1 Entry to Ascension Temple
Kyle stood on the window of his house in the central district of the Rostelles city while staring at the obelisk hovering mid-air in the sky.
This magical structure appeared to be located just at the horizon, but that was nothing more than an illusion. The obelisk was situated thousands of miles away from his present location.
A hundred and five years ago, this obelisk which was later named as the 'Ascension Temple' had suddenly appeared in the sky above the then called Atlantic Ocean.
This phenomenon shocked the entire world. Before the leaders of humanity could even come to a conclusion about how to approach the hovering obelisk, all humans who were sixteen years of age or older suddenly found themselves vanishing in thin air out of the blue.
All these people woke up to find themselves in an unknown place which was later identified as the first floor of the magical obelisk.
The people were teleported to a new world which was located at the first floor of the Ascension Temple. This world had both magic and monsters and operated just like the MMORPGs that were widely played by people. While the in-game NPC's were replaced by the natives of the world who had only one life, most of the other features of the world remained the same.
Without any suspense, people soon found out that just like the games, killing monsters and completing missions given by the natives could help them level up, learn spells and techniques that used mana or its equivalents to perform superhuman moves.
The most significant part of this was that these powers could be used back on earth once people returned as well.
The established notion of power changed and despite the full fledged attempts of the governments of various countries, they were unable to control the internal unrest and external wars.
Initially, the threat of nuclear weapons was able to keep the external enemies in check. But, they soon lost their potency as deterrents with humans becoming stronger and finding new mystic powers every passing day.
The balance of power was tripped and finally, the global turmoil began.
Old countries fell and were replaced by newly formed states. Hundreds of countries were replaced by thousands of independent states ruled by people or organisations wielding powers both political and magical.
Taking his attention away from the Ascension Temple, Kyle looked at the wall clock in front of him.
'Hmm..4 a.m. just half an hour left.' Kyle muttered.
As soon as he turned sixteen, he would be teleported inside the Ascension Temple. Though he wouldn't be teleported while he was asleep, being teleported as soon as he woke up would prevent him from making the necessary preparations.
This half an hour passed in the blink of an eye..
'Alright, this is it..' Kyle took a deep breath as he tightened his grip on the sword tied to his waist.
Suddenly, Kyle's entire body emitted a blinding light as he felt everything around him spinning with a constantly increasing speed.
'Whoaa!'Kyle abruptly got up to find himself lying on a bed in an unfamiliar room.
Kyle got out of the door of the room to find himself standing in front of a large empty ground which was surrounded by large mediaeval style buildings on all sides. The door behind him disappeared as soon as Kyle moved out of the room.
Kyle could see thousands of teenagers of his age standing in the large ground while there was also a constant influx of people who arrived here the same manner as him.
Ignoring the people around him, Kyle made his way towards one end of the ground. After walking for a few minutes, he arrived in front of a mediaeval style castle which had a blue colored flag on top of it. The flag contained the image of a humanoid creature wielding a broadsword.
Two words 'Soulence Castle' were majestically written On the bottom of the flag.
Soulence Castle was the ruling guild of the state of Etehia, the state which Kyle lived in.
Kyle joined a small group of people standing in the lobby of the castle, looking at a middle aged man who was silently standing on a small stage in front of them.
'Status' Kyle muttered under his breath. Immediately afterward, a holographic screen appeared before him.
[Name: Kyle Zehern]
[Ascendant level: 1]
[Exp : 0/100]
[Life tokens: 1]
[Status:]
[HP:10/10]
[Mana equivalent: 10/10]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 2] [Agility: 3]
[Stamina: 2] [Endurance: 1.5]
[Energy affinity:5][Intelligence: 2]
[Skills: tap to expand]
[Abilities: tap to expand]
[Equipment: Doppelganger blade]
[(Sword/mortal/tier 1)]
Although the status screen was like a game interface for the major part, there were some differences.
Unlike a game, Kyle didn't have unlimited lives. Instead he had one life token which was equivalent to one extra life.
All the natives and new arrivals on the first floor of the Ascension Temple were Ascendant level 1. This power level was also the physical and mental limit of all the mortal lifeforms.
'Ahem!' The middle aged man standing at the front coughed lightly to draw the attention of the teenagers gathered before him.
"Today I represent the Soulence Castle and all the other guilds of the state of Etehia to welcome you all to your first visit to the Ascension Temple.
You all are sixteen years old and already considered adults, so we expect you to maintain decorum while in the Ascension Temple.
Although many things here are like the video games that were popular a few years back, this is not a game." The middle-aged man said solemnly while making sure to stress over the last part.
"Every action of yours will have consequences and don't expect others to help you out of your mess. And most importantly, never blindly trust anyone, especially people from other states." The man continued, his tone getting deeper with every word.
There was a brief silence as all the new arrivals processed what they had just heard.
The man nodded slightly after seeing the serious expressions on the faces of the teenagers before him.
" Now that this is over, you all should report to the guest faculty of your schools for all the basic knowledge and you can also discuss which guilds or other organisations you will be joining with them." Saying as much, the man got off the stage and walked into a door by the side of the stage.
'Skills' Kyle muttered under his breath and another holographic screen appeared before his eyes.
[Skills]
[1. Wink leap: A short leap that employs mana or it's equivalents to perform a short distance jump within a range of 5 metres instantaneously."
"Cost: 1 Mana equivalent]
[2. Energy cut: Projects energy in shape of '×' to deal a penetrating attack to the foe.]
[Cost: 2 Mana equivalents]
[3.Mana Block: Reduces the damage taken from an attack in the range of 50% to 90% when weapons are used to block an incoming attack. Reduces the damage dealt by any attack by 100% when blocked using a shield]
[Cost: 2 Mana equivalents ]
[Abilities:]
[1. Universal weapon wielding (Tier 1)]
For now, Kyle only had the three elementary skills that were taught to the students universally while he had only one ability that enabled him to wield any and all kinds of weapons to a basic level.
These were all the beginner skills granted to everyone upon entering the Ascension Temple.
__________
"Kyle Zehern right? I have heard that your combat based results are very good and you have been the top scorer in combat studies for the two years that you spent in the school."
"Are you sure that you don't want to join any of the guilds right now?" A middle aged woman with a polite smile asked Kyle.
"Yes professor. I do not want to join any of the guilds at the moment." Kyle replied without any hesitation.
"Alright. I won't stop you from doing what you want, but you can take a look at these packages that are offered to you by the different guilds. You can come back and discuss with me at a later date if you are interested in joining any of them." Saying so, the teacher handed five pages to Kyle.
Kyle looked at the page which contained the names of various guilds along with the conditions and pay that they were willing to offer him.
After flipping through the pages quickly, Kyle stood up and walked out of the office while keeping the pages with him.
Although the terms offered to him were attractive, Kyle did not bother to give it another look; he put it inside a storage bracelet.
Kyle took a teleportation circle from the building and arrived at the gate of the city of Aseles, one of the few 'beginner villages' that were under the administration of Soulence Castle.
After making sure that Kyle had left, the female teacher pulled out a scroll from her storage bracelet and wrote something on it.
After a few moments, another line of words appeared right under the words written by her.
After reading those words, the teacher raised one of her eyebrows while the smile on her lips vanished. She folded back the scroll and put it away.
'I really don't want to interfere in this matter if I have a choice. They won't even tell me anything about the reasons.' The teacher sighed to herself.
At the same time, after his arrival in the city of Aseles, Kyle walked directly towards the city centre.
The city centre was surrounded by a marketplace where both natives and Ascendants had put up many stalls selling a myriad of different things ranging from potions to weapons and armors.
While moving towards the centre of the market, Kyle also kept a lookout for anything that may prove to be useful to him.
