The Era of Gods

“If there really is a way to mass produce totem warriors, it could indeed turn the situation around. What do you need? We’ll prepare it right away.”

“The pressing matter at hand is to first help the Vine Snake Tribe conquer the surrounding tribes to expand the population and territory, and let the two of us advance to totems before anything else.”

He looked up at the sky and said,

“We’re not totems now, and we haven’t been integrated into this plane’s system. We’re constantly under the surveillance by the senior students, which is too unsafe. The first step is to ensure our own safety. Once we become totems and are integrated into the system of the plane, even if they know we are on Snake Lizard Island, they can’t catch us without knowing our exact location.”

Lin Xiao had a complete plan in mind. The first step was to become a totem to save his life. The second step was to counter-attack the main tribes of Snakes and Lizards. The third step was to unify all the tribes of the archipelago and establish a sound system.

By then, we could slowly research the secrets of totems and how to mass produce totem warriors on a large scale.

The first step of becoming a totem is the simplest—just increase the population of the tribe to a certain level. It’s a matter of simply increasing the population of the Vine Snake Tribe.

Next, he sent a Supreme Naga as an envoy to convey his will to the Vine Snake Tribe and dispatched ten Supreme Nagas, thirty Star Spirits, and fifty Thunder Wings to support them in battle.

In most cases, totems do not participate in tribal warfare. They usually only protect the tribe in times of life and death crises. There is no rule that forbids it—it’s just that most totems are not interested.

Even though the Vine Snake Tribe is very weak now and not very willing to go to war, they intended to rest and recover for a few years before starting. But they did not have time to wait that long. He directly sent over the Supreme Nagas, forcing them to prepare for war.

With such a strong demand, the tribe could not refuse and had to send troops.

Of course, this was also because the ten Supreme Nagas were so powerful, and the presence of thirty Star Spirits and fifty Thunder Wings gave them enough courage.

After all, in normal circumstances, each Supreme Naga, with its appearance and martial prowess, qualified to be the totem of some smaller tribes. Such powerful forces were more than capable of crushing a not-so-strong tribe.

As natives of the island, the Vine Snake Tribe was very clear about the nearby tribes. After some discussion, they chose a target.

It took half a month to gather military provisions, and the Vine Snake Tribe officially sent troops.

While they were preparing for the expedition, Lin Xiao also began to reclaim the nearby land.

He used spells to transform the terrain; he deployed the Void Spaceship Flying Snake to flatten the surrounding hills and emerging landforms, cut down trees, reserved large trees for later use, burned branches for firewood, and piled weeds for ash for later use.

Then he sent the legendary Mage Feather Snake to unleash a legendary fire spell that incinerated large areas of rock, breaking them down into lime. After cooling, the lime was mixed with soil, turning a vast area around the tribe into fertile land, and the accumulated weeds were burned to create ash to be spread into the soil.

Then, he brought in a batch of easy-to-plant and high-yield seeds like sweet potatoes and potatoes from his True Body to plant.

Rice and wheat were not suitable to grow here; only sweet potatoes and potatoes, which had high survival rates, low soil requirements, and high yields, were fitting.

The entire tribe’s elderly, women, and children were all mobilized to reclaim wasteland and cultivate crops. Lin Xiao consciously cultivated their awareness of farming rather than hunting.

Hunting can only satisfy a few people.

What he wanted was a kingdom that could accommodate millions of people, not a tribe. He intended to transition them from the tribal hunting era to the agricultural era. Only the agricultural era could produce enough food to support so many people. Only then would there be extra men available to do other things and more robust warriors to become professional soldiers to wage wars for him.

If it were still the tribal era, most of the tribe’s able-bodied warriors would have to go hunting for food daily. How could they fight for him?

Normally, given the situation of the tribes on this island, it would probably take hundreds to thousands of years to gradually transition. Or rather, with the rich resources of the island, they would always live a hunting life and never enter the agricultural age. Therefore, Lin Xiao had to actively transition them.

By reclaiming wasteland and planting crops, as long as they saw that the food grown on the land was enough to feed the entire tribe and then some, they would not think about hunting anymore.

The first tribe they attacked was a small branch of the Lizard Tribe on the southern side of Snake Lizard Island, with a population of about five or six thousand, stronger than the Vine Snake Tribe.

But that was in the past. Things were different now. During the fiercest part of the battle, ten Supreme Nagas broke through the battlefield, killing the enemy’s main wizards on the spot while the Thunder Wings descended from the sky, casting thousands of Thunders to sever the connection between the fighting enemy and their tribe.

The Star Spirits cast spells with two hundred Vine Snake Tribe warriors, teleporting inside the enemy tribe, and the battle was decided. The enemy surrendered.

A month and a half later, this branch of the Lizard Tribe was relocated and merged into the Vine Snake Tribe, forming a larger tribe of around eight thousand people.

Meanwhile, the potatoes planted on the reclaimed land near the tribe had entered the fruiting period. Normally, potatoes take only two to three months from planting to fruiting. The seeds he had planted were well-trained and excellent, maturing within two months.

By now, two and a half months had passed since the end of the war and the merging of the two tribes, and the harvest had fully matured. Conveniently, there were sufficient hands to reap the crops post-merger.

The bounty of potatoes from this harvest could feed the entire tribe for several months, and this was only the beginning of the experimental fields, with large-scale planting yet to commence.

Having tasted the sweet fruits of their labor, the tribesmen, without need for Lin Xiao’s prodding, eagerly engaged in agriculture. An enormous area of land was cleared and tilled near the tribe by a large contingent of warriors, all working with great enthusiasm.

The land area prepared for the second round of cultivation was over ten times larger than the first, roughly estimated to be around fifty times larger. Concurrently, as the land was being tilled, the mages expended great effort constructing tall walls to encircle the area, protecting the potatoes and sweet potatoes, as well as other crops from the second planting, against wild animals from the forest.

Other plants, such as flax, sisal, and jute, were also introduced, which could later be used to make burlap clothing.

The natives were still dressed in leaves, bark, and animal skins, a sight almost unbearable to witness, and for the sake of progressing civilization, it was imperative to clothe them properly.

Next, the majority of the Naval Marine Corps members who had infiltrated the tribe’s upper echelons began teaching the tribespeople hand in hand a variety of skills, such as building houses and firing pottery. These tasks didn’t require a high level of proficiency, but it was essential to have all the assets representative of an agricultural civilization.

After two months of recuperation, three thousand tribal warriors once again set out to conquer, and with the cooperation of the Supreme Naga, swiftly vanquished two nearby smaller tribes. Following the mergers, the population of the Vine Snake Tribe soared to over fourteen thousand.

This number had now exceeded that of the Vine Snake Tribe before their split. If the tribe was still in its primitive state, they would have had to consider dividing the tribe once again.

However, with two cycles of potato harvests, especially the second batch that was fifty times larger, along with the first batch of sweet potatoes, there was now enough food to feed the fourteen thousand for several years.

With adequate food supplies, the tribe was even more keen on expansion than Lin Xiao himself. In the words of the tribal leader, they needed more people, they needed a tribal totem.

Without a totem, they could not continue to produce new totem warriors. The seeds activated by the wizards from the original tribe’s totem were nearly exhausted during the split, and it was crucial for them to quickly create a new totem to receive new seeds for producing totem warriors.

Lin Xiao could empathize with this, as with the increase in the tribe’s population, he could sense something else forming and converging towards him along with the Power of Faith generated by the tribe’s worship.

Although he couldn’t quite articulate what it was, he knew that once this unknown entity was fully converged, he would achieve Totem Status and become a true totem.

Based on the current population of fourteen thousand, it was estimated that it would take several years to fully converge.

He certainly couldn’t wait for several years as he didn’t have much time left.

Hence, the tribal population must increase to shorten the time needed.

Or alternatively, they could defeat a tribe with a totem and forcibly plunder another tribe’s totem.

They chose the second option since all the nearby tribes without totems and belonging to the Lizard Tribe had been conquered. Even the weakest of the nearby Lizard tribes now possessed their own totems.

From reconnaissance, the nearest tribe was the Poison Lizard Tribe, previously responsible for ambushing the Vine Snake Tribe. This was a large tribe with a population between twenty-five and twenty-seven thousand, whose totem’s True Body was a giant Poisonous Lizard, likely stronger than the average Legend.

This was the weakest totem available. It didn’t matter what creature it was or what strength it had; once a creature became a totem, it would, with the empowerment of the totem, possess strength comparable to a Rank 8 Legend.

If the tribe was stronger, the power it possessed would be even more formidable. The Snake and Lizard main tribes, for instance, had totems with strength comparable to that of Demigods, and if they were on their home ground, ordinary Demigods wouldn’t stand a chance against them.

Therefore, these two main tribes had been at a stalemate for years, with neither able to overcome the other.

Even if Lin Xiao and his girlfriend joined forces, they wouldn’t be able to breach the home-ground advantage of either the Snake or Lizard tribe’s totem. This was why he intended to follow the totem path and expand his tribe’s dominance.

Only when the Vine Snake Tribe’s power expanded enough not to be inferior to any of the main Snake or Lizard tribes would he be able to defeat both major tribes simultaneously and conquer the entire archipelago.

In order to avoid being attacked from both sides, he maintained the name of a branch of the Snake Tribe, without changing the tribal name.

Poison Lizard Tribe, Clan Leader’s Hall.

The Clan Leader, Wizard Leader, and Warrior Leader—three tribal chiefs—were gathered to discuss the threat from the nearby Vine Snake Tribe.

They had previously attempted to assassinate the Vine Snake Tribe but failed. Later, they even considered organizing a second expedition.

However, as the tribe was stockpiling food in preparation for the next year’s action, they suddenly heard news of several small tribes nearby being annexed by the Vine Snake Tribe, including a smaller tribe that had split from the Poison Lizard Tribe many years ago.

After annexing several small tribes, the current Vine Snake Tribe had grown to over fourteen thousand members. Although still far smaller than the Poison Lizard Tribe, they were no longer as feeble as before and not as easy to deal with.