The Era of Gods

Chapter 468: Chapter 468: The Last Moment

Only the elites can enter Radiance, and it’s frightening to think how powerful top elites like Li Xiushen and Dongfang Piaoxue will become when they grow to reach the Supreme Rank 3 stage.

Therefore, even with the strength of over 160 Legendary Lord of Nagas, The Dragon Kingdom still doesn’t have the upper hand against the senior students who are fully committed to the contest.

Although he has not gained any upper hand, and still at a disadvantage among the three major houses, his overall strength has always been on par with the Savage King Kingdom represented by Cao Yichen, with the Kingdom having a slight edge of forty-six percent in their favor, leaving him with the advantage.

But both The Dragon Kingdom and the Savage King Kingdom are far weaker than the Ancient Dragon Nation.

Yet, after all, he’s just a freshman, and being able to reach this point in this dimension has already shocked countless people and has drawn the attention of many school leaders and seniors.

Yes, it’s been twenty-eight years since the large course lasting thirty years started, which means it’s almost at its end; Lin Xiao’s sudden rise in this dimension has long been spread by the seniors’ propaganda, and many teachers and school leaders have turned their eyes to this dimension, watching the situation with great interest.

Even some seniors who had nothing better to do have opened betting pools on which of the three parties would ultimately win and take ownership of this dimension.

Although Lin Xiao is unaware of the changes and the betting pool outside, it does not hinder his relentless striving to achieve victory.

By now, most of the totem plane has been cleared by them and is concentrated in the hands of the core figures of the three major kingdoms.

These are Lin Xiao, Cao Yichen, and one of the two seniors managing the affairs, whose name Lin Xiao does not yet know, only hearing people refer to him as ‘Chess Bro’.

The three each have amassed at least a hundred Totem Statuses, causing a qualitative change through quantitative accumulation, surpassing the boundaries of ordinary totems to produce extremely powerful rights. One key ability named ‘Divine Gift’ is similar to the God-sealing Art granted by ascending to Powerful Divine Power through the Supreme Divine Position but is somewhat weaker, capable of consuming large amounts of the Power of Faith to forcibly elevate devout believers to Transcendent or even Legend status.

It is evident that this is a manifestation of the rights of the Supreme Divine Position. After amassing hundreds of Totem Statuses, the qualitative change triggered by the quantitative change finally revealed a portion of the supreme divinity’s mighty power.

At the same time, this is also what Lin Xiao, Cao Yichen, and the third-year senior called Chess Bro are all competing for. It would probably be difficult to take full control of this dimension, considering he has only two years left, and this remaining time is likely not enough to flatten the other two houses.

Unless the time could be extended, or… give up the large course grades, which would also mean foregoing the first-year scholarship.

The chances of extending the time are slim; there has never been a precedent, and school leaders will not grant extra time for the large course just because he is now a key player as it would be unfair to others.

So, if he wants to achieve unification of this dimension, he probably has to forgo the large course grades.

But having said that, if he truly manages to unify the dimension and takes possession of the supreme divine rights and this dimension, it would be worth it to give up the large course entirely.

The value of either the supreme divine rights or ownership of this dimension is greater than all that would be lost by forfeiting the course.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to only partly divide, for instance, to just occupy the current territory and then return; that cannot be done. Neither Cao Yichen nor the senior would agree to let him withdraw with his gains unchecked.

It’s not that conditions can’t be negotiated, but the seniors can’t afford to lose face like that. A freshman who’s just attended his first large course could monopolize resources in this dimension that they had been developing for some time and leave unscathed. If word got out, could they show their faces anymore?

Moreover, with so many seniors and school leaders now watching this dimension, they would be even less likely to negotiate. They must drive him out completely.

In fact, even if they could successfully drive Lin Xiao out, both Cao Yichen and the senior called Chess Bro would lose face; it just varies by how much they’d lose.

In the Dragon Kingdom Royal City, a huge city built at the edge of a plain, backed by mountains, the city spans the plains, with the mountain range known as Dragon Cliff serving as its backdrop. Lin Xiao’s Temple is established here.

To distinguish it from the past, he has now changed the totem to Dragon God, the Church to Dragon God Religion, and the Temple to the Country of Dragons.

Over 160 Legendary Supreme Nagas, with more than twenty of them stationed here year-round. The rest are stationed across various locations, including a core fortress near the north bordering the Ancient Dragon Nation, which houses as many as eighty Legendary Lord of Nagas.

The main continent now stands in a tripartite standoff between the three countries, with mutual constraints and stalemate. Although there are strong and weak, no one has the ability to contend against the other two simultaneously.

The problem now is to find a way to break the deadlock. If it were before, he could think of a method, but now, this dimension is under the watchful eyes of countless seniors and school leaders. At this moment, there might be many eyes staring at his incarnation, so there are many things he can’t openly do.

For example, cheating. Although cheating is a skill, it falls under those categories that should be understood but not discussed openly.

Like many lax invigilators who may not mind you pulling a small stunt during exams, but you can’t just take out your textbook and place it next to your exam paper and copy from it.

So now he can’t suddenly take out a bunch of powerful artifacts under the watchful eyes of many, although others may not notice, they would certainly become curious and vigilant, and he doesn’t want people prying into his affairs all the time.

So the question is, how to break the situation?

Don’t think about teaming up with someone to take down one first and then settle the final score. Even Cao Yichen wouldn’t be willing to cooperate with the third-year seniors to expel Lin Xiao and then decide the victor.

Because the strength of the three houses differs, it’s not a case of one strong and two weak but one strong, one medium, one weak, each stronger than the other, but the strongest is limited and unable to fight two at the same time. As soon as one is eliminated, the remaining stronger one would easily overcome the weaker. So…

“We must find a way to create a situation of one strong versus two weak, or two strong versus one weak; only then is there a chance to break the deadlock,” he said.

Lin Xiao paced back and forth in the lavishly decorated grand hall of the Temple with his hands clasped behind his back, occasionally looking up at the horizon, while his girlfriend and Senior Chumo sat on the other side, pondering over what he had said.

He continued,

“Only by creating such a situation can either the two weaker parties defeat the strongest before facing off, or the two stronger parties defeat the weakest before their duel. The premise is that two of the parties are equally matched.”

He looked at his girlfriend and Senior Chumo and asked,

“What do you think we should choose, one strong and two weak, or two strong and one weak?”

Senior Chumo asked,

“What happens if it’s one strong and two weak, and what if it’s two strong and one weak?”

“In the case of one strong and two weak, we would intentionally display weakness so that they believe we need to suffer a huge loss in a major battle. We must make Cao Yichen believe that our strength has greatly diminished and that he has a chance, so he will agree to join me against the Ancient Dragon Nation.”

“With two strong and one weak, on the other hand, we show our full strength, making the Ancient Dragon Nation see that we have the capability to challenge them, yet we also need to give them the confidence that they can defeat us. Only then will they agree to defeat the Savage King Kingdom first, so we can face off against each other.”

After hearing this, both women thought for a moment; his girlfriend said,

“The key here should be how to show weakness and how to make them believe in our strength.”

Senior Chumo also came to understand and said,

“If that’s the case, we need to let them see our real losses. The core of our Dragon Kingdom is the 160 Legendary Lord of Nagas and the 80,000 bloodline magicians. We must lose more than fifty Legendary Lord of Nagas and over 30,000 bloodline magicians for them to believe that we have suffered heavy losses and our strength has been greatly reduced.”

“Such a loss…”

Even Lin Xiao, who had this idea, fell into contemplation.

After all, those were fifty Legendary Satellites, all devout believers, who could provide so much Power of Faith and such powerful fighting strength. To just let them go to their deaths like that, he really couldn’t bear it.

But without their sacrifice, the deadlock couldn’t be broken. It would just persist indefinitely, until…

He suddenly asked Senior Chumo,

“Senior, if I give up my major courses and stay in this plane indefinitely, how long can I stay at most?”

He didn’t ask his girlfriend because she was just a freshman and probably wouldn’t know.

Senior Chumo knew his plan and understood that it was the best way, she replied,

“Theoretically, you can stay until the end of this semester; it can’t be any longer. It’s not because you must leave at the end of the semester, but because if you persist long enough—usually about two to three months, which is within a hundred years in a Foreign Dimension—they will choose to break the deadlock with additional methods.”

“For example, inviting other friends to enter this plane or using unconventional powerful artifacts. They’re not focusing on you too much now and don’t want to lose face by bullying you, but if the situation drags on for too long, they won’t care anymore about losing face.”

“Of course, you could also use an underhanded trick, but given your situation, you probably can’t outdo them.”

Lin Xiao conceded this point, because his True Body couldn’t move at the moment.

“So, can we be sure they won’t use underhanded tricks within the next two or three months?”

“We can’t be sure!”

Senior Chumo laughed and said,

“This is a large-scale plane, possessing Superhuman Power and Supreme Divine Position; how could they possibly just watch and let you take it away?”

“However, one thing is certain: they absolutely won’t and are too ashamed to use underhanded tricks during the stage when the school leaders are paying attention; this period is estimated to be about a month. So, you must defeat them within a month, otherwise, once the school leaders and other students lose patience and look away, you’ll have basically no chance of winning.”

“I see!”

Lin Xiao now knew what he had to do, and he had a plan.

He still had about a month left, which was equivalent to thirty years, and he thought he could wait a little longer.

According to the growth rate of bloodline magicians, it was estimated that in another twenty years, he could accumulate three to four hundred Asura Nagas. By then, having more than five hundred Supreme Naga at his disposal, he might have the potential to press down on both of them at the same time.

He couldn’t say for absolute, but the chances were high.

“Then, let’s continue to wait,”

Lin Xiao made this reluctant decision.

However, his decision lasted only two years. On the very day the thirty years were up, as he was about to give up his major courses to continue staying in this plane, in the great hall where the Spatial Waymarker had been built early in the Dragon Kingdom Royal City to bid farewell to his girlfriend, he suddenly received several messages from first-year students in this plane asking to visit at the same time.