Orc Great Prairie
Rog paid no attention to the upheaval caused by Dimont becoming a god.
With Rog around, he could not let Dimont run rampant through the human empires. Though he did not particularly identify as a member of the Eilex Empire, the humans of this other world were still his own kind. And although he cultivated the Death Rule, he was not an insidious villain with an evil disposition.
The process by which Dimont became a god was much the same as Rog's. With Rog's guidance, Dimont had also decisively chosen to split his soul in two. Although splitting his soul would leave it much weaker than those of other gods at the same level in the short term, it gave him an extra life. Besides, Dimont might also have a talent for cultivating other laws.
Rog had long since found a lead on how to heal injuries to the soul. During his three years of cultivation, he had gained a preliminary grasp of how to "absorb souls" and use them to make Soul Gold Beads.
Although he would not slaughter mortals on a massive scale to make Soul Gold Beads, wars were hardly uncommon on this continent. Along the border between the Orc Great Prairie and the human empires in particular, fierce wars broke out every few years.
That was because the orcs had far too many offspring and simply could not feed all their people. So, every so often, the orc leaders dispatched so-called "expeditionary forces" to attack the border. Whether they could seize territory was secondary; the main purpose was to reduce their enormous population.
The pig-headed orcs, whose birth rate was especially high, made up the largest group of cannon fodder. In every "expeditionary force" that went to war, the pig-headed orcs alone numbered over a million.
Rog only had to pay a little attention to news from the border. Once war broke out between the two sides, he could easily harvest countless orc souls and turn them into Soul Gold Beads to replenish his and Dimont's souls.
"Dimont, you should have awakened your Innate Divine Ability by now, right? What is it?" Just as Rog had expected, Dimont was a Divine Beast with a destruction attribute, and he had become a Lowgod through the Edicts of Destruction.
"Master, my Innate Divine Ability is called Suppress Heaven. I'm not quite sure exactly what it does, but it should be a powerful means of control." Until he had actually used the move, Dimont did not understand what "Suppress Heaven" meant either. He merely answered Rog based on the information conveyed by the ability itself.
"Suppress Heaven? Judging by the name alone, I don't really understand it either. Forget it. We'll try it later." Some Divine Beasts' abilities sounded impressive, but in practice they were nothing special. For example, Dylan's "Swallow Heaven" in the original story sounded impressive, but was actually only average, capable of bullying weaklings who had not fused Profound Mysteries.
"Besides that Innate Divine Ability, I also awakened a special ability. I can absorb various metals to strengthen my body. The harder and more resilient the metals I absorb, the harder and more resilient my body can become." Dimont honestly reported all the abilities he had awakened this time.
"Hm? That special ability is something. Its upper limit is quite high. If you have enough resources, it might even be possible to strengthen your body to the level of Hemus and the God-Eater Rat." Rog remembered that Hemus was so special because his true body was an indestructible Gold Mountain. In that case, Dimont's Six-Armed Demon Ape was definitely one of the very finest Super Divine Beasts. Rog had truly struck it rich.
Dimont is probably the greatest surprise I'll find on the Glais Continent. Material Planes generally did not have any particularly remarkable treasures or opportunities, so Rog was delighted to have subdued a Divine Beast with such great potential.
"Now that you've become a god too, I can make a trip to the Orc Great Prairie." Rog separated his Death Divine Clone, leaving his Saint Domain True Body and Dimont here to continue cultivating.
In three years, his Saint Domain True Body had already progressed to roughly seven percent in fusing two Profound Mysteries of the Laws of Lightning,
not far from the ten percent needed to become a god. This was partly because his true body's soul was powerful. With soul power equivalent to that of a Midgod, cultivating the Laws of Lightning now was naturally a different level of difficulty from before he became a god. If he had not chosen to become a god by fusing Profound Mysteries, he might already have become a god in the Lightning Element.
This was a vast plain stretching as far as the eye could see, ruled by the orcs, a variety of strange humanoid races with animal heads.
Although few orcs had a talent for magic, their talent as warriors could be said to be maxed out. Powerful orc races such as the tiger, lion, and mammoth folk could reach the level of fifth- or sixth-rank warriors through ordinary physical training alone, even without cultivating battle qi.
And although the orcs lacked mages, they had no shortage of battle qi warriors. The Orc Great Prairie probably had more Saint Warriors than all the human empires combined. Fortunately, most of these orc Saint Warriors had very poor comprehension, and very few had truly surpassed the peak of the Saint-level and grasped the power of laws.
"Awooo!" A series of irritating wolf howls suddenly rang out across the empty prairie. Orcs were not the only inhabitants of the grasslands; many fearsome magical beasts lived here as well, including quite a few terrifying Saint-level magical beasts. The formidable Behemoths in particular surpassed even many Saint-level dragons in physical strength, making them some of the most fearsome Saint-level magical beasts.
The largest population of wolf-type magical beasts on the Orc Great Prairie was the Wind Wolves. Ordinary Wind Wolves were only third-rank, but for every ten thousand ordinary Wind Wolves, one would mutate into a sixth-rank elite Wind Wolf. For every thousand elite Wind Wolves, another would mutate into a ninth-rank Wind Wolf King.
Legend had it that someone on the Orc Great Prairie had once seen a terrifying Wind Wolf with two heads. It was a Saint-level magical beast, an emperor among Wind Wolves, and was called the Two-Headed Wind Wolf Emperor.
"The fighting on this prairie really is fierce. The orcs aren't the only ones who start wars; even the magical beasts wage war from time to time." Flying high in the sky, Rog watched the battle between this pack of Wind Wolves and an orc tribe from afar.
Compared with the well-armored warriors of the human empires, most of these orc warriors were poorly equipped. The better-equipped ones had a piece of leather armor, while even more fought bare-chested. Their weapons varied and were crudely made, but the ferocity these orcs unleashed in battle was still astonishing.
Or perhaps the brutality and savagery of beasts ran in orc blood. In this battle, whichever side lost would become food for the victor. The predator-prey relationship between orcs and magical beasts was not fixed; the roles of hunter and prey were constantly changing.
Blood flew through the air, and wolf howls rose and fell without pause. The once-verdant prairie was soon stained red. Orc warriors fought desperately to kill the Wind Wolves, while the wolves kept charging in. As long as their leader gave no order to retreat, they fearlessly unleashed wind blades, then tore orcs apart with their fangs and claws!
The battle was gruesome, and for a time Rog felt somewhat uncomfortable. But when he thought of the even crueler battlefield between the orcs and the human empires that he would soon visit, he forced himself to watch the war to its end. Then he silently used the Soul Absorption Spell to draw in the souls of the dead on both sides, before using the Soul Refining Spell to refine the impure, jumbled soul power, which was filled with all kinds of negative energy.
"Refining these Soul Gold Beads isn't easy either. The soul power of these beings was fairly strong, but even after absorbing so many, I'm still nowhere near filling the first soul crystal ball." Rog looked at the crystal ball in his hand, its bottom grayish black. He estimated it was only about a fifth full, and that was before refining; there would certainly be even less left afterward.
And so Rog's Death Divine Clone traveled around the Orc Great Prairie, observing all kinds of unusual orcs and the many magical beasts unique to the prairie. By watching these beings fight to the death and collecting their souls, Rog also gained quite a few insights into other aspects of the Death Rule.
"Although my comprehension of the path of Soul Ray hasn't reached a bottleneck yet, I've also gained quite a few insights into the Heart of the Undead." The Heart of the Undead was among the more advanced aspects of the Death Rule. Comprehending it deepened Rog's understanding of Soul Essence. This part of the rule was essentially an integration of many forms of Necromancy, including the Soul Absorption Spell and the Soul Refining Spell.
After gaining insight into this part of the rule, Rog became much more efficient at refining Soul Gold Beads, and the beads he refined were of considerably higher quality.
Of course, the Heart of the Undead also enhanced Soul Ray. However, the enhancement was merely a simple addition, nothing as dramatic as the improvement brought about by fusing the Profound Mysteries of laws.