Ascenders Rift

Chapter 13: A Deadly Mission! Unusual Awakening

Evan had arrived in a world of death, a land that seemed to have died many ages ago. The lifeless trees, corpses, and other beings scattered about in countless numbers as a sea of blood had formed below their bodies.

Around these corpses were a myriad of execution platforms, each worn by the ravages of time as their dried-up blood from dead beings seeped into its core.

A few rusted blades hung lose from guillotines, along with ageless decapitator swords strewed about the fractured stone-paved floor.

Looking further beyond this scene, one would see several broken stone-built structures of ancient design, scattered for as far one's eyes could see a blood aura permeating the atmosphere of these ruins of a world.

Yet, even in this chaos of land, there those that wandered with fragments of life. Stragglers of this godforsaken earth cursed to shuffle about in search of what they've long since lost.

Shuffle! Shuffle! Currently, a few of these beings were sauntering about in a slow and seemingly aimless manner wandering about the dead earth in various directions. They dragged their broken bodies across the stone-paved floor, moving pass a nearby structure. Suddenly, one of them halted as it shifted its blood-red eyes towards building, showing doubtful look on its lifeless face.

However, this only lasted for a moment before it returned to the norm, continuing to move towards no meaningful destination.

Evan, who was hiding with the building heaved a sigh of releasing the creature left, he lifted his head gritted his teeth as he pondered, "Of all things, Level 1 Zombies... how troubling. I'd have at least expected for them to allow me to awaken with Quasi-Level 1 Monsters like in other Lesser Spaces. Even that would have been a feat, just what am I supposed to do here directly against Level 1 Zombies of all things?"

As Evan spoke, he couldn't help but revealed a puzzled expression as he looked around the dead world. He pondered, "Is this the penalty for jumping in without waiting for the standard time? Why have I not been promp---?"

[Welcome.] The familiar cold female voice said.

Evan, hearing this voice, was not happy; this was the voice that accompanied him for many years. He didn't reply as he knew that it would continue speaking now that welcomed him.

[You have been given exclusive access to the Ascenders Trial. Complete the mission, and you will earn the right to receive an Ascender's Crest.]

[Mission - Kill the Fallen Executor - Aperehs] [Rank - Impossible]

[Location - The Banished World - Arelith]

[The time coefficient of both worlds is 3:1]

[You have three days to complete this mission, failure to do so... is death.]

[Calculation possibilities of success... calculation complete.]

[Possibility of Success - 0.1%]

[Mission has been started.]

Evan, who read all this information, was stunned as he shouted in his mind, "Are you kidding me? You want me to kill a Fallen? What's my status?"

The system seemed to have heard Evan's words, it replied promptly.

[Listing Candidate Status:]

[Evan Cross - Special Status - ????????]

[Race - Human | State - Unawakened]

[Class - None]

[Health - 100]

[Battle Power - 0]

[Strength - 7]

[Vitality - 6]

[Agility - 7]

[Talent - None]

[Skills - None]

Evan seeing his stats wasn't surprised, he contemplated, "My stats compared to the average human is already to be expected as they typically would average out at four to five. But this amount of power is not even close when compared with the likes of Fallen... dammit."

He was about to curse some more, but it was at this time, his eyes noticed something strange, causing him to speak in surprise, "Eh? What's that? A Special Status... I don't recall having such a thing in my last life."

Yet, as Evan was surprised about this detail, the voice sounded once more in his mind.

[Because of current mission imbalance, Special Status has been invoked.]

[Candidate Evan has been authorized for Classless Awakening.]

[Commencing Body Transformation.]

"What in the world? This is imp..." Evan was about to exclaim, but before he could even say anything, there was a change.

Instantly, his body became still as if he was frozen by time. A series of powerful energies began to flow around him, causing him to glow in a strange white light.

This change lasted for a few hours, causing a few of the straggling Zombies to wander nearby, but before they could enter the building, Evan had already awoken from his previous state.

The lights vanished, revealing Evan's somewhat different appearance. If one looked carefully, they would see that his skin was livelier hair grew slighter longer and muscles were more well-built.

Evan stood to his feet with a somewhat confident appearance as his previous anxiousness had faded, he smiled and gripped his fists as a surge of power flowed through his being.

"This strength... to think I could awaken without even killing a single being. I suppose its cause and effect, for the mission and the penalty for it, is far too severe, thus making it pay corresponded prices. Or, it could even be that all of this more or likely related to that Special Status. Regardless, what matters now is completing this mission as soon as I possibly can." Evan said with a firm look on his face.

"Status!" Evan said with his mind, causing his information to display once more before his eyes.

[Evan Cross - Special Status - ????????]

[Race - Human | State - Awakened]

[Class - None]

[Level - 1]

[Next Level - 1000 EXP]

[Total EXP - 0]

[Health - 150]

[Battle Power - 5]

[Strength - 10]

[Vitality - 9]

[Agility - 10]

[Talent - None]

[Skills - None]

"My stats have increased by the standard three stats per level-up, and like my previous life because of my already high status, I've already achieved 10 in both strength and agility, thus becoming a Stage 1 Ascender. So long as I achieve Level 11, then like last time, based on my stats, I will be able to achieve the rank of a Stage 2 Ascender undergoing another qualitative change. That is assuming I can at least get a Superior Tier Class like my previous Aura Swordsman Class. However, judging by this mission, I have a strong feeling that I might be able to get the even rarer Apex Tier Class." Evan said in satisfaction as he saw his current stats, he was about to leave the room to and find a weapon, but there was a change.

Bang! With a boom, the door had broken to pieces as a wandering zombie had appeared directly before his eyes. It looked at Evan with excitement as it roared and charged towards him at speeds faster than any athlete in his world, far different from its previously slouchy movements.

As Evan saw this, he remained calm; his eyes flickered as he saw the details of the creature displayed before him.

[Cursed Arelithian Zombie - Level 1]

[A being cursed by the gods that governed Arelith, forced to wander the world as a lifeless corpse never to be reincarnated. It carries a savage will to consume all life to vent its sorrow and rage.]

[Health - 200]

[Strength - 10]

[Agility - 10]

[Skills:]

[Cursed Bite - A single bite will allow you to share their fate.]

[Cursed Claws - ...]

By the time Evan was finished skimmed over the stats, the Arelithian Zombie was already upon him, he spoke in relief as he reacted, "It's good that they don't have Battle Force..."

Instantly, Evan shifted his body to the side, easily avoiding a life-threatening claw attack swipe towards his throat. As he dodged, Evan left one of his legs below the feet of the Arelithian Zombie causing it to stumble and crash into the wall in front of it.

"Huu...." Evan exhaled as a long breath, came out of his mouth, following by vague amounts of rising steam forming around his body. Not long after, Evan jumped into the air spinning his body as he used the force to gathered to kick the head of the zombie into the wall.

Bang! With a loud sound, the head of the zombie burst into pieces as the wall had formed a spider web of cracks.

After finishing off the zombie, Evan retracted his foot, bending his knee and kicking his leg again a few consecutive times as if to test his leg force. He smiled and spoke, "Good, although it's still low, it was more than capable of doing minor damage to a wall of sturdy concrete. Battle Force is after all the final assessor of actual combat strength," As Evan finished his words, a notification popped up into his eyes.

[5 EXP gained!]

Evan smirked as he recalled a few scenes from his past, he thought to himself, "It will take roughly 1000 EXP to climb up to Level 2. Heh, I haven't done grinding in a long time. Well, no time to waste, I have a three-day deadline."