23 The Chiefs Be (1/2)

Picking up the card which stood out, Aaron saw that one side of it was filled with his details – specifically, the ones that the female voice had just listed.

His name, age, area of registration, along with his photo were visible clearly, and as he turned it around, he saw from up close just what the patterns that he had seen before on Edmond's card were.

There were 6 total shapes, with three in one row on top and two below. On the background, the last shape encompassed all the others.

All of them were stars – but the number of points varied.

The first star had 10 points, and just like all the others, it was empty.

The next one had eight, after that, it was six, then four, then two, and finally, the one in the background had zero points, which meant that it was a big circle like the sun.

The cutouts of these stars looked like they were meant to be filled by something, and as Aaron traced his fingers on top of them, he felt an emotion that he couldn't describe filling him up.

That was because he could guess what they were.

”Those are the Ascender Stars which symbolize your progress on the Path to the Stars. Each shape represents a type of settlement – from the first, 10-pointed star, each of them correspond to Hamlets, Villages, Towns, Cities, Metropoli and, finally, the World Government, itself.

”The rest is pretty self-explanatory. To reach the top, one must defeat 10 Hamlet Chiefs, eight Village Heads, six Town Mayors, four City Lords, two Metropolis Overlords and finally one World Government Monarch.”

Each of these words were filled with a certain level of majesty and power that was impressed upon Aaron even though he didn't know exactly what each of them signified.

It seemed as if he wasn't alone in that matter.

Shrugging, the Chief said, ”I only know the names from the list that is given to me. But their exact powers and other details – one can only find out about them step-by-step, by beating each level.”

This made Aaron smile. All this time, he had been aimless in his objective to find his past. Yet, he now had such a meticulously and perfectly laid out route that he could follow.

”Defeating me, a Hamlet Chief, will fill up 1/10th of the star that represents Hamlets. After you defeat 10 of us, you will officially gain the rank of a One Star Ascender – which is a pretty awe-inspiring designation that will have value no matter where you go. Alright, enough of this. I don't want to scare you again with too much information. As a young man, your goal should be to be an Ascender. But if you want to take it slow, I don't –”

”I will reach the top.”

Seeing Aaron say this with determination after interrupting him, Ernst could only smile hesitantly, unwilling to kill the dreams of this kid.

Everyone talked about Ascending the Path, but no one, or at least, no one that he had ever spoken to had ever heard of anyone who reached the top. It was so elusive that it had even started to become legendary – yet, it was like that was the intention of the World Government in the first place.