5: Chapter 5: A Night of Divine Blessing, One Hand Sends Heavy Objects Flying, Physical Body Soars!

Above the three hundred thousand square kilometers of scorched earth, the endless ash suddenly halted.

Lin Yuan did not hesitate; he communicated with his Divine Realm core via his consciousness, descending with vast divine pressure.

Boom!

A dull thunderous sound came from the depths of the sky.

The ashes filling the sky were stirred by an invisible, mighty force, rapidly gathering and twisting.

Finally, upon the dark firmament, it transformed into a blurred face composed of ash and storms, overlooking the land.

The face blotted out the sky. A cold, grand, and emotionless gaze descended upon the Wasteland.

Below, one hundred Petrified Goblins froze in unison.

An instinct originating from the depths of their souls suppressed their hunger.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

One hundred sturdy, gray-black bodies did not hesitate, their knees slamming into the scorching scorched earth.

They pressed their heads tightly against the ground, their rough rock skin trembling slightly out of extreme awe.

"Great Master!"

"The Supreme One who rules over ash and earth!"

Fanatical roars echoed across the vast Wasteland.

Lin Yuan floated in the clouds, looking down at this group of humble creations.

His voice, amplified by the Divine Realm, transformed into a grand and ethereal divine oracle, reverberating across every inch of the scorched earth.

"My kin."

"This world is a land of trial. The weak shall turn to dust, and only the strong shall be granted glory."

"Today, I bestow upon you food and the foundation of transcendence. I hope you will conduct yourselves well."

As the divine words fell, reality shifted to match his command.

Lin Yuan opened his terminal storage space and poured out five burlap sacks of Ash Spore Mushroom seeds.

Tens of thousands of gray-black spores scattered, falling toward the earth along with the storm.

Under normal circumstances, plants require a growth cycle to mature.

Lin Yuan brought up the panel and deducted 100 Faith Points.

Divine power surged.

Miracles blossomed on the scorched earth.

The spores that landed in the cracked soil absorbed the fire poison from the surface and the ash from the sky.

In just over a dozen breaths of time.

Mushrooms, palm-sized with gray-black caps, broke through the soil in patches.

In the blink of an eye, a small patch of dark gray fungal mat appeared in the center of the once-dead scorched earth.

A strong scent of neurotoxins wafted out.

But in the eyes of the Petrified Goblins, this scent was sweeter than the hundred-flower honey brewed by elves.

They raised their heads, green light glowing in their eyes.

Having received the deity's approval, a few of the largest goblins rushed forward first.

They grabbed a handful of poisonous mushrooms and stuffed them directly into their mouths, skipping the chewing and swallowing them whole.

The Ash Spore Mushroom tasted dry and bitter, but driven by extreme hunger, the goblins ate until juice was flowing everywhere.

The toxins entered their bodies but were neutralized by the resistance beneath their petrified skin.

"Gwa! Praise my Master!"

The feasting carnival had just begun when Lin Yuan raised his hand again.

In his palm, two conceptual light orbs glowing with dark red light appeared.

[Boiling Blood], [Rough Body Tempering].

Lin Yuan exerted force with his fingers, crushing the light orbs.

Two hundred Faith Points were deducted from the panel again to serve as a medium.

The shattered light orbs transformed into one hundred streaks of light, merging into the center of the forehead of every Petrified Goblin.

"Roar—!"

The eating goblins paused, threw away the mushrooms in their hands, clutched their heads with both hands, and emitted low, painful yet excited roars.

Visible to the naked eye, dark red blood threads began to emerge from the crevices of the gray-black rock patterns on their bodies.

Accompanied by the beating of their hearts, these blood threads constantly contracted and expanded.

A rough training method originating from the depths of their bloodline was forcibly carved into their already small brain capacity.

No teaching was needed, no practice required.

A well-fed Petrified Goblin stood up, its eyes flashing with a terrifying red light.

It swung its right fist, smashing it fiercely against a protruding scorched rock nearby.

Bang!

The scorched rock shattered, and stone dust flew.

Several cracks burst open on its fist, but just as the dark red blood began to seep out.

The rock skin around the wound proliferated and healed at an even faster rate.

Pain perception was significantly weakened, replaced by extreme excitement.

Another goblin lunged at its companion, and the two monsters tore at and wrestled with each other on the Wasteland without any technique.

Every physical collision slowly squeezed the potential within their bodies, raising their blood energy limit.

They were no longer timid and cowardly bottom-tier cannon fodder.

These were one hundred Wasteland berserkers who felt no pain, were covered in natural armor, and could survive just by eating poisonous mushrooms.

Lin Yuan watched his kin fighting and digesting below, nodding with satisfaction.

The ecological closed loop was complete.

For the next few days, as long as he let them breed freely and temper their bodies against each other on this Wasteland, Faith Points would be generated continuously.

A violent stinging pain came from his temples.

Divine pressure, accelerating plant growth, and continuously bestowing traits.

The consumption of his mental energy had reached its limit.

Lin Yuan withdrew his consciousness, and the ash face in the sky dissipated.

He exited the Divine Realm space.

Real world.

In the dim bedroom, Lin Yuan gasped for air.

The washed-out T-shirt on his back was completely soaked with sweat.

He glanced at the wall clock; it was three in the morning.

He didn't even have the strength to take a shower, collapsed onto the stiff wooden bed, and fell into a deep sleep within two seconds.

...

The next morning.

The first ray of light from outside the window pierced through the haze of the Slums and shone into the bedroom.

Lin Yuan opened his eyes.

There was no fatigue from staying up late, no weakness from mental overexertion.

Only an unprecedented sense of fullness swept through his entire body.

He sat up and habitually stretched.

Crackle, pop—

A dense sound of bone popping came from within his body.

Lin Yuan was stunned. He looked down at his own hands.

His thin body, which had been maintained by nutrient solutions for years, now actually had the outline of muscles.

A very thin layer of gray impurities oozed out from the surface of his skin, carrying a faint sour smell of sweat.

Lin Yuan quickly rolled out of bed, walked to the desk, grabbed the edge of the fifty-jin solid wood table with one hand, and lifted it gently.

The table rose steadily into the air without any effort.

"My strength is at least fifty percent greater than yesterday." A trace of shock flashed in Lin Yuan's eyes.

He turned his head and looked at himself in the mirror.

His eyes, which were nearsighted from excessive study of theoretical knowledge, actually felt a bit dry.

He subconsciously took off the black-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose.

His vision was not only not blurry, but had become incredibly clear.

"Is this what the textbooks call... Divine Realm feedback?"

Lin Yuan took a deep breath, calming his excited emotions.

There is an iron rule in the world of deities: deities bestow protection upon their believers, and believers use faith and evolution to provide feedback to their deities.

The higher the rank, the greater the number, and the greater the potential of the believers, the stronger the deity's physical body and soul in the real world will be.

But Lin Yuan knew that for ordinary deities on the first day of opening a Divine Realm, if the kin could survive and provide even a 0.1 attribute bonus, it would be something to thank the heavens for.

Yet for him, only one night had passed.

One hundred Petrified Goblins stitched with [Stone Skin], [Boiling Blood], and [Rough Body Tempering].

Had forcibly pulled his real physical fitness up by a significant margin.

"Others sell everything they have to buy resources, while I only spent a few hundred Faith Points."

Lin Yuan curled his lips into an uncontrollable smile.

He took a cold shower, washed away the impurities on his body, and ate the breakfast Old Lin had left on the table.

Lin Yuan returned to the bedroom, put on the holographic access device, and logged into the virtual campus of Jiangcheng No. 3 Academy.

The light and shadow before his eyes shifted.

The next second, Lin Yuan appeared on the virtual plaza of the class hall.

Today was the first day of the rest period after the awakening.

The academy did not arrange physical classes, requiring all students to exchange experiences of initially establishing their Divine Realms in the online hall.

As soon as he stepped into the area of the class hall, a burst of noise came over.

"Yuanzi! Over here, over here!"

A round, chubby guy waved his fleshy arms, pushed through the crowd, and rushed over.

It was his best friend, Fatty Wang.

Fatty Wang was beaming today, and even the collar of his virtual projection carried the aura of a nouveau riche.

"Damn, Old Lin, you look great today! You weren't discouraged by that F-rank evaluation yesterday, were you?" Fatty Wang came up and punched Lin Yuan on the shoulder.

Lin Yuan was as steady as Mount Tai; instead, it was Fatty Wang who was jolted back half a step.

Fatty Wang didn't pay attention, lowered his voice, and leaned in: "Let me tell you, my old man bled heavily yesterday and directly dumped one hundred thousand Faith Points into my account!"

One hundred thousand.

The few civilian students nearby who were pricking up their ears stared wide-eyed.

Fatty Wang proudly held up three fingers: "I spent fifty thousand to buy a Black Iron-level [Fertile Pasture] terrain card, and another thirty thousand to buy ten top-quality boar breeds. This morning, my E-rank meat pig kin had already started their first round of breeding!"

"My old man said that as long as I can blow the number of meat pigs up to five hundred before the end of the novice period next week."

Fatty Wang chattered on about his grand pig-raising plan. At the end, he looked at Lin Yuan, his tone carrying a hint of genuine concern:

"How about you? The Wasteland environment is too torturous. Your one hundred Grey Goblinss haven't all died, have they? Do you want me to lend you some Faith Points to buy some Water Orb cards to tide you over?"

Lin Yuan looked at Fatty Wang's nouveau riche face, but a warm current surged in his heart.

In this world of deities with strict class hierarchies, Fatty Wang's kind of loyalty without expecting a return was a rare species.

He patted Fatty Wang's shoulder and smiled: "Thanks. But I don't need it for now. I'm doing okay; my kin can barely manage to be full."