Chapter 107: Defense Mission: Protect Edenbridge City (SS+)

Chapter 107: Defense Mission: Protect Edenbridge City (SS+)

When Ainsworth thought of the possibility of a dimensional gate’s descent, he didn’t avoid it as he was no longer the weakling he once was.

Whether it was to protect his family’s home or to test his strength, Ainsworth decided to spawn camp the dimensional gate.

With that in mind, Ainsworth arrived at the source of the spatial chaos in just a single step.

He was currently standing on top of a five-story building’s rooftop, using the Unremarkable Presence (SS) skill to conceal his presence. Unless he actively attacked, even SS-rank Awakeners wouldn’t be able to notice his presence.

After gaining the high-ground advantage, Ainsworth used his superpower to see from far away and observed the formation of the dimensional gate.

Mana and aura surged and using space as foundation, an oval-like blue-colored portal soon formed. When the space stabilized, mana and aura surged again as if alerting the people of its impending danger.

As soon as the dimensional gate stabilized, Ainsworth immediately heard a notification sound in his mind.

-Ding!

[Warning!]

[An SS-rank Dimensional Gate has descended in Edenbridge City!]

[It has been detected that you are the only Awakener capable of fending off the Otherworld Invaders from the Monster World.]

-Ding!



[The Earth Will has assigned you an SS-rank Defense Mission.]

[You are free to reject the mission but do know that the rest of the Awakeners who are capable of defeating the invaders are either away from Earth due to an ongoing Otherworld Mission or are also occupied with guarding a dimensional gate.]

When Ainsworth was about to complain to the Voice of The World that it was too deliberate that as soon as he returned, there’d be a dimensional gate descent where he was the only one who could deal with it, he immediately withdrew the idea of complaining about that.

’It seems it’s just a coincidence. Or rather, it should be a conspiracy.’

’As far as I know, the Monster World is a mid-rank world and it’s subordinate to Demon World. With how dumb those monsters in the Monster World are, it’s likely the demon race’s schemes as they must have known that most of the powerhouses on Earth have gone on an Otherworld Mission.’

When Ainsworth thought of that, he immediately interrupted the Voice of The World before it could display the mission description, "Hey, Earth Will, can’t you just forcefully terminate the Otherworld Mission of an SS-rank Awakener and let them deal with these otherworld invaders?"

He didn’t like the Earth and humanity being schemed by those demons so he couldn’t help but ask if their schemes would be dealt with by just recalling those Awakeners who were on an Otherworld Mission.

After all, the failure penalty of the Otherworld Mission was decided by the Earth Will. So if the Earth Will chose to not impose the failure penalty, the Awakener who got his Otherworld Mission terminated wouldn’t face any problems aside from the lack of Otherworld Mission rewards.

Unless it was an Otherworld Mission that would decide an Awakener’s future like them in the middle of an Otherworld Mission where they could finally break their bottleneck and become stronger, it was unlikely for Earth’s Awakeners to refuse to defend their home world.

[The Earth Will can. There have already been Awakeners who had their Otherworld Missions forcefully terminated in order to recall them back to defend Earth.]

[But to mitigate losses, I still suggest Awakener Ainsworth Arthurford step up and deal with the SS-rank Dimensional Gate.]

[I swear on Earth’s Honor that you will have the freedom to desert the battlefield if you ever encounter any otherworld invaders that can threaten your life. But if you were to successfully eliminate all the otherworld invaders and destroy the SS-rank Dimensional gate, you would be generously rewarded.]

[Of course, you are also free to refuse. But if you did refuse, the Earth Will would have to terminate another SS-rank Awakener’s Otherworld Mission and let them defend Edenbridge City instead of you.]

Receiving that reply from the Voice of The World, Ainsworth noticed that while the Dimensional Gate had stabilized, the monsters from the Monster World hadn’t invaded yet so he decided to ask, "How come the Principal of Edenbridge High School hasn’t been assigned here?"

"Moreover, isn’t there still the former principal?"

[The former principal of Edenbridge High has been assigned to intercept an SSS-rank Demon King in the Dimensional Void, so he is currently locked in combat.]

[As for the current principal, he is in a crucial Otherworld Mission as the success of that Otherworld Mission will decide whether he can become an SSS-rank Awakener or not.]



Normally, the Earth Will has no obligation to answer Ainsworth’s questions. However, while Ainsworth’s Awakener rank was low, the Earth Will knew how powerful Ainsworth truly was so it treated Ainsworth as an SS-rank Awakener.

Because of that, while an A-rank Awakener wouldn’t be qualified to know all of that, an SS-rank Awakener was more than qualified so the Earth Will didn’t hide anything from Ainsworth.

Hearing that reply from the Voice of The World, Ainsworth no longer continued asking. Further questions would be meaningless as he knew how cunning those demons were.

The Awakener Association was likely understaffed due to various factors that the demons had taken advantage of. So even if he asked and named all the SSS-rank Awakeners and SS-rank Awakeners he knew, they had likely already been assigned to a certain battlefield or were busy with a crucial Otherworld Mission.

Otherwise, the Earth Will wouldn’t have politely persuaded him to deal with the SS-rank Dimensional Gate if Earth wasn’t faced with a desperate situation.

After all, he was merely an Awakener who had just finished one Otherworld Mission so it shouldn’t be his turn to deal with dimensional gates.

However, desperate times called for desperate measures. Even with his Three-Star A-rank Awakener rank, his true power was already enough to deal with an SS-rank Dimensional Gate so Ainsworth wasn’t worried.

He might lack experience in encountering otherworld invaders from the Monster World, but he surely wouldn’t lack the skills in dicing and cooking those monsters into delicious cuisine.

’I remember that there were orcs in the Monster World. I heard that their meat is even tastier than pork but too bad they wouldn’t appear in an SS-rank Dimensional Gate.’

While Ainsworth was looking forward to the monsters that would descend from the dimensional gate, he soon heard a notification sound from the Voice of The World.

-Ding!

[Awakener Ainsworth Arthurford has received a Defense Mission!]

[Defense Mission: Protect Edenbridge City (SS+)]

[Objective: Defend Edenbridge City from the Otherworld Invasion and eliminate all the otherworld invaders of the SS-rank Dimensional Gate.]

[Reward: 10 Million Awakener Points, Awakener Rank is promoted from Three-Star A-rank Awakener to One-Star SS-rank Awakener.]

[Time Limit: None (As long as Edenbridge City hasn’t reached 50% destruction rate)]

When Ainsworth saw the rewards, he felt that the Earth Will was quite generous.



Ten Million Awakener Points was more than all of his Awakener Points combined. Furthermore, he could even upgrade his Three-Star A-rank Awakener rank to that of a One-Star SS-rank Awakener. That basically allowed him to skip a few Otherworld Missions just to have an Awakener rank that reflected his combat power.

In other words, the Earth Will had agreed to make an exception for him and let him possess the rank, status, and privilege of an SS-rank Awakener. That alone made him shoot up from the status of a newcomer awakener to that of a legitimate powerhouse of the human race.

Even if he did have the power of an SS-rank Awakener, his low-rank of Three-Star A-rank Awakener would inevitably attract some trouble he could have avoided if he was granted the SS-rank Awakener rank.

’As long as I can gain the rank and status of an SS-rank Awakener, not only can I register in the Awakener Association and gain more privilege and be able to access more secrets...’

’Even proposing marriage to Elyndra will be unhindered! As long as Elyndra’s feelings for me are reciprocated and she agrees to marry me, then no one in the Valtoria Imperial Family can find fault with me.’

After all, while Ainsworth’s background was that of a commoner from a middle-class family, having an SS-rank Awakener rank was already a status above most privileged people.

In the Awakener Era, SS-rank Awakeners were honored guests and even major top forces wouldn’t neglect them. Each of them represented the possibility of establishing a new major force with them as the mainstay so background was no longer an issue.

Then, he’d be able to finally be with Elyndra. She had long become his obsession since in his past life where he had pursued her to the point he ground just to become a billionaire in order to be worthy of her.

But unlike in his past life, billionaires here weren’t as good as SS-rank Awakeners as having money but no power was not much different from being a fat sheep that others could take advantage of any time.

Just as Ainsworth was about to accept the SS-rank Defense Mission, he was interrupted by a familiar time stop and system notification.

-Ding!

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