The Ascension of the Celestial Priest

31; The Midnight Flower.

And it was such a delicate herb, with its purple petals that shimmered under the golden radiance and it leaves seemingly dancing in the air devoid of any wind.

Renesme fervently stared at the purple flower as she began, "Remember when I said that some special circumstances must have transpired for the rat king to manifest in these catacombs." She said. "This might just be the reason."

Rexsi asked, clearly impatient, "But what is it?"

"It's a Peak Tier 2 Herb, called the Midnight Flower. Very rare and notoriously hard to find as they are meant to only grow in places where the sun was never meant to shine. They possess a darker attribute and they are famously used to dispel curses and deal with poisons of higher grade."

Her green robe kissed the ground as she knelled beside the plant, caressing it with such a care that it almost seemed as If she held a fragile thing in her dainty hands.

"For the rat king to evolve, it must have consumed one of its leaves." she muttered to herself; loudly enough to be heard.

"What do you mean?" Lukas asked while staring at the swaying fluttering flower.

"It's only in 3 ways that a demonic beast can fully evolve from its mundane nature. The first one involves them accumulating and cultivating mana from the ambient air and into their bodies in hopes they can finally awaken their elemental gifts and transform themselves into a demonic beast. But this method is painfully slow and the odds of that happening in low levels are dismissal at best."

She continued, "The 2nd method is the luck of finding a Conducive environment. This method is by far the easiest amongst the three; after all they only need to search for areas rich with mana and elements to increase their likelihood of their transformation. But without the utmost luck it's mostly useless as such places rarely occur in nature"

She paused as she leaned closer, carefully investigating her prize. "The 3rd and last method is through Devouring. Only by ingesting certain treasures and objects of nature can they force an evolution inside their bodies and so boost their strength." She went on to finish, "And the only way that rat king could have been born was by consuming a leaf from this flower "She pointed her finger at certain fading stump on the stem of The Midnight Flower.

"But..." Lukas asked as it occurred to him. "Wouldn't there have been more rat kings in this dungeon if all this leaves where consumed?"

Renesme shook her head. "It isn't that easy for a beast to consume a treasure more than half its tier and just evolve."

She got up and gave a look around. "I can only infer that there must have been more than a few of these flowers in the past but years and years of rats reckless eating them meant that they could only poison themselves to death, ultimately forming an inner instinct to avoid such herbs all together."

She mused as she finished, "The Rat king must have been the only lucky one who got to devour a leaf and lived to hunt these halls; transforming into a Rat King, a unique variant beast of the underground Catacombs."

After that Renesme waved them off. "Stand a little further back as I harvest the herb."

Lukas had a strange expression. "Can't you just pluck and keep it."

Renesme practically paled at the thought of it. "If it was a normal herb perhaps but this is a Tier 2 Herb. Most of the medicinal strength will be wasted if care is not taken into harvesting it well. And if an herb is destroyed after being handled carelessly, its value is basically lost."

Lukas nodded in understand while taking a step back. He apologetically smiled as he safely retreated from Renesme's glare. It was not his fault he didn't know such a thing; The Continent of Lush was so enormous and extensive, that it took all of his strength to barely keep up.

Renesme's hands started to flicker around, gracefully dancing in a practiced manner as few motes of greenish hue materialized before they landed around the herb forming an enclosure of some sort.

They all stared; mesmerized until Mira's voice pulled them out of their daze as her face smiled as if she just realized something.

Speaking in a low voice, she informed them. "There is a good chance Renesme might be an Herbalist."

"An Herbalist?" Lukas asked before he added. "Is that another profession?"

Mira nodded. "Another of the basic profession in the Alchemy tree; an herbalist always has an eye out for precious and rare herbs. They also seen as collectors, gatherers and some are even appraisers as they mainly focus in learning and recognizing hundreds of herbs, all used for various aims like Potionering, Apothecary and even for healing purposes. Such people have an extensive knowledge and the fact that she is about to become an Official Adventurer, means she can take those high priced missions to act as a certified Herb Hunter."

Understanding dawned on Lukas. During this trip he had gained so much; from learning some of the most known common professions like being a Rune master and a herbalist to existence of religious taboos, suffice to say this trip has yielded a lot more than he could have ever fathom.

His understanding of Sigils had accidentally placed him on the path of being a rune master, which it was impressively hard by the sound of it. He would have to return back to the cathedral, do a lot more research before ultimately deciding what would be his official profession, his own path that would allow him to have a stable income as opposed to keep risking his life as an Adventurer.

"Done. " Renesme announced, her hands darted with some light movements that immediately place the harvested herb into wooden box intricately decorated with runes visible to the naked eyes.

"This box's special function is to hold the medicinal strength of this herb so it doesn't lose its value." She explained even before Lukas uttered word. Wryly smiling, fully realizing that he might have unwittingly exposed his lack of the more common knowledge of this world but they were respectfully silent about it.

"If we are done here..." Rexsi collected his hands." It's time we leave. We can whole heartedly agree that we have had enough of this dank place."

Mira swirled in her crimson robe, her amber staff radiating a red hazy glow. "Trust me, I have been curbing a desire to burn this whole place to the ground." She muttered to herself; her mind reminiscing the squeaks and the screams the rats made as they were incinerated under her fire.

Geoff took his shield, giving it a through look. Rexsi whistled after he moved for a closer look. "They might be some lowly beasts but they sure made a dent on that armor."

Geoff tested his shield, swinging it a few times as he said. "Today marks just another encounter of the many more battles I will have to face in future."

"That's the spirit "Rexsi laughed before a conspiratorial look settled on his face. "Hey do you think those dents count as love bites for when the beast's teeth lovingly bit on your body?"

"Huh" Geoff responded confused.

Rexsi continued." I mean you were pretty brave and all, charging through like Knight in shining armor in the midst of a thousand kisses."

The comment confused Geoff even further and the moment Rexsi caught that his mind whirled with implications. "Wait-wait-wait!" he whispered loudly in surprise, "Does that mean that was your first kiss? Have you never kissed a lady before?"

Geoff might have lost the first part of the joke but he furiously blushed the moment he head the last two questions.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He got all worked up that Lukas chuckled while Mira silently laughed, hiding her own red face. Renesme only smiled in response, her hands holding the wooden box as they all made for the exit in a sea of laughter and angry shouts.

They ended up making quite a conversation; everyone even more familiar with each other before Lukas slowed and looked behind. For a reason that he could not comprehend he silently walked back and gave a good look at the lonely statue of Daendric prince one last time.

"Why are you back here?" a familiar voice broke through his thoughts.

"I don't know." Lukas softly said, "I can't quite explain it."

With a solemn expression on his face, he laid one of his hands on the statue's legs.

"You are also getting those vibes huh..." Rexsi mysteriously half smiled as he steeped under the purple's radiance.

"Despite of what I have learnt…" Lukas whispered. "There is something about this place that's profoundly sad."

Ever since he had laid eyes on this statue, a feeling of deep sorrow and grief had griped his very soul. He once had attributed to the fact that he just survived his first life and death clash but he felt it was much more than that.

"Í do understand what you are feeling" Rexsi sighed. "But it's kind of a conundrum..."

Lukas turned, "What do you mean?"

Rexsi glanced at him before he shifted his focus on the statue."Would it have been wrong to accuse them if said patients had instead begged a release from their life of unending pain?"

Lukas ruminated for awhile before he answered. "It didn't cross my mind…." He paused before he continued "But what would you have rather believed? The ones that claimed they mercilessly took lives from people who were deemed as perpetually pained or those who claimed that it was the patients themselves who consented to it?"

Rexsi gave it some serious thought before he realized the crux of the matter." It is a Conundrum indeed, whether one of the sides is wrong or the other is right, both of them are flawed at its core."

Lukas acknowledged in agreement. "Regardless of myths and legends, it's not often the religion that is wrong; it is its followers who are usually flawed. Taboo or otherwise; rarely does any kind of religion ever get a chance to escape misuse from the hand of its believers. It does make me wonder the true nature of this creed in the years past."

Lukas collected himself from such train of thoughts. "What am I saying? " He lightly laughed before he detached himself from the marble statue. "We should probably get going before we are left behind."

Rexsi absently nodded, letting Lukas to leave first as his hand also touched the statue and sighed. With his eyes and heart hiding his very thoughts, he followed behind as he left the hallowed room bereft of anyone else.

But unbeknownst to both of them, a real drop of blood materialized as it rolled down from the statue's marbled face to the cobbled floor, making a silent splash that resonated in the whole hall. The dark orb slowly flickered in its waning light until all was darkness, dragging the curtains to the Catacombs of the Golden City and all of its secrets within.