The Era of Gods

Chapter 288: Section Four: The True Name

This was a Branding deeply etched within the spirit entity’s will, a natural authority obtained upon meeting the requirements.

In the realm of the gods, this was the ‘Wrath’ Godhood, allowing him to continuously draw power from the anger of all beings and grow unceasingly stronger.

The most direct experience was that the moment he obtained the Authority of Wrath, he could feel an imperceptible thread connecting the dense evil spirit entities around him to himself. That was the power of authority, and as long as those entities birthed the emotion of anger, it would contribute a sliver of power to him.

Perhaps this power was pitifully small, and even all combined, it didn’t amount to much, but it was enduring and ceaseless. Moreover, as his strength increased, the range he could absorb from would greatly expand.

The more intense the emotion of anger, the stronger the power provided.

Furthermore, with this authority, he also possessed control over evil spirit entities without authority.

In other words, with the ‘Wrath’ Authority, he could completely command any evil spirit entities below Level 8 to do almost anything except orders that contradicted their existence, like demanding their death.

As he was promoted, Lin Xiao sensed an even greater will in the depths of the sea—a vast and abyss-like great will of evil thoughts, like his, but of a different nature.

Indeed, after racking his brains, he could only describe the will he encountered as great in its strength and terror.

In the moment of his ascension, he felt that great will glance over at him. Merely being brushed by that glance, his will was frozen for that instant. In that moment, he was unable to sense his own existence. Lin Xiao had the strong impression that if that will wished, it could directly strip him of his authority, an exceptionally terrifying thought.

Fortunately, that great will harbored no evil intentions— it was merely a glance.

But that did not mean the will was benevolent. It was only because he was too weak. If he was not mistaken, that will should belong to the holder of another authority, an absolute holder, and it was unknown to what extent it had been attained.

When his promotion was complete, Lin Xiao felt an invisible force wrap around him, breaking through space, and he appeared above…

A boundless black ocean. A thick, viscous black liquid, formed by countless writhing and twisting evil spirit entities, roiled beneath him. At the moment of his arrival, the energies around him were drawn into a vast vortex, and the evil spirit entities that had been agitated moments before calmed down when he emerged, retreating to create a huge space around him as if guarding him.

‘Wrath’ Lord!

Lin Xiao’s will surged unbridled through the space above the dark sea, and most of the evil spirit entities didn’t dare approach him. However, there were a few extremely powerful ones that seemed to have other thoughts in mind—he could sense their restless stirrings.

This black void was the same unseen space that the Ghost battleship had traversed previously. Now, he had become one of the myriad twisted evil spirit entities he had once observed—a testament to the capriciousness and wonders of Destiny, indeed, life is unpredictable.

This black void was not static; though it appeared unchanging, it was always evolving, their location constantly shifting.

Just like people on earth think the sun is static in space, while in reality, the earth orbits the sun at a speed of over twenty kilometers a second, and the sun, along with its planetary companions, speed around the galaxy at two hundred forty kilometers a second. Because velocity is relative, and our place within the whole is insignificant, one doesn’t feel it while standing on Earth.

At this moment, Lin Xiao felt the same—adrift in a vast and timeless void, seemingly immobile, but aware of shifting positions.

Adrift in this space, he lost track of days and nights.

Lin Xiao remained within the vortex created by his own ‘Wrath’ power, silently drawing the ever-emerging power of ‘Wrath’.

It was slow, but pure and unending.

He was tempted to devour the evil spirit entities around him, but he could not, for the constraints of that great will were present in the ether—if they came here from their place of birth, they were not allowed to devour each other without cause.

However, this disallowed only disorderly and chaotic devouring; they could still issue challenges directly to individual targets.

For example, it wasn’t long before Lin Xiao sensed an early movement from a strong evil spirit entity pushing its way through the others and approaching him, simultaneously issuing a challenge.

This suited him fine, and he immediately accepted the challenge.

Then, the power of this Sixth Level evil spirit entity unfolded its nearly ten-meter wide, vast and viscous, black, sludge-like body at him.

“Wrath!”

His own body contorted into a tall humanoid shape with several tentacles made of sticky sludge. Though he had just been promoted, as a Lord his power had jumped straight past Level 4 and Level 5, reaching Sixth Level as well. He pointed a finger, and his power of Wrath acted upon his opponent, who instantly became furiously enraged, losing all sense of reason and pouncing wildly, his previously poised stance becoming distorted.

Power like Godhood couldn’t be resisted by entities beneath Legend, no matter if they knew what he was about to do, watched him do it, and kept thinking to stay unaffected. The moment the power descended, they would be influenced against their will, unable to exempt themselves.

Under the influence of unbridled rage, one would lose reason instantly, forget all purpose, and like this entity, forget what they were there to do, attacking wildly and without any strategy.

Lin Xiao simply extended a few tentacles to block his opponent’s charge, while another tentacle circled around to the opponent’s back, transformed into a sharp spike, and plunged downward, bringing the battle to an end.

The tentacle-turned-whip embedded in the corpse caused the black fluid that made up the body to shatter into pieces. The core was nowhere to be seen—it had already been extracted and taken by him.

He had no need for these impure bodies, but to other evil spirit entities, they were a supreme delicacy. Clearly stating his disinterest, the surrounding evil spirit entities swarmed to devour it, restoring calm to the vortex.

But before long, another powerful evil spirit entity, having forgotten the pain of its wounds, challenged him again, and so…

Another treat was delivered to his doorstep.

Lin Xiao was very keen on people delivering themselves to him; it meant he could harvest Creation Energy and have something to do in this barren world. Without something to keep busy, one could be tormented to death.

Days passed by, one after another, and what he looked forward to most every day was the foolish bravery of someone challenging him. A day without a challenge felt boring.

Anyway, with the powers of a Lord and his combat experience, these non-legendary evil spirit entities couldn’t defeat him in one-on-one combat.

As for the other Lords with powers…

He hadn’t seen any. He couldn’t sense even one. Either there were too few or they were too far from him. In any case, he hadn’t felt the presence of any within his sensing range.

The Treasure Land was a floating landmass suspended in the Void, with a massive fireball hanging in the sky, radiating surges of heat that protected the creatures on the land below.

Compared to the Hero Continent, the Treasure Land was much smaller in area, but its terrain was more complicated, its monsters stronger and more numerous, and its resources of higher quality and abundance. This included a large number of common treasures and many special treasures prefixed with “All Phenomena.”

As a map prepared specifically for players, the competition was naturally fierce. There were no native heroes in the area, only players could enter, and once inside, they could not leave.

Inside, there were no rules. Players could freely engage in player killing to eliminate each other, choosing to fight solo or team up with others to oust competitors, until the game ended after one year. All players would leave the Ruins of Myriad and points would be calculated for ranking.

The rules and the map description were simple, but the content was not, at least for certain players… some were regretting coming here.

When the Treasure Land first opened, Wang Xiao was at Hero Level 4 and ranked in the top one hundred in terms of overall strength. He entered with full confidence, ready to make a grand stand, but reality hit him hard.

Upon entering, he found himself in a narrow gorge, just as he spotted a horde of Lizardmen monsters at the mouth of the valley, deemed ‘countless’. Beside them was a Golden Chest, and he was overjoyed at the sight of such rich resources. Without a second thought, he charged in headlong.

Then, he got played for a fool.

The monsters were indeed Lizardmen, and yes, they were Level 2, but the sheer number of them was terrifying—fifteen thousand Lizardman Shooters, their relentless arrow barrage catching him off guard. They truly lived up to the ‘countless’ assessment.

Luckily, his troops were no slouches. He had a large contingent of Level 5 Thunderbirds. Relying on their Speed advantage, they rushed into the Lizardmen Shooters’ formation, causing chaos, and when the main force of over two thousand evil wolf warriors joined the fray, they finally managed to eliminate the Lizardmen Shooters, though they suffered losses of over three hundred wolf warriors and forty to fifty Thunderbirds.

Compared to the outcome, this loss might seem insignificant, but one must realize this was just a random monster encounter. With no faction cities to resupply troops and only relying on personal barracks, Wang Xiao felt like crying. Not even the acquisition of a Golden Chest could ease his sorrow.

As he emerged from the gorge and took a few steps, he saw another Golden Chest guarded by ‘countless’ Skeletons at the road entrance, and he was immediately caught in a dilemma.

He hesitated, wanting to move forward but not daring to do so.

The experience of the last battle left him apprehensive, yet the weakness of the Skeletons gave him hope. This feeling…

“Damn it, I’ll take the risk; I can still handle this loss.”

With that, he drew out a certain number of evil wolf warriors and Half-beastman axe throwers from the reserve to replenish his forces, and charged towards the monsters.

“Fuck!”

As his figure faded, a frustrated curse was faintly heard.

In another swamp, Li Xiushen calmly observed a huge Black Dragon lying askew in front of him, rated as ‘many’, breathing out scorching heat and guarding a Dark Gold Exquisite Treasure Box. He took a meat pie from his bosom and started munching. Before long, with some free time, he washed his greasy hands in the swamp water nearby, then calmly turned and walked away.

“What a joke, a ‘many’ suffix? If there aren’t more than fifty heads, I’ll jump down here right now.”

He pointed at the filthy, insect-ridden muddy swamp next to him, quickening his pace as if fearing that the Black Dragon would wake up and come after him..