The Era of Gods

Chapter 102: New Church Framework

Lin Xiao was so envious his balls were practically turning to steel.

The third-ranked ‘War Throne’ Super Academy’s special recruitment, this was just like being specially recruited by top world universities such as Harvard and Oxford in his past life; he could attend the attached high school and then enroll directly after the senior year without taking any exams.

If it weren’t for the fact that there was no such thing as skipping grades in this world, and all geniuses, no matter how monstrous, had to complete all three years of high school, they would probably have been specially recruited into college long ago.

So powerful!

Tang Ling and Shang Xiaoxue also showed envious expressions; in this regard, they were all the same.

After wolfing down their meals, the group got up and headed to the communal building. They walked through the tree-lined path and arrived at the entrance of the building. Bai Ze took a seat at a chair by the door and said,

Wait a minute, the boss and the others are coming over.

Lin Xiao didn’t say anything, found a stone bench to sit on as well, and started browsing information on his wristband.

He hadn’t been looking for a few minutes when someone called out from beside him,

Ling Tong, I’m here.

Looking up, he saw Tang Ling, almost subconsciously, smoothing out his hair. He raised his head and saw four vibrant girls with bright eyes and white teeth approaching from the other side. He recognized one of them as Shen Yuexin and waved as a greeting.

Shen Yuexin also recognized him and gave him a slight smile in response.

Tang Ling knew them quite well, strictly speaking, as their admirer; both Tang

Ling and Bai Ze went up to greet them, while he and Shang Xiaoxue did not move.

He didn’t know anyone except Shen Yuexin, and even with her, he had only a nodding acquaintance; Shang Xiaoxue… He didn’t even glance at them, turning his head the other way. Lin Xiao, curious, asked,

You don’t even look at beautiful girls?

Shang Xiaoxue turned back with a face full of lament and said,

What’s the use? They won’t be interested in me.

You wouldn’t know without trying.

I’ve tried.

Didn’t workout?

They said my name is childish, and my blonde hair makes me look like a hoodlum.”

Lin Xiao:….

Condolences!

After pondering for a while, that was all he could say; he managed not to laugh, giving him some face.

His head of blonde hair… In subspace and the Outland, it’s a mane of blazing flame with infinite swagger. But back in the Main World where transcendence is not evident, it just became a head of yellow hair, which is ironic.

The usually reticent Tang Ling was very active at this moment, speaking gracefully and wittily, and Bai Ze, needless to say, was naturally witty and humorous, keeping the girls laughing nonstop, leaving Lin Xiao and Shang Xiaoxue to enjoy the scenery.

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before Lin Xu from the Ancient City and another young man, Qiao Kaiyuan, arrived. Then he saw the newcomers, smiles visibly lifting their faces, being warmly greeted – as he had guessed, Lin Xu was indeed pursuing Shen Yuexin, but the lady seemed to have no feelings for him, the aloofness and rejection clear for any observant eye to see.

When there’s the opposite sex, there’s no humanity!

Seeing this, Shang Xiaoxue huffed to Lin Xiao,

Forget about them, let’s go first.

All right!

They casually found a public Divine Realm Login Cabin on one of the floors, and before entering the local network, Lin Xiao returned to his own Divine Realm.

It had been about ten days since the end of the final exams, and nearly ten years had passed in his Divine Realm. After ten years of recuperation, the clan members had somewhat restored their vitality.

The Naga, under his strong encouragement, had continued to reproduce, their numbers now exceeding six hundred, of which about two hundred were the new generation, nowhere near as strong as their ancestors who had taken part in the battle against the Snake People Demigod.

Thankfully, the Nagas’ lifespan was much longer than that of the Fishmen. Not a single Naga had died in ten years, while thousands of old Fishmen who had fought in the war had died of old age.

Luckily, the Fishmen’s reproductive ability was strong, and with abundant food in the Divine Realm, the total number of Fishmen had now surpassed thirteen thousand.

It’s worth mentioning that although he hadn’t performed any divine miracles for ten years, the atmosphere of faith in the Divine Realm was still very strong. The key was the existence of the Fishman Hero, Slarda.

This epic hero, now on the path of a Saint, had greatly promoted and maintained his faith in the Divine Realm while he was absent. Having become the leader of all Naga, Slarda consistently held large-scale worship and prayer events monthly, and smaller ones every ten days. Under his guidance, a large number of new Naga and Fishmen were steered onto the right path of faith, and even without witnessing miracles, all the newcomers had solid faith before adulthood. Once they came of age, they were True Believers.

In addition to that, he directed the Fishmen to cultivate kelp and other aquatic plants to store food.

On land, they reclaimed the wasteland of the Divine Realm left by the devouring Sanctuary, sowing grass seeds, which had now cultivated a large pasture. The herd of wild buffalo raised within the Divine Realm, under their domestication, had reproduced, and their numbers had reached nearly three hundred.

It could be said that this return to the Divine Realm brought Lin Xiao a huge surprise with everything within it.

After understanding the changes in the Divine Realm during this time, Lin Xiao fell into deep thought.

Given the current changes in the Divine Realm, it was time to put a certain plan into action.

That was the establishment of the Church. Previously, without a smart True Believer to lead, he, the Deity, had to personally get involved in everything, which was simply beneath his dignity. Now that Slarda was on the right path, whether to liberate himself or to cultivate the Epic Hero Slarda, he had to prepare to establish a Church.

Of course, due to the limited manpower at the current stage, they could only set up a framework and then fill in the details gradually.

After some consideration, Lin Xiao decided to temporarily designate Hero Slarda as the first Pope of the new Church and select ten Devout Believers and ten Fanatic Believers as the first generation of Priests.

For now, they were Priests in name only, as becoming true Priests required the consumption of Divine Power to change jobs and then be granted Divine Arts, both of which needed pure Faith value to achieve. He had a heap of Faith value at the moment, but not much true Faith value provided by believers, so they could only start with the title and make up for it later.

He then elected a group of elite warriors from the Naga and Fishmen to serve as Guardian Saint Soldiers, initially setting the number at one hundred Naga and two hundred Fishmen.

This number didn’t need to be large for now, as the believers within the Divine Realm were all very devout, and the Church didn’t need much military force to suppress them.

With this, a Church framework with the Pope at the helm, twenty Priests assisting, and three hundred Guardian Saint Soldiers protecting it was established.

Lin Xiao initially assigned them a task, to familiarize themselves with church affairs and, incidentally, to baptize the newborn Clan members.

After completing these tasks, Lin Xiao nodded in satisfaction and exited the Divine Realm to enter the local network. Having some free time, he decided to practice with Shang Xiaoxue.

However, after exiting, he found many people within the local network, not only companions such as Bai Cheng, Lin Xu, and Tang Ling, but also four vibrant young girls, and surprisingly, eleven boys he did not recognize, each with a unique presence and extraordinary demeanor.

For instance, one of the girls had a pair of delicate dragon horns on her head and a deep blue rhombic crystal embedded in her forehead.

Another girl had pupils that shone with green light, clear and translucent like gemstones.

Yet another girl had lower half formed from a swirling mass of water with a halo of blue light spinning above her head.

Shen Yuexin appeared with the Void around her seemingly twisted by an invisible force, her pupils radiating a faint purple-red flame, and above her head burned a fierce purple flame. In faint glimpses, one could see a purple- gold crown hovering near invisibly on her head, exuding regality and authority.

It seems this is the proper way to begin at the college. In Lin Xiao’s original class, there were hardly any pretty girls, which was very abnormal.

Talented young men paired with vibrant young women seemed appropriate.

These four girls were from circles of girls outside of the provincial circles that Lin Xiao was part of and had good relations with them and another group of boys. After all, pretty girls were always popular. At least in his view, boys from both circles had crushes on some of the girls.

As to who had feelings for whom, Lin Xiao did not pay attention, as it had nothing to do with him. Women would only be a distraction…

Okay, that’s only part of the reason. The truth is, he lacked confidence. He was the weakest in terms of overall strength among the boys present, so where would he find the courage and reason to flirt?

Lin Xiao was very clear that without strength and capabilities, even breathing was wrong. At this time, flirting was merely a waste of time and life.

He was even clearer that in both his previous life and this current era, only strength spoke the truth and then one could talk about women.

Thus, without sufficient strength, he wouldn’t consider anything else.

He could only say now that he had potential, but if they were to talk about overall strength, he couldn’t compare to anyone present. A single victory in a duel didn’t prove anything; he was still far behind.

However, the Super Newcomer Summer Camp was a great opportunity for him. The event itself was a celebration of elite training conducted by the Super Academies and advanced colleges. Besides the instruction from seasoned teachers of higher education facilities, there were astonishing various rich rewards. It was rumored that someone once gained a card of a quality that surpassed Golden Mythical Quality during the Summer Camp, so participation itself was an opportunity.

He didn’t necessarily have to compete with those top elites. With the likes of monstrous geniuses such as Wu Zhonglin around, he couldn’t compete even if he wanted to at this stage.

All he had to do was to do his best, try to perform better, and seize more benefits.

Lin Xiao clearly understood his strengths and shortcomings and had a detailed growth plan. He intended to lay the foundation in his junior year, rise during his senior year, and catch up with the top elites by his final year.

With the help of the Creation Rubik’s Cube, he planned to dig deep into his talents, and he wouldn’t be surprised to find himself on one of the three lists by his senior year.

Heights of Talent and Unparalleled Talent were uncertain, as he had not seen such geniuses with his own eyes and hence had no concept of them, but at least he should secure a place among the Outstanding Talents. That alone would be a one-in-a-million achievement, something to be proud of.