I Ascend Alone-Chapter 138: The Birth of National Level Part XVII

The skies above City-A were still dark with soot and stormlight as we walked toward the Hunter Association's central headquarters.

A high-rise of obsidian glass and steel, jagged like the crown of a monarch, rising defiantly in the heart of the city.

Behind us, the crater still hissed. The battlefield was already being cordoned off by reinforced security drones and clean-up teams, but the chaos hadn't ended—it had only changed shape.

I led the way.

Umbraezar remained hidden, a living shadow folded into mine. Every so often, his presence rippled beneath my heels like coals shifting in silence.

Foll𝑜w current novℯls on ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm.

And behind me—an ever-growing procession.

Reporters. Drones. Broadcasters. Emergency operators. System analysts.

They followed from a distance but never broke the line of sight, streaming the entire march to every screen on Earth.

-

News tickers scrolled across the footage in real time:

[BREAKING] CALAMITY-CLASS DRAGON BOWED—NOW BOUND TO A HUMAN? WHO IS RYZEN?

[LIVE FEED] WALKING TOWARD HUNTER HQ: GLOBAL REAWAKENING INITIATED

[UNPRECEDENTED] PRESIDENT VAUGHN CONFIRMS RECLASSIFICATION OF Ryzen Kael.

-

The S-Rank Hunters who had stood beside me earlier... were no longer with us.

They'd been taken to the nearest high-grade medical facilities within the Association complex after emergency healing stabilized them on-site.

Orion Graves—his shattered greatsword reduced to jagged pieces—had refused a stretcher, but they forced one under him anyway.

Cain Voss hadn't spoken since his spell backlash nearly blew out his mana core. Even unconscious, he was twitching.

Celestine Ardent was last to be pulled out—her flames flickering weakly across her chest as she whispered something to the medics. Something they wouldn't repeat.

-

"All Hunter casualties accounted for," came a voice through an overhead drone's speaker.

"Escort route clear. City-A airspace lockdown still in place. No additional anomalies detected."

-

The walk wasn't long—but the silence stretched like a century.

The Association Building loomed closer, and with it came the crowd.

City-A survivors. Association agents. Lower-ranked Hunters still stationed nearby.

They parted as we approached, a path carved not by authority—but by presence.

Some stared in awe.

Others whispered in hushed, almost fearful tones.

A few even bowed.

-

And then I heard her.

A child, somewhere near the front lines, holding onto her mother's sleeve with wide eyes.

"Mom," she whispered. "Is he a hero?"

The mother hesitated.

She looked at me—at the slow stride, the long shadow, the silence I carried—and answered quietly.

"I... I don't know."

Her words didn't sting. They echoed.

Not as judgment, but as truth—because even I wasn't sure what I had become anymore.

-

The moment the reinforced doors of the Hunter Association slid shut behind us, the outside world dimmed.

The air inside was sterile, still humming faintly with residual mana from the recent security sweeps. There were no portraits or banners here—just steel, crystal, and flickering system terminals bolted into the walls.

I barely had time to take another step before a sharp, commanding voice cut through the tension.

"Ryzen Kael."

I turned toward the source.

She stood at the far end of the lobby, already walking toward us in measured, precise strides—Vice Director Alastair Crowe.

No nonsense, no ornament. Her long coat swept behind her like a surgeon's blade, and her expression was carved from stone and protocol. A silver databand blinked on her temple, scanning me silently as she approached.

"Follow me," she said without preamble, pivoting on her heel. "Time is a luxury we no longer have."

-

We moved deeper into newly created evaluation chamber, and we passed biometric locks, soul-signature wards, and even a sealed gate that shimmered with runes.

"This lab was constructed within the last seventy-two hours," Crowe explained as she led the way, her voice clipped but low.

And she placed her palm against a crystal interface that pulsed with violet light. The door opened with a hiss of cold air and synthetic ozone.

Inside was unlike anything I'd seen before.

The lab was cavernous—half surgical theater, half observation vault. A massive array of arcane-tech hybrid devices surrounded a raised platform at the center, glowing faintly with anti-corruption sigils and soulfield stabilizers. Giant screens monitored life signs, soul metrics, power resonance frequencies.

Three projection towers hovered around the room, each one directly linked to high-ranking global outposts—including the Summit Council.

And on every one of those screens... my face.

Real-time scans. System readings. Combat playback footage from earlier.

The world was watching even this.

-

"Stand on the platform," Alastair instructed. "We'll begin with core calibration. Then reawakening diagnostics."

I stepped onto the platform, and the system flared instantly.

The scan finished with a low, steady chime.

The lights above the platform dimmed, and the data stopped scrolling. A quiet hush settled over the lab.

One of the analysts at the terminal stood up, looking pale. "We've got a result."

The main screen blinked once, then displayed a short system message in clean, white text:

-

[EVALUATION COMPLETE]

Name: Ryzen Kael

Rank: Unclassifiable

Power Level: Beyond S-Rank Threshold

New Designation: National-Level Hunter

-

Vice Director Crowe didn't speak right away. She stared at the screen, lips tight, eyes unreadable.

Then, slowly, she exhaled. "A National-Level Hunter... born in City-A."

Even she sounded unsure if she believed it.

Across the room, Agent Hale swore under his breath. "He really is something else.."

President Vaughn's face appeared on one of the projection towers, having joined the remote session moments before the results came in. His brow furrowed as he read the evaluation for himself.

When he finally spoke, his voice carried the weight of global consequence.

"This changes everything," Vaughn said. "We've never had someone leap past the highest rank through evolution alone. Not like this. Not on this scale."

Crowe turned toward the nearest terminal and tapped a few keys, initiating a secured broadcast link.

"You're making it public?" Hale asked.

"We don't have a choice," she replied. "They already saw the dragon. They saw the battle. The world's been watching this since it began. We owe them the truth."

Within seconds, the Association's global feed was activated. The main evaluation result was mirrored across every major broadcast channel.

News anchors went silent mid-sentence as the update overtook their screens.

-

[URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT – HUNTER ASSOCIATION CONFIRMS: NATIONAL-LEVEL HUNTER AWAKENED IN CITY-A]

Subject: Ryzen Kael – Status Confirmed | Reclassification Complete

First in modern history to attain National-Level status through second awakening.

-

Crowe looked back at me, her tone steady now. "You understand what this means. You'll be treated as a strategic asset on a global level. Not just by the Association. By governments. Militaries. Everyone."

"I understand," I said simply.