The Erratum-Chapter 37: Church of Helios.
In the morning where filtering light penetrates the multiple leaves above.
Cetas stood alongside Elishia and the others, forming a half-circle position with Skadi at front.
After everyone woke up, Skadi gathered the members in order to tell them something of urgency.
"Everyone! There has been a change of plans.."
Cetas’ body stiffened.
Even if he already knew what Skadi was going to say, it still gave him goosebumps to think about the sudden disaster that happened in Seyil.
"Last night, I came to check on Seyil and..." she let out a deep sigh, "Every individual inside the town turned hollow, similar to the story I’ve told you about Bloodrenders.."
Elishia’s eyes widened, "What? But Falkone has already been defeated right?"
Galkan, and Reid had their own worries but chose not to speak up.
Jones, however, had a clear face as if determining what could’ve possibly caused such a catastrophe.
"Nevertheless! Whatever may have caused this to happen, we should chart our next set of actions. As of right now, we still do not possess a ship to travel the seas. Our original plan was to hunt Falkone and buy a ship from Seyil but that doesn’t seem to be possible now.."
"So.." Skadi moved her fingers. A second later, a large 24-inch map floated towards her, "I determine that we head to the next closest Port City.."
Pointing at the eastern side of Helios, Skadi briefed her crew members about where they were:
"As of right now, we are in the region of Aurora - the Eastern region of Helios. Right here is the western region, Vespera - famous for its sea-trading. And the middle region is called Meridiem - it is where the King and other nobles reside."
"If we were to traverse to Vespera, then we could cop ourselves to a high quality ship. However, it would take too long to traverse the entire continent of Helios. Even with a carriage we would still take 3 weeks minimum." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚
"So, the nearest Port City would be the main trading city of the Aurora Region, one that is engaged with commerce of other continents and nations."
Skadi pointed at the top-right area of the map, near the edge of the entire continent, a marking symbol illustrating a ship is placed where Skadi pointed.
"This is the Port City of Flag, drastically bigger than Seyil and much more populated. Additionally, it hosts one of the cathedrals in Aurora, containing many members of the Laity."
"The Laity is one of the rankings developed by the Church of Helios, they serve the Church as mostly guards and sometimes detectives to determine an anomaly. Most of the members of the Laity are Zealots which are Sparks or Low-Level Acumens."
"For those that are not from Helios, the hierarchy of the Church are as follows:"
"The Laity, serving as the lowest rank and considered to be the working-force of the Church;"
"Deacons - the second lowest rank and have strength comparable to mid-leveled Acumens, assisting Priests and other high-ranking members with a variety of works;"
"Priests, with a strength comparable to high-level Acumen or low-level Pathfinders, they are the one’s spreading the word of the God of Power;"
"Bishops tend to oversee a specific area in Helios. For example, the cathedral at the Port City of Flag is led by a single Bishop. Other cathedrals in the region are also led by such. Bishops have strength comparable to high-level Pathfinders, those that are only an inch closer to achieving the status of an Exalted - Empyrean."
"Archbishops, also known as an Archdiocese, preside over an entire region of Helios. As of right now, there are three Archbishops in Helios, each one governing on Aurora, Vespera, and Meridiem. The three individuals belonging in this rank have the strength of an Empyrean."
"Lastly, the highest rank attainable in the Church of Helios is the Cardinal. The Cardinal rules over the entire Church in the entire kingdom providing assistance and wisdom to the King and the royal family. As you all may have already guessed, the Cardinal is among the highest attainable level of Zeal - the rank of a Consecrated One."
Skadi put her hands on her back, tilting her head to the side which made her hair flutter down, "I think it is proper that we know the rankings of the Church here in Helios. I believe that even if we traverse the seas, we would still find ourselves encountering the Church."
"The Church doesn’t only appeal to matters relating inside the kingdom after all.."
After her words, Skadi though for a little while and continued:
"Hence, we should be careful when we enter the Port City of Flag. No causing troubles, and no catching too much attention. Understood?" Skadi locked her eyes with Galkan.
The other crew members gazed at him with some of them even giggling in silence.
Jones was laughing casually and elbowed Galkan, "That’s right you burly monster. Remember what you’ve brought upon us last time? We had to run away from authorities, fool!"
"Hahaha! That’s still me being tame!"
The two bantered for a while.
Then, Skadi cleared her throat and made the both of them turn silent, "I have another important announcement to make.."
She raised her hands, facing towards Cetas.
"Cetas will be officially joining the Aegir Pirate Crew. Please, welcome him fully and treat him as a member of your family."
Elishia suddenly shifted her head to the direction of Cetas, looking at him with excitement, "Really?! That’s great!"
Laughter echoed in the forest camp, belonging to Galkan whose voice could possibly reach Seyil below.
"Welcome to the crew boy! Be sure to visit me from time to time if you want to get stronger! I’ll drill all of my knowledge to the fishy brain of yours! Hahaha!"
Cetas stared at Galkan, his mind perplexed upon the bulky man’s words.
Fishy brain? What does that mean?
He shifted his gaze to Reid, who was staring at him with a cold glare. After a second, Reid easened and nodded towards Cetas.
Afterwards, Jones let out his voice containing a unique tone and pronunciation, "Feel the utmost freedom when asking for aid.."
Lastly, Cetas moved his head to face Skadi and saw her warm smile towards him.
Out of courtesy, Cetas bowed to each one of them, "Thank you.. I hope that I can fit in among you all.."
With that, the Aegir Pirate Crew has gained another crew member. Soon, they would traverse the forest and head north, hoping to obtain a ship worthy enough to contain their unique selves.
*
After the sun’s peak in the sky, several kilometers away from Seyil.
The crew had taken a break, Cetas, Elishia, and Jones sat down in makeshift chairs made out of wood and Galkan laid down on the cold ground.
Meanwhile, Reid and Skadi went out to hunt in the deepest parts of the forest half an hour ago.
Cetas watched as Elishia fiddled around with the Luminescent White Gel - the flower looking less lively as before.
Suddenly, Elishia uttered under her breath, "I should use this as an ingredient, after all.."
Upon noticing Cetas’ gaze, she grinned warmly at him, "I’ll let you try the first dish I make with this, don’t you worry!"
"Is it good?"
Elishia tilted her head upwards, "I hope so!"
Then, she directed her gaze to Jones, "Hey, aren’t you curious about exotic ingredients such as these? Wouldn’t it be a medicinal breakthrough?"
Jones tucked his dark hair behind his ear, revealing the splendor of his emerald-green eyes, "I could yet I wouldn’t.. Developing a breakthrough in the medicinal field would clutch me to spend long hours of my days, gathering many ingredients of similarity. I would require more than an individual ingredient and that may take months, perhaps.."
"Additionally, that ingredient belongs to you.. I much rather fall than have the thought of stealing to develop a breakthrough."
Elishia shrugged her shoulders, "Makes sense.."
Within a moment or two, footsteps rustled behind Cetas.
Turning around, he noticed Reid and Skadi walking back to camp. Floating behind them, a large boar with husky brown fur looked lifeless.
"Everyone, we’re here.."
Galkan jolted upwards, "Finally! Let us feast!"
Elishia stood up and wore her bandana to cover most her auburn hair.
With that, they set the boar up to remove the fur and butcher its parts.
Cetas watched with curiosity as the once honest and energetic Elishia now looked serious and focused.
Her precision with the knife made Cetas think that she had the skills to be utilizing a blade for battle.
The pieces were cut in mere minutes, looking perfect and clean as the proportions were directly equal to one another.
The skin was not wasted too. Elishia stored them in a bag where they could still be utilized as a material for developing various crafts.
Particularly, charms..
Along their journey, Cetas asked about the coin-sized metal that Galkan used in his fight against the dark man.
He came to know of another term: Zeal Weapons.
Among the crewmembers, it seems that only Galkan was crazy enough to infuse Zeal essence to some of his crafts.
A Zeal essence is the residual Zeal of a deceased Zealot or Dreadspawn. They take form into many things such as blades, feathers, and in most cases, a monster that contains all the Zeal of the aforementioned deceased Zealot.
If a normal Zealot were to die, their Zeal would shape into an object relating to their niche.
Take for example, Falkone also contained Zeal essence upon his passing.. However, since he was directly chained to Bloodrenders, his essence pertained to the sun-like core with 7 tentacles.
Skadi already destroyed that with her lightning and thus leaving Falkone bereft of any inheritance with his death.
In contrast, the dark man and the red assassin were considered to be mere puppets upon the theory of Skadi. Therefore, Zealots that were controlled didn’t leave any Zeal Essence.
Skadi’s Windslinger is an example of an imbued Zeal essence to a craft.
The original essence of her gun came from a Wind Elemental that Skadi had felled. It’s form is originally that of a gust of wind but she came in possession of it by putting the essence in a bottle.
With the help of Galkan and the Historian, the Wind Elemental soon turned into the all familiar gun with a cannon-sized barrel called Windslinger.
Now, she pushed the gun into its utmost limits - even manipulating the clouds and gathering them to form lightning!
Furthermore, Cetas learned about the true nature of Galkan’s coin-sized metals.
Those were called charms - a one-time use Zeal Weapon that can enhance one’s physical capabilities.
They were a result of Galkan’s experimentation with Zeal Essence.
Utilizing an essence of a Physique Zealot, Galkan imbued the objects that he forged with its essence. He came to discover that parts of Zeal Essence can still be imbued among objects.
Windslinger and other Zeal Weapons usually contained the full amount of Zeal Essence.
However, if he were to take a droplet of that essence and imbue it to an object that can harness that very essence, it would turn to a weapon similar to a charm.
Cetas was surprised to know this.
In his mind, Galkan was a meathead that only acted with his strength and sought out violence.
However, this feat of his made Cetas think that the fat man also had a sense of intelligence in his brain.
Perhaps it was only directed to smithing but it could still be considered as astonishing.
Cetas looked at the man with fiery-red hair in a different light.
With that, Elishia had already finished her cooking. It didn’t even take longer than 15 minutes since she started but her hands already held a plate of glazed pork with proportionate thick strips.
Moreover, it held a distinct shine on it - a luminous and lighter shine.
Did she use the flower on this?
Cetas determined so..
However, he wouldn’t know unless he tried.
So, grabbing his utensils, Cetas stabbed the pork and consumed it.
His eyes widened due to its scrumptious nature!
The taste is much different from her prior dishes!
Cetas gazed at the crew members and realized that each and every one of them were a master of their own niche.
Determined to become a significant piece in this crew, Cetas wondered what his purpose would be..
