The Era of Gods

That, along with plenty of Ancient Treasures, an Ancient Card, and the previously mentioned pile of barracks and treasures, made the risk worth taking when all were added up.

When Hua Zhang received news that someone was challenging him, he was quite taken aback, and then his expression turned solemn.

Anyone daring to challenge him at this juncture was either crazy or had sufficient confidence.

The possibility of craziness was virtually non-existent, so…

As his consciousness withdrew from the Divine Realm, he saw a somewhat familiar hero issuing him a challenge.

When he saw the massive elite troop behind the challenger, including a hundred Level 4 Swordsmen, he knew this must be a Level 2 hero as no First Level hero could have so many troops.

Hua Zhang pondered for a moment before quickly sending a message to another teammate.

Seconds later, Lin Xiao received a message from Hua Zhang:

“Brother, we’ll give you a hundred thousand Gold Coins, two Gunman Barracks, and two First Level treasures. How about you stay out of this?”

Lin Xiao’s eyes lit up as he said:

“Another hundred thousand Gold Coins!”

“Deal!”

Hua Zhang agreed without hesitation and soon sent over a contract. Lin Xiao examined the contract, signed it quickly, and the moment the deal was sealed, two hundred thousand Gold Coins, two Gunman Barracks, and two First Level treasures appeared in his hands. He then turned his horse around and left, ignoring Li Wenze’s indignant questioning, grumbles and howls of frustration.

Why struggle when benefits can be gained without fighting?

Fortunately, he hadn’t signed a contract with Li Wenze; otherwise…

“Wait.”

Lin Xiao suddenly realized this.

Whether Li Wenze had been caught off guard or…,

without a signed contract, the other party could deny the agreement.

With this thought, a small twinge of guilt disappeared from Lin Xiao’s heart, and he ran even faster.

In the Myriad Images God Temple, the immense Chaos Fireball burned continuously as always, eternally enduring.

Six figures, whose appearances were obscured by the billion-mile Divine Light piercing heaven and earth, the Tomb Guardians, sat quietly around the Chaos Fireball. Within the unimaginable expanse of the Space of the Temple of All Creations, either sitting or hidden, were numerous powerful beings or wills. They cast their gazes onto several screens in front of the six guardians, silently observing different players performing in the Ruins of Myriad.

Suddenly, one of the Tomb Guardians extended a fingertip and lightly touched, sending out a cleansing light that turned into a new screen. Ripples spread out in waves, and a new figure slowly emerged on the screen; it was Lin Xiao, who had just acquired the treasure and left the ruins.

As the figure took shape, Jin Sisi, who was sitting back against a dark gold throne with her hand propping up her forehead and eyes closed, suddenly opened her eyes and looked into the void with a smile appearing on Shao Qing’s heroic and stunningly beautiful face.

In another part of the void, Xia Yu also looked up towards a certain spot in the void as the figure solidified and after a while, chuckled lightly:

“Not bad!”

He said this and continued to bury his head in the ample bosom of a pretty maid, enjoying himself.

Meanwhile, Lin Xiao, who had just left the Undead Relic, was unaware that he had entered the attention of certain beings. After leaving the ruins, he didn t return to the Power Castle but instead headed directly south along the main road.

It was no longer a good idea to stay around the City of Glory; his recent actions could be seen as profiteering from chaos, and once Hua Zhang had time to retaliate, he was sure to face trouble. Moreover, having advanced to Level 2, he had barely enough power to pose a threat to those true-body-ascended First Level players. From any angle, there were reasons for them to suppress him; staying here would hinder his progress, so he might as well continue developing elsewhere.

Now that his Hero Level had risen to two, his strength was many times what it had been, enabling him to explore more perilous regions.

In this world, the better treasures were, the further they lay from the main cities of the major factions. To obtain Advanced Soldier Type barracks and treasures, one had to seek out danger.

This was why near the Sacred Gate, only First and Second Level heroes were commonly seen, and very few above Level 3, even near the City of Strength, which was battling with the Barbaric City; because all of them had gone out exploring.

On his way, Lin Xiao tallied up his gains and spent fifty thousand Gold Coins along with a hundred units each of wood and Mineral to upgrade the Level 4 Swordsman’s Barracks from First to Second Level.

After the upgrade, he immediately spent another eighty thousand Gold Coms along with two hundred units each of wood and Mineral to upgrade the Swordsman’s Barracks to Level 3, which could produce thirty Soldiers a week.

After that, spending 100,000 Gold Coins along with 300 pieces of lumber and 300 pieces of mineral, Lin Xiao upgraded the Gryphon Archer Barracks to Level 4, which produces a hundred Griffith Archers.

Then, the next level upgrade would require an astonishing 300,000 Gold Coins and 500 pieces of both lumber and mineral, which was more than he had.

Half a day later, Lin Xiao stopped at a crossroads between the road that connected the Cathedral to the Swamp Camp. According to the map, the City of Glory of the Sanctuary Camp lay to the north, and the Swamp Camp to the south, while to the west the road led into an unknown canyon, indicated on the map purchased at the Sacred Gate as Black Fog Valley.

About a few kilometers to the east was the sea, where a neutral port city was located. From there, one could buy large warships to take troops into the sea.

Both black Fog Valley and the great sea were extremely dangerous places. Black Fog Valley, located between various camps, was marked as high difficulty on the map. There, one could encounter heroes of Level 2 and above from any camp, including evil camps like Hell and Undead, as well as Elemental and other Neutral Camps.

The sea to the east was called the Sea of Tranquility, a sea similar to the Bohai Sea, an inland sea. Beyond the Sea of Tranquility was the Endless Ocean, which was no longer under the dominion of the major camps’ main cities. Its danger level was not marked on the map, but that didn’t mean it was safe; the danger of the sea depended on the distance from the continent, the farther away, the more perilous it became.

After consideration, Lin Xiao chose to set sail.

The reason was simple: the resources in the sea were relatively richer.

The resources in the sea usually spawned on numerous densely scattered islands. Navigating the sea was difficult, and many islands often went long periods without a hero’s visit, easily accumulating a wealth of chests or wild monsters. If one was daring and lucky, with a bit of strength, one could become rich overnight.

Following a forked road a few kilometers to the east, Lin Xiao saw a huge city standing by the sea, from afar its enormous port harbored many ships. Entering the city with his subordinates, this neutral city momentarily showed few player heroes, mostly native heroes, including both humans and other races, with at least a First Level hero level.

Following the guard’s directions to the ship market, there was a wide variety of ships for sale, from the common rowboats and sailboats to the rare multistoried boats and others; even giant ironclad ships were for sale, but as for the price… well.

With his current funds of 170,000 Gold Coins, Lin Xiao couldn’t afford them.

He didn’t need to buy the better ones anyway; he was only a Level 2 hero and didn’t have that many troops to accommodate.

After some selection, he chose a sixty-meter-long three-masted large sailing ship and paid a full 10,000 Gold Coins.

All the troops boarded, and the ship slowly left the harbor with its sails billowing, entering the Sea of Tranquility.

Standing at the bow, Lin Xiao felt the sea breeze and the touch of it passing by. White seagulls flew past in the sky, and the sea was as serene as its name. Occasionally, he saw some sailboats or fleets passing by those were the merchant ships of ordinary native traders, whose crews would salute Lin Xiao and his guards upon spotting them.

Behind Lin Xiao stood an archer clad in exquisitely fine light armor, carrying a beautifully crafted bow with flowing light. This was his first subordinate hero, whom he named Wei Ya.

As a recently promoted hero, Wei Ya’s combat power reached Sixth Level. His hero level started at First Level, with an inherent Archer Talent commanding corresponding units of Sanctuary Camp archers granted a range of +20% and damage of +20%, with each hero level upgrade increasing these bonuses by an additional 10%. Incredibly powerful.

The Gryphon Archer was an upgrade for archers, also counted among their ranks.

As a subordinate hero personally cultivated, Wei Ya’s command capacity could stack with Lin Xiao’s; hero talents could also be stacked. Therefore, Lin Xiao had given all control of the archers to Wei Ya, freeing up part of his command limit.

Unfortunately, strategic attributes could not be stacked, unless he sent Wei Ya to lead troops on his own. In one team, only talents and command capacity could be stacked.

At this stage, there was no need to have him lead troops independently he was still too weak at First Level. Lin Xiao planned to let him lead once he reached Level 2 or Level 3.

Inside the Sea of Tranquility, trade was thriving, with frequent hero and native fleets passing by. Should any resources appear, they would quickly be discovered. Without wasting time, Lin Xiao headed straight for the outlet to the inner sea and left the inner sea after four days to enter the outer sea.

A week later, a heavy rain poured down, and Lin Xiao hid in the cabin, roasting meat while listening to the rain pummelling against the hull.

The vaste sea was endless; even after a week, no islands had been found, nor any great sea monsters sighted, leading him to wonder if he had gone off course.

Just as he was considering altering his route, there came a knock at the door, and in walked a completely drenched swordsman, bringing both a chill and some good news with him.

An island—not a small one—had been spotted ahead.

Lin Xiao instantly perked up, ordering the sailing ship to approach the island. Braving the rain, he burst from the cabin and saw a vast dark shape laying on the distant sea, shrouded in the rainy gloom, like a giant sea beast sprawled across the water.

The storm made it too difficult to discern the situation on the island, and the violent winds tossing up three to four-meter-high waves made it hard to get close.

He ordered the warship to stop about a kilometer away from the island, waiting for the storm to pass.

And such a wait lasted nearly a day, until the storm abated the next morning. With the sky cleared up completely, Lin Xiao went on deck and saw, less than kilometer away, an island covered in lush vegetation, from which a thick, transparent column of light shot out intermittently from the center.

“There’s good treasure there.”

Overjoyed, Lin Xiao ordered the warship to quickly approach. After turning a bend, he saw two closely situated circles of light on the beach, within which figures flickered in and out of view..