The Era of Gods

All three challenges were about to end, and the main combat clans under Lin Xiao’s command hadn’t taken action yet. Moreover, considering that even the servant Fishmen could pass the third challenge alone, Lin Xiao had no choice but to issue a divine mandate for the main combat clans to take action themselves. He wanted to see the true combat capabilities of this new species he’d created using so many five-star cards, a species acknowledged by the mysterious rules of the abyss.

It was crucial to have a clear understanding of their capabilities to avoid misjudging their strength during the second phase of the final exams, which could lead to unnecessary losses.

The movement of the Black Scale Nagas was akin to snakes, with their long snake tails swinging back and forth, undulating like swimming. The faster they swayed, the quicker their speed.

Lin Xiao stood with his arms crossed, watching as the Nagas and Pigge Pigmen rapidly converged. In his recent divine mandate, he had prohibited the Nagas from using skills; otherwise, a wave of Salted Fish Charges would have instantly taken out the opposition, leaving nothing to be tested.

Fifty meters, forty meters… ten meters, five meters. From above, the two curved front lines had already collided and swiftly intermingled.

A Pigge Pigman took the initiative and hammered a Naga on the waist. Thick black scales shattered and flew off, with a fist-sized chunk of flesh being smashed into a pulp and spraying into the air. The Naga emitted a strange sound, nowhere resembling a scream. Its body bent sharply in a large arc that a normal person couldn’t achieve, dissipating the remaining force. Like a snake, it nearly touched the ground as it spun around to stand up again, using the recoil to thrust a spear through the Pigman’s chest, piercing it all the way through.

On the other side, a Naga and a Pigman collided almost simultaneously. Contrary to expectations, the seemingly slimmer Naga merely leaned back and then sprang forward, while the Pigge Pigman stumbled several steps to the side, nearly losing his balance.

No sooner had he regained his footing than the advantaged Naga lifted both hands, plunging two fine iron short spears downwards simultaneously.

One spear stabbed into the chest, and the other into the lower abdomen, each fully penetrating the body, splattering blood all over the Naga.

The Black Scale Nagas’ special Monkey Arm Skill allowed them to dual-wield two-handed weapons, naturally meaning they could also dual-wield one-handed weapons.

The purpose of this skill was to remove the penalty for holding two two-handed weapons at once. Normally, if one had sufficient strength, they could raise a double-handed axe in each hand and swing them, but lifting is one thing, while fighting with them is entirely another.

Without enough strength and specialized training, the consequence of wielding two two-handed weapons at the same time is missing your target, doubling the strength consumption, and quickly leading to exhaustion. It makes the arms’ joints sore and weak, which is fatal in combat.

Enraged, the Naga let out a cry and flung the Pigge Pigman high into the air, hurling it away. Its pupils gleamed with a faint blood light, indicating the Bloodthirsty trait inherited from the Hyenamen had taken effect.

Just then, a Pigman wielding a knife charged furiously at the Naga, colliding with its waist with both the man and the blade. Sparks flew upon impact with a ‘clang’ and a row of scales were sliced open, revealing the skin underneath, along with a faint trace of blood. The knife had indeed wounded the Naga.

In fury, the Naga’s long snake tail snapped, propelling it more than four meters high. From above, it thrust both spears down, instantly knocking the Pigman to the ground, one spear piercing through the shoulder, causing a significant but not deadly wound, while the other spear plunged straight through the Pigman’s head, immediately fatal.

“Good!”

Witnessing this scene, Lin Xiao couldn’t help but clap his hands in admiration.

The combat ability that the Black Scale Nagas displayed at this moment had even exceeded his expectations.

Immense strength coupled with not-so-shabby agility, defense of the highest caliber at their level, but what surprised him most was the Naga’s serpentine body inherited from the Snake people—exceptionally strong in evasion and force dissipation.

However, there were also drawbacks, specifically, they lacked the ability to withstand direct shocks; essentially, they weren’t good at tanking charges, which could place them at a disadvantage against some power-race charges.

There was no helping it, after all; the species had only just been created and hadn’t gone through a single evolution. It couldn’t be perfect, and it would never be perfect in the future either.

Moreover, by now, Lin Xiao had a hint of inspiration for the future evolution of the Nagas. This species was suited for a strong-combat flow.

Strong-combat flow referred to an extremely powerful close-combat physical type, inspired by the Six-armed Snake Demons.

If this species could evolve to a state where every individual had six arms and a physique on par with the Six-armed Snake Demons, then they would undoubtedly become Legendary Beings.

The Six-armed Snake Demon is a top-level devil of the Abyss, with six arms wielding six weapons; in terms of physical close combat, it’s extremely strong, such that ordinary dragons are no match for it. If one could evolve this species into such a powerful race, that would be truly formidable.

In the midst of his reflections, the situation on the battlefield had almost completely collapsed in a one-sided defeat. The Nagas, relying on their innate advantages and numerical superiority, swiftly gained the upper hand.

Their scale armor wasn’t very strong in defense; blunt weapons like hammers couldn’t be withstood at all, but it was quite effective against sharp weapons, enough to sustain only light injuries from a full-force blow of the Pigge Pigmen aside from what was easily borne.

Given the strength of the Pigmen, this was equivalent to being able to completely withstand a full-force slash from an adult human male; in terms of strength, Pigmen were stronger than humans.

At Lin Xiao’s current level, he generally wouldn’t encounter races that were too powerful, and a defense of this caliber was already quite formidable, giving an advantage in melee combat.

Lin Xiao didn’t pay much attention to the ensuing battle; the outcome had been determined in the first round of direct combat between the two sides.

Victory for the Nagas was inevitable.

He stood with his arms crossed in the air, watching contentedly as his clan quickly took care of the remaining Pigge Pigmen, murmuring to himself:

“It’s a pity that projections can’t gain experience; otherwise, after three waves of trials, I would be able to level up a bunch of Naga warriors, making the next exam much easier.”

“What are they called, and how many levels can they go up?”

“Nagas. They can go up…”

Lin Xiao paused abruptly, turning around sharply. Unbeknownst to him, his homeroom teacher had appeared behind him, looking at the battlefield below with a blend of shock and fervor he had never seen before in his eyes.

To be precise, he was observing his own clan, not even shifting his gaze when he spoke to him.

Lin Xiao didn’t answer right away. Wu Hai looked up, and the fervor in his eyes gave Lin Xiao a chilling sensation. The teacher asked in a gentle voice:

“Lin Xiao, where did this race you named ‘Naga’ come from?”

It might have been an illusion, but Lin Xiao felt that his teacher’s voice trembled slightly, carrying a kind of anticipation he had never heard before.

After a moment’s thought, he spoke:

“This is a new species 1 created recently. Since it resembles the Naga, 1 named it Black Scale Naga.”

His statement was ninety percent truth, one part lie; he didn’t dare to conceal it, nor did he make any excuses, but rather told the plain truth.

There was no sense in hiding it, especially during the final exams—in fact, from the first year onwards, staying low-profile would be foolish.

Being overly modest would only lead to missed opportunities.

A proper display of one’s strength could garner more attention and tilt resources in one’s favor.

Whether in his own class or other classes, the best students always received clear favor and resource allocation from the teachers. Many exclusive resources were difficult to get from outside, and Lin Xiao, if he wanted to be the brightest star in the class or even the whole grade, had to be appropriately high-profile.