CHAPTER 29: START OF ANSCESION

"Titles are rare but not that much. I have one," Jessie said, her chin held high.

Having a title as an E-ranker was a feat of its own, but she had more than that. She had quite a unique title—Destiny Bender.

The description didn’t express much, but it was connected to her destiny, or maybe her influence to change destiny.

If Ash had seen the title, he would have coughed blood. He never believed in destiny or gods.

Ash was curious about her title, but he held his nerves and avoided asking.

He looked at his stats that were messed up. His luck had shot to 7, but physical strength was still a problem.

"Jessie," he stopped, articulating his words while Jessie looked at him with questions on her face.

"My physical stats are low. Is there a way to improve?"

Jessie looked at him with surprise. "You are a hunter, so you get 3 stat points on each level. Why are they low?

I only get 2 stat points on each level, and my MP automatically gets 1 stat point on every level up.

Wait, what did you choose as your first talent? I know hunters get the choice to get 1 stat point randomly on top of 3 stats." She kept reasoning by herself.

Ash didn’t like the way it was going, but he needed someone to guide him through this system shit. Maybe someone he trusted once—then why not again?

Jessie continued her monologue.

"Are you putting too much into MP? But then you don’t require that much MP as hunter skills are not costly in respect to mana consumption." Her eyes widened in realization.

"You have special stat points." Then after a long pause, her voice hesitated.

"You are not a hunter." She came to a conclusion.

"Aren’t you too smart for your own sake?" Ash chuckled. If he hadn’t spent time with her, she would have been dead by now.

Jessie jolted at his words, realizing the implications.

"Don’t worry, I want to know more about it. Just think of me as a toddler and explain," Ash said and told her about his luck stat. He didn’t say he was a modern Assassin but just a simple Assassin. He knew where to stop leaking information.

"Assassin... I would say it’s not a common profession but neither rare. You will find Assassins if you really look for them. But because of their underworld works, they tend to stay underground doing their work silently, either for government or rich nobles," Jessie explained.

"But I don’t think they also have any luck stat. It’s something unique just for you, if my knowledge is correct."

"Isn’t it strange to calculate the luck of someone?" Ash was unable to digest this. How could mere stats bind his luck?

Jessie thought about the question but she had something similar—her title Destiny Bender.

"It’s not ancient times. In this era, the system is supreme; nothing is beyond its grasp," Jessie was blatant in her words.

"Come with me," she asked him to follow her. "You are unaware of even the basics of this world—how dungeons appeared, what the system is?."

Ash followed her to the Rankers Association, asking for the library token which was given to them in exchange for two bronze coins.

Ash entered the connected library where shelves were full of books—history, geography, magic, profession modules, altered professions. There was a variety of books.

Jessie made Ash sit at a table and then started putting books one after another on his desk.

"These are the main books that you should read, and here’s the Assassin paths that you may get help from."

Ash was unable to even voice a word out. He remembered his mother in his previous life, how she used to force him to study so he could get a decent job.

"I will be back by the time you complete them." She left Ash at the table with more than ten books.

Ash was grateful to some extent; he knew knowledge was power. His Assassin mind always analyzed his target in and out. If he had enough knowledge about the target, then half the work was done.

So no one knew the importance of knowledge more than him.

He looked at the title of the book.

"Start of Ascension."

He started reading the book page by page, and by the time he realized, the book had ended.

Then he went through all the books one by one over the next three days. He even forgot to eat anything. Black bags were visible under his eyes.

His mind was blown by the information he had got. It would take some time to settle in.

This world wasn’t any different from Earth. The originality of Earth was there in the past—humans with no powers, no dungeons, no beasts. Everything was normal until one day when all of humanity heard a voice:

[3rd Ascension Trial]

And after that, people started getting professions and some minor E-rank gates emerged. Things were on the lighter side until the appearance of dungeons kept increasing and the level of dungeons improved.

The first generation was lackluster in their attempts, but they were able to survive the chaos that paved the way for the second generation, who already had knowledge of professions, beast cores, and the way to maximize system rewards.

Currently, it was the transition between the second generation to the third generation, where everyone was acute to the system. It had become part of their life. This generation couldn’t even think of the peaceful days when there would be no monsters.

He wasn’t naive to fully believe in these books. He had seen how history was changed by the victors in his previous life, so nothing changed here. He was more curious about ascension trials; the book had no description about it.

He had multiple possibilities in his head, but he kept them aside.

Then his eyes lingered on the Assassin module. Surprisingly, it was quite detailed, showing choices of skills.

There was a skill tree based on prior knowledge from leveled-up assassins.

There was the main tree and then five branches showing five different sets of options to choose from.

Then 3 choices attached to the first option and next 5 branches connected to it. It continued till level forty.

The tree was getting vaster and bigger. Keeping track of all the choices was impossible if one hadn’t spent significant time studying them.

Surprisingly, Ash had none of the paths mentioned. His Shadow Veil talent was completely out of the box.

His first skill was dedicated to reducing MP recovery time, which was stealth for normal assassins.

Ash realized that taking help from the module was a waste at this point.

He no longer wanted to dwell in these books any longer. His knowledge of the world had widened which would help him in future.

His eyes looked at the Quest.

[Status: Ongoing]