The Era of Gods

The third team was composed of three mentors, who stepped forward to introduce themselves. Contrary to Lin Xiao’s expectations, these three were not from any one key College, but were from three different Colleges, led by Holy Crystal ranked twelfth among the twelve Super Academies, along with two key Colleges related to Holy Crystal.

Similarly, the fourth team, consisting of five mentors, introduced themselves and were led by War Throne, which ranked third among the twelve Super Academies, and was joined by four key Colleges under the War Throne’s leadership.

After listening to the ten mentors introduce themselves and combining this with the information he had searched online about the Summer Camp, Lin Xiao had some understanding of the situation.

Clearly, this session of the Super Newcomer Summer Camp, being sponsored by the military, meant that the military was allotted two team spots, while the remaining two spots were taken by the College alliance, each headed by one of the Super Academies.

In other words, although the Super Newcomer Summer Camp was jointly held by five Super Academies of China, only two Super Academies were involved this session, namely War Throne and Holy Crystal. The other three did not participate.

This was normal, as ordinary elite talents were not worth the competition for Super Academies. In fact, based on the historic Summer Camp information he retrieved, most sessions only had one Super Academy participating, sometimes none at all, seemingly taking turns.

This time, the presence of two Super Academies was probably because they were after Wu Zhonglin, a super talent who ranked on the prodigy sub-list in his very first year.

Indeed, such a prodigious talent was worth competing for even by the Super Academies, which was really enviable. Lin Xiao looked back at the calm, black­haired youth seated high up in the center of the nine Golden Thrones with great yearning, rubbing his face in aspiration.

They were all youths, and who wouldn’t yearn for such an eminent and attention-garnering sensation? To claim indifference was to lack the capability. If given the chance, how many would refuse?

To be elevated above the rest, the focus of everyone’s attention, the brightest and most dazzling boy, the admiration of thousands of girls, the priority mating rights…

At least Lin Xiao noticed that many girls in the audience frequently cast their admiring glances that way; the feeling was simply too exhilarating.

“I want that too…”

“Next, the mentors will select their team members and confirm their ranks. Once confirmed, it cannot be changed. The ranks are divided into upper, middle, and lower tiers. We will now start with Colonel Hong Yunfei of the Wolf Fang Team.”

The host’s voice pulled Lin Xiao’s wandering thoughts back, and he focused intently, watching as the mentor’s gaze swept over the nine figures in the top Golden Tier, scanning back and forth several times, occasionally pausing on Wu Zhonglin, before finally resting on the first Golden Throne, he asked: “Student Zhang Guan, would you be willing to join my team?”

” It’ s a great honor!”

A ray of light descended from the sky and landed on him, forming a wolf head emblem that howled upwards.

“Excellent, Student Zhang Guan has chosen to join the Wolf Fang Team. Now, Colonel Xie Yufei of the Fury Flame Team will select their members.”

No sooner had the host finished speaking, the figure surrounded by a dark golden light spoke:

“Student Qin Fengyan, are you willing to join my team?”

The one being asked was the girl among the last six to arrive with Wu Zhonglin. She stood up confidently and nodded in agreement:

” It’ s a great honor!”

Next, Liu Wuji of the Holy Crystal Team stood up and, to everyone’s anticipation, invited a member among the five men and one woman to join the team, fulfilling his wish.

Following this, it was the turn of Yuan Xingchen from War Throne, the Super Academy. As everyone expected, he directly invited Wu Zhonglin to join the team. Clearly, this had been agreed upon by the four teams well in advance; Wu Zhonglin had already been specially recruited by War Throne and was certain to join them.

The first round ended, and the second round started with the last to pick, War Throne. As everyone had anticipated, not only them, but the other three teams also picked from the highest Gold Tier.

The selection continued in the same manner, with the last picker of the second round, Wolf Fang Team, starting the process, immediately choosing the last one of the nine Golden Thrones. The next Fury Flame Team was left to pick from the Silver Tier.

Colonel Xie Yufei’s gaze swept over the thirty-six Silver Seats, and under the expectant looks of the audience, especially those on the Silver Seats, who all wished to be the first picked below the Gold Tier, signifying them as the strongest among their tier and the top three picks of each team. Being chosen represented a significant acknowledgment.

She quickly made her decision, and amidst everyone’s hopeful attention, she chose one:

“Student Shen Yuexin, would you like to join my team?”

As expected, and logically, women naturally prefer to choose girls first.

Shen Yuexin naturally agreed.

The subsequent choice from the Holy Crystal Team’s mentor was eagerly awaited by all, excluding Lin Xiao, who knew it was customary to divide up the Silver first tier before considering them.

Since it was a grouping, there was bound to be competition, and mentors would naturally prioritize more potent members. Those like Lin Xiao, who ranked lower, were essentially part of the last group to be picked.

As he anticipated, with each round of selection, one by one, students from the Silver Seats were chosen, with no invitations extended to those below the Silver Level.

The selected students were cooperative as well, with none yet refusing an invitation from a mentor.

For them, joining any team made little difference; it wasn’t as if one team would have slightly more resources. Essentially, resources were similar across the board, unless one had outstanding performance.

As the sole member from his team sitting in a Silver Seat, Ancient City was chosen by the War Throne Team, and he was very pleased. Congratulatory messages flooded their group chat for him and Shen Yuexin, and Lin Xiao was no exception.

Soon all the students at the Silver Level had been selected, and it was time for the Bronze Tier.

At this point, Lin Xiao noticed that the mentors’ selection pace had noticeably quickened, no longer pondering as they had in the upper tier, but rather making their choices almost instantly within a second or two. They picked the seventy-two Bronze participants quickly, as if glossing over them.

Lin Xu was chosen by Holy Crystal in the Bronze Tier during the second round.

Then, the mentors quickly finished selecting the 108 Black Iron players.

Next, it was time for the 360 Stone players at the lowest tier, and it just so happened that the War Throne College team’s turn to choose came up. At this point, it became obvious to everyone that the ones picking players were not the team captains of Holy Crystal and War Throne teams, but rather other mentors from the same teams. It was clear that, in their eyes, the remaining students were basically not exceptional, and didn’t merit their attention.

A War Throne team mentor casually pointed, and a beam of light descended from the sky onto… Lin Xiao. The mentor asked as a matter of routine:

“Lin Xiao, would you like to join the War Throne team?”

He nodded in surprise, not expecting to be on the same team as Wu Zhonglin.

What he didn’t see was that the moment he was chosen, a mentor from the Holy Crystal team lifted their head to glance at the War Throne mentor.

On another side, a figure shrouded in dark golden divine light also frowned.

The selection continued swiftly, dividing all the students at the Stone seats. When it was time for the more than 1600 seatless students, the dividing was even faster, taking ten at a time.

Within less than ten minutes, all the students were allocated, and over the heads of all those at the venue hovered the symbols representing the four teams.

For the Wolf Fang Team, it was a howling war wolf.

The Fury Flame Team was represented by an intense burning flame.

The Holy Crystal Team had a blue crystal hovering above their heads.

The War Throne team bore a fist tightly grasping a flame.

After everyone was chosen, the host stepped back onto the stage and announced:

“The second phase of team assignments for this Summer Camp is now complete!”

He looked at the four team’s mentors and asked:

“As per the rules, each team has three solicitation slots and may trade coveted players by paying a satisfactory price to the corresponding team. Please make your decisions within the next ten minutes.”

“This is a damn interesting idea…”

The pace reminded Lin Xiao of the NBA drafts and trades he recalled from before his transmigration, where drafted players were instantly traded for those desired. This mechanism, mixed with the strategic mindset of the team mentors, made him wonder if the planner of the Summer Camp was a fellow reincarnator like himself.

However, he dismissed this thought; it was unlikely for them to be reincarnators. It’s more plausible that the planners were simply recycling old concepts.

After all, the Super Newcomer Summer Camp had been held for who knows how many tens of thousands of sessions, and there couldn’t be that many new ideas—it was mostly old concepts dusted off and reused every few decades.

On the other side, after nearly a minute had passed, it was a representative from the Holy Crystal Team who stood up first to address the War Throne team:

“We are willing to exchange one of our Black Iron tier students for one of your Stone tier students.”

“For whom?”

“Student Lin Xiao.”

As soon as this was said, Lin Xiao suddenly felt as if thousands of gazes had simultaneously fallen on him; nearly everyone in the crowd looked over in surprise, except for Tang Ling, who showed no surprise. Having been personally beaten by Lin Xiao, he certainly knew that Lin Xiao’ s ability was not confined to this rank.

The five mentors from the War Throne quietly discussed it for a moment, then responded:

“We want two Black Iron tier students.”

“Deal!”

The Holy Crystal team’s representative’s face lit up with joy, an expression that caused the War Throne mentors’ hearts to sink, realizing they were at a disadvantage.

But both sides had already agreed to the trade, which could no longer be changed; the loss was sealed.

They looked up with some puzzlement, scrutinizing Lin Xiao, unable to discern anything special, when suddenly they heard a crisp voice speak up:

“Wait a moment, I also want to trade for him.”

Everyone, including mentors from the other teams, looked up at the speaking mentor from the Fury Flame team. Especially the mentor from the Holy Crystal Team, who felt a foreboding sense of worry.

Tang Ling, from below the stage, looked up in astonishment. He felt both envious and jealous, internally screaming, ‘Why are so many people vying for him?’

He didn’t understand.

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand why someone would compete for Lin Xiao, but rather why all three teams were competing. This was a treatment that not even students of the Silver Tier had received.

It wasn’t just him; everyone present was puzzled, even the host looked on with interest and said:

“It is indeed unexpected that three teams have chosen Mr. Lin Xiao. Since this is the case, we invite the Fury Flame Team and the Holy Crystal Team to make their offers to the War Throne Team.”