The Era of Gods

17 Chapter 17 End of Baseline Test (Please Vote and Tip)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
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.

“`