The Era of Gods

Just a cursory glance revealed five cards within, two purple epics, one orange legend, one golden mythical, and also a glistening ancient godly card. For Grandpa, as a demigod, this was indeed a super jackpot.

He didn’t decline, taking them with a sweet smile and saying,

“Thank you, Grandpa!”

“Good boy, this is what you deserve.”

The next morning, Lin Xiao was woken up early by his mother, got ready, and went to have breakfast at his grandpa’s house, where he heard that his grandma had cooked it herself. After eating, his grandpa took him and his father to the castle where his great-grandfather lived.

On the way, they sometimes encountered clan relatives, and he distinctly felt a warmth from everyone that was different from before.

At the castle gates, they met his great-uncle, along with Lin Xu, and his grandpa, who rarely smiled, stepped forward with a cupped-fist salute:

“Is big brother also here to see Father?”

In Lin Xiao’s usual impression, his great-uncle, who always kept a straight face, now showed a rare smile as he nodded:

“Today, I brought Xu to see Father.”

He then looked towards Lin Xiao and waved him over, and Lin Xiao quickly stepped forward to pay his respects:

“Xiao pays his respects to Great-Uncle.”

“Very good!”

His great-uncle nodded approvingly and said:

“The two of you are the most outstanding in our clan. You must support each other moving forward.”

As he spoke, he flipped his hand, and three cards shining with golden light appeared in his palm, which he handed over:

“Don’t refuse, this is a congratulatory gift from your great-uncle. Although it’s not as much as what you gave to Xu, this is my sentiment.”

“Then your grandson will not be polite.”

Obviously, his great-uncle knew about the demi-god statue and Divine Realm card he had given Lin Xu; this was a return gift.

It had to be said that reality could be very realistic; once he showed great potential, even a true god like his great-uncle couldn’t avoid being common.

But that was reality, everyone was worldly, and were Lin Xiao in the same position, he probably would have done the same.

Before long, inside the castle, they met their great-grandfather, a true god who looked seven or eight parts like his great-uncle and grandpa but had the appearance of an elderly man with white hair, which was the fifth time Lin Xiao had seen his great-grandfather since growing up. Previously, he’d only seen him at major family gatherings.

A true god has an immortal lifespan, and it’s rare to see one looking old.

For instance, Major General Keri looked old, but that was because his true body had fallen.

The reason his great-grandfather looked so old was that he felt old in spirit. If he wished, he could revert to his youthful appearance at any time.

Like his grandpa, his great-grandfather was in a good mood today, he encouraged both him and Lin Xu, and produced exquisite gift boxes for each of them, which clearly contained a pile of cards.

Lin Xu humbly accepted his, but Lin Xiao pondered before accepting and said:

“Please forgive me, Great-Grandfather, but if possible, I would like to exchange these for some fragments of broken ancient treasures.”

His great-grandfather’s long white eyebrows raised as he inquired curiously:

“Fragments of broken ancient treasures?”

“Yes, any pieces will do, even if they are completely useless.”

“Hm!”

His great-grandfather pondered for a moment and didn’t ask what he needed them for but only said:

“I do have some fragments that I’ve collected before. Well, I’ll give them all to you.”

At this moment, his great-uncle said:

“I also have some collected fragments; I’ll give them to you as well.”

Lin Xiao was delighted inside and promptly said:

“Your grandson thanks you, Great-Grandfather, and Great-Uncle.”

So, a total of eight ancient treasure fragments were acquired, each belonging to different treasures, among them two pieces clearly contained more powerful energy and were probably not just rank 1 treasure fragments.

“If you want more, wait a few days, and your great-grandfather will look for some for you.”

Coming back from his great-grandfather’s place, Lin Xiao plunged into the Divine Realm.

If complete ancient treasures were definitely out of his reach, and pristine ones were good items not even the powerful divine powers would earn much from, the mere broken fragments without any use other than for collecting were a different matter.

His great-grandfather had said he would look for some in a few days, probably going to a platform where true gods exchanged. Lin Xiao didn’t know how much he could bring back.

In this matter, Lin Xiao really wanted to say he would take as much as possible, but these items weren’t cheap. Even as collectibles, they cost around a hundred million Power of Faith each, and it wasn’t likely his great-grandfather would actually spend tens of billions to collect a bunch.

The key was, he couldn’t easily explain why he needed so many fragments of ancient treasures, only claiming he wanted them for collection and a bit of research. Without a good excuse, it wasn’t possible to get too many.

In the Divine Palace within the Divine Realm, nearly two years had passed in the Divine Sanctuary while two days went by in the main world. The Divine Sanctuary had already merged a considerable amount of Divine Kingdom fragments, expanding by a large margin.

The expanded areas of the Divine Sanctuary were wastelands, but under the influence of the Divine Domain Heaven Card, the perfect paradise ecosystem of the existing Divine Sanctuary was slowly covering and expanding into the new lands, turning the barren earth into fertile new soil.

The type of new territory obtained with a Divine Realm Card generally depends on the type of the card: if the card designates a water area, it becomes a water area; if it designates wasteland, it becomes wasteland; if it specifies Fertile Black Soil, then that’s what it becomes.

If the new land is obtained through the fusion of a Sanctuary or a God Country, its type is normally determined by the fused entities and is generally wasteland, requiring one’s own efforts to transform.

Under Lin Xiao’s intentional control, the newly spawned terrain of the entire Divine Realm on the right side paralleled the ocean’s floor, and whenever a new part was spawned, the seawater spread, forming a new sea area.

The section on the right grew normally, all becoming plains.

He did want to create mountain ranges and the like, and it was technically feasible to achieve this, but in reality, the spawned mountains were only mound-shaped lands, not actual mountains made of rock—essentially dirt hills.

Of course, even if they were dirt hills, over time and under various geological activities, they might eventually turn into rock, but that would take much too long, far beyond the early stages where he couldn’t afford to wait.

Currently, the area of the Divine Realm had more than tripled compared to two years ago, but only about one percent of the Divine Kingdom fragments in the God’s Tomb had disappeared. This meant that once all the Divine Kingdom fragments were fully integrated into the Divine Realm, the total area of his domain was feared to increase by more than three hundred times the original size.

“That’s really exaggerated!”

Lin Xiao’s mouth spread into an almost ear-to-ear grin.

He rubbed his hands together and summoned, with a gesture, twinkling stars that sketched out the Creation Rubik’s Cube before him.

Lin Xiao restrained his excitement, deciding the Divine Realm didn’t need attention for now. At less than one percent integration, full fusion was still three or four months away—plenty of time.

Stretching out his right hand, he scattered a handful of Relic Shards that floated in the void; with a light tap, eight Relic Shards successively fell into the Magic Cube. The massive cube began to slowly rotate, disseminating a mysterious ripple.

From the last batch, the Relic Shards had yielded just over one unit of Creation Energy. This time, two shards clearly came from higher-rank Ancient Treasures, and he expected a bit more.

Before long, ripples sprayed out from a seam in the Creation Rubik’s Cube as it ceased to rotate, and a smile emerged on his face as he felt the infusion:

“Not bad!”

Approximately four units plus a bit of Creation Energy, enough to synthesize some nice things.

First, he took stock of his cards. Lin Xiao currently held five Ancient Quality Cards—three from Summer Camp, one from his grandfather, and one from his great-grandfather.

He also had a total of twenty-four Mythical Quality Five Star cards, one Legendary Quality Five Star card, and two Epic Quality Five Star cards. Of these, the Mythical Quality Five Star cards were fifteen from Summer Camp, one from his grandfather, three from his grand-uncle, and five from his great-grandfather.

Beyond these, he also had seven Mythical Quality cards left from the first two phases of Summer Camp, as well as a motley assortment of loot.

All things considered, the Summer Camp haul was indeed spectacular; with so many resources, he had exceeded what many ordinary True God descendants had and instantly narrowed the gap to those True God descendants.

Lin Xiao currently had six additional card slots: one from the gains of Summer Camp and the rest from his monthly quota, allowing him to fuse six cards, which was an opportunity for significant reinforcement.

First, he laid out the five Ancient Quality Cards. Speaking of which, it was surprising that his grandfather could offer an Ancient Quality card, which even for Demigods, is considered quite valuable.

However when he saw the attribute of the Ancient Quality card his grandfather gave, Lin Xiao fell into thought.

Five Star Resource Card — Large Red Iron Ore Vein Card: When loaded into the Divine Realm, a regenerating large Red Iron Ore vein is formed at a specified location along with a small number of random types of accompanying minerals.

This…

It’s not to say it’s bad; on the contrary, his grandfather was very considerate since such large veins are generally needed by everyone.

Moreover, his grandfather didn’t know he already had an Ore Vein Card, so it just shows they were thinking along the same lines.

With a bit of a bemused smile, he set the vein card aside for now. He didn’t feel disappointed, after all, it was a gift from his grandfather—an unexpected bonus, so no reason to feel disappointed.

Then, checking the second card from his great-grandfather, his eyes brightened—

Five Star Summoning Card — Storm Giant (Ancient): Summons an immature Storm Giant.

“Goodness, my great-grandfather has things like this!”

An adult Storm Giant could rival a Dragon, a powerful existence capable of controlling storms and a natural Legendary Creature.

This immature Storm Giant had a strength of at least Rank 6 and could continue growing up to the Transcendent Level of Rank 8.

Of course, that’s provided the God Domain Strength can accommodate Legendary Creatures of Rank 8.

Lin Xiao’s Divine Realm could currently accommodate creatures of High Transcendent Level at Rank 7, so this giant could continue to grow to the peak of Rank 7.

But Lin Xiao’s considerations obviously extended beyond simply summoning a Transcendent Creature. In that instant, a new idea popped into his mind.

Could the Storm Giant match his own Supreme Naga?

It was an intriguing thought, and Lin Xiao was quite interested.

Yet, to attempt this idea, a large amount of Creation Energy would be required for implementation, which his current four units certainly would not suffice.

After some thought, he decided to keep the Storm Giant Card and the Fire Giant Essence Blood, these two Ancient Cards, tucked away until enough Creation Energy was accumulated.

Then, looking at the remaining three Ancient Cards laid out before him, Lin Xiao stroked his chin in contemplation.

He certainly had thoughts about these three cards, but upon reflection, he decided against proceeding with his initial idea.

His idea was to fuse these three Ancient Cards—integrating the two Large Ore Vein Cards into the Mountain Range Card, and maybe adding some Creation Energy to see if he could merge a special Ore Card, such as a mountain composed entirely of Red Iron Ore.

But upon further consideration, he thought better of it because it felt a bit pointless.

At this stage, two large iron mines were fully sufficient for the Divine Realm’s needs, and another mine mountain was redundant.

There was no need to waste Creation Energy just to save a couple of card slots..