The Era of Gods

“Damn, why is my brother-in-law even here?”

Although the stakes of this midterm test were high, wasn’t it a bit much for his brother-in-law, with his status, to personally escort him? Could it be to protect his little sister?

Xia Yu glared fiercely at Lin Xiao and then at his well-behaved little sister sitting there; their postures were exactly the same, and for a moment, he didn’t know what to say.

It’s not that he particularly detested him, but he had just found out that he had a sister and hadn’t had much time to dote on her before discovering she had been snatched away by a pig, which inexplicably fueled his anger.

He huffed coldly, and his brother-in-law’s voice reached Lin Xiao’s ear:

“Come with me.”

He said this and then walked out of the room, hands behind his back. He looked up and exchanged a glance with Shen Yuexin, who stuck out her pink tongue and stood up softly saying:

“Hurry up, or bro’s going to get mad.”

The two of them stood up, and the other people around the round table cast surprised glances their way, seemingly not having seen the brother-in-law who had appeared just before.

Outside the room was a corridor with a series of rooms along the side. They entered a room with the door open; Xia Yu was seated inside, looking at something. When he saw his sister smile and sit down, he ignored him and continued on until their little aunt tugged on his clothes and made him sit down, which earned him a stern glance from the brother-in-law.

The two sat for quite a while; Xia Yu continued to look at whatever it was, seemingly trying to give him the cold shoulder, but as soon as she dragged out a long “bro,” he couldn’t keep up the act.

He sighed, looked up at the two of them, and finally, with an unwilling gesture, flung a crystal card with a strange pattern branded on it at him.

Lin Xiao caught it quickly, feeling its cold, seemingly very hard material; he had no idea what it was made of, even less what it was for.

“Alright, you can go now.”

An invisible force made him rise and involuntarily walk out of the room.

Before stepping out the door, he saw his brother-in-law pull out a large handful, probably a dozen or more crystal cards, and hand them to Shen Yuexin, saying:

“Keep these carefully, when you enter the Ruins of Myriad, each card can directly select an initial option, and they can stack.”

Lin Xiao…

“Bang!”

The door shut, and he stood in front of it speechless, examining the card in his hand.

Obviously, this was an extra resource for the start, where one card represented one extra. Considering the dozen or so cards in his little aunt’s hands, it was like cheating at the start of a game, and cheating a dozen or more times at that.

It had to be said that the gap in resources between those born into privilege and those not was immense; Lin Xiao’s clan couldn’t provide anything for him in this situation.

It wasn’t that the clan didn’t want to give; they simply had no way of doing so. This was a matter of authority; most True God families couldn’t get extra authority from the Ruins of Myriad.

Flipping the crystal card over, Lin Xiao shrugged and pocketed it. After all, it was an extra resource for the start; it would be foolish not to take it.

Not waiting for his little aunt, he headed to the gathering room with his hands behind his back. Just as he was about to reach the door, another room’s door swung open, and the homeroom teacher Jin Sisi came out and waved to him:

“Come here.”

Then six identical crystal cards were handed to him.

“When you enter the Ruins of Myriad, each card can grant you one additional initial option, which can be stacked.”

“Cough!”

A smile immediately spread across Lin Xiao’s face as he took the six cards, and while putting them away, he casually asked:

“Does everyone get these, or just me?”

“This is an allocation of authority by the college, and my personal authority,” she replied.

Her expression turned serious, and she spoke in a somber voice:

“Placing all my bets on you is not without consequence. If you fail to achieve good enough results this time, the resources allocated to me by the school will decrease, which will affect my evaluation for this term and the resources you can obtain in the future. So you must give it your all!”

Lin Xiao nodded earnestly:

“I won’t disappoint you.”

“Good, you can go back now.”

Returning to the original room, Shen Yuexin was already sitting there chatting with the only other girl in the team. The other male classmates were also chatting among themselves. When he entered, they all stopped talking.

Gu Xiaoming and Yun Shaoning nodded to him, which surprised him a bit, as even Yun Shaoning managed to squeeze in.

Then Li Xiushen and Dongfang Piaoxue also nodded their heads in greeting; they had talked before and agreed not to attack each other in the Ruins of Myriad.

Apart from these few, he didn’t recognize the other eight people.

There were a total of fifteen students going to the Ruins of Myriad this time, including Lin Xiao, with ten being from the school allocations—six from First College and four from Second College. The other five spots were privately obtained by individuals, probably by their respective families’ allocations.

All fifteen were Avatar Descends, all sitting there as incarnations; no one dared to do a True-Body Descend.

They all knew each other well and recognized one another, but Lin Xiao didn’t know them.

Once he was seated, the handsome man with snow-white eyebrows, Dongfang Piaoxue, who drifted into his temples, stood up and said:

“Everyone knows this time the participants in the Ruins of Myriad come from the top forces of the Main World’s four major powers and their elite colleges, as well as the descendants of top True Gods and noble families. The competition is fierce. Although we are divided into First College and Second College, we all belong to Radiance; we must be united against the outside when the time comes.”

Li Xiushen also stood up and said:

“Outsiders see us from Radiance as formidable opponents. Precisely because of this, we will definitely face challenges from many more enemies, especially those from the other non-China Super Academies who will surely not acknowledge us. According to past situations, there will definitely be challengers before entering the ruins. At that time, we can share the pressure together, so as not to embarrass ourselves in front of viewers from billions of worlds.”

“Billions of Main World viewers?”

Lin Xiao asked Shen Yuexin in a low voice, to which she replied:

“The rules have changed a bit this time. It is said that a True God with gambling and betting godhood convinced the guardians of the Ruins of Myriad to open this event to the public, and they’ve established an official lottery center, allowing the public to place bets.”

“Alt ”

Lin Xiao opened his mouth wide in astonishment.

“Is that even possible?”

“Why not? It’s not as if it hasn’t happened in history; there’s usually one every couple of hundred years. Many people have made a fortune from it.”

It was Li Xiushen who explained, smiling as he said:

“Actually, this is a good thing for us too. If we perform well in the ruins and can showcase this in front of billions of viewers, it counts as a credential. It’s greatly beneficial for our reputation. As long as we’re strong enough, when the event ends, we could immediately be listed on the peerless rankings or heroes rankings, without the need for complicated inspections and verification procedures. Moreover, after getting admitted to a college in the future, whether we establish a divine system or do anything else, it would be easy to get sponsorships.”

“Moreover, we can also bet on ourselves.”

Dongfang Piaoxue’s white eyebrows twitched as he said to Lin Xiao:

“If you’re confident, you can bet on your own rankings based on your strength assessment. If you win, you’ll profit hugely.”

At this, a young man with concentric blue circles in his pupils said:

“It is said that over two thousand years ago there was a major upset. A contestant, who was not particularly strong, bet on himself to take first place, and it actually turned out to be successful. Not only did he leap across the chasm with the first-place rewards and get on the secondary list of geniuses, but the winnings also made his fortune soar, instantly comparable to the assets of a small Divine System.”

“Comparable to the assets of a small Divine System?”

This example was tantalizing—Lin Xiao immediately had some ideas; maybe he could try his own hand at it when the time came.

Suddenly, he thought of something and hurriedly asked:

“Wait, can you bet on yourself?”

Li Xiushen shook his head and said:

“Definitely not, but you can have your family or friends bet for you. And don’t even think about exploiting any loopholes; there’s no way you can bet on your own loss, or how long you will lose, or anything like that.”

Lin Xiao:….

With a topic at hand, a group of young people quickly started a lively discussion; then, they began to introduce themselves one by one:

“Lin Xiao, from Second College.”

“Li Xiushen, from First College.”

“Dongfang Piaoxue, from First College.”

“Lin Huang, from First College.” “Xu Zhen, from First College.”

“Yun Yi, from First College.”

“Lu Zhou, from First College.”

Wow, every one of them was from First College—out of fifteen people, eleven were from First College, and only four were from Second College. The disparity was rather large.

The rest of the time was spent in casual conversations among the group. Although Lin Xiao’s background was considered the poorest, he had already made them put aside any prejudice with his strength. Or perhaps, in the eyes of these elite youths, Lin Xiao, with his potential, was destined to be at their level in the future, and naturally, they got along well.

After all, there is an old Chinese saying that has been passed down to this day—

“Princes and generals, have they not sprung from commoners?”

Many of the young people’s ancestors had also started as commoners and worked their way up, eventually achieving divine status and creating vast family fortunes. Even Shen Yuexin’s father, that great being, started out as an ordinary person.

Fortunately, her father was still around. If it was another prominent family, he might not even have had a chance to pursue.

The Void Battleship they were riding had just left from Yan Huang Super War Fortress No. 2, heading towards the Crystal Wall System where the Ruins of Myriad were located.

Normally, to travel to the Crystal Wall Systems in the Chaos Sea of Void, one could go directly through the major Super War Fortresses, but the Crystal Wall System where the Ruins of Myriad were located was different. According to the information received from their homeroom teacher, as a Crystal Wall System that once belonged to Myriad Images Conquest, a top-level college from long ago, it was indeed possible to directly teleport there.

But following a major upheaval, recognized by the billions of deities of the Main World as a Myriad Images God System that could potentially be promoted to the thirteenth Super Academy of the Main World, was destroyed. Millions of deities perished during that upheaval, and even the Crystal Wall System itself collapsed, shrunk, and disintegrated in that earth-shattering event.

Nowadays, nearly all the passageways connecting it to the outside world have disappeared, including the passageway to the Main World. To go there now, one must first travel to a Crystal Wall System and then transfer to the Myriad Images God Temple at the edge of Myriad. Only through the six Tombkeepers of the Myriad Images God System, with God Levels of over fifteen and Powerfully Divine Powers, could one enter the collapsed Crystal Wall System.