The eighteenth level of the Graveyard of the Gods had returned to silence, and Lin Lei opened his eyes.
Seeing that Lin Lei had finished refining the Sovereign spark, Beirut, Qing Huo, and Bei Bei couldn't help but beam with smiles.
"Lin Lei, how do you feel?" Beirut asked anxiously, the words tumbling out one after another.
In all his years, Beirut had never been this nervous! But right now... he truly was! After Lin Lei had refined two Sovereign sparks, was his power as great as Beirut had imagined? This would determine whether Beirut could finally leave the Yulan Plane openly and venture into the Higher Planes and Divine Planes!
"Feels..." A hint of a smile appeared on Lin Lei's face. "Pretty good!"
"Pretty good?" Beirut, Qing Huo, and Bei Bei all stared at Lin Lei, their faces full of confusion. What exactly did Lin Lei's "pretty good" mean in terms of his actual power?
"Boss, are you as strong as an Overlord now?" Bei Bei suddenly asked.
"That?" Lin Lei hesitated slightly.
"Grandpa Beirut, do you know the difference in power between Lower Sovereigns, Middle Sovereigns, and High Sovereigns?" Lin Lei asked. Without understanding the distinction between the three, he couldn't accurately assess his own current position.
Beirut quickly explained: "Lin Lei, the gap between different ranks of Sovereigns is enormous! For example, a Lower Sovereign at Perfection is slightly weaker than a Middle Sovereign who has fused five profound mysteries. But it's close! By the same token, a Middle Sovereign at Perfection has power approaching that of an Overlord who has fused five profound mysteries — though still slightly short. This is without counting weapons or innate divine abilities."
"I understand!" Lin Lei nodded slightly.
A Lower Sovereign at Perfection, compared to a Middle Sovereign who has fused five profound mysteries.
In terms of the Laws and their profound mysteries, the Lower Sovereign surpasses the Middle Sovereign by more than tenfold. Yet even so, he still falls short of the Middle Sovereign. This meant that the gap in willpower was more than tenfold!
And in terms of willpower, a Lower Sovereign at Perfection possessed not only the Sovereign's inherent might, but also that additional share of will granted by Heaven upon reaching Perfection. Yet even so... his willpower still fell more than tenfold short of a Middle Sovereign's!
So then...
For a normal Lower Sovereign compared to a Middle Sovereign, the amplification of willpower through the Sovereign spark differed by nearly a hundredfold.
"Based on conventional reasoning," Beirut said with a faint smile, "Lin Lei, you originally possessed the willpower from your four-clone soul mutation. Now, having refined two more Sovereign sparks, the willpower of your soul has increased yet another step. You should now be roughly equivalent to a Middle Sovereign in terms of willpower."
Qing Huo looked at Lin Lei with curiosity: "Lin Lei, after your soul mutation and fusion, did the willpower between the two Sovereign sparks merge and fuse together?"
"No." Lin Lei shook his head. "A Sovereign's willpower resides almost entirely within the Sovereign spark. How could they possibly merge?"
"Grandpa Beirut's guess was right," Lin Lei nodded. "After refining this Water-type Sovereign spark, the willpower of all five of my great souls has increased again! By my estimation, in terms of pure willpower alone, I should be comparable to a Middle Sovereign."
"And you also have the fused Sovereign's Might," Beirut said with a smile.
"Right. The Might of two elements can indeed be fused."
Lin Lei sensed the massive surge of grayish-green Sovereign's Might within his body and nodded. "This fused Sovereign's Might should be about ten times more powerful than ordinary Sovereign's Might! Right now, in terms of pure willpower and raw power alone, I should rank among the upper echelon of Middle Sovereigns!"
If it were anyone else, even with two Sovereign clones, they could at most allow each clone's soul to incorporate an additional share of willpower.
But Lin Lei had not only fused an extra share of willpower — most importantly, his Sovereign's Might could also fuse!
"You also have a Supreme Divine Artifact!" Qing Huo smiled. "With a Supreme Divine Artifact, you should be able to rival one of the six ordinary Overlords!"
Lin Lei understood which six Overlords Qing Huo was referring to. Among the eleven Overlords, only five possessed Supreme Divine Artifacts.
The eighteenth level of the Graveyard of the Gods.
"Whoosh whoosh~~~"
A gentle breeze blew. Beirut, in high spirits, waved his sleeve, and with a "clatter clatter~~~" a great number of bluestone slabs shifted. The altar that had enshrined the Azure Dragon's corpse sank once more. At the same time, a table and four stone stools emerged from the bluestone ground.
"Everyone, sit down and let's talk at leisure." Beirut sat down first with a genial smile. At the same time, he took out food and fine wine from his spatial ring. "It's been over ten thousand years, and I've never been this happy. Haha, I never could have imagined that the one who would free me from my predicament would be that boy from the Fenlei Kingdom. In the blink of an eye, that boy from the magic academy has become a being comparable to an Overlord."
"I'm amazing, aren't I?" Bei Bei said proudly. "I saw Boss right away and knew he was the one, so I went with him."
"Saw right away and knew?" Lin Lei teased with a laugh. "Wasn't there someone who was so greedy for roasted wild rabbit and roast chicken that he—"
Bei Bei was dumbstruck.
"Haha..." Qing Huo, who was drinking nearby, couldn't help but laugh at Bei Bei's expression.
"Come, Lin Lei, let's have a toast. From now on, whether Qing Huo and I can leave the Yulan Plane without worry is all up to you," Beirut said with a smile.
Lin Lei raised his cup as well. "Don't worry, Grandpa Beirut. But really, this is something I should do. Those two Sovereign sparks were both given to you. The one who truly freed you from your predicament was yourself. If anything, I should be grateful to you," Lin Lei said earnestly.
Beirut shook his head with a smile. "Haha, you're too modest. I was always going to choose Sovereign candidates! And a powerhouse who succeeded in a four-clone soul mutation — where else would you find a candidate like that? That had nothing to do with me; that was all your own doing. Back then, Qing Huo and I were both watching over you. When the 'Soul Stone' that was sustaining the last thread of your life force was completely exhausted, we thought you wouldn't make it. Who would have thought things would turn around, and you'd pull through from the brink of death?" Beirut praised.
Lin Lei didn't argue further, simply chatting and laughing happily with everyone.
"However, my comprehension of the Laws and their profound mysteries is still too shallow," Lin Lei said with a frown.