The Ascension Of The Celestial Priest

Later that evening, tried and exhausted Lukas returned to his abode after devoting more than half of the day within The Hall of Insights. He knew he needed full rest before his training could officially begin tomorrow but what he learnt today was just too momentous for his mind to calm down.

After a surprising morning of discovering the dead man's spell in his grimore, he headed straight for the Hall of insight to find out everything he could about the Divine Cathedral.

And what he found was more than he bargained for.

It had to be said that although the information on the 1st level of hall of Insight was handicapped, it was very thoroughly. The info he found on the Divine Cathedral was so well doc.u.mented and researched that Lukas didn't have any trouble finding exactly what he was looking.

The Divine Cathedral he found was a much known Institution, infamous in almost the entire Continent. And there was a good reason why. From what is known, The Institution was located on the eastern side of the Evergreen forest, more than a few miles away from the Western Cathedral of Light, and the Southern Cathedral of Blue.

But what set apart the Divine Cathedral from the rest, was their collective belief that their magical gifts came from gods themselves. Firm believers and devout worshipers, their Priests fully believed that they walked the Divine Path hence their name. They drew their power from their faith and so they saw themselves as the God's rightful Messengers as they painted themselves in the light of all things holy and righteous. But if the rest of the world weighted in their opinion then a lot more could be said.

Arrogant, hypocrites and eccentric were just few of the words used to color the conversations every time the Priests of the Divine Cathedral were brought up. Since they believed they were God's chosen, it seemed to give them the power to overlook the rest of the world, their arrogance knowing no bounds. They were famously known to forcefully spread their religion and use all means when recruiting people to their faith that they raised a huge collective rancor against them. If it wasn't for their powerful spells and their collective might, their actions were more than enough to guarantee an intra-sect war between institutions.

It was already an established fact that each priest of the Divine Cathedral was fiercely protected and their secrets religiously guarded that there have been more than few records of unfortunate mages and warriors who happened to cross their paths. But as much as the Priests of the Divine Cathedrals were universally hated, their blessings were instead revered and treasured especially when it became undeniable of how useful their eccentric spells were during raids and battles that usually take place in the Continent of Lush. There have been more than few rumors that The 3 Cathedrals were connected to each other but Lukas couldn't find any proof in the few of the books and scrolls he read.

In the end, knowing such thing made Lukas instill even more caution in his heart. Taking a deep breath and with a strange expression on his face, his mind formed more than few conjectures on the real reason he was able to open the Divine Cathedral's tome back at the Catacombs.

But instead of further dwelling on wild guesses, Lukas switched to the one thing he truly cared about, the Path of Runes and its Mastery. It was here that Lukas's horizons broadened as he found himself buried by so much information that it took the remainder of the afternoon just to process it all.

To make it short, the first important factor he learnt was that Runes was practically the foundation of The Continent of Lush. From the protective formations that surrounded the Cathedral to the artifact he possesses, Rune Mastery was the most revered professions amongst them all.

In the book of runes he possessed, Runes were ill.u.s.trated as the Language of the Creation. Each mark embodied the truths of the world, a visual representation of the universal's law simplified into a single symbol. But in Lukas's case, Runes represented countless possibilities all branching to almost every alchemical path available.

From Sigils (the very same Lukas is trying to master) to Talismans, their wide applications seemed endless. Sigils are runes meant for Spell Casting while Talismans are runes enchanted into inanimate objects to fulfill a certain purpose. From runes could formations be formed, ones that were used offensively to special complicated ones that could help potioneers in increasing their chances to craft a higher quality potion.

It was a boundless path but it only had one specific catch.

And that was the path of Rune Mastery was hard, almost impossible in the words of others. The amount of efforts needed to master take years even for the most talented people. Runes were used to be seen as the Dialect of Gods and to make any notable achievements; it demanded more blood and sweat that any sane mortal could comprehend.

But this wasn't enough to deter Lukas as it can be evidenced by how he had already mastered his first sigil. It was just a single sigil but it was more than enough to save his life and garner respect from the very same teammates who had previously looked down on him.

Realizing his future prospects if he stuck through this path, his heart pounded with excitement. Rune Masters were treasured all over the Continent and he instinctively felt that the path of Runes was tailor-made for him. He had always followed his intuition and because of it, he was able to build a successful carrier in his past life.

Cracking a sleepy smile, Lukas closed his eyes a decision long made. He would embark on the path of Rune Mastery and see how far he will be able to reach. He felt like it was his fate, his destiny and he would not let any kind of obstacles (from how the runes are said to be hard to master to the looming divine Cathedral) make him falter. It was his formal challenge and he will walk step by step until he reached the very top.

After all he felt that by the end of road, his way home might just appear before his very eyes.