Chapter 178: The Request of the Agricultural Goddess Church
“Lord Baron, with the priests of our church, crop cultivation in your territory will be far more efficient, and yields will increase significantly. Moreover, if people fall ill or get injured, the priests can use spells to heal them. Of course, all these require the altar of the Great Goddess to channel divine power. Therefore, building an altar of the goddess brings numerous benefits, especially for a newly established territory like Dalarn. Within a ten-mile radius around the altar, various magical beasts and wild animals will be suppressed by the goddess’s divine aura and avoid coming here. If Lord Baron could build more than two altars, or even small temples, it would further safeguard the safety of all of Dalarn…” Assistant Deacon Martin kept on pitching the advantages of establishing a church system in his territory to Donald, but Donald wasn’t paying the slightest attention.
If the priests of the Agricultural Goddess could assist farmers in growing crops and increase yields, then Dalarn, with its natural barrier, essence of the moon, and group of druid elves, could achieve even better results.
As for the priests’ ability to heal the sick, Donald found it even less appealing. After all, any somewhat knowledgeable professional knew that most divine spells worked by depleting one’s life force, especially lower-level spells—things that the alchemical potions Donald created could already accomplish.
As for those powerful divine spells that could regenerate limbs or even bring the dead back to life, though extremely useful in critical moments, not to mention the ability to cast high-level spells—there was only Bishop Bantrey in the entire North County who could do such things. Even if one could summon this white-robed bishop, the cost of casting a high-level spell was beyond the means of ordinary adventurers or local nobles.
And Martin’s claim that building temples and altars could protect the territory’s safety? Was his natural barrier fake?
In terms of coverage area, the natural barrier emitted by the Tree of Life, now upgraded to the Golden level, was far more powerful than the single large temple in Stonehold. After all, the Tree of Life was rooted in nature itself and was a descendant of the World Tree. Its control over the natural environment far surpassed that of true gods who had raised their thrones high into the stars, separating themselves from the main world.
And this was merely the main temple of a small parish belonging to the Goddess of Agriculture, so it naturally couldn’t compare to the coverage and effects of a natural barrier. Thus, the benefits Martin mentioned were basically either useless or dispensable to him.
Although he was extremely reluctant to get involved with the powers of the gods, Donald couldn’t outright reject the priest’s proposal to build an altar either. He simply delayed giving a clear answer on purpose. Seeing this, Martin didn’t know what else to say, so he sat for a while longer before asking to leave.
Donald personally saw him off to the entrance of the lord’s manor. Seeing the prosperous scene of Dusk Town, Martin marveled once again, then got on the carriage and returned to Stone City. Donald watched the carriage leave Dusk Town, his mind filled with thoughts.
“Has the attention of the gods been drawn here so quickly? I haven’t done anything extraordinary!” Donald couldn’t figure out why that High Priest of Bantrei in white placed so much importance on him. But whatever plans the Goddess Church had, it seemed harmless to the development of his territory for now. Even the request to build an altar, from what Priest Martin said, seemed more like an attempt by the temple to befriend him rather than purely to gain followers.
Unable to figure it out, Donald stopped overthinking and decided to prepare for whatever might come. Yet this made him feel an urgent need to strengthen his power. In the end, he had to temporarily disappoint Catherine. After saying goodbye, he went straight to the underground training room in the manor villa, claiming he was conducting magic experiments. He then paid a drop of divine power to open the House of Time and immersed himself in a prolonged training session of over three months.
However, the Goddess Church’s focus on Dalaran was beyond Donald’s expectations. When he came out of the basement after a day and night, the first news he heard was that the Goddess Church had sent people to Dalaran again. This news made Donald frown, filling him with more speculation, yet he still couldn’t figure out their intentions.
Seeing Donald frowning in silence and hearing the news of his return, William, the official in charge of reporting to his master, asked cautiously, “My lord?”
Coming back to his senses, Donald waved his hand and said, “Don’t worry. Go back and treat those people well. I’ll get ready and meet with them right away!”
William was relieved upon receiving the instructions; he really didn’t know how to handle such matters and felt oppressed being around those high-ranking figures from the temple. When Donald appeared in the front hall of the lord’s manor, the representatives from the Agricultural Goddess Church had already been waiting there for about three to five hours. As soon as Donald, dressed in a neat mage robe, stepped out, he said to them, “I’m very sorry. My laboratory is isolated from the outside world, and my servants couldn’t inform you of my arrival, causing you to wait so long!” The four people present immediately stood up. Martin, the only one they knew, hurriedly said, “My lord, there’s no need to apologize. We haven’t been here long either, and the hospitality in your manor is even better than the delicacies in the palace. We’d be happy to wait a little longer!” This young priest had come to Dalaran for the second time in three days. He was the only one from the temple who was somewhat familiar with Donald, the mage lord; the other clergy members had never had any contact with him. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Donald curiously asked Martin, “May I know the names of these members of your church?” Besides Martin, those who came with him were two young knights, one male and one female, along with a middle-aged man dressed as a priest. Martin introduced them with a smile, “My lord, these two are the Bounty Knights of our church—Knight Wood and Knight Ely. This one is Deacon Thord, a high-ranking priest of the goddess. All three are elites from the main temple who have come here with a request.” “Oh? So they’re friends from your church’s headquarters. Welcome!” The two males among them gave Donald a brief courtesy bow as their response, while the blond, fair-skinned female knight smiled at him gently. Even without his divine vision, Donald could sense that these three were all at least Silver-level or higher. Judging from the symbols on Deacon Thord’s sacred emblem, he seemed to be a high-ranking Silver priest. Although his rank was lower than that of Bishop Bantrey in Stonehold, his strength far surpassed that bishop’s. However, a person’s status within the church wasn’t solely determined by strength. Devotion to the true god and competence in managing church affairs were also criteria for assessing a clergy member’s rank. So Donald wasn’t surprised by this discovery.
The other male Fertility Knight was around twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, with a strength level firmly in the mid-silver tier. Although Donald took him seriously, he wasn’t truly afraid of him. The only one who puzzled him was Elly, the female knight who seemed the weakest among the three. Elly appeared to be no older than nineteen, looking like a frail young girl, and her strength was only at the early silver tier—she had just reached that level, so her abilities were still unstable. Donald secretly felt that this female knight was different from the others. It wasn’t that her strength was greater than those present, but rather a subtle sense emanating from her. Having come into contact with powers beyond ordinary humans—such as divine power, faith energy, and abyssal aura—even if he hadn’t mastered them himself, Donald had become somewhat familiar with their auras. He sensed that this young female knight wasn’t as simple as she seemed. Yet, through his divine vision, he couldn’t detect any abnormalities, and he dared not use the Book of Truth to investigate, for fear of revealing the aura of the divine artifact and attracting the attention of a true god. After all, even powerful believers above the level of bishops would occasionally draw the attention of the gods, especially since these believers were going into dangerous dark regions to carry out missions. Donald felt he couldn’t take that risk—not only because it could lead to the loss of the divine artifact, but also because it might result in utter destruction! However, Donald wasn’t worried that the aura of the Book of Truth would be detected, as its capabilities had improved after the last restoration. As long as he didn’t deliberately reveal the true form of the book, the aura of the divine artifact in his consciousness space wouldn’t be noticed by the outside world. To detect the existence of the artifact through the consciousness space required one to be at the level of a true god’s incarnation. For true gods, although their incarnations could regenerate, each one was extremely important. Destroying one incarnation would reduce a true god’s strength by at least thirty percent. Therefore, the gods in the outer realms would never casually send their incarnations to the main world; at most, they would send a trace of their will to reside within a believer. What Donald didn’t know was that the experts from the Agricultural Goddess Church were even more shocked upon seeing him in person! Was the information incorrect? Or was this genius mage truly that talented—having just broken through to bronze just a few months ago and now advancing to the silver tier?
In fact, Donald also spent three months diligently practicing in the House of Time, pushing his abilities to their limit before achieving a natural breakthrough in the final days. With the support of extensive divine knowledge, he built up a strong foundation this time, reaching the mid-silver level upon advancement—comparable to the accumulation of over a decade achieved by Chris through training at the sacred site. With divine support, his progress was on par with that of intermediate training at the sacred site, so Donald directly achieved his breakthrough in the House of Time without causing any unusual phenomena outside. As for Pastor Martin, he hardly noticed any changes in Donald between their two meetings, just three days apart. He was merely a low-level black-iron priest. Due to his noble origins from the Celt family, his faith in the Goddess of Agriculture was not very pure, so his abilities naturally did not advance much. Yet it was precisely because of his background that Bishop Bantrey valued this young man highly and promoted him to the position of assistant deacon, out of political considerations. After all, the relationship between their church and the Celt royal family was still in a stage just before entering the Moonless Period, and more interactions could strengthen ties and bring mutual benefits to both sides.