The Trial Begins

Before condensing a Divine Profession and becoming a demigod, it did not matter what you called yourself. You could even tell your followers you were the Creator God. But once you condensed a Divine Profession, your God Name had to match it. You could not call yourself whatever you wanted.

To avoid the hassle of changing it later, Lin Xiao had begun making the change early.

After all, he had already set his sights on the Divine Professions of Creation and Naga. Murloc was still uncertain, but he would most likely be able to condense it as well.

At that moment, his followers' prayers continued to echo in his ears:

"Your devout followers pray here. O supreme Master of Creation, Naga and Fishmen God, guide Your devout followers."

The prayer repeated itself over and over beside his ears. As a transmigrator who had received professional education in the age of Super Deities and had been steeped in countless fantasy novels about ascension to godhood in his previous life, Lin Xiao was deeply versed in the essence of shepherding followers.

Unless it was an emergency, he absolutely could not respond the instant his followers prayed. He had to leave them hanging for a while.

Put simply, he had to put on an act. He had to make his followers feel that communicating with their faith was difficult, that there was distance and mystery between them.

Mystery bred fear, and fear made people seek spiritual refuge. That was when prayers had the best effect.

Lin Xiao was exceptionally good at this. He was not bragging—forget the entire class, there were not many people in the whole grade who were better than him at cultivating followers.

After roughly ten rounds of prayer, Lin Xiao responded. His voice was low and deep, but to his followers, it sounded like thunder exploding beside their ears, making their eardrums throb:

"Evil is approaching. My children, take up your weapons and defend My glory. My gaze shall be with you."

After saying that, Lin Xiao deliberately spent ten thousand Faith Points to cast a divine spell—Essence of Sea Water.

Countless faint-blue motes of Essence of Sea Water descended from the sky like starlight, enveloping all the Kinfolk.

It was not actually useful for anything, but it allowed the followers to feel his presence and strengthened their confidence.

"The first wave of trials will begin in five minutes. Please prepare yourselves!"

A line of small text appeared at the corner of his eye. Lin Xiao glanced at it but made no move.

According to the prompt he had seen earlier, they only needed to defeat three waves of enemies to pass the elimination assessment. This was merely the first wave. How difficult could it be?

As soon as the five minutes were up, the crystalline wall at the northern edge of the Demiplane suddenly opened into a three-meter-tall gate of light. Goblins roughly the same size as Murlocs emerged one after another and, guided by an unseen force, charged straight toward the Kinfolk settlement at the center of the plane.

In the void, ten golden spheres at the edge of the enormous golden platform simultaneously shot out beams of golden light into the platform. They passed through it and plunged into the massive vortex.

Shortly afterward, ten figures appeared floating in the void within the artifact space. Class 1's Class Teacher, Qiao Liang, looked up at the Demiplanes scattered through the void, then smiled at the Class Teachers from the other classes beside him. "How many students do you think will clear the three stages, then go on to pass another two?"

Class 2's Class Teacher replied, "Judging from past results, anyone ranked in the top twenty of the grade has a chance. But considering their condition, command ability, the fact that every wave is different, and the way different species counter one another, I'd guess fewer than ten."

Class 1's Class Teacher, Qiao Liang, nodded.

"That sounds about right. I just wonder which students they'll be."

He then looked up at the other Class Teachers and said, "How about a little game? Let's bet on which class performs best at this stage. The winner gets three Five-Star Cards from each of the rest of us. What do you say?"

None of the other Class Teachers answered. Wu Hai even turned his head away as though he had not heard a thing.

There was no way he would take that bet. Everyone knew that Classes 1 and 2 had the highest average level in the grade. This wager was basically just giving away cards for free. He was not doing it.

Qiao Liang glanced at Class 2's Class Teacher. The other man spread his hands. "Don't look at me. If no one else is playing, are the two of us supposed to play by ourselves? What fun would that be?"

"You want some fun?"

An aged voice suddenly rang in their ears. Every Class Teacher stiffened at once and respectfully called out, "Old Headmaster!"

No one appeared, yet no one dared raise their heads. The aged voice said, "Fine. I'll host it. After the three waves, I'll open Endless Mode. You can bet on whose student lasts the longest after the third wave. We'll take the top ten. The winners will receive rewards from me. The top three will each receive an Ultra Rare Card and a Super Freshman Summer Camp Spot."

A Super Freshman Summer Camp Spot? The Class Teachers all revealed shocked expressions. When they looked at one another, they could see the astonishment in every pair of eyes.

After a long while, there was no further sound. They knew the Old Headmaster had left. The shock in Qiao Liang's eyes gradually faded, replaced by an irrepressible smile. He cupped his hands toward his colleagues and said, "The Old Headmaster is rarely in such a mood, so let's indulge him. Gentlemen, I'll be taking my leave first."

Class 2's Class Teacher, Yu Xihua, looked somewhat solemn. He likewise cupped his hands in farewell and left.

The remaining eight Class Teachers looked at one another. Wu Hai gave a carefree smile and said, "Since it's the Old Headmaster's wish, what else is there to say? It's not like we have to provide the rewards."

Though he said that, they all knew that the best students in the grade were concentrated in Classes 1 and 2. The rewards for the top three would be difficult to obtain. In Class 3, only Yuan Hong and Wan Chuan had a chance of making the top ten, and even that was only a chance. A slight mistake, and neither of them might make it into the top ten.

His situation was still fairly good. Some classes might not even have a single student make the top ten. Would that not be humiliating to talk about?

Wu Hai cupped his hands, turned, and left.

Within the Demiplane, Lin Xiao looked down at the first wave: one hundred Common Goblins, ten Hobgoblins, and five Bugbears. His expression turned somewhat grave.

This... was a little difficult.

Not difficult for him. He did not even consider this level of difficulty worth mentioning. But for ordinary students, it was rather hard. The first wave was already this difficult. Since each wave would be harder than the last, the third wave would indeed be extremely challenging for ordinary students.

No wonder so many students were eliminated every year. At this difficulty, it would be stranger if they were not eliminated.

The hundred-odd Goblins charged toward the center of the plane and soon clashed with the Murlocs, who had spotted them as well.

More than five hundred Murlocs burst into motion at once. The incredible speed of Salted Fish Thrust made them seem like charging warriors as they rushed into the Goblin horde in the blink of an eye. Instantly, the Goblins were thrown into chaos, with blood and flesh flying everywhere.

Then there was nothing else.

With physiques not much stronger than Murlocs', Goblins were basically killed instantly by the fivefold critical strike of Salted Fish Thrust. Even the sturdier Hobgoblins could not withstand it. Only a few Bugbears, relying on their powerful physiques, could take the blows head-on.

But that was useless. They could withstand one or two attacks, but could they withstand five?

After a single charge, the Goblins were nearly wiped out. The survivors were knocked down by the Murlocs rushing in behind them and never got back up.

In less than half a minute, the first wave of Goblins had been annihilated.

"Not bad!"

Lin Xiao whistled, quite satisfied with his Kinfolk's combat strength.

Half an hour later, the Portal appeared again, and the second wave of trials began.

When he saw the creatures emerging from the Portal, Lin Xiao's face immediately fell. "Damn!"