Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Outside the Sea Temple.
Soran stood outside the main hall waiting to be attended to. After Soran settled Adele-Isabella into an inn, the next plan of action is to get some help. If not, with just two of them, they would not be able to even operate the ship. Afterward, Naga Siren entered the temple’s inner sanctum and even the temple’s guards were ordered to stay outside. Nobody knew what she was doing inside. Soran did not have the right to enter as well. He also did not want to know too much regarding the secrets of the Sea Goddess because the more you knew, the more entangled you became.
That was how people got themselves wiped out.
As time went by, the divine power gathered around the Sea Temple suddenly shook, and it was quite a shock. The divine power surrounding the temple was like a tidal surge. The world had been composed of believers providing Gods with power from their faiths, and then those gods would transform that power into divine power. These divine powers were not entirely controlled by the gods. They needed to be fed back to the believers through divinities. A large part of which would remain in the temple. So, any temple with a Priest would have divine power, otherwise, the temple would be abandoned.
The divine power would slowly dissipate.
If the presiding Head Priest changed or was less powerful, or even a decrease in the number of believers, the higher-ups’ divine power would slowly decrease. Eventually, it would cause the Spiritual Light’s Divine Power of the higher-ups of the temples to lower by one or two levels. To upgrade the level of the temple, it needed not only the scale to be large enough but also a corresponding number of believers and influence in the surrounding areas. There were large numbers of temples scattered around the world, but more than 90% of them belonged to the level of Lesser Temples. There weren’t that many at the level of Greater Temples and most of them were in the city centers.
There would be even less large Greater Temples!
These larger temples were similar to half a Wizard Tower. Once the divine power was activated for protection, even Meteor Swarms would not be able to destroy it.
Amber City was a prime example.
If the temple didn’t have such threatening power, the fights between the Gods would have been even more intense. Because many Evil Gods would seize every opportunity to cause a bloodbath in their enemies’ believer’s hideouts. If one were to directly attack this temple, it would not be able to be conquered without a decent army. Even if one did, the casualties would amount to more than half the army.
Divine power started gathering gradually, and some unpredictable changes had taken place in the Sea Temple!
Soran could not understand this change because he knew very little about divine powers and its magic and did not possess enough knowledge to judge it—still, he could feel the change and even realized that the change was spreading towards the water underneath the Sea Temple. It was as if invisible energy was fluctuating, covering the whole Port Tylon. Not only Soran felt this change, but all the guards in front of the temple knelt on the ground and began to pray devoutly. Other believers in Port Tylon also began to pray, and the invisible wave of prayers became a powerful force of faith. This made the Sea Temple shone with, although invisible to the naked eye, a dazzling brilliance.
This process lasted for quite some time.
This attracted the attention of many powerful forces. The power of the temple started to converge with signs of a breakthrough. If the Sea Temple managed to upgrade into a Greater Temple, at that time, the Sea Goddess’ incarnation would appear. This was a process of god’s Blessing. There would always be such a phenomenon every time any temple managed to upgrade themselves. When a Lesser Temple was first built, it would embody a Spiritual Light given by god’s consciousness. After an upgrade into a Greater Temple, it would start to have powers bestowed upon them by the gods. The most iconic one was the bestowment of god’s statue. The god statue would have the consciousness mark of god, which can be felt by the gods when the believer prayed.
For now, there should be no incarnation yet.
All the gods were too busy fighting against the energy storm, but the Sea Temple in front of them had upgraded. It was estimated that it had become one of the few larger Greater Temples in the coastal area.
Many of the Sea Goddess’ believers started to congregate towards the temple.
A naga Siren’s figure started walking out. Soran wondered if there were any misconceptions. He felt that the Naga Siren in front of him had a little divine breath, and it seemed that this breath might have been the Sea Goddess’ chosen one. But of course, there was still quite a gap. It seemed that after her sacrificial ceremony, she had gotten the god’s Blessing. The blessings by gods to believers were also an integral part of affirming beliefs.
The other party stood in front of the temple’s platform, and gazed at the congregating believers in front of her, then turn towards Soran and said “Human. Come with me.”
Soran bowed slightly and walked into the inner hall.
“Your performance was great.”
Naga Siren stood in front of the god’s statue and held onto the scepter representing the Sea Priests. In a strange yet sacred way, she said: “You have punished those betrayers, using fresh blood and deaths to tell them the consequences of betraying the Goddess. You have also proved your loyalty, and presented the sacrifices that the Goddess wanted.”
“You deserve a reward!”
The Naga Siren slowly walked towards Soran and lifted her palm. “Kneel,” she said.
Soran’s face was stoic, but his heart hesitated a little. Subsequently, he knelt on one knee in front of the Sea Goddess’ statue. He had already experienced this several times because this was the real god’s Blessing ceremony. To get a god’s Blessings, one must first express their humility, respect, and prove their value. Then they would receive the Blessings of god. Gods were not lofty givers. The blessing of the Maid of Misfortune was an accident. That mysterious woman looked as indecipherable as the Maid of Misfortune.
The gods and their priests were usually somewhat similar. The priests for the Maid of Misfortune and Lady Luck Tymora were so unruly and capricious people.
“Very good.”
Naga Siren reached out her hands and placed them on Soran’s forehead. In a low voice, “Human. You have proved your worth and used your strength and reputation to protect the Sea Goddess’ prestige and interests. This is an admirable act and therefore, you deserve to be rewarded with the Sea Goddess’ Blessing.”
The scepter was lightly placed on Soran’s shoulder.
Afterward, Naga Siren bend forward and kissed Soran’s forehead. She used the weird sea language and said, “I bless you on behalf of the Sea Goddess! You shall not be attacked by any Sea Monsters in the sea! You will be protected by the Sea Goddess! The sea is your home! Waves and storms shall leave you and your servants!”
“You will be a patron of the Sea Goddess! You can now use the power of the goddess to control the sea creatures in the ocean!…”
Streams of divine power started to converge.
The visible light of blessing appeared. Soran’s body seemed to be shrouded in blue light. The statue of the Sea Goddess seemed to have opened her eyes. A line of vision fell upon Soran, and then gradually disappeared. This was the power of the gods. From now on, Soran would become a patron and a benefactor of the Sea Goddess. As long as he did not initiate an attack on the marine species, most of the intelligent sea creatures, including Nagas, Weresharks, Fishmen and so on, they wouldn’t initiate an attack on Soran and his companions.
Furthermore, he could also communicate and trade with these sea creatures. That was mainly because the Sea Goddess had blessed him, and his identity was equivalent to a Priest of the Sea Temple.
It was a hard reward to turn down, especially when Soran was preparing to expand towards the overseas islands.
The radiance of the divine power gradually dissipated.
Soran’s eyes were filled with data as he attained another passive ability:
“Sea Goddess’ Blessing [Unique Ability]: You have attained the Sea Goddess’ Blessing on your own merits. From now on, you would greatly reduce the chances of encountering danger in the ocean. Whether there are storms, waves, whirlpools, or any other kinds of ferocious and dangerous sea creatures, they would not easily attack you on their initiative because of the blessings of the Sea Goddess. You or your fleet would be blessed by the Sea Goddess, and you would be allowed to trade with other Sea Goddess’ creatures.
From now onwards, a large portion of the sea creatures, including sea monsters would see you neutrally. Moreover, with the blessing of the Sea Goddess, you have gained a type of spell-like ability that could be used to dominate other creatures in the sea.”
This was the most basic blessing.
The Sea Goddess’ Blessing would not add much attribute abilities, but it was equivalent to having an amulet for protection in the sea.
In addition, it also granted an additional spell-like ability.
“Dominate Sea Creatures [Spell-like Ability]: You have attained the Sea Goddess’ Blessing, and belongs to her list of patrons, which allows you to mobilize a special ability. You will be able to dominate the vast majority of sea creatures. The effect of this kind of spell-like ability is equivalent to [Charm Sea Creatures]. To dominate ordinary sea creatures, their level cannot exceed your profession level. To dominate sea monsters, their level cannot exceed half of your profession level. Spell resistance is related to the level of your charm. ” [Once a Day. ]
This was a unique spell-like ability.
It would be similar to “Charm Sea Creatures” in a way, but the spell effect of domination is stronger than charms by Weresharks.
It would have a test of resistance, which was determined by charm.
The level of ordinary sea creatures when dominating them, should not exceed Soran’s level, and the level of sea monsters when dominating them, should not exceed half of Soran’s level.
This was the power of the Sea Goddess.
As “Charm Sea Creatures” could not control sea monsters, at most, it could only control those that have levels similar to sharks, whales, and octopus.
The blessing ceremony was completed.
The Naga Siren gave Soran a meaningful look and slowly said, “Human. Keep in mind the dignity of the Sea Goddess. She won’t ever be stingy with your rewards. When you have decided to place your faith with the Sea Goddess, she will bestow you with even more rewards.”
She was just blatantly trying to rope him in.
The main believers of the Sea Goddess were sea creatures and people living in the coastal areas. The value of a quasi-legendary Adventurer was still quite amazing.
After all, Rogues were more proficient in their means than other professions.
Soran bowed slightly and kissed the back of Naga Siren’s hand, and expressed his humility. Because she was representing the Sea Goddess at the moment, he said, “I am in awe of the power of the Goddess, thank her for her generosity, and I am willing to give her my strength when she ever needs it.”
This was not the language of delivering faith.
It was a bit like a guest but more like a relationship between an employer and employee and many temples have such members.
There was a little dissatisfaction on the face of Naga Siren, and then it turned into a smile, and she slowly said: “Very good. I hope you remember today’s vow. When the Sea Goddess needs you, you will give her your strength. Otherwise, the Goddess will take back her blessings.”
A gods’ Blessings were not that easy to attain!
Soran knew this from the very beginning. If not, he would not have lost the Blessings by the Queen of Spiders previously.
But since he had attained it now, naturally, he had to use it well.
Nobody would know what would happen in the future. Even if something did happen, at most, he could just refuse to acknowledge anything. Turbulent times were coming soon. He would not believe that the Sea Goddess would be bored enough to kill him because of such a trivial matter. As for ordinary tasks, Soran would not be too exclusive. Since he wanted to expand overseas, it would be hard without the help of the temple. It would be like hugging a golden thigh with the Sea Temple backing him. Even if there were squabbles with the Storm Temple, there would not be any issues.
After all, the sea goddess also had powerful divine power!
With her support, Soran had penetrated directly into the inner circles of all intelligent sea creatures. Even without special reputations or prestigious tasks for recognition, he could live peacefully with these sea creatures and, if necessary, traded with them to make a fortune. The most important thing in the world was power. If it was not for his quasi-legendary strength, Naga Siren would not have spent so much to win him over.
Now.
The most important thing to do was to use this chance to gather more strength.
