Chapter 6: The Astonishing Divine Realm

After taking a moment to steady her emotions, Ava Gray began to scrutinize her Divine Kingdom.Within the realm of gods, there are nine tiers—from the lowly 1st up to the 9th, with titles such as Divine Lord, Divine King, Divine Emperor, and the Supreme Deity. Currently, there are only three Supreme Deities: the Sun God, the Moon God, and the Light God. The Yanhuang Empire is ruled by the Sun God.Among the nine tiers, the 3rd, 5th, and 7th levels serve as critical thresholds. Once a deity reaches the 3rd tier, they can ignite their divine fire and begin to wield the powers of their kingdom on a modest scale.

Now, Ava Gray's domain had expanded once again—its territory had ballooned to a staggering 20,000 square kilometers, accommodating six distinct races. Moreover, the advancement of her domain had ushered in a new generation of offspring for each race, pushing the population into a rapid growth phase. Yet resources now appeared to be running dangerously low.

Gazing at the bustling figures of each race, Ava Gray's expression remained blank. These rebellious brats truly were a constant headache. With great reluctance, she pulled out her last resource card—the final one the academy had issued—to help ease the food shortage for her newborn populace. With a sweeping motion of her hand, countless forests and lakes emerged, spreading from Dragon Valley outward. To her surprise, these new forests were composed of Spirit Trees.

Spirit Trees! They grow fast and have enormous edible value. For these famished creatures, even the entire tree—from bark to core—is consumable. That was the greatest asset of a Spirit Tree.

Yet, beneath her satisfaction, doubt crept in. If her memory served correctly, trees of such quality shouldn't be found in a low-tier divine kingdom. Or, if they are allowed, shouldn't there be far fewer of them? In the development of a Divine Kingdom, high-tier divine objects are never casually deployed in a lower-tier domain. There's an inherent resource loss issue. For example, if a 9th-tier powerhouse uses a 9th-tier resource card, its efficiency is 100%; but the same card used by a 1st-tier being operates at only about 20% efficiency. There's a 1% lower limit, and for each tier difference, efficiency drops by 10%.

In the case of Spirit Trees, they should correspond to a 7th-tier resource card. Such trees can only exist on high-grade ore veins and will emit a trace of divine aura. This aura is essentially spiritual energy—or magic—that in various worlds goes by different names, but in any case, it is a force closely aligned with the universal laws.

Logically speaking, she had just used a one-star card (a card rated one star out of ten); a one-star resource card typically yields a lake or forest covering 200 square kilometers, which is quite good. But now, looking out across her domain, the expanse must be over a thousand square kilometers!

After checking her discarded cards and confirming that they were indeed second-tier one-star resource cards, Ava Gray felt both confused and elated. "Who cares? I've gotten an incredible bargain," she mused. On the bus, the surveillance cameras—high definition, too—couldn't capture her divine domain itself, but they could record the types of resource cards in use.

This was a small victory: her rebellious subjects might now have enough resources to live for a while. Yet it was still insufficient, so she'd have to devise other plans later.

Closing her eyes, she waited for the bus to deliver her to school.

Upon seeing the familiar campus, Ava Gray sighed. How could a destitute deity like her inexplicably enter such an elite institution? It was terribly vexing—the moment she glanced around, every person, regardless of their family background, divine strength, or subordinates, seemed to easily trounce her. Although she had made a few friends, the enormous disparity in status made her wonder how long those bonds would last.

"Oh well," she thought. "I'll take it one step at a time—as long as I don't invest my heart, I won't get hurt in the end."

After steeling herself mentally, she mustered the courage to step onto the campus. The place brimmed with youthful energy, much like a school for deities, reminiscent of the atmosphere among her own subjects.

Looking around, she couldn't help but marvel at the school's extravagance—its lavish décor and impressive trees; even one such tree was worth enough to buy several of her own resource cards. Yet, despite having been enrolled for so long, she still hadn't learned anything about managing a Divine Kingdom. Every day was spent fixated on mundane social studies, leaving her to fumble and learn on her own.

Sighing, she recalled that starting today, exclusive classes for nurturing Divine Kingdoms would commence—classes that would let her observe how other deities educated their subordinates, in hopes of finally disciplining these unruly brats.

Hurrying into the campus, a new day began. No sooner had she taken her seat than she felt a soft squeeze next to her that locked onto her tightly.

"Big sis Ava, we finally caught you! You always dash out after classes—at night, no one can find you!"The voice belonged to a mischievous young girl—a member of the Star family (one of the empire's most powerful families)—Chloe Star. Although the academy forbade discussions about family backgrounds, Ava had once seen the Star family's private spaceship outside campus. Coupled with clues from Chloe's uniquely refined Divine Kingdom, it wasn't hard to guess her true identity.

Chloe Star's Divine Kingdom was a Forest Kingdom, renowned for its incredible natural talent. Its attributes were as follows:

Barrier Strength: SSS (virtually impervious to void incursions, except in extraordinary cases)Initial Territory: A (quite expansive)Void Corrosion: D (no void invasions)Resource Abundance: S (inherently blessed with abundant forests and lakes)Elemental Strength: B (strong elemental attributes)

Frankly, looking at those stats, one couldn't help but feel envious—if only they weren't obviously fabricated. But as the saying goes, "to have it is a blessing; to lose it is fate." Ava Gray knew that without such fortune, even if she awakened a mighty Divine Kingdom, it would only serve as a precursor to her eventual downfall.

She exhaled deeply and managed a small smile. "I've been extremely busy lately—what's the matter? Do you need something?"

Chloe Star stuck out her tongue playfully, replying, "It's nothing major—I just wanted to ask about the matters of faith among your devotees."

Upon hearing this, Ava Gray's face darkened. Inwardly, she thought,

"You want to consult me about matters of faith? What a joke—my own devotees are nothing but a bunch of unruly miscreants! After all, these followers were nurtured from Life Seeds; they'd never behave like my own rabble who rush in and hack at me with the intent of slaying a god. Ah, envy—I'm so envious!"

She regarded Chloe Star with an expression so full of envy that it made Chloe blush.

"Although I don't quite understand why" Chloe Star thought, "that look in your eyes seems to betray a hint of... envy? No, absolutely not! Big Sis Ava is recognized by the school as a rich lady—maybe even that special admit from the rumors!"