The Era of Gods - Chapter 27

Chapter 27: The Final Exam Begins

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“`

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.