Chapter 6
Upon reading the letter, Majong was at first terrified when he learnt that it was directed at him.
When he first arrived in this era, four days ago, he had thought he figured the reason and motivation that the kid Nick had to commit the Ascension ritual.
He had believed that his transmigration was a result of any anomaly during the ritual.
But who knew how wrong he was.
Everything from the determination and reason he got it all wrong.
As it turns out this boy Nick was well aware of the ritual and had intended for him transmigrate into this body.
His reason for the ascension ritual (presently known as mutation) was to provide Majong the necessary abilities to rise up to his former strength.
Now this terrified Majong to great deal. He felt like he was pawn on chess board being directed by unknown forces.
As the confusion, fear and the shock settled in, Majong eventually recovered from that state.
He began analyzing the new information he got.
First there was the presence of the World Government in the Netherlands and their ploy to recover the relics of the Smiley Gang.
Normally he didn't care about the World Government's actions and their ploys, but caught his attention was on what their ploy entailed.
In the letter it was said that they were trying to recover the relics of the Smiley Gang.
'Relics' Majong repeated the term as he started to look at what it entailed.
The fact that there were relics of the Smiley Gang, meant only one thing.
That his fellow comrades had perished, for relics only appear when someone dies.
Relics came in different forms mainly in three types.
One was a Identity Skill Card. The second being in form of an ability and the third being a sealed soul artifact.
All of these three things only appears after a person's death.
As he thought of this , he then recalled the other piece of information he learned.
About how it was nolonger possible to regain his previous powers, as his Identity Skill Card was in a dangerous place.
Summarizing this and the fact that some of his descendants managed to awaken his abilities, led to one speculation.
The relic he left behind after his death was an ability that was passed down between his descendants, which apparently later took form into an Identity Skill Card. And the current whereabouts of that Skill Card was in a dangerous place.
As he analyzed this Majong coudn't bring himself to believe this.
Eventually he muttered in a low breath.
"So in the end everyone died."
At the beginning he had hoped that he could perhaps meet some of the Smiley Gang members, clinging to the hope that they did not perish like he suspected he did.
As for the war, judging by how the Decree of Exiles still existed, it didn't end up in a favorable outcome for his side.
As he thought of the outcome of the war, Majong couldn't help but furrow his brows.
"If all members of the Smiley Gang were defeated, l wonder what abominations managed to best Joker and Jinx?"
This question filled him with dread.
As far as he had been with Smiley Gang, Majong had always regarded himself as a monster. But he knew there were two people who outranked him in that description.
Those two were Joker and Jinx.
Joker was the gang leader of the Smiley Gang and Jinx was the second seat.
These two monsters were so strong that Majong once thought that they coudn't be bested.
But as it turns out he had been wrong. There seemed to be someone from the World Government who coudn't handle those two.
The realization of the possibility of there being someone or more than one person stronger than those two made Majong feel a chill creep down his spine.
After he was done analyzing what he learnt Majong did not despair at the news.
After the fear which he was feeling for the first time settled his egorist and powerful will returned.
"l guess if l want to survive in this world l will have to hide my identity and grow stronger, perhaps stronger than Joker and Jinx had been."
This was easier said than done though. And although he was saying this, he was even doubting the possibility of that happening.
Luckily that wasn't the only alternative he had.
Since the relics of the Smiley Gang was not in the World Government's hands, he could seek them out and although he couldn't use them all, he could begin to rear disciples and then gift them the relics of his friends.
"But in order to do that l have to get stronger and survive this hellish family of mine"
As he thought about getting stronger he remembered what the kid sayed about his Ascension.
According to the kid, the mutant used at the ritual was supposed to grant him abilities close to that of an awakened, and there were supposed to be three in fact.
Now that gave him a start to his quest of power.
He was well aware of how precious an awakened was, especially in a place restraned by the Decree of Exiles as the Netherlands.
The awakened humans, were humans who display mystical abilities that defied common sense.
The awakening process was very rare, especially in the lands like the Netherlands.
This was because of the Decree of Exiles enforced by the World Government on this land.
What this Decree of Exiles was, Majong had never really managed to understand it.
Poker his friend had once tried to explain it to him what it was but he had never managed to grasp the complicated knowledge.
But he managed to summarized what purpose it had.
This Decree somehow stripped humans born in the Netherlands their human status, which was why the Pillar Countries often regarded them as non humans.
And this stripped status was somehow important in the process of awakening.
This was proved by how almost every true human in the Pillar Countries was a complete awakened and how it was unheard of in the Netherlands.
Even though, this didn't mean that awakening in the Netherlands was impossible. After all there were beings who had managed to achieve it, and Majong in his former glory was one of them.
Even though his awakening wasn't complete he managed to achieve a partial awakening, and it granted him a rare and unique ability in the process. This was the reason why he had been so strong back in his era.
As for complete awakening in the Netherlands, as far as Majong remembered, only one person managed to achieve it.
And that person was his gang leader Joker.
As far as he could understand, the difference between the complete awakening and the partial layed in the number of abilities and skills one was able to awaken.
Those who awakened partially were capable of awakening one ability and one skill . And those who awakened completely where capable of awakening about three to six abilities and seven skills which could be replaced by will.
They also obtained something called attribute and a talking voice with digital screens, Majong never really understood these two later traits and had only heard of their existence from Joker.
Aside from awakening, the people of the Netherlands had also created the art of Ascension to compensate for their lack of awakening.
This process was different from awakening.
While awakening involved the granting of abilities and evolution of soul, ascension was a different process.
Firstly it did not grant mystical abilities like awakening and Nick's case was a rare one that Majong learned today.
From what he knew ascension involved the fusion of genes between monsters and humans.
By using ritualistic sorcery and a powerful monster, mutant or beast as a core, humans in the Netherlands managed to evolve their bodies into a greater form. This then granted either sharper senses, quick reflexes, terrifying constitution or great physical prowess.
And what aspect they got depended on the type of beast used in the ritual.
Naturally this process was dangerous and when used with a very weak mutant, the odds of Death were very high.
As Majong's thoughts settled, he tore the paper into pieces and threw them out of the window.
As for the matter in letter regarding the mysteriousness sorrounding Nick and his requests.
He decided to place them at the back of his mind.
The current him was too weak to even be capable of solving these mysteries and not talking about how such a chore it was to try to figure that.
So Majong just took the best method he was good at. He decided to focus on the matter at hand, which was improving his strength and surviving this household. The rest would have to wait.
After he made the decision, Majong finally proceeded to go and bath.
Navigating the large house he eventually reached the bath house.
Just to avoid any unnecessary conflict with his bullying cousins he decided to use the servants bath house.