The Era of Gods

It wasn’t that he was particularly astute in discovering that the Lizardman was deceiving him. With the Lizardman’s scale-covered face, Lin Xiao couldn’t decipher the creature’s expression no matter how brilliant he was. It was, instead, simple logical thinking.

The Lizardman indeed pretended well, and at first, Lin Xiao truly thought it had left reluctantly. However, after thinking it over carefully once it was gone, he felt something was amiss. So, following his instinct to check again for peace of mind, he indeed found something was off.

Duping him away and then entering meant that it was definitely a formal attack on the treasure house.

He waited quietly outside the treasure house. Although he didn’t know what trump card the Lizardman Hero held, he was certain it wouldn’t be sorted out quickly and just waited.

Fortunately, this place was deep in the forest, and nearby heroes were extremely rare, so he had not encountered any other heroes.

Until the fourth hour and a quarter, the light of the treasure house suddenly dimmed, the transparent luminescence began retracting inward, collapsing, starting to become illusory.

At this thought, Lin Xiao motioned his subordinates to surround the treasure house tightly.

A minute later, a burst of white light shot out and upon touching the ground, it turned into a miserable looking Lizardman Hero with fewer than a hundred surviving soldiers. Lin Xiao already had his bow in his hand with an iron arrow nocked and the string fully drawn as the white light erupted. As soon as the Lizardman Hero materialized, he loosed the arrow.

The Lizardman Hero was no slack either. He quickly reacted, snatching a wooden shield from a Small Werewolf Guard and moving it in front of him. The iron arrow pierced through the shield, but the blockage gave him time to dodge. “It’s you?”

He was clearly very surprised. Looking at his own battered troops and the Griffins circling in the sky, attacking the few remaining Dragon Flies, and noticing that he was surrounded by elite Riflemen on the ground, he realized that he was outmatched. Extending his hand, he said:

“I surrender. In accordance with the regulations among heroes, I am willing to pay the ransom.”

Lin Xiao gestured to stop his subordinates and said:

” Fine, I need you to swear in the name of The God of the Marsh that you will hand over everything you’ve just obtained in the treasure house, and also pay one additional treasure as ransom for the lives of you and your subordinates.”

The Lizardman Hero had an unpleasant look on his face, but being at the mercy of another, he had no leeway to negotiate.

Then, one by one, the spoils of war obtained from the Stone Man Treasure House were conjured up and laid out before him.

Swearing in the name of The God of the Marsh, he wouldn’t dare to cheat unless he wanted to strip away his strength as a hero.

The experience points and such were definitely gone; there was no way to return them. Now, in front of Lin Xiao were 50,000 Gold Coins, 500 units of lumber and minerals, as well as five units of Crystals and gemstones—rare resources. There were also five Stone Man Cards, an Iron Man Card, a Heart of the Stone Man Nest, a Level 1 treasure, Heart of the Stone Man, and another Level 1 treasure, Feather of the Wind Serpent.

The Iron Man represented a rare upgrade for the Stone Man troop species. Any troop type could upgrade to a rare troop species with a chance upon accumulating enough experience from being a veteran to upgrade to an elite.

For example, Riflemen can be upgraded to Halberdiers, Archers can be upgraded to God Shooters with a rapid fire special effect, and Griffins can be upgraded to Royal Griffins equipped with special Griffin armor. Iron Man is the rare advancement for the Stone Man.

Advanced troop types are akin to elite troop types and are generally stronger than regular troop types of the same level. The next level of promotion is still elite.

Heart of the Stone Man is a Level 1 treasure obtained from the treasure house, and its effect is to increase the Magic Resistance of the troops under the hero by 10%.

This…is just okay.

Feather of the Wind Serpent is the treasure that the Lizardman Hero gave up to buy his life, with the effect of Agility +1, which is quite good.

Following the synthesis formula, Lin Xiao transformed four Stone Man Cards into one Elite Stone Man Card.

Then, he placed the Heart of the Stone Man Nest into the second slot, with a production rate of 20 per week at the first level.

He spent 30,000 Gold and 50 lumber along with 100 minerals to upgrade the Stone Man Barracks to Level 2, increasing the production rate from 20 to 40 units.

And then, he ran out of money.

A weekly production of forty was just okay, enough for personal use.

He stored two hundred Elite Riflemen and one hundred Elite Archers into the troop storage space, loading a card housing four hundred Elite Stone Men. These creatures were high in health, defense, and Magic Resistance, making them super useful as frontline tanks.

After tidying up his gains, Lin Xiao instructed half of the Elite Stone Men to lead the way, their speed slightly slower than that of the Riflemen but, with the addition of the Speed boost from the Feather of the Wind Serpent, not much different than before.

Yi Lei’s death outside the ruins caused a great stir, but within the ruins, there was barely a ripple. As time went on, more and more contestants entered the ruins, appearing near the City of Glory, especially as more True-Body Descend participants showed up, fighting fiercely for various resources and forming factions.

Many elites, driven by the desire to compete for treasures and rankings, have left this place to look for opportunities elsewhere, while others have submitted to these strong figures, forming various teams to divide the resources near the Sacred Gate.

For instance, there are the daily refreshed tasks and the spontaneous appearance of wild monsters in the wilderness.

Especially, the various treasure chests that appear with a small probability have become the focal point of their contention. Each discovery of a spawn location for a chest invariably leads to a struggle and often players are eliminated in the dispute.

Of course, let’s not even talk about the six dungeons that can be refreshed repeatedly; they have already been monopolized by the largest few teams, and anyone else wishing to enter must pay a certain amount of resources.

Such situations are not unique to the City of Glory; they occur near the main cities of factions within the relics where contestants can descend. Battles occur almost daily, and every day players are eliminated. In just the short span of three months since the first season began, over five thousand people have already been eliminated.

Meanwhile, as soon as the first contestant attained Level 2 Hero status, two rankings within the relics were inaugurated: the Hero Level Ranking and the Personal Comprehensive Strength Ranking.

We won’t discuss the Level Ranking for now—there are only a few Level 2 Heroes, so the ranking includes just those few.

Regarding the Personal Comprehensive Strength Ranking, Lin Xiao found himself ranked at one thousand two hundred thirty-seven.

He wasn’t concerned about this ranking, because it only took into account individual hero levels, treasures, strategic magic, and troops—all direct displays of strength. However, it didn’t include the forces stored in the military space and various Cards.

Most importantly, it included all players who made True-Body Descends, so his rank as an Incarnation Descend would naturally not be high initially— nevertheless, Wu Zhonglin’s current rank was probably also beyond the thousand mark.

Therefore, at this stage, the ranking was only a reference. Furthermore, while he was ranked one thousand two hundred thirty-seven, his actual combat power was not much different from that of anyone ranked before him, excluding Level 2 Heroes and all those who made True-Body Descends. A small change could significantly boost his ranking, so he was not in a hurry at all, exploring slowly and steadily.

According to the rules, every three months, the strength level of creatures within the relics would increase by one level.

Before, Lin Xiao didn’t have a clear understanding of what exactly a “level” constituted, but now he knew.

“Damnit!”

He rolled and scrambled out of the pit, leaping more than ten meters high and, with a violent shake, grabbed the claw of a griffin taking to the air with powerful wing flaps.

A thick tentacle covered in suction cups stretched out from the pit, aiming for the sky. Several faithful Riflemen threw themselves at it and were mercilessly crushed to dust by the coiling tentacle, which then retracted.

Carried by the griffin, he fled the black-vegetated forest, flying several kilometers to land at the edge where the Black Forest met the Green Forest.

Upon landing, he quickly deployed a hundred Iron Men, a hundred Elite Riflemen, and two hundred Archers to replenish his losses, perfectly complementing the remaining Griffin Archers to make up a force of exactly one thousand.

Surrounded by the multitude of his subordinates, he caught his breath and began to curse.

It hadn’t been easy for him to fight his way to the bottom of the pit, and he was close to slaying that Tentacle Monster. But the unexpected strengthening that coincided with the three-month mark broke the balance and led to his near-complete defeat.

Fortunately, he had amassed enough resources over the past two months, so even if he suffered total annihilation, he had the confidence to quickly replenish his forces; otherwise, it would be difficult to return from deep within this forest.

Two months ago, after seizing the loot from the Stone Man Treasure House guarded by a Lizardman Hero, he ventured deeper into the woods.

Though he didn’t stumble upon another Treasure House, he occasionally encountered some spawned monsters or treasure chests guarded by a multitude of creatures, netting him decent gains. Together with the continuous production from his two barracks, he not only managed to hold on despite continuous losses but actually saved up a batch of troops.

After two months of exploration, Lin Xiao’s level was still Level 1. He had to admit that leveling up was extremely tough; up to now, he had only accumulated seventy thousand experiences, still twenty thousand short of the one hundred thousand needed for the next level.

If even someone like him who constantly grinds in the wilderness finds leveling up this hard, then the players who stay near their faction’s cities are going to have an ever tougher time. By this stage, it’s estimated that not more than ten players have reached Level 2.

After resting for a while at the border between the Green Forest and the Black Forest, Lin Xiao remounted and headed back the way he came. He was determined to kill that thing, no matter how great the loss, to get his hands on that Golden Chest.

The chests are simply classified as Wooden, Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Golden Chests; the highest-quality one he had ever seen was this Golden Chest, guarded by a Lord level BOSS—that elongated Tentacle Monster.

Although the monster was very strong, and had just become stronger, Lin Xiao was still confident he could defeat it.

After all, this wasn’t a dungeon BOSS that would reset to full health upon refresh; the Tentacle Monster he had been grinding down for so long had already lost several tentacles from his attacks, making it less difficult than before.

Leading his troops back into the Black Forest and arriving at the massive pit, he gestured, and a dozen Iron Men with heavy, stiff steps approached the pit and entered without hesitation.

Then, the remaining handful of Elite Riflemen followed suit, and finally, the Archers entered one after the other.

Inside the pit was an enormous underground space, the lair of the nameless Tentacle Monster, with the Golden Chest embedded in its body. To claim it, one had to kill the monster; otherwise, he would have lured the chest away with tricks already.

He had previously attempted to steal chests this way, acquiring a whole thirty thousand Gold Coins from one and a full ten thousand experience points from another, which significantly increased his experience.