The Era of Gods

But there was no choice.

Since it was a standard course, they had to complete it all, and it was for their own good.

After all, there was a significant gap between Deity who knew spells and those who didn’t.

Placed in a Different Domain’s Crystal Wall, it was equivalent to the gap between a wise Deity with wisdom and a wild beast with only instinct when it came to Divine Enthronement.

Moreover, if they knew spells, they wouldn’t need to use Divine Power for everything upon entering a Foreign Dimension; some simple enemies could be completely dealt with using spells.

Additionally, the power system of spells was very strong; with sufficient preparation, some exceptionally powerful legendary Mages could even slay gods.

Dr. Sun’s distributed materials were rich in content and even came with video tutorials that explained the principles of each spell clearly. Mortals might still be confused after listening, but for Divine Beings, it was much easier to understand, at least for the lower-level principles.

After distributing the materials, Dr. Sun tapped the table to remind them to return to the Divine Realm for self-study, then transformed into a beam of light soaring into the sky, and left.

The classroom quieted down for a moment before students began to return to the Divine Realm to study as quickly as possible.

Lin Xiao was also preparing to go back to the Divine Realm when suddenly he received a message. Upon opening it, he saw a stranger had added him to a group chat.

After a moment’s thought, he accepted and immediately entered a chat group which, including him, only had five people. No one was chatting, just a few people asking what this group was. Just then, the one who had invited him, named Red Frost, spoke up in the group:

“Now that everyone is here, this is a special recruitment group. The five of us are the specially recruited students of Radiance Second High. I pulled everyone in hoping we could band together to avoid being bullied by the locals.”

“This…”

Lin Xiao was pondering the necessity of such a group when he heard someone with the nickname Tiger Slayer speak in an extremely contemptuous tone, “Specially recruited and still needs to stick together, shameful!”

Having said that, Tiger Slayer left the group.

“Damn, that’s hurtful as hell!”

The utter contempt in the tone was infuriating at first listen, and even if it was unrelated to him, Lin Xiao felt a rush of nameless anger to the brain. That was not the way to speak at all.

Within just a few seconds, the others began to leave the group one after another, and soon it was just Lin Xiao and Red Frost left.

Awkward!

He spread his hands and messaged:

“Well, if everyone’s left, then I’m leaving too.”

“Sure!”

A single word popped up in the group chat, and then it suddenly disbanded before Lin Xiao had the chance to exit himself.

“This really is.”

He shrugged his shoulders, gaining a preliminary understanding of the personalities of the other four specially recruited students.

Apart from Red Frost, the others were all very prideful and seemed difficult to get along with.

But such a character was normal for those who were specially recruited by Radiance; they must be extremely outstanding, the best of the local best, so pride was expected.

Luckily, they were not his teammates but rather his competitors.

He laughed to himself and returned to the Divine Realm.

After briefly checking that the state of the Divine Realm was normal, he refocused and opened a book on the principles of beginner-level spells to start his studies.

There wouldn’t be enough time in the Main World, but in the Divine Realm, there was no issue.

A day in the Main World was a year in the Divine Realm, leaving plenty of time.

What followed was years of meticulous, ample study. For the most part of a week in the Main World, he stayed in the Divine Realm to learn these magical knowledge, while occasionally ensuring that the Divine Realm developed as he had envisioned.

Meanwhile, every day he expended the Power of Faith to use the Divine Extraordinary Ability ‘Reproduction’ to speed up the breeding rate of the Supreme Naga.

At this time, the number of Small Fishman in the Divine Realm had long surpassed twenty thousand, but there were just over two thousand Supreme Naga—still far from enough.

To catch up with the other specially recruited students, Lin Xiao estimated that the Supreme Naga would need to number at least three thousand given their combat strength. To stand out in a superpower school like Radiance Second High, three thousand would not be enough; a minimum of four thousand was needed, the more, the better.

Fortunately, the start of the school term was uneventful. For two consecutive weeks, the main content of the two big classes was self-study of the magic system. Dr. Sun’s second class primarily answered their questions without introducing new theoretical content.

After half a month like this, translating to a full fifteen years in the Divine Realm, he sternly plowed through several hundred books. Whether he understood or not was secondary; for now, he had forcefully memorized them.

He did this mainly because he had discovered a secret of the Tower of Truth.

It’s not exactly a secret, but a function of the Tower of Truth that was discovered by chance.

After he had memorized all of the content, he found that everything he had committed to memory was projected into the Tower of Truth. With each book he remembered, a corresponding book would form inside the Tower of Truth.

This was the main reason he relied on rote memorization. Leaving other considerations aside for the moment, the first step was to memorize this entire body of content, and then…

… he would have his Clan of Wise Goblins study these magic books. Then, through the feedback from the Tower of Truth, he could master any knowledge that his followers researched and understood from the Tower.

That is to say, he could have his Clan help him understand and study this magical knowledge.

With this ability discovered by chance, under his deliberate push, the Wise Goblins began to study these basic magical knowledge crazily, enabling his understanding of the magic system to advance by leaps and bounds. He had long become a formal Mage capable of casting spells on his own.

And with his Divinity Level as high as Level 3, after getting through the hardest phase, his spellcasting ability began to grow rapidly. He was now capable of casting spells up to Rank 7.

Looking at this trend, it wouldn’t be long before he could cast Rank 9 spells.

As for Legendary Spells, it’s a bit more problematic—this involves the application of rules. Without becoming a Demigod, one cannot touch upon the rules, which means that no matter how they study at this stage, they can’t cast Legendary Spells. At most, they can only become more skillful on top of the existing Rank 9 spells they know.

Specifically, as his understanding of the magic system deepens, his casting speed becomes faster, the cost of casting spells becomes lower, and he gradually masters various super-magical techniques.

At this stage, even among Grand Magicians capable of casting Rank 9 spells, the difference between them can be vast. Some weaker Mages are just ordinary firing platforms, using only fixed spellcasting, while some Mages with a large number of super-magical techniques or even some perverted ones can fight beyond their level, easily crushing some non-magic-based Legends.

Lin Xiao derived great benefits from the Tower of Truth through the Wise Goblins, and these Wise Goblins also gained a lot from the Tower of Truth. Although there hasn’t been a Wise Goblin who has become a Mage on their own without a Profession Card, the trend is apparent.

Moreover, with the whole Clan studying these magical knowledge together, several Wise Goblins have emerged as the most intelligent of their kind.

Lin Xiao had high expectations for these few Wise Goblins and specifically marked these three to indicate his emphasis. Once any Wise Goblin manages to become a formal Mage without a Profession Card, he will grant Divinity and focus on nurturing them.

“Hmm?”

One day, while sitting in the Divine Palace’s throne observing the Tower of Truth, Lin Xiao suddenly had an epiphany, an idea suddenly surfaced in his mind.

After pondering for a moment, his eyes shone brighter, and with a snap of his fingers, he declared,

“Just like this!”

He reached out his hand and grabbed the head of a Semi-god Vampire, pulling it out and throwing it into the Creation Rubik’s Cube. With a thought, the Creation Rubik’s Cube slowly turned, and a sharp scream followed as the remaining will of the Semi-god Vampire was erased—along with it, the Godhood of Vampire and Bloodsucking was also wiped out.

Godhood is a manifestation of rules, something ethereal. Without Divinity to bear the Godhood, it can only exist reliant on the will of the god’s soul. When the self-will is erased, the Godhood naturally disappears.

So, don’t think about killing a Demigod to gain Godhood. That’s impossible. You can only gain Divinity.

Wiping the will of the Vampire…

Well, after extracting and cleansing the will from the Soul of God, the pure god-soul is no longer vampiric. At this time, there’s no concept of race; it’s just a pure spirit.

He took out this pure spirit and erased the will and spiritual Branding still lingering in those five points of Divinity. After fusing it into the pure spirit, he formed a pure divine spirit, then introduced it into the Divine Realm to reincarnate as a Wise Goblin.

That’s right, if he couldn’t wait for a subordinate to inherit those five points of Divinity, why not start from scratch and cultivate one himself?

Born with five points of Divinity, and inherently a Divine Being, the potential is immense from the start; reaching adulthood would mean reaching a Rank 7 High Transcendent Level, and with a bit more encouragement, easily become a powerful Hero. How wonderful.

Lin Xiao was quite pleased with this idea and was now just waiting for its birth to train it properly.

However, he had to wait for the right birth date because the first big class of the semester was about to start, and the head teacher’s early message indicated that the first big class would be about defending against invasions, meaning sending enemies to invade the Divine Realm.

At this time, he dare not let the spirit reincarnate; if it accidentally died in the fierce battle, that would be a disaster.

In half a month’s time, which was fifteen years within the Divine Realm, the Divine Realm had expanded dozens of times compared to the beginning. The population of Small Fishmen had grown to over 25,000, a vast base number with a reproduction rate that was accelerating.

The Wise Goblins had surged from the initial 2,000 to nearly three thousand over the past twenty years, and their number was also rapidly rising, having now surpassed 3,000.

As for the Supreme Naga, under his continuous casting of the Reproductive Divine Extraordinary Ability ‘Speed Up,’ there were now more than 2,600, although over two hundred were still children. Deducting the thirty-eight Rank 6 Supreme Naga Whale Knights, there were around 1,500 Rank 5 Supreme Naga Warriors left.

The number of Supreme Naga had increased by about a thousand compared to the Summer Camp, and more than ten had reached the Rank 6 Transcendent Level. Adding Slarda, who had stepped into Rank 7, the overall strength of the Divine Realm had nearly doubled from the beginning.

With preparations complete, he returned from the Divine Realm.

Seeing the time was about right, he tidied up a bit, stepped out the door, and rode on the Crystal Disc. With a point of his finger, a very faint colorless light membrane shielded his entire body as he rose into the air and flew directly to the classroom. This object had now become his mode of transportation.

This extremely faint invisible light membrane is a Rank 1 Shield Spell, forming an invisible force field to withstand certain damages. It doesn’t offer high protection, but it’s quite useful against the wind.

In the radiance of the first battle…

After studying magical knowledge for over a decade in the Divine Realm, with nearly three thousand Wise Goblins painstakingly researching and feeding back to him, Lin Xiao had reached a very high level in his theoretical studies.

He had begun to master some super-magical techniques and was confident that, among his classmates, his progress was likely the fastest.

The Crystal Disc was strikingly fast….