The Era of Gods

The teacher paused, and her aggressive gaze softened slightly as she said,

“You have one month to consider, and if you haven’t responded by the next major class, it will be taken as an automatic forfeiture.”

Exiting the teacher’s office, Lin Xiao walked while deep in thought.

The teacher’s proposal…

He was quite tempted.

After all, just as Jin Sisi had said, he had an ordinary background and under normal circumstances would never have access to such top-tier resources and grand opportunities.

There is no such thing as a free lunch in the world, and resources don’t appear out of thin air.

Just like the resources he was now acquiring from Glorious, it was a trade-off for joining them, and if he grew to be successful, he would not be able to escape Glorious if they ever needed him.

Of course, given Glorious’s immense power, they were unlikely to ever need anything, which meant he was basically getting a freebie.

But that was the rule, once something happens, he can’t escape.

The massive resources at Jin Sisi’s disposal could not be exploited for free, they could only be traded for a price, and that price was this so-called ‘authority.’

Lin Xiao, now more mature than before he joined Glorious and much more cautious, wasn’t prepared to agree without understanding the situation first— he needed to figure out exactly what this ‘authority’ was, including the extent of its power.

On his way back, he searched the campus internet, inputting the keyword ‘Tianjiao deputy list authority.’

Then, he sifted through a bunch of content, looking at over a hundred entries without finding what he was looking for.

He didn’t continue his search, aware that he definitely wouldn’t find this information online—it was blocked.

But he had a way. If there was no news on the net, he could always look for someone likely to know, like his little aunt.

He immediately sent her a message full of affectionate words, and incidentally asked the question at the end.

It took a while before Shen Yuexin replied:

“The teacher has called a few students for special training, and I don’t have time. Ask my brother directly, I’ve told him about you, just contact him.” emmm

Special training?

Contact the uncle.

Truthfully, he was reluctant to do so. His uncle seemed to have a bit of a temper and was stingy, but since his little aunt had mentioned it, it would seem rude not to call. Besides, what if he came over to beat me up?

Using the unfamiliar contact provided by Shen Yuexin, he worded his message carefully and repeated the question from earlier.

Then, with no response, he didn’t dare to press further.

Not until he returned to the dormitory and finished his meal did a projection pop up without his permission, forming the virtual image of the uncle, who scanned the dormitory without any pretense of politeness and spoke,

“What do you want to ask?”

Lin Xiao put on an ingratiating smile and repeated his question.

“Pretending you don’t know, you’re definitely doing this on purpose.”

Xia Yu, after listening, turned to look at Lin Xiao with a strange gaze and said,

“Did that little girl Jin Sisi take a liking to you?”

“Cough, it’s my teacher.”

The way this sounds, anyone uninformed might misunderstand the situation.

“That’s a good thing, why wouldn’t you agree?”

This virtual projection seemed a bit different; it could even sit down beside his bed and, smoothing the sheets, said,

“You’re so poor, and to make it on the Tianjiao deputy list before the college entrance exam by yourself is nearly impossible. Now that you have a wealthy patron wanting to sponsor you, that’ s a good thing.”

I…

Lin Xiao knew his uncle didn’t think much of him, so he smiled weakly and said in a soft voice,

“Brother, what exactly is this ‘authority’?”

“It’s nothing special. You can think of it as an Infinite Wish Art from the Gaia Will, capable of satisfying any of your desires within the rules, including allowing you to Ignite the Divine Fire and become a God immediately, without any side effects.”

Lin Xiao’s eyes widened in shock. In that moment, he thought of a legend—the supreme ruler of the Toriel Crystal Wall Universe, His Majesty Ao, was said to wield the terrifying Divine Power capable of bestowing divinity upon mortals in an instant. And from this, he wondered, could the Gaia Will in the Main World be the Supreme God of this world?

As he pondered, Xia Yu continued,

“Although this Infinite Wish Art is extremely precious, everything in the world comes at a cost, and you can’t expect to have all the good things to yourself. Given your background, you’ve basically reached your limit at this stage. If you want to go further, you need support, so you can agree.”

“Moreover, that little girl Jin Sisi probably wants this ‘authority’ to save her father. If she succeeds, you’ll owe a favor to someone with a Powerful Divine Power of God Level 19. This is a life-saving grace, nothing less significant than the ‘authority’ you’d be granting.”

“Hiss, God Level 19 Powerful Divine Power…”

Lin Xiao felt his uncle made some valid points. As he was about to speak, the uncle who disliked him sniffed and said,

“Don’t count on my sister. Even though my family doesn’t lack these resources, as a man, you shouldn’t want to live off your girlfriend. I’m sure you wouldn’t like that.”

“Cough, actually, I would be okay with that…”

He didn’t dare say it out loud, for fear of getting beaten.

“Alright, seeing as you’ve been behaving well and have been honest lately, I won’t beat you up. Remember, until you meet our standards, keep your hands to yourself, and don’t take advantage of my sister.”

Two sword shadows crossed in front of him, and the threatening projection of his brother-in-law disappeared just like that.

This brother-in-law is really…

Lin Xiao was speechless.

Fortunately, although his brother-in-law didn’t like him, he wouldn’t deceive him out of respect for his little aunt.

If it was as Xia Yu had said, this was indeed a good deal. A favor from a powerful divine power with a God Level as high as Level 19, just one step away from great divine power, was indeed no less valuable than this authority. The only difference was that the authority was more omnipotent and had a higher limit, but a favor was something that lasted.

Lin Xiao wasn’t the type to dither; he quickly made up his mind.

He immediately contacted his homeroom teacher, saying,

“I agree to the teacher’s proposal!”

Soon, Jin Sisi’s projection personally came over. She leaned slightly towards Lin Xiao and said,

“You will never regret your decision today.”

He clearly felt the change in the homeroom teacher’s attitude towards him after he agreed. If before she merely saw him as a promising student, now they were in a partnership, and her manner became more amiable and closer.

She said,

“Since you’ve agreed, my investment in you starts now. Due to the rules, I cannot provide you with a large amount of resources for free, but I can provide conveniences within the scope of the rules. For example, you can specify the card or reward you need for each major class reward, or you can exchange the cards you currently have in excess for the cards or other resources you need from me.”

“Any resource?”

Lin Xiao immediately thought of something and asked.

Jin Sisi nodded her head,

“Everything!”

“You don’t know how terrifying the resources at the disposal of a homeroom teacher of an elite high school class attached to a Super Academy are. Even though they don’t belong to me, I have full rights to dispose of them. Within my powers, you can obtain most of what you want.”

“What about Ancient Treasure?”

“How much do you want?”

“Damn!”

What a domineering attitude!

“I can reward you with Ancient Treasure during the major classes and let you get it within the allowable range of the rules, but personally, I want to remind you that at this stage you don’t need these Ancient Treasures. What you need is Divinity, as much of it as possible.”

Her resolute and beautiful face had a very serious expression as she spoke to him,

“The midterm exam in two months is one of the many great opportunities in my hands. Your Divinity Level by then will relate to your initial advantage. You’d better raise your Divinity Level to Level 4 within two months.”

“I can do that.”

He now had fifteen points of Divinity. According to the conversion of four points of Divinity to one point at the Rank 3 Divinity Level stage, twenty points of Divinity would suffice, and he had just acquired twenty-seven points of Divinity, plus the remaining two points he had left, making a total of twenty- nine points, which was more than enough.

“In this major class, you’ve earned twenty-seven points of Divinity, one thousand one hundred units of Plane Origin, and a Blueprint for Steel Golem Manufacturing. The Divinity and blueprint you should use for yourself, while I suggest you use these one thousand one hundred units of Plane Origin to exchange for what you need, such as Ancient Treasure or Divinity, or other cards you need.”

“Your God Domain Strength has reached Rank 7, and you need a full ten thousand units of Plane Origin to advance to the next rank. Even with my help, it’s unlikely you’ll gather that much before college, so it’s better to exchange for other things that suit you more.”

Lin Xiao nodded. This was exactly what he had in mind. Rubbing his hands together, he asked,

“How many complete Ancient Treasures can I exchange for, and what about Relic Shards?”

Jin Sisi replied,

“If it’s a complete Ancient Treasure, within my authority, I can only exchange one Rank 1 Ancient Treasure for you, but I can pick the strongest premium one within Rank 1 for you. If it’s Relic Shards, you can get about thirty pieces.”

“Can I pick the shards myself?”

“Shards?”

Jin Sisi looked at him strangely, then nodded,

“Yes.”

“Then I would like to exchange for thirty Relic Shards.”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure!”

“Alright, then.”

She found Lin Xiao’s choice odd, but he must have had his reasons for making it. Everyone has secrets, and she didn’t want to pry into others’. She simply pressed her fingertips to her forehead for a moment, and when she opened her eyes and waved her hand, Relic Shards of different sizes, shapes, and colors, emitting faint auras, flew out and lined up before him. She glanced at Lin Xiao and said,

“Even though it’s within my authority, our exchange has been reported.”

Lin Xiao nodded repeatedly. The homeroom teacher meant that their exchange was under school monitoring, but he didn’t mind.

As long as it was within the rules, that was fine. He had no intention of taking advantage or exploiting loopholes. One thousand units of Plane Origin for any thirty Relic Shards were a good deal indeed.

The stockpile of Relic Shards within Jin Sisi’s range of authority was vast, probably the entire stockpile of the Glorious Middle School Department over the years. Others couldn’t utilize these items, so accumulation over generations became quite exaggerated.

Lin Xiao carefully sensed these shards, swiftly skimmed through them, and specially selected the ones rich in Creation Energy.

At the same time, to avoid undue suspicion, his fingers moved quickly. As long as he sensed enough Creation Energy, he would pick it out without comparing each one.

He swiftly picked out thirty shards. Then, he took out eleven golden cards, each containing one hundred units of Plane Origin, and handed them to the homeroom teacher to complete the exchange.