- Ash Priest : As a major symbol of war is represented by fire and flames, an Ash Priest is highlighted by their precise control and manipulation of flames, as well as its two major byproducts, ash, and smoke. An Ash Priest boasts of the most firepower among Apostles of the Apostolic Priest seat and is very well-versed in mid to long-range combat. Their Innate Blessing grants them the ability of fire manipulation and control, while also giving their constitution a further increase in physical capabilities. The Runic Invocations gained at the Ash Priest level are as such ;

I - 8 Rings of Holocaust : This rune allows the Ash Priest to create eight floating spear-like projectiles of fire, forming an offensive circular ring of flame spears that move based on the Apostle's will. The flame spears travel at quick speeds and explode upon contact, granting the Apostle a rune with similar offensive capabilities as Hail Mary, but with a lot more control.

II - Smoke Transmission : This is an invocated rune that allows the Ash Priest to transmit themselves to any point in space by blending their physical body with the smoke in their surroundings, with the distance limit at the Ash Priest level being restricted to 100 meters per transmission. The amount of transmissions possible is solely dependent on how long the Apostle can bear to have their body merged into smoke, as the loss of physical sensation for long periods can lead to acute signs of disorientation.

III - Sentinel of Soot : This is an invocation that gives the Ash Priest the ability to create a daunting gray armor made solely out of solidified ash, which is more rigid and durable than normal mundane armor. The armor can be maintained and repaired as it wears out, giving the Ash Priest proper defensive qualities capable of taking on attacks from Apostles one seat above their own.

Trial of Faith : To successfully transition into an Ash Priest, one needs to successfully recite the Holy Doctrine of the church of war while also simultaneously undergoing a spiritual baptism of fire. Potential success depends on the subject's natural resilience and how well-versed they are in the doctrine of the Pyre Church.

Tribulation of Faith : Even while being known as Apostles whose major staple is in the utilization of fire, the Ash Priests aren't granted resistance to fire and burns. At random points in time, the Ash Priest would feel their body heating up, with the sensation sometimes being similar to the feeling of being burned alive.

The details of an Ash Priest intrigued Elias quite a bit, mostly due to the fact that he found the Tribulation of Faith as a major pain to deal with.

For an Ash Priest, who appeared to be well versed in the utilization of fire, their lack of fire and burn resistance was as ironical as it was troublesome, and that wasn't even taking into consideration the periodic burning sensation they had to endure on a daily basis.

Elias couldn't bring himself to imagine how painful such a feeling might be, especially when it was set to occur at random periods of time, irrespective of one's circumstances or consent. It could be said that during some extreme situations, the Tribulation could even endanger one's life, as it was capable of making a dire situation a lot harder to scale through.

Lars read through the words once again, shivering when his eyes got to the section of the Trial of Faith.

"Doesn't this Trial seem even harder to get through than the last one? I don't know what a spiritual baptism of fire is supposed to be, but I sure can already imagine how dire it is."

Elias nodded, his expression one of relief.

"I'm a lot more satisfied with my Echelon now. Are these really Trials that they expect regular mundanes to get through?"

Lars kept his eyes on the page, only responding to Elias after a few seconds had passed.

"Let's just hope that your future Trials aren't as dire as this. If not... I don't even want to think about it."

With that, both brothers continued to browse through the tattered pages of the brown tome, absorbing all of the information without missing a word.

The next section contained details pertaining to the Echelon Of Life, with the two Apostolic Seats being the Hope Deacon and Vitality Priest.

The Hope Deacon spoke about an Apostle with passive authority over 'positive emotions' and upliftment, whose three Runic Invocations were namely the Hymn of Optimism, Odd Bow, and Seed of Self-Doubt.

Their Innate Blessing allows them to increase the willpower, morale, and strength of their allies by being a blinding symbol of hope and empowerment, while also being able to rob their opponents of the trust they have in their collaborators.

It was mainly described as a utility-dedicated Apostolic Seat, as its potential was effectively seen when used in conjunction with other Apostles of more attack-oriented Echelons.

As for the Vitality Priest, this was where they developed the divine ability of healing, as their Innate Blessing allows them to heal almost any type of disease or ailment.

The Vitality Priest boasts of one of the most extensive Innate Blessings, as not only are they given the ability to perform healing, but they also become well-versed in modern medicine and treatment.

They can study the structure of hexes and curses, treating it as they would any other parasitic bacteria, which in turn allows them to further understand and come up with an effective solution to counteract it.

In addition, they are also granted one attempt at cheating death, as a Vitality Priest establishes a connection to the Tree of Life immediately after unlocking their seal, a connection which then allows them to revive once while utilizing the tree's unique characteristics.

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The three Runic Invocations granted upon unsealing the Wisp were the Grace of Life, Divine Transplantation, and Mother's Embrace, runes which all mainly focused on life extension.

Elias nodded while reading through the words, as he could feel how 'gentle' the Echelon of Life was when compared to the other Echelons.

The two Apostolic Seats had almost no ability capable of instantly taking a life, a detail that perfectly suits the passive and peaceful nature advocated by the church.

"This Echelon fits Sister Marie perfectly. It's such a pity that she was never able to advance from being a Disciple." Said Lars with a complex expression.

Elias simply smiled at his brother's remark, before turning to the next page.

This page detailed the Apostolic Seats of the Echelon of Possibilities, both of which were labeled as Kismet Deacon and Fortune Priest respectively.

The Kismet Deacon was related to glancing into the hidden flow of fate, as their Innate Blessing enabled them to discern clues by peering into the fate of an individual, while also giving them the basic skills of divination and prophesy.

Their Runic Invocations were Blessed Iris, Disarraying Echo, and Fate Weaver, Invocations which allow them to peer slightly into the future, destabilize their enemy, and weave a new branch of fate respectively.

A Kismet Deacon could be regarded as a master of divination, as their abilities mainly revolved around vague interactions with fate and its endless possibilities.

However, for a Fortune Priest, their abilities diverge from fate and branch more into luck, as their Innate Blessing mainly deals with the control and manipulation of luck and fortune.

It allows them to read the path of an individual's fortune, as well as control and affect it in numerous ways. They are further able to 'collect' identified luck—be it good or bad, allowing them to store and use it in future potential situations.

The granted Runic Invocations are Luck Instillment, Misfortunate Kiss, and Wheel of Fortune, with more emphasis being on the latter, as it is a rune that generates an illusory wheel containing 12 different items which all house different effects and are tailor-made to assist the Fortune Priest in a present specific situation.

The only takeback is that the selection is based on the Apostle's luck, as they have to spin the wheel in order to select the suitable item.

The next page contained information on the Echelon of Sapience, and Elias and Lars spared no time diving into the information.

The Apostolic Deacon seat was referred to as Thought Deacon, and it granted the Apostles the passive ability of detailed 'analysis' and observation as their Innate Blessing.

The Runic Invocations gained are Platonian 3rd Eye, Unwanted Gift, and Thought Alteration, three abilities rooted deeply in the mind domain.

The successive level was labeled as Psyche Priest, an Apostolic Seat Elias and Lars were familiar with as this was the level of the True Scholars who participated in their Spiritual Resonance Test.

Their Innate Blessing evolved the previous ability of 'analysis', allowing them to not only analyze the thoughts of an individual through their physical mannerisms and displays but also directly tap into the mind, permitting them to read and guide it.

This eventually branches into the domain of psychology as with this ability, they are capable of treating cases of lunacy and madness, as the entire Realm Of Thought is more or less laid bare before them.

The three Runic Invocations added to their roaster of abilities were named as Mental Puppeteer, Mind Implosion, and the Imagined Mind Hall, but surprisingly weren't the subject of both brother's attention, as they were solely focused on the Tribulation that came with the Apostolic Seat.

The Tribulation stated that every form of mental trauma treated by the Apostle has to be transferred onto their own mind and housed within their Realm Of Thought, which leads to them experiencing random psychotic episodes related to their victim's unresolved mental trauma.

These experiences are fleeting and don't last for more than five seconds at a time but can occur quite successively, which then puts the Psyche Priest under a lot of mental strain from all the stress associated with it.

"So because their Realm Of Thought is stronger and a lot more solidified, they transfer the trauma from the patients they treat onto themselves, burying it within layers of thoughts and emotions hidden deep within their mind. These traumas will inevitably surface during a period of time, leaving the Apostle in a lot of stress and pain." Said Lars after some thought.

Elias nodded, finally understanding the root cause of the exaggerated display of the True Scholar during their academy tests.

"Isn't that a little bit too selfless? I understand that their Realm Of Thought is a lot more rigid when compared to normal people, but surely no one would be okay with such an arrangement." Commented Lars with doubt in his eyes.

Elias simply side glanced him, shaking his head while flipping over to the next page.

He knew that arguing with him wasn't worth it as except for his direct family and friends, Lars didn't care much about anything else, so it was perfectly understandable for him to doubt genuine selflessness and sacrifice.

Elias felt like it was only when he came to view the world through his own eyes, would he then develop an appreciation for the world and understand why self-sacrifice wasn't as impossible as he thought.

The next page contained information on the Echelon of Law and Order, detailing the abilities, trials, and drawbacks of the two Apostolic Seats; Dawn Deacon and Balance Priest.

Elias glanced through it pretty quickly, his favorite part of both sections being the Runic Invocations, which were Marauder Of Dawn, Blessing Of The Sun, and Flaring Broadsword for the former, and Fair Suppression, Angelic Protection and Shout Of Desperation for the latter.

Dawn Deacon was mainly focused on the utilization and authority over sunlight, while Balance Priest dealt with both equality and fairness under the law.

The next section was a major eye-opener for both brothers, as it confirmed one of their previous suspicions.

It held information about the two Apostolic Seats of the Echelon Of Death, proving that the religion of death had truly been an orthodox belief at some point in time.

"Since the numerous confirmations of the existence of six orthodox deities in the past, I always held onto the possibility of a god of death holding one of those positions, but it feels a lot more shocking to have it confirmed like this." Said Lars.

Elias pondered silently, his gaze deepening.

"This then begs the question, what happened in the past for the five orthodox churches to outlaw the religion of death, removing it from every recorded piece of history almost as if it had never existed?

"Where then is the forgotten god of death? Did he later become evil and was thus expelled and killed by the five remaining divine gods? Or did something a lot more frightening happen, something that even the gods themselves couldn't risk being revealed to the public?"

Even though these questions were asked, Elias was well aware that neither he nor his brother could come up with answers to these questions, as these were secrets directly involved with the domain of the gods, meaning that no matter how smart and intellectual they were, it existed far beyond the limits of mundane imagination or thinking.

Elias had on a solemn expression, glancing at the two seats pertaining to the Apostolic Deacon and Priest level of the Echelon Of Death, a domain which was vastly related to him by nature.

He read both titles, whispering them under his breath as he felt a faint but indescribable connection between him and the words written on the page.

'Rune Deacon and Spirit Priest.'