The Era of Gods - Chapter 91

Chapter 91: Chapter 91: Going Home

Translator: 549690339

“`

He had considered seeking out Wan Ying in the past. After all, she was a pretty and cute girl with decent strength that was easy on the eyes. The only downside was her small chest, but that was hardly an issue. If they got along well, perhaps she could even become his girlfriend one day.

But before they had many interactions, she was already gone—fate is truly unpredictable.

“Life…”

Lin Xiao lay on his flying car, sighing as he arrived at the Lin Family Fortress in the Fourth Quarter. He got off, prepared to walk down the alley, just as a man and a woman came out of it. The man paused when he saw him, then smiled and waved,

“Is Little Six back?”

He nodded and put on a smile in return,

“Yes, big cousin.”

The man was his eldest uncle’s son, Lin Kun. He didn’t recognize the woman, but seeing how close they were, she was probably Lin Kun’s girlfriend.

It might have been a coincidence, but while the previous generation of uncles all had three-character names, his generation all had two-character names, whether they were his cousins or same-generation members of other branches of the family.

Lin Xiao’s relationship with this big cousin was… a bit complicated.

It wasn’t bad, after all, they were cousins, but it wasn’t especially good either.

The root cause boiled down to those unspoken trivial matters within a large clan, ultimately related to interests.

In ordinary families with many brothers, disputes over family property are common. It’s even more inevitable in large clans. As long as the grandfather and the patriarchs are still alive, the property isn’t available to quarrel over. But resources are another matter. Every year, the distribution of resources harvested from the clan’s collective lands—specifically who gets more and who gets less—all have to be fought for.

Especially those resources that could benefit high-level demigods, or even scarce resources at the true god level, are the focal points of contention among the various branches and uncles.

After all, in every branch, there are high-level demigods who have the potential for divine enthronement. They all long to successfully ignite the divine fire and exalt their godhood, but there are only so many resources to go around, hence the disputes.

Speaking of this, the second branch where his second uncle presided received the most resources. Among the five branches, the second branch received nearly half, simply because the second uncle had already become a deity, being the second true god of the family with considerable strength and thus the greatest contribution. Naturally, he got the biggest share.

But the other brothers felt that they got too little and were unsatisfied.

This led to internal disharmony within the family.

It was fortunate that the old ancestor was still alive and that the family had two true gods to keep the internal conflicts within a certain range. Additionally, the pressure from external enemies kept things relatively stable for the time being.

But even so, the relationships between different branches within the Lin Family Fortress were not great, and young people from different branches rarely communicated with each other.

Lin Xiao had an average relationship with his multitude of cousins, neither good nor bad—just the kind where they would greet each other when they met and have little other interaction. This was particularly the case as everyone grew up and became deities with an increasing demand for resources, leading to even colder relations.

In the same fortress, familiar strangers.

Sometimes, Lin Xiao felt that it might be better for the family to split early and go their separate ways. If they did, the relationships between brothers might be better…

Possibly, but such things are uncertain. They might truly grow apart after splitting, and the built-up grievances could erupt and lead to no further contact—also a possibility.

Regardless, Lin Xiao wasn’t optimistic about this situation continuing indefinitely. As the young people of his generation grew up, these conflicts would gradually become more acute. There were two possible futures for the family: one was the conflicts becoming so significant that not even the old ancestor could suppress them, leading to a family split.

The other possibility was that the second uncle’s strength advanced further, surpassing the founding patriarch, which might lead the old ancestor to willingly cede authority and let the second uncle take over.

Living too long can also become troublesome in certain situations. The founding patriarch established and ruled the family for two thousand years, which is quite a long time, and his sons also wanted to come to the fore, especially since the second uncle had been a god for hundreds of years and had served as the crown prince for just as long. He was almost at his limit.

After exchanging a few amiable but indifferent words with his big cousin, they parted ways. In the past, his big cousin would definitely have tried to show off and compare their achievements, but this time, probably busy with his new girlfriend, he didn’t have time to chat.

Entering from this alley, all around were relatives or companions related to the Fourth Branch, most of whom he somewhat recognized; he had to greet each one he saw.

He continued to the end of the several-hundred-meter-long alley, arrived at a street over a dozen meters wide and traversed that street to reach a plaza paved with flagstones. After passing a shrubbery, he came upon a garden surrounded by a tall, thick stone wall, housing a villa and two smaller buildings—Lin Xiao’s home.

Standing at the front gate, he scanned it, and without a sound, the gate silently opened. Stepping inside, he was greeted by a burst of fresh air, accompanied by the sound of fluttering wings from behind. Turning around, he saw an owl enveloped in a faint green glow of life flying towards him and landing on his shoulder. The bird cocked its head and pecked gently at his collar, speaking with a young girl’s voice,

“Young master, you’re back!”

“Yes, where’s mom?”

“`

He smiled and reached out to stroke the owl, which huddled up and half-closed its eyes like a kitten, looking thoroughly content.

This was Mother’s pet, a divine owl, a sweet-voiced girl, but due to the terrible rules of suppression in the Main World, all her powers were hidden, and she appeared to be just a beautiful owl.

In the Main World, only demigods could display a limited amount of Superhuman Power, and those below demigod level were suppressed so heavily that they couldn’t exhibit any supernatural powers.

While enjoying his touch, the owl tilted her head and nuzzled against him, speaking in a crisp voice,

“Master has gone to prepare some delicious food for the young master, and will be back later.”

Lin Xiao immediately felt a warmth in his heart.

Carrying the owl on his shoulder as he walked through the garden, his eyes were met with budding exotic flowers everywhere, enveloped in a light mist, the air was exceptionally fresh, making it seem like a different world from the outside.

In a corner of the garden were many oddly shaped statues. They were stone statue puppets, a preferred choice by mages from different domains to guard their Mage Towers or Floating Cities. Since they were lifeless puppets, the suppression of the Main World had little effect on them, allowing them to maintain over seventy percent of their combat power, which made them popular guards among the demigods for their homes.

At the moment, the stone statue puppets were in a dormant state, resembling sculptures surrounded by verdant flowers and grass, an enchanting sight as the smoke-like rain fell all around.

Mother possessed the godhoods of rainy season and growth. The rainy season was a prerequisite for the four seasonal and climatic godhoods, and growth was a prerequisite for the powerful godhoods of fertility and life. She could easily adjust the weather to make the climate in the Divine Territory more suitable for the growth of life, and combined with the godhood of growth, it made her supremely efficient in agriculture within the Divine Territory.

The garden was filled with beautiful flowers that were rare outside; Mother’s only hobby was planting all kinds of plants, some of which were quite extraordinary.

This was the Main World, where many things could not be displayed. Lin Xiao had heard from his mother before that she had carefully cultivated a bed of flowers in her Divine Realm and had nurtured many Flower Fairies, among which she bestowed a hint of divinity upon one, turning it into a Divine Being with many extraordinary abilities.

After strolling around the garden and admiring the beautiful flowers meticulously grown by Mother, Lin Xiao felt his mood lighten considerably.

Entering the villa from the side door at the back of the garden, as he stepped inside, a clear light appeared out of nothing in front of him and formed Mother’s silhouette, who spoke to him in a gentle voice,

“Son, wait at home for a while. Mom is going to get you a nice surprise.”

As the clear light disappeared, Lin Xiao touched his chin. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was probably the surprise Mother had mentioned a long time ago, that if he did well in school and got into the elite class, she would give him a surprise. It seemed to be that.

He was quite looking forward to it. Mother had been preparing it for so long; it must be something good, even if he didn’t know what it was exactly.

With Mother not at home and Father often away, Lin Xiao didn’t know what to do and after a shower, came out just in time to see the owl bringing over a basket full of fresh fruit.

Grabbing a bunch of grapes, he bit into them while casually opening the network. A light screen, as big as a wall, unfolded, and he started browsing an entertainment website.

Just out of boredom.

After a while, a certain image caught his attention.

Well, to be precise, it was the title that caught his eye—Canaan’s Plane, Academy of All Gods, the first recruitment guide for new students.

“The first session?”

His eyebrows rose, intrigued, and he clicked into it. After he read through the content carefully, a look of realization dawned on his face.

As he had speculated, this was a new Powerful God System announcing its presence.

According to the default rules, any God System that managed to secure a foothold in any main plane of a Different Crystal Wall System and ruled over numerous subsidiary planes earned the right to communicate with Gaia Will and open a channel between the Main World and the main plane of the Different Crystal Wall, allowing ordinary people from the Main World to enter the Different Domain for colonization.

Of course, colonization is a very broad term and a very long-drawn process. Before colonization begins, the Powerful God System would establish a college in both the Main World and the governed main plane to enroll students.

The college in the Main World naturally recruits Divine Territory Players, meaning that senior high school students will be able to apply to this college, effectively adding a new university. Like the current colleges, each represents a vast God System, ruling over a huge cluster of main planes.

Whereas, the colleges in the governed Different Domain main planes recruit ordinary people who cannot become Divine Territory Players, teaching them various power systems of the extra-dimensional planes, such as warriors, knights, mages, and so on, similar to what one reads about in novels.

From a Level 1 mage to a Level 2, on to a Rank 6 Senior Magician, Rank 8 Legend, Rank 10 Demigod, and so on.

Right, if ordinary people can’t open a Divine Realm to become Divine Territory Players, that doesn’t mean they have no other paths available; they can take this one instead.

But this path means having to pay a tremendous price, and the road of growth is very difficult, needing countless life-threatening battles to gradually rise. Although theoretically, one can grow all the way to legend and demigod and even ignite the Divine Fire to become a True God, the difficulty is extremely high, much harder than for Divine Territory Players.

After all, Divine Territory Players become Divine Beings as soon as they open their Divine Realm and accumulate enough Divinity to become demigods. Though it’s a bit difficult, it’s much easier compared to the Divine Enthronement path for ordinary people.