The Ascension of the Celestial Priest

19; The Golden City.

If there was one place more famous than the Cathedral of light, it was the Golden City. Placed a journey of 2 day's worth by a carriage from the Cathedral, it stood as a far more important and famous place in the Country of Lush.

Placed inside the region controlled by the Cathedral, the Golden City is considered to be the main branch of the Cathedral. In a city paved with subtle buildings adorned with ancient visages of gods and demons, with clean streets and its zero tolerance towards chaos, the Golden city became one of the strongest centers amongst the mages and various adventurers.

Eyes secretly glued to his window and his heart racing, this can be counted as the first time Lukas got out of the cathedral officially after being holed up training himself to near insanity. Ever since he got the missive, his heart and mind could barely rest as he increased his time to the library, searching for more simpler spells he could master that might prove useful during the missions .And since he knew he was meant to work with other qualifying adventurers, his learning was further increased to include some viable and less than viable spells that could help increase his odds.

This ride to the Golden City could be said it was pleasant. He had loads of time to admire the passing view, from endless stretches of land to vast canopies of tress all around. And it also proved to be a worthy exercise as his mind was set to work immediately, pulling out strange names and local knowledge that the previous host naturally knew. It was a relaxing journey and since he had calculated the time, the carriage could afford to take few rests in between, giving Lukas a taste of sleeping in the wild as opposed to the familiar simple room that had been his home for the past few weeks.

The moment Lukas arrived, his heart went wild. Just with his psyche alone he could see and feel the thrumming of powerful mana in the air. He saw warriors clad in shining armors that glinted under the sun passing through with a sure and a powerful gait, carriages of various kinds driven by tamed demonic horses, and people he could only deem them as normal citizens holding conversations with countless laughter's that rang every now and then. Beside the main road that crossed in the middle of the city, there was an open market with hawkers screeching their prices and more regal shops that seemed to sell high retail clothes, the kind that most nobles prefer. Some stands were even filled with potions of every kind and color. He walked slowly through the outer skirts of the City taking it all in, feeling the vibrant energy in the air as his eyes flitted everywhere taking in the new sights , the new smells, finally feeling he was in a fantasy world with new and strange exotic sights everywhere.

In a far distance, looming over the streets and vendors stood a huge marble statue. It depicted a male priest, adorned by very simple robes holding an elaborate book of spells with his hands frozen above the city as if to protect them. And around the mage, like halo floated 3 star orbs that thrummed with silent energy. He could feel his elemental light vaguely resonating with them, even with how much of a distance there was between them.

But first and foremost, Lukas had to focus in finding an affordable inn where he could rest and place his few belongings. He hadn't carried that much in terms of luggage but he did carry a change of robes and some miscellaneous items just in case. After a period of asking around, he finally found an inn that fulfilled his tastes. It was called the Greenery inn, and even though their prices were a little higher, the inn itself proved to be quite quant and beautiful in its own way. On cursory glance, it seemed the owner had enchanted the whole building with beautiful crawling leaves and flowers that gave the feeling of one being in nature, evoking a sense of beauty, subtleness and safety with the fact that the place was obviously safe as opposed to sleeping in the wild.

Lukas immediately was sold the moment he laid eyes on it and after paying more than a few silver coins, asking the register if he can book a room for more than a day, he paid the price of 3 days just in case the Qualifying Mission went on longer than expected and he was mindful enough to inform the register in case he underpaid it. This to his surprise it was very common thing seeing as the inn was a favorite resting place for many other adventurers.

With his quant simple room, laced with white velvet flowers, Lukas had a moment of rest before he got out, locked the door behind and then explored the City in full until the very late hours of the setting sun.

The next day found Lukas very early for his official missive. After sleeping early from his day of fully exploring the City, he paid for a decent breakfast to be brought to his room before checking and double checking everything of importance. His belt of potions was held fast in his waist, and the outer robe covered it from view. He was in overflowing medieval robes except that his were enchanted to repel dust, slightly recover mana and offer minimum protection. With his starlight staff in hand, he officially looked a priest of Light and it was with a confident walk that hid his nervousness that he made way to the adventurers guild the moment he was sure he was ready.

The official quarters of the Adventurers Guild were anything but massive, spanning a distance of a few blocks; it was placed in a more regal section of the Golden City. It was surrounded by pavilions that sold artifacts and high leveled potions, others that offered repairing services, and even a more subtle pavilion hidden nearly out of site that he was told it sold information on an expense of enough silver. He had toured many places in the outer skirts of the city and learnt so much about his new world more than a library could ever teach him.

On the outside the Adventures Guild gave a very dignified feeling with it being one of the best structured buildings in the vicinity. With a sea of people coming and out of the building even in the early hours, Lukas found himself in the midst of a wave, surrounded by warriors, mages, archers with elegant bows and even occasional rogues strolling through the crowd in silence. Mages were assorted with robes of varying colors each representing their awakened elements and once in a while he could only stare at the few giant beast men with gleaming armors and weapons that made his skin crawl every time he laid eyes on one.

Walking in, he was surprised by the interim of the Guild which was decorated to a very simple and direct design. It was a huge hall, with the reception area directly on his left near the entrance. In a far distance were two huge notice boards with many brown notices plastered across it. He could only guess that the notices on the boards were the adventure's quests and since it was early in the morning there was a throng of people all staring and looking for the potential missions they could do. Since choosing the wrong type can only result in a penalty at best or their lives at worst if they took more than their current abilities.

The moment Lukas entered he was eyed with a renewed interest, and he couldn't help it. Priests were revered in the Golden City and seeing he was clad in a full white robe, with runic medial staff, he fitted quite the bill. But it didn't take long for most of the gazes to drop, puzzling Lukas for a moment before he realized.

Almost every adventurers in the hall, had a gleaming badge on their chests, some were pinned while others were slung over the necks but almost every one of them had one. Lukas could only assume that when one had one, it meant they were adventures officially recognized by the Guild and him not having one meant he was a trainer, not yet qualified.

On his far right side, tall chairs and tables were placed proving to be waiting area of some sort and at the helm of it, right in the middle sat a couple of people that pulled stares from almost every one; including Lukas. And it could not be helped. There were two of them; one clad with simple and practical armor his back hastened with a sword and a huge shield that he seemed to carry with no problems while beside him sat a young beautiful girl in a fiery red robes that seemed to radiate all around her like a halo.

Without even asking, anyone could take a guess at their classes. The Helmet warrior was obviously a knight, as his armor seemed to bear a familiar motifs of the nobles, a 3 legged crows encroached with flames while the red girl beside him, could only be a fire mage, with her exquisite dress that fitted her perfectly and her amber staff that exuded slight waves of mana and power. She was radiating so much grace and potential that Lukas immediately felt that she was a noble, and most probably the adjoining guy was her knight. It was a normal custom for nobles in the Continent of Lush to be accompanied with their knights during their many errands but he couldn't fathom why a noble would be in an adventure's guild in the first place.

Until he recalled that he can also be counted as a noble too. In that case that meant…

His thoughts were just about to guess when the pair laid eyes on him and he could clearly see that they didn't possess any kind of badge in the bearing. What are the chances that they had arrived in the Guild with the same purpose, just like him?