The Era of Gods

Fortunately, he had prepared a set of leather armor; if he had chosen thick plate armor, even with his current constitution, it would have been stifling.

As he passed through a thicket, there was a wasteland overgrown with weeds about waist-high before him. Looking off into the distance, he could vaguely see the shadow of thatched huts and wisps of pale smoke.

“There’s a village!”

He tidied himself up a bit and waded through the waist-high weeds towards that direction.

It was truly a desolate plain—filled with insects and poisonous snakes, and along the way, he must have stepped on no fewer than ten poisonous snakes.

The snakes were not much of an issue; his boots provided high defense, and their fangs couldn’t penetrate them. What really bothered him were the tiny insects that always managed to crawl into the gaps of his leather armor unnoticed.

If he were in another plane, he could release the aura of the totem to intimidate these little insects, but in this non-magic plane, the power of the totem couldn’t be used at all. Any Totem Master’s talents or abilities were disabled here; only the strong physique and strength gained from becoming a Totem Master was usable.

Physical strength is the most universally usable power across myriad worlds. No matter the Crystal Wall Universe, physical strength can never be disabled.

Even in worlds where only the soul or spirit could exist, that strength could be used, but the prerequisite was having a physical body in that world.

Nearly hacking his way through the underbrush, Lin Xiao approached the village. Before getting close, he was spotted by two militiamen wearing sacking clothes and holding wooden spears in a wooden watchtower at the entrance of the village. Seeing Lin Xiao fully armed, they raised their spears, seeming to face a great enemy, and shouted:

“￥#@#@%#…?”

Lin Xiao hurriedly raised his hand and shouted back:

“￥#@#&￥”

This was the language of this world. Lin Xiao understood a little of it; he had crammed the world’s common language during his half-month stay in the fortress.

However, due to the short time, he had only learned the basics and could understand only a few words. Drawing from these few words and the current situation, he guessed the militiamen were probably saying something like, ‘Stop, don’t come any closer.’

Lin Xiao sheathed his Horse Chopping Knife, signalling his peaceful intentions, and then took out a wooden carving from behind and held it in front of him. Using the unfamiliar common language of this world along with gestures, he communicated with the confused militiamen.

Fortunately, his act of sheathing the knife was also considered a gesture of goodwill in this world, and the militiamen were patient enough to watch him converse awkwardly with gestures and broken words, responding after a good while with something that was almost but not quite understanding.

After much effort in communicating, the villagers were stirred, and a large crowd gathered to watch the spectacle. Nearly half an hour later, Lin Xiao was finally allowed into the village.

However, he was only allowed to stay at the entrance of the village and not to go inside, showing that they still harbored a considerable amount of wariness towards him.

Lin Xiao didn’t mind at all. Taking out two silver coins, he mimed and gestured again, this time to purchase some utensils and tools from the villagers, settling down there for the time being.

A village is a standard starting point.

It wasn’t about spreading his faith just yet. He wasn’t in a rush to propagate his beliefs without understanding the situation first. His plan was to see if he could hire some sturdy lads in the village to form a small squad.

Of course, while not eager to spread his faith, he still needed to make some preliminary preparations.

After buying tools and utensils with silver coins, Lin Xiao discreetly put on a ring in front of many onlookers, both villagers and children. He then neatly arranged the empty utensils on the table and performed a standard prayer ritual of his Clan before meals, making every move with the sense of a religious ceremony, much to the amazement of the villagers and children.

After the standard prayer, he quietly activated the Summoning Table Spell embedded in his ring. Like a magic trick, the previously empty plates were suddenly piled high with appetizing food of various colors and fragrances, immediately eliciting exclamations from the onlookers.

Ignoring the shocked and disbelieving gazes, Lin Xiao distributed most of the summoned food to the surrounding villagers, keeping only a small portion for himself.

During his first year in high school, he had learned about missionary work and faith management. The lessons had mentioned that in the early stages of propagating a faith, different strategies were needed for different intelligent beings.

For example, when facing a scholar, one could discuss knowledge, the truth. If you could overwhelm them in their area of expertise, causing them to feel awe, then through gentle persuasion and leading them to curiosity, it might be possible to convert them into a believer.

If facing a warrior with great strength, then force and authority should be the topics of discussion. In most Alien Worlds, strength often signifies power and wealth.

At this moment, facing peasants, no amount of high-minded talk or boasting would be useful; temptation with straightforward food would suffice.

There’s no need to tell them that following the True God will provide food; words are useless. Showing them that devout worship of the True God brings food is much more effective than any words could be.

So, once the onlooking villagers actually tasted the food and confirmed it was real, the news spread quickly through the village.

At this point, a normal person would seize the opportunity to play the role of a preacher, but Lin Xiao didn’t do that. Instead, he drew his Horse Chopping Knife and split a village entrance stone pillar taller than a person in half, and with a gentle voice, he declined the unreasonable demands of the village leader.

Lin Xiao had his own unique methods and talent in managing the Power of Faith.

This unconventional approach did not anger the villagers; instead, it inspired awe in them, especially the stalwart youths of the village, who worshipped him unceasingly after seeing him slice a rock with a single blow and effortlessly lift a boulder weighing several thousand kilograms single-handedly.

“Lord Rore must be a mighty knight, I bet even Baron Gibson isn’t that strong,”

Several robust youths sat in the shade of a tree, watching from a distance as Lin Xiao wielded a huge stone sword, over two meters long, carved from stone, swinging it about as if it weighed nothing, their admiration growing even deeper.

The best way to impress these young men was to demonstrate martial strength, and it didn’t even have to be of a high-end variety, just the initial transcendence of mortal strength was enough to astonish them as celestial beings.

After practicing a set of swordplay techniques he had learned before becoming a Totem Master Apprentice several times, he stood with the sword at his side and exhaled a white breath on the wooden stake with a ‘snap’ that still shocked the watching youths, even after having seen it many times.

He placed the stone sword, weighing several hundred kilograms, on a rack and waved to the youthful men not far away.

“Is Lord Rore calling us?”

An athletic young man ran over excitedly, drew a white cloth from his side, wiped his hands, and casually asked,

“Do you want to learn?”

The youths’ eyes widened, thinking they had heard wrong, and after a moment, they nodded eagerly,

“We want to learn!”

“Good, come to me every morning from now on.”

Half a month later, as dawn was breaking, Lin Xiao got up leisurely, opened the door, and found a dozen young men of varying ages practicing with wooden weapons on the flat ground outside.

By the well, there were already basins filled with water and wet towels for washing faces and rinsing mouths. Carrying his sword, he came to watch them practice in the open space.

In just over ten days, they hadn’t learned much, still there was some semblance of form.

During this half-month, he hadn’t taught anything substantial, just a simple routine that served mostly to exercise the body and didn’t involve any other powers.

The main purpose of these days was to temper their will and to select youths with a certain amount of willpower.

After watching for a while, he returned to his house to move out a large stone beehive and several large bags filled with herbs that he had asked the villagers to gather for him.

Of course, these herbs were of no real use, nor were they part of any specific formula; he just had the villagers gather them at random, mainly to disguise the pills he was preparing to make later.

If all went well, this group of young men would become his first subordinates, and naturally, he needed to enhance them a bit.

In addition, many villagers in this village had begun to imitate his actions in a decent manner after seeing him summon food daily for half a month, praying before meals each time.

Although it was of no use and he had not yet sensed a trace of the Power of Faith, it was a good start.

From occasional interactions with the villagers, he had learned that during this half-month, he had taken the time to scout the surrounding area and now knew that the village he was in was ruled by a family of Barons named the Gibson Family, with the Baron being Herman Gibson. The family ruled over a small town and eight villages, along with a large expanse of wasteland, a forest, and a small iron mine.

The Gibson Family had a castle between the town named Gibson and the iron mine, and it was said to house five knights, more than forty full-time warriors, and when called to battle could muster over one hundred and fifty strong men. In terms of strength, they were considered average among the territories of Barons.

So-called knights, like most knights in Alien Worlds, meant someone with a physique and strength far exceeding that of an ordinary person.

In a world devoid of Supernatural Powers and so-called battle qi, he had quietly visited Baron Gibson’s castle and met with the so-called knights, who were just elite warriors with a constitution and strength more than three times that of a normal man, equipped with exquisite combat skills and armor, who indeed could overpower ordinary farmers effortlessly.

Now, Lin Xiao had two paths before him: one was to peacefully cultivate belief, finding ways to preach from the ground up before influencing the Aristocrats through religious channels.

The other was to spread belief through military force, forcibly imposing faith on the common people with his strong martial might. Put simply, he would become a powerful Lord and compel his subjects to adopt the faith.

Both paths had their merits and difficulties, but it was certain that spreading faith through force would be more challenging.

Yet, under present circumstances, this was the best choice; after all, this was not a safe world, with sixty-six Children of Nightmare and Children of the Spirit Realm lurking and waiting to eliminate him at any moment. He had to have sufficient martial strength to protect himself.

Therefore, he could only take the path of spreading faith through force.

Of course, this didn’t mean that he had to train an army to defeat the Baron and become an Aristocrat himself, which was indeed one way, but too troublesome. Conflicts between Lords had always been complicated.

Lin Xiao planned to combine the Church with military force, protecting the faith with martial might and then using faith to unite the many Aristocrats.