The Ascension of the Celestial Priest

32; On Their Way Back.

It didn't take long for them to scurry on their way back after their successful mission. No one dared explored any of the branching tunnels. They were already lucky enough to survive an encounter with a peak tier 1 beast in one piece so they weren't to about to push their luck otherwise.

They ascended the steps from the Hall of Fire and welcomed the setting sun with huge gulps of fresh air and sighs that escaped their throats almost as if they had found a new lease on life. All of them leaned on something, some on the elite graves, some of the tombstones and they all shared a smile with each other not caring at all that they were in a graveyard; nothing like a life or death encounter to really connect the once distant hearts.

"Congratulations!" Representative Malten materialized from nowhere "You all survived your last ordeal and right on time. From now on you are all qualified…"

He didn't even get to finish when as if on cue everyone on the team gave him such an intense glare that he was visibly stunned. If looks could kill then their stares would have perforated right through his body, claiming his life on the spot and it was Rexsi who unleashed the whole tirade that had bottled up inside them.

"Can I ask if this whole plan was to kill us?" he vehemently spoke.

"Take a deep breath and all can be explained in…"Malten was cut short abruptly.

"Be explained?" Rexsi's voice sparked in anger. "In nearly every adventure, knowledge is the key to half of its success. Your adventure's guild set us on a mission that nearly resulted with us being chewed up by rats."

They all winced in memory.

Rexsi walked towards Malten with a grave face "That stupid dungeon had a freaking tier 1 beast at its peak. Who knew those rats could spike in strength if they were left breeding long enough. It almost cost us our lives."

Here he paused, his expression profoundly hard to read.

But Representative Malten's cool demeanor infuriated them even further as he watched all of it in amusement and when he decided that he had heard enough of their complainants, he waved his hand immediately silencing them.

"Now do you get why these qualifying missions exist?" he said with a grave face, as his official grey robe fluttered under the azure sky.

"We can only try our best with the information we have but that's doesn't mean we are omnipresent. Sometimes the knowledge we possess gets outdated so quickly that we don't get a chance to upgrade it before the adventurers set off. Sometimes we are fed the wrong information and they are countless variables can interfere from sudden emergence of beasts, presence of hidden treasures and a congruence of events that culminate into a game of chance and death."

He sighed as he continued, "Adventuring is one of the most accepted professions but it's also one of hardest ones. The risk of death is high and the most we can do is try to filter out the weak just so we can prevent any unnecessary causalities. The road to being a Great Adventurer is paved under the bones of the many dead people. Let this be a lesson to all of you."

They all stood there in silence, their grievances slowly fading from their hearts. In the end, It was their decisions to be adventurers and the truth was bared in front of them, for all to witness and understand just what their choices might lead to.

Suddenly Malten's expression become lighter, "On the bright side, all of you luckily survived and get to live another miserable day. All I can do is generously promise more rewards after the misinformation is taken care of and a tally is taken."

Rexsi grumbled under his breath, still vexed as he hauled the rat king's head in a blood soaked rag sack into Representative Malten's hands. "Inside is the proof of the rat king's head, together with its inner core and this…" he said as he passed on the wooden box from Renesme's hands. "…is the reason why we nearly died in that dungeon. It's a Peak Tier 2 herb we found and you can tally up all of the proceedings and split it among us equally."

Representative Malten's eyes roved over the dead head of the demonic beast before he clapped his hands and another assistant appeared.

"Destroy this head but keep its inner core. Take the herb and the core to an appraiser to correctly estimate their value." Malten instructed and the assistant bowed in response as he carried both and disappeared as quickly as he came.

The found the same carriage waiting for them in front of the ancient gates and after representative Malten made sure they were inside, he informed them. "At the early hours tomorrow will all your badges be ready for the small initiation ceremony. Make sure you don't come late and…" his face slightly wrinkled, "…make sure you all rest and take a good old bath to freshen yourselves up."

The moment he uttered such words, almost everyone gave him a new round of stares. He wryly smiled to himself as he closed the door, gave a signal to the Coachman who started the Carriage on their way back to the headquarters of the Adventurers' Guild.

The ride back was laden with another kind of silence from the one they had set out with. Everyone was mentally and physically drained and it was almost as if they all agreed to sit back and enjoy the rest of the ride in silence.

Lukas sighed as he found himself recalling the battle he just had. It was another of his old habits, taking a recount of each and everything that occurred during many of old battles in games. Back then the competition to stand out was huge and it took all of his smarts and abilities to come out on top and proudly say he was making a living by playing games.

But in this world he was faced with hard cold reality. There weren't any save points, and if he ever failed the dungeon, they weren't any tricks that he could usually manipulate to ensure success. And the demonic beasts in this world weren't programmed; they were cunning, bloodthirsty and vile. Lukas felt a flash of fear at the thought of every beast possessing the same instincts regardless of their strength. It would be smart if he thoroughly prepared for such a thing in the coming future battles.

But it only took moment for Lukas to realize his biggest weakness; his mobility. He had loads of shields, respectable firepower and a healing spell that made sure he could keep himself alive at any unexpected moment but what he lacked the most was a spell or a skill that would allow him to escape in case things went south. Most probably if any kind of running would have been involved, only the Rexsi and Renesme would have had a higher chance of survival as Rexsi would have depended on his ability to meld into shadows and Renesme's agility would long left them in the dust far behind.

He took a deep breath, a twinge of the remnants smell whirled into his sensitive nose. The first thing he would do the moment he returns back to his room will be to take a long deep bath and have change of clothes. Before he slept, he would take the opportunity to meditate; acknowledging his strengths and make plans on remedying his weaknesses by noticing the crucial mistakes he did in this dungeon and aim to improve his core abilities even more.

Because he knew this was the only he could safeguard his life in the midst of the chaos that surrounded him ever since he had reincarnated into his new body.