The Era of Gods

This time he did not deny it again; a bit of modesty was fine, but any more would seem too fake.

Moreover, he himself also believed that he should indeed be considered the strongest among his peers.

It was not certain before, but now that he was a senior in high school and had encountered so many opportunities that ordinary people could not, holding in his hands precious treasures, he truly did not feel there was anyone who could match him.

Wu Zhonglin?

Although this wealthy tycoon also had a life like cheating, his cheat could not possibly surpass Lin Xiao’s own….

After that, no one challenged him again, and Lin Xiao clearly felt a change in everyone’s attitudes. Even though he had not displayed his full strength, the strength he already showed was enough to conquer them. But what he felt won them over the most was the Minor Judgment Skill he showcased, this Divine Extraordinary Ability, exclusive to those of divine ranks, was the main reason for their submission.

The Minor Judgment Skill was incredibly powerful. He only needed to expend about a thousand Divine Power to use this exclusive Divine Extraordinary Ability, yet the effect required others to use upwards of one hundred thousand Divine Power to forcibly remove it, which under normal circumstances was an amount nobody would be willing to use in a common challenge.

Never mind that Lin Xiao harvested nearly twenty million Power of Faith every day; according to the conversion of one million Power of Faith to one point of Divine Power, that made twenty points, amounting to a staggering 7,200 Divine Power in a year. One hundred thousand would take him nearly fourteen years to accumulate.

This was the speed of his yearly Divine Power accumulation, and other peers certainly did not necessarily have such a high harvest of Power of Faith.

Leaving other Celestial Talent List Participants of the same rank aside for the moment, the senior elites from normal superior colleges could at most accumulate Divine Power at twenty to thirty percent of his rate annually, about five points or so.

By this calculation, it would take them more than fifty years to accumulate one hundred thousand Divine Power.

Using Divine Power accumulated over more than fifty years in an ordinary challenge was something no one would be willing to part with.

Of course, if it were just ordinary elites, Lin Xiao would not use such a powerful move; a part of his Clan was enough to easily overpower them.

Afterward, introduced by Uther, Lin Xiao met four other super elites from different forces, besides Biggs.

One was Miss Tina, with a potential ranking of thirty-five on the main Celestial Talent List, from the Ivy League Alliance of High Schools.

Ranked eighteen on the secondary Legend List, Utahs from the Giant Enterprises Alliance.

Ranked fifty-five on the main Legend List, Miss Lira from the Aristocracy Council, another breathtaking beauty not inferior to Miss Tina.

Ranked twenty-seven on the main Celestial Talent List, Mr. Jonah from the Ivy League Alliance of High Schools, a handsome white man with blue hair.

Worth mentioning is that both Miss Tina and Mr. Jonah are from the Ivy League Alliance of High Schools and are in a relationship.

While they belonged to different camps, they all got along and were able to bond with Uther, primarily neutral parties who did not care much about affiliations.

After all, even if the camps were opposing, that was a matter of camp politics and had nothing to do with personal relationships.

Heeding his teacher’s advice and considering he did indeed need to make more friends, Lin Xiao patiently participated in the gathering.

Of course, just attending the gathering did not mean that they would certainly become friends; it was important whether they got along and if they were compatible.

Unfortunately, those present had backgrounds too different from his own, and the people he usually interacted with varied greatly from them. They did have some common ground when discussing Divine Realm management, but beyond that, he had no place in the conversation.

Even discussions on Divine Realm management were only possible in the early stages; once they progressed to the university phase, communication became difficult.

For someone with a background like Uther, upon entering the Demigod Stage in college and having restrictions lifted, he would directly receive vast resources from his Clan to fill his Divine Realm, continuously doing so as long as the Divine Realm’s capacity was not reached.

This kind of legitimate force-feeding approach to enhancement was not something Lin Xiao could utilize because he did not have such resources.

While the Clan would certainly provide full support when the time came, with its capabilities, it could only provide support with some mid to low-tier ordinary resources, like various mines, lacking rare high-level resources, and definitely could not provide much.

The homeroom teacher would offer some support, and given their current close cooperation, she would if she could, like providing high-level or even top-level resources, but as she said, her resources were limited. So for the Demigod Stage, one still needed to compete for these resources.

That said, there were still solutions, such as selling oneself.

Given his potential and past achievements, many forces were willing to make venture investments, like various civilian powers, powerful True God families, and even military forces, among others.

But as the saying goes, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Accepting investment meant various bindings.

If it were just binding that’d be fine, the fear was extremely harsh conditions that were unbearable and the troubles that would come in the future; these were the real headaches.

Therefore, Lin Xiao never considered accepting venture investments; relying on himself was better, at least he maintained his freedom.

He chatted here for a couple of hours, and then he went to the first floor to attend a cocktail party. After the party, he excused himself and left.

Back at the dorm, the homeroom teacher was not there, leaving a message saying she had gone to meet a friend.

He didn’t mind, sobered up a bit, and then entered the Divine Realm.

When he returned from the Divine Realm, Jin Sisi had already come back, bringing him definite news:

“It’s been decided, you will have to descend in a new way, I’ve already queued up for you, here’s a list of precautions regarding the new descending method. Make sure you read it carefully; your turn to descent begins the day after tomorrow.”

“`

“Alright!”

He accepted the information and started reviewing it in his room without paying further attention to Jin Sisi.

Lin Xiao understood the general process of reincarnation and ascension, but each world differed, and in this world, the process was exceptionally stringent compared to the norm.

According to the data, due to the world’s absolute repulsion, not only they but also the Children of the Spirit Realm from the Nightmare World could currently only rely on reincarnation to successfully ascend. Whether they could awaken their powers was a matter of luck and skill.

Additionally, the data recorded previous attempts by the military to ascend in this manner; while the success rate of mere ascension was higher than previous methods, the probability of awakening post-ascension was extremely low. The vast majority, even if they did ascend, couldn’t awaken and had to live as ordinary people until death.

Those who did successfully awaken did not necessarily live long, let alone achieve anything significant.

Ascension was one thing.

Awakening was another.

And whether one could achieve anything after a successful awakening was yet another matter.

Despite the bleak chances after so many attempts, one thing was certain: this method of ascension was reliable. After countless trials, it was determined that there was an approximate ten percent awakening rate—meaning, on average, one awakening occurs every ten ascensions.

Note that this is on average.

It’s possible to awaken on the first attempt or it might take a hundred attempts to awaken once.

“I hope my luck isn’t too bad!”

With this thought in mind, on the third day, Jin Sisi prepared a finely crafted metal box for him. As he opened it, a cold breeze hit his face, and within the rising chill were small crystal vials, each about the thickness of a finger, filled with a shimmering blue liquid.

Divine Liquid—a special alchemical potion made from the essence of the soul and the water of life, capable of strengthening and repairing soul damage.

This substance required a legend-tier alchemist to craft and was extremely valuable. Rarely sold in the market, it would be snapped up immediately upon availability. Yet, Lin Xiao had exchanged a mere few common Cards for an entire box of it from his class advisor.

For ascension, there was no need to go anywhere special; it could happen anywhere within the fortress’s military barracks, provided one held a special magical device to resonate with the Descending Array.

As the designated time arrived, Lin Xiao looked up at the ceiling, his gaze piercing the void to observe an invisible wave slowly descending upon him.

As he prepared for ascension, similar invisible waves rippled throughout different areas of the fortress, with over a thousand people ready to ascend into this world simultaneously.

With the invisible wave sweeping over, Lin Xiao felt a sliver of his consciousness being cleaved away, bound by an unseen force and plummeting into the void, rapidly losing connection!

Saren Duchy, Nock Province, Westton Outpost.

Rolle. Kroek, clad in an officer’s uniform, stood unmoving with his hands behind his back on the third floor of the gray stone watchtower for more than ten minutes. Two sentinels stood rigidly by his side. In front of him was an endless wasteland with waist-high weeds swaying in the wind like undulating waves.

Occasional glimpses of massive figures darting in the distance caused the sentinels to instinctively grip their weapons tighter, their faces tense with anxiety.

Rolle too saw those massive predators, but there was not a hint of panic in his heart; even his thoughts were somewhere else at the moment.

“Rolle. Kroek, a member of the Punk Empire’s Kroek Clan, the loser in the Clan’s succession battle three years ago. It’s more fitting to say he was banished, than to say he left on his own from the Punk Empire, leveraging his noble lineage to enlist in the Saren Army where he became a junior officer, the commander of the Westton Outpost, directly entering the ranks of the officers.”

If nothing unexpected occurred, relying on his noble heritage, he would slowly climb through the ranks and ultimately become a lieutenant.

If he were lucky or managed to marry a noble lady in the future, perhaps he could leap over being a lieutenant and become a colonel, with a chance of being reassigned to a city to hold a military position such as a chief of public security.

Under normal circumstances, this would have been the trajectory of Rolle’s life, but with the awakening of his past life’s memories, Rolle—or rather, Lin Xiao—was far from satisfied with his current situation.

He did not desire to return to the Punk Empire to seize a title, nor did he wish for a higher status. To him, these mundane powers and positions were as insignificant as passing clouds. What he sought was the transcendent power system of this world—the Totem Power.

However, his limited memories informed him that what he was currently involved with was mundane and had no connection to Totem Power, at least not anything he had encountered so far.

But he was certain there was a connection between the mundane and the transcendent Totem forces. He had heard unverified rumors that in the great empires, there were beings who transcended the ordinary and possessed formidable strength capable of sweeping through thousands in battle.

It was rumored—merely rumored—that hundreds of miles away from Westton Outpost, residing within the Quenching Fire Fortress, lived an important figure who possessed unimaginable strength, who could exhale flames over ten meters long, melt steel, and even liquefy fortress gates, revered as the War God of Saren.

Although he had never seen this so-called War God, one could surmise that this War God possessed the Totem Power of this world.

However, with his current status and position, there was no way for him to get in touch with that Saren War God.

In fact, not only with that figure, but Lin Xiao also could not access anything that might be related to the transcendent Totem Power of this world.

He lacked the personal strength to gain access without status, and he lacked the status to gain access without personal strength.

Moreover, even if he managed to make contact, how would he obtain such Transcendent Power?

He did not even know the methods to acquire such strength, and any rash attempt to make contact would only lead to disappointment.

After careful consideration, Lin Xiao did have an idea in mind—to first improve his own strength and status.

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