The Era of Gods

When Hua Zhang received the message that someone had challenged him, he was stunned at first, then his expression turned grave.

Challenging him at this juncture meant either madness or possessing enough confidence.

The possibility of madness was almost nil, so…

Withdrawing his consciousness from the Divine Realm, he saw a somewhat familiar hero initiating a challenge against him.

Upon seeing the enormous and elite troops behind the challenger, including a hundred Level 4 Swordsmen, he knew this was a Level 2 Hero; a First Level Hero couldn’t possibly command 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 offer you a hundred thousand Gold Coins, two Gunman Barracks, and two First Level treasures. How about you stay out of this matter?”

Lin Xiao’s eyes lit up as he said:

“Add another hundred thousand Gold Coins!”

“Deal!”

Hua Zhang agreed without hesitation, and quickly sent over a contract. Lin Xiao checked it for issues, signed it swiftly, and the moment the contract took effect, two hundred thousand Gold Coins, two Gunman Barracks, and two First Level treasures appeared in his hands. Then, ignoring Li Wenze’s questioning and unwilling howls of rage, he turned his horse around and left.

If he could gain benefits without a fight, why risk his life?

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

“Wait a second.”

Lin Xiao suddenly realized this.

Whether Li Wenze had momentarily lost his composure and not noticed, or…

As long as no contract was made, the other party could renege on their promise.

With this thought, a tinge of guilt in Lin Xiao’s heart vanished into thin air and he sped up his escape.

The Myriad Images God Temple, a massive Chaos Fireball, burned continuously as it had since time immemorial.

Six Tongtian Tomb Guardians shrouded in light so intense their features were obscured, sat silently around the Chaos Fireball. Within the impossibly vast space of the Temple of All Creations, powerful figures and wills, either sitting or hidden, cast their gazes upon several screens in front of the six Tomb Guardians, watching silently the various contenders’ performances in the Ruins of Myriad.

Suddenly, one of the Tomb Guardians stretched out a finger and gently tapped it, sending out ripples of light that formed a new screen. The ripples spread out in waves, and slowly on that screen, an image began to emerge—it was Lin Xiao, who had just obtained treasures and left the relic.

As the image solidified, Jin Sisi, who was leaning on a dark gold throne with her hand propping her forehead and eyes closed in repose, suddenly opened her eyes and looked into the void, her youthful and beautiful face breaking into a smile.

In another part of the void, Xia Yu also lifted his head from a mass of silkiness at the moment the image solidified. He looked towards a certain area in the void, chuckling lightly after a while and said,

“Not bad!”

Then he continued to bury his head into the ample bosom of his lovely maidservant, enjoying himself.

Meanwhile, Lin Xiao, who had just left the Undead Relic, was unaware that he had entered the attention of certain existences. After leaving the relic, he didn’t return to the Power Castle but instead took the main road and headed south.

The City of Glory was no longer a good place to stay. His recent actions could be considered taking advantage of a crisis, and once Hua Zhang was free, there would be no good end for him. Moreover, having risen to Level 2, he was just about able to pose a threat to those First Level players who had made their True Body Descend. Looking at it from any angle, they had reasons to suppress him; staying here would hinder his progress. It would be better to continue developing elsewhere.

Now that his Hero Level had risen to Level 2, his strength was many times greater than before, enabling him to explore farther and more dangerous places.

In this world, the best treasures lay farther away from the main cities of the large camps. To get Advanced soldier type barracks and treasures, one had to venture into dangerous territories.

This was why near the Sacred Gate, one could only see First Level and Level 2 Heroes, and rarely saw those above Level 3—even around the City of Strength, which was at war with Barbaric City, it was rare to see Heroes above Level 3 from either camp, because all had ventured out to explore.

On the road, Lin Xiao inventoried his possessions, starting by spending fifty thousand Gold Coins and one hundred units of wood and Minerals to upgrade the Level 4 Swordsman Barracks from First Level to Level 2.

Immediately after the upgrade, he spent another eighty thousand Gold Coins and two hundred units of wood and Minerals to raise the Swordsman Barracks to Level 3, with a production of thirty per week.

Then, he spent a hundred thousand Gold Coins and three hundred units of wood and Minerals to upgrade the Griffin Archer Barracks to Level 4; the Level 4 Griffin Archer Barracks had a production of a hundred.

Then, the next upgrade requirement was a staggering 300,000 gold coins and 500 units of wood and minerals, which weren’t enough.

Half a day later, Lin Xiao stopped at an intersection between the road that linked the Sanctuary Camp and the Swamp Camp. According to the map, to the north was the City of Glory of the Sanctuary, to the south was the Swamp Camp, and to the west lay an unknown canyon named Black Fog Valley as marked on the map bought at the Sacred Gate.

To the east and a few kilometers ahead was the seashore; there was a neutral port city where large warships could be purchased to carry troops out to sea.

Both Black Fog Valley and the great sea were extremely dangerous places. The valley lay between multiple camps, and the map indicated it as a high-difficulty area where heroes above Level 2 from any camp could be encountered, including those from evil camps like Hell and Undead, as well as Elemental and other Neutral Camps.

To the east, the Sea of Tranquility—an inland sea similar to the Bohai Sea—was calm. Departing from the Sea of Tranquility would lead into the Endless Ocean, well away from the major camps’ capitals. The map did not indicate the danger level, but that did not mean there were no risks. The danger in the great sea depended on the distance from the mainland; the farther from the land, the more dangerous it became.

After some consideration, Lin Xiao chose to go to sea.

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

The resources of the sea were generally concentrated around densely scattered islands. As sea navigation was inconvenient, and many islands remained unvisited by heroes for long periods, it was easy for massive amounts of treasure chests or wild creatures to accumulate. With enough daring, good luck, and strength, one could become rich overnight.

Following a branch road eastward for a few kilometers, Lin Xiao saw a massive city erected on the seashore, with many ships anchored in its grand harbor from a distance.

Having entered the city with his subordinates, Lin Xiao didn’t see many player heroes in this neutral city, mostly native heroes, including Humans and other races, all at least at Level 2.

Following the guards’ instructions, they arrived at a market specializing in the trade of ships. The variety of vessels for sale was vast, including common galleys and sailing ships, as well as rare tower ships and others, even massive ironclad ships, but the price… well.

Anyway, with his current 170,000 gold coins, he couldn’t afford it.

There was no need for something so grand anyway; he was a mere Level 2 hero, without that many troops to accommodate.

After some selection, he chose a three-masted sailing ship about sixty meters in length and paid a full 10,000 gold coins for it.

All troops boarded the ship, and as sails billowed, they slowly left the port and ventured into the Sea of Tranquility.

Standing at the bow, Lin Xiao enjoyed the sea breeze and stretched out his hand to feel it caressing his skin. White seagulls flew overhead, and the sea was as peaceful as its name suggested. Occasionally, they would see some sailing ships or fleets passing by—those were the merchant fleets of ordinary native tradesmen, whose crews all saluted Lin Xiao and his guards upon sight.

Behind Lin Xiao stood an archer, dressed in exquisitely fine light armor, bearing a beautifully crafted bow that glowed. This was his first affiliated hero, whom he had named Wei Ya.

As a newly promoted hero, Wei Ya’s combat power had reached Level 6. The hero’s initial level was First Level, and he came with the natural Archer Talent—when commanding the Sanctuary Camp’s archer units, range and damage would be increased by 20%, and with each hero level increase, the bonus increased by an additional 10%, making him exceptionally powerful.

Griffin Archers were an upgrade of the Archers, also counted among the Archers.

As an affiliated hero personally cultivated, Wei Ya’s command capacity could be stacked with that of Lin Xiao, and their talents could stack too, so he handed over all archers for Wei Ya to command, freeing up some of his command limit.

Unfortunately, strategic attributes could not stack unless he let Wei Ya lead troops independently; only talents and command capacity could be stacked when in the same group.

At the current stage, there was no need for him to lead troops independently— being just a First Level hero, his strength was too weak. Lin Xiao would wait until he had trained him to at least Level 2 or Level 3 before considering it.

The Sea of Tranquility had thriving trade, with heroes and native fleets frequently coming and going. If any resources were to spawn, they would be quickly discovered, so Lin Xiao did not waste time and headed straight for the inner sea’s exit. Four days later, they left the inner sea and entered the outer sea.

A week after that, a heavy downpour began. Lin Xiao took shelter in the cabin, roasting meat while listening to the sound of the rain beating against the ship’s hull.

The sea was vast and boundless. A week went by without encountering a single island or spotting any great sea creatures, making him wonder if they had strayed off course.

As he contemplated changing the navigation route, there was a knock on the door. A swordsman, soaked to the skin, entered, bringing with him not just the chill of the cold rain but also some good news.

An island of considerable size had been sighted ahead.

Lin Xiao’s spirits lifted immediately, and he ordered the sailing ship to approach the island.

Braving the rain, he burst from the cabin to see a vast shadow resembling a massive sea beast lying atop the ocean, shrouded by the rainy gloom ahead.

The storm was too fierce to make out any details on the island, and the gale hurled waves three to four meters high, making it difficult to approach.

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

They waited nearly a whole day until the storm abated the following morning.

When the sky cleared completely, he went up on deck and immediately spotted a lushly vegetated island less than a kilometer away, from which a thick, translucent beam of light shot up intermittently from the center.

“There’s something good there,” Lin Xiao said happily, ordering the warship to quickly draw near. After rounding a bend, they saw two close together circles of light on the beach, with shadowy figures flitting within them, too distant to make out what kind of creatures they were.

At the edge of the forest, he saw a massive tornado with lightning flashing within, and nearby a large group of Thunder Elements….