The Era of Gods

The head teacher spoke at length, and even the student Gu Xiaoming, who already knew, listened attentively:

“Ordinary resources or opportunities are distributed among most students, but some top-tier resources and opportunities are limited in number and can only be given to a few students who I consider the best. In every major class, I note down the names of the most outstanding students, and over several such classes, those who consistently receive excellent evaluations will naturally get the chance.”

At this point, she paused, and Lin Xiao could clearly sense a change in her gaze:

“In a few months, we will have our mid-term exams. Before that, there are three more major classes, making it a total of five, including the previous two. I will reward the top three students who have received the most excellent evaluations, with each rank receiving different rewards. The student who ranks first will get a top-tier resource, and all students who have received excellent evaluations during the term will have a chance to compete for a great opportunity that I hold.”

Back in the dormitory, Lin Xiao’s mind still lingered on the head teacher’s words.

Before the mid-term exams, the top three students who receive the most excellent evaluations in five major classes will get a rare high-level resource, with the first rank getting a top-tier resource.

He was very tempted by these rewards.

As for what a top-tier resource could be, he couldn’t imagine. Having never seen or heard of it, how would he know? But coming from the elite class’s head teacher of Radiance, a top-tier resource was undoubtedly something extraordinary, and he was very interested.

He had already received two excellent evaluations. Although the teacher did not specify the evaluations during the last major class, he had just learned from the teacher that he had received excellent evaluations in both classes.

As long as he could get excellent evaluations in the following three major classes, he was sure to be among the top three.

Back in the Divine Realm, Lin Xiao first merged two Divine Realm Cards into one. The quality was still a golden legend, but the combined area was equivalent to two merged cards, yet without any load.

He had no immediate need for the Divine Realm Cards and decided to save them, waiting to accumulate enough to merge into an even larger Divine Realm Card.

Then he took out the standard Lightning Spire blueprints and with a flick of his finger, a holographic three-dimensional model of a Lightning Spire materialized, which he scrutinized thoroughly.

Before long, he had completely memorized the blueprint, and a copy appeared on a shelf inside the Tower of Truth.

However, he temporarily blocked the Wise Goblins from seeing the Lightning Spire blueprints because, at that moment, blueprints for the Magic High Tower already existed in the Tower of Truth. The Wise Goblins hadn’t even begun to study that; let alone the Lightning Spire, which was essentially an advanced version of the Magic High Tower.

He set a condition that the blueprint would only be unlocked once the Wise Goblins had constructed their first Magic High Tower.

Not just this, but Lin Xiao also divided the Tower of Truth into several levels, sorting different knowledge based on learning conditions and sophistication. All Wise Goblins must initially master the basics of being a Mage before other knowledge would be unlocked.

After arranging these matters, Lin Xiao finally had the time to cast his sights further into the Divine Realm.

Main Divine Realm, Naga City.

With the tinkering of the Wise Goblins and the promotion by Pope Slarda, not only the Tower of Truth but also Naga City had undergone tremendous changes, with the city style gradually shifting from rugged to refined.

Or it could be said that, as the Wise Goblins gleaned more knowledge from the Tower of Truth, they propelled the evolution and development of civilization within the entire Divine Realm.

Knowledge is the driving force of civilization’s development. In any world, the advancement of civilization begins with an explosion of cultural knowledge.

To the south of Naga City, a giant convoy was stopped by the massive city gateway. Several Supreme Nagas, together with a few Wise Goblins and a large troop of Small Fishmen, were loading goods onto the convoy, heading south along the gravel-paved road.

Lin Xiao’s vision followed the winding road southward for over twenty kilometers, to the southernmost edge of the Main Divine Realm, where the land met the sea, revealing a newly established settlement, half on land and half in the water.

As the Divine Realm expanded, the population of the God Realm Kin surged, especially the Fishmen, with their numbers exceeding eighty thousand. The original Naga City was soon unable to house such a burgeoning population, so segregation became inevitable.

Just as all the world’s civilizations, after being born and growing strong, would divide and relocate to advance further.

For example, the Ancient Huaxia civilization was born in the Yellow River basin and gradually migrated outwards as it grew, eventually forming sizeable dynasties.

There are now three newly established settlements that have branched off within the Divine Realm, mostly populated by Small Fishmen with a few Supreme Nagas, all concentrated along the coast. One of them is even located near a small archipelago deep in the sea.

The Wise Goblins, however, did not mix with them and were concentrated in the City of Truth.

The City of Truth was constructed around the Tower of Truth. Initially, there was no plan, but as the city expanded, especially after the birth of the first Wise Goblin Hero Alemente, the whole race rallied around this powerful individual, and the City of Truth began its transition from disorder towards order.

The central area of the city is the core circle around the Tower of Truth. If the city is divided into a grid of three rows and three columns, the core circle would be at the center.

In this area, alongside the high-level buildings and city administration of the Wise Goblins, the most expansive facilities are two schools.

One is for the young new Wise Goblins, a primary school, while the other is an advanced college where they pursue higher learning after graduating from the primary institution.

Then, on the eastern side of the city’s four corners, the upper and lower corners are residential areas, with living arrangements segregated by status: those of higher status live in the upper corner, and those of lower status live in the lower corner.

Whereas the western corners house the experimental and workshop areas, where a large number of workshops, factories, or laboratories are built.

As for the areas directly opposite the city’s east, south, west, and north gates, these are naturally various commercial districts.

At this time in the Divine Realm, primitive forms of commerce had just begun to emerge.

The Wise Goblins had mastered various kinds of knowledge and would custom forge weapons and armor for Fishmen and Supreme Naga, which were very popular with everyone.

However, limited by conditions and scale, they were not yet able to forge on a large, regimented scale, but under the watchful eye of Pope Slarda of the Church of Truth and Creation, the Wise Goblins were researching how to mass-produce standardized Fishman armor and weapons.

Whether it was their natural inclination or a limitation of their physical form and strength, Lin Xiao felt the Wise Goblins did not like forging weapons and armor one by one; instead, they preferred researching methods that were both labor-saving and capable of mass production, which is the factory assembly line model.

Lin Xiao really liked this model.

If he had to choose between a clan of Dwarves capable of forging legendary weapons and armor and a Goblin Race that could only forge high-quality equipment but on a mass scale, he would definitely choose the Goblin tribe.

Of course, being able to choose both would be best.

The Wise Goblins mass-produced high-quality standard equipment for soldiers, while the Dwarves would craft powerful equipment tailored to the strong individuals in the Divine Realm, which was just perfect.

Lin Xiao felt that in the future, it was indeed worth considering introducing a clan of Dwarves into the Divine Realm.

Due to their racial talents, the Wise Goblin Race was destined to be unable to create top-tier equipment like the Dwarves, but the future expansion of the Divine Realm would provide enough space to accommodate more races.

His gaze swept across the immense expanse of the Divine Realm, passing over the lush vegetation on land and examining the sea area which occupied half of the Divine Realm. Under the tireless work of Fishman Magicians and the Water Elemental Divine Realm, a large amount of seawater was drawn from the unknown Water Elemental Plane to fill the sea, and the sea level of the God Realm Sea had not dropped significantly.

As the sea area expanded, the heavenly ecology provided an abundant breeding environment for marine life. Even if the sea area expanded hundreds of times, the marine ecosystem had not declined much compared to the beginning.

At the bottom of the sea, he saw Little DingDang, the Elemental Sprite who had not appeared to grow much in several decades. Although her physical size hadn’t increased much, her strength was skyrocketing, and the energy contained within the palm-sized Sprite now exceeded that of Rank 6 Super Large Water Elementals.

After integrating a portion of Divinity, her growth was much faster than natural development.

It could be foreseen that in no time, her strength would grow to the limit that the Divine Realm could contain—a Rank 7 Elemental Sprite.

“Hmm, maybe this could work too!”

At the thought, an invisible force suddenly appeared at the deepest part of the central area in the God Realm Sea, rapidly churning the water into a gigantic whirlpool.

Then, Lin Xiao’s figure appeared out of thin air in the depths of the sea.

“Brother!”

Startled by the whirlpool, the little Sprite joyfully flew over. Little DingDang, surrounded by a faint blue starlight, drew a trail of stars through the water as she flew into his hands, spinning around him in delight.

In the distance, the water surged, a powerful undercurrent pushed aside the lush aquatic plants, and a massive shadow slowly approached him with the flow.

It was a thirty-meter-long Dragon Turtle, not yet fully grown, but it had grown a bit over the years. Its strength was between Rank 6 and 7, but its defense was exceedingly strong; once it retracted into its shell, most creatures of Rank 7 could not break through its defenses.

The Dragon Turtle, full of spiritual intelligence, recognized Lin Xiao and approached him, then settled down emitting a muffled sound like a dragon’s chant.

Lin Xiao landed on the Dragon Turtle’s back and stroked its head, then decided to bestow a bit of his Divinity upon it.

The creature had grown into adolescence and was ready to integrate Divinity.

Upon integrating the Divinity, the Dragon Turtle immediately withdrew its limbs into its shell and fell into a deep sleep.

Lin Xiao left, holding the chattering little Sprite in his hand, confident in the Dragon Turtle’s defense which was nearly unbreakable within the entire Divine Realm, and those who could break it would not come here to harm it.

Holding the chatterbox of a Sprite, he arrived in front of the tornado that had formed a huge whirlpool in the center of the sea. He pointed at the whirlpool, and suddenly the space at the bottom center of the whirlpool cracked open. The water, finding an outlet, gushed down explosively.

At the same time, in the center of the Water Elemental Divine Realm, a hollow with a diameter of around a hundred meters formed, with the nutrient-rich waters of the sea gushing out from it, rising as an immense column of water surging towards the sky.

Lin Xiao, holding the palm-sized Little DingDang in front of him, spoke to the crystal-clear girl with a youthful appearance:

“Little DingDang, would you be willing to help your brother with something?”