The Era of Gods

Just like Lin Xiao’s school, which only handed out a few cards at the end of each year, there were never enough to go around—only the very best students had a chance to snatch one.

Descendants of True Gods might not lack Divinity, but having Divinity doesn’t mean it can be integrated easily.

You see, Divinity not obtained through one’s own Power of Faith is impure. Divinity isn’t created out of thin air; it’s the accumulation of the Power of Faith from other Demigods or True Gods’ worshippers, replete with plentiful spirits of different believers and the spiritual Branding of the condenser.

To fully integrate it, one must spend time completely Refining the spiritual Branding within, or else risk being influenced by the spirit embedded in the different Divinity—minor influences could affect personality, while serious ones could impede potential.

The reason Lin Xiao was able to integrate the Snake People Demigod’s Divinity before was that he used the Creation Magic Cube to directly extract pure Divinity, bypassing this step.

For other True God descendants to acquire additional Divinity, they could only refine it slowly—there’s no quick way around it.

Anyone looking to achieve greatness wouldn’t integrate a large quantity of Divinity all at once, as it could affect them personally.

Upon stepping out of the Divine Realm, Lin Xiao received a brief message from his instructor:

You may move freely after the challenge is over, but you must not leave the fortress and must gather on the morning of the third day.”

There were virtually no restrictions. But since he had nowhere else to go, after pondering for a moment, he sent a message to Lin Xu. When there was no reply after a long wait, he didn’t linger but instead ordered a meal and applied to receive his reward.

He should be among the first batch of students to complete the elimination task for this team. Naturally, having completed the task, he was entitled to collect his reward.

While waiting for the ordered meal to arrive, he browsed the trading platform as he ate.

Speaking of which, Lin Xiao discovered that even Cards of ancient-grade were available on the trading platform, but Divinity Cards and Divine Realm Cards were rarely seen. Those that did appear were instantly snapped up—the demand for these cards far outweighed the supply.

The reward of five Mythical Grade Five Star Cards for task completion were supposed to be freely chosen, but they didn’t include Divinity Cards or Divine Realm Cards.

Just as he was thinking about this, he received a message. Clicking on it, the holographic screen popped up showing exactly the reward he had applied for, prompting him to choose the type of Card he wanted.

After setting down his chopsticks and pondering for a moment, the first Card he chose was the Goblin Species Card.

A Mythical Quality Goblin Card represented a total of three thousand Goblins, half male and half female.

Choosing this species, which couldn’t even count as cannon fodder, was mainly to prepare for the third race in his Divine Domain.

Both Fishmen and Supreme Naga in his Divine Domain were considered combat Races, but a well-rounded Divine Domain couldn’t consist solely of combat Races. It had to include one or two Advanced Races, and Goblins were the Advanced Race he chose.

Strictly speaking, Lin Xiao was now eligible to select an Intermediate race, but there were two reasons for choosing Goblins.

One reason was that an Advanced Race didn’t have to be very powerful; as long as it was prolific, Goblins met the criteria. They could eat anything including grass roots, leaves, and even rotten flesh, so they were easy to raise.

The second reason was the Talent of the Afterglow of the Goblins he had in his possession—a particularly remarkable Talent. He wanted to try and see if he could use this Talent to recreate the glory of the Ancient Goblin Empire.

Okay, that was not very likely.

The glory of the Ancient Goblins lay in their creation of artificial deities, something no True God would permit, not even Lin Xiao.

If they could create deities, could you expect them to maintain their faith in you?

The first thing they would likely do was overthrow him, whom they’d consider a false god.

Just like the Humans in the Main World, once they could massively open Divine Territories and create deities, the common people of the Main World wouldn’t believe in gods. Hence, Divine Territory Players had to Plunder Other Races from Different Domains and then convert them into Divine Domain species that provided faith.

Unless Lin Xiao became the Supreme God, King of All Gods, or God Above Gods, as the legends say, perhaps he would be able to control these artificial deities.

But that would be too troublesome, and if he really became the Supreme God or a God Above Gods, he wouldn’t care about these matters anymore.

Therefore, it was necessary to limit their growth potential from the very beginning.

Or in other words, not to lift the curse of the Gods within the Goblin Bloodline. As long as the curse wasn’t lifted, no matter how much the Goblins developed, they could never replicate their Ancient glory.

After all, what he needed was an Advanced Clan specifically for forging weapons and Engineering machinery for the main combat Races of the Divine Domain—that was enough, and there was no need for more ambition.

The reward of five Mythical Grade Five Star Cards for the task of defending against the Blood Legion, in addition to the Goblin Card, included two very suitable Talent Cards and two Specialty Cards.

Two Talent Cards—Higher Level of Enlightenment and High-level Enlightenment.

Two Specialty Cards—Spiritual Power Genius and Clever Heart and Skillful Hands.

Enlightenment and High-level Enlightenment served to develop intelligence. The Mythical Quality Higher Level of Enlightenment and High-level Enlightenment were enhanced versions. Current Goblins were very foolish, and without Enlightenment and High-level Enlightenment, they wouldn’t be of much use—these two Cards were essential.

The Spiritual Power Genius was to tap into their spiritual power, a necessary talent for crafting Magic Items. Without spiritual power, it would be impossible to craft magical Equipment.

As for Clever Heart and Skillful Hands, it’s literal—having a more active mind and more dexterous hands and feet.

With these two talents and two specialties, a new Race full of potential sprang to life in Lin Xiao’s mind.

With the items in hand, Lin Xiao did not use them immediately, choosing instead to put them away for now.

He remembered his mentor saying that any student who survived the team elimination round would receive two Mythical Grade Five Star Cards. Although he was almost certain to remain, the other students had not yet finished their trials, so the two cards were not yet available to him.

Moreover, he didn’t have any extra card slots available, so…

He would have to wait.

Speaking of which, the organizers of the Summer Camp were indeed rolling in wealth. Mythical Grade Cards were usually doled out on a punch basis, and during this trial alone, he had received a total of seven Mythical Grade Five Star Cards—five plus two—an inconceivable bounty back at Dongning No. 5 Middle School.

Of course, this didn’t mean that such cards were ubiquitous and worthless; they were still quite valuable.

It’s just that the Summer Camp was organised by over a hundred higher education institutions from the HuaXia District, with military support, hence the abundance of resources.

No matter how rare a resource was, it wouldn’t seem so rare at higher levels.

When he returned to Dongning No. 5 Middle School and the second year began, he probably wouldn’t encounter such good fortune again—returning to a stage where seeing a single Epic Grade Card was a treat, and Mythical Grade Cards only surfaced during midterms or finals.

Different levels come with different experiences, and Lin Xiao suspected that once the Summer Camp was over, he wouldn’t be as impressed by the school’s rewards anymore.

Therefore, he should make the best out of this Summer Camp and earn as many resources as possible to close the gap between himself and the elite scions of top-tier families during his freshman year.

Two days had passed in the blink of an eye. That morning, after freshening up,

Lin Xiao received a message from his mentor—

The three-day period is up; report to the training ground immediately for assembly!”

He went out at once, took a flying skateboard and set the route to the plaza he had first arrived at. From a distance, he saw many people already gathered there, chatting in groups of twos and threes. He noticed that everyone’s face was generally not very cheerful.

Is it that everyone performed poorly?

At that moment, he caught sight of a svelte and graceful silhouette standing apart from the other students—Aunt Shen.

Not far away, there were a few acquaintances, but they stood on the other side, not interacting with Shen Yuexin.

After some thought, he did not go over to greet them.

By the second phase of the Summer Camp, it was every man for himself, and most of those who had come from Yunmengxing Province had already been eliminated. Those remaining were divided among four teams, and now, apart from Shen Yuexin, he knew few others in the Fury Flame Team.

Since no one could help with the team eliminations and they weren’t very familiar with each other, there was naturally no need to make contact.

As for Aunt Shen, he had tried to get in touch with her once during the period, but she was undergoing her trial and did not respond.

The flying skateboard stopped beside Shen Yuexin. These few people were the ones the mentor had taken a particular liking to. At the very least, they were Silver Contestants, with Lin Xiao being the weakest among them.

Of course, that was in the past. Now, he was definitely not the weakest.

Lin Xiao self-assessed that his current strength could definitely reach the level of a Silver Contestant, and he was among the strongest of that group. He now had the qualifications to compete for those three Golden Thrones.

The reason he only said “have the qualifications” and not “could seize them was because of the inadequacy of his Clan equipment.

The weapon issue had been resolved, but he still lacked armor. The body shape of Fishmen differed from Humans, so any armor looted could not be equipped.

Although there were armors on the market specifically designed for different Races, the problem was that his Fishmen and Naga were custom-created Races with body shapes differing from the regular Fishmen and Naga, meaning no ready-made armor would fit, and he had to either find someone to custom­make it for him, or…

There was no or; there were simply no Fishman armors for sale on the market.

Nobody crafted armor specifically for a Cannon Fodder Race like Fishmen; it simply didn’t exist.

This was also the reason he planned to develop a third Advanced Race, to be self-sufficient.

Without armor, encountering an equally strong opponent could be very disadvantageous—one protected by thick armor, the other forced to rely solely on flesh and blood—leading to a dire outcome.

Shen Yuexin greeted him openly, and he waved back with a smile. The others just nodded slightly as a greeting, some reciprocating, some as if they had seen nothing.

It was clear that these people neither saw nor acknowledged his strength, and if not for the lack of opportunity, some might have wished to challenge him.

Lin Xiao paid them no mind. Acknowledgement or not, the truth would tell under their hands. Should they actually issue a challenge, he would be ready to surprise them.

Ignoring them, he stood next to Shen Yuexin, speaking in a low voice.

After several conversations, he found that although he had to address her as “Aunt” in terms of seniority, she was no different from other young girls. Strictly speaking, she was a young girl, not much older, just of higher seniority. They were the same age, and he enjoyed their chats.

While speaking, he couldn’t help but lift his gaze discreetly, boldly admiring her attractive face.

Indeed, attractive!

He thought that descriptors like pretty or beautiful hardly did justice to her looks and aura. With the alterations of Divinity, female Deities were hardly unattractive, each could be a goddess, but with such outstanding looks, figure, and aura like hers, Lin Xiao felt that only the word “attractive” would suffice.