Chapter 303: Sea God Basseto

Although Peace Harbor focused on maritime trade and commercial development, people still needed food. Thus, behind the urban area of the port, there were large fields cultivated and entrusted to farmers from nearby villages. These fields not only sufficed to feed the entire Peace Harbor region but also produced surpluses that could be stored or sold externally.

Naturally, this situation required the care of priests from the Church of the Goddess of Agriculture. Not every territory had something like Donald’s Dalaran—places with numerous natural druids, as well as barriers like the Tree of Life and the essence of the moon to promote the growth of crops.

The moment Donald stepped into the temple grounds, that terrifying figure appeared before the temple.

“So close!”
Just one step away, and he would have faced unimaginable consequences.

This was the greatest crisis Donald had encountered since arriving in this world. If he failed to overcome it, death would be the least of his worries—he might even be controlled by that figure, whose soul memories could be searched, leading to a life worse than death.

Watching Donald enter the area bathed in temple light, the young man felt frustrated.

Every temple and altar represented the true god’s domain in the mortal world, protected by divine light and sacred beyond infringement. Any external force, even other true gods, would trigger the temple’s defensive mechanisms and awaken the true god’s awareness. The true god’s gaze would then immediately turn toward that place.

Ordinary people could not see this hidden divine light, but as one of the true gods himself, he could easily detect it. That’s why he was so annoyed that his prey had entered the sanctuary of the Goddess of Agriculture.

If it weren’t for his assumption about the person behind Celt and his fear of harming the prince, this kid would never have escaped into the temple’s territory. Had he not taken that one step inside, he would have had countless ways to stop them from entering.

Now that the human mage had entered the temple and was covered in divine light, he could no longer capture him at will.

It’s not that they can’t, but that they dare not. With the strength of the Agricultural Goddess, an established and powerful supreme deity, if she didn’t have the support of those three supreme deities behind her, a mere flick of her finger would likely send her tumbling from her divine position, with a dire outcome likely. Even if, out of consideration for her supporters, the Agricultural Goddess wouldn’t act openly, given her network of connections, the slightest hint could make her path as a supreme deity extremely difficult, possibly leading to her downfall at some point.

“Prince Bassetdo?”

“Exactly. You managed to guess my identity—truly, you’re worthy of being the one I came to deal with personally!”

Donald rolled his eyes in mockery and said, “You went to such lengths just for me, a mere mortal. I’m truly flattered!”

Sea God Bassetdo paid no attention to Donald’s tone and said with a smile, “A mere mortal? If even a mortal can earn the loyalty of a legendary sea lord like a dragon, then we supreme deities would hardly have any foothold in the main world. I just wanted to see what secrets you, a mortal, possess, so it’s not a big deal that I came in person!”

Donald’s heart sank. A supreme deity was interested in him, and not in a good way. That wasn’t good news. If he didn’t resolve this properly this time, Prince Bassetdo might come after him again.

So, he smiled cheerfully, showing no sign of fear. “So, Prince Bassetdo, you think so highly of me? I’m afraid I’ll disappoint you!”

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t believe you’ll stay outside this temple your whole life. I can wait that long. But I doubt your subordinates and territories can.”

Bassetdo stood there, fists clenched, confident and unworried. Fortunately, it was early in the morning, with few people in the city. Only a few devout believers and priests inside the temple were praying, so it didn’t draw much attention.

“As long as the Agricultural Goddess doesn’t intervene, no matter how cunning this little human mage is, given the gap in power between us, he can’t escape my grasp!” Bassetdo didn’t believe that the Agricultural Goddess would send down a divine avatar just because of a mere mortal—it would waste a lot of divine energy!

Although his divine kingdom had not yet reached the upper realm, Basedo already knew how much divine power was required to condense an avatar and manifest will. Although the latter required far less power than avatar manifestation—over a hundred times less—it was still a waste he couldn’t afford as a newly ascended god with limited accumulated power. Even now, while operating in the main world and having surpassed the demi-god level to become a new god, Basedo had to suppress most of his strength and could not use it at full capacity; otherwise, he would end up like those true gods who had already established their divine kingdoms. Initially, Basedo had not paid much attention to Donald, a human mage lord, and hadn’t even heard of his name.

However, his future parish territory covered all coastal areas of the continent, so he had used secret methods to investigate the situations in various human coastal regions. The rest of the continent was fine, but he discovered something displeasing in the Northland’s Falling Star Bay. A legendary dragon had become the sea lord of that region. He clearly remembered that the previous sea lord was a magic-based golden monster with modest combat strength. How could its position change in just a few months?

Leighton Port, the most prosperous commercial port city in the Northland, was one of his main targets. With the original golden sea lord, he could easily take control of that sea domain and even gain some benefits once he arrived there. But now, with a legendary dragon as the sea lord in Falling Star Bay, the power such a dragon could exert in its own domain was comparable to that of an ordinary demi-god. Moreover, the legendary dragon was said to be under the command of a human lord, who was reportedly connected to the Goddess of Agriculture. It was likely a mortal favored by that great noble, or perhaps even a pawn she was cultivating.

Currently, Basedo had found that many mortals in Leighton Port were already spontaneously worshipping that legendary dragon. In the sea lord’s domain, his Sea God Church could only play a very limited role. As the saying goes, “The emperor is far away.” Although he, as the Sea God, was stronger than the legendary dragon, Nozdormu was a legitimate deity and part of the Human Alliance, backed by other true gods. Therefore, Basedo had no way to directly eliminate it. For a new god like him, who had surpassed the demi-god level and could soon ascend to his throne once his divine kingdom was established, eliminating a dragon that had become legendary only by relying on a position among the earth deities was quite easy.

But then Bassetto thought of another solution: if that master, Donald, died, the legendary dragon would lose its identity as part of the human faction—wouldn’t that solve the problem? He might even be able to tame a legendary dragon!