The Era of Gods

Lin Xiao also wore an expression of anticipation, by then he had already imagined how happy his parents would be when they heard the news, especially his mother.

He suddenly laughed, picturing in his mind how his mother would boast in front of her sisters-in-law.

Just then, Shen Yuexin, who had been curled up on the Golden Throne like an ostrich, suddenly lifted her head, her small mouth slightly open, displaying a look of surprise on her pretty face as if someone was contacting her.

At that moment, a starlight suddenly descended from the Vault of Heaven onto her, dazzling starlight swirling around, making the already beautiful girl even more stunningly gorgeous.

Simultaneously, streaks of starlight intermittently fell from the Vault of Heaven, enveloping various seated students in resplendent columns of light, where strands of light twisted and entwined to form strange marks that slowly descended upon those chosen.

The ordinary students below watched this scene, each revealing eyes filled with envy because these marks represented that they had been officially specially invited by the prestigious schools.

Previous invitations were special too, but since the Summer Camp was not yet over, nothing was confirmed; it was akin to a promise, and only when the Summer Camp ended and they were marked like now was it officially set in stone.

One after another, the starlight fell in succession, and each person enveloped in starlight showed a face of joy, whether they had obtained the top rank or were within the top three spots, simply receiving a special invitation signified they were among the best of their age group, an affirmation from the higher educational institutions.

The mark that was slowly taking shape on Shen Yuexin seemed to be from the Super Institution Mingluo, ranked seventh?

Was she specially invited by Mingluo?

Lin Xiao was about to ask her when suddenly a burst of crystal light exploded on her body, invisible ripples shattered the nascent Mingluo mark, and amidst a faint roar that abruptly halted, bits of crystal light gathered on her wrist into a new mark.

When he saw what this mark looked like, Lin Xiao’s pupils dilated and his heart sank, feeling extremely let down, as it was the emblem from the number one Super Academy, Radiance, which had granted her a special invitation, forcibly snatching her from the grasp of Mingluo.

According to the default rules, this meant that Radiance would not grant him a special invitation slot.

A hint of disappointment was on his mind, but he still smiled and said to the girl:

“Congratulations, this is a special invitation from Radiance.”

The girl was still somewhat confused, surprised she said:

“I didn’t receive an invitation from Radiance!”

“Then how come….”

Lin Xiao’s voice stopped abruptly as a point of light formed waves in his pupils, reflecting a handsome young man in white walking out of the ripples, his voice directly appearing in Lin Xiao’s mind:

“Mm, kid, consider yourself lucky!”

Then, a starlight fell from the sky and enveloped him, countless strands of light entwined, forming on his hand a mark identical to the one on Shen Yuexin.

“All, this….”

Both he and Shen Yuexin were stunned, rubbing their eyes vigorously, he whispered in disbelief to the girl beside him:

If I’m not mistaken, we’ve both been given a special invitation by Radiance?”

“Who’s ‘we’?”

The girl glanced at him disdainfully and said:

“It seems so, Radiance can give special invitations to two people at the same time?”

Others then noticed the marks on them, and the few contestants sitting with them on the Golden Throne could no longer maintain their youthful arrogance, almost all at once they widened their eyes in disbelief:

“How is this possible!”

“Isn’t it that each of the five top super academies can only choose one?”

“But this is Radiance!”

Wu Zhonglin simply uttered a phrase and nodded towards Lin Xiao and Shen Yuexin as a gesture.

“This is Radiance….”

“Yes, this is Radiance….”

A few youths murmured and sat down, their faces no longer showing surprise, but the strong envy in their eyes was undeniable.

The row of young people gradually calmed their emotions, not as astounded as before, but below, as more and more people heard or saw what happened, a flurry of shocked, envious, or puzzled looks were directed at the two, and countless muted discussions merged into a wave of voices, growing louder and louder.

Until suddenly, an abrupt bell rang out, and a column of light from the podium revealed the host, bringing calm to the hall.

The host, Instructor Mo, surveyed everyone with a commanding gaze, and with the hall silent, he began to speak with gravity:

“The third stage of this Summer Camp has now concluded, let me first congratulate you on your victory in the exchange match against the Ivy League Alliance of High Schools, this is a fine achievement for you all that will be recorded in your files, maybe it’s not much now, but in the future, when you join college or the military, it will bring additional benefits.”

After a pause, he continued:

“According to the predetermined schedule of the Summer Camp, the third stage is also the final stage, and shortly you will all receive your rewards and this session of the Summer Camp will come to an end, you may stay within the Fortress for three days. During this period, some students may receive a reservist invitation from the military, I hope those who receive an invitation will carefully review the contents, and if possible, accept this invitation.”

“Of course, this isn’t mandatory, but I’d like to remind you personally that this is a good thing,”

“Now, receive your rewards!”

As soon as the words were spoken, thousands of beams of light descended from the sky and enveloped all the students.

Although there were only about twenty students from the HuaXia District in the top hundred before the competition, which is pitifully few, according to the Summer Camp rules, anyone who remained until the end would receive an additional Card slot. Based on the final seating position, they would receive a certain number of rewards; the higher the position, the more rewards one would get, including an additional Ancient Quality God Card and five Golden Mythical Quality Five-Star Cards for each person in a Gold seat.

This meant that since Lin Xiao won the first place in the exchange competition, in addition to the four extra Card slots for the first place in the exchange, he also got five extra Card slots, as well as three Ancient Quality God Cards and fifteen random quality Five-Star Cards.

So many rewards…

Lin Xiao rubbed his hands together, full of anticipation.

As time passed, one by one, the pillars of light vanished, and soon only about twenty remained, then a dozen, and finally, only Lin Xiao, Shen Yuexin, and Wu Zhonglin were left.

Following their ranking, the beams of light extinguished one after another until only Lin Xiao was left, continuing to receive the energy blessing of Subspace under the watchful eyes of thousands.

Truth be told, this feeling was very satisfying, extremely satisfying.

But all good things come to an end, and once the blessing was complete, a screen of light unfolded before Lin Xiao. The much-awaited moment to claim his rewards began. Excitedly, he rubbed his hands and began to examine his prizes.

First, there were three Ancient Quality Cards to claim.

As he opened the interface of the Ancient Cards, a cascade of crystals fell, even more than the last time.

The dazzling array of Cards made his eyes blur, unsure of which one to choose.

However, he had a strategy. Setting aside other considerations, he first searched for the cards available in the smallest quantity, as these generally hold more value than mass-produced Ancient Cards like the Rank 3 Frost Magician.

Setting the search conditions, the screen shifted, and before him, the number of Cards swiftly changed. Only a few Ancient Cards, available as single copies, appeared in front of him, with the very first one immediately catching his eye.

Five-Star Item Card – Fire Dragon Essence Blood (Ancient): Grants a drop of mature Red Dragon Essence Blood, which can bestow a target with the Fire Dragon bloodline and has a chance of advancing the target to a Hero.

“This is good stuff indeed!”

Lin Xiao almost immediately grabbed this treasure without hesitation.

If another Divine Territory Player got their hands on this, they could create a Transcendent Rank 6 Red Dragonline Magician with the potential to reach the Legend level of Rank 8 from the outset.

But for Lin Xiao, it wasn’t just about creating a Dragonline Magician. He wouldn’t be so shortsighted as to just create a single Dragonline Magician. With the Creation Rubik’s Cube in his possession, his ambitions were far greater than most.

Then he turned his attention to the second single-copy Ancient Crystal Card, an extremely rare resource card: a Miniature Mithril Vein.

When slotted into the Divine Realm, it can form a miniature mithril vein underground at a specified location. Most importantly, this vein isn’t a one-time thing but continuously replenishing. As long as this Ancient Quality Card was active, it would endlessly generate new mithril.

This…

No doubt had high value since mithril itself is a critical material for high-level Magical Equipment and commands a high price in the market.

But the problem is that such an item is somewhat unnecessary for their current level, as they’ve yet to reach the stage of dealing with Magical Equipment. Unless he waits for his Wise Goblins to grow and begin attempting to create Magical Equipment, he could only dig it out and stockpile it or sell it on the trading platform.

So, PASS!

His gaze swiftly moved on to the third Card, a Weather Card. When installed in the Divine Realm, it could create ‘Lightning and Storm’ climates, and the Divine Realm Master could also manipulate lightning storms to enhance their majesty and prestige in the eyes of their believers, or injure enemies invading the Divine Realm.

Currently, the Divine Realm didn’t have any weather or climate other than the inherent breeze. There was no cloudy weather, rain, four seasons, lightning, etc. Possessing this card would form these two climates in the Divine Realm at specific times and also grant him the power to cast lightning storms, which was quite powerful.

But still…

“I’ll put it aside as an option for now!”

He didn’t say no; he would need all such Cards that completed the Divine Realm’s rules and would eventually want them all.

But with so many Cards here and a limited number of choices, he needed to see if there were more suitable ones for himself first.

He looked at each Card one by one, marking the necessary ones for now, intending to finish reviewing all the Cards before deciding.

After all, there was no time limit now. If he wanted to, he could sit and look through them for a whole day.

In reality, it didn’t take nearly that long, as the Ancient Quality Cards were not extremely numerous—just a couple of hundred varieties, and he quickly scanned through them without taking much time.

In fact, by the sixteenth Card, he had already found one that suited him perfectly and didn’t hesitate to pocket it, using up the second slot.

This was a Large Iron Mine Card, which upon placement in the Divine Realm, could form a large iron mine at a designated location.

Ore Vein sizes are categorized as Miniature, Small, Medium, Large, Massive, and Gigantic—seven scales in total. The scale isn’t necessarily related to the card’s level but to the rarity of the mineral resource in question.

For example, with the same Five-Star Ancient Quality, a mithril vein card can only form a miniature vein, while an iron vein can reach a large scale..