The Era of Gods

Chapter 376: Chapter 376: First Encounter with the Troops of the Children of Nightmare

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In this world, the strength of creatures is simply divided into:

Low-level demons, equating to humans below the Sixth Level Transcendent.

Middle-level demons, equating to humans from Sixth Level Transcendent to Rank 7.

High-level demons, equating to humans from Rank 8 Legend to creatures below Rank 10.

Super-level demons, equivalent to True God and above entities.

As for fierce beasts, they are only slightly stronger than the beasts of the Mortal World.

And exotic beasts are just another term for demons, simply called differently in various places.

Beyond that, this world has a few entities that defy common sense, their power systems deviating from the totem masters’. These anomalies are conceptual entities as described in books, and their form of combat resembles causality, making them incredibly difficult to counter.

Explaining just how peculiar these anomalies are might be hard, but there’s an account in the book about a woodland cottage that appeared in this region fifty years ago. It manifested randomly in different places every month, and anyone who saw it would either enter the cottage involuntarily, of their own accord, or inexplicably, without exception.

Those who entered the woodland cottage had a fifty percent chance of disappearing and a fifty percent chance of emerging as a monster.

There was also the case of a gambler from over thirty years ago, whom anyone who saw was compelled to gamble with, the stakes often deadly.

Its power was so enigmatic that even an official totem master would drop dead on the spot without warning or logic if they refused to gamble.

The outcomes of gambling with it varied. Naturally, those who lost faced punishment. Among the possible penalties, death was but one, with the most terrifying punishments being exceedingly bizarre – men transformed into women, women into men, souls swapped with monsters, anuses relocating to mouths, and so on – the list was disturbingly extensive.

Anomalies were nearly impossible to kill because to this day, the world’s totem masters haven’t figured out what exactly these things are. At least, the book he read contained no methods to kill anomalies, nor any examples of their destruction, except for one disastrous incident.

Over a thousand years ago, a Grand Totem Master School with a composite strength rating of seven stars encountered an anomaly. Initially, it was merely a small fog-laden area no larger than a hundred square meters, from which no creature could escape. The fog did not expand nor move, just remaining there.

But there’s a saying: one cannot sleep soundly by a collapsing wall. Confident in its power, the school’s head, accompanied by a dozen Totem Lords and armed with a sect-controlling super magic weapon, charged into the fog.

The result was that the once stationary fog suddenly expanded. In less than fifteen minutes, it became an enormous fog covering thousands of kilometers, engulfing the entire school.

When the fog disappeared a year later, only one totem master, nearly as mighty as a True God, emerged with a broken sect-controlling magic weapon. Besides him, the entire school had vanished, not just the people but all the structures too, leaving nothing behind but an empty foundation.

Such cases weren’t many, but there were quite a few, and most ended in failure.

The reason for saying ‘most’ is that anomalies weren’t entirely invincible and could be destroyed.

For instance, records from a few hundred years ago spoke of a totem master who was trapped in an anomaly. When everyone thought he was doomed, he miraculously destroyed the anomaly, vastly increased his strength upon exiting, advanced to a Totem Lord, and now is one of the dominators of the Totem World.

No one knew what that totem master used to destroy the anomaly, which could potentially kill even a totem dominator, nor the benefits one might gain from destroying such anomalies.

Indeed, rare records indicated that anyone who managed to destroy an anomaly achieved extraordinary feats. It was well-known that surviving an anomaly, or merely emerging alive, yielded unimaginable benefits. However, the high mortality rate was daunting, and whether it was book records or teachers’ lessons, everyone was sternly warned to steer clear of anomalies.

“Tsk tsk, this is terrifying. I must find out what these anomalies are like and if there are any nearby,” he muttered.

He closed the book and thought as he left the library.

Just as he reached the entrance, he sensed something, looked up, and saw a middle-aged man in a professor’s robe entering. His expression quickly turned serious, and he slightly bowed his head and moved aside.

The middle-aged man stood still looking at him for a moment, then stepped in. As they brushed past each other, he heard a voice in his ear:

“Kid, you won’t live much longer!”

Lin Xiao’s facial muscles twitched slightly. After walking out of the White Tower and standing at the doorway for a while, he turned back, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes:

“Who kills whom is still uncertain.”

Muttering softly to himself, he pressed a hand against his temple.

Indeed, a troublemaker, an official totem master from the Spirit Realm, without an assistant here. He has already identified five or six Children of the Spirit Realm within the White Tower yet has not seen a single Son of the Human Divine Realm, without even a single ally.

Clearly, any Descender from the human side might have already been eliminated by them.

“I must accelerate my growth!”

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Fortunately, his excellent aptitude gained him significant attention, so they dared not do anything to him within the academy.

Early the next morning, filled with anticipation, he arrived at the classroom—today was the day they would choose their totem models.

Today’s class was being taught by a senior professor from the Alchemy College named Bell, who had no connection to Professor Bell of the Star College; it was merely a coincidence of names.

He tapped on the desk and said,

“Before we choose totem models, a customary reminder: personal talent is limited, so when choosing the size of the totem model, be mindful of your capabilities. Do not be greedy for power and select a totem model that exceeds your soul’s talent. For your own good, the academy has already conducted a comprehensive assessment of your talents and provided each of you with totem models suited to your capabilities. We will not present you with models that exceed your talents. Now, let’s distribute the models.”

Saying this, he used his staff to point at the lectern, and two squirrels busily distributed a stack of booklets, each to its recipient.

Soon, Lin Xiao received a booklet with his name written on it. The first page carried a warning:

“The soul is the support of the mind; as strong as the soul is, so is the mind. Proceed with caution!”

Following this was a signature from Griffin, a predecessor from the school who lived a thousand years ago, as he recalled.

Turning the first page, a familiar image confronted him—the high-level demon, the snake-faced monster.

“Wow, they think so highly of me?”

Following the familiar introduction to the snake-faced monster was a complex totem rune framework. He examined it closely and counted sixty-six totem runes in total, which meant that this totem model would require sixty-six totem runes to be complete.

Beneath the totem model was a brief note on how to obtain the demon soul of the snake-faced monster to build this totem model.

There were mainly three methods, but in reality, only two were feasible, as with his individual strength it was impossible for him to kill a snake-faced monster, even if he had two powerful magic items at his disposal.

Aside from personally killing one, the second method was through the school’s provision, which included not only the snake-faced monster’s demon soul but also covered everything needed for the condensation of the Talent Tree and illuminating talents, such as a substantial amount of Deity Indwelling Power.

As a local top sect, the White Tower had the ability to extract demon souls from the snake-faced monster.

Note, the demon soul in question is a part of the full soul; it is not to say that by killing a snake-faced monster one could extract its entire soul. Constructing a totem model does not require a complete demon soul.

Of course, you could use a complete demon soul if you wish, and killing for it is an option, but that would be like draining the pond to get all the fish—use it once, and it’s gone. There are not many snake-faced monsters in the Misty Mountains.

In fact, the few snake-faced monsters currently in the Misty Mountains are all being raised. Whenever a new student with outstanding talent qualifies to use this, a powerful individual will retrieve some for them.

As the old saying goes, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. If the school were to cover all expenses, he would have to pay a significant price.

For instance, serving the school for many years and such, the greater the consumption, the higher the price.

The second method is to receive sponsorship; some large Totem Master families sponsor those with exceptional talent. The cost is likewise service, or sometimes even harsher terms.

Lin Xiao’s choice was simple: provided by the school, he would just remain with the school in the future. After all, he had no thoughts of traveling far before becoming a Totem Lord.

With such thoughts, he eagerly turned to the second page of the booklet.

The lowest monsters listed in his booklet were high-level demons, which probably meant that even at his least capable, he was qualified to construct a high-level demon totem model. Flipping further, he also discovered two super-level demons.

It’s worth mentioning that the monsters in this booklet were those that the school could provide or obtain by some means; those unobtainable or nonexistent were not included here.

He had come across these two super-level demons during his research in the library. One was called Lord of the Mountains. The illustration depicted a giant rock beast lying on the ground, resembling undulating mountain ranges, its size likely spanning several kilometers.

However, that was just the shell of the Lord of the Mountains. The true Lord of the Mountains was not very large, but because it wielded the Power of Earth, rocks and soil would automatically flock to it while it slumbered underground, eventually forming a mountain range.

The second super-level demon was called Lord of Storms, its illustration a mass of endless lightning in an amorphous shape, from afar resembling a sun made of lightning.

This super-level demon lived in the Storm Sea, or rather, the sea was named after the Storm Sea because of its presence.

Such terrifying beings would naturally come with a terrifying price. Lin Xiao glanced at them and then decided to PASS, foregoing the selection of these two super-level demons as his totem models.

Not to mention the extremely high difficulty of using a super-level demon as a totem and the severe challenges, he wasn’t afraid of these. His main concern was that if he chose one of the super-level demons and the school was to provide resources, he would need to sign a contract in the name of the world will, which was not feasible for him.

As a Descender, he definitely couldn’t sign that contract; it would 100% reveal him to the will of the Totem World, and the consequences…

So, these two super-level demons were out of the question.

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