For many Sanctum was considered de facto capital of elemental warriors within the Kingdom of Elba. Its long-standing defenses had been used as a training center for humans to cultivate the elemental for Tristan’s father and his father before him.
However, they had done anything but that. And it wasn't for lack of spirit. To harvest the elemental in Sanctum it was not enough just to arrive at the place like Jin did. Interested individuals needed to be part of the aristocracy, bringing with them a certificate that they were children consecrated by an official marriage. The only option other than that would be to bring with them a letter of recommendation, which was regularly distributed around Elba when warriors with advanced elemental potential were found; the elemental feat being expressed in the uniqueness to their eyes, such had been the case for Alaeria Fenathus.
Despite that, the reason Jin and Vendrick managed to get into Sanctum could definitely be regarded as uncommon. Lord Alaric for long a member of the Sacred Brotherhood, the elite amongst the great echelon of lords who had protected Elban lands from neighboring nations since Jin was born. The Sacred Brotherhood was the martial pinnacle that any soldier or elemental warrior on Elba dreamed of reaching, yet for the overwhelming majority it would be but a distant dream.
Only thirteen seats formed this circle of formidable and influential warriors who were at the highest order of the Royal Army, the Sacred Brothers; to these consecrated members and political interests the High Elders of Sanctum considered distributing letters of recommendation aplenty. It was only natural that the children of Sacred Members also had a very high possibility of having a potential that could not be underestimated. Even for Jin, a boy who grew up far away from the ominous confluence of elemental forces. Knowingly, a lot of responsibility surrounding the choice he had made on his sixteenth birthday was in debt to his family's standings within the realm. To cease living as a purist, and face the world in the purest way it came.
But even with the letter of recommendation, to be awarded a full stay in Sanctum one needed to have unlocked its elemental potential. This was ritualistically performed in the Hall of Trials, but it was far from the only alternative. There were minor temples and castles scattered around the kingdom which taught outside the confines of the Nine Elementals. Yet their goal was arguably alligned. To unlock the potential of men in different ways, but Sanctum was indisputably the most traditional school for the quality of its trained warriors and also for having the oldest foundations, with hard but effective ancient methods centered around the Elemental Pantheon.
Procedures that dated back more than nine hundred years, most with sacred symbolism and rituals carrying the splendor that public taxes allowed. After all, what would the Hall of Trial not be if not a great tribulation?
Before the Great Transgression (G.T.), it was observed by many that the great warriors who were capable of materializing elemental affinities were, for the most part, people who had surpassed themselves in battle in the face of great calamity or tribulation.
And it was then that the High Elders in Sanctum performed a method that could not be copied in any other heart of faith in the kingdom, because Sanctum was not fortress of faith in every sense of the word, no.
Jin had only realized this when he had unlocked his elemental affinity himself, and somehow it still made him shiver.
Sanctum forced men through tribulations of difficulty, life and death encounters in the Hall of Trial had a chance fulfill their ambitions; to awaken their nucleus. But tribulations ought never to be fraudulent. Neither could the elemental gods be deceived.
How had he been so dumb? After all, that vampire could not have crossed the elemental barriers at the fortress's three doors.
With Tristan at his side, admiring for a second time the great statues of the great elemental gods where they had fought for their lives against a bloodthirsty vampire, Jin whispered to himself, "They didn't need to get inside Sanctum's barriers..."
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"The vampire that attacked us?"
"The ritual that the four of us went through, after we mixed our blood into the room and we suddenly weren't alone anymore...it was a trigger, some sort of mechanic system built within this hall."
"The doors were locked shut remember?"
“They must have locked us until the fight was over, but despair was needed to awaken the nucleus, it must have been how Eliza awakened her pact to Genos. But when we faced that vampire ... I knew deep down my brother was watching, and subconsciously or not I felt that he would have saved me, and he was never truly in danger to begin with. Even as I was blacking out, I somehow sensed everything would be okay.”
"That is very optimistic...and stupid coming from you Jin!" Tristan said with reluctant eyes, “But even then...you still broke through somehow and now I'm the only one stuck out of all of us. With what strength will I be able to win the heart of Victoria if I still struggle to do something that simple?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll find a way. We just have to wonder about what I felt that was different. Something in me suddenly awakened."
“I wasn’t there personally in the latter fight. You must look inward instead of outward for such things Jin. Think hardly, what went different in that case? The High Elders gatekeep most of the elemental knowledge for their own gains, no one can deny that. But you are truly a delight for offering the minotaur's horn, we might be able to work something together.”
“Well when I fought the minotaur and I was all by myself, there was no room for mistakes. I needed to push myself as hard as I could stay alive.”
"You reckon there’s a chance I can awaken my elemental powers if I bleed into the cup again?" Tristan said, his fist clenched as if preparing himself to hear his dreams denied once more.
“So you can face another monster and get yourself killed? Everyone almost died on the first time, and we had four prepared people, we’re not doing this again.”
"The lesser the numbers, greater the achievement!" Tristan hoped, after much consideration on his spare time on how to awaken his nucleus, it made so much more sense in his mind before he spoke it out.
“The doors won't be locked since there are no High Elders around here at this time. Besides I doubt you’d feel in more danger than you were the last time. We're not doing this.” Jin said, quickly shutting down Tristan’s plan.
“I realized...once you become an elemental warrior and bring those barriers down, you feel yourself different. Everything feels different to the touch, including your own state of being once you close your eyes. You can sense the elemental, the inner nucleus flowing vital aura deep beneath your chest.”
“But this thing,” Jin said as he gazed upon the horn, “once I sliced it off the minotaur he couldn't call forth the elemental anymore. Almost as if it was his nucleus.”
“I'm almost certain I’ve read about this before. In general humans have the inner nucleus located inside their chest originally, but I've heard about warlocks in the Desert of Avari. Said to be so incredibly powerful they can move their inner nucleus to other places within their body, increasing their martial efficacy and response in combat. For example, a swordsman with an inner nucleus moved to his hands could imbue his sword with the elemental with much more intensity and ease than his peers.
"So maybe for other races there are similar techniques, and minotaurs would then have their inner nucleus on their horns, to increase their upper balance and provide a hardened skull."
“When I touch it, if you focus hard enough, you can barely feel its pulse. Like a heart struggling to beat.”
“Let me see it,” Tristan honestly didn't feel anything special, maybe because he hadn't unlocked his nucleus he wouldn't be prone to feel the energy flowing through that remnant. "Yeah I can definitely feel...uh something..."
But even though Tristan couldn't feel what was flowing in his palm, even he knew the potential of such a thing, and he knew he'd never get another chance like that. For that sense of fellowship, he couldn't be more grateful to Jin for giving him such an opportunity.
With that in hand, he knew who to ask, but first they had to prepare for a long journey and leave next morrow.
The 9 Keepers of Sanctum and Guardians in general had a strict gatekeep information policy regarding how to grow stronger, and advance each of the Nine Steps. But he only realized today; when he woke up to a knock on his door, a Disciple named Kornovan Gartz was inviting him to a class about the origin of the nine steps in the outer courtyard of Sanctum. Jin respectfully declined the invitation temporarily, as he wouldn't dare start striving for Disciple Step before Tristan, after all they had both participated in the Trial together and failed. In a way, he believed that having someone start with him would be more interesting than trying to catch up with Eliza or Viktoria who were probably already attending training sessions by now and harvesting towards Disciple. Nonetheless Kornovan met the refusal with a smile as Jin promised him that he would join the sessions as soon as he returned to Sanctum with another newly awakened elemental warrior. And seven days is all they would need.