NOVPUBIt was a beautiful morning. One day and two nights had passed since the Ningyo City and the Mermaid Kingdom were officially founded.
The mermaids and citizens finished giving the final touches to the city within the grand city wall.
Elysia stared at a particular statue, at a loss for words. She built the city structures thirty meters, the highest, especially the city walls, for the layered dome defense formation. But! Ella, Kirara, and her people built a Goddess statue in the temple yard at the same height.
It was a thirty-meter-tall statue of her!
"This is the pinnacle work of art for the believers who worship our Goddess Master. We erect one in every Elysion Chruch in the Chthonic World." Ella proudly presented the Goddess statue with pride. She and her fellow sisters sculpted the statue with utmost consideration.
"Mm, yes. We also have a human-sized one in our temple. And this one is truly nice. I hope our Supreme Goddess likes it." Kirara nodded in satisfaction and glanced at Elysia several times to see her Goddess’ reaction.
The statue might not be as perfect as the Goddess statue on Sacred Mountain, which was carved by Shrine Priestess Miko. Nevertheless, this grand statue also possessed the holy and gentle aura of a Mother Goddess.
"Wonderful." Elena gave a thumbs up.
She could see this statue had many similarities to Elysia. Other than the face, of course.
It would serve its purpose and was the best this way. Everyone also wanted to avoid Elysia’s face being displayed everywhere.
The mermaids and other sea dwellers chanted their morning prayers.
"Mm." Elysia nodded in agreement. She wasn’t used to having lots of people worship her.
Since her presence was there, her believers sent their hymns to her directly.
After that, Elysia and her people left the area. "Religion is good. It will keep the believers on the path of truth and righteousness."
Elysia looked at her nearby priestesses. They still looked fresh, but she knew they were a bit sleepy. "You’ve done a lot. However, don’t you want to rest? You’ve barely gotten enough sleep in the last three days."
"We are honored, master. However, we are not too sleepy. The invaders will arrive in a few hours, and we want to watch them be defeated." Ella clasped her hands with sparkling eyes. She couldn’t sleep yet!
"We will rest after witnessing your divine might, My Goddess." Kirara nodded in agreement.
"Alright then. Tomorrow is everyone’s real training arc. So, make sure you’re in top condition. Scarlet." Elysia nodded in understanding and called out to the Mermaid Queen behind her.
"At your service." Scarlet immediately went closer.
She felt a bit nervous and gloomy at the same time. She knew the massive army would soon come to attack, but their Patron Goddess was there. Everyone could rest easy, but everyone also knew their Goddess would leave the sea once the matter was over.
"You have one hundred quotas to take part in our training session. Choose your best people, including you, tomorrow. You have thirty quotas to visit the training on Sacred Mountain every three months. You can arrange your best participants for that." Elysia announced an important thing. She then glanced at Miko.
"The Mermaid Kingdom is Sacred Sakura Holy Land’s allies, and also our people. Then, you have the right to receive our facilities. Please accept this. You will stay in touch with us, and we shall become stronger together~" Miko handed over a teleportation crystal and telecommunication talisman to Scarlet.
"This... thank you for the gifts you blessed us with." Scarlet felt grateful and relieved. For various reasons, this situation soothed the anxiety that plagued her mind.
"Shall we share this privilege with all our allies?" Evelyn raised her hand for attention.
"No, it’s just a privilege for our people, not just allies. The Elysion Religion in the Chthonic World and the Temple of Law will receive similar privileges soon." Nell waved her hand, correcting the misperception.
"Hehe, our real training session will start tomorrow. But what kind of training? Master, you said you would tell us, but we didn’t have time to discuss it yesterday. It consists of three levels of difficulty?" Vanessa swam backward in front of her master.
"Yep, three levels. Easy, intermediate, and hard difficulty. All initial training will start in the Enlightenment Pagoda. You will go through a qualification stage. Easy and intermediate-difficulty participants will stay in the Enlightenment Pagoda until the end of the training session. And for the hard one..." Elysia paused for a few seconds and deliberately accumulated a lot of curiosity and enthusiasm in the people around her.
"How about the hard one, master?" Vanessa couldn’t bear the abrupt pause that long.
"The hard one will come with us to outer space for an interstellar training experience." Elysia smiled mysteriously while pointing upwards.
"Woah..." Elysium members expressed surprise and interest.
Everyone, except Elysia’s Goddess sisters and Xentia, had never gone to outer space for training. It would become a new, super valuable experience for them to take part in. After all, the unmeasurable unknown variables, unresolved mysteries, and countless powerful creatures resided in outer space beyond the world’s boundary.
Elysium members and Miko’s disciples looked at each other as if they understood they had the same determination to obtain the qualifications to achieve the hard difficulty.
"Interstellar? Will you ascend to the Divine World, my lady?" Amy rubbed her hands, feeling incredibly excited.
"Not now. Maybe, after our training. You will also participate in hard difficulties as a local guide, Amy." Elysia pointed to Amy.
"Uh? Why do I need to take mortal training?" Amy felt a little reluctant.
"Who said this is mortal training? You shall help us as a local guide. Who knows. You might encounter a heavenly entity or some chaotic outer God that can threaten your divinity on a level playing field." Elena rolled her eyes. Elysia said it was a hard difficulty for a reason.
"Wow, you have my full interest. Allow me to participate. I will inform my Lord about your visit to the Divine World after the training session is over, my lady." Amy readily agreed without complaint. She would also ensure Goddess Elysia would ascend after the outer space training.
---
Several thousand kilometers deep in the eastern ocean, a massive army of mighty sea warriors approached the western region as if they were ready to conquer the Tearobis Great Continent.
The massive upheaval from the eastern ocean alerted the factions in the eastern region of the continent, especially in the Aubourus Empire. They had dispatched several powerful brigades on the east coast three days ago because the sea exuded an aura of chaos and made them restless.
"Has the Ugrasta Sea Emperor gone mad and dispatched his full force to invade our territory?"
"It’s most likely to happen sooner or later, given their aggressiveness in recent years."
"This is a war between Empires."
"What about the reinforcement troops from the neighboring factions, kingdoms, and empires?"
"Sir, the Destiny Army from the Church of Insight of the Breacasian Empire is on its way here. As for the Great Yan Empire, they might be late because their problems with the Demon Realm are not yet over."
"Then, they might be late. The Ugrasta Sea Empire’s army is already less than a thousand kilometers away."
The experts who were on standby on the east coast exchanged information about their current situation. The day was bright and sunny, but their mood was inversely proportional to the strange calm of the ocean. It was as if the ocean would swallow them in a storm and tsunami.
A strange noise was heard approaching from the sea, and a sea surge made everyone startled. They thought a surprise attack had just arrived, and they immediately prepared to counterattack.
As the water surge descended back into the sea, a mighty and majestic warship appeared before everyone. Several humans and sea dwellers then flew over.
"Calm down, I’m the representative of the Sacred Sakura Holy Land. We have come to inform something to you." Uriel showed her Sacred Sakura emblem to calm the agitated experts.
Everyone was relieved to hear that. Sacred Sakura was known as the most powerful holy sect that would uphold true righteousness. And, that expert in the bluish-white cloak with a pink sakura pattern was clearly a disciple of Sacred Sakura. Not to mention that sacred emblem.
A human representative floated closer to the warship. He clasped his fist to pay his respect. "Greetings, Sacred Sakura’s disciple. Err, this warship... Will Sacred Sakura Holy Land send reinforcements to deal with the Ugrasta Sea Empire’s invasion of our mainland?"
"No, we will not send reinforcements. We are here to give you some information and instructions." Uriel shook her head.
The human representative felt a bit disappointed, but he was still respectful. "Then, may I know what information and instructions you want to convey, distinguished messenger?"
"Our army has been stationed in the newly founded Mermaid Kingdom Capital City, Ningyo City, eighty kilometers to the east. We have just abolished the awful slavery policies in the surrounding seas, and we will confront the crooked Ugrasta Sea Empire soon.
We will clash with the Ugrasta Sea Empire’s great army. Issue a tsunami-prone danger zone alert and evacuate to the safe higher ground. Refrain from approaching the battle zone. We will not be responsible for anything that happens to you. That’s all from us." Uriel handed over a scroll of order to the human representative.
It was an official letter issued to warn everyone on the east coast that a major tsunami was likely to occur. Emergency evacuation had to be done immediately.
After that, Uriel returned to the warship, and it dived back into the deep ocean, leaving the east coast.
"Uh, what!?" The human representative had yet to register everything that Sacred Sakura’s disciple had just said. He read the missive scroll, and his face turned pale.
However, he immediately turned around and called out to everyone because it was an emergency warning. "Evacuate to higher ground! Everyone within ten kilometers of the east coast must evacuate this instant! Sacred Sakura and the Mermaid Kingdom will clash with the crooked Ugrasta Sea Empire in two hours! Potential level five major tsunami!" 𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝘤𝘰𝑚
"!!!" The surrounding human experts gasped in surprise. They rushed to make sure everyone within ten kilometers of the east coast was evacuated to safety.
They initially stood their ground to face the enemy. Yet, Sacred Sakura had already issued a warning and took over to face the threat. Thus, most of the people rushed to safety.
However, the experts at 6th Rank or above chose to stay near the east coast because they hoped to witness the underwater clash.
