The Era of Gods

Slowly opening his eyes, he saw the familiar Divine Artifact Platform before him, and not far away stood Yan Renjie, who was still a bit pale but looking much better. Seeing Lin Xiao return, Yan Renjie walked over with gritted teeth and a complicated expression and said,

“Congratulations, you’ve become the third most distinguished prodigy since the school was founded!”

“??? What prodigy?”

Lin Xiao was momentarily stunned but immediately realized what he meant—he must be referring to the fact that he had become the third student to successfully slay a Demigod during the first-level phase since the school was established.

“Prodigy…”

His lips curled into a proud smile. He wasn’t pretentious; he quite liked the title.

Of course, he had to show some humility outwardly, so he smiled and waved his hand saying,

“I don’t deserve that. The other two seniors did it on their own merit, while I used all sorts of means to weaken the Snake People Demigod and had your help. I’m far from comparing to the two seniors.”

As he spoke, he suddenly couldn’t help but break into a wide grin.

As everyone knows, when people encounter something that makes them extremely happy, they sometimes can’t help but laugh it off, just like he was doing right now, which was very reasonable.

Yan Renjie’s mouth twitched, speechless.

Intense envy made it hard for him to continue the conversation, so he quickly made a few remarks and used the need to rest as an excuse to leave the Divine Artifact Platform and went straight back to his own Divine Realm.

Lin Xiao bit his lower lip to keep from laughing out loud and looked around at the other students who had returned to the platform. They had no idea of the earth-shattering feat he had just accomplished. He was slightly disappointed, but what could he do? He couldn’t very well run over and brag about how amazing he was.

In fact, he did have that inclination, but Vice Principal Xu had previously instructed him not to spread the news yet, considering his protection.

Of course, he couldn’t keep it a secret forever, but by delaying the revelation for a few months until he had fully absorbed his rich gains, he would be in the clear to share the news.

After a while, with his excitement and elation gradually subsiding, Lin Xiao finally felt calm enough to connect with the Divine Artifact Platform to collect his reward for slaying the Demigod.

But to his surprise, the first thing the Divine Artifact Spirit of the platform said was,

“Congratulations, Student Lin Xiao, on accomplishing the rare feat in the history of the school’s founding: slaying a demigod!”

This unexpected extra acknowledgment was quite satisfying; the Divine Artifact Spirit hadn’t spoken so pleasantly before.

After the additional congratulations, the Spirit returned to its mechanical voice and said,

“As instructed by the Vice Principal, Lin Xiao may choose one Five Star Divine Card of Mythical Quality, one Five Star Divine Card of Legendary Quality, and ten Five Star Divine Cards of lower quality—free to choose any type of card.”

“Tsktsk!”

He rubbed his hands together excitedly and asked eagerly,

“What are the Five Star Divine Cards of Mythical and Legendary Quality available?”

The Divine Artifact Spirit immediately responded,

“There are four Golden Mythical Five Star Cards available, and twenty-eight Legendary Five Star Cards.”

As he spoke, a light screen unfurled before him, displaying thirty-two cards four golden and twenty-eight orange.

Lin Xiao’s gaze swept over the cards that shimmered in golden and orange light, and he couldn’t help but widen his eyes at just the first one he saw.

The first Golden Mythical Quality card was a Divinity Card, containing a hint of Divinity.

The second Golden Mythical Quality card depicted an Ancient War Tree that, upon use, could summon four Ancient War Trees of Sixth Level, towering a hundred meters tall. They could throw spike-covered war fruits like catapults, achieving over Fifth Level and ranking among the highly Transcendent with combat power that was exceptionally strong even among their peers.

The third Golden Mythical Quality card was a Divine Realm Card, even larger than the Transcendent Divine Realm Card Lin Xiao had previously merged with, roughly the size of the Snake People Demigod’s Holy Place. This meant that he had essentially already merged with a Mythical Quality Divine Realm Card.

The fourth Golden Mythical Quality card was a rare resource card—a Small Magic Spring. Placed in a Divine Realm, it could form a small spring eye filled with magic-infused water. Clan members living for extended periods around the Magic Spring could give birth to offspring with relatively higher spiritual power, and a very small chance to awaken hidden powers in their bloodline, becoming a bloodline Mage.

Of course, this presupposed a Mage’s bloodline.

In simple terms, this item was suitable for nurturing Divine Realms focused on Mages and Magicians.

Compared to the Mythical Quality cards, the twenty-eight Legendary Quality cards were a notch lower, but not by much, as they were all extremely rare. He glanced over them, noting several enticing items.

Having the choice of one card from each quality, Lin Xiao first thoroughly browsed the twenty-eight Legendary Quality cards and picked out a warrior Profession Card.

He didn’t need the others; what he lacked now was a profession to further tap into the strengths of his clan.

As for the golden Mythical card, there was no question—it had to be the Divinity Card; the more of these, the better.

If the size of the Divine Realm and the strength of the clan were fundamental, then Divinity was the core—after all, wasn’t the ultimate goal to accumulate Divinity?

The stronger the Divinity, the more formidable the strength—one could never have too much of it.

After selecting these two major rewards, it was time for the ten Five Star Divine Cards below Legendary Quality. Although these were said to be random, there actually was a pattern: one Purple Epic, two Blue Rare, three Green Precious, and four Plain.

Lin Xiao seriously pondered for a moment and took some time to purposefully pick out ten cards from the dense array and pocket them. Then, he received the Divinity Card awarded by his homeroom teacher, and the light screen disappeared.

With his treasures in hand, he had no interest in staying any longer and directly returned to his own Divine Realm.

As soon as he returned, he immediately noticed that the God Country had become quite empty, and correspondingly, the Divine Realm had also expanded. Tens of thousands of Fishpeople and over three hundred Naga were bustling about in the tribe.

The Divine Realm was packed with Prayers, all of whom were believers that had died in the assault on the Snake People Demigod Holy Place and had come to his Divine Realm after their demise, numbering around fifty to sixty thousand, including two hundred fifty-seven Naga.

There were a hundred thousand dead Fishpeople; the reason there were only this many was that followers who died inside the Snake Man Demi-God Holy Place could not be brought back.

Believers who died in other deities’ Divine Realms would be directly devoured by the enemy’s Divine Realm, with no way to bring them over.

The Divine Realm was already filled to the brim with Prayers. Fortunately, Prayers did not need to eat; otherwise, he couldn’t possibly afford to sustain them.

Lin Xiao selected all the Naga Prayers as guards and managers of the God Country. These devout members of his Clan had already reached Level 4 in their lifetimes, much more powerful than the original guards of his Divine Realm; they would return to their peak state after becoming Prayers.

Of course, in the spirit of fairness, he also picked a batch of elite Fishpeople Prayers to act as God Guards. He left the remaining Prayers scattered across the Divine Realm, managed by the elite Fishpeople and Naga Prayers.

Lin Xiao changed the rules of the Divine Realm, turning the Earth into lush, fertile black soil. Seeds sprinkled upon it would immediately grow and yield a bountiful harvest. The rivers swarmed with lively, plump fish and shrimp, while fruit trees laden with heavy fruit were everywhere on the land. Berry bushes were filled with sweet, juicy berries, easily plucked by hand. The seas were crowded with lush seaweed and fish, and the shorelines teemed with fresh, juicy sea cockroaches and other insects, bursting with flavor at a bite, akin to Heaven.

Prayers did not need to eat to survive, but he could not merely prepare nothing for them.

Moreover, all these were illusions created by altering the rules of the Divine Realm and using Divine Power. They were deliberately crafted to resemble a heavenly world, making the Prayers lead happy lives in the Divine Realm. This would ensure they keep the most devout faith in him as the object of their beliefs, lifetime after lifetime, providing him with their faith.

Eventually, after too many resurrections and gradually weakening, when they could no longer maintain their bodies, they would completely merge with the Divine Realm, becoming a part of it.

However, this was the attitude of the Natives beyond the Exotic Crystal Wail towards their Prayers. Civilizations from the Main World were not so backward and barbaric. When Prayers from the Main World had contributed lifetimes of faith and could offer no more, the deities of the Main World would not let them merge with the Divine Realm. Instead, they allowed the Prayers to be reincarnated within the Divine Realm, to be reborn.

As the most devout followers who had believed for several lifetimes and were innately close to the Master of the Divine Realm, they did not need any guidance. As long as they encountered faith during their growth, they would naturally revere the Master of the Divine Realm once more, with extreme devotion.

Currently, the Divine Realm did not need so many Prayers, so Lin Xiao set the fifty to sixty thousand Fishpeople to a state of Reincarnation, ready to be reborn immediately when a Fishperson in the Divine Realm became pregnant.

The Divine Realm did not require immediate attention for now. Lin Xiao had more important things to do, which was the thrilling task of checking his spoils of war.

Two golden mythical quality Divinity Cards, one from mission rewards and another from the class advisor’s rewards.

Unfortunately, the final exams hadn’t ended, and the school rewards had not yet been distributed.

One legendary quality warrior Profession Card.

Profession: Warrior.

Level: Fifth Level.

Profession Bonus: Constitution +1, Strength +1, Agility +0.5.

Expertise: Basic Melee Combat LV1, Basic Footwork LV1.

Skills: Charge LV1, Single-hand Sword Mastery LV1.

Evaluation: A basic entry-level melee combat profession.

These attributes are added on top of one’s own attributes after assuming the role of a warrior.

A set of skill cards including one Purple Epic, two rare, three valuable, and four blank cards. All of them were five-star skill cards he had deliberately selected just now; he had a bold idea he wanted to try out.

An anchor, giant in size, measuring seven to eight meters in length.

A turtle shell over forty meters long.

A Pure Gold Spear forty meters in length, the weapon of the Snake People Demigod.

A Demigod’s corpse.

A Sanctuary.

A pile of metal.

An ancient treasure in disrepair.

These were all the gains from his end-of-term exams, utterly exhilarating.

After inventorying the spoils of war, Lin Xiao, with his hand propping his chin, pondered for a moment and decided to first dissect the Demigod’s corpse, extracting any remaining Divinity within the Snake Man Demi-God’s body.

This did not require the use of the Creation Rubik’s Cube; any Divine Being could accomplish this task as it was a universal ability.

Firstly, he retrieved the gigantic Demigod’s body, and positioned the tens of meters long form across the plaza. The wounds on the body had closed, and the skin’s surface showed a dull, darkish yellow, no longer the bright golden shine it once had.

“Demigod!”

Such a being theoretically blessed with eternal life, now fallen, its corpse lying there for someone else to dissect, evoked a sense of reflection in Lin Xiao.

But this was Destiny. If he wanted to grow stronger, he had to step on the corpses of his enemies.

And not just Demigods, if he continued to progress, he might even have to confront True Gods in the future.

While he grew stronger on the corpses of his enemies, he too could become nourishment for someone eise’s growth one day, just as Wan Ying had fallen in the hands of powerful beings beyond the Exotic Crystal Wall. If he did not wish to end up like that, his only option was to become stronger..