The Era of Gods

by Cui Shi yi

1 - 226

1. 1

The Era of Gods

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Lin Xiao traversed to an ultra-fantasy ultra-sci-fi era. Beginning from a Divine Life, he established his Divine Realm, governed his Spawns, ignited his Divine Flame, cohered his Godhead, invaded the Outer Realm, and seized Godheads. With the Cheating Cube that came with his crossing, Lin Xiao conquered countless planes and Crystal Shells, seized Godheads, and at last, became the almighty God among Gods!

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The Era of Gods #Chapter 1: The Game of Supercivilization - Read The Era of Gods Chapter 1: The Game of Supercivilization Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

"Children, the Great Lord of the Grey Mist, the King of the Endless Tide, the Master of the Seven Seas is watching over us!"

"It's time to show our valor and kill these heretics!"

On the broad shallows, Lin Xiao, standing about one meter seventy-eight tall, forcefully pushed off the ground, kicking up a ring of fine sand. He leaped high, each hand clutching a bone knife with a wooden handle, nimbly twisting midair to dodge an incoming bone fork. He then fiercely plunged a knife into the bulging eyes of a Lobster Man before him. His strength, far superior to that of ordinary people, buried the blade deep into the eye socket, cleaving through the shell. Instantly, the Lobster Man's head was split open, yellow and red brain matter splattered everywhere, soon washed into the sea by the rising tide.

With a kick, he sent the Lobster Man's corpse flying. Then, a strange cry came from behind him:

"In the name of the Lord of the Grey Mist, kill these heretics!"

A large group of Gray-scale Fish People, only about one meter twelve in height and resembling children, their bodies covered in fine grey scales... they brandished various fish and bone forks as they rushed past him, charging toward the remaining nine Lobster Men on the other end of the beach with loud cries.

Compared to the child-like stature of the Gray-scale Fish People, these Lobster Men were about one meter sixty-seven tall, their bodies encased in a thick shell. In both size and defense, they utterly dominated.

Unfortunately, they were vastly outnumbered—the seventy to eighty Gray-scale Fish People swarmed them. Even ants can kill an elephant when enough of them attack.

Lin Xiao didn't idle either. After catching his breath, he quickly followed. With a burst of speed, he charged to the front of one encirclement and shouted:

"Make way!"

A few Gray-scale Fish People intuitively parted for him. Lin Xiao used the momentum of his leap to lunge forward, brutally stabbing through the hard shell of a Lobster Man before quickly withdrawing and retreating. The surrounding Gray-scale Fish People swiftly closed in for the kill.

Without taking a breath, Lin Xiao immediately charged toward another Lobster Man. Midway, he suddenly turned, hurling his bone knife from a distance, hitting another Lobster Man that was being attacked and saving a Fishman who was almost impaled to death.

But the injured Lobster Man, in a frenzy, lashed out wildly with its fork, and incredibly struck a Gray-scale Fishman in the head, the bone penetrating more than a dozen centimeters into the skull.

"Fuck! Another one dead."

Lin Xiao cursed inwardly, despairing over the pitiful combat power of his Clan.

But cursing did him no good, and he steeled himself, pressing on with his fight. Leveraging his combat power and skills that far exceeded those of his kin, he killed two more Lobster Men, wounded two others, and rescued his comrades seven times. It took a full half-hour and the deaths of six plus eight more wounded before they managed to kill the remaining Lobster Men.

When the last Lobster Man fell, the many Grey Mist Fish People cheered and pounced on the Lobster Men's corpses. An impatient one grabbed a severed Lobster Man hand and was about to bite into it when Lin Xiao backhanded a punch that sent him flying into the sand.

He paid no mind to the Fishman, instead reaching out to hoist a Lobster Man's corpse high and roared up to the sky:

"The Great Lord of the Grey Mist grants us the strength to defeat our enemies, tonight we shall sacrifice these spoils to the Great Lord of the Grey Mist!"

Immediately, Grey Mist Fish People echoed the shout:

"In the name of the Lord of the Grey Mist!"

This was the big draw, the one with the highest level of faith among all the Clans.

Having said this, Lin Xiao dragged the Lobster Man's corpse towards the opposite end of the beach, while mentally summoning:

"Open panel."

Immediately, a screen that only he could see popped up in front of him, displaying a series of data.

Deity Interface:

Username: Lin Xiao (Citizen ID: txwd542154895147)

True Name: Cyberlex Meyer.

Divine Name: Lord of the Grey Mist, King of the Endless Tide, Master of the Seven Seas.

Divinity: None

Godhood: None

Divinity: 1.

Divine Fire: Unlit.

Divine Power: 1.

Superhuman Divine Power: Tide Call.

Divine Realm: Sea of Grey Mist.

Sects: Ancestral Fish God.

Believers: Grey Mist Fish People.

Occupation: None.

Faith value: 14425 points.

"Not bad!"

Lin Xiao's gaze skipped directly over the first few lines, focusing on the last item regarding faith value, which had increased by roughly seventy to eighty points from the previous 14347 points.

Then, with a thought, he turned to the panel below marked 'Sect Interface,' and with a flash, a second screen popped up.

Sect Interface:

Sect: Ancestral Fish God

Holy Sign: Fishman with a trident surrounded by seawater

Belief: Ancestral Worship (Primordial Religion).

Chosen: Not selected (requires 10 Divine Power points)

Divine Arts: First Level Underwater Breathing, First Level Speed Up in Water, First Level Seawater Essence.

Priest: Not selected

Believers: 1 Fanatic Believers, 14 Devout Believers, 33 True Believers, 59 Casual Believers.

"Two more True Believers, not bad."

Lin Xiao smacked his lips as he looked at another racial interface:

Racial Interface

Race: Grey Mist Fish People

Category: Sub-human Species

Grade: Low-grade Race

Profession: None

Talent: Underwater Breathing

Skills: None

Specialty: Basic Swimming,

Constitution: 0.6 (A grown human has 1 point.)

Strength: 0.5 (An eighty-year-old man's momentary burst of energy might surpass yours.)

Agility: 0.4/1.1 (Land/Water)

Spirit: 0.4 (Even with genetic mutation, there's no way to become a spellcaster)

Assessment: An extremely weak aquatic race.

There wasn't much to see in the racial interface; Lin Xiao had seen it countless times, with no changes over the years. However, on the troop statistics panel, there was a pleasant surprise. Out of a total of 107 Grey Mist Fish People, two showed yellow plus signs, indicating that these two Grey Mist Fish People had accumulated enough battle experience to level up.

He immediately focused his consciousness on these two fish people marked with yellow pluses, and instantly, a faint aura of light emerged behind the two fish people, setting them apart from the others.

"I'll promote them once we get back!"

Lin Xiao felt cheerful, which alleviated much of his frustration from the seven losses in his clan.

Life and death are predestined, and wealth is in the hands of Heaven; for such a weak race, dying in battle was commonplace. From initially watching over them carefully, fearing their death, to now treating it as normal, it had only taken Lin Xiao half a year.

Less than a thousand meters away from the battlefield, at the end of a sandy beach, there was a Fish People tribe. The Grey Mist Fish People crushed seashells and mixed them with sand, then added ground fish blood and flesh remnants from their catches to build their houses made of sand structures.

Of course, this was not thought up by the fish people themselves. With the Grey Mist Fish People's pitiful brain capacity, how could they possibly come up with this? This, of course, was the handiwork of the wise, valiant, handsome, and elegant Lord of the Grey Mist, Lin Xiao, who imparted it in the name of a god first to himself, then taught it to these Grey Mist Fish People.

Upon returning to the tribe, the dozens of remaining elderly and disabled fish people joyously welcomed them and carried the spoils back to the tribe. That night, under Lin Xiao's supervision, a 'grand' sacrifice ceremony was held.

"Great Lord of the Grey Mist, King of the Endless Tide, Master of the Seven Seas."

"Creator of all things in the world, the Supreme Being, Spread of Civilization."

"Creator of the Grey Mist Fish People, our Progenitor."

Even though he had read it many times, Lin Xiao still felt a bit of shame when it came to these lines.

But considering it was related to the faith of his clan, he still bit the bullet and continued reading with enduring embarrassment:

"Protect us, the great existence that allows us to survive and reproduce."

"Seborlex."

"Here we offer our sacrifices and our devout faith."

At this point, Lin Xiao's voice suddenly grew louder, and with a booming voice that common fish people could hardly muster, he prayed:

"Oh great Lord of the Grey Mist above, please accept our offering, and grant our brave warriors greater strength!"

With those words, he grabbed the body of a Lobster Man lying next to him and threw it onto the altar. Several more muscular Fish People warriors lifted the Lobster Man's corpse onto the altar, after which Lin Xiao grabbed a Bone Staff and began to fervently perform a self-invented Maori war dance.

Inspired by him, the Grey Mist Fish People around the altar also began performing their familiar war dance.

At that moment, much like a Fanatic Believer, the Fishman Leader, who was dancing zealously, suddenly stopped and returned to normal. However, on an unnoticed level, a golden ray imbued with a profound aura shot into the sky. Above the tribe, it transformed into a golden human silhouette, which resembled a handsome young human male.

This golden silhouette was shrouded by a layer of profound power, indistinctly obscuring the view.

Lin Xiao surveyed the surroundings; being able to see through his Divine Realm, which was five kilometers long, three and a half kilometers wide, and one kilometer high in just one glance. The vast Divine Realm was silent in the night, only this Grey Mist Fish People tribe held some light and sound.

This small tribe of just over a hundred members was all of Lin Xiao's clan, comprised of just twelve Level One Fish People warriors and ninety-five Level Zero Fish People.

Well, there was also him, the Lord of the Grey Mist doubling as Tribal Chief, a formidable Fishman standing at 1.78 meters tall, a giant in the eyes of the other Grey Mist Fish People.

"Open the racial interface!"

The familiar light screen popped up, and Lin Xiao expertly found the troop statistics interface, located the two Level Zero Grey Mist Fish People marked with a yellow plus, and tapped with a finger exuding faint golden light. Two hundred faith points disappeared, and the two Level Zero Grey Mist Fish People were thus promoted to Level One Grey Mist warriors.

This was merely a tap on his part, but in reality, it manifested as two streams of golden light flying out of the Holy Proof in the center of the altar and striking the two fish people cheering around the altar. In the next second, both Grey Mist Fish People emitted a roar, growing visibly larger.

In less than ten seconds, these two fish people grew from 1.1 meters to between 1.2 and 1.3 meters tall, a head taller than their kin, and even more robust with darker and tougher scales on their bodies.

After a brief moment of stupefaction, the two newly-promoted Fish People warriors realized what had happened. They were the first to kneel before the Holy Proof on the altar, representing the Lord of the Grey Mist, and began to utter words of adoration.

Above the Vault of Heaven, Lin Xiao filtered out the adulation he had heard countless times and had grown tired of. He was now focusing on the threads of faith representing these two fish people in his sea of consciousness, which had thickened, transforming from True Believers to Devout Believers, with their faith value contribution increasing from 0.2 points per day to 1 point, a fivefold increase.

Besides that, as they witnessed their own kin empowered by the Lord of the Grey Mist and promoted right before their eyes, fifteen more True Believers and three additional Devout Believers were born.

With that, the number of Devout Believers in Lin Xiao's clan jumped to nineteen, while True Believers reached forty-three, with the daily provided faith value rising once again.

This was the main reason why he didn't promote them on the spot but rather during the sacrifice ceremony. For what could be a better way to bolster the faith of believers than personally displaying a divine miracle?

Although this was no miracle, but a mere promotion of troops, for a professional player of the Divine Enthronement game, such maneuvers had already become instinct.

Satisfied, Lin Xiao closed the panel and took one last look at his own Divine Realm. With a thought, he transformed into a beam of golden light that shot into the sky and vanished.

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"Hiss..."

A soft sound of air pressure rang out, and the white door of the Divine Realm connection cabin opened. A pale blue mist, with a calming effect, billowed out, revealing Lin Xiao who had just opened his eyes.

He stretched out his hand to remove the transparent crystal ring on his head, massaged his brow, and carefully placed the ring in the cabin's designated storage slot.

This was a specialized device designed to stabilize the mind and buffer mental pressure. Its main function, apart from allowing him to connect to the Divine Realm in subspace, was to alleviate the sensory disarray caused by the time flow speed difference of over a hundredfold between the Main World and subspace, as well as to stabilize his mind so that a new player like him, who had just opened his Divine Realm, wouldn't get lost in the illusions produced by the Divine Power.

After all, as a newly reborn divine life, he was an ordinary person before and was new to Divine Power and Divinity. Without this assistance, it would be very easy to get lost in the powerful force brought by Divine Power.

When the Human Federation first discovered the divine game, there were no such sophisticated assistive facilities, and it was common to hear about people whose personalities drastically changed due to the influence of Divinity and Divine Power. Those with weaker resolve were directly enslaved by the power of Divinity.

Lin Xiao traveled to a very good point in time. By then, after tens of thousands of years of exploration and development, humans had already created stable Divine Realm login cabins, and human civilization had secured a foothold in the Chaotic Void Sea. There were numerous powerful beings in his clan, and millions of deities suppressed many Crystal Wall Systems in the Chaotic Void Sea, occupying countless planes and Crystal Wall Systems.

Having traversed time and reborn into this glorious era of a super fantasy civilization, Lin Xiao was quite satisfied.

He was also very satisfied with the family into which he had been reborn. His parents were alive, and as an only child without brothers or sisters, although his clan had many branches and some internal conflicts, they were mostly harmonious without too much turmoil.

After all, the real True God ancestor of the clan who had ignited the Divine Fire was still alive. Deities had unlimited lifespans, so before the ancestor passed away, the younger generations basically didn't even dream about contending for power. There was no point in fighting.

After coming out of the Divine Realm Login Cabin, he casually washed his face. He heard a 'ding' sound from the direction of the Divine Realm Login Cabin. After drying his face, he walked over to the Divine Realm Login Cabin, lightly touched a button, and a hologram popped up in front of him, displaying:

Dongning City's Fifth High School, Class 1-3, Semester 38th Major Course Report Card, as follows—

Student Lin Xiao:

Individual Performance: 6.2 points.

Clan Performance: 4.4 points.

Overall Score: 5.5 points.

Comprehensive Evaluation: Good-.

Class Rank: 25.

Grade Rank: 252.

Class Teacher's Comment: Individual combat performance is above average, Clan performance is failing.

The report card was very formulaic. Lin Xiao glanced at it, shrugged his shoulders, and knew this already—it was no surprise, as the Clan he had chosen was indeed a bit rubbish.

He knew this six months ago when he first opened his Divine Realm, but he had no choice.

No matter who you are, your initial Clan can only consist of low-level races. Powerful races cannot be sustained by a newcomer's Divinity. You can only choose a more powerful race once you become stronger in the future.

The reason he chose the Fishmen was because his Divine Realm was entirely water, which gave the Fishmen an advantage.

When he first opened his Divine Realm, there were only fifty Fishmen. Now, after six months, which was equivalent to more than two hundred years in the Divine Realm's time—where one day in the Main World equals one year—the Fishmen, with a lifespan of about twenty years and a breeding cycle every two to three years, had only increased to a total of one hundred and seven. With a total growth rate of only 100% over two hundred years, it was a pitiful situation.

The main reason was that the Fishmen were too weak. Although every student started with a weak race, the Fishmen were among the weakest.

Due to their meager strength and the weekly major course battles which caused casualties, and because he hadn't obtained any cards to accelerate their reproduction rate, the half-year-long struggle had been fruitless.

However, what left him feeling helpless was that, with such performance, he was still at an average level in his class. Among fifty students, he ranked twenty-fifth, and among five hundred students in his grade, he managed to maintain a rank of around 250—a surprisingly stable standing for six months.

He rubbed his cheeks, turned off the panel, and opened another message.

It was a group notification sent by the class teacher:

"Prepare for the base test next Monday. This will be the last base test of the semester, followed by the final exams. Then, the school will reassign classes. Everyone knows what this means. This is your last chance. Please make preparations in this final month."

The base test occurred once a month, usually prepared by the class teacher who would release various monster cards to introduce challenging monsters to invade the students' Divine Realms, similar to the major course but with stronger or more numerous monsters.

The base test posed certain risks—lack of caution could cause heavy losses to the Clan in the Divine Realm, thereby affecting development.

But correspondingly, for some outstanding students, it was a good opportunity because students' promotion rates would affect the teacher's performance review, so teachers usually awarded a variety of prizes to well-performing students in major courses. The base test was no different.

Of course, Lin Xiao had not received any teacher rewards in over thirty major courses since he started school. His best performance placed him nineteenth in the class, earning him a word of encouragement from the class teacher.

With some gravity, he closed the hologram. He wasn't worried about the base test, but rather the final exams that would take place in a month.

The Human Federation high school system employed a grading system. Freshman year was relatively normal, but once students moved on to sophomore year, the school would reassign classes based on the final exam results from freshman year. This resulted in the division into so-called regular, advanced, and key classes.

Without a doubt, classes like the advanced and key classes would definitely receive more resources and better educational faculty.

As for the regular class, they were more or less on their own, left to fend for themselves.

Even though Lin Xiao had the Golden Finger, he took this class division very seriously, as he certainly did not want to end up in the regular class. With the Golden Finger, it would still be tough to get by there.

It wasn't that the Golden Finger wasn't powerful, but... if one could be in the key class, why settle for the regular class?

This wasn't some fantasy novel where the protagonist starts off as garbage, gets mocked, then rises to power with the Golden Finger and furiously slaps faces, right?

He certainly didn't have time for that.

So, for this baseline test...

His consciousness sank into his sea of knowledge, which resembled a starry sky, where in the center, a crystal Magic Cube radiated a faint light, turning irregularly back and forth; somewhere in the depths, a progress bar had reached its zenith.

"I hope it finishes loading before the test!"

Before the thought had even concluded, the progress bar in the depths hit the top, and then the continuously turning crystal Magic Cube in the sea of stars burst forth with infinite light, like a sun traversing the starry sky.

"My Golden Finger has finally been activated."

Lin Xiao was nearly moved to tears; after seventeen years, he could finally use this thing.

Without hesitation, he extended his palm, and a point of white light shot out, rapidly dancing in his palm to weave a cube made of light filaments—this was the projection of the Creation Magic Cube.

Well, he didn't actually know the real name of this thing. He had just called it the Creation Magic Cube because of its functions.

True to its name, the cube's capabilities were like Creation itself: it could disassemble, refine, extract, merge, and recombine anything placed into it—effectively changing the very essence of all things in the world.

When Lin Xiao first obtained the Creation Magic Cube, he had no idea how to use it, but after entering the game of Divine Enthronement and Opening the Divine Realm, he learned how to maximize the cube's potential.

"Screw waiting around, I need to try this out."

Unable to contain his excitement for another trial, he walked over to his room and opened an alloy safe embedded in the wall, taking out three Crystal Cards.

These were cards unique to the Divine Enthronement game, one three-star resource card, one three-star skill card, and one two-star skill card—all common blank cards.

Three-star resource card—Fertile Black Soil (Rare): Instantly transforms an area measuring 60 meters by 60 meters and 4 meters deep into fertile black land.

Three-star skill card—Piercing Attack (Common): Limited to piercing weapons, rapidly lunges to attack the target, dealing double the weapon's damage and guaranteed to trigger a piercing effect.

Two-star skill card—Severe Pain (Common): Your attacks cause the target to suffer 15% extra damage, with a very small chance of triggering a bleeding effect.

The first of the three cards, a three-star resource card, was given to him by his grandfather when he first Opened the Divine Realm. Unfortunately, he had chosen a marine realm, and the Grey Mist Fish People were not proficient in cultivation, so this precious three-star resource card was of no use there.

The other two skill cards were gifts, one from his grandmother and the other from a cousin. However, he felt it was somewhat wasteful to use them on a weak race like the Fish People. Knowing early on the capabilities of his Golden Finger, he thought he'd save them until he could activate it and then break down those two cards to create a more powerful card.

So, they had been gathering dust in the safe until today, when they finally found their purpose.

Eager to begin, he took out the three cards and, thinking for a moment, he extracted a crystal armband from the drawer of his bedside table. He pressed on it with a finger, and a light screen popped up. After some contemplation, he tapped and drew on the light screen to edit a message:

"To my wise and valiant father and my gentle and lovely mother, your son has had a realization and doesn't want to try hard anymore. I hope my dear mother can transfer the New Year's money and red packets that you've been keeping for me all these years."

After reading the message, he revised it, changing "you" to the more respectful "you," signed his name with satisfaction, and sent it off.

Less than five minutes later, a reply arrived. He opened it to see a light projection emanating from the surface of the wristband, forming the figure of a woman dressed in a pale blue starlight gown.

The woman bore a striking resemblance to Lin Xiao, looking graceful and delicate, almost girlish, her face full of doting love as she gently said to Lin Xiao:

"Xiao'er, have you had a change of heart?"

"Yes, I've had a change of heart."

This was Lin Xiao's mother, Jin Yunzhu, a demi-goddess with authority over the rainy season and growth. This projection was a manifestation of her Divine Thought; her True Body was currently situated in one of the planes of the AX-14 Crystal Wall System, where their clan had a permanent residence.

Like all mothers in the world, Jin Yunzhu doted on Lin Xiao, her only son. Each year on his birthday, she would prepare a gift for him.

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Previously, Lin Xiao thought that he would skyrocket once the Golden Finger was activated, making all these gifts useless, so he kept them with his mother.

Now that the Golden Finger had been activated and he could use it, he naturally wanted to retrieve them. He had to quickly enhance his strength to prepare for the final exams; he didn't want to actually be assigned to a regular class and then make a comeback—that would be too strenuous.

Jin Yunzhu didn't question why he had changed his mind, but just nagged like an ordinary mother would, telling him to study hard. She was certainly aware that Lin Xiao's grades hadn't been great for the past six months, but she didn't urge him. It wasn't that she didn't care; rather, she had stated long ago that if his grades were poor he should drop out, as she and his father had already prepared enough resources for him to become a Demigod.

This touched Lin Xiao deeply, and many times he wanted to tell them that he was confident he would catch up later, but he could never reveal the secret of the Golden Finger. He had to keep it to himself and let them worry.

Fortunately, now that the Golden Finger was activated, there was no time to wait—he would be able to take off immediately. He believed that the next time they met, he would definitely surprise and delight his mother, who was actually hundreds of years old but still looked like a young woman of twenty-eight.

Demigods could maintain eternal youth, with lifespans calculated in ten thousand years. Maybe this was not so remarkable in the strictly ruled Main World, but in the Different Crystal Wall, each Demigod was a terrifying existence that could call the wind and summon the rain, looked up to by ordinary people.

Having barely managed to send off his youthful-looking mother, Lin Xiao now had a small, exquisitely crafted box emitting a faint golden glow in his hand, which stored all the New Year's money and red envelopes he had received since he was seventeen.

Feeling somewhat nervous, he rubbed his hands together, opened the box, and a dazzling golden light burst forth, making him instinctively close his eyes.

When the gold light dimmed a little, he could finally see what was lying quietly inside the box... two cards?

"Why only two?"

Just as he was about to ask his mother, his bracelet popped up with a message she had just sent:

"Forgot to tell you, your father took all your things and exchanged them for two cards that are very suitable for you. Have a look and see if you are satisfied."

Lin Xiao: ...

What could he say? Satisfied or not, he had to take a look at the cards first. He took the two cards out and placed them in front of him, each attribute appearing one by one.

Four Star Species Card—Grey Mist Fish People (Ordinary): Obtain 400 adult Grey Mist Fish People at one time.

Note: Halves are male and female.

Five Star Species Reproduction Card (Rare): Species reproduction rate 300%, survival rate 300%, effective for 10 years.

Note: This card cannot be stacked with other cards of the same effect; only one can be used at a time.

"This…"

Lin Xiao stroked his chin, feeling that it wasn't bad.

He remembered that the cards his parents had given him before usually ranged between one and two stars, with only one three-star card. Seventeen years and seventeen cards in total, he estimated that their value was probably equivalent to these two, but their practicality was far less.

One Species Card granted him four hundred adult Grey Mist Fish People, while the other Reproduction Card accelerated the breeding speed. Considering the time flow ratio between Subspace and the Main World, ten years in the Divine Realm was just ten days in the Main World; the outcome would become visible in ten days.

The most important thing was that all new Divine Beings, from the Opening of the Divine Realm until the college entrance exam, could only use one card to enhance strength for every month of the Main World, which could accumulate.

Speaking of which, Lin Xiao really wanted to complain about this one-card-a-month limit; only twelve cards could be used a year, which was fine for ordinary students but restrictive for those with backgrounds.

However, there was no helping it. Newly opened Divine Realms were weak, and the contents of the cards, being outside of the rules of a Divine Realm, would definitely cause fluctuations when integrated into it. One month's time was needed to settle the fluctuations of the Divine Realm.

Generally, different cards would cause different levels of fluctuations, also known as impacts. For example, the fluctuations from a Species Card would definitely be greater than summoning some weapons, and the impact of a five-star card would certainly be greater than that of a one or two-star card.

But students usually couldn't accurately assess the duration of the impact, so to make it uniform, rules were established based on a standard impact period of one month for a five-star card.

As for why the number of cards that can be merged can accumulate, this involves a term called stability. The longer a Divine Realm goes without merging cards, the more stable it becomes and therefore it can merge multiple cards at once until it reaches the limit of stability.

But there is a slight change after the second year of high school. After the second year, the Divine Realms generally develop, merging cards stabilizes even faster, meaning more cards can be merged.

In other words, in the first year of opening a Divine Realm, only one card can be merged per month.

The second year allows for two cards to be merged per month.

By the third year, three cards can be merged per month.

After the third year, if you can become a Demigod, the limit will be even higher; but if you still can't become a Demigod, the monthly card merging limit stays the same as in the third year and won't increase anymore.

Due to the special significance of the three years of high school, they are known as the "golden three years," the time to lay a solid foundation. If one cannot become a Demigod after these three years, the chances of attaining Godhood will decrease year by year, and the possibility of becoming a Demigod dwindles as more time passes.

Of course, this rule applies only to students of formal schools. Those who drop out are not bound by this rule and can use cards to enhance their Divine Realm without restriction.

But the consequence was that the stability of the Divine Realm declined, affecting the foundation, making not only the consolidation of Godhood into Demigod difficult but almost impossible to ignite the Divine Fire and become an immortal True God.

Therefore, any student aspiring to become a True God would strictly adhere to this rule, never daring to act with a mentality of seeking quick success and instant benefits.

Lin Xiao had not yet used a single card, but he had already accumulated eight opportunities to use them. Now, by utilizing the Golden Finger, he was strengthening low-level cards into high-star level cards, maximizing his strength within the limited usage conditions.

Having collected these two cards with the previous three, he reclined back into the Divine Realm Login Cabin. As the cabin door closed, a pale blue mist emanated from it; this was a unique energy from the gaming cabin that could calm the mind and spirit while also providing nutrition needed to sustain the body.

Taking the crystal ring from the card slot and placing it on his head, Lin Xiao closed his eyes and with a thought, felt his consciousness sink into an endless darkness, without anything to rely on, save for the countless distant twinkles of starlight.

This was Subspace, the space between the Main World and the Chaotic Void Sea. All the Divine Realms of human civilization, from lowly Divine Beings like himself to Demigods, True Gods, and even a few of the Supreme Divine Powers, were all located within this Subspace, and those countless specks of light were the different Divine Realms.

Through the connection between the Divine Realm Login Device and the Divine Realm, Lin Xiao descended again into his own Divine Realm. A golden silhouette appeared above a modest expanse of space.

Lin Xiao's Divine Realm was five kilometers long, three and a half kilometers wide, and one kilometer high, including both the depth of soil underneath and the space above ground. Of this, 78% was shallow marine areas, 15% was peninsula, and 7% was island.

Looking down from above, the whole world was a painting, with length on the left and right and width up and down. The majority of the right side was the sea, and along the west coast of the world, there was a coastal hill chain with sparse lichen plants, a few coconut trees, and a long beach that extended from the top to the very bottom, where the Misty Fishman Tribe was located at the bottom left corner of the Divine Realm.

Within the ocean, there were a few small islands each spanning dozens or hundreds of square meters, mostly bare rock with a little moss in the center, devoid of any resources.

Besides the primary species of the Grey Mist Fish People, the entire Divine Realm only had a few species such as sturgeons, sardine swarms, Blue Shrimp Swarms, and Mud Crabs. These were initially set when the Divine Realm was first opened, primarily as prey for the Grey Mist Fish People's food.

Overall, this Divine Realm was incredibly barren. Under normal circumstances, with mere reliance on these resources for development, it was almost impossible to qualify for even the poorest colleges.

In other words, he might never be able to consolidate Godhood and become a Demigod in this lifetime.

The reason Lin Xiao had the patience to endure for so long, besides having the Golden Finger, was mainly due to his fairly good birth in this life. His parents were both Demigods, not the best but better than many, and as their only son, he would not lack resources to become a Demigod in the future.

It had been less than an hour since Lin Xiao last left the Divine Realm, but according to the time flow between the Main World and the Divine Realm, more than half a month had already passed within the Divine Realm. By this time, the Misty Fishman Tribe had long forgotten the battle half a month ago and had returned to its original state. A large group of Grey Mist Fish People were hunting fish in the shallow sea area under the leadership of the Fishman Leader, who was N times stronger than his kinfolk and wielding sharpened sticks, stone awls, or Bone Forks.

This Fishman Leader usually served as the leader of the Misty Fishman Tribe, but could be occupied by Lin Xiao's incarnation at any time when needed, acting as his dedicated Incarnation Body.

Besides, all Divine Realm Masters actually have True Bodies, but very few show their True Forms, generally using a common incarnation body like him.

Although it's called the Divine Enthronement game, it isn't truly a game with infinite respawns. If the True Body died, that would be the end.

Lin Xiao did not disturb these Clansmen. After looking left and right, he transformed into a golden light and flew to the rightmost part of the map, a deep-sea area for the Grey Mist Fish People. There was an island where the Fish People never ventured, which he used as a temporary base.

Five Cards were laid out in a row.

First, he put away the Four Star Species Card, which could summon four hundred Grey Mist Fish People at once, as well as the Five Star Species Reproduction Card. Then, his gaze fell on the remaining three cards.

Three Star Resource Card - Fertile Black Soil (Rare).

Three Star Skill Card - Piercing Attack (Common).

Two Star Skill Card - Severe Pain (Common).

Lin Xiao stroked his chin, pondering, and decided that the two skill cards could be combined.

He had been entertaining various ideas for using the Golden Finger for quite some time, his Magic Cube wasn't like other Golden Fingers that required exploration; he understood its functions clearly upon acquisition, and had simulated them in his mind many times before.

In his mind, he actually had two vague ideas, one of which involved other cards at his mother's. Now that the cards had been exchanged for these two high-star level cards, that idea was definitely out of the picture, leaving him only one option.

That was...

With an outstretched hand, a point of white light emerged, revealing a Magic Cube after a dizzying array of changes.

As soon as his mind willed it, the Magic Cube quickly enlarged to the size of a soccer ball and hovered in front of him.

He pulled out the Three Star Resource Card 'Fertile Black Soil' from in front of him; it would probably be a long time before he could use it, making it perfect for disintegration.

He pressed the card against the Magic Cube, and it sank into it. A second later, the Cube began to spin, emitting a faint glow.

Accompanied by a slight 'click', the spinning Cube stopped. Then in his perception, the Resource Card that had been inside the Cube vanished, and in its place was a peculiar energy stored within.

"Creation Rubik's Cube, let's call that Creation Energy!"

Lin Xiao pinched his fingers, then took out the second Two Star Skill Card 'Piercing Attack' and placed it into the Cube, which began to spin again.

This time he didn't choose to decompose, but to refine, extracting the skill from the card.

So, when the Magic Cube turned, what appeared was not the Creation Energy from the previously decomposed three-star resource card, but a small orb of light.

Following that, Lin Xiao refined the last two-star skill card 'Severe Pain' into an even smaller light orb.

His idea was simple: to use Piercing attack as the basis and merge it with the other skill, Severe Pain, then use the decomposed three-star resource card as nourishment to enhance the merged skill, thereby obtaining a skill that combined the advantages of both Piercing attack and Severe Pain and was more powerful.

Having constructed the operation in his mind, as Lin Xiao's thoughts moved, the two skill light orbs slowly approached each other under the control of the Magic Cube's power, merging quickly like two bubbles into one. Then, the Creation Energy permeating the Magic Cube Space rapidly flowed into the light orb, which began to shine brighter as it absorbed the Creation Energy.

"Hmm? There are two directions for enhancement?"

Lin Xiao raised his eyebrows, pondered for a moment, then chose one of the options.

After ten seconds, all of the Creation Energy had fused into the orb, the Magic Cube stopped spinning, and he reached out to press down on the Magic Cube, which quickly shrank in his palm and eventually disappeared, replaced by an orb of light emitting a dazzling glow. Then, right under his eyelids, it slowly flattened out, transforming into a card that radiated a faint luminescence.

Five-Star Skill Card — Unknown Skill (Epic): Limited to piercing-type weapons, attack targets from a distance of fifty meters at a super-fast speed, dealing damage up to five times the maximum attack, the attack ignores 50% of the defense.

This was the enhancement direction he chose, Pure Burst.

The other enhancement direction dealt only three times the damage but had attacks that ignored 50% of defense and featured Piercing, Armor Breaking, Bleeding, and Ripping—four special effects.

Comparing the two, Lin Xiao ultimately chose the option with five times the burst.

A real man should be tough.

He casually named the newly synthesized skill 'Salted Fish Charge' and put it aside for now, then took out two cards he had put away earlier, a four-star Gray Fog Fishman Card and a five-star Breeding Card. These two cards could also be merged.

Using the Gray Fog Fishman Summoning Card as the base, to decompose the Species Reproduction Card, refine the reproduction rules contained within, and then merge them onto the Gray Fog Fishman Card, would yield a card that...

Quickly, he threw the Gray Fog Fishman Card into the Magic Cube for decomposition and refined it into a light orb, then tossed the Species Reproduction Card in for decomposition, extracting the reproduction rule within.

It was a thread of gold light thinner than a hair, exuding an intoxicating allure.

Strictly speaking, if this strand of reproduction rule was strong enough, and with a significant investment of Faith value and Divine Power, it would be possible to refine a true Reproduction Godhood, use it as a foundation to become a Demigod, and with a hefty injection of Divine Power eventually solidify into the Godhood of Reproduction.

Unfortunately, Lin Xiao didn't have much Faith value right now, and this strand of the reproduction rule was also incomplete, making it too difficult to make whole.

Shaking his head to dismiss the jumbled thoughts, Lin Xiao controlled the strand of Reproduction Divinity to merge into the Gray Fog Fishman Summoning Card, and quickly a new card appeared in his palm.

Five-Star Species Card — Gray Fog Fishman (Epic): Instantly obtain 400 Gray Fog Fish People possessing twice the reproduction rate and twice the survival rate of their juvenile counterparts.

The summoning quantity remained the same, the effect of the Breeding Card was weakened by 50%, but the effect turned from a ten-year BUFF to an innate trait of the species. Just this alone made the direct value of the card ten times higher than the initial two cards combined, and its potential value was easily a hundredfold greater.

Lin Xiao couldn't help but stretch out his palm to look at the Magic Cube outlined by the strands of light and smacked his lips:

"Too powerful."

After all, it was of epic quality.

The golden palm grasped the Magic Cube and it merged into his palm as Lin Xiao soared into the sky, appearing high above, with two Cards in front of him. He rubbed his hands together and did not load them immediately, but instead used ten thousand units of faith value to preload the skill first.

Preloading, that is, loading it in advance onto a designated clan member in the Divine Realm, but it can't be used yet. It has to meet certain conditions to be activated.

The conditions Lin Xiao set were simple: the faith level had to reach True Believer status to activate the preloaded skill.

For a Deity, the ranks of the believers from highest to lowest are—

Saint, Fanatic Believer, Devout Believer, True Believer, Generic Believer, False Believer, Nonbeliever.

It goes without saying that a Saint is extremely hard to come by; even a True God may not have one. Fanatic Believers are the most fervent disciples of weaker Demigods and minor True Gods. Devout Believers are the backbone, typically the Sects' Priests, while True Believers are the stalwarts among the followers and also the most numerous within the ranks of a Deity's believers.

Below them, the Generic Believers, also known as Shallow Believers, are basically of little value; ten Generic Believers aren't worth a single True Believer.

And False Believers, needless to say, are equivalent to those who don't believe in Deities at all and only clasp their hands and pray when they see others worshipping—Deities do not count them among their faithful.

Normally, for Divine Beings like Lin Xiao, who had just opened their Divine Realm and couldn't showcase miracles, it's difficult to increase faith, but these Grey Mist Fish People are the initial clan with bonuses, which is why there are so many high-quality believers. If he went to preach to the natives in the Outlands, it'd be hard to say whether he could make headway even after ten years.

After loading the skill, Lin Xiao also preloaded another Species Card into the Divine Realm, and then, turning into a ray of golden light, he descended into the Divine Realm and directly entered his commonly used Incarnation Body.

The Fishman Leader, who was fishing with his clan, suddenly paused for a moment, and in the next second, a flash of golden light in his pupils restored him to normal. The surrounding Fishmen were swimming around in shallow waters chasing the Sardine Swarm, completely oblivious to their Leader's change.

The descended Lin Xiao quickly gathered the Fishmen, who had been fishing for most of the day, back to the tribe. At the same time, he activated the preloaded skill, becoming the first to learn the Salted Fish Charge.

On his way through a stretch of rocks, he suddenly let out a strange cry and shouted to the other Fishmen:

"The great Lord of the Grey Mist has just granted me new strength."

The other Grey Mist Fish People looked at him with weird expressions. Lin Xiao pulled the Bone Knife from his waist, pointed at a two-meter-tall, sea-soaked black stone pillar thirty meters away, and in the next second, the seawater beneath his feet exploded. A Fishman phantom dragged a long trail of wind and smashed through the water hitting the stone pillar.

"Boom!"

The thick stone pillar burst in the middle, scattering countless pieces more than ten meters away.

All of the Grey Mist Fish People watched him, agape and motionless, maintaining their expressions of astonishment. After a while, as Lin Xiao slowly turned around, his broken Bone Knife, now only a half left, was raised high and he let out a thunderous roar. It was then that the many Fishmen reacted, surging with excitement to gather around the shattered pillar, 'gawking' and discussing.

Ten minutes later, a group of Grey Mist Fish People escorted Lin Xiao back to the tribe. Amidst the astonished gaze of the other clan members, they rushed to the central altar of the tribe and knelt down, praying fervently in front of it.

Almost instantly, Lin Xiao sensed over ten threads of faith thicken in just this moment, as ten Generic Believers became True Believers.

But this was just the beginning. Lin Xiao first secretly loaded all the True Believer Fishmen skills by the altar, then loudly called for all the Grey Mist Fish People to gather at the altar and reiterated what he had just said.

Following that, a Fishman who had just been promoted from a mere believer to a True Believer grabbed a bone spike and 'whooshed' out, moving so quickly that it startled the nearby Fishmen.

In full view of all the Fishmen, this Level Zero Fishman who had not yet been promoted to a First Level warrior suddenly exploded with unprecedented speed and smashed into a wall of sea sand not far from the altar with a 'boom'. The wall, as sturdy as one of brick and stone, was blasted through, creating a hole big enough to fit a large thigh, as sand sprayed everywhere.

Compared to Lin Xiao's previous performance, the display of this Fishman was even more persuasive. After all, Lin Xiao was the Tribal Chief, and everyone knew he was formidable, but this Fishman, known by all as weak, had shown such immense combat power that it completely overturned their understanding.

Especially since, as the True Believer Fishmen finished loading their skills one after another and began to try exerting a combat power that was terrifying for a Fishman, Lin Xiao saw the fervent look in the other Fishman's eyes and immediately jumped out, shouting loudly:

"This is the power granted by the great Lord of the Grey Mist. Believing in the great Lord of the Grey Mist will bestow upon us great strength!"

The evidence was right in front of everyone; not one or two, but so many Fishmen had gained immense power, all of them being the most devout believers of the Lord of the Grey Mist. The effect of so many role models was astonishing; in less than a minute, the remaining thirty-four pseudo-believers all became True Believers.

And out of the original forty-three True Believers, two-thirds became Devout Believers, but most importantly, a whole eight of the already Devout Believers became Fanatic Believers.

Before this, he had only one Fanatic Believer.

After tallying up, Lin Xiao now had a total of nine Fanatic Believers, thirty-eight Devout Believers, and the rest were all True Believers.

As a result, all Clan members were now eligible to load the 'Salted Fish Charge' skill.

When loading the same skill, this method, compared to direct forceful loading, brought additional benefits.

Of course, this did not mean Lin Xiao was particularly adept at shepherding his followers; these were all from the first batch of New family members during the Opening of the Divine Realm and had a boost in faith. Any player could do as well, some even better. The real test for him would be the addition of New family members in the future, or future campaigns in the Outland, on how to indoctrinate those conquered natives from the Extra-dimensional planes—that would truly test the capabilities of an emerging Deity.

But Lin Xiao was about to face a new challenge immediately. After the tribe had loaded the new skills, he began to load the Species Card, and suddenly four hundred new Grey Mist Fish People appeared on the northern beach of the tribe, driven by an unknown force, moving toward the Misty Fishman Tribe.

With a thought, a spark of gold light vanished from above the Fishman Leader's head, and then he issued a Divine-mandate in the name of the Lord of the Grey Mist.

The moment the Divine-mandate was issued, a beam of golden light shot from the Holy Proof in the center of the altar and entered the forehead of the recovered Fishman Leader—who was also a Part-time Tribal Priest. He suddenly raised the Bone Knife in his hand and shouted:

"The great Lord of the Grey Mist has just informed us that a group of Fish People have entered our waters. My children, follow me."

Lin Xiao was required to teach a major lesson every seven days, so invasions from Different Domains occurred almost every few years. The Fish people were accustomed to this; though the interval this time was short, the Fish People did not harbor any doubts. Having just acquired their new powerful strength, they were eager to test it and were brimming with confidence.

Over a hundred Grey Mist Fish People, led by the Fishman Leader, charged out of the tribe with great fervor, heading north along the beach. Midway, they saw four hundred distressed-looking Grey Mist Fish People heading south; both groups halted simultaneously.

Though the Grey Mist Fish People on the other side were more numerous, their appearance was pitiable; they were skinny, haggard, and bony from starvation, looking as if they were fleeing calamity, and most of them were unarmed.

Although the Misty Fishman Tribe is small in number, they at least have plenty to eat, with seven or eight groups of fish, shrimp, and crabs being raised within the Divine Realm, which is more than enough for the well-being of the hundred or so fish people.

Furthermore, having just gained skills from combat, they even managed to suppress the four hundred or so Grey Mist Fish People in terms of morale.

Unlike when facing other invaders, perhaps because the enemies were also Grey Mist Fish People and due to Lin Xiao's spiritual suggestion, the Fish People tribe didn't immediately shout out calls for battle. After a standoff, the Fishman Leader stepped forward to communicate with the group of Grey Mist Fish People.

Lin Xiao breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this; he was afraid that a real fight would undoubtedly result in a substantial loss of fish people.

Since a fight didn't break out at the beginning, it wouldn't happen later. After all, Fang Ning didn't identify them as enemies at first, and the new family members didn't initially have a strong desire to fight, though they weren't lacking in the desire to show off.

As they led the bedraggled group of Grey Mist Fish People back to the tribe, the tribe's fish people continuously demonstrated their skills, astonishing many of the fish people refugees. When the tribe reached the central altar, nearly a quarter of the fish people refugees immediately went over to kneel and worship. Lin Xiao sensed over a hundred threads of faith for the first time.

Although all were very slight and considered general believers, this represented a good start, indicating a high level of acceptance of faith among the group of fish people refugees.

Given time, through constant exposure and occasional displays of divine miracles, converting this batch of fish people refugees into believers would not be difficult.

Time flew quickly, and ten days passed by. Large catches of fish and shrimp transformed the refugee fish people from their previously unkempt appearance, quickly integrating them into the new tribe.

In their daily exposure to the original tribe's ways, more fish people joined the worship of the Lord of the Grey Mist, and the number of his believers grew rapidly. Soon, over two-thirds of the newcomers had established a faith connection with Lin Xiao, signifying they had become his new believers, albeit with a low level of faith and considered shallow believers.

But he was not in a hurry. Faith is not something that can be rushed. After all, he has plenty of time. With daily prayers, monthly congregations of believers, and the upcoming base-testing period, he had ample opportunities to spread faith.

That day, under Lin Xiao's intentional guidance, the tribe began to collect sand and gravel from outside, preparing to expand the tribe.

At this point, Lin Xiao stopped observing. Assured that the clans were developing well and integrating smoothly, he logged off contentedly.

Emerging from the Divine Realm Login Cabin, Lin Xiao's thoughts were still on the situation within the Divine Realm; he realized that the food supply for the fish people might be running low.

There were originally only four groups of one-star sturgeons, one group of two-star sardines, one group of one-star green shrimp, and two groups of one-star mud crabs within the Divine Realm.

The quantity was neither too much nor too little, sufficient for a few hundred fish people.

However, the issue was that the newly arrived fish people had a birth rate and fry survival rate double that of their counterparts, indicating that it would not take long for the population of the fish people within the Divine Realm to grow rapidly, and this amount of food might become insufficient.

What to do when running out of food?

Of course, buy Species Cards and feed them!

But not now, he has to wait a while; he doesn't have much money at the moment.

Cards usable in the Divine Realm are not cheap, and with Lin Xiao's Golden Finger activated, his strength is bound to soar. One or two Biological Cards might not be enough — he needs to prepare more. He plans to directly purchase a four- or five-star food card or a Species Card that can be used as a food resource, and these are not inexpensive.

The best plan, of course, is to wait until after the baseline test.

If he performs well then, he can proudly and justifiably ask his parents for money.

This is the difference between those born into privilege and commoners. When it comes to the number of cards used, everyone is the same: limited to one card per month. But can a month's use of a one- or two-star card compare to that of a five-star card?

As for why the offspring of the elite still have to go to school, it is mainly because only the Federal Government possesses the method for Opening the Divine Realm. No matter how powerful the elite, even the heirs of Powerful Divine Power must attend school to open their own Divine Realms.

Over the next week, Lin Xiao will enter the Divine Realm daily through the Divine Realm Login Device to observe the situation of the Clan and guide the faith of the Grey Mist Fish People as the situation demands.

Given the time difference between the Main World and the Divine Realm, where one day equals one year, seven days would equal seven years.

Considering that Fishmen mature and are capable of reproduction in just three years, after seven years, some of the initial batch of Fishman refugees are now grandparents, though many Fishmen have also died, as their life span is capped at twenty years. But given their living conditions, the vast majority don't live to reach twenty before dying.

According to the pattern established over the past two hundred years since the Divine Realm was opened, ordinary Grey Mist Fish People typically live to fifteen years old, which is considered old. By this age, they are unable to fight or hunt.

Thanks to the relatively sufficient food supply within the Divine Realm, and Lin Xiao's deliberate guidance, these elderly Fish People still have enough to eat to avoid starving to death.

If this were a wild Fish people tribe where the food was not as abundant, the old Fishmen wouldn't just have to worry about having enough to eat—they might even be used as food themselves to sustain the younger Fishmen.

This isn't because Lin Xiao harbors any notions about caring for the elderly or because he's kindhearted; for him, every believer is precious, especially the elderly Fishmen. By this age, their faith is usually strong, and they're likely to be True Believers, a constant source of Faith value. He wouldn't dream of letting them go.

To a Deity, even if you do nothing all day but eat and sleep, sleeping and eating like a pig, as long as you devoutly believe in them, you are a good believer and worth nurturing.

After seven years, by the time Lin Xiao exited for the last time, the number of Fishmen in the Divine Realm had exceeded six hundred, approaching the critical line for food supply. Any further increase in population would be hard to sustain.

Fortunately, the baseline test was set for tomorrow, and he was filled with anticipation for it.

The next day, early in the morning, he received a message from his homeroom teacher. He quickly washed up, lay in the Divine Realm Login Cabin, and logged into the Divine Realm.

However, this time he did not enter his own Divine Realm but arrived at a massive palace floating in the boundless Void.

The palace, pure Gold and emitting a faint Divine light, radiated a powerful divinity. The inscription above the grand doors read "Dongning City's Fifth High School, Class 1-3," which was his homeroom teacher's Divine Artifact.

It's a common Divine Artifact supplied by the school, with one assigned to each homeroom teacher for the students' collective classes.

In this era, there is only one major class each week, so students usually stay at home and enter the Divine Realm through the Divine Realm Login Device for regular classes and ordinary baseline tests. Only for important mid-term and end-term exams do they gather at the school in the Main World.

Well, sometimes they gather at the Main World's school for important events or competitions as well.

Lin Xiao's will transformed into a golden light that entered the grand palace, appearing directly in a great hall and taking the form of his True Body, standing on the golden floor.

At this point, not many people had arrived, and he casually found a corner to stand in.

As time passed, more and more students arrived, and the crowd grew. They formed small groups and chatted in hushed tones. There were quite a few students like Lin Xiao, standing alone among the groups.

As the saying goes, where there are people, there are societies, and even a classroom is no different. For students like them, who have the qualifications to open the Divine Realm, competition begins upon enrollment. They vie for the teachers' attention, the school's resources, and various rankings.

And through this competition, naturally, a hierarchy is established, with top students and those who lag behind.

Though they were students, they were also competitors, so naturally, their relationships weren't great.

Like the three students standing to the right of Lin Xiao, the one in front, with a red crystal embedded in his forehead like an eye, and extremely handsome, was named Yuan Hong. He came from a very good background; his father was a True God.

Although he had just been divinely enthroned with Weak Divine Power, he was still a True God.

As a direct descendant of a True God, Yuan Hong inherited his father's bloodline, and when opening the Divine Realm, he possessed an extra bit of Divinity beyond the basic one. He was innately stronger than the rest, the top student in the class with the best results, his ranking always fluctuating between first and second, standing out on his own. He could even rank within the top ten of the entire grade.

Looking at the other side, among the four students, there was a very tall and muscular man, built like a small Giant. He, too, was a descendant of a True God, but a second-generation rather than a first.

Although he did not inherit any extra innate Divinity, the Transcendent Power he awakened was very powerful, and his grades always hovered in the top five of the class, within the top fifty of the whole grade.

Beyond these, there were several other very strong students, such as Meng Hui, Zhao Erju, Yi Xiao'er, and so on. Though they didn't have as impressive a background as the first two, their postnatal efforts made them quite formidable.

Typically, excellent students were directly in competition with each other, especially those ranked in the top ten, five, three, and so on. Hence these top students each had their own small circles, with many other students liking to attach themselves to those they guessed could be called strong.

Lin Xiao had no interest in these matters and didn't cling to any other students.

With his mid-ranking grades, he posed neither competition nor threat to anyone, so his relations with other students were lukewarm at best. They could greet each other when they met, but that was about it.

However, this dynamic was probably going to change after this baseline test, with the activation of the Golden Finger; he couldn't remain idle anymore.

After greeting the nearby students, he quietly leaned against the corner and closed his eyes to rest.

There was no helping it. Among the fifty students in the class, not a single one was a beautiful girl, which was quite baffling.

About ten minutes later, when all the students had arrived, two exceptionally bright flashes of gold light, accompanied by a powerful awe-inspiring force, descended from the sky. Lin Xiao immediately opened his eyes and saw two figures enveloped by a faint golden glow.

One was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man in a black suit and tie; he was their homeroom teacher, Wu Hai, a High-Level Demigod with the Godhood of erudition.

The other, a young man in a white shirt, was named Zheng WenZhuo, their guidance teacher, and a Normal Demigod with healing powers.

The homeroom teacher, Wu Hai's, forceful gaze swept across all the students present, his face breaking into a slight smile as he briefly looked at a few of the closest ones—these were the consistently top performers of the class.

"Today marks the start of the final baseline test for the first year of high school. The end-of-term exams are at the beginning of next month, and there will be no extra large classes in the meantime. So, this is your last chance to catch up," he said.

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Wu Hai announced the news with an impassive face, and then, with a flip of his hand, a stack of cards emitting a faint golden light flew out from the palm of his hand and spread out before him in a line, saying:

"The difficulty of this baseline test will be somewhat higher than before, but it should be largely within your ability to cope. Considering some students currently have a gap in their strength, if you feel unable to pass during the test, you may contact the teacher to give up. However, if you give up, it means the test stops there, and I'll score you based on your performance up until you quit."

After a pause, he took out another, thinner stack of cards from his pocket and spread them out, continuing:

"Because we've increased the difficulty for this baseline test, the rewards will be additionally increased on top of the usual ones. Those ranked eleventh to twentieth in the class will receive a designated one-star card, the top ten will receive a designated two-star card, the third place will receive an additional three-star card on top of the two-star card, and the second place will receive an additional four-star card on top of the two-star card."

At this point, he paused again, his gaze moving over the surprised and expectant eyes of many students, and he said:

"For this baseline test, the first-place winner will receive a designated five-star card, which will greatly enhance your strength. So, my students... strive hard!"

Lin Xiao noticed that the teacher's gaze fell on the few top students who were habitually ranked within the top five of the class, directly skipping over those like him who ranked in the middle or below.

As expected, poor students are not valued!

Although he was accustomed to it, being ignored still felt infuriating.

This made Lin Xiao more determined to perform well in this test. Whether the teacher paid attention was one thing; the main prize was the five-star card that could be designated, which was something valuable.

You should know that for divine lives like them, who had just opened the Divine Realm and were not yet Demigods, the highest level of cards they could use was five-star cards. Cards above five stars were known as Demigod cards, while True Gods typically used Divine Cards.

Every student is limited in the number of cards they can use during their high school stage, and it's only by using high-level cards that one can maximize their strength.

At this time, the class teacher's voice rang out again:

"The rules for this baseline test are the same as before, and now you may return to prepare."

After speaking, with a flick of the sleeve, Lin Xiao only felt a strong force surging towards him, involuntarily flying out of the hall. Before leaving the hall, he vaguely saw a few students who didn't leave like he did; Wu Hai and Zheng Wenzhuo were still inside the hall.

"The teacher really shows favoritism!"

He faintly heard a student complain.

He shrugged his shoulders but didn't respond.

According to the usual testing practice, the teacher will start sending test enemies to invade the Divine Realm the day after the announcement, so students can enter the Divine Realm to prepare immediately, or they can go the next day. But essentially, everyone enters the Divine Realm immediately to get ready as soon as possible.

Lin Xiao thought the same and immediately entered the Divine Realm Login Device to start connecting to the Divine Realm.

Having arrived back in the Divine Realm after a while, he saw that ten or so new Fish people had been added, but an equal number of old Fish people had died. Overall, it evened out, yet he had lost a few believers.

Fortunately, as the new generation of Fish people were born and educated in the tribe's faith from childhood, newborn Fish people would possess at least some level of faith once they reached adulthood, with about a third of them possessing true faith and becoming True Believers.

As these individuals aged, all True Believers gained the pre-loaded Salted Fish Charge Skill, significantly boosting their strength. This greatly stimulated the less devout, and a considerable number of them increased their faith to become True Believers as a result.

As of now, the tribe had a total of 654 Fish people, including 19 Fanatic Believers, 68 Devout Believers, 116 nominal believers, and the remaining 451 were all True Believers.

This ratio was already quite impressive; after all, Fish people have short lifespans, living only ten plus years, not even reaching twenty. There's no chance to gradually strengthen faith, and reaching the level of True Believer was usually the limit.

A standard nominal human believer could offer 0.1 point of Faith Value per day, but the Fish people, a weaker race, could only contribute one-fifth of that offered by humans.

Therefore, a nominal Fish people believer could provide only 0.02 points of Faith Value each day, which was almost negligible.

True Believers could offer 0.2 points, though still a meager amount; at least there were many Fish people and they proliferated quickly. Currently, the 451 True Believers could provide Lin Xiao with 90.2 points of Faith Value per day.

A single Devout Believer could provide 1 point of Faith Value per day, and with 68 Devout Believers in the Fish people tribe, they could offer 68 points of Faith Value daily.

And Fanatic Faith could provide 10 points of Faith Value per day. With 19 Fanatic Believers, they could offer 190 points of Faith Value per day—providing the most with the least number, which is why high-quality believers are a Deity's most valuable wealth.

All in all, relying on this group of Fish people, Lin Xiao could harvest around 350 points of Faith Value each day.

However, that's under ideal conditions. In reality, he consistently harvested approximately 270 to 280 points of Faith Value daily.

Mainly because in order for believers to provide Faith Value, they must pray sincerely following the Church's prescribed rituals for the effect to be maximized, and everyone knows the inherent nature of Fish people: getting them to pray seriously according to the prescribed rituals is harder than ascending to heaven. This is their nature and it's unchangeable, so the Faith Value Lin Xiao harvests daily could only be between sixty to seventy percent of theoretical potential.

Even so, accumulating about two hundred seventy to eighty points per day, plus what was collected previously, his total accumulated Faith Value had now exceeded five hundred thousand.

Seems like a lot, doesn't it? Yet it barely suffices.

Setting aside trade among Divine Territory Players, which aside from bartering, is done using Faith Value, as well as the costs of upgrading the Clan and other expenses, this five hundred thousand points of Faith Value doesn't go far. It's not even enough to be converted into a single point of Divine Power.

According to the conversion rate from Faith Value to Divine Power, one million points of Faith Value can only be converted into one point of Divine Power; so these five hundred thousand points are not yet enough for one point.

Yet, although still below one point of Divine Power, these five hundred thousand points of Faith Value, in the context of new divine lives who have just opened their Divine Realm for less than a year, are considered quite good.

Indeed, once the Golden Finger was activated, he was set to soar.

Before, it would have taken over a hundred years to accumulate a single point of Divine Power, but now, in less than seven or eight years, he had accumulated half a point. The speed of accumulation was many times faster, and this rate would only increase as his Divine Realm developed. In two more years, by the time he was ready for the college entrance exam, it wouldn't be impossible to reach one point of Divine Power per year.

After reflecting briefly, Lin Xiao invigorated himself and spent 654 units of Faith Value to issue a Divine-mandate, which is about one point per believer.

The expenditure was not too great now, but it would increase significantly as the number of believers grew. With hundreds of thousands or even millions of believers, a single Divine-mandate could cost tens or hundreds of millions of Faith Value.

So by that time, any Divine-mandate would typically be conveyed through the chosen people.

Outside the Divine Realm, in the boundless Void, a tall figure shrouded in mysterious golden light stood stealthily outside the God's realm crystal wall, observing the Divine Realm.

"When did this kid get so many high-quality believers?"

Wu Hai, the homeroom teacher, looked at Lin Xiao's God's realm with a fair bit of surprise. His gaze swept over the more than six hundred Grey Mist Fish People, then settled on Lin Xiao's mobilizing avatar, and he nodded in approval, saying:

"It seems you've put in some effort during this time, so I'll give you this card."

He flicked his middle finger and thumb, throwing a card that quickly disintegrated into a sky full of golden mist, which under the restraint of Divine Power, turned into a golden rainbow bridge and flew into the Divine Realm.

Lin Xiao, who had been inside the Divine Realm all along, immediately noticed something foreign entering. At the same time, a system prompt popped up on the screen before his eyes:

"An invader is establishing a teleportation gate. The first wave of invaders will arrive in fifteen minutes. Please prepare!"

His heart tightened, and the avatar in the Fishman tribe's eyes flashed with sharpness. Raising the newly-forged Bone Knife high, it roared out loud:

"My children, the invaders have arrived. The Lord of the Grey Mist is watching over us. It's time to show our martial strength and courage."

The Fish People, already rallied, waved their weapons and shouted chaotically but with high morale.

Lin Xiao, long accustomed to the Fishman style, was quite satisfied and charged out of the tribe at the forefront. A large group of Fish People followed, swarming out after him.

This time in battle, he didn't bring all the Fish People out, only about three-quarters of them – essentially all the True Believers, Devout Believers, and Fanatic Believers who had learned the Salted Fish Charge skill.

The hundred or so Pan Believers who hadn't learned the Salted Fish Charge and had limited combat power were left in the tribe. There was no need to bring them out to face certain death.

The placement test wasn't as dangerous as midterms or final exams, but it wasn't simple either. Poor handling could result in losses that would break one's heart.

Although they were all students, they were already Divine Beings. Compared to the super fantastical Deity civilization of the Human Federation, they might be like newborn infants, but in some minor planes within the Chaotic Void Sea Crystal Wall System, they were strong enough to call the wind and summon the rain.

The training for the strong cannot be like that of ordinary students, who spend every day in school studying. They need to be tempered by various dangers.

Every major class, every test, is a trial, and a moment of inattention can lead to severe losses for the Clan.

Many students have been careless for a moment, causing a severe loss of vital energy, leading to a prolonged slump, and falling into obscurity until they graduate from high school, forever remaining an ordinary Divine Being, unable to become a Demigod.

As usual, the invasion teleportation gate was established in the upper-left corner of the Divine Realm.

That's the layout of his Divine Realm: there's only one coastline on the left edge, and the tribe is in the lower-left corner. Unless the invaders are aquatic creatures, they can only appear in the upper-left corner.

A three-meter-diameter gate shimmered with a ghostly light as waves, as black as a Black Hole, hovered one meter above the sand. The circular gate, surrounded by faint black light that slowly revolved, vibrated softly. The light arch swelled out, and a humanoid silhouette emerged, followed by a sharp object piercing through the light, revealing a blood-stained spear.

"Hiss, blessings of Gras above!"

A Snake Man about two meters tall with a human upper body and a snake tail making him over three meters long wriggled out from the gate. Holding a blood-stained spear, he slammed it into the sandy ground, making a small pit, then opened his mouth to reveal a forked tongue tasting the air, and slowly said:

"I smell the sea, and many fresh Small Fishmen."

Then, another equally sturdy Snake Man came through the gate, his forked tongue flickering as he wielded a Bone staff on the sand beach. His narrow, slitted eyes gleamed as he said:

"I smell the scent of heresy!"

Reaching out, he grasped the top of the bone staff adorned with a gem-studded skull and said in a hoarse voice:

"The great Gras tells me to kill all fishmen in these waters."

The first snake person to emerge grasped a thick spear, turned around, and raised it high, bellowing loudly:

"Warriors of Gras, come forth!"

The portal glimmered rapidly, and a slightly smaller snake person squeezed out, followed by the second and the third, until a total of twenty fishmen had emerged.

"This test... it's a bit too difficult!"

Lin Xiao, who had been closely watching his God's realm, furrowed his brow. Although there were only twenty-two snake people, their strength was formidable. At least half a month ago, he would have had to fight fiercely, and losses among his clan would have been inevitable to defeat them.

The Grey Mist Fish People belong to a low-grade race, as low as races can get, with average combat power roughly on par with the goblins.

Hmm, they would be a bit stronger in water.

However, the Snake People belong to a medium race, and even the most basic members who have not advanced still possess racial talents that give them overwhelming combat power against the Grey Mist Fish People, especially those two leaders, who surely wouldn't be inferior to Level 2 warriors, or even professionals perhaps.

This setup is a bit challenging even for the top-ranking students in the class, and super difficult for those at the back.

If it weren't for the activation of the Golden Finger, years of accumulation transformed into strength, if it were still just over a hundred fishmen like before, it probably would have meant losing at least one-third of the fishmen to pass this test.

But there are no ifs in this world, and the present is unlike the past. Now that his strength has surged, Lin Xiao feels much more confident.

The Fishman Leader incarnated, leading over five hundred Grey Mist Fish People rushing out of the tribe, in a messy formation, swarming towards the recently emerged snake person squad.

There were no real tactics at play; the fishmen couldn't be commanded anyway. With an overwhelming numerical advantage, it was like circling with a mouse and then pressing A to charge in a wave.

Over five hundred fishmen gathered, a considerable number indeed, forming a dense mass along the narrow beach.

The opposing snake people were initially frightened by the sight of so many Grey Mist Fish People. However, they quickly revealed a fierce grin, the twenty snake people lining up in a row. The Snake Man Leader, holding a bloodied spear aloft, screeched:

"The great Gras is watching us, kill all the small fishmen, and Gras will grant us even greater strength!"

The other Snake Man Leader, holding the bone staff, said nothing, only silently raising the staff. The skull at the end of the staff, with a gem-embedded eye, lit up and streams of blood light spread out, transforming into a mist of blood that flew towards all snake people. Wherever it passed, red light glimmered in the pupils of all snake people, and their spears were also coated in a layer of blood.

Snake people's divine skill: Boiling Blood Skill.

It boosts combativeness and sharpens weaponry.

With the each Snake Person being imbued with this Divine Art, their eagerness for battle soared, along with a certain dampening effect on pain and fear.

The already absolute single unit combat power of the snake people, now reinforced with Divine Arts, meant their combat power was stronger, and their sharpened spears could probably kill a fishman with a single thrust.

The two sides closed in rapidly, and under the leadership of their leaders, the snake people leaned forward in a charging stance.

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"Tide Call!"

Just as the Snake people were about to charge, Lin Xiao, situated above the battlefield, suddenly pointed a finger, and a whole hundred thousand faith value evaporated, unleashing the power of 'Mockery'.

The next second, the shallow sea waters within a few hundred meters at the edge of the battlefield were bound by an invisible force, and a mighty wave nearly three hundred meters long and two meters high surged towards the Snake people and Fishman groups, who had just begun their charge.

The force of the wave wasn't particularly strong, but it was enough to scatter the charging Snake people in disarray.

As for the amphibious Fishmen, although they too were thrown into chaos, they were naturally more adaptable to such changes than land creatures and quickly steadied themselves.

Lin Xiao, in his incarnated form, was the first to react, raising the Bone Knife in his hand and shouting aloud:

"Lord of the Grey Mist, King of the Endless Tide, supreme ruler of the seven seas, grant me the strength to slay my enemies!"

Activating the skill 'Salty Fish Assault,' he sliced through the water like a shark's dorsal fin, striking with incredible speed in a straight line at the Snake Man Leader, who was momentarily unstable due to the tidal surge. His Bone Knife sliced through air, scale, and flesh, deeply plunging into the chest of the Snake Man Leader, the blade tip puncturing out his back.

As he withdrew and retreated, the other Fishmen began to howl, activating their skills and transforming into Fishman phantoms, slaughtering their way into the midst of the Snake people.

Over a hundred Fishmen surged forth one after another, crashing into over twenty Snake people, each enduring no fewer than five impacts, with more than half being forcibly torn apart by the quintuple attack force of the Salty Fish Assault, their blood spilling into the water and staining a large area of the beach red.

In the center of a wide canyon, within a six-kilometer square Divine Realm, a fierce battle was raging.

A large group of about four hundred Kobolds, clad in leather armour, holding hoe in their left and scythe in their right, were arranged in a single-line formation, engaged in a melee with a slightly larger group of Skeletons wielding rusty iron swords.

Standing on a protruding stone behind the Kobold Defense Line was an old red-haired, red-skinned Kobold with a wooden rod, surrounded by several Kobold guards.

The old Kobold lifted the wooden rod that he held, and a clump of red light ignited at the tip, quickly condensing into a basketball-sized fireball. With a swing of the old Kobold's magic wand, the fireball flew past the Kobold Defense Line and dropped into the midst of the Skeletons.

"Boom!"

A thunderous explosion resounded as a ring of fire burst out, instantly covering an area of 5*5 meters. Skeletons caught within turned into Flame People and rapidly burned to ashes, falling and disappearing into the flames.

"Good!"

Outside the Divine Realm, observing the battle, the homeroom teacher Wu Hai clapped his hands and called out in approval, then turned to the guidance teacher Zheng WenZhuo beside him and said:

"Meng Hui has been improving recently, and it's quite remarkable to have trained the Kobolds to this level. With the numerical advantage of the Kobolds, he's within top five in class rankings."

Zheng WenZhuo nodded and said:

"He also has a Kobold Magician who has begun to awaken his bloodline. If he can fully activate his bloodline and become a Kobold Dragonvein Magician before his lifespan expires, his achievements will definitely not be low."

Zheng WenZhuo sighed and continued:

"It's just that this step is very difficult."

Wu Hai laughed and said:

"Not necessarily, this baseline test I...

While speaking, Wu Hai suddenly furrowed his brows, revealing a look of surprise:

"What's going on?"

Zheng WenZhuo asked in surprise:

"What's wrong?"

Wu Hai expressed a mix of surprise and astonishment and said:

"Someone has already defeated all the invaders."

"That fast?"

Zheng WenZhuo immediately perked up with interest and said:

"Who is it, Yuan Hong or Wan Chuan? Or Zhao Erju or Yi Xiao'er?"

"None of them."

With a sweep of his large sleeves, Wu Hai and his companion disappeared, reappearing at the edge of Lin Xiao's Divine Realm, witnessing a large group of Fishmen carrying a dozen Snake People corpses, chattering all the way back to their tribe.

He pointed a finger, and a screen of light popped up before him, displaying the very scene they were observing.

"Rewind!"

As he softly voiced the command, the image on the screen began to reverse rapidly, returning to the moment the teleportation portal had first opened.

As time unraveled, both men's faces showed shock, and after exchanging glances, Zheng WenZhuo said:

"This skill... its explosive power is so high!"

"At least of extremely rare quality or above."

"It's a pity to waste it on the Fishmen, the strength of this race is too low, hardly any potential for growth."

After a moment of silence, the class teacher Wu Hai said:

"You can't say that, the initial stage is basically the same for all. As long as this rare card can be used to obtain enough advantage in the early stage, it's sufficient. If that doesn't cut it, one can find a way to enhance the Clan's bloodline after becoming a Demigod. Or even better, in the future, choosing another powerful primary battle race, and let the Fishmen serve as a secondary one. With the Fishmen's reproductive ability and numbers, they'd make excellent cannon fodder."

With that, he stopped the small talk and pointed a finger. Another screen popped open, displaying Lin Xiao's profile.

"You have a new message, would you like to check it?"

Inside the Divine Realm, Lin Xiao suddenly received a message. Seeing it was from his class teacher, he promptly answered the call, and quite unexpectedly, heard the teacher's laughter:

"Lin Xiao, you performed very well in this basic test, your teacher is very pleased!"

He was speechless and made a face. How mundane, he thought—he had never seen his teacher so pleased before.

Despite his complaints, he was still happy. As a student, garnering attention from the teacher was a good thing, especially for a student like him.

Many of the rare cards early on were only available through the school, even True Gods might not have them. Otherwise, why would such gods send their direct offspring to school? It was to lay a solid foundation. Resources from the school, combined with those from parents or elders, could take them much further.

Just like Lin Xiao's parents could prepare resources for him until he became a Demigod, but his limit would stop there unless he had a Golden Finger, which made becoming a true True God nearly impossible.

At that moment, class teacher Wu Hai spoke again:

"So far, no other students have completed the test, so you are the first place in this basic test."

Lin Xiao's heart surged with joy, and a smile he could hardly suppress spread across his face.

Teacher Wu Hai continued:

"According to the rules I mentioned before, you will receive a random two-star card and a designated five-star card. Besides, you also have the opportunity for an extremely difficult additional challenge, which is available to every student who ranks first in the basic tests. You can choose to take it or not."

He paused, then went on:

"The additional challenge is extremely difficult, even Yuan Hong, who ranks first in our class, has only succeeded once and failed twice, choosing to opt out twice."

Uh!

Lin Xiao hesitated for a moment, silent as if contemplating.

To be honest, this was the first time he heard about an additional challenge following the basic tests. It must be a privilege reserved for the top students in the class. Having always hovered around the twenty-fifth rank, he certainly wasn't eligible to be informed before.

Teacher Wu Hai had reiterated the difficulty and risk twice, which made Lin Xiao cautious. After a moment of thought, he said:

"Could you let me know the specific difficulty and the rewards if I were to successfully pass this additional challenge?"

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"Of course!"

As his voice fell, the screen in front of him suddenly changed and condensed into the projection of the form teacher. He stretched out his hands with palms facing up, holding a 20-sided crystal dice in his left hand and a card enveloped in divine light, unclear in detail, in his right hand. Wu Hai, holding the dice and the card, said:

"Next, I will let you roll this dice yourself. The number displayed on the top side of the dice after it stops spinning will represent the difficulty level of the test you must undergo."

"If the number on top is 2, you will face enemies twice the number you faced during the baseline test. If the number is 20, you will face enemies twenty times the number you faced in the baseline test, and you may make use of any power within the Divine Realm, including Descending in your True Body."

The form teacher then lifted the card in his right hand, and with a flash of light, the card revealed its true nature.

Five Star Divine Realm Card—Fertile Earth (Legendary): One-time increase of a Divine Realm area by 2 kilometers by 2 kilometers, limited to fertile land.

"Holy cow!"

Lin Xiao almost popped his eyes out—it was a Five Star Card for expanding the Divine Realm's area, and the quality was so high, an Orange Legend, something he had never seen before.

One should know that card rarity, from low to high, is as follows—Common, Rare, Uncommon, Epic, Legendary, and Golden Myth.

It is said that there are even rarer cards beyond Golden Myths, but even an Orange Legendary is already super rare, let alone Myth-tier cards, which are practically unheard of, not to mention seen.

An increase of the Divine Realm by 2 kilometers by 2 kilometers is already more than half the current size of Lin Xiao's Divine Realm, and it's even limited to fertile land, which makes it all the more precious.

Even though his main race in the Divine Realm is Fishmen, who are unsuited for farming, this does not diminish his desire for the card.

Just because the main race is Fishmen now doesn't mean it will always be Fishmen. The races within the Divine Realm can be changed or additional ones added. If Fishmen cannot farm, then other farming races can be brought in.

Almost instantly, Lin Xiao decided that he had to give the additional test a try—such an opportunity should not be missed.

"So, are you tempted?"

Seeing the eager expression on his face, the form teacher Wu Hai said:

"Consider it carefully. If you're unlucky and roll a high number, the enemies that appear could cause a devastating blow to your Divine Realm, and you might never recover, becoming trapped in ruin."

The voice of the form teacher was laced with a thread of Divine Power, like a resonating bell that woke Lin Xiao from his frenzy.

Cooling down from his feverish state, he began to weigh the pros and cons.

Indeed, as the form teacher had said, the difficulty of this extra test truly depended on luck.

If he was lucky and rolled only a few points, he could withstand the extra difficulty. But if he was unlucky and rolled seven or eight times the difficulty, it would be unmanageable. Even if he used his True Body with all his might, it would be risky.

A player's True Body strength is related to the overall strength of the Divine Realm—more believers mean a stronger Divine Realm Master, and fewer believers mean a weaker one.

But for new players like them who had only recently opened their Divine Realms, even at its strongest, it wouldn't be that formidable. If he were to face difficulties above tenfold, encountering over two hundred Snake People and twenty Snake Man Leaders, even if he were to Descend in his True Body, victory was far from guaranteed.

Even if he could win, it would be a pyrrhic victory.

Losing wasn't the big deal—with the form teacher present, they would intervene before too much damage was done to the Divine Realm, acting as a sort of stop-loss line.

The crux of the issue was the True Body—if it were injured, the repercussions would be severe.

Divine Beings, upon receiving the blessing of Divinity and transforming into transcendent beings with great strength, also found that once injured, recovery was extremely difficult. It was not something that could be remedied by ordinary Divine Arts. Instead, it required a massive expenditure of Divine Power or a long healing slumber.

This slumber could last for centuries, which in the Main World could mean hundreds of days—greatly affecting one's progress, or one could say, rendering them practically finished.

"If only I had a little more time," Lin Xiao muttered to himself, beginning to contemplate retreat, his thoughts returning to a calm rationality. He knew the extra test was too risky, and even though a card that could expand the size of the Divine Realm was exceedingly rare, but...

Wait a minute!

He suddenly looked up and asked,

"Teacher, can I get the reward from this preliminary test first before I try?"

Wu Hai was taken aback, then said without thinking,

"You really want to try?"

And then replied,

"Okay, I have four Five Star Cards here, you can choose one from them."

Five Star Species Reproduction Card (Rare): 300% birth rate for the species, 300% survival rate, duration 10 years.

Five Star Soldier Card—Boar Knight (Common): Summons 100 Level 2 Bear Goblin Boar Knights, note: equipped with standard weaponry and five days' worth of rations.

Five Star Resource Card—Sheep Flock (Common): Summons 500 sheep at once, note: half male, half female.

Five Star Weapon Card—Short Spear (Common): Obtain 1,000 Short Spears at once, note: wooden shaft, fine iron tip.

His gaze swept over the four cards, and when he saw the second and the last one, Lin Xiao's eyes lit up.

"Just as I expected!"

The reward Cards given by the homeroom teacher always include a variety, offering choices for the students, and he guessed there was a high probability of there being some weapons.

In fact, there were not only weapons, but he also found a Soldier Card, a card that could directly summon one hundred Bear Goblin Boar Knights of Level 2 strength. Whether it was the Weapon Card or the Knight Card, either would greatly enhance his strength, giving him enough confidence to attempt the additional test.

However, Lin Xiao found it difficult to choose specifically which one to take.

Normally, choosing the Boar Knights would be better as they are immediate combat power and a bit more stable than the Weapon Card.

But, in reality, he couldn't choose that because he couldn't afford to keep them.

Bear Goblins were over two meters tall, robust and extremely fierce, truly big eaters, and their fifty boar mounts were even more voracious. Maintaining the Fish people tribe was already nearly unaffordable in the Divine Realm, let alone so many Boar Knights.

The most critical issue was that these Bear Goblins were all male and couldn't reproduce, so keeping them in the Divine Realm meant they'd pretty much all have died of old age after a few decades.

In other words, they were purely consumable goods, for one-time use only.

Whereas the Weapon Card, though consumable too, could increase the overall strength of the Fish people tribe. Most importantly, even if the weapons were damaged, the fine iron spearheads could be recycled, not making them a one-time use.

"Let's go with the Weapon Card."

He said as much.

The teacher had nothing to say about this but handed over the Weapon Card to him. Then he took out a large stack of Cards and said,

"You also have one Level 2 Card, what type do you need?"

"Resource Card, preferably something like a school of fish for food."

"Here's a Level 2 Cod Fish Card."

Wu Hai drew a card out and sent it flying into Lin Xiao's hand. With a flip of his hand, all the cards disappeared, revealing only the twenty-sided crystal dice in his left palm, looking at him.

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With the Weapon Card in hand, Lin Xiao no longer hesitated and said in a deep voice,

"I've decided to accept this extra challenge."

"Very well!"

The homeroom teacher tossed the Crystal Dice into the air in front of Lin Xiao, who reached out and caught it, surprised to find that this item was a special oddity. It could block the influence of any forces, including Divine Power, making it perfect for use as dice. Even a True God couldn't influence the outcome when rolling these dice; it all came down to luck.

"Huh!"

He held the dice, blew on them, and threw; the Crystal Dice fell onto an invisible screen in front of him and rolled a few times, revealing the number eleven.

"Damn!"

Lin Xiao's face immediately fell.

This luck was quite bad; an eleven-fold difficulty was simply too much.

The homeroom teacher Wu Hai also had a grim look on his face as he showed a hint of regret and said,

"Your luck isn't very good. Strive hard."

He had no control over the outcome. Although he wished all his students could succeed, the resources at his disposal were not infinite; they were only for the most outstanding students.

And determining whether a student was outstanding enough was based on their performance during major classes and tests.

Lin Xiao's performance this time was unexpectedly good, but with such bad luck, there was nothing he could do.

"You have one month to prepare."

After saying this, Wu Hai's projection turned into a ray of golden light and left the Divine Realm.

"What a pity!"

"What a pity!"

He and the guidance counselor Zheng WenZhuo sighed at the same time, exchanging glances before Wu Hai said,

"You keep an eye on him for now; I'm going to check on the others."

In the Divine Realm, unlike the teachers who had almost given up on him, Lin Xiao wasn't too discouraged himself.

An eleven-fold difficulty was daunting indeed, but he wasn't entirely powerless; only the potential loss would be great. However, if he could complete the challenge and obtain the Divine Realm Card, it would have an unimaginable effect on his future development.

Divine Realm Cards were so rare, and to top it off, a precious transcendent-quality Five-Star Divine Realm Card that added such favorable types of Divine Realm terrains. This was practically a game-changer that could transform the structure of his entire Divine Realm, allowing him a transformation in one fell swoop.

His current Divine Realm was primarily aquatic, which was fine at the beginning, but would severely limit his development in the mid to late stages.

A Divine Realm's terrain type must not be homogenous. While homogeneity means strength in specific aspects, it also implies significant weaknesses. His army of Divine Realm consisted only of the Fishman Race; without change, he could only add more aquatic races in the future.

This setup was nearly invincible in aquatic combat, but it would falter in other environments.

Come next year, in his sophomore year, the difficulty of regular classes and monthly tests would escalate significantly. Particularly during the monthly benchmark tests, they would likely attempt to invade various piecemeal planes, which required adapting to different environments.

If it were another aquatic environment, it would be manageable, but what if the plane to invade was a desert plane, an Arid Gobi Plane? Would his aquatic race not even be able to make it there?

Lin Xiao had been considering how to transform for a long time, and now, with the opportunity in front of him, there was no way he wouldn't seize it.

One month of preparation time was not long; he descended upon the body of the Fishman Leader immediately and summoned the entire tribe of the Grey Mist Fish People to assemble in the center of the tribe.

This time, there was no beating around the bush; he directly announced that a very powerful enemy would invade soon, and the great Lord of the Grey Mist had bestowed weapons to aid them in battle.

After that, the prayer ritual began.

There was no need for a reason, but the necessary rituals still had to be performed. After all, this was a world of deities, and in front of the believers, the mystery and majesty of the deity had to be maintained at all times.

More than six hundred Fishmen surrounded the central altar of the tribe, and their number looked considerable—a vast, dark mass. However, many of them were expected to die in a month, and this wave would surely leave them greatly weakened.

As the prayer neared its end, accompanied by a faint and melodious singing, a golden portal illusion appeared above the altar, resembling the gate of heaven. Two seemingly powerful golden warriors opened the Heavenly Gate, and troops of palm-sized little angels flew out, circling the gate and singing.

The Fishmen around the altar were astonished at this sight, and Lin Xiao cleared his throat heavily, causing the many Fishmen to quickly bow their heads and pray with even greater devotion.

In that instant, Lin Xiao's True Body, located above the Vault of Heaven, felt that in this moment, more than fifty True Believers had become Devout Believers.

"What a damn pity!"

But the arrow was already on the bowstring, and it was too late for regrets.

As a dazzling golden light shot from the Heavenly Gate and struck the altar, the gate gradually became illusory and eventually disappeared.

On the altar, there was then a pile of Short Spears, each only one and a half meters long, totaling one thousand spears.

The Fishman Leader ascended the altar, drew a Short Spear, and raised it high, bellowing:

"This is the weapon bestowed upon us by the great Lord of the Grey Mist. My children, take up the weapons and defeat the invaders!"

With a throw, a Short Spear flew out, and a nearby Grey Mist Fish Person instinctively caught it, looked up to meet the oppressive gaze of the Leader, and subconsciously prostrated himself on the altar, exclaiming loudly:

"Great Lord of the Grey Mist above, your devout follower is willing to offer his humble life for you."

"Very good!"

The Fishman Leader then drew another Short Spear and threw it to another Fishman warrior, watching as he loudly proclaimed his oath.

One by one, the Short Spears were thrown, and one by one, the Grey Mist Fish People took up the spears and swore their oaths.

Such is the fanaticism of religion; when the atmosphere is right and there are enough people united by the same ideology, they invariably change the beliefs of others around them.

This is the effect of psychology as well as spirit.

Combined together, even a non-believer who has stayed in the tribe for a while will involuntarily develop a faith.

The distribution of weapons only took one day; the first group of Fishman warriors and the most devoted among the Grey Mist Fish People all followed this process. Afterward, it was unnecessary. Over time, the feverish spirit would cool, and rekindling emotions would be less effective.

All the Grey Mist Fish People were given weapons, and Lin Xiao's incarnation personally led their training in weapon proficiency.

The Short Spear was actually one of the most suitable weapons for the Fishman, and it could also maximize the power of the Salted Fish Charge skill. Using a Bone Knife or stone spike for the skill could never match the power unleashed with a Fine Iron Spearhead.

A month passed in a flash, and Lin Xiao's incarnation continuously trained the Fishmen. By this time, all of them were able to use the skill with their new weapons.

As time arrived, the True Body of Lin Xiao above the Vault of Heaven felt a slight tremor in the Divine Realm, and the once-appeared portal re-emerged. Troops of Snake people, led by even stronger Snake Man Leaders, walked out of the portal and formed ranks.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the coastline, the entire Fishman tribe was also boiling with fervor. Under his command, the whole tribe moved out of their settlement to gather outside, heading toward the northern beach in as disorganized a formation as ever.

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From high above, a group of Snake People and a group of Grey Mist Fish People quickly approached each other on the narrow beach.

The three-kilometer distance took only about ten minutes to cover, and the silhouettes of the opposing sides became visible to each other. The Fish People had emerged en masse, numbering around six hundred, while the Snake People counted two hundred and twenty, and with their far larger stature, the scale of the two forces didn't seem much different.

By racial disparity, normally six hundred Fish People would not possibly defeat two hundred-plus Snake People, a hundred would be challenging enough.

But now, this was Lin Xiao's Divine Realm, where he had the home field advantage, and... Salted Fish Charge.

When the two sides were less than a hundred meters apart, his True Body appeared above the battlefield on the Fish People's side, transforming into a colossal Fishman phantom enveloped in the golden light of Divine Power. The Fishman Leader incarnation of Lin Xiao immediately raised his weapon and shouted,

"The great Lord of the Grey Mist is watching over us, my children, charge!"

The moment his True Body appeared, all Grey Mist Fish People sensed it and looked up in unison.

In that instant, witnessing the descent of their own deity, the emotions of all the Fish People started to intensify. Over a hundred Fish People at that moment evolved from True Believers to Devout Believers, all nominal believers became True Believers, and more than ten Fish People transformed from Devout Believers into Fanatic Believers.

If this had happened at any other time, Lin Xiao would be ecstatic, but this time he couldn't bring himself to feel happy.

Because, with his True Body descended, a malevolent will had locked onto him.

Before this moment, although he was inside the Divine Realm, he existed on a different plane only accessible to Deities and not on the material plane within the Divine Realm.

On that plane, he could observe the entire Divine Realm, invisible to anyone no matter where he went. But now, he had left the Deities' exclusive plane and appeared on the material plane, an act often described as 'True-Body Descend'.

Under normal circumstances, True-Body Descend wouldn't pose a problem, but given the current state of affairs, his True-Body Descend meant that he partook in this invasion battle.

Most critically, he had been locked onto by another Demigod, that malevolent will I mentioned earlier.

The Snake People didn't come out of nowhere; even summoned by cards, behind that transportation portal there lay another plane dominated by the Snake People, and the being known as Gras was a Snake People Demigod who had set his sights on Lin Xiao, this newly matured Divine life.

Within the rules, he wouldn't normally be able to touch Lin Xiao—this was after all just a trial, even if the summoned Snake People came from Gras's plane.

But once Lin Xiao made a personal appearance in his True Body, he was instantly detected by Gras, and according to the rules, since Lin Xiao's True Body joined the battle, Gras could, abiding by the rules, make a move against him. These Snake People were extensions of his will, and he could use them to strike at Lin Xiao.

As a newly crowned Master of a Divine Realm, fully educated in the theory of Divinity, Lin Xiao, of course, understood this. But he had no choice—if he wanted to win this extra test without incurring heavy losses to his Clan, he had to take the risk.

The moment the Snake People and the Fish People charged together, nearing each other, Lin Xiao stretched out his hand immediately, repeating his old trick to summon a tide.

The Superhuman Power 'Call the Tide' had vastly different effects between the incarnation and the True Body. With the same expenditure of a hundred thousand faith value, the wave summoned by the incarnation covered only a few hundred meters while the True Body could call forth a tide that rose from the sea, reaching a kilometer in range and crashing down upon the battlefield.

Several Fish People in the Snake People group, presumably priests, simultaneously raised their Bone staffs and cast spells, a series of red glows burst forth, bestowing various Divine Arts upon all the Snake People.

The next second, a massive wave covered the sky and swept across the battlefield, submerging everything in an instant. Both the Snake people and the Fishmen were carried by the sea onto the beach, and as the waves receded, they helplessly slid back into the shallow waters, transforming the entire battleground from a beach to a shallow sea area in an instant.

This area was exactly the one that stretched from the beach into the sea, with water depths ranging from half a meter to one meter, extending up to two meters.

The tall Snake people could barely stabilize their figures by touching the sand with their tails, while the Fishmen were completely submerged.

But as amphibious creatures, Fishmen were more agile in water than on land, quickly recovering from the tidal surge. One of them burst out of the water, spotted a Snake person swaying with the waves more than ten meters away to the left, immediately raised the short spear in his hand aiming at the target, and with a 'bang,' a large splash of water exploded, and a white streak tore through the water at super-fast speed towards the Snake person.

This Snake person was indeed much stronger than the Fishmen and reacted quickly, screeching to stabilize his figure, both arms holding an iron sword high above his head and slashing down fiercely.

"Puff!"

"Squish!"

Two muffled sounds of bodies being pierced rang out simultaneously, followed by a huge spray of blood that quickly stained a large area of the sea red.

The Snake person staggered, clutching at the short spear that had completely penetrated his waist, and took a step back, while the Fishman was sliced in two by the Snake person's blade and died on the spot.

A Devout Believer died like that, but Lin Xiao had no time to feel sad about it. This was just the beginning. In that instant, the battlefield, thrown into chaos by his personally cast Mockery, saw Snake people and Fishmen alike erupting into violence and tearing each other apart.

In less than ten seconds, more than forty Fishmen near the Snake people were killed, making up seventy percent, with the rest all seriously injured. But there were also over thirty Snake people wounded by the Fishmen's last desperate Salted Fish Charges.

The golden humanoid light figure that Lin Xiao had become let out a light sigh. A burst of gold light erupted behind him, and two golden Angels flew out to open a gate of light. He stretched out his right hand and made a pressing motion forward, and from the corpses of all the dead Fishmen, small Fishman apparitions flew out swiftly rising and quickly disappearing into the light gate behind his head.

The souls of these Believers would be cast into another layer of the Divine Realm, the same layer he had previously occupied.

If one could say that the current location was the material plane of the Divine Realm, the plane where the Deities' True Bodies usually dwelled, commonly known as the God Country Plane, then every dead Believer would enter there to be transformed into Prayer, or perhaps... Reincarnations?

Yes, it was Reincarnations.

This was a Divine Realm, not a God Country.

In the traditional Exotic Crystal System, when Believers die and enter the God Country, they are directly transformed into Prayers, returned to the peak condition of their lives, and then given different treatments based on the degree of their faith.

The lifespan of Prayers isn't infinite. It is still the lifespan of their original Race, only they can live to old age without diseases or disasters. However, each death of a Prayer weakens them a bit. With too many deaths, their consciousness begins to blur, until eventually, they dissolve into nutrients and merge into the God Country.

But the Divine Realm of the Deities civilization in the Main World is different. It has integrated the functions of the God Country and has merged the features of the Primary Material Plane, adding the function of Reincarnation.

Firstly, the Deities civilization of the Main World refers to themselves as New Gods, different from the traditional old Deities of the Exotic Crystal System. Their Divine Realm is a hybrid of the Material Plane and God Country, with two interfaces within one Divine Realm; one side is the Material Plane, and the other side is the God Country.

Living beings reside on the Material Plane, and upon death, they enter the God Country within.

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Becoming a Prayer was no exception, just like with the traditional old deities, the biggest difference between the new gods and the old gods was the feature of Reincarnation.

All Prayers who died too many times would be integrated into the Divine Realm by the old gods to strengthen it, but the new gods allowed them to reincarnate, to be reborn in the material plane of the Divine Realm, and to live again.

The greatest benefit of this was that after reincarnation, the souls of the Prayers received a brand from the Divine Realm Master, naturally becoming close to the faith of their previous life. As long as they came into contact with the Church's faith, it was very easy for them to accept it and become Devout Believers.

This way, it was very easy to accumulate a large number of Devout Believers in the material plane, and the faith value naturally surged in like flowing water.

Inside Lin Xiao's Divine Realm, there weren't many Prayers left, just a few dozen First Level Fishman warriors accumulated over the years, and all the other deceased Fishman followers had been sent to reincarnate.

In fact, if it wasn't for the need to retain a couple for appearances, he would have sent all these Fishman warriors to reincarnate already.

The strength of the First Level Fishman warriors was too weak. They didn't even qualify as cannon fodder; at the very least, it took a warrior of Level 3 or higher to qualify for cannon fodder, and guardians of the Divine Realm had to be Level 4 or above.

Lin Xiao planned to take the elite route.

Enough talk. The moment he personally took action to guide the souls of these Fishman followers into the Divine Realm, it gave the followers an unprecedented impact, as it was his first time doing this. The effect was simply explosive, and in an instant, over seventy percent of the True Believers became Devout Believers, and a crop of fanatical believers rose up, numbering thirty or forty.

If they could all survive this time, his faith would surge once again.

The Fishman Leader, seeing this scene, timely raised his weapon and shouted:

"Children, the grand Lord of the Grey Mist is watching over us at this moment, kill all the heretics!"

Having spoken, he lowered his gaze toward a Snake Man Priest holding a bone staff, who at the same time raised his staff aloft and cried out:

"The grand Gras has turned His gaze here, He tells me that killing these heretics will bring the pleasure of Gras…"

Before he could finish speaking, a figure had already split the water and charged towards him. The startled Snake Man Priest raised his bone staff and slammed it down fiercely; his mouth just opened when he saw a pair of golden pupils, the terrifying authority in them causing him to stall for a moment. Then he felt a Severe Pain in his chest and a Grand Power rushed toward him, sending his body flying several meters into the air before he crashed heavily back into the sea, where the icy waters quickly overwhelmed his consciousness.

Yanking out the Short Spear and casting it backward into the water, the Fishman Leader glided more than ten meters away before he emerged from the sea, taking a deep breath.

The moment he acted, the fervent Fishmen relentlessly threw themselves at the Snake people.

The Salted Fish Charge Skill granted them exceedingly fast Speed and a killing power up to five times greater. Even though the Snake people were robust and their scales provided a fair defense, they couldn't withstand the impact of the Fine Iron Short Spears with five times kinetic energy.

A Five Star Card-summoned weapon was not to be underestimated; even without the fivefold burst, it could still harm the Snake people.

One Fishman pierced through a Snake person's body with a spear, slicing at incredible Speed, only to be counterattacked and killed by a sword from the same Snake person.

Another Fishman, moving just as quickly, thrust at a robust Snake Man Leader, but the highly reactive Leader twisted away from the Salted Fish Charge and with a backhand slice, bisected him.

The ferocious face sneered as he grabbed the Short Spear, ready to reclaim it, but in the next second, his body violently shifted as a sharp spear tip pierced through him, protruding out his side. The enraged Snake Man Leader counter-attacked, slaying the sneaking Fishman, but at that very moment, two more Fishmen targeted him simultaneously.

Two short spears pierced through the Snake Man Leader, one in the waist and the other in the back, following another fishman's strike, a total of three thrusts passed through his body. Even a Level 2 Snake Man Leader couldn't withstand such critical injuries.

The enraged Snake Man Leader let out a furious roar to the heavens, bloodlust flaring in his pupils. He flipped over and with two swings of his blade, he killed two fishmen who were temporarily exhausted from their outburst.

But the next second, three more fishmen lunged forward, all three spears piercing through simultaneously.

This time the three fishmen were wiser, quickly abandoning their spears and rolling into the water after hitting their target. The bright glint of the blade cut through the sea, touching nothing.

Having been struck by seven spears, all delivering penetrating wounds, the Snake Man Leader could no longer hold on. His towering body swayed for several moments before crashing into the sea with a 'thud', causing waves to ripple, his blood quickly tinting a vast swathe of the water red.

This was just one corner of the battlefield. Fishmen, utterly no match for the Snake People, relied on the extremely rare five-star skill card, Salted Fish Charge, to achieve a burst of power five times their normal in an instant. Although they only had the strength for one strike and after erupting would be left weak and open to counterattack due to the skill's weakness phase and ten-minute cooldown, the Snake Man Leader couldn't withstand even a Level Zero Fishman's burst.

Lin Xiao's true body stood high above the battlefield, overlooking as more of the tall snake people fell. But as each Snake Man fell, at least one fishman would accompany them in death, with many more sustaining injuries.

He was silent for a moment before extending his finger once again, casting a First Level Divine Arts—Seawater Essence—burning and vaporizing a whole ten thousand faith value.

The next second, countless blue sparkles rose in a 100 meter by 100 meter area of the sea below, quickly approaching and merging into the nearby fishmen. The injuries on the fishmen's bodies visibly healed at an observable pace.

This Divine Arts was a healing spell, limited to use in the sea. The base consumption of faith value was ten thousand, with increased faith value consumption significantly enhancing the power of the spell, and the effect was even more pronounced when he used it in his true body.

But it wasn't quite a legitimate healing spell, and moreover, large-scale Divine Arts were never immediately effective, so it could at best alleviate some of the physical exhaustion the fishmen felt after using Salted Fish Charge, without much effectiveness in healing.

But this was enough—it could greatly increase the survival rate during the post-burst weak phase.

More than six hundred fishmen charged forward, one after another, their faces full of frenzy as they burst forth. Each Snake Man had to face two to three fishmen lunging at them.

This sort of ambush was impossible to defend against. Aside from the powerful Snake Man Leader who could foresee and react in advance, ordinary Snake People, even if they anticipated the attack, couldn't intercept it in time. They could only watch helplessly as a dark shadow flashed before their eyes, unable to even dodge.

Though the robust bodies of the Snake People were tough to kill in one blow, their counterattacks were fatal to the fishmen weakened after their outburst.

For every Snake Man that fell, at least one, and often two fishmen, would accompany them in death.

In Lin Xiao's Sea of Gods, the lines of faith representing the believers snapped one after another. Each break represented the death of a believer, signifying the loss of at least one true believer, and most of them devout believers—immense losses for a deity.

But there was nothing he could do. He couldn't possibly join the battle himself.

When he first opened the Divine Realm, whether it was his teachers, predecessors, or parents, they all repeatedly warned him that unless it was an absolute last resort, he must never intervene directly in his true form.

Now that his true body had descended, he could at most use Divine Arts or lend his Superhuman Power from the sidelines, but he could never enter the fray himself.

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The strength of my true body is extremely powerful, after all, as a Divine Being and with the home field advantage of the Divine Realm, I could easily slaughter these two hundred Snake People.

But if I were to use my true body, the hidden Snake People Demigod lurking behind them would surely seize the opportunity to strike, and I, as a minor Divine Being, could not possibly match a Demigod.

With my teacher watching over me, I wouldn't be robbed of my divinity by the Snake People Demigod, but I would definitely be severely injured, which would be fatal for a nascent Divine life like myself.

Luckily, my Clan is powerful enough to confront the formidable Snake People without any fear.

The extremely rare quality of the Salted Fish Charge skill also granted them the ability to resist. They rushed forward, one after another, each causing substantial damage to their target, and with each Fishman that fell in battle, another Snake Person was brought down.

As the number of Snake People was far less than the Fishmen, with each Snake Person's fall, their pressure diminished slightly.

When only a little over four hundred threads of faith remained in Lin Xiao's Sea of Gods, nearly half of the Snake People had fallen, and most importantly, those that were left were almost all wounded, with injuries that were piercing through their bodies.

The overall situation seemed to have been settled.

He breathed a sigh of relief; this was within his expectations.

Although the Fishmen definitely couldn't compete with the Snake People in terms of individual combat power, I had the advantage of home ground and numbers. With a life-for-life strategy, the Snake People couldn't afford the exchange.

One by one, the injured Snake People fell under the successive onslaught of the Fishmen. Although Fishmen were being killed in counterattacks, the rate of death was nowhere near as horrific as the first wave. Compared to the two-to-one exchange of the first wave, now there was just a one-to-one exchange—basically the last strikes of the dying Snake People.

There was no helping it; notwithstanding its high burst potential, the Salted Fish Charge also came with significant drawbacks.

With the Fishmen's stamina, they could barely stand after one burst, it was do or die.

As Snake People continued to fall, the tide of battle gradually became clear. On the verge of victory, Lin Xiao felt somewhat better despite the great loss of devout believers.

The losses were substantial, but compared to the effect of a Five Star Divine Realm Card, they were worth it, and I wasn't at a loss.

No reversal occurred next. The portal summoning the Snake People was just a Card, and the rules limited it to only two hundred and twenty Snake People—two hundred ordinary and twenty Level 2 Leader Snake People. Even a True God couldn't break these rules and send more subordinates through.

Thus, as more and more Snake People fell, those that survived were trapped in a siege. Fishmen rapidly recovered from their previous bout of weakness through the Seawater Essence and re-engaged in battle wielding the Salted Fish Charge, striking down one Snake Person after another.

Before long, fewer than ten Snake Man Leaders remained, surviving due to their robust constitution, but it was only a matter of time.

At this point, Lin Xiao once again dispersed a vast range of Seawater Essence to restore the strength and heal the wounds of his Clan, on top of the preceding display and call of the Tide with Superhuman Power, using up a total of three hundred thousand Faith Value. From the previously accumulated five hundred thousand points of Faith Value, only two hundred thousand points were left.

These expenditures were necessary and well worth it.

Now, as long as these Fishmen could survive, each one of them would be a Devout Believer and with enough combat experience to advance to a First Level Fishman warrior, with quite a number having accumulated enough battle experience to rise to a Level 2 Fishman champion.

Looking at the combat power of these Snake Man Leaders, one could realize the combat power of a Level 2 Fishman champion; perhaps due to racial differences, they might not match up to Snake People, but among high-grade students, they were definitely elite level fighters.

After all, everyone is from the low-grade race of Fishmen; it's a case of six of one, half a dozen of the other—their combat power is nothing spectacular.

Outside the Divine Realm, the tutor Zheng WenZhuo, who had been observing the battle, could only be described as dazzled at this moment.

Before the battle began, he had not believed Lin Xiao would be able to pass this additional test. At first, he wondered when this usually low-key student, who had made a splash at the last assessment test of the term, would ask him for help.

However, the outcome of the battle was completely unexpected.

This student actually used exchange tactics and, at great cost of the lives of his Clan, managed to wear down the Snake People one by one to death.

More than three hundred and seventy Fishmen died on the spot, with countless more injured. They managed to fight the two hundred and twenty Snake People to the death, which was completely beyond his expectations.

It's simply…

As the thought lingered on his lips for a long time, he suddenly laughed and said,

"Promising!"

"Indeed, promising!"

The figure of the head teacher, Wu Hai, appeared out of thin air. The Card used to summon the Snake People belonged to him, so he certainly knew that the summoned Snake People were all going to die and instantly came from another Student's God Domain he fancied.

He had no interest in why this student had been low-profile before, nor in probing why a student with average performance had suddenly achieved such remarkable success. He was only concerned that the student's current performance was outstanding.

After this additional test ended, with the integration of the Divine Realm Card, Lin Xiao's God's Domain would gain a large chunk of fertile land.

The increase in the size of the God's Domain is one thing, but the key was the additional area was not a sea area anymore, which directly solved the innate limitation of Lin Xiao's original God's Domain.

A single-domain God's Domain has no future; only diversity in domain development has potential.

Now with this piece of land about half the size of the original God's Domain, Lin Xiao's God's Domain could potentially develop a second land-based Race.

The battle within the God's Domain was nearing its end, with only two blood-covered Snake Man Leaders still resisting. Their death was only a matter of time. Head Teacher Wu Hai turned to his assistant with a smile and said,

"It seems this month's strength assessment test will have a surprise."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"You've been observing the whole process. What do you think of this student's potential?"

Zheng WenZhuo thought for a moment and stretched out four fingers:

"Preliminary assessment, Four Star. Although his Clan isn't much to speak of, the Skills loaded onto them are too powerful. If he gets a chance to strengthen the Race with a Bloodline Card in the future, his potential could surge exponentially."

"Hmm, it depends on whether he can live up to expectations," Wu Hai said.

Wu Hai didn't have a Bloodline Card on hand, but the school did. As long as a student's performance and potential met the criteria, they could apply to the school for these rare Cards, which were extremely scarce outside.

And all of this was predicated on performance and potential.

However, Lin Xiao's potential was not yet sufficient for him to apply for such a rare Card.

"The battle is about to end."

Within the God's Domain, the Fishman Leader took advantage of when the last Snake Man Leader was striking down a Fishman to suddenly burst forward, piercing through the neck of the Snake Man Leader with a spear, spattering his own face with copious blood.

Not far away, the last Level 2 Snake People Priest persisted until the end with a layer of Spell Shield, but as Fishman after Fishman mounted a fierce assault against the Shield, the assumed Level 2 Divine Arts couldn't last much longer and was about to be shattered.

The outcome was decided.

Lin Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

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However, before he could finish his breath, the last remaining Snake People Priest suddenly gave up resisting. From his waist, he drew a bone dagger with a gemstone embedded in it, resembling a snake's tail, and plunged it fiercely into his own chest. The bone dagger immediately lit up with a bloody golden glow, and at the same time, the two eye-like gemstones embedded in the hilt brightened, and a suffocating presence appeared out of thin air.

"Hiss!"

The Snake People Priest let out a scream to the heavens, his pupils turning pitch black as streams of black mist, resembling snakes, flew out from his eyes. They shot rapidly towards the bodies of all the dead Snake People around, and just as quickly flew back. When the black mist returned, it was entwined with the souls of the Snake People, re-entering the body of the Snake People Priest.

As the souls of the Snake People merged into his body, the priest's aura rapidly expanded, and a slow, swelling presence, only possessed by a Demigod, began to emerge.

"Fuck, a Demigod's Advent?"

Being a Deity himself, Lin Xiao of course knew what this meant.

The Demigod behind this Snake People Priest was forcibly sending a fragment of its Divinity through the priest as a medium, attempting to coalesce an Incarnation.

Clearly, this Snake People Demigod had taken an interest in Lin Xiao, a newly born Divine Being, and intended to cross realms to hunt him down this way.

If it were any ordinary Divine Being encountering such a situation, the chances were high that they would be overwhelmed, as a Demigod is far stronger than a Divine Being, and even just an Incarnation could easily crush almost all Divine life.

Unfortunately for the Demigod, Lin Xiao was currently in class, where he was a student under the supervision of teachers, precisely to prevent such accidents.

In such a situation, what he needed to do was to stay calm, and then...

"Teacher, save me!"

"How dare you!"

A thunderous roar came from the sky, as a golden finger, as large as a mountain peak, descended from the heavens and pressed down on the forming Snake People Priest.

Sensing this lethal threat, the black mist and souls enveloping the Snake People Priest rapidly contracted, forming a shield like a black eggshell, with a fierce Snake People face emerging on it, roaring towards the sky.

Then, the golden fingertip pressed down, and the eggshell shield shattered, bit by bit, along with the changing face of the Snake People Priest, eventually dissolving into nothingness, leaving behind only a flicker of golden light, which kept twinkling in the void, emitting Divine Power fluctuations that made Lin Xiao salivate uncontrollably.

This was a fragment of Divinity, sent by the Snake People Demigod to coalesce an Incarnation; now, with both the Incarnation and will obliterated, only this fragment of Divinity remained.

A ray of golden light emerged from the golden finger, winding around this speck of golden light and lifting it up. Lin Xiao, almost instinctively, reached out and sighed, and the golden finger hesitated for a moment before continuing on its way.

After a while, he heard the voice of his homeroom teacher, Wu Hai:

"In theory, this fragment of Divinity, generated during this unexpected test, should belong to you, but with your strength, you would have had no chance of defeating a Demigod's Incarnation. According to the rules, you have failed this additional challenge. However, the subsequential intervention of a Demigod Incarnation is an unforeseen circumstance beyond the scope of the extra test. Therefore, I've taken the Divinity, and this extra test is deemed a success for you. The Divine Realm Card is yours."

"Ah!"

Lin Xiao let out a deep sigh, for this was what he had expected.

But it was still a fragment of Divinity, and seeing it vanish before his eyes pained his heart.

One must know that the most crucial factor for a Divine Being to evolve into a Demigod is Divinity, the very essence of a Divine Being. The stronger the Divinity, the more Divine Power it can sustain, and the greater the scale of the Divine Realm. In particular, for a Divine Being to transform into a Demigod, it needs to coalesce Godhood, which requires sufficient Divinity to sustain it.

The stronger the Divinity, the more and stronger Godhood it can sustain.

Lin Xiao currently possessed only a single point of Divinity, and the strongest in his class, Yuan Hong, had only two. To become a Demigod, the minimum requirement is five points of Divinity.

Normally, one would need to accumulate one hundred million units of Faith value plus a certain amount of Divine Power to attempt to coalesce a point of Divinity, and even then, success is not guaranteed.

A whole hundred million!

Lin Xiao felt like he had made a mistake.

But there was no helping it, no matter how you looked at it, this divinity didn't belong to him.

Fortunately, he had succeeded in the extra challenge, and the Divine Realm Card was his, which wasn't too bad.

With that, this probing examination had come to an end for him, and it was time to wrap things up.

The injured Fishmen were to return to their tribe, and the uninjured would clean up the battlefield. They moved the bodies of the deceased Fishmen, along with their weapons, to one side, then brought back all the Snake people's bodies and stacked them together.

More than two hundred Snake people died, causing casualties of over three hundred Fishmen, resulting in a mountain of corpses.

Now, the only Clan members still alive in the Divine Realm were just over two hundred. They had diminished significantly, but fortunately, the remaining Fishmen were mostly the type with double the reproduction and survival rates. With more than half a month left before the final exam, twenty-plus years were enough for them to reproduce anew.

Looking at the two large piles of bodies, and considering how quickly they would decompose in the seaside weather, Lin Xiao planned to burn them.

However, as he was about to take action, a sudden idea struck him—could he use his Creation Rubik's Cube to do something about it?

He was still not reconciled to the small amount of divinity he had missed out on. Since he couldn't claim it, he felt extremely frustrated, as if he'd suffered a loss and wanted to gain something back.

He thought, since the Creation Rubik's Cube had the ability to decompose and extract, if it could break down cards and extract their core, could it possibly decompose these bodies and extract something from them?

Since these bodies were going to be burned anyway, why not try out his idea to see if it would work?

If it didn't work, there was no harm done, but if it did...

Deciding to act on his idea, he looked up at the sky. By now, the headteacher and the tutor had already left, and there was no one outside the Divine Realm.

Flying above the pile of Snake people's corpses, he extended his right palm. A ring of golden light flew out, rapidly expanding and descending, encompassing the mountain of Snake people's bodies within it.

As the golden light swallowed the pile of corpses and closed back up, the bodies of the two hundred plus Snake people had vanished without a trace.

He then did the same with the Fishmen's bodies on the other side,

Meanwhile, he didn't forget to have the Fishman Leader shout out:

"The great Lord of the Grey Mist welcomes the brave warriors to the realm of our lord, and the evil invaders will be cast into the bottomless abyss."

As a Deity with full marks in theoretical knowledge, knowing how to maximize faith was almost instinctual for him, and he could rattle off such words without hesitation.

Amidst the frenzied cheers of all the believers, Lin Xiao's True Body soared to the sky and returned to his God Country.

His God Country was nearly empty, with nothing much compared to the Divine Realm, which had mountains and waters. His God Country was just a chaotic void.

As a New God from the Main World, different from traditional faith-based deities, his core was the integration of the God Country with the material plane, two sides of the same Divine Realm. The size of the God Country was equivalent to that of the Divine Realm's material plane. The larger the material plane, the larger the Divine Realm would be.

But for ones like Lin Xiao, who had just established their Divine Realm, even developing the material plane of the Divine Realm was a challenge. The accumulated faith value was barely enough for self-use, let alone decorating the God Country.

So, although his God Country was as big as the Divine Realm, the actual area was only the size of a football field, including a simple palace. He and his True Body resided at the core of the palace, and outside the palace, dozens of Fish people praying served as guards, decorating the front.

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His true body returned to the Divine Palace, and immediately a powerful strength suffused his entire body.

This was the blessing of the entire Divine Realm, akin to how traditional deities within their own God Country received the augmentation of the rules of God Country. In the Main World, new human gods could obtain the dual blessing of God Country and Divine Realm, which was much stronger than the old ancient gods.

Within this God Country, Lin Xiao certainly did not fear the incarnation of the Snake People Demigod.

But the problem was that the incarnation of the Snake People Demigod wouldn't foolishly run into the God Country. All he needed to do was to slaughter all species within the Divine Realm, and Lin Xiao's strength would weaken to the extreme, naturally leading to the collapse of his God Country.

Therefore, the Divine Realm was extremely important to new gods, a matter of life and death.

Fortunately, the Human Federation's protection of newly divine lives was very comprehensive, usually not allowing them to face too dangerous enemies at the high school stage, and there were always teachers watching to prevent accidents, just like this time.

Of course, even the most comprehensive protection had its flaws. Just like this time, if it weren't for the teachers' oversight during the examination period, if Lin Xiao usually created a Snake People Card to summon monsters to train his Clan, and if an accident happened, that would spell doom.

Therefore, every year, quite a number of students ended up dropping out of school or even perishing due to various accidents.

Within the Divine Palace, Lin Xiao sat on the only relatively ornate divine throne. The entire Divine Palace had only this throne that was somewhat luxurious, with all other places being quite simple.

Already accustomed to all of this, Lin Xiao did not care about these details at all. As soon as he sat down, his attention immediately concentrated within the Creation Magic Cube.

Inside the boundless Magic Cube floated two corpse mountains. His thoughts settled on the Fishman corpse mountain and the Snake people corpse mountain, pondered for a moment, and he silently chanted in his heart:

"Disassemble!"

Immediately, a mysterious force surged within the Magic Cube, and the corpse mountains began to disassemble, quickly melting layer by layer and ultimately all the corpses turned into nothingness, leaving only two blood lights.

When his consciousness landed on these two blood lights, a slight smile appeared on Lin Xiao's face:

"Just as I thought!"

The two blood lights were indeed what he had anticipated: one was a special Grey Mist Fish People bloodline with twice the reproduction speed and survival rate of a normal Fishman, and the other was a regular Snake people bloodline.

Now, all he needed to do was to spend a certain amount of Faith value to turn these two bloodlines into two rare Bloodline Cards.

However, Lin Xiao did not do so. Instead, after some thought, he suddenly said:

"Refine!"

The blood lights explosively turned into two pools of blood mist. Following that, the force of the Creation Magic Cube surged, and the blood mist began to fade slowly. Under the influence of an invisible force, a certain power from within those two bloodlines was respectively extracted and formed a total of five differently colored light spots above the original blood mist.

These represented the pure Bloodline Origin, the Snake People life Branding, the pure Bloodline Origin, the Fishman life Branding, and the reproduction rules.

In other words, one Snake People Bloodline Card was made of the pure life origin plus the Snake People life Branding. Now, Lin Xiao was using the Creation Magic Cube to extract them separately, even isolating the Five Star Breeding Card that had been fused into the Fishman bloodline.

After completing these steps, he took out the two-star Cod Card and directly disassembled it into pure Creation Energy for later use.

A two-star card was merely a waste of a chance to use, in his eyes, and he did not value it.

Next, Lin Xiao fell into deep thought.

Because he now had two choices, whether to focus on the Fishman or the Snake People.

Indeed, by refining both bloodlines, using the Creation Magic Cube, which could be said to possess the power of Creation, he could choose to merge these two species' bloodlines into one.

There was no problem in terms of technique, the key question was which one to prioritize.

On a personal level, he was biased toward the Fishman, after all, it was his first Clan, and he had grown fond of them.

But the limitations of the Fishman were too great, which was detrimental to future development.

If he chose the Snake people, they were indeed stronger, but it also meant that he would have to start over, and the Snake people were land creatures, which there was currently no suitable environment for in Lin Xiao's God's realm, and even after the final exam ended and he got that Divine Realm Card—enriching the Earth within his Divine Realm, the environment still didn't seem suitable for the Snake people.

Furthermore, there wasn't enough food inside Divine Realm...

Well, this issue wasn't too significant.

The main point was that if a second species emerged in his Divine Realm, he would have to start from scratch, requiring a series of cards to cultivate an environment suitable for the Snake people, to arm them, and to foster faith and population numbers, among other things.

All this would take time, and now there was less than a month left until the final exam, which translated to just over twenty years within the Divine Realm. The growth rate of the Snake people just couldn't compare to that of the Fishman; in twenty odd years, it was impossible to train a combat force, which would greatly affect his immediate strength and his performance in the final exam.

"YY my ass, this is truly a happy problem indeed!"

Lin Xiao rubbed his forehead and decided to postpone making any decisions for the moment, and that he would ask his father for advice when he got home after the exam.

His father was a High-Level Demigod with a wealth of experience in this area, and he was sure to have some good suggestions.

At the same time, he might as well ask his dad for some nice things; having such an awe-inspiring father and not utilizing his help would be a waste.

Sometimes Lin Xiao really wanted to criticize those novels where the main character's parents or Clan were incredibly powerful, yet they did not use Clan resources, miserably scrambling for resources everywhere, causing trouble, all in the name under the pretense of self-improvement, which was just idiotic.

If it was impossible to utilize them, that was one thing, but not using them when he could was just a foolish move.

In a Divine Realm not much different from Lin Xiao's, the view was filled with desert, and only in the center of the desert was there an oasis surrounded by mountains on three sides.

At the moment, the only exit of the oasis was breached, the wooden fence knocked down, with corpses scattered everywhere.

Dense swarms of Goblins wielding sticks, bone spikes, and other random weapons rushed into the valley oasis, while dozens of injured Desert Lizardmen fought as they retreated. Within the valley, many young and old Lizardmen stood behind the fence by the small lake in the center of the oasis, holding weapons and watching in terror as the Goblins poured in.

Above the Divine Realm, a golden figure invisible to mortals looked down at the battlefield below with a bitter face, especially at the towering Bear Goblins. After a long sigh, he looked up and said,

"Teacher, I've lost."

The voice of the homeroom teacher, Wu Hai, rang out:

"Are you sure?"

"Positive!"

"Alright then."

The next second, a dull drum sound came from the horizon; following that, all the Goblins in the oasis stopped in their tracks as if hitting the pause button. Then they all became ethereal, transforming into beams of light shooting into the sky, and the oasis was restored to calm.

Inside the Divine Realm, the homeroom teacher Wu Hai retracted the card in his hand and shook his head:

"What a pity, he was ranked in the top ten of the class two months ago. A single rash act severely weakened his strength, and now he can't even pass the regular tests."

Zheng WenZhuo also shook his head:

"With the final exams next month, he probably has no chance. One misstep leads to a series of missteps; it will be difficult for him to catch up later."

Meanwhile, in another Divine Realm, hundreds of Swamp Lizardmen were besieging a Two-headed crocodile about seven or eight meters in length.

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Compared to the last student's God Domain, where only a few dozen Desert Lizardmen remained, this student's domain was faring much better, with nearly three hundred Swamp Lizardmen surrounding the Double-headed Swamp Crocodile, constantly hurling short spears, while dozens of Swamp Lizardmen shooters kept firing arrows.

About one kilometer away from the battlefield, there was a huge Swamp Floating Island, and on it was a large Swamp Lizardman Tribe.

Almost three hundred Swamp Lizardmen were besieging the Double-headed Swamp Crocodile outside the tribe, yet inside the tribe, multiple times that number lived their lives unaffected by the battle outside.

This was a large Swamp Lizardman Tribe with more than a thousand members, residing in a vast swamp twice the size of Lin Xiao's God's realm. In a plane of the Vault of Heaven invisible to ordinary people, a golden figure was looking down upon the battlefield outside the tribe.

The golden figure was tall and slender, with an exceptionally handsome face, and a Red Rhombus Crystal on his forehead that was particularly striking.

On the battlefield, the Swamp Lizardmen had the Double-headed Swamp Crocodile completely encircled. A continuous stream of arrows rained down from the sky. By now, the crocodile's thick hide was full of arrows, and its blood had spilled everywhere, staining vast patches of the swamp red.

When the damage reached a certain threshold, the fierce beast, which had lost an untold amount of blood, could no longer hold on and collapsed heavily.

Upon hearing the message that the test was passed, Yuan Hong showed a confident smile on his face, but it quickly turned grim as he snorted coldly and disappeared from view.

Each God's realm faced different trials, but the difficulty was largely the same.

If the number of enemies was high, they would surely be individually weak. If there were few, each one's power was certain to be strong. Monsters like the Double-headed Swamp Crocodile, even if only one was present, posed a huge threat to weaker realms.

After spending some time in his God's realm, Lin Xiao used twenty-seven thousand one hundred faith points to upgrade two hundred seventy-one Fishman Followers to First Level Fishman warriors.

He then spent twenty-two thousand faith points to promote forty-four Fishman warriors to Level 2 Fishman warriors, each promotion costing five hundred faith points.

With that, all 282 Fishmen in the God's realm were now upgraded to First Level Fishman warriors or higher, including 44 who had reached Level 2 warriors, the peak for the Grey Mist Fish People race. Unless special circumstances arose, further promotion was impossible.

Although the total number was far less than before, the overall strength was not much different from prior to the great battle.

After leaving his God's realm, Lin Xiao didn't return to the Main World but went directly to the class-specific Artifact Palace, where six figures were already present.

The golden light he had transformed into descended from the sky and revealed his figure, attracting the attention of six pairs of eyes. When they saw it was him, they all showed expressions of surprise.

It was unexpected because, in the past, whether during regular classes or basic tests, his results had always hovered around the twenty-fifth rank. His sudden early arrival after passing the test surprised everyone.

However, they soon redirected their gazes. Sitting in the corner of the hall busy with a magnifying glass-like tool examining a metal sphere apparently comprised of intricate parts, Zhao Erju, his classmate, gave him a slight smile before dipping his head back down to continue his scrutiny.

Lin Xiao returned the smile and found a corner in the hall, where he snapped his fingers, creating a chair out of thin air, and sat down.

Although the palace was a Divine Artifact, it was not of the kind with immense offensive power that ordinary people would imagine. It was a multi-functional auxiliary Divine Artifact, a specialized tool used by teachers from the major colleges in the Main World, devoid of any combat capabilities.

As he waited in the hall, more students gradually passed their tests and returned. Whispering voices began to rise in the hall as those who knew each other gathered to discuss the recent test in hushed tones.

After about two hours, Lin Xiao heard a crisp bell, signaling the end of the allotted time for the basic tests. Dozens of golden lights projected into the hall from outside as all the remaining students appeared, accompanied by the class head teacher Wu Hai and teaching assistant Zheng WenZhuo.

A familiar authoritative presence filled the hall, silencing the whispers. Lin Xiao quickly stood up as well.

Wu Hai's gaze swept across the hall, and when it landed on Lin Xiao, it paused for a brief moment before moving swiftly on, he said in a grave tone:

"First, I must tell you some bad news, Yan Huan has dropped out of school."

"Ah!"

Everyone was stunned, but then they showed a sign of understanding.

Unexpected yet reasonable.

Lin Xiao knew this was bound to happen sooner or later; after all, just two months ago, an elite in the top five of the class suddenly became weak, ranking at the very bottom. Moreover, with the final exams next month and time being too tight to develop anew, elimination was inevitable.

Better to drop out early and try another way.

Like Lin Xiao's mother said: If studying doesn't work out, go home, accept your parents' help, and grow quickly without the school's restrictions, making unrestricted use of various cards for forced growth.

Or join some private company or team—with his past performance, there are companies willing to take the risk and invest.

But no matter the choice, his future prospects were limited. Becoming a Demigod would already be his limit; without a special encounter, becoming a True God was highly unlikely.

After announcing this news, the class teacher returned to the main topic and said:

"The preliminary test has ended. Out of forty-nine students in the class, forty-two have passed, and seven students did not complete the test, which makes them fail."

These seven students were similar to Yan Huan. While not as dire as his case, their consistently poor performance also put them in the no-prospect category.

The path of Deity is cruel, like everyone in class is running; once you fall behind, it's challenging to catch up.

Generally, students ranked below the middle class, below twentieth place, according to past conventions, ninety-nine percent can't make it to college.

Those ranked between eleventh and twentieth have a chance to get into an average college—mind you, a chance, not a certainty; failing due to bad luck or poor performance is quite normal.

Only those above tenth place are highly likely to get into a college.

But that's just an average college. Getting into a key college or a prestigious institution is very hard—so difficult, in fact, that only about two or three in the whole class might have a chance.

At that moment, the class teacher Wu Hai continued:

"Now for some good news, our class has produced a dark horse in this preliminary test; Lin Xiao's achievement took me by surprise as he was the first to pass the test and became the top scorer of this period's test, very impressive indeed."

In an instant, he felt fifty pairs of eyes simultaneously fall on him, some of those gazes containing an exceptionally strong spiritual power.

With a smile on his face, he looked around and bowed his hands in acknowledgment.

His gaze met with several of the top students in the class, reflecting surprise, disdain, and even slight hostility.

"Lin Xiao, not only did you come first in this base test, but you also passed an additional challenge, earning you an extra prize,"

the form teacher said, extending a finger with a card that faintly contained Divine Power appearing at the tip. He smiled at Lin Xiao and said,

"Lin Xiao, please come forward to receive your prize."

emmm...

He felt speechless and annoyed. It was like some award ceremony. Way too high-profile.

But this was how the teacher always operated. Every base test ended with lavishing praise on students with good results to spur everyone's ambition.

Seeing as it's a Divine Realm Card…

Alright then!

Amidst the envious and jealous stares of his classmates, he walked up and took the Divine Realm Card from the form teacher's hand.

Yuan Hong's gaze was fixed on him until he reached out to take the card, at which point a red rhombic crystal on his forehead lit up, and a voice emerged from nowhere:

"Lin Xiao, is that a Five Star Divine Realm Card you have there?"

He turned around, surprised. The other students' expressions didn't change, so it seemed that only he could hear it. He nodded and replied,

"That's right."

"I'll trade you two Five Star Cards for it!"

Lin Xiao frowned. The offer itself was fine, but the tone as if doing him a favor by offering the trade... he didn't like it and flatly refused,

"Not trading."

"Three cards!"

"I need it for myself."

After receiving the card from the teacher, he immediately stored it within his Divine Realm.

Having been refused continuously, Yuan Hong's expression didn't change, but his voice became much deeper:

"This Divine Realm Card is very important to me. In addition to the three Five Star Cards, you would also gain my friendship."

Lin Xiao looked up, astonished, with a weird expression on his face.

"What the hell," he thought. That line sounded so familiar. He remembered that in the web novels he used to love, it was one of the classic lines of self-important antagonists, the kind that implied doing someone a favor by agreeing to a trade.

"Could it be that in this life, I'm meant to be the protagonist?"

Familiar side characters, classic Golden Finger, a surge of power just before a crucial day... Wasn't this the standard set-up for a novel's protagonist?

But then, some things didn't add up. He wasn't starting from scratch as a 'good-for-nothing', his parents were still alive, there was no beautiful elder sister or younger sister, no annoying relatives to bother him, and key figures like the form teacher or the prettiest girl in the class or the school weren't around.

"Hmm, definitely not!"

He rubbed his cheek, looked up with a bright smile, and shook his head.

He was not intimidated by Yuan Hong. Although Yuan Hong was a True God offspring, he himself was not to be underestimated. The Lin Family also had a True God, so there was nothing to fear.

Moreover, he was in the right this time around. He had earned the reward fair and square, why should he give it up?

Well, it wasn't about giving it away, it was about trading, but it was all the same. I'm not trading, so what now?

Yuan Hong really couldn't do much. If it were a student of ordinary background, perhaps he could have threatened him, but this Lin Xiao, although his past performance was not great, he came from a decent background. Not as good as his own, but not someone he could just threaten. If Lin Xiao really didn't want to trade, there was nothing he could do about it.

After giving Lin Xiao a deep look, Yuan Hong expressionlessly shifted his gaze away.

The other students did not notice the covert clash between the two, but the homeroom teacher Wu Hai seemed to have sensed something. However, he merely glanced at them before returning his gaze and said in a deep voice:

"This time, for the basic evaluation test, Yuan Hong is second and Wan Chuan is third. Please, both of you, come up to receive your rewards."

Unlike the first-place winner, the second and third place did not enjoy the privilege of receiving their awards alone.

After handing a card to each of them, Wu Hai said:

"The basic evaluation test has ended, but a more severe challenge will come next month. You all know what the final exam means, without me having to say it. Yes, that's right, it's about class placement. This is directly related to your future achievements and is extremely critical."

"I won't say anything superfluous. I believe you all understand better than I do, and I have no extra demands. I do not require you to take any particular place nor how many of you will make it into the elite class. I'll just say one thing."

At this point, he extended his right hand and a card emitting a blinding golden light appeared, inspiring an irresistible urge to snatch it from everyone present.

Deity, whether Divine Beings or a Demigod, even a True God, naturally craves Divinity.

Without questioning or looking, all of the students knew what it was. Yuan Hong and Wan Chuan, two of the class's top students, simultaneously stepped forward and asked:

"Teacher, is this perhaps..."

"Yes! This is indeed a speck of Divinity!"

Wu Hai was very pleased with the students' reaction and said with a smile:

"This time, the best reward for the final exams will be this speck of Divinity. During these finals, no matter who it is, as long as you achieve first place in our class and within the top five in the entire school, you will receive this speck of Divinity."

He paused and then added:

"Lin Xiao only needs to be in the top ten of the whole school."

Everyone turned to look at Lin Xiao. Yuan Hong immediately asked:

"Teacher, why is that?"

All the other students were also visibly puzzled, clearly eager to know the reason.

Wu Hai replied:

"This speck of Divinity comes from the Divine Realm of our classmate Lin Xiao. He made a considerable contribution to obtaining this speck of Divinity, and since there was no compensation, he has the advantage for this round of finals. Moreover, if someone achieves the same results, under the same conditions, priority for the Divinity will also be given to him."

As soon as he finished speaking, Yuan Hong and several other top students protested at once:

"That's not fair!"

"Hmm!"

Wu Hai's commanding gaze swept over them, and the top students swayed slightly. Yuan Hong gritted his teeth and said:

"We think this is unfair to us. We are willing to compensate Lin Xiao now, but we want a fair competition for this speck of Divinity."

Wu Hai pondered for a moment, then said to Lin Xiao:

"Lin Xiao, what do you think?"

Lin Xiao clasped his hands together, his mind racing as he considered their proposition.

In principle, he didn't want to refuse, since for him, being in the top ten or top five of the entire grade didn't make much difference; both were equally difficult to achieve.

Though he could technically ask his parents for some good stuff during this time, the good things he could get were limited.

It wasn't that his parents wouldn't give them or didn't have them, but it was due to the regulation that every student could only use one card per month. Lin Xiao had only used three cards so far, which left him six slots available. However, these three cards were created from six cards recombined through the Golden Finger.

He had used only three, but to outsiders, it appeared he had used at least five or six, leaving him, at most, three or four cards left to use. Deducting one slot as a reserve, in case he suddenly got a good card and couldn't use it, this meant he could only get three or four cards at most from his parents.

Now that he had the Creation Rubik's Cube, he would surely deconstruct and fuse these cards into new and powerful cards, and obviously, the more basic cards in his pool, the better.

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Once the card pool in my hand increased, and I had more options for disassembly and fusion, there was also a possibility of creating an extremely powerful card that would boost my strength abruptly. With increased strength, it wasn't out of the question for me to once again claim the top spot in the class and the top five in the school. By that time, wouldn't Divinity still be mine?

Taking others' belongings to strengthen oneself, that move could be made.

At this thought, he lifted his head and smiled,

"It's only natural for me to have priority over this bit of Divinity since it appeared due to my actions. You guys have always been among the top five in class and have a great chance of obtaining it. Although I managed to get the first place in the baseline test this time, my losses were significant. It's hard to say whether I can continue performing well in the final exams, let alone secure the first place in class or the top ten in the grade. So, in principle, I'm willing to sell this priority for a good price."

Lin Xiao spoke very directly, using this as a straightforward transaction. He extended his index finger and said,

"Yuan Hong, you're the strongest among us and have the best chance, so I want a Five Star card from you. You don't have any objections, do you?"

Yuan Hong's face suddenly darkened, and his mouth twitched without making a sound.

Lin Xiao ignored his ugly expression. Who asked you to threaten me a while ago? He continued speaking to another top student in the class, Wan Chuan,

"Wan Chuan, your grades are not much different from Yuan Hong's, ranking just slightly below him. You also have a great chance, so I want a Four Star card from you. No problem, right?"

The tall and sturdy Wan Chuan glanced at the grim-faced Yuan Hong and cheerfully said,

"No problem!"

Lin Xiao nodded and then looked at the other three students who were regularly among the top five in the class and said,

"One Two Star card each from you guys, okay?"

These three competitors were much less formidable than Yuan Hong and Wan Chuan. Asking for more would certainly be out of the question, but a Two Star card was just right. As long as they wanted to take a shot in this term's final exams, they would surely agree.

However, to his surprise, the three looked at each other and simultaneously shook their heads, saying,

"Let's forget about it, we're not interested in this."

"Crap!"

He miscalculated. Whether they lacked confidence in themselves or simply weren't falling for it, they didn't agree. There was nothing he could do.

Fortunately, it wasn't important whether those three agreed or not. As long as these two agreed it would suffice. Yuan Hong and Wan Chuan weren't that different in strength; the title of number one in the standard tests usually rotated between the two, with Yuan Hong just securing the top spot a few more times.

Strong capabilities gave Wan Chuan the confidence to challenge Yuan Hong for the top spot once more.

Next, in the presence of the teacher and other classmates, Yuan Hong and Wan Chuan each took out a Five Star and a Four Star card to give to Lin Xiao, exchanging them for a fair chance to compete.

As for the cards, they were random; even with their wealth, they couldn't possibly carry several Five Star cards on them at all times.

But the cards that they could carry would not be bad; there wouldn't be any worthless cards.

So the transaction was completed, and Lin Xiao's hand was now plus one resource card and one species card.

Four Star Resource Card—Buffalo Herd (Rare): Summon 100 buffaloes at once. Note: Sexual distribution is random.

Five Star Species Card—Goblin Tribe (Normal): Gain 500 Normal Goblins at once. Note: Includes 10 Bear Goblins, half male and half female.

The Goblin Card was a bit wasteful, but the Buffalo Herd was quite good. The note about the random distribution of males and females meant that if there were a certain number of female buffaloes, it would be possible to breed from them.

The most crucial point was that buffaloes could be domesticated, meaning they could be used for plowing fields, pulling goods, slaughtered for meat when food was scarce, or even used to charge into battle, among other functionalities.

Coming out of the Divine Realm Login Cabin, Lin Xiao washed his face and returned to the cabin. He took out the total of three cards from inside: the Divine Realm Card, the Resource Card of the Buffalo Herd, and the Species Card for the Goblin Tribe.

After considering, he decided to hide the cards he got from Wan Chuan and Yuan Hong; then he took out his bracelet and sent a message to mom and dad.

In less than a minute, there was a response. Soft blue starlight cascaded down, and the projection of his beautiful and lovely mother appeared before him, just like a young girl, asking softly,

"Xiao'er, is there something bothering you? I remember today is your last preliminary test of the semester. How did you do?"

Lin Xiao couldn't help but reveal a genuine smile on his face, placing his hands behind his back and tilting his head as he said:

"Guess?"

Jin Yunzhu's gaze swept over her son's face, and she said with a beaming smile:

"Seeing you like this, you probably did well. What's that in your hands behind your back?"

"Hehe, exactly, da-dang da-dang..."

He stretched his hands from behind his back, showing the Divine Realm Card to his mother:

"Look, this time in the preliminary test your son got first place, and I passed the teacher's additional challenge. The teacher awarded me a Divine Realm Card."

Jin Yunzhu looked at the extraordinary Five-Star Divine Realm Card with a mix of surprise and joy and said with a face full of astonishment and delight:

"Is this for real? Son, you actually got first place this time?"

"That's amazing, I'm very happy."

She didn't even bother asking how he got first place, just looked at him with joy, then muttered to herself:

"This is such great news, I'll tell your father later, let him give you a reward."

Seeing this, Lin Xiao chuckled and rubbed his hands together, saying:

"Mom, you know, next month is the final exam, and the outcome will determine which classes we'll be in next semester. Your son has managed to catch up, but I wasted a lot of time before, and there are still several loading slots left. Can you discuss with dad, maybe support me with some better cards? If I score well, I could end up in an elite or key class next semester and make you proud, right?"

As the saying goes, 'A mother knows her child best.' Jin Yunzhu could tell whether her son wanted to pee or poop just by looking at his expression. Covering her mouth, she chuckled and said:

"You should've come to your senses earlier. Your dad has already prepared a set of Five-Star Cards for you. It was you who said you wanted to rely on your own abilities. And look what happened!"

Lin Xiao awkwardly rubbed his head and said:

"Wasn't that just being naïve before? I've seen the light now. I don't want to try hard anymore; I want to cling to mom and dad's coattails."

"If you knew it would come to this, why did you even start?"

Jin Yunzhu pointed her slender finger at his head and lightly spat out.

Lin Xiao kept nodding and bowing with clasped hands:

"Yeah, your child knows his mistakes now."

"Then just wait, I'll talk to your dad."

"Alright, I respectfully see off the empress dowager."

"Cheeky boy!"

After seeing off his mother, Lin Xiao hummed a tune and sprawled onto his bed, not worried in the slightest. His parents had always had a plan for his life. Even if he truly lacked talent, they could help him become a Normal Demigod.

Even just being a Normal Demigod meant a lifespan of tens of thousands of years, more than enough for him to live very comfortably.

It has to be said, being born into privilege is indeed comfortable – he has a father who seems strict but is actually very caring, and a mother who could be considered extremely doting. This feeling...

Compared to the treatment of other transmigrators, he's definitely a winner in life!

Lin Xiao is absolutely satisfied with his family in this life.

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Lin Xiao lay in bed for a while before getting dressed and heading out, planning to treat himself to something tasty in celebration of earning first place on the monthly test for the first time.

He summoned a taxi through an app, and when he opened the door, a silver-white aircraft was parked at the entrance of the 123rd floor of his building.

The apartment where he lived wasn't owned by his family's clan; it was one that his parents bought in Dongning City. The building had over five hundred floors, and he resided on the 123rd floor. The aircraft stopped right at the entrance of that floor.

In this era of ultra-fantasy and ultra-sci-fi, which was tens of thousands of years beyond his previous life, skyscrapers like this one were commonplace everywhere.

Lin Xiao was still on Earth, but he didn't know if it was the Earth of tens of thousands of years after his previous life, or an Earth from a parallel space.

About over two hundred thousand years ago, the Divine Realm game appeared out of nowhere. Initially, everyone thought it was just a regular game. But when the first player achieved Divine Enthronement and uncovered the mysteries of the game, it became clear that this was no ordinary game, but a real Divine Enthronement game.

Players logged into the game, established their own realms in subspace, developed them, invaded the Crystal Wall Systems in the Chaos Sea of Void across the subspace, plundered resources, vied for beliefs, seized Divinity, and ultimately, the great divine power became their own, ascending to become The God Above.

In this current era, the Divine Realm has influenced every aspect of civilization. After graduating from twelve years of elementary school, all citizens undertake a comprehensive assessment, which includes theoretical knowledge, psychological tests, and more.

Those who pass get a chance to open their Divine Realm. Successful applicants become official Enshrining God's Players and enter schools designed to nurture deities.

Those who fail don't get a second chance and can only attend regular high schools to study various professional knowledge; after graduation, they can only become ordinary people.

So, not everyone in this ultra-fantasy civilization is a deity; over ninety percent are still ordinary humans, cohabiting with Divine Enthronement players.

There is a class division between gods and mortals, which is inevitable. The ruling class of the Federation consists entirely of deities, with little chance for ordinary people to enter.

However, this is, after all, an ultra-modern civilization, and the Human Federation's slogan is 'equality for all beings.'

While it's inevitable that deities have privileges, ordinary people aren't without opportunities to rise up. The Federation's constitution stipulates that any offspring of ordinary people are eligible to participate in the annual comprehensive assessment. If they pass, they have the chance to open their Divine Realm.

Whether or not they can successfully create a realm is one matter, but the opportunity is there for everyone.

Many deities now, whether it's been hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years ago, all started out as ordinary people. Whether you can become a member of the privileged class depends on your own skill and luck.

It's precisely because of the constitutional guarantee of upward mobility that, despite the clear privileges of the deity class, the structure of civilization remains as stable as Mount Tai.

Lin Xiao was very lucky in this life, born directly into the privileged class. The most obvious indication of this was—

No tuition fees, generous living stipends every month, and even half-price fares for transport. Not to mention other priority rights.

For example, mating priority rights. When chasing girls alongside ordinary people, success rates start with a bonus 99% and then some.

The aircraft flew between the skyscrapers of the bustling city, arriving at a thousand-story skyscraper. A huge poster of an impeccably beautiful goddess was displayed on a giant screen on the central wall of the towering building.

This beauty was well-known to Lin Xiao—her name was Leng Qingxuan, one of the Human Federation's top ten songstresses. She also held godhoods in music, dance, femininity, and talent, with a God Level reaching twelve, a true Medium Divine Power goddess.

The Federation's top ten songstresses each possessed godhoods in areas such as music, at the very least reaching the status of True God.

In this age, just being beautiful wasn't enough to stand out without talent.

The aircraft entered the huge building, which covered hundreds of thousands of square meters, and after traveling down a long corridor, it came to a stop at a station-like berth.

After paying the fare, Lin Xiao snapped his fingers with a 'pop,' and a flying board detached from one of the hanging slots on the edge of the platform, flying over and hovering beneath his feet. He stepped on it, and the board automatically floated up and flew forward.

Exiting the station, he was greeted by a supremely bustling commercial street, brimming with people and colorful neon lights.

Lin Xiao expertly ducked into an alley off a side street that led to a snack street, where he found a shop with a sign that read "Level 2 Brother Beef Noodles" and sat down. The chef who was making noodles smiled and held up a finger as he saw him:

"The usual?"

"The usual."

Looking around, the business was booming.

Soon a large bowl was placed in front of him. He grabbed a chopstick full of hot noodles and stuffed them into his mouth without a word.

"Delicious!"

With a piece of beef as long as half a palm, the flavor was exquisite. Ever since he discovered this place, Lin Xiao would come by almost every week for a meal.

After gobbling down the bowl, which was almost as big as a small washbasin, he wiped his mouth, paid the bill, bid farewell, and left.

He loitered around the street for a while longer, strolling through the bustling area. Most of the people on the streets were ordinary humans, with very few divine beings like him, and occasionally entire families of demigods were out enjoying themselves.

These were mostly individuals who had graduated and entered society, unable to become resident demigods within the Different Crystal Wall Extra-dimensional plan and having to find jobs in reality, placing their hopes on the next generation.

Those with the potential to become demigods or who were already demigods rarely lingered in reality. They were mostly located in the Crystal Wall Systems of the Chaos Sea of Void, on planes referred to in modern terms as the Outland.

Like Lin Xiao's parents, they were currently in a plane cluster within the Crystal Wall System AX-14, where their clan originated. It was the clan's foundational territory within the Chaos Sea of Void, with two True God elders of the family usually residing there, and most of the clan's members living in that plane cluster.

Lin Xiao casually heard from the elders when he was young that the clan was trying to conquer a large extra-dimensional plane with several Indigenous Gods. He wasn't sure if they had succeeded by now.

These matters were still a bit distant for him. His main task for the current phase was to study well. Only if he failed to get into university would he return to the clan's plane to become a demigod with the help of the clan's resources, after which his duty would be to serve the clan.

Currently, Lin Xiao was only in his first year of high school. If he continued to perform well after moving up to the second year and showed potential to reach True God status, he would be eligible for the clan's support and gain access to a vast number of extremely rare Cards to boost his strength.

That's the benefit of having backing. As long as you show your potential, resources will naturally be allocated to you.

This was crucial for Lin Xiao, for even though he had a Golden Finger, without Cards, he would be like a skilled chef without any rice—an inability to make a move.

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The next morning, Lin Xiao was awakened by a succession of clear bell rings. Groggily, he awoke and activated his wristband, and the projection of his young, beautiful mother appeared before him.

Jin Yunzhu smiled and tenderly rubbed her son's confused head, handing him a delicate little box as she said:

"Son, this is what your father has prepared for you. Also, after this final exam, you need to decide whether you will follow the academy stream or the war stream. It's best to make a decision early, so we can begin preparations for you."

"Academy stream or war stream..."

Lin Xiao hesitated before replying:

"The war stream it is!"

The so-called academy stream and war stream refer to a choice that all students who open a new Divine Realm must make after their first year of adaptation.

The academy stream means that students will focus on the development of faith within the Divine Realm in their subsequent growth.

On the other hand, the war stream means that students will focus on the development of their clan's combat power in their subsequent growth.

It's tough to explain this using professional jargon, but it can be described simply: those from the academy stream typically stay in some safe planes after graduation, focusing on defense.

The war stream, however, is responsible for entering unexplored dangerous planes or even the New Crystal Wall System, and for conquering and plundering other planes, engaging in direct combat with the indigenous deities of those planes.

In plain terms, the academy stream is akin to civilian roles in the military, while the war stream is the combat troops on the front line.

Thus, the two streams have their own emphases in growth, and classes are divided both by grades and directions. Generally, students from the academy and war streams are not placed in the same class.

Of course, these two streams are just directions and don't mean that if you take the academy stream you will definitely stay safely and farm your land for life, nor does the war stream imply you'll always be on the battlefield. It's just an orientation, and war streamers can farm as well.

It's just that such people are rare and mentioning it might earn disdain from others.

If you ask Lin Xiao which direction he'd choose, of course, he'd say the war stream. Although it's riskier and has a high casualty rate, the war stream is more powerful. At the same God Level, the war stream is definitely stronger than the academy stream and can go further.

His mother didn't oppose his choice but gently caressed his cheek and bent down to kiss him, saying:

"Child, mom respects your choice."

His mother left, leaving behind a box with an unknown number of cards inside, as well as a kiss mark.

After wiping his face, he excitedly jumped onto his bed with the box, opened it, and a soft golden light exuded from it, revealing four cards, all five-star cards.

"As expected of my dad, so reliable!"

Five-Star Species Card—Black-Backed Jackal Man (Rare): Summons 300 Black-Backed Jackal Men at once. Note: Half male, half female.

Five-Star Resource Card—Large Shoals of Shallow Sea Fish (Common): Summons five large random shallow sea fish communities at once.

Five-Star Species Reproduction Card (Rare) *2: Increases species birth rates by 300%, survival rates by 300%, duration 10 years. Note: This card cannot stack with other cards of the same type; only one can be used at a time.

From these four cards, one could see Dad's thinking.

Although Hyenamen are also rated as a low-grade race like Fishmen, they are far stronger than Fishmen in terms of individual combat power. In the early stages, when neither the Divine Realm nor divinity can bear a medium or higher race, Hyenamen are one of the most cost-effective low-grade races.

Once he loaded the Divine Realm and released the Black-Backed Hyenamen, then consecutively used two Breeding Cards, he could breed enough Hyenamen before the final exam, and combined with the existing Fishmen, it would not be difficult to achieve a good score in the final test.

His father's plan was very suitable for his current situation, but Lin Xiao didn't think so, he had a better plan.

Four new five-star cards, plus the original two for a total of six, were enough for him to implement his plan.

He put away the cards, entered the Divine Realm Login Cabin, and returned to the Divine Realm, where he laid out seven cards in a row. The glow from cards of different grades varied, the higher the grade, the brighter the glow, and among the row of cards, the legendary quality Divine Realm Card shone the brightest orange.

First, he took up the Divine Realm Card. This card could certainly not be used for decomposition and fusion.

"Load!"

With his soft call, the Divine Realm Card shattered into a stream of golden light and flew out into the void.

The next second, a rumbling sound came from his ear. Lin Xiao's thoughts moved, and he disappeared from sight, reappearing at the farthest left of the Divine Realm. This place used to be a long, narrow beach, which originally appeared to be an endless beach illusion, but upon arriving here, one would be blocked by an invisible membrane, unable to move forward.

But at that moment, the beach suddenly began to boil, the grains of sand at the edge hopping around. The illusion of the beach began to twist, deform, and then shatter inch by inch like glass, falling away to reveal the black land behind the illusion.

As the illusion crumbled bit by bit, it was like a cloth covering the beach was slowly being rolled back, inch by inch of black land was revealed, until...

The power of the Divine Realm Card was exhausted, and a black land 3.5 kilometers long and just over a kilometer wide materialized out of nowhere on the far left side of the Divine Realm.

In terms of the entire Divine Realm, this meant the area of the Divine Realm expanded from the previous 5 kilometers east to west and 3.5 kilometers north to south, to now being over 6 kilometers east to west while still being 3.5 kilometers north to south. He had placed the entire newly created land on the left side of the Divine Realm, combining it with the area where the Fishmen were active.

Inside the Divine Realm, at first the Fishmen noticed nothing unusual, the tremors caused by the expansion of the Divine Realm were only perceptible to Lin Xiao, the Divine Realm Master, the lives within the Divine Realm were unable to detect it.

It wasn't until an hour after the full integration of the Divine Realm Card that a Fishman casually passing by the edge of the old World Crystal Wall suddenly discovered that the invisible barrier here had disappeared. Surprised, he walked into the newly appeared land, then turned around and ran back to the tribe shouting, attracting more curious Fishmen to come over.

Lin Xiao didn't pay attention to the shock of the Fishmen, he just made sure the Divine Realm Card had successfully integrated before returning to his own God Country.

He had more important things to do now.

First, he took away the herd of wild buffalo and the card of the large shallow sea fish school; these two cards could not be used.

No matter whether his next idea would work or not, neither of these two cards should be decomposed now, as his Divine Realm was currently in need of food.

He extended his hand, a spark of light flew out rapidly spinning, outlining the form of a Magic Cube, which quickly solidified into reality.

His gaze fell upon three cards. First, he took out the Goblin tribe card and threw it into the Magic Cube. As his thoughts moved, the cube began to turn, and inside the Creation Rubik's Cube, the Goblin tribe card was completely decomposed into three parts: pure Bloodline Origin, Goblin Race Brand, and Bear Goblin Race Brand.

Then he reached out, picked up the Black-Backed Hyenaman card, twirled it in his palm, bit his lip with indecision, and then threw it into the cube.

This card disassembled into only two parts, namely the pure Bloodline Origin and the Black-Backed Jackal Man Race Brand.

After that, it was two five-star Species Reproduction Cards, which he directly disassembled to extract the two Filaments of Propagation Rules and set them aside for now.

He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he felt that the Creative Power flowing from the card disassembly was not as intense as before.

With this, the Creation Rubik's Cube now contained a total of four pure Bloodline Origins, one Snake People Race Brand, one Fishman Race Brand, one Goblin Race Brand, one Bear Goblin Race Brand, and one Black-Backed Jackal Man Race Brand, along with two strands of the Filaments of Propagation Rules.

The next step for Lin Xiao was to choose between two options; one was to select a Race Brand and fuse it with the four pure Bloodline Origins and then integrate the two Filaments of Propagation Rules to enhance the reproductive ability of the new race.

As for the remaining four Race Brands, naturally, they would serve as resources to strengthen the chosen Bloodline Origin.

In doing so, even if the new species merged the Bloodline Origins of other species and remained the same species, its base strength would be significantly greater than before.

For example, if he chose the Fishman Race again, after merging the four pure Bloodline Origins, the new Fishmen would still be Fishmen, but their physique would be much stronger than the Fishmen currently in the God Realm.

The second option was to explore a brainstorm Lin Xiao had a long time ago.

Before the Golden Finger was activated, but already aware of the Creation Rubik's Cube's functions, he used to daydream and come up with many wild ideas, one of which was whether he could merge different species together to see what new creation could be born.

Would it be a hybrid monstrosity or a brand-new species?

He pondered this idea for quite a while and never had the chance to try it, but now the opportunity was right in front of him, it all depended on whether he could make up his mind to do it.

Of course, Lin Xiao had the determination, but the current situation was not quite ideal for him to explore various wild ideas.

After all, there were True Gods who had attempted to merge different species, and some with Creator Godhood had tried to create a new, powerful species by merging different races, but they mostly failed. The new species had various flaws, and the unknown changes from the depths of their genes meant they would not live long.

Most importantly, once the Race Brands of the newly merged species had completely integrated, they would most likely be impossible to separate again.

In other words, this merging meant that all the cards would fuse into one, and it might not be reversible in the future, which would undoubtedly result in heavy losses.

But Lin Xiao had this thought and hesitated whether to go through with it, naturally because the choice had benefits he couldn't refuse.

According to the records of humans over hundreds of thousands of years, any Deity capable of creating a new species would obtain the Creator Godhood.

Indeed, anyone, including Divine Beings like him who had yet to coalesce a Godhood, could acquire it, not immediately but upon becoming a Demigod.

The most crucial point was that this Creator Godhood was an additional Godhood that didn't consume the carrier's capacity for Divinity. In other words, if he had five points of Divinity when he became a Demigod, other Demigods could not exceed the carrying capacity of five points of Divinity with their Godhoods, while he could gain an extra Godhood within the carrying capacity of his five points of Divinity.

Admittedly, the Creator Godhood wouldn't add much combat power, as it was not a combat-oriented Godhood, but it was a higher-ranking Godhood with the main benefit of widening the potential for growth.

If it were just an ordinary Fishman Godhood, the potential for growth would not be high, and even with many Fishman believers, he could not break through the ten-level limit of God Level and become a being of Medium Divine Power.

But with Creator Godhood, as long as he had sufficient understanding of the rules and numerous followers, he could grow into a powerful Divine Being with a strength surpassing fifteen levels of God Level.

This is the gap.

Therefore, knowing the uncertainty was significant, Lin Xiao still wanted to take a chance.

As the saying goes, "Take a gamble, and a bicycle might turn into a motorcycle; at worst, you'll just progress slower."

With the strength of his God Realm Kin, even if he maintained the current state, his results in the upcoming final exams wouldn't be too poor—he might not make it into the elite class, but he also wouldn't be relegated to the ordinary class.

But if he succeeded...

Hehe!

Lin Xiao rubbed his hands together and took a deep breath before saying,

"Fuse!"

In reality, a mere thought would suffice, but he still said it out loud, as if to bolster his own courage.

The moment the words left his mouth, the Creation Magic Cube underwent a transformation. Following his design, four pure Bloodline Origins merged into one powerful Bloodline Origin.

Then his consciousness swept over the five racial brands. With a thought, the Fishman Life Brand flew up and plunged into the mighty Bloodline Origin.

He chose the Fishman as the base mainly because it would be easier to integrate into the existing Fishman Followers later, but there was another important reason—the Salted Fish Charge Skill he had previously loaded was tied to the Fishman race. If he used the Fishman Life Brand as the base, any new species created later would automatically inherit this privilege and be able to learn this powerful skill.

If he had chosen another species as the base, the newly fused species would not be able to learn the skill.

One by one, the Life Brands were cast into the reinforced Bloodline Origin. With each addition, the Chaos Blood Orb emitting a faint golden glow became slightly more vibrant, and after all four were added, the orb's pulsation had quickly strengthened to more than triple its original intensity.

Then he added two filaments of Propagation Rules extracted from the Breeding Card.

He also infused the Creative Power transformed from the two-star codfish card that he had previously disassembled. Though small like a mosquito leg, it was still flesh, enhancing the orb's power even by a little bit.

After completing these steps, the now almost gray Chaos Blood Orb boiled like water about to overflow, mysterious fluctuations surging from it.

As the master of the Creation Magic Cube, Lin Xiao unconsciously sat on the divine throne and fell into a deep sleep. The Creation Magic Cube, suspended in the midst of the vast Sea of Gods, rapidly tumbled and crisscrossed, rays of gray light bursting forth from the gaps as it rotated, as if a sun radiated from inside the cube.

In that moment, Lin Xiao's Soul of God synchronized with the Creation Magic Cube, and the mysteries of creation far beyond his current understanding were violently poured into his mind.

The Fishman, Snake people, Goblins, and Hyenaman—their origins, their evolutionary journey, right up to their current dissolution and fusion under the control of the Creation Magic Cube—all brutishly flooded into his mind, instantly enlightening him about the mysterious creation of these four species.

In that instant, Lin Xiao felt an intense sensation: given sufficient Divine Power, he could potentially create these four species out of thin air.

This strong sensation morphed into an impulse, and in the darkness, he felt as though he extended a finger towards the void. The next second, the void exploded with a loud bang, and he instantly lost consciousness.

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In a daze, Lin Xiao dreamed that he seemed to have done something earth-shattering, as if...

He suddenly awoke to find himself lying atop the throne of God, with a splitting headache and a body so weak it was as if he had just been ravaged by ten famished beauties in a relentless cycle of foreplay and caresses, then caresses and foreplay, over and over again, lying on the throne unable to lift a finger or muster the slightest bit of energy.

Inside the Divine Realm, all was silent, with dozens of Fishman god guards standing as still as statues outside the palace.

Lin Xiao lay slanted on the throne for quite a while before he finally uttered a slight breath:

"Divine interface!"

The Divine Realm panel popped up, and he closely reviewed it, immediately noticing something was amiss.

Divine interface:

User name: Lin Xiao (Citizen ID txwd542154895147)

True Name: Cyberlex Meyer.

Deity Name: Lord of the Grey Mist, King of the Endless Tide, Master of the Seven Seas.

Divinity: None

Godhood: None (Creator)

Divinity: 1 (1).

Divine Fire: Unlit.

Divine Power: 0.

Superhuman Divine Power: Tide Call.

God Country: Sea of Grey Mist.

Sects: Fishman Ancestor God.

Followers: Grey mist fishman.

Profession: None.

Faith value: 0 points.

He remembered that he previously had some Divine Power and over two hundred thousand faith points; now they had all turned into zero. However, an additional point in brackets had appeared in the Divinity column.

He focused his thoughts on it, revealing a strange expression on his face, his eyes wide open with ecstatic joy:

"Holy crap, it can actually work like this!"

That bracketed point of divinity was indeed a point of divinity, but it had not yet congealed.

Simply put, he had succeeded. After consuming four portions of pure Bloodline Origin, five life brands of species, two Breeding Cards, one two-star Card, one point of Divine Power, and over two hundred thousand faith points, he had successfully merged a new species and gained the Creationist Godhood, as well as one point of divinity.

However, because his current strength was insufficient, the Creator Godhood could not be activated yet, so it was displayed in brackets.

This single point of divinity was the reward for his successful creation, a reward from some mysterious rule.

Likewise, because of the lack of Divine Power and faith points, this one point of divinity also could not yet manifest.

He needed to amass one billion units of faith points to manifest this one point of divinity.

It might seem similar to normally congealing divinity, but there was a significant difference.

Normally congealing divinity required at least one billion faith points and ten points of Divine Power, and the success rate was not guaranteed; it wasn't certain that one would succeed.

Now, he only needed one billion faith points and no Divine Power to ensure the congealing of one point of divinity, which was a big difference.

In other words, he now firmly had two points of divinity. If he performed well in the upcoming exam and obtained the point of divinity from the head teacher, wouldn't he acquire three points of divinity while still in his first year of high school?

Lin Xiao's breathing became somewhat rapid. If it really were possible, he would definitely meet the prerequisites for advancing to Demigod before the university entrance exams, guaranteeing admission to a good university.

And all of this hinged on his performance in the upcoming exam.

The quality of his performance in the upcoming exam, in turn, rested on whether this newly congealed species... would prove powerful.

Lin Xiao rubbed his hands together, summoned the Creation Rubik's Cube, and carefully cast his consciousness within. Upon seeing a sphere radiating faint orange light, an attribute list immediately appeared in his mind—

Fifth Level Species Card—Unknown Species (Legendary): Gain 200 individuals of an unknown species in one go.

Note: Half male, half female.

Race: Unknown species.

Category: Sub-human Species.

Level: Medium race.

Profession: None.

Talents: Underwater breathing, basic superhuman strength, basic regeneration, scaled armor.

Skills: Bloodthirsty.

Expertise: Intermediate swimming, basic swift walking, monkey arm.

Constitution: 1.8 (As robust as an ox, that's you.)

Strength: 1.71 (Innate superhuman strength, almost triple the strength of an adult male.)

Agility: 1.20.5 (Equivalent to a professionally trained sprinter.)

Spirit: 1 (Not much different from ordinary people, generally incapable of spawning casting professions.)

Evaluation: This is a type of amphibious humanoid species that has never appeared before, possessing strength far beyond that of ordinary people.

"Goodness gracious!"

Lin Xiao immediately exclaimed, not bothering to look at anything else but just these attributes, then pulled up the attribute table of the Tribal Gray Fog Fish people existing within the Divine Realm for comparison—

Race: Grey mist fishman (low-level race)

Category: Sub-human Species

Level: Rank 1 or below

Profession: None

Talents: Underwater breathing

Skills: None

Expertise: Basic swimming

Constitution: 0.6 (The point for an adult human is 1.)

Strength: 0.5 (The burst strength of an eighty-year-old man might surpass yours.)

Agility: 0.4/1.1 (Land/Water)

Spirit: 0.4 (Even with genetic mutations, it's impossible to become a caster)

Evaluation: An extremely weak aquatic race.

There's absolutely no comparison. In any aspect, it directly crushes the fishman, even in water because this newborn unknown species is also an amphibious creature, and it also crushes the fishman in water.

Based on the standard of 1 point of strength for an adult male, this new species has nearly double the constitution of a normal person, almost triple the strength of a normal person, more than double the agility, and intelligence not inferior to humans, among other things.

And this is just the base attributes, without including the four talents and one skill, as well as the three expertises.

There are four talents, respectively: underwater breathing, basic superhuman strength, basic regeneration, and scaled armor.

Underwater breathing needs no explanation; those who know, know.

Basic superhuman strength is the additional point of strength.

Basic regeneration means this new species has a healing ability higher than that of ordinary people, and it's unknown from which species this ability has been inherited.

Scaled armor signifies that this species has a thick layer of scales, and judging from the fact that the fishman also has scales but it's not listed as a talent, the new species' scales must offer higher defense.

The skill bloodthirsty is likely inherited from the Black-Backed Jackal Man; this skill is very straightforward. As long as blood is seen, the Hyenaman's fighting spirit increases, slightly enhancing resistance to abnormal and negative states, like hypnotism or fear.

There are three expertises: intermediate swimming, basic swift walking, and monkey arm.

Intermediate swimming is also inherited from the fishman but is faster than the basic swimming of the fishman.

Basic swift walking, as the name suggests, indicates running fast. The additional 0.5 points in agility come from this skill.

Monkey arm, this expertise indicates the species can wield two-handed weapons in each hand, similar to a skill called Titan's Grip available to warrior professions.

"This is a perfect Berserker template race!"

Lin Xiao immediately correlated this series of talents and expertises with a powerful close combat profession. If this species were to change profession to a Berserker, no, even just a warrior, it would greatly enhance its combat power.

Unfortunately, Profession Cards are too rare; they are almost as scarce as Divinity Cards, and even his own father probably doesn't have one.

Karin Xiao hadn't named the new species yet, because he still didn't know what this new species looked like. With five species merging into one, he was very curious about what kind of creature would result.

With the new species card in hand, he hovered above the Divine Realm. After pondering for a moment, he decided to abandon the initial plan for the Tribal Gray Fog Fish people and let this newly born species become the main species of the Divine Realm.

It was somewhat cruel, but this was a path that every Divine Realm Master had to take in their lifetime.

Every New Divine Being starting their own Divine Realm, because of the initial value of Godness being so low, could generally only choose extremely weak races like Goblins, Fishmen, or Kobolds. Powerful races like Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and the like were beyond their capacity due to their Divinity, requiring a higher value of Godness to sustain.

As the Divine Realm Master of a new Divine Realm gradually grew stronger, the original weak species would certainly not be able to keep up. At that point, a switch to more powerful races would be mandatory.

This was inevitable; otherwise, while others are switching to powerful races like Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Beastmen and so on, if you were still using Goblins and Fishmen, what would you use to confront these powerful races in battle?

In the future, when leading campaigns into the Outland Crystal Wall System planes, would you lead a group of Goblin Fishmen to war?

That would be a joke.

Karin Xiao had known about this step for a while, but he hadn't expected it to come so soon. He thought it would happen when he reached Rank 2 or Rank 3, not that he'd find a suitable new species while still at Rank 1.

Clutching the card that emanated a faint dark golden glow, he tossed it forward. The gold card shattered in mid-air and turned into a mist of gold that descended rapidly, expanding and settling on the ground as a football-field-sized cloud of golden fog.

A sea breeze blew from the nearby ocean, dispersing the golden fog and revealing creatures that were two meters tall with serpentine tails stretching over four meters long, covered in thick scales...

Well, how to put it, this species looked somewhat familiar and didn't require elaborate description—it closely resembled an amphibious species known as Naga.

Yes, just like the Naga from a game called Demanimal World from Karin Xiao's era before he crossed over, except their skin was a bit darker, their scales slightly rougher, their faces somewhat different from the Naga, and they looked a tad more ferocious.

In total, there were two hundred Black Scale Naga, half male and half female.

It's worth mentioning that he simply named them Black Scale Naga because he thought they resembled Naga; it wasn't to say that they were the true Naga race. In fact, in certain Crystal Wall systems, an actual Naga race existed — his newly merged species merely bore a resemblance.

Moreover, his newly named Black Scale Naga, didn't exhibit significant differences between the sexes; unlike the true Naga race where males look like monsters and females are beautiful and charming like Fish people, both male and female Black Scale Naga were equally unattractive, their bodies covered in black scales without allure.

The only way to distinguish the sexes was that the males were sturdier, and their scales and body lines were rougher, while the females had slightly softer lines, making it generally easy to differentiate at first glance.

Of course, whether male or female, they were all equally ugly, and Karin Xiao had no illusions about that.

But that didn't stop him from adoring this new species; he was quite satisfied with it.

It didn't matter whether they were true Naga or not; what mattered were the attributes and strength they possessed, and this new species still had room to grow.

As a species he had newly created, recognized by the obscure rules of creation, now condensed with the Godhood of Creation, he could continue to merge new bloodlines to enhance them in the future. According to the laws of creation, he could further strengthen them...

Karin Xiao checked, and he could further strengthen the Black Scale Naga five more times on the existing basis?

Wait, enhance them five more times?

He was very surprised to see that it indeed could be enhanced five more times.

"This... This is a bit strong!"

Lin Xiao was extremely surprised.

He remembered a case his theory teacher had mentioned before, where a Divine Being with Powerful Divine Power once created a new species that had three enhancement opportunities. After three enhancements, it directly created a Sub-legendary species, incredibly strong.

Even new species created by Powerful Divine Power with all their might had only three potential enhancements, yet this ugly new species of his had five—Lin Xiao...

His lips curled into a smile that he couldn't suppress no matter how hard he tried.

From that moment on, he made up his mind to only promote two enhancement opportunities to the outside world.

In this way, he could demonstrate his potential and receive attention without attracting envious gazes due to being too high-profile.

The newly born species stood somewhat bewildered on the Black Land. As a new creation, their memories were blank; unlike creatures summoned from Species Cards, which retained some of their previous memories.

However, in their memories, the presence of Lin Xiao existed. As their creator, he naturally gained the faith of the Black Scale Naga clan; these two hundred Black Scale Naga were True Believers from birth.

Moreover, when he later condensed his Godhood, he could give precedence to solidifying his role as the Racial God of the Black Scale Naga with just a bit of divinity capacity, just like the Dwarf Lord, the Elf Lord God, or the God of Fishmen, et cetera.

In other words, any creator is innately the Main God of the species they create.

Therefore, Lin Xiao's divine name could now be changed, or he could add another one, such as the Father or God of the Black Scale Naga.

Compared to the divine names of Lord of the Grey Mist, King of the Endless Tide, and Master of the Seven Seas, which were randomly added to increase prestige, the title God of the Black Scale Naga was well deserved.

While he was daydreaming about this, the Fishman tribe on the other side had already noticed the newly appeared Black Scale Naga. A large group of Fishmen rushed out of the tribe, observing these formidable new creatures from afar, many of them grasping their Short Spears with a fierce glint in their eyes.

After defeating more than two hundred Snake people, these Fishmen had become audacious. Meeting the Black Scale Naga, whose stature wasn't much different from the Snake people, they showed no timidity and even dared to take the initiative.

The Black Scale Naga, sensing the malice from the Fishmen, had a fierce gleam in their eyes. The nature of the multiple races they had fused with was not inherently kind, and their ferocity was almost oozing out. The Fishmen, seeming like small fry, dared to show hostility and were immediately surrounded by many Black Scale Naga.

Their looks were somewhat similar to Hyenamen with fierce visages, and their serpent-like firm pupils fixed intently on the incoming Fishmen.

Just as the two sides were about to break out in combat, Lin Xiao finally sensed the murderous intent below and reacted. A roar like a muffled thunder exploded in the minds of all the Fishmen and Black Scale Naga, and in an instant, the Fishman Naga were prostrated on the ground.

The Wrath of a Deity sobered all the Fishman Naga. Seizing the moment of awe, Lin Xiao immediately issued Divine-mandates separately to the Fishmen and the Black Scale Naga.

The numerous Fishmen immediately got up and quickly retreated to their tribe, while the Black Scale Naga gathered together. Lin Xiao selected one that caught his eye and had the highest level of faith to temporarily appoint as an Angel Envoy and convey his will to them.

Whether it was Fishmen or Black Scale Naga, at the very least they were all True Believers; the effects of the Divine-mandate were very clear, obediently one group returned to their tribe, and the other to their place of arrival.

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But Lin Xiao wasn't particularly joyful, as this peace was only temporary. Next, he would have to put more effort into how to ensure the two species coexisted peacefully.

This was a problem all newcomers faced. Whenever a new species was added, or when a Species Card was used to summon members of the same species, hostility was the initial response. It wasn't possible to simply summon them and expect them to get along harmoniously right away. Even among members of the same species, such as the four hundred Grey Mist Fish People that Lin Xiao had previously summoned, they would end up in disputes and even turn on each other if he did not intervene.

That was the case with members of the same species, and it was even more so for different species. Without his intervention, a fight would have already broken out.

To resolve the issue was quite simple: issue a Divine-mandate. Have the Fishmen and the Black Scale Naga each send representatives to negotiate, with the first step being to coexist peacefully. As long as there was no fighting, it was manageable.

Then, as this peaceful coexistence continued, the two species would gradually become familiar with one another.

Once a certain level was reached, the two species could start living together.

Lin Xiao had an idea to let the two species cohabitate to form a hybrid tribe.

The inherently weaker Fishmen would be responsible for domestic affairs, building the tribe and catching fish to feed the Black Scale Naga, essentially providing for them.

While the inherently more powerful Black Scale Naga would be responsible for external affairs, mainly combat, specifically fighting for the Divine Realm and protecting the weaker Fishmen. The division of internal and external duties was a perfect match.

This idea was quite feasible because the Black Scale Naga's bloodline contained Fishman blood; strictly speaking, they could be considered a variant subspecies of Fishmen. Being amphibious creatures just like the Fishmen, cohabitation was completely possible.

Afterward, Lin Xiao stayed within his God's realm. His daily routine consisted of having the Fishman Leader and the Black Scale Naga Envoy he had appointed enter and exit together, train together, and go out fishing together.

It started with just the two leaders. Gradually, a few Black Scale Naga and a few Fishmen were added. After a couple of months, the number increased to dozens of Black Scale Naga and Fishmen living together, slowly getting to know each other, cultivating feelings and compatibility, and becoming familiar with one another.

Cough, the description may sound a bit strange, but this approach was indeed very effective. In just half a year, all the Fishmen and Black Scale Naga had accepted the new neighbors within the God's realm.

Under Lin Xiao's deliberate guidance, the Fish people tribe and the Black Scale Naga tribe officially began cohabiting half a year later. The Black Scale Naga moved out of their temporary camp on the Black Land and into the Fish people tribe located at the coral reefs by the beach.

The Black Scale Naga were amphibious and could go ashore, but like the Fishmen, they preferred the shallow sea.

Once the two species officially began living together, Lin Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was only then that he lifted the restriction and allowed all Black Scale Naga to learn the Salted Fish Charge Skill.

He had been hesitant to lift the restriction before because the Black Scale Naga were already stronger than the Fishmen. If they learned that skill, it could lead to disaster with just a moment of negligence.

With the Black Scale Naga's current Constitution and Strength, wielding a Fine Iron Short Spear and using the Salted Fish Charge with a fivefold burst, their killing power was astonishing. Any one of them possessed more fearsome combat power than even the Fishman Leader, an incredibly strong fighter.

From this point on, the Fishmen could retire from the combat sequence of Lin Xiao's God's realm. The Black Scale Naga would become the main combat Race of Lin Xiao's God's realm.

According to the general classification of Strength, any fully grown Black Scale Naga would possess combat power equivalent to that of a First Level pinnacle soldier, which was not inferior to some weaker species' Level 2 soldiers. For instance, Fishmen upgraded to Level 2 Fishman Warriors were not much stronger than Black Scale Naga in terms of physique or Strength.

Upon leveling up, they would directly become Level 2 Black Scale Naga Warriors.

Level 3 Black Scale Naga Warriors.

Level 4 Black Scale Naga Shark-Hunter Warrior.

That is to say, this species can now be upgraded to a Level 4 troop.

At first glance, this might not seem so impressive. Let's put it this way: humans, a legendary high-level race, can only be upgraded to Fifth Level at most.

For now, they're still not quite on par with mainstream races like humans, elves, and beastmen, but he won't likely encounter these high-level mainstream races at the current stage. At his current middle-to-high stage, there are hardly any stronger opponents he might meet.

Upon exiting the Divine Realm, the login cabin opened, and a faint blue mist drifted out. Lin Xiao emerged with a self-satisfied look on his face, his mood indescribably delightful.

"Next, it's time to cultivate the Black Scale Naga."

In his mind, he recalled the theoretical courses on new species cultivation he had attended; the most crucial step was already taken. The tasks to follow would be much easier.

Beyond the most important requirement of spending time on reproduction, what Lin Xiao needed most was a Profession Card.

Having skills like Bloodthirsty and Salted Fish Charge, along with various talents and specialties, these were sufficient. Now all that was lacking was a Combat Profession Card, even the most basic warrior profession would greatly increase the combat power of the Black Scale Naga. With the combination of profession, various talents, and specialties, and with the excellent innate foundation of the Black Scale Naga, even fighting above their level was possible.

It's worth mentioning that the reproductive ability of the Black Scale Naga was quite decent. Fusing two five-star Breeding Cards with the high reproduction talent inherent in Fishman bloodlines, the Black Scale Naga were not affected by the rule that the stronger the innate potential, the lower the reproduction ability. Although their reproductive rate couldn't compare to the Familiar Fishmen within the Divine Realm, it was comparable to that of ordinary Fishmen.

Newborn Black Scale Naga have an infant period of just five to six months, a juvenile period of about two years, and a young adult period of around three years. By the sixth year, they would be considered adults.

As for the lifespan, Black Scale Naga had a slightly shorter lifespan than humans, with a life expectancy of around fifty years. With each advancement in level, a certain amount of lifespan would be added. If they could advance to Level 4, they could live past eighty years old.

This was already considered an excellent race, whether in terms of strength or lifespan. They could be cultivated as a main race, and even without further enhancement, their qualities alone would suffice to secure them a place in the Divine Realm.

After all, this was a new species recognized by the rules of the universe, capable of sustaining a Racial Godhood. As long as there were enough of them, this alone could support a True God.

If they could successfully strengthen themselves five times and become a Legendary Race, that would be absolutely amazing.

There is no need to describe how amazing that would be; by simply referring to the fact that the Main Gods of mainstream races such as elves, dwarves, beastmen, etc., all possess Powerful Divine Power, one knows the potential is vast.

After washing his face carelessly, Lin Xiao felt invigorated, full of energy as he paced back and forth in the room. Then he laid back on the bed and closed his eyes.

But after a while, he opened his eyes again—couldn't sleep!

Having created such an amazing new race, he felt restless without someone to share his excitement with.

He was well aware that it wasn't something to brag about everywhere, but keeping it to himself felt like wearing brocade robes and walking in the night—it just didn't seem right.

He thought about telling his mother, but hesitated, not sure how to explain the origins of this creation, one that even a high school freshman who wasn't even a Demigod could cultivate. Seemed a bit too far-fetched.

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Of course, this couldn't stay hidden, and it was bound to come out during the final exams, but at least there was this much time to delay things.

Tossing and turning for nearly two hours before finally falling into a groggy sleep, Ocean woke up early the next day, had breakfast, and entered the Divine Realm Login Cabin, arriving at his Divine Realm located in Subspace.

First, he routinely checked on the Divine Realm. The Black Scale Nagas were getting along with the Grey Mist Fish People quite well.

He flew over the newly opened fertile land in his Divine Realm, a black stretch of soil three and a half kilometers long and just over one kilometer wide near the beach, where some weeds were already growing.

Stroking his chin while overlooking the Divine Realm, Lin Xiao felt he still needed some economic plants and some seeds.

For example, potatoes, beets, and other easy-to-cultivate plants with high yields.

That Five Star Resource Card—the Large Bunch of Shallow Sea Fish Group Card—had already been placed. It contained five major random shallow sea fish schools: a large school of white scale shrimp, a large school of mahi-mahi, a large school of cod, a large school of sturgeon, and a large school of Black Spot Grouper. Each school was sizeable, with only a thousand Black Spot Groupers in one due to their large size, while the smaller white scale shrimp school had over a hundred thousand.

All of them were an even mix of males and females, capable of reproduction.

These five types of sea species, along with the ones previously in the Divine Realm, greatly enriched the ocean's species and completed the food chain.

One could say that as long as there was no overfishing and the species were allowed to reproduce, these seafood resources could completely sustain the food needs of two to three thousand Fishmen and Black Scale Nagas.

As for that Wild Oxen Group Card, it was still in his hand and not yet deployed, mainly because the newly opened fertile land had yet to grow grass and plants. Releasing the oxen now would starve them to death.

Managing a Divine Realm was no easy feat, especially in the early stages when almost everything was needed, and problems kept cropping up. Solving one issue often led to another.

There were limited cards that could be used in the early stages, requiring careful planning. Each card had to be considered for its worth.

Lin Xiao had spent several months in the Divine Realm contemplating his future development path. Would it be a battle-focused approach, an agriculture-focused approach, or a hybrid?

If he chose the battle-focused approach, then he'd need to consider forming alliances...ahem, which is to say, like those outstanding students in his class, finding a few compatible friends to join up with, until both his Divine Realm's level and his own divinity reached a certain point. Then, he could opt to unite with others, complementing each other's advantages.

The essence of the battle-focused approach meant that in the days to come, he wouldn't need to consider resource output when integrating all the cards into the Divine Realm. He wouldn't heed internal balance or the like, focusing solely on cultivating the primary battle species.

As long as the primary battle species and Divine Realm were powerful, the logistical issues could be handed off to other allied teammates.

For example, finding a Divine Realm that specialized in the agriculture-focused approach, which wouldn't develop the Clan's combat power but focused solely on farming, producing enough resources to sustain the species within the Alliance Hierarch's Divine Realm.

This was similar to Lin Xiao's parents. His father pursued a battle-focused approach, while his mother chose the agriculture-focused approach. The internal Clan strength of her Divine Realm was average, but the resource output was exceptionally high, providing ample surplus resources to sustain his father's Divine Realm.

To give a simple example, in Lin Xiao's Clan, all members' Divine Realms united under the Divine Realms of the two True Gods in the family, with the two True Gods at the core. The main task for other Demigods or Divine Beings of the Clan was to assist on the sides, forming a vast Divine System.

His Clan in the AX-14 Crystal Wall System was recognized by the Native deities as bearing the name of the Divine System.

The battle-focused and agriculture-focused approaches were like offense and defense, complementing each other.

As the name suggests, the integrated approach meant being strong in both offense and defense. Conversely, it could also mean that one was not particularly strong in either, but without any weaknesses.

Lin Xiao initially planned to follow the main combat stream and then, like his dad, find a beautiful goddess to be his wife. However, he soon realized that beautiful goddesses were hard to come by; there wasn't a single attractive female classmate in his class, and even though there were a few in the school, what did that have to do with him?

Quality girls like that were already guarded by a bunch of LSPs; he didn't stand a chance.

Moreover, Lin Xiao personally felt that this type of division of labor had a huge hidden danger. If one side encountered a problem, it would affect the whole body, impacting the entire Divine System.

Due to his slight OCD, he didn't like having any weaknesses in his Divine Realm. Therefore, the only option was to follow the integrated approach.

Of course, this didn't affect the possibility of finding teammates and building a Divine System together in the future.

In the following time, Lin Xiao spent every day in the Divine Realm, watching as the newborn Black Scale Nagas hatched and grew slowly. He was overjoyed.

The Black Scale Nagas had a growth period of six years and a lifespan of up to fifty years. With more than ten years left until the final exam, there was enough time for the third batch of offspring to be born.

Given that Black Scale Nagas could lay one to three eggs at a time, breeding once a year, minus the eggs that went bad, the first year saw the birth of over forty to fifty infants.

During this time, the only Divine-mandate Lin Xiao gave to these believers was to reproduce fiercely, striving to accumulate over five hundred Black Scale Nagas before the final exam. It was only then that he would feel confident about receiving a Divinity reward in the final exam.

As for the Grey Mist Fish People, he didn't impart any Divine-mandate. He now considered Fishmen as an Advanced Race and didn't find it necessary for them to reproduce so eagerly—he didn't expect them to play much of a role when the time came.

There was no helping it; twenty-odd years later, even the longest-lived Fishman would have died. All the Fishman Warriors and Brave Fishmen leveled up during the preliminary test would be gone by then.

The subsequent Fishmen were all level zero; their Combat Power was limited, and bringing them to battle would just make them Cannon Fodder.

However, he had underestimated these Fishmen's Reproductive Ability.

Without war, with an abundance of food, and all the newborn Fishmen having double the Reproductive Ability and survival rate, the growth speed of the Fishmen over these years was shockingly fast, like dumping dumplings into boiling water.

Sure enough, fifteen years later in Divine Realm time, or half a month later, the number of Fishmen in the Divine Realm had surpassed two thousand one hundred.

This was after he had sensed something was amiss and deliberately held back, making the Fishman Leader lead the Fishmen in daily training to prevent them from doing nothing but breeding.

Once the population reached that point, it had basically hit the upper limit of what the Divine Realm could accommodate.

Don't forget that there were also more than four hundred eighty Black Scale Nagas in the Divine Realm, another major consumer. Just the food consumed by these Nagas wouldn't be less than that of the two thousand Fishmen.

Fortunately, over the years, the newly opened fertile lands in the Divine Realm had become covered with wild grass. He activated the Wild Oxen Group Card, summoning one hundred wild oxen to graze on the land.

The hundreds of Black Scale Nagas swarmed over and captured these wild oxen, initially succeeding in domesticating them.

They didn't use them for plowing since there were no seeds; they were purely kept as beef cattle. Every once in a while, some were slaughtered for food, ensuring that the herd could continue to reproduce.

In fact, these domesticated wild buffalos could be considered a specialty of the Divine Realm, exchangeable with other students for different resources, or tradable for Faith value.

However, currently, the classmates at the same grade as Lin Xiao were essentially broke, with nothing much to exchange. That was why he had previously swapped some dried fish with a classmate for a batch of grass seeds, which was what the buffalo herd was eating now.

Now, there was only one week left before the final exams.

That day, Lin Xiao got up and received a notice from his homeroom teacher—

"After deliberation by the school committee, it has been decided that the final exams for the first-year students will take place in six days, which is on June 25th of the year *. Please prepare well and gather at the school on June 24th. At that time, the content of this year's final exams will be announced."

"To be exact, there are only five days left to prepare."

Lin Xiao stretched out his finger to press the confirmation button, ensuring the message was received.

After thinking for a while, he edited the content a bit and added a few sentences before forwarding it to his mother.

In less than a minute, while he was still brushing his teeth, he received a reply from his mother:

"Darling, work hard. Mom is counting on you to earn some face for her during your grandfather's grand birthday celebration next month."

"Uh!"

Lin Xiao opened his mouth full of foam involuntarily thinking of his cousin, who loved to show off in front of him, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly.

"Seems like someone's looking forward to it!"

He chuckled and replied to his mother:

"Don't worry, Mother. Your son will surely bring a surprise to everyone."

"Then, Mom will be waiting eagerly. Once your finals are over, Mom will prepare a surprise for you."

The six days passed swiftly and quietly. Lin Xiao, having prepared in the Divine Realm, left home for school when it was time.

Dongning City's Fifth High School refers to the fifth-ranked God Student School in Dongning City, dedicated to nurturing fledgling Deity students. It's different from regular schools for Humans.

The school is located at the base of the tail end of Dongning Mountain, outside the city. It's a gigantic campus spanning millions of square meters, and several of Dongning City's leading high schools for nurturing Deities are situated along Dongning Mountain.

Unlike schools for Humans, God Student School students don't need to live at school or even attend classes on campus. The school is usually empty, with people gathering only on important occasions.

Today was one such important day—the final exams.

When Lin Xiao arrived by flying car, he saw from afar that the huge school gate was filled with parked flying cars, and many students had not only come by themselves but also brought their parents along.

After parking the flying car at the school gate and getting off, Lin Xiao looked up at the school gate towering hundreds of meters high. A massive dragon's head was twisted and bound by golden chains shining brightly, hanging over the school gate. Its ferocious face faced the entrance, and its gigantic pupils burned with black flames, spreading an oppressive atmosphere that made one feel suffocated, as if it were still alive.

Indeed, it was alive. The head of this dragon came from a Demon Dragon of the Abyss within the Abyss of the Crystal Wall System that was comparable to a High-Level Demigod, which was decapitated by the first headmaster. Its head was sealed and sent back to the Main World, displayed at the school gate.

Locked here by the seal of a Medium Divine Power, along with the suppression by the powerful rules of the Main World, this Demon Dragon of the Abyss had been firmly restrained and unable to move at all.

Lin Xiao eyed the head jealously, thinking that if he could throw this thing into the Creation Magic Cube to disintegrate, tsk tsk...

He couldn't help but reach out to touch the corner of his mouth that was drooling, when suddenly he turned around to find that Yuan Hong was already there, looking puzzled at the Demon Dragon's head at the school entrance and then at the drool on Lin Xiao's mouth, his lips curling in disdain.

"Damn!"

His reputation ruined in an instant. The embarrassment was monumental.

Lin Xiao quickly wiped the drool from his mouth and rushed through the school gates.

In the first year of high school, there was a building for teaching, and Class Three had a separate twenty-story building all to itself.

When Lin Xiao arrived at the assembly hall, more than half of the students had already arrived early. He greeted the counselor, Zheng WenZhuo, who was chatting with student Meng Hui at the entrance; the homeroom teacher, Wu Hai, hadn't arrived yet.

He found a random seat and sat down. A classmate leaned over and whispered,

"I heard that Wan Chuan successfully condensed his second point of Divinity a few days ago. His strength has greatly increased, and he might even be stronger than Yuan Hong now."

Lin Xiao looked at the classmate, whom he wasn't very familiar with, with confusion and said,

"So what? Yuan Hong should be the one worried, why should it concern me?"

Sang Ping said with a look of surprise,

"Aren't you trying to compete for the Divinity Card in the teacher's hands?"

He spread his hands and shook his head saying,

"When have I ever said such a thing?"

Sang Ping looked confused, scratching his head and muttering,

"Didn't you come first in the last benchmark test?"

"So what if I did, it was just luck. Do you think I can still get first this time?"

"Uh..."

Sang Ping was speechless. Lin Xiao ignored him, turned his head back, and pressed a button on the table. A screen of light popped up, and with a few quick taps, the display unfolded. He pressed his palm against it to verify, and the interface changed as he entered the school's official website to start checking the announcement about the final exam.

Although he wouldn't concede to others inwardly, he needed to keep a low profile in front of his classmates, just like in the last benchmark test—he aimed to surprise them all.

Most of the information on the official website was old, with only one new piece updated, which was about the content of this final exam. He opened it and began to review the information.

After spending a few minutes going over all the information, Lin Xiao had a clear idea.

Like previous sessions, the rules for this term's final exam were roughly the same, divided into two parts: an elimination round and a ranking round.

The elimination round, as the name suggests, was meant to weed out some students. All the students had to face the same level of assessment, and failing to pass meant being expelled after the final exams, with no chance of being reassigned to a regular class.

This wasn't a system unique to the Fifth High School but applied across human civilization; after freshman year, every high school would eliminate some students.

The reason for this was related to resource allocation; the school needed to invest more resources once students entered their second year than in the first, and since resources were limited, the school could only cultivate the elite. Those with poor grades had to leave school and find another path in life.

Of course, even being expelled, after all, they were Divine Beings, far stronger than ordinary people, and they could do well anywhere.

For example, they could join large private teams and adventure into the Outland; without school restrictions, they could rapidly grow to a certain extent with forced advancement methods and become cannon fodder or laborers providing resources for the team's main members.

Most students took this path after dropping out, while a few with connections could join government departments or the military, going to safe planes controlled by these entities to get by.

In the Outland, Deities were the main focus, and technology was not prominent. Divine Beings were the lowest level in the Main World, but in some planes of the Outland, they were definitely big shots and were still stronger than ordinary humans.

This was just getting by, but if one continued to strive after being expelled, it wasn't impossible to ascend to Demigod, or even True God.

The Federation certainly had examples of those who, after being expelled, managed to reach Divine Enthronement on their own efforts.

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Moreover, those who climbed up from the bottom and still managed to attain Divine Enthronement are all ruthless characters, each of them incredibly strong, and highly favored by major powers.

But there are too few of these, much fewer compared to those who come from a proper academic background.

There are ten classes in the First Level of the middle school, but only five remain in the second year, with the fifth class not even full, as more than half were eliminated at the end of the First Level exams.

Furthermore, this elimination has no leniency, if one fails to qualify in the first wave of elimination assessments, they are all eliminated without any ambiguity, even if it means too many are cut. It's not rare for each term to end with less than three classes in the second year.

After the elimination assessment comes the main focus of this end-of-term test, the ranking system, also known as the positioning system. Students are ranked according to their performance, with the top scorers entering the elite class while the rest are placed in regular classes.

The specifics of the exam content weren't mentioned above, but based on previous years, it is highly likely to involve practicing in a plane controlled by the Outland school.

Having read through the information, Lin Xiao stroked his chin and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar figure. Yuan Hong had come in, carrying a backpack, and several classmates chatting at the door immediately went up to greet him.

"Pfft!"

Enviously, he turned his head away, wishing he had underlings too. Even though his current underlings would soon be of little use, having underlings felt really good.

By the second year, teachers would encourage students to try forming teams, not necessarily with classmates from the same class; students from other classes were also acceptable.

By the third year, the teams would largely be established, and by that time, most major classes revolved around team-based activities.

This was done to prepare for the establishment of a Divine System; many indigenous deities in the Outland are dominated by various Divine Systems. Even a small plane with just one Indigenous God would have Demigods serving under him, and nearly none worked alone.

Although Lin Xiao had the Golden Finger and would need to find some companions in the future, his requirements for these companions were exceptionally high. Only individuals on par with Yuan Hong and Wan Chuan would catch his eye and be able to barely keep up with his growth pace.

This was certainly difficult, given that peers like Yuan Hong and Wan Chuan all preferred to lead rather than follow anyone, including him.

But he would rather be short than settle for less. His standards would not be compromised; if he couldn't find suitable companions, he would rather go it alone. After all, when entering the Outland in the future, he could also subjugate some native deities.

Or maybe, finding a beautiful wife would do?

Just like his father and mother, who supported each other as husband and wife, and managed quite well.

Rubbing his cheeks, Lin Xiao suddenly looked up to see Yuan Hong watching him; seeing Lin Xiao look up, Yuan Hong turned his face away with an expression of disdain.

"What the heck? Can't he stand to see someone drooling? Does he have to stare all the time?"

He glanced down at himself and touched his handsome face, suddenly shivering and swiftly averting his gaze.

As time passed, students arrived one after another, and eventually, Wan Chuan, built strong like a small Giant, came in with the homeroom teacher. Entering the classroom, Wan Chuan first glanced at Lin Xiao and finally fixed his gaze on Yuan Hong. Even outsiders could see the challenge in his eyes.

Having gathered the second point of Divinity, Wan Chuan's strength had immediately caught up to Yuan Hong's, posing a serious threat to the first in the class.

Yuan Hong had retracted his gaze as Wan Chuan walked in, and as the two locked eyes, sparks seemed to fly between them.

As for Lin Xiao, neither of them considered him a primary rival.

He was happy to relax, smiling as he watched the two squint at each other like gamecocks. It would have been perfect if he had a bag of sunflower seeds.

Unfortunately, this situation did not last long before the homeroom teacher interrupted by knocking on the desk, 'thud thud,' bringing everyone back to reality. Wu Hai, expressionless, swept his gaze over all the students and said:

"To put it briefly, I believe everyone has seen the updated content on the school's official website and knows about this year's First Level final exams. According to the elimination system, about half of the class might not pass."

He paused there, his gaze sweeping over many students in the class, and continued:

"It's harsh, but the school's resources are limited, so we can only prioritize the training of excellent students. As for those who are eliminated... Well, there are quite a few options for eliminated students nowadays, and there are still opportunities to advance further in the future, as long as you work hard."

The homeroom teacher fell silent after these words.

These words were just a comfort. In reality, out of ten thousand eliminated First Level students, less than ten might become a Demigod, not even one in a thousand.

But that's reality, no matter the era or world, there's always just a handful who make it to the summit.

Lin Xiao felt fortunate that his luck was not too bad; both his parents were Demigods, and so for him, Opening the Divine Realm was almost a sure thing. If he had been a descendant of ordinary people, without a Golden Finger, the success rate of Opening the Divine Realm would be less than one percent.

Half an hour later, the students, with their varied emotions, were escorted by the proctor to the third floor, which was divided into many small compartments. Each one contained a Divine Realm Login Cabin, and it was through the school-provided Divine Realm Login Cabins that they would enter the Divine Realm for the final exams.

It served only one purpose: to prevent cheating.

Yes, cheating, a problem in any era, is no exception in the Era of Gods and Spirits. The methods are numerous, with the most common being spending large sums of money to acquire Special Cards that temporarily enhance strength.

If one comes from a well-off family with a True God, they might directly ask a True God for a Divine Power Infusion.

Well, whether that's feasible is another matter entirely, but such cheating methods exist.

Logging into the Divine Realm using the school-customized Divine Realm Login Device, and under the supervision of numerous True Gods from the school, no one can cheat.

Lin Xiao was randomly assigned to room number 41. Pushing the door open, he entered a tiny cubicle, which was almost entirely occupied by the Divine Realm Login Cabin.

Heeding the proctor's advice, he checked the Login Cabin first. Although it had been tested earlier and was not expected to have issues, it was still important to check for any unexpected problems and adjust accordingly. Then, he lay down inside.

As the Login Cabin door slowly closed, a faint blue mist emerged and Lin Xiao slowly closed his eyes.

In the vast Subspace, a giant Gold platform stood still in the Depths of the Void, undisturbed by the berserk Subspace storms. Streaks of light flew from unknown depths of the Void, landing on this platform and transforming into young boys and girls.

Lin Xiao slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the Gold floor beneath his feet and its intricate patterns, then, looking up, he saw the transparent dome with dazzling Gold spheres slowly revolving around the platform.

In one of those Gold spheres, he sensed the familiar presence of his homeroom teacher, Wu Hai. Each sphere represented a different First Level class's homeroom teacher, all of whom were High-Level Demigods. With ten First Level classes, there were ten High-Level Demigods present.

At the very apex of the dome, he saw several spheres even brighter than the rest, with the central one shining like the sun, overpowering all the others.

Without a doubt, that one belonged to the projection of a certain vice principal of the school, a genuine True God.

Projections of high-level demigods circled the golden platform, with streams of light pouring into the Divine Artifact Platform and transforming into students. Not only was class three of the first year present, but also the other nine classes of the first year all gathered here today.

There were forty-nine students from class three and up to fifty or a few less from other classes, among whom were many outstanding students whose reputation had already outshone their own class.

Yan Renjie, tall and handsome with emerald green eyes as beautiful as gemstones, had inherited his father's True God bloodline. Like Yuan Hong, he was born with two points of Divinity, but he was even more formidable, consistently ranking in the top three of his grade.

Wan Ying, a petite and adorable girl with a cute and sweet voice and a curvy figure, albeit with a slightly small chest.

This young girl's maternal clan was formidable, with an ancestor who once reached rank 14 in God Level, just one level short of ascending to a figure with Powerful Divine Power. Even though she was not a direct descendant, she inherited a bit of extra Divinity and an additional transcendent Talent, making her the strongest in the grade in terms of Talent.

Of course, she was also a regular in the top three of the grade.

Being both attractive and talented, if the school were engaged in the mundane task of electing a so-called school beauty as less busy schools do, she would certainly have a place there.

Besides these few exceedingly dazzling geniuses, there were many others just a step behind them in terms of exceptional talents, like Wan Chuan and Yuan Hong from the same class, who were considered the second tier in the entire grade.

A month ago, Lin Xiao was ranked two hundred fifty-two in the entire grade, hovering on the brink of elimination.

Now, well, judging from his surface performance, the teachers' evaluation, and his classmates' opinions, he should belong to the third tier, just below Wan Chuan and Yuan Hong, and if everything went as expected, he would definitely advance to the second year, with a chance to join the elite class if he worked hard and was a bit lucky.

Yes, that's how cheap a genius can be.

Or rather, one would only be considered a genius within a single grade level, not if one were to step into a larger circle.

Lin had heard that at Dongning City First Middle School, there was a true genius with an extra three points of Divinity at birth, plus one more for a total of four points. It was said that he had already condensed a point of Divinity, meeting the minimum requirement of five points for becoming a demigod. If he wanted, he could try to condense his Godhood and become a demigod now, which was simply outrageously strong.

Compared to such a true genius, other so-called geniuses were nothing.

After a short while, once everyone was present, a mechanical voice devoid of emotion suddenly began:

"The first-round elimination assessment for this term's First Year final exam is about to start, and the rules have been transmitted. The assessment will begin in a quarter of an hour!"

This was the Artifact Spirit, modeled after the Tower Spirit found in mages' Mage Towers. The mechanical voice echoed throughout the platform, and a screen popped up in front of everyone, displaying the specific content of the elimination assessment.

Lin Xiao focused and reviewed the rules, nodding his head.

The rules were simple: using the school's functional Divine Artifact, all students' Clan projections would be sent into a semi-plane opened up by the Divine Artifact to undergo a test.

Since it was a projection, even if there was great loss or complete annihilation during the test, it would not affect a single hair on the students.

The primary reason for this was that in the ranking phase to follow, all students would directly descend into an Outland plane controlled by the school. This phase was a real test of the students' strength, and a significant loss during the elimination phase could make it difficult to achieve a good result in the subsequent assessment.

Another reason was that among the many students, at least half, if not more, were destined to be eliminated and expelled from school. Considering the difficult life after expulsion, the school did not wish them to suffer heavy losses just before leaving.

The school specially used the Divine Artifact for a projection-based evaluation, so even in failure, students would preserve their own strengths, without having to start all over after expulsion.

A quarter of an hour passed in a blink, and as the countdown from the Mechanical Organ Spirit began, Lin Xiao glanced at Wan Chuan and Yuan Hong, who were glaring at each other competitively, and smirked inwardly.

3...

2...

1...

0...

Time reset to zero, and Lin Xiao felt a sudden heaviness under his feet as he plummeted into the void. Below was a boundless golden vortex, with nearly a thousand streaks of golden light diving straight into it, rendering him incredibly insignificant.

Inside the vortex, the only thing he could feel was the blinding golden light that made it impossible to keep his eyes open. He closed his eyes and waited in silence, not knowing how long had passed before he felt solid ground beneath his feet. Opening his eyes, he found himself standing in the void, looking down at a semi-plane that was 3 kilometers by 3 kilometers in size.

Looking around, he saw identical semi-planes floating in the distant void, which he guessed were the trial grounds for the other students.

This semi-plane had no water, no plants, just an endless wasteland and scattered stones all over the ground.

"Please choose the military force to deploy."

A light screen popped up in front of Lin Xiao, prompting him to determine the military force he would commit to this trial.

"Is there even a need to think about it? All of it!"

Brilliant light cascaded from the sky into the semi-plane, revealing the confused faces of more than two thousand Grey Mist Fish-People, along with over five hundred Black Scale Naga, each armed with one or two fine iron short spears.

It had to be said, different races certainly vary; compared to the Grey Mist Fish-People, who were still in shock and confusion, the Black Scale Naga's adaptability was clearly stronger. They quickly came to their senses, and at the loud calls of a sizable Black Scale Naga, they gathered together.

Upon hearing this call, the many Grey Mist Fish-People also snapped out of their daze, starting to shout and, the braver ones, to run around erratically.

By this point, the Grey Mist Fish-People had harmoniously merged with the Black Scale Naga into one large tribe. Several Black Scale Naga leaders shouted orders, directing some Fish-People to explore the surroundings, while the rest gathered in the center, whispering prayers.

Lin Xiao's golden figure appeared above the vault of heaven, listening to the prayers of his followers:

"O Supreme Creator, God of the Nagas and Fish-People..."

Lin Xiao's divine name had changed over the last decade or so, from the Great Lord of the Grey Mist, the King of the Endless Tide, the Lord of the Seven Seas, to the Supreme Creator, God of the Nagas and Fish-People, which was more fitting to the powers he wielded.

The previous divine names were just fanciful monikers, chosen to add a bit of gravitas so the believers would feel like they were worshipping a truly powerful True God. In reality, he did not even have a priesthood.

One could choose any divine name before becoming a demigod, but once the priesthood was formed and one became a demigod, the divine name could no longer be chosen at will; it had to relate to the established priesthood.

For instance, since Lin Xiao had established the Creator, Naga, and Fish-People priesthoods, he could not continue to be called the Supreme Lord of the Ocean.

Priesthood represents authority; only the authority one holds can be used as a title. If one holds no authority over a certain aspect and adopts a related divine name, the faith of the believers during their prayers will contain beliefs not related to that priesthood.

It's a minor issue if unrelated faith values are wasted, but the real problem arises from the impact of these unrelated beliefs condensed within the faith value on the priesthood.

Demigods and divine lifeforms are nonetheless different, as they possess no priesthood and hence no impact. However, once they have a priesthood and it is subjected to this kind of impact, the consequences could be mild, like priesthood disorder, or severe, like the erosion of one's divinity, making the condensed divinity impure and causing a fall in rank or even direct demise.

Therefore, it didn't matter what you were called before you condensed the Godhood and became a Demigod. You could even tell your followers that you were the Creator God if you wanted to. However, once the Godhood was condensed, you had to stick to whatever divine name was assigned; you couldn't just call it anything.

To avoid the hassle of changing it later, Lin Xiao started making changes early on.

After all, he had already reserved the titles Creator and Naga for his Godhood. The Fishman title wasn't certain yet, but there was a high probability that he could condense it.

At this moment, the prayers of the followers continued to ring in his ears:

"Your devout follower prays here, to the Supreme Creator, God of the Naga and Fishman, guide your devout follower."

The prayer was repeated over and over by his side. Being a transmigrator who had received professional education in the Era of Gods and Spirits and had been influenced by countless fantasy divine enthronement novels in a previous life, Lin Xiao deeply understood the essence of shepherding his followers.

Unless it was an extremely urgent situation, one must never respond to their followers' prayers immediately. One had to leave them hanging.

To put it more colloquially, you had to play hard to get, to make followers feel the difficulty of communicating with the divine. There needed to be a sense of distance, a sense of mystery.

Mystery creates fear, and fear requires a spiritual refuge. It's at this time that prayers are most effective.

In this respect, Lin Xiao did very well. Not to blow his own trumpet, but there were few in his class, or even the entire grade, who were as adept as he was in cultivating followers.

After about ten rounds of prayers, Lin Xiao responded in a deep voice, which, when reaching the ears of his followers, sounded like thunder, making their eardrums vibrate:

"Evil is approaching, my children. Take up the weapons in your hands to defend my glory. My gaze shall be with you."

After saying these words, Lin Xiao specially spent ten thousand faith points to cast a Divine Art—Seawater Essence.

Numerous pale blue essences of seawater, like specks of starlight, descended from the sky, enveloping all members of his Clan.

This didn't actually do anything useful, but it made the followers feel his presence and strengthened their confidence.

"The first trial will begin in five minutes. Please prepare yourselves!"

A line of small text appeared in the corner of his eye. Lin Xiao looked at it without taking any action.

According to the previous prompts, they needed to defeat three waves of enemies to pass the elimination assessment. This was only the first wave; it couldn't be that difficult.

When the five minutes were up, a three-meter-tall portal of light suddenly opened at the northern edge of the demi-plane. Goblins, not much different in size from the Fishman, walked out from it. Guided by an unseen force, they headed straight toward the settlement of the Clan at the center of the demi-plane.

In the Void, ten golden light orbs around the edge of a giant gold platform simultaneously emitted a beam of gold light into the platform, passing through it and plunging into a massive vortex at its center.

Shortly after, ten floating figures appeared in the Divine Artifact Space, surrounded by the void. Qiao Liang, the class head teacher of class one, looked up at the demi-planes in the surrounding void and said with a smile to the other class head teachers:

"How many students do you think can pass the three trials and then succeed in an additional two?"

The class head teacher of class two replied:

"Based on past performance, anyone in the top twenty of the whole grade might have a chance. But considering the state of command and the fact that each trial is different, with various species countering each other, I guess fewer than ten will make it."

Class one's head teacher Qiao Liang nodded:

"That number seems reasonable, it's just hard to tell which students it will be."

As he spoke, he looked up at the other class head teachers and suggested:

"How about we play a game to bet on which class will perform the best in this stage? The winners will receive three Five Star Cards from each of the losers. What do you say?"

The other class head teachers didn't respond, and Wu Hai even turned his head away and pretended not to hear.

He didn't want any part of that bet. Everyone knew the classes with the highest average level were class one and two. This bet was practically free money, and he wanted no part in it.

Qiao Liang glanced at the class two head teacher, who spread his arms and said:

"Don't look at me. If nobody else is in, it's no fun for just the two of us to play, right?"

"You want some meaning in this?"

An aged voice suddenly arose in their ears, causing all homeroom teachers to shiver in unison and call out respectfully:

"Headmaster!"

No one appeared, but without anyone looking up, that aged voice spoke:

"Here's what we'll do, I'll take charge for a bit. After the third wave, I will open Endless Mode, and you'll bet on whose student can last the longest after the three waves, the top ten to be exact. The winner will receive a reward from me, the headmaster—each of the top three will be gifted a super rare card, as well as a spot in the Super Newcomer Summer Camp."

A spot in the Super Newcomer Summer Camp?

All homeroom teachers simultaneously revealed expressions of surprise, exchanging glances that clearly conveyed the shock in their eyes.

After a long while, in the absence of any sound, they knew the headmaster had left. Homeroom teacher Qiao Liang of class one slowly reined in his shock, a smile tugging at his lips that he couldn't quite hide, as he cupped his hands towards a few colleagues and said:

"The headmaster is rarely in the mood, let's join him. Gentlemen, I shall take my leave."

The homeroom teacher of class two, Yu Xihua, left with a somewhat solemn expression, also cupping his fists in farewell.

The remaining eight homeroom teachers exchanged looks, Wu Hai laughing carefree and saying:

"If it's the headmaster's will, what more can we say? Besides, the reward isn't coming out of our pockets."

Despite such talk, they all knew that the students with the best grades were mostly in classes one and two, making the top three rewards difficult to attain. Only Yuan Hong and Wan Chuan in class three stood a chance to fight for the top ten, but even that was merely a possibility—with the slightest neglect, even the top ten would be out of reach.

This was still considered a good scenario; some classes might not even secure a single spot in the top ten. How would they save face if word got out?

After cupping his hands, Wu Hai turned and left.

Within the half-plane, Lin Xiao observed the first wave below, totaling a hundred ordinary Goblins, ten Big Goblins, and five Bear Goblins, wearing a somewhat solemn expression.

This...

The difficulty is rather high.

It wasn't that he found it too challenging—such difficulty was still beneath his concern; rather, it seemed too daunting for the ordinary student. With the first wave this tough, and considering that each wave would get progressively harder, the third wave would undoubtedly be exceedingly difficult for the average student.

No wonder so many students are eliminated each year. With such difficulty, not being eliminated would be the real surprise.

Over a hundred Goblins rushed straight for the center of the plane, and very soon, clashed fiercely with the Fishmen who had also discovered the Goblins.

More than five hundred Fishmen erupted violently, their Salted Fish Charge reaching such a high speed that they appeared like warriors charging into battle, and in the blink of an eye, they penetrated the Goblin ranks, sending beings tumbling, blood and flesh flying everywhere.

And then, there was no 'after'.

Given the nearly equal physique of the Goblins and the Fishmen, a five-fold critical hit from a Salted Fish Charge resulted in an instant kill, and even the sturdier Big Goblins could not withstand it, with only a few Bear Goblins managing to hold their ground by virtue of their robust bodies.

But that was to no avail. You can withstand one or two, but can you withstand five?

After one charge, the Goblins were nearly wiped out, and those that remained were knocked down by the Fishmen who followed closely after, never to rise again.

In less than half a minute, the first wave of Goblins was annihilated.

"Not bad!"

Lin Xiao whistled, quite satisfied with his Clan's combat power.

Half an hour later, the portal reappeared, and the second wave of the trial began.

His gaze shifted towards the creature stepping out of the portal, Lin Xiao's face immediately fell:

"Damn!"

Two hundred Lizardman Archers emerged from the portal and lined up in a formation that stretched three to four hundred meters. His eyes narrowed as he looked towards the center of the Lizardman Archers, where there were several taller figures of their kind, each holding a larger bow. Under his watchful gaze, these larger Lizardman Archers, spaced hundreds of meters apart, drew their bows and released an arrow into the sky in unison.

Of course, they were not shooting at him but performing a long-range lob shot.

Each piercing attack flew over two hundred meters high before slantingly descending into the charging group of Fishmen, immediately toppling over a dozen of them.

As the Clan charged, seven volleys of arrows rained down in succession, claiming the lives of hundreds of Fishmen before they could reach halfway.

When the distance was reduced to about one hundred and thirty to forty meters, the regular Lizardman Archers also nocked and drew their bows to begin lob shooting. A sky filled with arrows fell, and a large number of Fishmen were struck down mid-charge.

Yet, not a single Fishman showed fear. Their unwavering faith caused them to momentarily forget their fear, and driven by the Nagas behind them, they charged towards the Lizardman Shooters while bellowing chaotically.

Decades of change, following the death of successive generations of Fishmen, including the Fishman Leader incarnation that Lin Xiao occasionally used who also perished of old age, the newly-born Grey Mist Fish People had completely surrendered to the superior strength of the Black Scale Nagas. By now, the Grey Mist Fish People had entirely become subjects of the Black Scale Nagas, and Lin Xiao's Divine Realm was dominated by the Black Scale Nagas, with the Grey Mist Fish People serving them.

In terms of racial combat power, the Lizardman Archers were definitely stronger than the Fishmen, but there were too many Fishmen. More than two thousand Fishmen were projected from the entire Divine Realm, converging from all directions into a dense and overwhelming mass.

After releasing over a dozen waves of arrows, the Fishmen had closed in to within a fifty-meter range. The Lizardmen were planning on launching a couple more volleys before creating distance to kite the enemy. Unexpectedly, at that very moment, the leading group of Fishmen suddenly surged forward with explosive speed, much like warriors charging into battle. In the blink of an eye, they closed the fifty-meter gap and crashed fiercely into the unprepared Lizardman Archers, knocking many of them to the ground in disarray.

For Lin Xiao, these two rounds posed no challenge at all, simply because he now had too many members in his Clan.

Not to mention the Black Scale Naga, just the Fishmen alone numbered over two thousand, enough to pass this elimination round.

In less than two minutes, the constantly advancing Fishmen overwhelmed and submerged the group of Lizardman Archers.

The second wave... ended just like that, with the actual main force of the Divine Realm, the Black Scale Naga, not having to move at all.

The leaders of the Black Scale Naga shouted instructions for the injured and the exhausted Grey-scale Fish People, who had performed the Salted Fish Charge, to fall back. The other Fishmen chaotically formed several square formations behind the portal, waiting for the third wave of enemies to arrive.

In the Void, Wu Hai had just left a student's sub-dimension.

The thought of this student's Clan's performance had him shaking his head.

In terms of strength, they were not weak, with nearly a thousand Grey-skinned Tree Frog People, including First Level Tree Frog warriors. However, they struggled so much against an assault of only five hundred Kobolds. When a single Magician's fireball exploded, some Frog People were even scared into retreating.

What did this show?

It showed that this student's training of their God Realm Kin was severely lacking.

While the Clan's size met the standards, the cultivation of faith was gravely inadequate. To fight for the Deity they believed in, yet still have deserters when holding an advantage was unacceptable, Wu Hai thought as he continued to shake his head in disappointment.

Of course, the comprehensive strength of this student's clan meant they wouldn't be eliminated after the third round, but in his heart, he had already determined that this student's future prospects were limited.

As a reserve deity, the most important aspect is the management of believers' faith, for faith is the most crucial to a deity.

If one can't even manage the faith of their own clan, how can they, in the future, conquer the natives in the different domains?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but recall his student, Lin Xiao. The management of his God Realm Kin was exceptionally good; all members were True Believers with a high ratio of Devout and Fanatic Believers. Not just in his class, but even within the whole grade, he was ranked at the very top.

Though Wan Chuan and Yuan Hong were stronger than Lin Xiao, they fell short in believer cultivation compared to Lin Xiao; they lacked his talent in this area.

In the eyes of senior demigods and higher beings, the ability to cultivate faith in believers was a talent as well—considered a hidden talent.

The school taught theoretical classes on this subject. Throughout the tens of thousands of years of the Main World's history, countless Deities had emerged, and there were millions of courses on how to cultivate believers' faith. Apart from the classroom, there were plenty of free resources online; none of this was secret.

However, even if all students cultivated their followers according to the theoretical courses, the outcomes varied from student to student using the same methods.

This puzzled many, including several potent True Gods and a Deity of great divine power, who had researched this issue extensively. But in the end, they couldn't come to a conclusion, and that great entity only said one thing:

"Cultivating faith is also a talent!"

In Wu Hai's eyes, Lin Xiao's talent in this area was extraordinary.

Thinking this, the homeroom teacher Wu Hai suddenly stopped his steps towards Wan Chuan's domain and changed directions. He suddenly wanted to see how this student was currently performing.

He remembered that this student had performed very well in the last foundation-level test. His clan, the Fishmen, was weak, but that powerful burst skill left a deep impression on him. He was curious if the student could continue to perform well in this final exam.

In the north of the Half Plane, a three-meter-tall teleportation gate stood on a barren land. With the shimmering of light, Pigge Pigmen, around one meter and eighty-nine centimeters tall and very robust with pig heads on human bodies, emerged from it.

The Pigge Pigmen were a type of beastmen, belonging to an intermediate race among the beastmen. They were somewhat stronger than humans but not by much. Their true strength lay in their formidable reproductive ability, ranking them at the top amongst all beastman races.

The third wave of enemies consisted of Pigge Pigmen, and because of their formidable strength, the total number was only slightly higher than the second wave, with three hundred regular pigmen plus thirty elite pigman warriors, but their overall strength far exceeded the second wave.

The threat level of this wave was about seventy to eighty percent of what Lin Xiao faced in the extra test of the foundation assessment. As he had passed even the additional test, not to mention this one, the current strength of his clan was far greater than before.

Over three hundred pigmen emerged from the portal and gathered in front of it. Thirty elite pigmen roared loudly while wielding clubs and spiked maces. After a brief rallying, they charged towards the dense crowd of Fishmen.

Above the Vault of Heaven, where mortals could not see, Lin Xiao leaned forward, gazing down and stroking his chin in thought before opening his mouth to issue a Divine-mandate.

The Fishmen, who were preparing to counter-charge, suddenly stopped, quickly parted, and hundreds of Black Scale Naga holding fine iron short spears swam out. Their long tails swished, and their thick scales screeched against the sandy ground. At the shouts of a few Naga leaders, they dispersed and charged toward the approaching Pigge Pigmen.

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All three challenges were about to end, and the main combat clans under Lin Xiao's command hadn't taken action yet. Moreover, considering that even the servant Fishmen could pass the third challenge alone, Lin Xiao had no choice but to issue a divine mandate for the main combat clans to take action themselves. He wanted to see the true combat capabilities of this new species he'd created using so many five-star cards, a species acknowledged by the mysterious rules of the abyss.

It was crucial to have a clear understanding of their capabilities to avoid misjudging their strength during the second phase of the final exams, which could lead to unnecessary losses.

The movement of the Black Scale Nagas was akin to snakes, with their long snake tails swinging back and forth, undulating like swimming. The faster they swayed, the quicker their speed.

Lin Xiao stood with his arms crossed, watching as the Nagas and Pigge Pigmen rapidly converged. In his recent divine mandate, he had prohibited the Nagas from using skills; otherwise, a wave of Salted Fish Charges would have instantly taken out the opposition, leaving nothing to be tested.

Fifty meters, forty meters... ten meters, five meters. From above, the two curved front lines had already collided and swiftly intermingled.

A Pigge Pigman took the initiative and hammered a Naga on the waist. Thick black scales shattered and flew off, with a fist-sized chunk of flesh being smashed into a pulp and spraying into the air. The Naga emitted a strange sound, nowhere resembling a scream. Its body bent sharply in a large arc that a normal person couldn't achieve, dissipating the remaining force. Like a snake, it nearly touched the ground as it spun around to stand up again, using the recoil to thrust a spear through the Pigman's chest, piercing it all the way through.

On the other side, a Naga and a Pigman collided almost simultaneously. Contrary to expectations, the seemingly slimmer Naga merely leaned back and then sprang forward, while the Pigge Pigman stumbled several steps to the side, nearly losing his balance.

No sooner had he regained his footing than the advantaged Naga lifted both hands, plunging two fine iron short spears downwards simultaneously.

One spear stabbed into the chest, and the other into the lower abdomen, each fully penetrating the body, splattering blood all over the Naga.

The Black Scale Nagas' special Monkey Arm Skill allowed them to dual-wield two-handed weapons, naturally meaning they could also dual-wield one-handed weapons.

The purpose of this skill was to remove the penalty for holding two two-handed weapons at once. Normally, if one had sufficient strength, they could raise a double-handed axe in each hand and swing them, but lifting is one thing, while fighting with them is entirely another.

Without enough strength and specialized training, the consequence of wielding two two-handed weapons at the same time is missing your target, doubling the strength consumption, and quickly leading to exhaustion. It makes the arms' joints sore and weak, which is fatal in combat.

Enraged, the Naga let out a cry and flung the Pigge Pigman high into the air, hurling it away. Its pupils gleamed with a faint blood light, indicating the Bloodthirsty trait inherited from the Hyenamen had taken effect.

Just then, a Pigman wielding a knife charged furiously at the Naga, colliding with its waist with both the man and the blade. Sparks flew upon impact with a 'clang' and a row of scales were sliced open, revealing the skin underneath, along with a faint trace of blood. The knife had indeed wounded the Naga.

In fury, the Naga's long snake tail snapped, propelling it more than four meters high. From above, it thrust both spears down, instantly knocking the Pigman to the ground, one spear piercing through the shoulder, causing a significant but not deadly wound, while the other spear plunged straight through the Pigman's head, immediately fatal.

"Good!"

Witnessing this scene, Lin Xiao couldn't help but clap his hands in admiration.

The combat ability that the Black Scale Nagas displayed at this moment had even exceeded his expectations.

Immense strength coupled with not-so-shabby agility, defense of the highest caliber at their level, but what surprised him most was the Naga's serpentine body inherited from the Snake people—exceptionally strong in evasion and force dissipation.

However, there were also drawbacks, specifically, they lacked the ability to withstand direct shocks; essentially, they weren't good at tanking charges, which could place them at a disadvantage against some power-race charges.

There was no helping it, after all; the species had only just been created and hadn't gone through a single evolution. It couldn't be perfect, and it would never be perfect in the future either.

Moreover, by now, Lin Xiao had a hint of inspiration for the future evolution of the Nagas. This species was suited for a strong-combat flow.

Strong-combat flow referred to an extremely powerful close-combat physical type, inspired by the Six-armed Snake Demons.

If this species could evolve to a state where every individual had six arms and a physique on par with the Six-armed Snake Demons, then they would undoubtedly become Legendary Beings.

The Six-armed Snake Demon is a top-level devil of the Abyss, with six arms wielding six weapons; in terms of physical close combat, it's extremely strong, such that ordinary dragons are no match for it. If one could evolve this species into such a powerful race, that would be truly formidable.

In the midst of his reflections, the situation on the battlefield had almost completely collapsed in a one-sided defeat. The Nagas, relying on their innate advantages and numerical superiority, swiftly gained the upper hand.

Their scale armor wasn't very strong in defense; blunt weapons like hammers couldn't be withstood at all, but it was quite effective against sharp weapons, enough to sustain only light injuries from a full-force blow of the Pigge Pigmen aside from what was easily borne.

Given the strength of the Pigmen, this was equivalent to being able to completely withstand a full-force slash from an adult human male; in terms of strength, Pigmen were stronger than humans.

At Lin Xiao's current level, he generally wouldn't encounter races that were too powerful, and a defense of this caliber was already quite formidable, giving an advantage in melee combat.

Lin Xiao didn't pay much attention to the ensuing battle; the outcome had been determined in the first round of direct combat between the two sides.

Victory for the Nagas was inevitable.

He stood with his arms crossed in the air, watching contentedly as his clan quickly took care of the remaining Pigge Pigmen, murmuring to himself:

"It's a pity that projections can't gain experience; otherwise, after three waves of trials, I would be able to level up a bunch of Naga warriors, making the next exam much easier."

"What are they called, and how many levels can they go up?"

"Nagas. They can go up..."

Lin Xiao paused abruptly, turning around sharply. Unbeknownst to him, his homeroom teacher had appeared behind him, looking at the battlefield below with a blend of shock and fervor he had never seen before in his eyes.

To be precise, he was observing his own clan, not even shifting his gaze when he spoke to him.

Lin Xiao didn't answer right away. Wu Hai looked up, and the fervor in his eyes gave Lin Xiao a chilling sensation. The teacher asked in a gentle voice:

"Lin Xiao, where did this race you named 'Naga' come from?"

It might have been an illusion, but Lin Xiao felt that his teacher's voice trembled slightly, carrying a kind of anticipation he had never heard before.

After a moment's thought, he spoke:

"This is a new species I created recently. Since it resembles the Naga, I named it Black Scale Naga."

His statement was ninety percent truth, one part lie; he didn't dare to conceal it, nor did he make any excuses, but rather told the plain truth.

There was no sense in hiding it, especially during the final exams—in fact, from the first year onwards, staying low-profile would be foolish.

Being overly modest would only lead to missed opportunities.

A proper display of one's strength could garner more attention and tilt resources in one's favor.

Whether in his own class or other classes, the best students always received clear favor and resource allocation from the teachers. Many exclusive resources were difficult to get from outside, and Lin Xiao, if he wanted to be the brightest star in the class or even the whole grade, had to be appropriately high-profile.