The Ascension Of The Celestial Priest

It has been more than a few days but Lukas was still frustrated as he found himself staring at one thing for an ungodly amount of time. He knew it was a test, a test to see if he was smart and resourceful enough to figure it out but so far Lukas was stumped and no matter how much he tried, he couldn't make any kind of progress with it.

This all started with that damn note he had found the moment he had arrived from his Adventurer's Qualification exams. For what it was about to be a hundredth time, Lukas held it in his hands, his eyes roaming over the familiar words, trying to see if there was any clue he had missed.

The note had begun innocently enough; with her sister congratulating him for passing his test and encouraging that she always believed in him (it warmed his heart every time he read that). The reason she couldn't be around was that she had a mission to perform as Inner disciples of the Cathedral of Light were supposed to undertake mandatory missions every two months as a form of contribution to the sect. And these missions varied from relatively harmless ones like potion crafting to the most dangerous ones that involved bounty hunting to quelling bandits in the remote areas of the region controlled by Cathedral of Light.

Knowing his sister was a prodigy, and she was recruited by a formidable master did lessen some of his worries although there was still a part of him that wanted to protect her. It soon became another reason why he pursued strength so much. For what it's worth, he already accepted Ariandel as his family, and as his older brother it was his given role to protect her, not the other way around.

But what piqued his interest and set him on this wild goose chase was the fact that his sister, as an afterword wrote that what he truly needed, now that he was an Adventurer could be found on the ancient tiles that adorned one of the distant physical training halls found in the Outer Sector of the Cathedral.

When Lukas made the effort to search for the place, he found that not only was the physical hall bordered on the outer reach area within the Outer Sect, it was also abandoned, with no one bothering to train in there anymore, favoring for the more advanced halls instead.

He couldn't blame them. The first time he had arrived it took more than a few seconds to realize that this was the place he was searching for. Gingerly entering through the wizened doors, a shard of light crept into room and all he could see was layers upon layers of dust covering the floor, the tall arched windows and even some of the broken training equipment left behind. With an effort he finally made the hall more hospitable and when the dust was finally cleared, he was left with a clue he couldn't make heads or tails off.

The tiles in question were arranged in a wider circle which encompassed the whole room. . At first glance one would have thought they were meant to be part of the décor, but it would have taken more than a careful eye to realizethere might be more than what meets the eye. After layers of dust were cleared off, most of the tiles were decorated with ancient runes and murals while possessing colors that alternated from the hues of black, white to grey.

At first he took his time, trying to comprehend them but he found his depth of knowledge was too shallow as the runes he learnt only encompassed the sigils he used in his spells. He then tried to record some of the runes and then research them in the Hall of Insight but it was fruitless. The 1st level of the Hall of Insight had so many books ranging from The History of the Runes and Their Ancient Relics to the Basis of Runic Mastery but nothing more specific about them that he could find. He ultimately tried to tackle it from a different angle by, trying to understand the History and the Legacy of the Cathedral but he was still at loss. It wasn't for the lack of effort though, as each book that crossed his path that might possess a hint of the answers he was looking was so humongous in size that it would take days and months before he could wade through them and find what he needed.

On this particular day, after a morning of intense training he was deep in his thoughts, trying to figure out a new way since he wasn't the type to give up easily before a familiar voice interrupted his reverie.

"What are you doing?"It asked. Lukas jumped in fright before he hurriedly collected himself. Looking behind him he found a familiar face, a well built figure wearing simple cloth armor and trainers clamped into his back and legs. These trainers were blocks of very heavy metals made in small squares meant to train endurance as one wears them while exercising their bodies.

"Cal," Lukas breathed, surprised. "What are you doing here?" he asked. Cal used to be one of the main voices that stood against him joining the physical halls in months past. From then onthey had kept their distance every time they crossed paths but it was Lukas's consistency and determination that won him over in the end and they had been on somewhat speaking terms ever since.

Cal answered "Once in a while, I would come here to train here. There is usually no one around and so I can afford a private time where I can purely focus on my training without any kind of distraction. What about you? What are you here?"

Lukas turned to the ancient tiles and sighed "I'm here trying to solve a puzzle." He said before he turned "do you have any idea what are these tiles about?"

Cal looked at the ensembled pieces before his eyes shifted to Lucas with a strange gleam. "From what I have heard was that once when this physical hall was in use, these tiles acted as a form of test. There was a hefty reward for anyone who could solve it. But years and years passed before anyone could do so and with time it was long forgotten especially after the cathedral shifted their training into much better halls."

Lukas mused before he asked, "if there was rewards to this test then surely there must have been someone in here who had once solved it. But why couldn't I find this information in the hall of insight?"

Cal shrugged before he added "These rumors were especially spread from within the Physical Sectors. And 1st level of the hall of insight might be a little low to house such a secret. You have more hope getting your answer when you enter the inner sect rather than there. After all," he leaned beside the tiles touching them with curiosity.

"I heard there was a secret oath one makes every time they discovered the secret of tiles." With that he was just about to turn back before he added. "Besides, this secret was more suited for mages anyway. I once tried to do some digging but the only thing hint I could find was that the key to the puzzle lies in the one thing the priest of Lights uniquely possess."

He made as if to walk before Lukas stopped. "Hey! Where are you going?"

Cal just waved his hands in response "I'm going to look for another hall to train in. I will leave this one for you." with that, he swiftly exited the door.

Lukas found himself alone with the murals, now a little enlightened but even more confused than ever. The one thing that the Priests of Light uniquely possess! what could it be? Could it be the cultivation method, mana, or their elemental light?

Lukas's mind formed a lot of sound hypothesis and theories and he was just about to begin again before he heard another kind of voice his body instinctively reacted to.

"So this is where you have been hiding all along." a spiteful voice came from behind him and when Lukas turned he found his body immediately washed by revulsion and hatred that made him realize that his new guest was no friend of the previous host no more than he was.

On the dusted doors, under the bright light, stood someone Lukas would later confer him a very special title; Finian, the Betrayer.