The Era of Gods

The flames slowly contracted, revealing the cool-faced figure of the instructor in a colonel’s uniform, Xie Yufei. She stood at attention and saluted the elder, saying loudly,

“Affiliated with Yan Huang War Zone Number Five, the First Division of the First Expeditionary Army, Deputy Battalion Commander of the Furious Flame Battalion, Colonel Xie Yufei, I have the honor to meet our forebear!”

The elder stared at her intently for a long moment before a smile suddenly spread across his face, growing wider and wider until he burst into hearty laughter.

A few seconds later, the smile disappeared and his expression became solemn again. He returned a salute that was slightly different and said in a grave voice, “Earth United Nations Skyhawk Vanguard, Major General Keri!”

The Earth United Nations was the political system in place when humans first discovered the Divine Realm game and first left the Main Plane to enter Different Domains. It had been over three hundred thousand years since its dissolution, meaning this Major General named Keri was an ancient relic from three hundred thousand years ago.

Yes, even by the standards of a True God with immortal life, he was an ancient relic.

Because according to the time differential of one day in the Main World to one year in Different Domains, he had been stranded in this Crystal Wall System, in this Void, for over a hundred million years, a span of time that was ancient even in the context of True Gods.

Back then, there was no HuaXia District, no Ivy League Alliance of High Schools, no Giant Enterprises Alliance, no Aristocracy Council—these divisions did not exist; it was the time of the Earth United Nations.

Not until later did differences in race and ideology gradually forge four huge powers, and one day, the Earth United Nations fell apart, splitting the Main World into four.

At this moment, Xie Yufei’s heart was filled with surprise and delight; she hadn’t expected to encounter a lingering Divine Thought of one of the original forebears of the Main World here—a significant event.

Every one of the earliest forebears was a revered forerunner, an explorer, particularly those of the Vanguard, which was dispatched during the most perilous times of the Main World.

According to the history of the Main World that Xie Yufei once studied, two hundred years into human exploration of Exotic Crystal Walls, humanity encountered an invasion by gods from the Crystal Wall System named Tilde Gala. At that time, humans had yet to develop Powerful Divine Power and were simply no match for the Divine Army of the Exotic Crystal Wall that invaded. At the most critical moment, the enemy had penetrated into the depths of Subspace, nearing the Main World.

It was at this critical juncture that the vanguard of the Expeditionary Army was formed, selecting elites to leave the Main World and venture into the Chaotic Void Sea’s endless Crystal Wall System, in search of potential allies and to preserve the spark of humanity.

Later, no allies were found; different Crystal Wall Systems only attracted more predators. However, one member of the vanguard had a sudden outburst of fortune in an Outland Crystal Wall System—like the protagonist of a novel miraculously favored by fate—and returned to the Main World in less than a hundred years as a great divine power, surpassing level 20 in God Level and became the Main God of a Powerful Divine System.

This great divine power, the first to emerge from the Main World, was the first principal of the Brilliant Super College, which presently ranks first among the twelve super academies.

The birth of this great divine power marked the end of the war. The gods of Tilde Gala Crystal Wall System promptly withdrew from the Subspace of the Main World.

Though Tilde Gala Crystal Wall System also had a great divine power, They could not possibly compete with one who had the home-field advantage of the Human Main World, equally formidable.

Next, humanity’s first great divine power established the Brilliant Super College and stayed stationed in the Main World for many years.

Meanwhile, the Crystal Wall System where the old principal was born is now one of the Crystal Walls affiliated with the Human Alliance, to be precise, under the control of the Super Academy Brilliant.

Most of the original pioneers from that early squad had perished; fewer than ten of them survived. Discovering a new member of the vanguard would doubtlessly please the other high-ranking pioneers, especially that one.

With Xie Yufei’s arrival, there was practically nothing left for Lin Xiao and others to do, as their level was too low. This Major General named Keri wanted to know things they couldn’t possibly be aware of.

“What is this all about?”

The group from Yuming Trading Company squatted on the smooth floor, and Wang Jiechao grumbled in bewilderment,

“We’ve come all this way for nothing. Can we still explore this God’s Tomb?”

Another team member, Feng Wei, shrugged his shoulders,

“Who knows? Let’s wait and see.”

Elsewhere, Lin Xiao and his two companions strolled aimlessly across the golden glass-like plaza. When he came before the statue of the Semi-god Vampire, he waved at his comrades and said,

“Look, doesn’t this resemble the Semi-god Vampire?”

They walked over and took a closer look. Shen Yuexin nodded and said,

“It looks very similar; it should be him.”

“Then…”

They exchanged glances, their expressions a bit peculiar,

“So, does that mean our mission is considered complete?”

“Well, I guess it depends on whether the Ivy League Alliance acknowledges it.”

“They definitely won’t. It’s not like we killed him.”

“Sowhat do we do?”

Shen Yuexin spread her hands and said,

“That’s something for the instructors to worry about, not us.”

“That really sucks!”

Lin Xiao had a face full of helplessness.

After speaking, he suddenly felt something was off. Looking up, he saw Shen Yuexin staring at him. He didn’t react at first but then heard her say softly with her red lips:

“Crude!”

“Hey, don’t get me wrong, I was just…”

Before he could finish, the space around them shook again. Lin Xiao quickly looked up and saw dozens of light gates open in the sky. Dozens of twisted figures, absorbing even the air around them, emerged and one by one, they bowed to the elder.

“Wow, they’ve all come!”

No sooner had he spoken than another few dozen light gates opened, and similarly, a group of silhouettes whose features were distorted by light descended. The square suddenly burst into life.

Well, time to watch the show, he thought. They stayed quietly on the side, not daring to speak, just watching the situation unfold.

The second group to enter clearly belonged to a different faction than the first, and after bowing to the elder, they started disputing.

They couldn’t hear what They were saying, but they could clearly feel the ripples of intense Divine Thoughts spreading out in layers across the Void.

It was obvious that this was a dispute between the observers representing the HuaXia District’s high schools and the observers from the Ivy League Alliance of High Schools.

Several hours later, after a sphere of light like the sun descended into the space, the sudden glaring Divine Light made it impossible to look directly at it. Lin Xiao struggled to open his eyes but was unable to do so because of the blinding glare.

He was shocked in his heart; certainly, a important Projection was Descending.

And not just any important figure. This was just a semi-descended Projection, and he couldn’t bear to look at it directly. If their True Body Descended, he, a student who wasn’t even a Demigod, would likely die on the spot.

This was only a Projection, not even an Incarnation. As everyone knows, a Projection can carry very limited strength.

If an Incarnation carries between one and fifty percent of a True God’s strength, a Projection carries only between one-thousandth and one ten- thousandth. If this Projection Descending can cause such an effect, it must be a Projection of Powerful Divine Power. It’s unknown which important figure it belongs to.

This important figure settled disputes with a single action. Both groups of observers dared not dispute any further and couldn’t even if they wanted to, because they were also suppressed by the natural power emanating from this important figure and were unable to communicate. They could only watch the newcomer communicate with the owner of God’s Tomb.

In the midst of his shock, Lin Xiao noticed a detail. Although he couldn’t see or hear the content of the discussion, the fact that an important Projection of Powerful Divine Power had personally descended, and the owner of God’s Tomb could calmly face them, suggested that the rank of the owner of God’s Tomb in life was extraordinary. At the very least, they must have been of a medium or higher God Level, or perhaps even of Powerful Divine Power.

Who knows how much time passed, the sun-like presence suddenly disappeared, and the many observers also vanished. Just as they were puzzled about what happened next, a flood of light fell from the sky, transforming into individual figures. In no time, the large gold crystal square was filled with people.

The few of them gaped at these Summer Camp competitors that suddenly appeared, thinking, Damn it.

“Bloody hell, this God’s Tomb was discovered by us, right? How come everyone has come here? Is the exchange competition not continuing?”

What was even more outrageous was that not only were the competitors from the HuaXia District present, but also all the players from the Ivy League Alliance of High Schools had arrived.

At this moment, Lin Xiao and his companions didn’t know what to say, feeling completely taken advantage of.

In contrast to their speechlessness, the five from Yuming Trading Company were cowering in a corner, shivering. Nearly two thousand elite students gathered, buzzing with overwhelming discussions. The five had an intense sense of not fitting in.

This feeling was like a student who hadn’t even finished junior high school suddenly mixing into a gathering at prestigious universities like Peking and Tsinghua, full of top students. Even if they tried hard to pretend to be students, they’d feel a strong barrier, a sense of not fitting in, as if everyone’s gaze at them was filled with suspicion.

However, they couldn’t refuse the decision from the military’s upper echelons. Moreover, they weren’t even Summer Camp contestants at this point, so they had to worry about whether they might be kicked out later.

The noisy situation didn’t last long. Lin Xiao heard a familiar bell ringing in his ears, and the plaza instantly quieted down, giving him the sensation of being back at the Summer Camp competition grounds. A mechanical voice sounded at his side:

“Due to special circumstances, the final phase of the Summer Camp exchange competition rules have been changed temporarily. Below are the new competition formats. Please pay attention to the information.”

“Damn, I knew it was going to be like this.”

He muttered to himself, resigned, yet still conscientiously checking the data below.

But the more he looked, the stranger the expression on his face became, occasionally glancing at the giant light sphere that had reformed.

The new rules were simple. Because he had accidentally discovered this ancient predecessor and the God’s Tomb, the original exchange competition was cancelled, replaced by the competition for God’s Tomb.

Yes, it was a competition for this God’s Tomb.

According to the new competition format, which is in line with Major General Keri’s strong wishes, everyone could draw a certain number of Cards from the card pool inside the central light sphere in the Divine Realm.

Each person initially has one hundred card points. A one-star Card is worth one point, a two-star Card three points, a three-star Card five points, a four-star Card ten points, and a five-star Card twenty points. Everyone would draw Cards randomly until they exhaust their hundred card points.

Worth mentioning is that they could freely choose the levels of the Cards they randomly drew.

In other words, they could opt to draw entirely one-star Cards or only two-star Cards, five-star Cards, and so on.

Afterward, each student would select three Cards from their Card library to form a Combat Card Group to battle against other students.