Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 468 - 35 Patron of the Deity_1

Chapter 468: Chapter 35 Patron of the Deity_1

At the end of the Coral Forest, there exists a long entrance to a seafloor canyon, also known as a seafloor trench. The trench spans roughly seventy to eighty hundred meters across. Every five meters along both sides of the trench, tall coral trees of several tens of meters high can be found. These coral trees are entirely covered in phosphorescent algae, lighting up this Road of Faith like rows of underwater street lamps. Various types of algae plants grow entwined among the coral trees, among which small deep-sea fish are constantly scuttling in and out. Due to the permanent absence of natural predators, these small sea fish are not afraid of humans. They often leisurely swim around the sea race, and some sea race even tend to carry food to feed them, often drawing in a large crowd of these small fish.

"The power of the sea deity only applies to vicious carnivorous and large fish," Lanna extended her hand, and dozens of sea fish eagerly swam towards her, circling around her body. Occasionally, they would also delicately brush against Lanna’s tail. She explained in a low voice: "Fish like these are often seen as pets in the temple. Nobody bothers to hunt them and predators from outside do not venture here, so they hardly ever leave, comfortably living out their lives here."

The sea fish around Lanna are of various species, each with a different color. There were Deepsea Ballfish that looked like colorful spherical models, Bonefish that are semi-transparent to the point of seeing the flowing blood and twisting skeleton within, and color-changing fish with flattened bodies and a huge pair of eyes patterned on their back which can reflect light. After circling around Lanna for a while, these fish slowly dispersed, disappearing into the algae.

"It seems like they really like you." Catherine commented with a light smile. "Just like a master."

"No, they don’t have the ability to comprehend that." Lanna shook her head. "It’s just that people passing by always feed them, so they’ve gotten used to it. They’ll come whenever a hand is raised to feed them. If there’s no food, they’ll just leave. Aside from food, these critters aren’t smart enough to remember anything else."

Moving further along the Road of Faith, it tended to slope downwards, leading deep into the trench. The canyon walls on both sides gradually grew taller with numerous unidentifiable marine plants clasping onto it. The walls were adorned with various seashells and bones of sea beasts. Looking up, the seawater through the gap above the canyon wall appeared like a dark celestial river or a dark abyss, and the group was walking directly beneath it.

"How are you feeling, any pressure?" Pannis asked in a whispered voice, mindful not to raise his voice on this sacred ground. "Some people believe deep-sea exploration resembles the profound fears hidden deep in the hearts of land-dwelling races. Therefore, many people tend to suffer from mental breakdowns in the deep sea. I haven’t studied this aspect in depth so I don’t understand it very well. However, it’s true that a large number of people do feel immense mental pressure whilst in the deep sea. This could be possibly linked to the darkness surrounding them."

"There’s more to it than that," Vivian responded, retrieving her hand from the algae and holding a dark brown leaf. She carefully placed the leaf inside a small bag she was carrying before resuming, "After leaving the Crying Cave, I spent two months studying this topic. It was quite interesting. The fear from being in the deep sea doesn’t come just from the darkness. Most people lose nearly all their senses when they’re here - their sense of hearing, sight, smell, and even touch becomes dull. Taste is completely irrelevant. In other words, in the deep sea, most humans are virtually stripped of their five senses. In such a situation, it’s easy to lose track of time—an illusion where a minute feels like a year can be easily conceived, leading to mental breakdowns if one stays for too long. However, we don’t have this issue since there’s light at the sea bottom and we have these collars that allow us to hear each other, thus making it less likely for us to break down. But what’s strange is that we’re almost 3000 meters below sea level, so why don’t we feel any water pressure? Normally, the water pressure at this depth should have already crushed us."

"Isn’t this a question you should have asked earlier?" Lanna asked in surprise. "It’s a bit late to ask that now, right?"

Vivian glanced at Pannis before countering, "Since Pannis has been here before, he definitely knows how to deal with this. If there were any issues, he would have mentioned it earlier. Since he didn’t say anything, it means that the problem has already been solved. So, there was no need to ask about it earlier. It just occurred to me when we were talking about the pressure just now. Is it because of this collar? Or the Amphibian Beads we’re carrying on our backs?"

"This kind of trust is really something," Lamia noted. "It’s the Amphibian Beads. After embedding them in our bodies, we could ignore the water pressure. So, be very careful not to let them be removed during combat. Even if all of you are Legendary Ranked professionals, even if you activate your shields, without the beads, you’ll still be crushed in a matter of minutes."

"They are here," Pannis suddenly announced. "I miscalculated, there are not four, but six of them."

At the end of the Road of Faith, illuminated by the coral trees, several figures emerged from the darkness of the seawater and appeared under the glow of phosphorescent algae. Despite the blurry vision in the seawater, it was just visible that six sea races were swiftly advancing towards the group from a distance of around seventy to eighty meters. Their pace was as fast as land-dwelling races running at full speed on land. Judging by their postures, it looked like four Nagas and two merfolk.

When Nagas run, they resemble snakes, their upright upper bodies bending forward while their snake tails rapidly twist from side to side along the seafloor, using the strength of their tail muscles to advance. Even more peculiar is the way merfolk run; they glide forward. During their run, the merfolk maintain a dignified upright posture in the upper body, while their fish tails curve snugly against the ground below. It’s impossible to understand exactly how they control their bodies, but with each slap of their tails, they glide forward across the ground, moving at a speed in no way slower than the Nagas.

"Ah, it’s Priestess Dailys and Priestess Nancy," Lana exclaimed in surprise, covering her red lips, "as well as their respective temple guards. What’s happening? No, they are walking along the Road of Faith. Oh, Caleto be praised, the top-level ceremonial reception reserved for the pontiff of a foreign religion or the chosen of a land god being carried out by two high-ranking priests... but Mother said you are not Father."

"Hey, hey, calm down. I really am not." Pannis said with a bitter smile, looking at Lanna who was berating him in an unsatisfied tone, "Think about it, even if I were, would your mother be the type to use her position to arrange the highest level ceremonial reception to welcome her lover? Official matters are official matters and personal matters are personal matters. Doris does understand the difference, right?"

"Hmm, you’re right." Even though Lana’s gaze was still full of suspicion, her anger and dissatisfaction faded, suggesting she temporarily accepted Pannis’ explanation.

"Why don’t we just ask them?" Katherine was feeling strangely restless, and she wasn’t exactly sure why. Turning around to look at Lina and Vivian, she saw that the others, even Freya, had odd and uncomfortable expressions on their faces. Unable to understand the reason for her restlessness, Katherine used conversation to distract herself, "Should we go and greet them?"

"No need," Lina shook her head at Katherine, "Since these two high-ranking priests have already come forward, according to religious etiquette, it’s better if we wait here. If we go forward, it would seem unsteady and spoil the atmosphere."

"So troublesome," Vivian glanced at the magic staff in her hands. The effects of the Amphibian Beads were indeed marvelous. Whatever the wearer touched, whether directly or indirectly, was affected by the beads. Whether it was the magic staff in Vivian’s hand, the backpack on her back, and even every item inside the backpack, "There aren’t this many tedious ceremonies amongst mages."

"That’s because mages represent only themselves, not deities." When talking about religion, Lina became more serious than usual. She habitually reached to adjust her glasses, remembered that she was not wearing them and instead awkwardly scratched her nose, "High-ranking priests often represent the authority of the deities they serve. There’s no harm in making the ceremony a bit more formal."

The group stood still as the six members of the Sea Race approached. In no time at all, they were in front of them. The six Sea Race members stopped and respectfully waited for a few seconds before the four Naga lowered their bodies and the two merfolk bent their tails, tilting their upper bodies forward, and spoke in unison, "By the command of Lady Dailys, we respectfully greet the chosen of the deities and a few esteemed guests."

"God’s chosen?" The girls couldn’t help but gasp in surprise, all turning their eyes on Pannis. Gods’ chosen are a rare sight in the Yarran World, particularly so in the Fourth Epoch. Deities reside in the Divine Realm, unable to come and go from the material world. However, their gazes can pierce the barrier to the mortal world. When they take an interest in a mortal, their gaze lingers on that person. But this alone doesn’t make one a God’s chosen. That merely shows that a deity is interest in a mortal. Only when a deity recognizes something in a mortal’s actions or thoughts, and decides to reserve a place for them in their Divine Kingdom, does that mortal qualify to be called a God’s chosen. In many ways, they can receive the intangible assistance of deities. In other words, barring exceptional circumstances, upon death, God’s chosen will stand by the side of their deity, typically as a divine servant, although there have been cases of them becoming deities themselves. It’s worth mentioning that the only publicly known God’s chosen is Antuin, the demi-elf president of the Mages Guild, who is the chosen of the God of Wisdom.

"It’s not Lord Pannis." The high-ranking priestess hailed as Dailys appeared to be acquainted with Pannis, "Lord Pannis holds another identity. The chosen one is this knight miss."

"What? Me?" Catherine pointed at her nose, feeling that everything had taken a strange turn all of a sudden. (To be continued. If you like this work, I welcome you to recommend it on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com for reading.)