The Era of Gods

Then, there was no “then”—Zhuo Jun directly surrendered and scurried off in defeat.

With a core wipeout in a single strike, there was no point in continuing the fight.

Emerging from the challenge domain, Lin Xiao noticed the gaze of many students on him had changed; several even nodded in acknowledgment when he looked their way.

Clearly, he had left a profound impression on them with just one battle, and his formidable strength had earned their respect.

He wasn’t surprised by this; he could beat silver-tier players even during the summer camp phase, let alone now, after the camp.

He wouldn’t say he was invincible, but out of the entire elite class of over a hundred students, at most five could be considered his equals in a broad sense.

Being on par with him was one thing, but whether they could beat him was another.

Perhaps any given one of them linked to a larger Clan could be stronger than him, but he believed that none could match his individual strength—an Rank 7 Legend-tier hero, capable of unleashing a single strike so powerful it wholly bridged the gap to the Legendary Level. There were very few at this stage who could withstand a full-force strike from Slarda.

The battle between Tiger Slayer and Red Frost was still ongoing, and after some consideration, Lin Xiao decided to request a view of their match.

The scenery flashed before his eyes, and a vast dimension appeared in front of him, with both parties’ Clans now engaged in a fervent battle, clashing intensely.

Unlike Lin Xiao, who had dispatched his opponent with a crushing victory, Tiger Slayer and Red Frost were special invitees with comparable strengths. Assessing their current forces and the corpses on the ground, Lin Xiao gauged that these two were veritable contenders against him at this stage.

Although neither had a powerful hero, the main forces of their Clans were vast in scale, numbering in the high thousands or nearly ten thousand. Even if Slarda could instantly kill their cores with a critical hit, the remaining forces still retained the strength to battle.

Most crucially, both of them possessed a trump card beyond their main Clans. Tiger Slayer even had a fourth Clan, an Advanced Race of Zorel Elves. Although small in number, their enormous potential was evident; as their numbers grew, their combat power would surge.

Of course, Lin Xiao believed he could ultimately defeat both, but it wouldn’t be easy.

Next, he exited the viewing, continuing to observe other battling pairs and making an interesting discovery.

He found that after entering their second year, particularly those students from Radiance had Clans that didn’t differ significantly in number from those of non-Radiance students, but there was much greater diversification in species.

That is to say, within the same Clan, they had several types of soldiers—a variety in troop types, no longer like in their first year when a Clan consisted solely of melee infantry or ranged Shooters.

The Advanced Races had basically begun to develop, starting to create their own weapons and equipment. Essentially, their Clans were self-sufficient in terms of arms crafted by their subsidiary races.

In this regard, Lin Xiao had some catching up to do, but the gap wasn’t extensive. The Wise Goblins had accumulated enough knowledge to start attempting to establish a comprehensive system.

By then, students gradually returned from their challenges—some joyous, others despondent. The fight between Tiger Slayer and Red Frost turned out to be the longest, with their equal and formidable strengths making victory elusive for a time.

The class teacher was in no hurry, simply waiting.

Finally, after over four hours, both came back to their senses. Tiger Slayer showed a glimmer of joy, while Red Frost’s face betrayed frustration, implying Tiger Slayer had won by a slight margin but Red Frost’s expression suggested the victory was not by much, hence the disappointment.

Regardless of disappointment, a win was a win. Surprisingly, after his victory, Tiger Slayer refrained from any offensive talk, perhaps cautious due to the narrow win.

The class teacher, arms crossed, watched them coldly for a while before speaking in a chilly tone,

“Is there anyone else who wants to continue challenging?”

No one spoke.

The class teacher asked once more,

“The teacher is very interested in this. Is there anyone else who wants to continue challenging?”

Again, no one spoke.

“If that’s the case, let it be. We will now begin the first tactical class of the new semester. Let me first announce the rules.”

With a flick of her finger, a screen popped up in front of Lin Xiao, displaying:

“This class will be an invasion exercise. Your opponents will be projections of senior students from past years, who were also in the elite class. Each of you has been assigned a universal tier number based on your initial ranking. The invaders of your Divine Domain will be the projections of seniors from the same tier. This all depends on your initial rankings.”

Lin Xiao lightly tapped on the screen, and the newly popped-up interface displayed an introduction to the so-called universal stratification system.

It meant the homeroom teacher ranked the 105 elite class students according to their final exam results at the end of the junior year, combined with the teachers’ evaluations, dividing them into several different tiers—quite simply Black Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Gold—these four tiers can also be considered as lower, middle, upper, and top level. It’s the same meaning, and it’s always been divided this way.

If a student is assessed at the Black Iron tier, then the invading seniors’ projections were also from the Black Iron tier at the time.

If one is assessed at the Gold tier, the invading seniors’ projections will certainly also be at the Gold tier.

This is about both strength and luck since there are also differences within the same tier.

Especially at the Gold tier, after all, anyone who meets a certain standard is at the Gold tier, just like Lin Xiao who finally took the Golden Throne at the summer camp, and so did classmate Wu Zhonglin. The gap between them is hard to articulate. If matched against such an opponent, hehe…

“In this grand class, there are no rankings, any student who defeats their invading opponent will receive a standard armored golem blueprint,” announced the homeroom teacher Jin Sisi, as she pointed with her right hand and a giant mechanical projection appeared before everyone, slowly rotating.

This was a roughly four-meter tall warrior, made entirely of metal, resembling a mech suit, equipped with a five-meter-long serrated greatsword and a shield as tall as a house, with enchantments that could deflect certain spells.

The Armored Golem, also known as a Heavy Armor Golem, is a type of golem, modeled after the Steel Golem. It is more agile than the Steel Golem but both its strength and defense are lower than the Steel Golem’s, and it is classified as Rank 5 in terms of power.

This was undoubtedly a valuable item. Although it was just a blueprint, its actual value was comparable to an Ancient Card.

With a blueprint, as long as there are sufficient materials and a qualified Clan, one could continuously produce Armored Golems. The blueprint is permanent.

Next, the homeroom teacher went on to explain the subsequent rules, stretching her hand to extinguish the screens in front of everyone, and said:

“Real invasions carry risks. If you feel outmatched or cause significant damage to the Divine Realm, you are allowed to yield, but accordingly, there will be no rewards.”

“You can now return to prepare in your Divine Realms. The invasion will begin in five Divine Realm days!”

As her voice fell, everyone hurriedly returned to their Divine Realms. Lin Xiao also quickly returned to his Divine Realm and immediately issued a Divine-mandate, ordering his Clans to prepare. The entire city immediately went into a state of readiness for battle.

He looked down at his increasingly vast Divine Realm. After pondering for a while, his will left the Main Divine Realm, passed through the Crystal Wall, and crossed the Void to arrive at a Divine Realm space with a diameter of about five kilometers, one of the two largest among the six subsidiary Divine Realm spaces he had established.

Since it was separated from the Main Divine Realm and obstructed by the chaotic Void, the effects of the Divine Domain Heaven Card from the Main Divine Realm couldn’t extend over. If he wanted to change the environment, he would need a large number of Cards to manage this Divine Realm space.

However, Lin Xiao didn’t need to do so. Without needing anything, he simply took out the Flame Melting Sea, an ultra-modified Ancient Five Star Card, and a card that appeared in his hand like an orb of dense crystalline light. With a thought, he activated it, and a huge vortex of flame appeared in the center of the Divine Realm. A gigantic Fire Element with a crown on its head slowly emerged from the vortex of flame, riding atop rolling waves of magma. The giant’s arms of magma slowly spread apart as it lifted its head and roared:

“I am Kurbert, Lord of Flames!”

As It declared Its existence to the world, the vortex of flame suddenly expanded explosively. Countless small and large Fire Elements, riding the waves of molten lava torrents, burst out from the vortex, quickly spreading over the entire Divine Realm space.

Flame Melting Sea Card, loaded.

This card, which had merged with many including Ancient-tier ultra-modified Divine Cards during the exchange competition, finally saw the light of day again within his Divine Realm.

From this point on, this subsidiary Divine Realm space named the Flame Divine Region by Lin Xiao is the territory of the Flame Lord Kurbert, who will exist permanently within this Divine Realm space.

From then on, Lin Xiao could summon the Flame Lord Kurbert to the Main Divine Realm or a Foreign Dimension to battle at any time, just as Mages from the Foreign Domain summon Fire Elements from the Crystal Wall Fire Elemental Plane in the Different Domain. As long as Its origin will wasn’t destroyed, even if summoned out for battle and killed, It could return to the Flame Divine Region to draw upon the strength of flames and be reborn.

The Flame Lord Kurbert, newly summoned, excitedly threw up surging waves of fiery molten lava, melting the earth of the entire Divine Realm space into more lava, its roaring bellow filled with oppressive force resounding through the plane.

Lin Xiao watched calmly as the excited Kurbert, and with a thought, an unimaginably powerful presence descended, immediately calming the tumultuous molten lava waves. The Flame Lord, standing atop the peak of the lava waves, plunged into the magma like a stone.

A huge face that covered the entire Vault of Heaven of the plane slowly emerged, its cold and merciless pupils focusing on the now disheveled Lord of Flames. Kurbert’s raging blaze was extinguished in an instant, and It slowly bowed Its head, kneeling on the calm sea of magma, while the other Fire Elements had already prostrated themselves, daring not to move.

Lin Xiao nodded, extended a finger, and granted a spark of Divinity to Kurbert.

As a Lord of Flames, Kurbert’s potential was without question. As long as the Divine Realm was strong enough, It could become infinitely powerful. Even without Divine Enthronement, It could have power akin to that of a Deity within Its own territory. Bestowing a spark of Divinity was very much worth it.

“Now we’re set!”

His will returned from the Flame Divine Region, and he felt very confident about the upcoming invasion.

After assimilating that spark of Divinity, the already Rank 6 Fire Lord Kurbert would naturally step into the Rank 7 tier.. The Flame Lord Template could grant It strength far surpassing Its kin,