How to Live as a Knight After the Ending

Chapter 214: Ascension (2)

Gaien still remembered the scene from that day.

On that day when his body and mind were mutilated by black magicians, Gaien saw light for the first time.

It was starlight that his friend Rommel showed to save him.

Rommel took the curse in his place and fell into darkness. Gaien wandered outside to save Rommel, with the sole determination to somehow eliminate the curse that had infiltrated his body.

It was in the dead of night when only pitch-black darkness filled everything.

Beyond the horizon, very far away, a massive flash of light that seemed to illuminate the world could be seen rising high into the sky.

-That is.

It looked like a signal flare announcing the world’s freedom, and also like thrusting a spear to defeat something.

Gaien thought the sky pierced by that light had shattered for a moment.

Later, he realized it wasn’t the sky shattering, but the sight of countless stars spreading and falling in all directions.

A meteor shower engraving countless marks across the sky.

Gaien was captivated body and soul by that beauty.

Though it was a very old memory, the scene from that day was vivid enough to appear before his eyes.

“At that time, my priority was bringing Rommel back, so I dismissed it as some phenomenon and didn’t pay attention. But later, I learned something.”

“What was that?”

“That day, countless fragments of the sky fell to the ground.”

Gaien naturally added:

“This might sound like some natural disaster, but in reality it wasn’t. Because that phenomenon didn’t cause any damage. That’s what made it even more mysterious. A massive explosion occurred that everyone could see, yet no damage was reported.”

At that time, various stories circulated among people.

Some spoke of conspiracies, some of divine praise, some of objective analysis.

But as time passed, even that gradually faded, and later was forgotten.

“Now it’s hard to even find stories from that time. It’s too long ago, and unlike how spectacular it was, nothing particularly notable happened afterwards.”

Since there had been all sorts of strange occurrences before, people thought it was just an extension of similar events and moved on.

Thus the world seemed to return to normal.

“But that wasn’t the case. Even if others didn’t notice, I, and other long-lived beings, could feel it.”

That spectacular firework was just a kind of signal flare.

After that, the world began to undergo changes, little by little.

“The beginning was extremely subtle. The changes progressed so gradually that people didn’t even notice. Even elves were the same. It took them 100-200 years to notice the changes.”

Changes in the world.

Science advancing, nations falling and new ones rising.

New ideologies, new laws, new energy resources, new opportunities.

Like a coat slowly getting wet in drizzling rain, before they knew it, they were already at the center of change.

As if something that had been blocked until now had collapsed, and a small water channel that had opened somehow became a river and overflowed.

“That probably happened because the reign of chaos disappeared. Of course, this is just my speculation.”

“So you don’t know the exact details either.”

“I merely witnessed the results of what occurred. No matter how much I try to find the reason why it happened or what caused it, I can’t know if that’s the truth.”

“Then what’s your theory? Surely you must have thought about it.”

“Theory? Yes, I have thought about it. For instance, I have a hypothesis about why the world suddenly changed.”

Gaien raised his index finger.

“It’s that the reign of chaos had been holding back the world’s development until then.”

“Held back the world’s development?”

True to the name reign of chaos, at that time there were countless monsters and beings with divine attributes.

There were various types of beings with divine attributes. There were those born naturally in this land with divine attributes, and conversely, there were divine attributes that came from the ‘outside’.

Because of them, the world was truly filled with chaos.

‘But in the end, what matters is the final boss.’

Osian recalled the final boss.

The God of Deep Law. Unlike the righteous-sounding name, it looked like a person about 3m tall wearing dark-colored armor.

From the ominous yet stylish armor design, to the spectacular impact of space distorting and all kinds of destruction occurring whenever it wielded its weapon and hands.

Befitting a final boss, the difficulty was considerable, and Osian had quite a struggle with this opponent.

Osian waited for Gaien’s next words.

“Chaos was holding back the flow of this world. They fought and cooperated with each other to prevent development, trying to maintain the age of myths and legends as it was. They probably wanted to establish their era eternally.”

“That’s a plausible hypothesis.”

While the game didn’t explain the main story in detail, it had the basic premise that the world’s reign had been cruelly tainted, and it needed to be overthrown.

Of course, what was different was that the reign wasn’t just a simple tyrant, but dragons and monsters, ancient beasts, twisted spirits, and divine beings.

Thinking about it that way, it didn’t seem wrong to say that the divine beings had arbitrarily blocked the world’s flow.

“So that’s how the world developed, but why did I appear in this era?”

“That’s ironic too. I believe that scene was surely created when you, Osian, ascended.”

“Is that term ‘ascension’ something you came up with?”

Osian had never heard the term ascension in the game.

Unless he hadn’t properly read the story or item tooltips, but that wasn’t the case, so it was even more confusing.

‘That setting didn’t exist.’

In other words, what Gaien was explaining was information outside the game that Osian knew nothing about.

‘The game didn’t represent everything about this world, so it’s not impossible that there are things I don’t know.’

So he intended to find out now.

“Ascension. That’s what I call it for now. Though I’m not the original creator of the term.”

“Then who is?”

“The mayor of Tirna.”

A more unexpected entity was mentioned than expected.

“The mayor. I heard there are five of them?”

“Yes. Among them, there is one who has maintained the same position for a very long time. His name is Aspirex. He is one of the five mayors who has maintained his position since Tirna’s birth.”

Aspirex. Osian softly muttered that name.

It was a name he was hearing for the first time. This means he wasn’t a famous NPC in the game either.

But given that he maintained his position continuously, he probably wasn’t human.

“Did he mention anything about ascension?”

“Among various races, especially among humans, individuals with outstanding potential are sometimes born. They are known as ‘those who possess the qualification for ascension’, and they have a great influence on the world.”

Similar people came to Osian’s mind.

He thought that hero-class NPCs might be that type. If it meant using multiple characteristics simultaneously rather than just one given characteristic, it was entirely possible.

“Among those who possess this qualification, only an extremely small number can achieve ascension. And from what I’ve heard, some of those we used to call gods were once people of this earth who achieved great deeds and ascended.”

“That’s somewhat unexpected.”

But at the same time, it made sense.

Besides the outer gods trying to dominate the Slithering Sisters, there are various faiths in this world.

Among them, there were sometimes beings who seemed so human-like you’d wonder if they were really gods.

Thinking that they were once human like himself made Gaien’s words extremely rational.

It meant that the divine attributes, the crystallization of faith, were divided into innate and acquired.

“Simply put, ascension is the process of becoming a god. Or it’s something that beings living on this earth can reach when they transcend something. By ascending like that, they can transform into stronger beings.”

Gaien stared intently at Osian.

“The problem is that if you ascended, you should have surely become a god, but you, Osian, remained human.”

Ascension is the process of becoming a god.

Osian was the only case of someone who ascended but didn’t become a god.

“Does anything come to mind?”

“Something that comes to mind.”

Osian recalled how his previously usable skills were locked.

And simultaneously, the knight’s power scattered throughout the world and those trying to use it.

“My power is scattered throughout the world now.”

“That means, as I thought, the meteor shower I saw that day wasn’t just a natural phenomenon.”

Gaien nodded, saying he roughly understood how the situation had played out.

“You tried to ascend but fell to earth. Your power was scattered and dispersed throughout this world.”

“Can ascension be interfered with?”

“…Even after you, Osian, there were several ascenders. But even such ascenders never failed at ascension. Moreover, their ascension process wasn’t as spectacular as yours.”

“So there’s a difference in degree.”

“I don’t know the details about that part either, so I have nothing to say.”

“Since I don’t know the reason either, we’ll have to make assumptions about that part.”

Still, the conversation with Gaien provided Osian with a lot of information.

He was particularly interested in the changes in the world after he cleared the game, especially the stories about ascenders.

“What kind of people were these ascenders?”

“They were beings who transcended their race. Ancient ascenders became gods, but after the law collapsed, the direction of ascenders changed somewhat.”

Gaien was once a knight, but over the long years, he became a historian recording the traces of the world.

He witnessed how the world flowed during the void of time when Osian didn’t exist.

“While we dare not attach the name of god to them, they became beings who reached some kind of state. Their power, whether big or small, left footprints in history.”

“Are there any ascenders remaining now?”

“I don’t know. Because at some point, news about them suddenly stopped. I suspect they probably no longer appear.”

The cessation of news means the ascenders disappeared.

If there’s no exaggeration or lies in Gaien’s words, ascenders must have been very powerful beings who stood out even in this age overflowing with mutants, mana users, magicians, and black magicians.

Just by being active, such beings couldn’t help but influence their surroundings.

Osian recalled the appearance of the Holy Emperor.

A man who created the illusion that the world was being drawn into him just by walking quietly.

‘Even such a Holy Emperor is not an ascender. Did the qualification for ascension disappear as the era changed?’

Osian nodded.

“That’s disappointing. If there were any ascenders, I would have liked to ask them some questions.”

“However, there is a religion with similar tendencies. [Bells of Heaven], they’re people who believe that all beings can transcend weakness through training. Though few in number, they consist of very outstanding elites.”

“It wouldn’t be bad to go find them.”

“Right now there’s something more important than that. After you came to Tirna, various things happened. Among them must have been incidents related to the knight’s power.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“This is my speculation, but I think your power that was scattered throughout the world is reacting and awakening as you’ve awakened.”

That was something Osian had suspected as well.

“Perhaps if you gather all of it, you might someday be able to regain your prime form. And those forgotten memories too.”

“That would be nice.”

Osian smirked.

“You know about many events happening on earth. Then do you also know where my power is?”

“Regrettably, I don’t know that much. Your power is something very abstract, so its form isn’t fixed and its locations are too scattered.”

Moreover, even when something happens because of Osian’s power, in the current era it’s impossible to distinguish whether it’s because of the knight’s power or something else.

Gaien knew of such news coming in, but he didn’t know all the detailed circumstances hidden within the news.

“Is there anything else you’re curious about?”

“Are there any other knights remaining besides me?”

“No. At least not in this Tirna.”

However, Gaien continued.

“They might be alive in far-off places outside Tirna. There are actually examples of this.”

Asmer said something similar.

The celestial bodies began to move, and he followed their guidance to Tirna.

Osian thought he should talk with Asmer again when he returns.

“There’s one more thing I’m curious about.”

“I’ll tell you as much as I know within my knowledge. Since that was the request.”

“This is somewhat different from what I asked before. What I’m curious about is the [White House] guys.”

Normally he wouldn’t have cared, but recently there have been too many incidents related to the White House guys.

Having a good relationship was out of the question.

After all, they used fragments of Osian’s lost power, Moonlight, on test subjects.

Moreover, since their leader openly said they would experiment on Osian, they had essentially become enemies. He needed to prepare thoroughly.

“How much should I tell you?”

Gaien knew a lot about the White House.