**Temple of Light will now be known as "Church of the Sacred Light" **
Dai Zhi leaned back to take out a small metal box from one of the drawers on his desk.
The box was a square about 8 centimeters wide with multiple seals placed on it. Each seal was in the shape of a glyph or symbol that carelessly moved about its surface.
He then proceeded to take off one of his cross-shaped earrings and place it on the surface of the box, muttering under his breath, "By Order of the Holy Light, open!"
All the moving glyphs froze and then cracked, turning into specks of light that evaporated into nothingness.
Dai Zhi pulled the lid open and with an amiable smile presented it to Micha with both his hands.
Micha looked at the box and then him, unsure if this was actually happening "This is..."
"Congratulations. You have been accepted into the 'Order of the Holy Light'. By the power granted to me by the High Heavens and the Church of the Sacred Light, I wele brother Micha into the order."
Micha's entire body quivered upon hearing that. With trembling hands, he picked up the metal box and pulled out a silver ring from it.
"Is this....real?" he couldn't believe his eyes.
Dai Zhi chuckled upon seeing his reaction but it wasn't all that unexpected.
"This feeling, always remember it. Even a hundred or a thousand years from now, remember what you are feeling as you hold it for the first time. The power, the awe, and most importantly, the responsibility that es with it. Do not ever forget it."
Micha had tears in his eyes as he brushed his fingers over the gold halo on the ring, feeling a wisp of otherworldly ethereal power crawl into him.
As previously stated, the divine beings that claimed to care for the people and fight for them in the greater world gathered under the banner of the Church of the Sacred Light.
It was an alliance between multiple heavens that allowed Godly beings to take proper action and bring order to the greater world. It was relatively new and was only properly constituted in the last era, the Era of Ruin.
There are of course other such institutions that existed long before them. The Temple of War for example had been around for as long as history itself had existed.
But before the Church of the Sacred Light, each World and Heaven was segregated and operated independently. And then something happened in the Era of Ruin that made them chose to throw away most of their idiosyncrasies and traits in favor of a more universal approach.
After its formation, the Church swiftly gained a lot of followers and in the blink of an eye became the largest force in the greater world.
Soon after they started policing the minor worlds and enforcing their own laws even on the ones that never asked for their help.
And to keep this grip on the greater world, they gathered talented geniuses from across the ten worlds and brought them together so they could pete with one another and flourish in an environment that was under the Church's control.
Of these geniuses, those that showed a peculiar predilection to the teachings of the Church of the Sacred Light were granted access to a special organization known as the "Order of the Holy Light".
It was a somewhat secretive institution within the inner sanctum of the Church itself, created solely to raise the next generation of devout leaders within the Church.
To say that the Order of Holy Light was the fast track to the top would be a gross understatement. Each of its members was the most elite of the elite and had access to every resource imaginable. The Church had often waged wars to gather rare resources for their younger generation, not that anyone was stupid enough to say no to them in the first place.
The identities of the member of the Order were kept hidden until they were strong enough to protect themselves and venture out alone.
They were the source of envy in every generation but what made it worse was that no one could "apply" to join the order. Only a high-ranking member could invite and vouch for new members unless the Church reached out by itself and invited someone, which was an extremely rare occurrence.
And just now, Micha, a prince from some random grade 2 kingdom had been invited to join the ranks of the most exclusive and resourceful organization in all of the greater world. And it was only because of Dai Zhi, who had vouched for him personally that it was possible.
Micha bowed from the waist and stayed there, "T-Thank you, my L-Lord," he said stutteringly, with tears streaming down his face.
Dai Zhi reached out to pull him back up.
"Stop this. All I did was say a few words, it was you who made it a reality. The Church has seen what you are capable of and they approve. But don't get too relaxed, this is just the beginning. Once we are done with this planet I will take you to visit the Order myself.. There are a few people I would like for you to meet."
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