Classmates

But not now. He needed to wait a while; he did not have much money at the moment.

Cards usable in the Divine Domain were not cheap. Now that Lin Xiao's Golden Finger had activated, his strength was bound to grow by leaps and bounds. One or two Creature Cards might not be enough, so he needed to prepare more. He planned to buy a four- or five-star Food Card, or perhaps a Species Card or Resource Card that could serve as food. None of those came cheap.

The best option was naturally to wait for the Placement Test.

If he performed well then, he could openly and confidently ask his parents for money.

That was the difference between being born into privilege and being a commoner. Everyone was limited to using one card per month, but could one one- or two-star card per month compare to one five-star-or-higher card per month?

As for why the descendants of the powerful and wealthy still had to attend school, it was mainly because only the Federal Government possessed the method of opening a Divine Domain. No matter how powerful or influential a family was, even the legitimate son of a Deity with Greater Divine Power had to obediently attend school and open a Divine Domain.

Over the next week, Lin Xiao entered his Divine Domain through the Divine Domain Login Device every day, observing the condition of his Kinfolk and guiding the faith of the Gray Mist Fishmen as needed.

With one day in the Main World equaling one year inside the Divine Domain, seven days amounted to seven years.

Since Murlocs generally reached adulthood and gained reproductive ability in three years, some of the first batch of Murloc refugees had already become grandparents after seven years, especially those who reproduced quickly. Of course, many Murlocs had also died of old age. Their maximum lifespan was only twenty years, and under these living conditions, most Murlocs could not even live to twenty.

Based on the pattern over the two hundred years since the Divine Domain had been opened, an ordinary Gray Mist Fishman was already considered old at fifteen. At that age, they could no longer fight or hunt.

Thanks to the fairly abundant food in the Divine Domain, along with Lin Xiao's deliberate guidance, these old Murlocs could still get something to eat and would not starve to death.

In a wild Murloc tribe with insufficient food, old Murlocs would not merely go without food. They might even be raised as food for the Little Fishmen.

It was not that Lin Xiao had any concept of caring for the elderly, nor was it because he was kindhearted. The main reason was that every believer was exceedingly precious to him. Old Murlocs in particular generally had strong faith by that age and were very likely to be True Believers. They were lambs that could continuously provide Faith Points. How could he possibly abandon them?

To a Deity, even if you did nothing all day but eat, sleep, sleep, and eat like a pig, as long as you faithfully believed in them, you were a good believer and deserved to be fed.

After seven years, when Lin Xiao withdrew for the last time, the number of Murlocs in the Divine Domain had already exceeded six hundred. They were nearing the food supply warning line; if the population kept growing, the supply would soon be unable to support them.

Fortunately, the Placement Test was tomorrow, and he was full of anticipation.

Early the next morning, he received a notification from the Class Teacher. After briefly washing up, he lay down in the Divine Domain Login Pod and logged into the Divine Domain.

This time, however, he did not enter his own Divine Domain directly. Instead, he arrived at a massive palace floating in boundless void. The palace was entirely golden and radiated faint divine light, while a powerful divine might spread from within. The plaque above its gates bore the words Class Three of First Year High School, Dongning City Fifth Middle School. This was one of his Class Teacher's divine artifacts.

It was a standard divine artifact issued by the school. Every Class Teacher had one, and it was used for regular group classes.

In this era, there was only one major class each week. Thus, students usually stayed at home and entered the Divine Domain through the Divine Domain Login Device. Regular major classes and ordinary Placement Tests were conducted this way. Only important midterm and Final Exams required everyone to gather at the school in the Main World.

Of course, they also had to gather at the Main World school for important events or competitions.

Lin Xiao's consciousness turned into a streak of golden light and shot into the massive palace. He appeared directly inside a hall, taking on his true form as he stood on the golden floor.

Not many people had arrived yet, so he casually found a corner and stood there.

As time passed, more and more classmates arrived. They formed small groups of two or three and chatted quietly among themselves. There were also quite a few loners like Lin Xiao.

As the saying went, wherever there were people, there were rivalries. Even in a class, it was the same. Students like them, who were qualified to open Divine Domains, differed from ordinary students. They had to compete from the moment they enrolled—for teachers' attention, school resources, rankings, and more.

And in competition, distinctions naturally emerged. There were outstanding students, and naturally there were poor students.

Though they were students, they were also competitors, so their relationships were naturally not all that good.

For example, among the three students standing to Lin Xiao's right, the leader was an exceptionally handsome young man with a red crystal resembling an eye embedded in his forehead. His name was Yuan Hong, and he came from an extremely good family. His father was a true god.

Though his father only possessed Weak Divine Power and had ascended to godhood not long ago, he was still a true god.

As the legitimate son of a true god, Yuan Hong had inherited his father's bloodline. When he opened his Divine Domain, he possessed an additional trace of Divinity beyond the basic trace of Divinity. He had been innately stronger than them from the start and was the strongest student in the class with the best grades. He had always hovered between first and second in the class, standing head and shoulders above the rest, and could even rank within the top ten of the entire grade.

Then there was the hulking man among the four students on the other side. He was enormously tall, his body covered in knotted muscles like a little giant. He too was descended from a true god, though he was not a first-generation divine descendant, but a second-generation one.

Although he had not obtained additional innate Divinity, the Transcendent Power he had awakened was extremely powerful. His grades had consistently hovered within the Top Five in Class and the top fifty in the entire grade.

Besides them, there were several other powerful classmates, such as Meng Hui, Zhao Erju, and Yi Xiaoer. Though their backgrounds were not as impressive as those two, they were formidable through their own hard work.

Generally speaking, outstanding students were direct competitors, especially those ranked in the top ten, top five, or top three. Thus, nearly all five of them had their own little circles, and many students liked to attach themselves to those classmates who could barely be called the strong.

Lin Xiao had no interest in that and did not attach himself to any classmate.

With his mediocre ranking in class, he posed neither competition nor threat to anyone else. Naturally, his relationships with the other students were neither close nor hostile. They could exchange greetings when they met, but that was all.

However, that would probably change after this Placement Test. With his Golden Finger activated, he could no longer coast along.

After greeting the classmates beside him, he silently leaned against the corner and closed his eyes to rest.

There was no helping it. Out of fifty classmates, there was not a single pretty girl. That was downright bizarre.

About ten minutes later, all the students had arrived. Two especially dazzling streaks of golden light descended from above alongside a powerful pressure. Lin Xiao immediately opened his eyes and saw two figures shrouded in faint golden light.

One was a plain-looking middle-aged man in a black suit and tie. This was their Class Teacher, Wu Hai, a High-level Demigod who possessed Erudition Godhood.

The other was a young man in a white shirt named Zheng Wenzhuo. He was their tutor, an ordinary demigod who possessed healing.

Class Teacher Wu Hai swept his pressuring gaze across all the students present. A faint smile appeared on his face when his gaze passed over several students standing closest to him. They were the students who usually had the best grades in the class.

"Today marks the beginning of the final Placement Test for your First Year of High School. The Final Exam will be at the beginning of next month, and there will be no additional major classes in between. So this is your last chance to overtake the others."