"Hm? This new god left just like that? Who could it be?" Not long after Rog went to the Lost Forest, many experts arrived in Kelen Province of the Eilex Empire. But none of them found any trace of the new god. Even the founding emperor of the Eilex Empire, who had become a god, did not know which Peak Saint-level expert had suddenly broken through to godhood.

Rog had always presented himself to the outside world as merely an eighth-rank archmagus and had never had any dealings with other human Saint-level experts. Before becoming a god, the only Saint-level beings he had encountered were magical beasts of the Lost Forest. Naturally, none of these people knew anything about his background.

Time flew, and another three years passed in the blink of an eye. Throughout those three years, the mysterious new god never showed himself on the continent. The various factions set aside their private schemes for the time being and gradually forgot about the matter.

Quite a few people even speculated that the expert might have gone to a Higher Plane or a Divine Plane immediately after breaking through. Still, none dared ask the planar overseer to confirm it. After all, the planar overseer was a god even more formidable than the native gods of the Glais Continent.

Then one day, in the central region deep within the Lost Forest, another familiar fluctuation of the Natural Laws suddenly appeared!

"Only three years have passed, and someone else has become a god? And that location is the Lost Forest. Has a magical beast become a god? That Black Dragon?" Dimont had defeated the Black Dragon only in the past few years, and news of it had spread mainly among magical beasts, so few human experts knew of him.

The many human experts braced themselves, especially those of the Eilex Empire and the Loi Er Empire, which bordered the Lost Forest. They feared that this new magical beast king would launch another "beast tide." Such a thing had happened before. Eilex was particularly anxious, but unfortunately, his strongest Divine Clone was in the Infernal Realm and had no way to return.