High Arcanum

As Ethan's Spirit Body traveled through the spirit world, he soon found himself traversing through a reflection of the left side of the Polar Sea.

With his Spirit Body floating in the foggy world filled with colors, he soon felt like going through a barrier, like traversing a marsh.

Not long after that, the entire spirit world shone with a bluish light, and his Spirit Body finally descended upon something.

*Click Clack

*Whooom

Ethan tried lifting his hand, only to realize that- "Metal prosthetics?"

His entire body was made from metal, it had a silver composition and looked like an extremely advanced robot, something that would exist hundreds, if not thousands of years into the future.

The limbs were completely smooth, being impossible to discern any kind of crevice from it. It was no different from liquid silver given human form.

'This level of technology… Is this the result of any spells?' Ethan was truly astounded with what he was perceiving, he couldn't understand what it was that he was seeing at all.

As he didn't have his sealing glasses on, Ethan should be able to easily discern the spiritual and technical details of the prosthetics he was seeing. The problem was: they didn't have any details.

Ethan couldn't perceive any form of spiritual aura from the metal limbs, nor could he see anything related to machinery in it.

'It's like a completely different material… How…' To be able to create something like that, this organization wasn't simple at all.

As Ethan was trying to understand what the metal that constituted his metallic body was, a tall young teenager with dark-golden hair and blue eyes looked at him from a black table filled with many different ingredients and papers.

"Hey there! It took you some time to recite after me! I knew you would be cautious so I just waited while tidying the place up a little." The teen had the same voice as the Alchemist's Hut youngster from before.

Ethan turned his metallic face devoid of any features but two blue lights where the eyes should be, and thought of replying, "What is this metallic body? What did you do to my Spirit Body? How can you be here in perfect form when your body is still in your living room?"

He thought of asking all of those questions, and as he didn't have any mouth, they simply resonated from his body through the air.

Ethan started looking at his surroundings, and he realized his field of vision was of three-hundred and sixty degrees, he could see everything around him and even himself at the same time.

Such an experience wasn't too much for him, as his mind was far too strong and he could easily absorb all the information as a Savant, Melee Scholar, and Reader.

The place was not different from the style of the current era. It was an office filled with different kinds of books and vials that had ingredients in them.

All in all, it was like the most cliche office depicting a true Alchemist. Ethan kept looking around and noticed there were no windows in place, the only source of light coming from a white led light bulb.

'What!?? LED!?? How can people from the Victorian era have led light bulbs!!?' Even when his mind was still founded in calm, coldness, and apathy, Ethan couldn't help but have his mind go completely blank.

'How could my son never tell me about such an insane organization? Is it not related to the main plot of that book?'

'No! That shouldn't be the case, if such an insane organization existed in the book, it was impossible for its author not to comment anything about it. Maybe this isn't the exact same universe as the book happens in?'

Ethan kept thinking non stop, his mind having had these many thoughts in mere ten seconds. The teen was finally able to process all his many questions and answered:

"The body you are currently situated in is what we call 'Inferior Reserve', it's the recipient used for receiving the Spirit Body of new members; your Spirit Body has been transferred to this 'Inferior Reserve' so that you could actually reach the headquarters; my body you're seeing is called 'Superior Reserve' and it's used to receive the Spirit Bodies of minor members."

The youngster quickly answered all his questions in succession, as if he had done similar things many times in the past. Ethan kept trying to analyze his current situation with as much of his mental processing power as he could.

While he was processing all the things he was seeing and hearing, the blonde teen suddenly stood up and bowed to the door with utmost respect, as if sensing a presence of incredible renown next to him.

Ethan focused most of his attention on where the youngster was looking at and noticed an abnormality in his spiritual perception.

It was like a portal was opening by itself from an indescribable realm Ethan couldn't understand. However, as he was an extremely qualified Telepathist, he soon copied the young teen and bowed to the front door of the office.

Bowing down, he saw countless runic symbols of thousands of different languages materializing into a circular portal in the physical world.

The many symbols burned with so much energy it was like they could directly destroy Ethan from just beholding their existence.

After they materialized into a circular portal, a figure started emerging from it. As if leaving a pool of very thick blue liquid, the figure slowly left the confines housed by the portal.

"He" had incredibly long silvery-blue hair that reached the ankles, wearing loose robes seemingly made from words and symbols only. "His" body had countless runes floating around it, as if paying respects to an entity just far too superior to themselves.

A constantly changing perfect sphere made from silvery-blue runes floated around "His" body, as if a planet orbiting around its own star.

As "He" left the portal, Ethan knew this was no ordinary entity. He knew this was undoubtedly a true Angel. An Angel that stood even higher than a Grounded one, a Sequence 1 Angel that could be seen as the closest existence to a true deity ever.

When seeing the Angel, Ethan knew he had made a mistake. He should never have accepted becoming a member of such a powerful organization. He was no match for the entity in front of him at all, he didn't even know if his mind was being read right at that moment at all.

His greed had spoken louder than his caution, and it might have cost his life.

Looking at the immaculate being in front of him, he just couldn't help but be filled with a sense of inferiority, like when a human could finally understand the grandness of the entire universe, knowing their place in such a vast reality.

With Ethan being in the middle of a mental breakdown, the blonde teen kept his head lowered while calmly saying, "Good evening, your Excellency."

The Angel didn't reply as the many symbols that floated around "Him" started organizing themselves into words from an incomprehensible runic language. When the symbols truly formed, it was like Ethan had been implanted with knowledge just from standing in front of it.

"Is this the new member you brought?" The message was transmitted with millions of different meanings, Ethan almost had his mind break before it soon calmed down again.

The teen looked at the Angel and politely replied, "Yes, your Excellency. I decided to bring him here directly as he showed no signs of mental instability even after becoming a Serial Killer, so I imagined he would be a great addition to the Pillar of Alchemy as a field researcher."

The angel was silent as the runes that floated around "Him" kept transforming themselves into messages, "You did well, I also sense no corruption from the controller of the Tenebrous World."

The runes quickly reached a high sense of balance as their meaning changed to directly address Ethan, "You don't have to be afraid, I appear for all new members that join the High Arcanum. Eilen will explain things to you. From this point on, you will be considered a member of the Pillar of Alchemy."

As the symbols transmitted their meanings, Ethan could perfectly understand everything they indicated, even words such as 'High Arcanum' or 'Pillar of Alchemy' made complete sense to him for a moment.

With that message, the Angel slowly walked back to the portal "He" came from, passing through it once again. As "His" figure disappeared in the black void behind the runic portal, it quickly closed behind "Him", reestablishing the sense of normalcy in the room once more.

Ethan was still shocked and wondered if he would be discovered as an anomaly, being killed the moment he moved an inch of his current metallic form.

The blonde teen- Eilen, looked at Ethan and calmly said, "That was "His" Excellency, The Apostle of Arcana. "He" is the most powerful Angel overseeing the Mystical Kingdom, and a direct apostle under the creator of this realm."

The youth's words couldn't reach Ethan at all, he was paralyzed in place, unable to move at all. His cold mind's foundation barely survived after the shock of seeing such an incomprehensible entity.

He slowly turned his head and looked at the blonde youth on his side, trying to calm his mind as much as possible, while also creating a mental note to never act so recklessly ever again. "Explain."

Eilen gave him an innocent smile while replying, "Our true organization's name is High Arcanum, it was created during the Third Epoch by a powerful entity known as 'The Absolute Arcane'. He created this place to resisting a supposed apocalypse that would happen during the Fifth Epoch"

Ethan slowly nodded, trying to assimilate the high level knowledge he was just hearing about.

"The Absolute Arcane separated "His" magic into Six Pillars, three main ones and three minor ones, gifting them to "His" direct descendants. They are as follows: The Pillar of Creation; The Pillar of Destruction; The Pillar of Control; The Pillar of Alchemy; The Pillar of Elements; and The Pillar of Runes."

Eilen stopped for a second to regain some of his breathing and finished his explanation, " The Pillars of Creation and Alchemy are related to each other, same with Destruction and Elements and also Control and Runes.

"While there are main Pillars and minor Pillars, currently, there's barely any difference between them, as the Sequence 1 characteristics that represent the three main Pillars have been taken away by some of our enemies.

"Finishing, there is at least one Angel that controls each Pillar, they each have certain aspects of the Pillar's Pathways, but are still from the standard ones when it comes to their actual characteristics. The only one that has the characteristics for the Pillar's Pathways is his Excellency, The Apostle of Arcana."

Ethan digested all this information and couldn't help but ask, "You're telling me there are other Pathways outside the twenty-two ones?"

Eilen looked at him and calmly replied, "Yes. They were characteristics that belonged to The Absolute Arcane, but have been mostly lost. Few members have the characteristics for these Pathways and they are all demigods already."

'What a disgrace! This means that there'll still be Pathways I won't have access to, how can I resolve this problem?' Ethan could not take characteristics from any other Pathways as it would bring him an impossible to overcome imbalance in his existence, leading to his death.

"Well then, would you like to take a tour through the city? I can show you around!" Eilen was still as enthusiastic as always, talking as if Ethan was a member of his own family.

Ethan rigidly nodded and followed Eilen outside the door, "By the way, what's your name? I don't recall asking you."

As Ethan looked at him for a second, he hesitatingly replied, "Ethan. Ethan Edwards."