The Ascension Of The Celestial Priest

Although Lukas already had an idea of how the Cathedral of Light looked like in his mind, nothing prepared him for the real sight. The institution being one of the top 3 in the Continent of Lush spanned several kilometers with various buildings and exquisite structures arranged neatly within. Established within the Crystal Mountains, The Cathedral of Light was littered with hundreds of mages, mostly dressed in white robes holding their staves with some busy perusing their book of spells.

Despite its size, The Cathedral was divided into the 3 most known sectors; The Outer Sector, The Inner Sector and the Higher Sector. The previous host was still an outer disciple so his living quarters were placed on the out most fringes of the Outer Sector. For disciples like him, the Cathedral had arranged for finely built cottages that adorned the landscape with its subtle and holy atmosphere.

Led by his memory, Lukas found himself slowly walking, his environments seemingly familiar and foreign at the same time. As he took the common path, it didn't take long for some whispers to drift into his ears as he passed by a few placed cottages on the way.

"Heee! Is he back?" one disciple hissed in surprise.

"He is indeed. Wasn't he rumored dead though?" another spoke in a puzzled tone.

"He was reported missing or dead by his teammates…" one added before a thought crossed his mind.

"Don't tell me…"

" Sshhh! Just live it for the higher ups to deal with."

Almost all of the outer disciples were attired in pure simple white robes which contrasted sharply with his wear. Quickening his steps he finally reached his cottage and then, he quickly clasped the door behind him shutting off the sea of attention he was getting.

Sighing deeply he realized the situation was far worse than he expected. With the presence of magic in this world, it meant that one's strength mattered more than anything. But the original Lukas was not only weak but his affinity was also terrible. In contrast to his sister's Exceptional elemental affinity, it was guaranteed that he would always be in the limelight no matter what he does or wherever he goes. Considering that the previous host was the silent enduring type, it quickly made him a common target of gossip and mockery within the outer fringes.

Brushing it off, he looked around his cottage and was surprised by how simple it looked. It had a bed, a chair, a walled in cupboard that housed all of the few belongings his previous host possessed along with a few books perched in one of the compartments. The lone table was a mess of ink and paper filled with some runic diagrams strewn about and then there was a small adjacent room with a cover that he made out to be a small bathroom with a few containers of clear water neatly arranged. Looking around he was struck with a feeling of a very lone character. The Cathedral, being a powerful figure, treated even its outer disciples very well from how everything seemed simple and functional.

Exhaling, he took his time to pass through everything, from the bed to the plain walls, to the clothes and the books on the messy table. It was sheer luck that he was reincarnated into a relatively healthy body and now, all he had to do was lay low until he gathered his strength. Seeing his new room was safe, he finally relaxed. He would use this chance to get some respite before familiarized himself with his new persona to a certain passable degree in order to avoid any further complications or worse raise any suspicions.

To his surprise he was exceptionally tall, lean and his body looked fairly weak for his age. But his face would have definitely looked a lot better if it weren't for his wet grey hair that slopped down hiding a pair of intelligent pale eyes. His features were soft but sharp, young with a hint of maturity slowly blossoming. It weren't for his malnourished body; he would have been more appreciative of his looks. This was definitely an upgrade compared to his previous life but then he had no idea if the existence of magic might have had an influence on this new body or not.

Ruminating, he recollected quite a few memories from his host. Here existence of the elements was the norm and it has resulted to the rise of some of the most powerful mighty figures that decorated the history of the continent since ages past. Lukas, the previous host was a fallen descendant from a fractured noble family. Both he and his sister discovered their magical gifts at the Awakening Ceremony but it was her sister's exceptional affinity that made the administrators willing to allow him to tag along despite his mediocre low grade affinity. The minimum recruitment talent for the Cathedral of Light was Mid Grade Elemental Affinity, and the fact he was let in was one of the main reasons why he attracted attention wherever he went. At the time of the awakening ceremony his younger sister was adamant not to be separated from him, and so that led to the Administrator of the Cathedral to agree quickly lest she was quickly conscripted by other institutions. Mages of such affinity were very rare that any young child who was discovered to possess such talent were treated as a treasure and if any conditions were raised, the Administrator Elders would try their best to fulfill them in order to have them willing join their institutions.

But all was not well in this world of clash and magic. From what Lukas could tell from his inherited memories it was also quite dangerous. Although there was a gap in his mind starting from the death of his previous host to his reincarnation, he knew something shocking must have happened that allowed his soul to be born into a body that was supposed to be mangled and devoured by the wolves. Such occasion might have led to the occurrence of the astral event but being weak, he didn't even have the strength to investigate.

Shaking his head, he brought his hands together and with a focused mind, he slowly reached deep inside of him before he summoned a hint of his mana. It felt strangely familiar and wondrous and so without a pause a small brilliant ball of light slowly manifested between his hands, flickering under the morning light like an incandescent bulb. The previous host had awakened the gift of elemental light, which effectively made him a priest. By default, he had inherited his mantle and so he couldn't help but be amazed.

The light shone with an uncanny brilliance, lighting up the cottage like a small sun. Now that he had some time to appreciate, it almost felt surreal to him. The ball of light felt like an instinctive memory, something which he had seemingly done for several hours.

A few more minutes passed in a daze as he made the ball larger and smaller, twirled it in his finger and swished it around him like a comet. His mind was so distracted that for a moment he forgot about his predicament. But it was just for a moment. Collecting himself he thought for a second before flicking the ball of light off. Then he directly crossed his legs as he sat on the cold floor wanting to calm his mind and meditate so he could summon even more memories. He intended to familiarize himself with the inherited memories carefully so he could learn how to not only control his new found power effectively but also keep his cover under the radar.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly calmed his heart before delving into his consciousness. A lot of information twirled in his mind that he was forced to slow down. Starting with the most important part, he traced back the memories to the source and basically found out that in order to really learn how to wield his magical gift, he had to relearn everything the previous host learned.

And it all began with The Meditation Arts all the recruited disciples were given the moment they walked through the Cathedral.