The Era of Gods

Chapter 257: True-Body Descenders

The next day, as time arrived, the Ruins of Myriad opened once again, with only the Huaxia Region Team at the entrance. Other teams tacitly moved far away, watching them with expressions of envy on the faces of the ordinary participants in the distance.

Lin Xiao and Wu Zhonglin exchanged a fist-and-palm salute, agreeing to meet for a friendly competition in Dongning during the holiday after the midterms.

After bidding farewell to the other students one by one, at last Lin Xiao entered the ruins that shone like the sun alongside Shen Yuexin.

Upon entering the ruins and regaining his senses, he found himself utterly alone even though he had been holding her hand; now the beautiful lady was nowhere to be seen.

He reappeared inside an ancient, dilapidated temple. The moss-covered floor faintly showed peculiar patterns, and above was a pitch-black starry sky. Surrounding him were crumbling walls, and in the distance was an unclear mist obscuring his vision.

As he was wondering, the Vault of Heaven suddenly brightened. He quickly looked up— endless white light fiercely descended, enveloping him so that he could not see anything, and a cold, mechanical voice echoed in his ears:

“Participant detected, initializing…”

“Initialization complete, generating digital data…”

“Initial attributes generated, creating Summoning Core…”

Lin Xiao felt something materializing on him, and then the announcement continued:

“Summoning Core generated, generating attribute panel…”

“Attribute panel generated, creating local hero template…”

“Local hero template generated, checking participant status…”

“Detected seven Extra Initial Option Cards, loading…”

“Extra Initial Option Cards loaded, please follow the instructions below.”

The mechanical voice paused for a moment, the infinite white light before Lin Xiao’s eyes slowly dissipated, and a familiar attribute panel appeared in front of him:

“Please allocate initial strategic attributes!”

On the panel, there were four strategic attributes: Constitution, Strength, Speed, and Wisdom. The first three represented the various attributes of the summoned Clan or troop types, while Wisdom represented the prerequisites for learning and the power of Strategic Spells.

Just like in the game Heroes of Might and Magic, strategic attributes could directly enhance the Clan or troop types under one’s command.

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One point in Strength equated to adding the strength of an adult male.

For example, if an adult male’s strength was only one point, with five points in Strength, even if all troops under one’s command were ordinary militia, they could receive a strength boost equivalent to the combined strength of five adult men.

This strategic attribute boost applied to all troop types under one’s command.

As Lin Xiao entered through Avatar Descend, his Divinity Level was only Level 4, giving him just four strategic attribute points. After some thought, he allocated one point each to Constitution and Agility, two points to Strength, and none to Wisdom.

After allocating points and closing the attribute panel, a new interface popped up with three options: Soldier Card, Resources, and Treasure.

Soldier Card was a random Soldier Card that could summon a squad of troops for combat that were only for use within the Ruins.

Resources referred to the materials needed to recruit various troop types or directly summon one’s own Clan, including three basic materials—Gold, Timber, Mineral—and the rare resources like Mercury, Gemstones, Crystals, and Sulfur.

Treasure could be understood as Ancient Treasures, whose attributes usually acted directly on all troops under one’s command.

Normally, players could only choose one of the three options at the start, but thanks to the seven Extra Initial Option Cards given to him by his teacher and uncle, Lin Xiao could make choices seven additional times besides the initial one.

This was the additional resource the homeroom teacher gave him, being able to choose seven times at the start, which was quite terrifying.

Some might think that Jin Sisi seemed to have taken his card for earning a place on the list of prodigies and the Infinite Wish Art without giving him any resources in return, that she used what the school already had as a favor, thus cheating him, and so on.

That’s because many people equate supplying resources with being simply given good items, believing that this is the only definition of providing resources.

In reality, it’s not just that; such a notion is too elementary. True treasures are often not something money can buy, such as opportunities.

Indeed, the cards and Relic Shards Lin Xiao had exchanged before were from the school, but if it wasn’t for her providing unlimited exchange privileges, where else would he get so many Relic Shards to convert into Creation Energy?

And don’t say things like the school will definitely support him greatly because of his talent as the protagonist.

That is true, the school will indeed cultivate him strongly with his talent, but there is a difference between being cultivated under the school’s name and being given full support by Jin Sisi.

Being cultivated under the school’s name does require someone to enforce it, personal interests do not align, and the level of support is different between Jin Sisi, who has shared interests with him, and another person who only represents the school.

For instance, the six Extra Initial Option Cards given to him by Jin Sisi—if she had no vested interest in him, with a homeroom teacher’s mindset, she would have to consider other outstanding students in the class, and he might only get three cards at most.

If you have half of the six cards, who can say you’re not being prioritized for cultivation?

That’s the difference.

Additionally, don’t compare the future value of the Infinite Wish Art with what he’s receiving now.

To give a simple example, say in a game you have a choice: at the start, you’re given an Epic weapon useable from Level 1 with no conditions, or you only get a top-tier Divine Artifact after you graduate.

Or, at the start, you’re given a hundred Gold Coins, a Level 1 Epic weapon, and a beginning set of Blue Armour, with the promise of receiving a top-tier Divine Artifact after you graduate and return it.

Which would you choose?

Of course, I’d choose the First Level Epic weapons. After all, the end-game weapons are light years away. Starting with an Epic weapon and a set of equipment is pretty much like having a Divine Artifact.

With these initial resources, I can quickly grow stronger, and then those top-tier divine gears will just be a breeze to farm.

Given three choices, Lin Xiao chose resources and received ten thousand Gold Coins, one hundred units of wood and minerals each, but no rare resources.

Then, he used seven option cards one by one, selecting three resource cards, two soldier cards, and two treasure cards.

In the end, he obtained forty thousand Gold Coins and four hundred units of wood and minerals each.

Two First Level Riflemen Cards could each summon a hundred human First Level Riflemen, requiring one thousand Gold Coins to activate.

The two random treasure cards yielded a Strength Ring, adding +1 to Strength, and a Life Ring, adding +1 to Constitution.

After using the seven option cards, a mechanical voice rang out again:

“You will have one year to explore and develop in the Relic World. Every three months, the strength of the creatures within the Relic World will increase by +1. After one year, treasure refreshes will begin. Please pay attention to the location of the treasure refreshes.”

“Initial Summoning Core at Zero-level, with a population limit of one hundred. You will earn a certain amount of Points based on your performance in each battle. Accumulate enough Points to level up. As the core level increases, you will gain certain strategic properties, increase the command limit of your soldiers, and after one year, the Points ranking will begin.”

“Points can be acquired by killing creatures within the ruins, eradicating nests, slaying bosses, defeating or killing other competing players, and opening treasures, among other things. Points gained will vary depending on difficulty.”

“The competition will start in ten seconds. Please be prepared!”

Below, a countdown was ticking away.

The ten seconds passed in a blink. Accompanied by an invisible fluctuation, Lin Xiao found that the fog around him started to dissipate. Soon it cleared to reveal more ruins behind the veil of mist and also exposed the Undead wandering aimlessly amidst the ruins.

Mostly First Level Skeletons and a few Level 2 Zombies were visible, with no other Undead in sight for the moment.

His current location was a temporary safe zone, with a vast area around him free of Undead. However, it was easy to anticipate that this place would soon become unsafe as the Undead would quickly discover him once the fog lifted.

Lin Xiao quickly summoned the core, a rhombic crystal, expending a thousand Gold Coins to activate one of the Riflemen Cards.

As the Gold Coins were consumed, a stream of light flew out from the Summoning Core and transformed into a human Rifleman.

This was a standard human Rifleman, with all attributes at one point, clad in thin Leather Armour and helmet, wielding a long spear with a wooden shaft and iron head, expressionless. Summoned, he simply stood motionless.

The creatures summoned by the cards were all Alchemy Puppets created by alchemical means, not real living people.

In a breath, he summoned a hundred Riflemen, which filled up the ruins. Soon they were discovered by nearby wandering Undead. A Skeleton, clutching a jagged Bone Sword, creakily made its way over.

One Rifleman suddenly raised his spear and sprinted towards the Skeleton, thrusting through the gaps in its bones, when it got within about ten meters.

“A hit!”

The Rifleman was struck by the Skeleton’s backhand slash, sending him reeling backward, but he steadied himself and thrust again with his spear.

Lin Xiao covered his face with his hand; it was a MISS again.

Waving his hand, about a dozen Riflemen voluntarily charged forward, sprinting. This time a few hits landed, and the spear points sent pale bone fragments flying. The Skeleton swayed and toppled to the ground, its bones scattering.

“Skeleton killed, Points +0.1.”

“Great, there are Points as low as o.i.”

The message on the panel was speechless.

With these minuscule Points, if I want to upgrade the Summoning Core to First Level, it will take ten thousand Points, which means killing roughly a hundred thousand low-level Undead.

And that’s just to get to Level One. I fear the points needed for Level 2 and Level 3 will increase geometrically, which means the upgrading speed will be terrifyingly slow.

The commotion here attracted the attention of the surrounding Undead. About a dozen Skeletons and two Zombies shambled over.

With a thought, Lin Xiao sent half the Riflemen into the fray.

Controlling these Alchemy Puppets was simple; a mere thought could issue commands like attack, halt, retreat, or patrol.

If more intricate commands were desired, it would be exhausting to control each Puppet individually, and Riflemen, being the lowest tier Puppets, had slow reactions to commands, making precise control difficult.

Lin Xiao gave it a try, but quickly abandoned the idea.

They were cannon fodder anyway; it didn’t matter if they died.

The wandering Undead around were of similar levels to the Riflemen, making them a fair match. However, with his strategic attribute bonuses, the Riflemen were far stronger than the Skeletons or Zombies. A single hit would easily break the Skeleton bones, and two hits could kill one. If the strike hit the spine or neck, vital parts that supported the body, one hit could be lethal.

After issuing a few simple commands to the Riflemen, Lin Xiao began inspecting the ruins.

Climbing to the top of a broken column to get a better view, a thin mist obscured the distance, allowing visibility of only about a hundred meters around him.

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