The Era of Gods

In this world, their luck would be infinitely diminished; any Descender in this world is cursed with misfortune, overlooking even the slightest matters could cost them their lives.

This awakening, Lin Xiao, of common birth, became a mercenary and joined a mercenary team.

For safety’s sake, Lin Xiao stayed with the mercenary team until his Breathing Method reached the highest level of awakening proficiency.

Fortunately, his aptitude this time was decent, and his training speed was much faster than before. With this Creation Energy-enhanced Breathing Method, his strength ranked among the top in the team, becoming a pillar of the team.

This time, they received a task — a task issued by a minor noble who had hired several mercenary teams of varying sizes to cross a vast wasteland stretching thousands of kilometers, to another country on the other side of the wasteland.

The wasteland was home to many tribes of the Other Races and Fierce Beasts. A Half-beast Tribe of over a thousand members was one of the most powerful tribes on the wasteland and had almost completely emerged to surround and slaughter them; the battle was exceedingly brutal.

A barrage of javelin rain came down, and Lin Xiao forcefully pulled the short javelins from his shield, crouching and moving to the left, where three Green-skinned Half-beasts were engaged in a fierce struggle with four mercenaries.

There was no such thing as a fair one-on-one fight in this kind of battle. He stealthily approached from behind, picking up a short javelin stuck in the ground along the way and threw it forcefully. At a distance of less than five meters, which was within the javelin’s most lethal range, it pierced into a Half-beast’s back.

The Half-beast bellowed, its body swaying, and the opposing warrior seized the opportunity to bring down his sword, severing a fierce head that flew off.

“Good job!”

The warrior gave Lin Xiao a thumbs up and laughed heartily, the two of them then jointly attacked the remaining two Half-beasts.

Surrounded by the three of them, the second Half-beast was slain on the spot. Just as they were about to take down the last one, Lin Xiao suddenly felt a surge of alarm and immediately bellowed:

“Find cover!”

He threw himself to the ground, grabbing the stiff body of a Half-beast and using it to shield himself. The next second, a succession of whooshing sounds was followed by screams.

When he pushed away the body, which now had several javelins lodged in it, he saw that all the people, including the Half-beasts, had been killed by a volley of javelins.

“Damn!”

The battlefield was just that cruel; comrades you’d drink and laugh with could all be wiped out in a single battle.

With no time for reflection, he swiftly picked up a Large Wooden Shield dropped by a companion and ran, pulling off the javelins from his shield as he headed to take cover behind a carriage to quickly survey the battlefield, only to realize they were at a disadvantage.

After all, a tribe with over a thousand Half-beasts, even if only half were mobilized, amounted to five or six hundred, while their combined mercenary groups and noble’s private soldiers made up only two or three hundred, not to mention that the Half-beasts had generally stronger physicality.

The human side could only resist for a while by relying on fighting skills and defensive advantage but ultimately couldn’t hold out.

Just then, Lin Xiao heard a familiar whistle and turned to see that it was the mercenary captain, signaling a call to gather. He quickly crouched and moved over.

Soon, about twenty people gathered near the captain. Seeing that no more would come, he said directly:

“Things are looking bad, I think we can’t hold them off much longer, I’m planning to retreat.”

“What about our mission?”

“What mission? Those Noble Lords had already taken their confidants and fled early on. Those left resisting are just pawns.”

Lin Xiao looked around and sure enough, the carriages where the Noble Lords had been were gone.

“Then screw this, let’s retreat!”

A consensus was swiftly reached, and without concern for the others, they quickly retreated.

With their departure, other mercenary groups nearby also began to withdraw, and the battle situation immediately collapsed, leaving only a field of corpses and carriages behind, the remaining Half-beasts jubilantly dragging bodies and carriages back with them.

The team regrouped in a bushy area after leaving the battlefield, but after resting, they fell into an argument.

The captain wanted to catch up to the noble’s group to see if anything could be done, but a significant portion, led by the deputy captain, did not want to take the risk and preferred to go straight back, leading to a split at this point.

Lin Xiao understood what the captain intended to do, which was nothing but coveting the noble’s money. If the remaining guards of the noble team were insufficient, it would only take a moment to turn hostile and rob them, which was not unprecedented.

Naturally, the result was a split. The team divided into two, one part following the captain, and the other following the deputy captain.

Lin Xiao followed the deputy captain, as he had no interest in robbing a noble’s team. Such an action was too risky and provided no benefit to him.

He did not need the noble’s most valuable Breathing Method nor did he need gold or silver coins; there was no need to risk his life.

Of course, what truly made up his mind was the deputy captain’s plan to lead them through the wasteland to the Great Empire on the other side. It was said that the royal family of that Great Empire were descendants of an Extraordinary Totem Master. Not only did the royals have Totem Master advisors, but there was also a Totem Master Tower in the Imperial City, where it was said one could discover the secrets of becoming a Totem Master.

Lin Xiao was quite interested in this, as it was one of the few places on the continent where one could come into contact with Totem Masters.

Yes, thanks to the mercenary channels and the sum of memories from countless transmigrations and awakenings, he had guessed that the continent he was on was just a world where ordinary people gathered. Though vast, it was but a speck in the face of the entire world; in the depths of the vast ocean lay an immeasurably vast continent, where Totem Masters and Totem Knights congregated.

Compared to the real continent, the one he was on, with a size comparable to Eurasia, was just an insignificant island amid the boundless ocean, one of the many islands populated by ordinary humans scattered throughout this world.

From this, it could be inferred that the size of this world would be astoundingly vast.

Without an escort mission, the mercenary group traveled at a very high speed, crossing the dangerous wilderness in just half a month to reach a border town situated on the edge of the wasteland.

The town belonged to the Osa Empire and, due to the constant harassments from ferocious Beast Races, its people were fierce and battle-hardened. A standing army was always present, tasked with defending against Other Races from the wilderness and protecting caravans.

The reduced team of eight mercenaries approached the city gates along a gravel path. Their appearance was common for this part of the world, haggard as if they had faced defeat in the wilderness; the guards even taunted them as they collected a few copper coins and let them into the city without inspection.

Upon entering the town, the team headed directly for the Mercenary Guild. The guild, located in the southern part of the city, was incredibly spacious. Lin Xiao followed the deputy leader to the entrance of the Mercenary Guild, but paused suddenly just as he was about to enter.

Many small plaques, emblazoned with various strange symbols, hung at the entrance. These were generally used to convey messages that were not meant for public knowledge, with only those in the know understanding the signs’ meanings.

Out of the dozen or so plaques, one caught his attention. After glancing around, he stepped forward to remove the plaque, which had an address written in small letters on the back.

“Mercenary Guild, Court Seven?”

He hesitated, his gaze flickering, then found the deputy leader inside the guild to request leave and asked a staff member for directions before stepping out.

This so-called Court Seven belonging to the Mercenary Guild was actually a property rented out to various medium and small-sized mercenary teams that were stationed locally; when Lin Xiao arrived there, he instantly recognized a familiar emblem by the door and knew he was at the right place.

He knocked on the door softly, and it soon opened to reveal a young man who regarded Lin Xiao with a puzzled look.

Without saying much, Lin Xiao handed over the plaque and said,

“Gaia!”

The young man’s eyes immediately softened into a smile,

“A newcomer, eh? Come on in.”

He was very welcoming, a stark contrast to his initial caution.

As he ushered Lin Xiao in, the man introduced himself,

“It’s rare for us to get newcomers. You can call me Mor, I’ve been awakened for eight years.”

“Rore, three years awakened!”

“Smart.”

Mor said approvingly,

“I was about to remind you not to use your real name. Here, everyone goes by aliases.”

As they walked into the courtyard, Mor continued,

“This place is just one of our outposts where our brothers from other regions can find shelter. Including me, we have three regulars here, and now with you, it will be four. According to our agreement, any awakened comrade who arrives here is entitled to a subsidy and access to a portion of Totem Master information without charge.”

“You can take it or leave it. If you accept, then you will need to serve on duty at this outpost for one to three years, with a minimum of one year. If a newcomer arrives, you may leave earlier.”

Lin Xiao was curious,

“What does the subsidy and information include?”

Mor replied promptly,

“The subsidy is a complete set of exceptional weapons and equipment of your choice, including regulated weapons like crossbow arrows, plus one thousand gold coins. The information is a compilation of basic Totem Master knowledge and how to become a Totem Master Apprentice, including several methods for becoming an apprentice.”

“Hmm!”

This was quite tempting and was exactly what he was lacking.

Lin Xiao hesitated only for a moment before responding,

“I agree.”

Mor raised his thumb and laughed,

“A wise choice. You’ll see that this decision is exceedingly worthwhile. Since that’s settled, I’ll show you around and familiarize you with our operations here over the next few days, before we do the handover.”

Mor seemed eager to get started.

In the following days, he took Lin Xiao around the city, explaining the situation of their organization and their assets.

As an organization founded by predecessors long ago, it had grown into an enormous underground force over centuries and had considerable influence in this world, including in this small town.

Not to mention the higher echelons of power, the organization alone owned half a street in the city, dozens of shops, with just the rent bringing in a significant sum each month. Additionally, they had an underground gang and a large mercenary group at their service, not to mention the support from even higher levels.

However, the gang and the mercenary group had been established by a predecessor who had since passed away; now, these groups simply had a collaborative relationship with them, and any action required hired services.