Kapitel 21: Going Viral

This Boss simply looked ridiculous. It was a big and fat imp, as large as a human being but not as tall. It looked relatively similar to the other imps, but it had an eyepatch and was holding 10 leashes. Leashes that were made with some sort of tendons, looking extremely gross and disgusting.

If that was all it would have looked relatively intimidating. No, to complete the picture a small imp was attached to every leash.

It looked like a blazed father taking his mischievous kids for a walk with some of those toddler harnesses. The imps were busy grinning, making faces, and conjuring fireballs out of nowhere just to be scolded by the Quartermaster.

Josh couldn't help but laugh for he was not expecting that at all. This instantly revealed his position prompting the Boss to lock on him. Josh expected it to charge at him, but he was wrong once again.

The big Imp simply started rotating the leash in the air before releasing it toward Josh, as one would do with a sling. Thus, sending a screaming Imp right at Josh, meanwhile, the others kept releasing fireballs.

Josh sidestepped watching the imp projectile crash headfirst in the rock-solid floor, losing a few teeth in the process. But instead of giving up it just rose up with its mouth completely filled with blood before trying to claw and bite at Josh. Needless to say, the only thing it bit was Josh's dagger when it went to its brain.

This was definitely a peculiar tactic…Josh couldn't help but find it dumb until he looked at the Boss again. It still had 10 leashes and still 10 imps. Somehow a new one had appeared.

Apparently seeing Josh as a threat, it started throwing imp after imp in a mad volley. Josh couldn't believe his eyes, but he somehow found this interesting. This was even better than baseball batting practice.

From time to time the Quartermaster would send him curved balls-eh imps. They would land behind him instead and try to backstab him. The monster seemingly had infinite of these creatures to summon. It would definitely pose a challenge to a weaker party.

While most parties would have fought packs individually Josh had no qualm about facing many. He even noticed that he was getting XP from them. Maybe they were real imps that were peacefully staying on this Floor? Quite probably.

Josh couldn't help but be grateful. Imps tended to run all around the place but now they were all conveniently flying in the air to impale themselves on his dagger.

After a few repetitions, the Quartermaster seemed to realize that there was something wrong. It started summoning imps and letting them run at him instead. Josh decisively charged at it and started slashing.

The Boss now realizing that it was in extreme danger reverted to its initial tactic. He threw imps at Josh trying to slow him down. Josh magnanimously slowed down. Thus started another game.

Josh could see that the Boss seemed to be realizing that there was something wrong with the situation. It seemed puzzled and questioning its life. Not that Josh would care.

He simply kept farming. All until finally, he had enough <Imp tail>. That is when he ended the Boss. One that had been overall extremely easy to defeat. Perhaps such a boss would have been a nightmare for ranged parties trying to keep their distances only to be swarmed by imps projectiles.

The boss had dropped something too!

<F-Rank Imp Earing!>

Josh couldn't help but become excited as it was his first accessory. Wait, was the dog collar one? Anyway, this one gave 20 Strength.

Seeing as the Boss wouldn't respawn before an hour Josh did the only logical thing to do. He napped. The floor was surprisingly comfortable. It emitted a bit of heat. Just the perfect temperature to relax too! It was almost as if the whole place was a kotatsu!

Every hour he would wake up to clear the Boss until he had leveled up. Then he decisively left. Farming these items wouldn't be the most efficient. He figured he should probably go and buy some. He should be receiving a few Credits from that interview deal too.

Exiting the Tower, carrying a dozen imp trails, Josh heard a BEEP. Looking at his UW, he saw tons of notifications. What the hell?!

It seemed all to be from messages he had received linked to that one contract for the interview.

Josh's face kept changing as he scrolled through it all. From bafflement to enlightenment to laughter and finally joy.

As soon as the video was released many saw it. Then it became viral. The part where Josh talked about the secret Boss of Floor 6 was the highlight. Well, the Boss was known, but only up to level 16. This instantly sparked an intense debate in the online community.

Some called Josh a genius and a talent. Others simply called him a fraud looking for attention. Saying that there was no way this could be true and that even if it was there was no way he would have survived to tell the tale.

Josh even checked the video again and made sure the part about the Boss being dumb hadn't been edited out. It was still there. This was probably a case of selective hearing where they disregarded the most important info.

Of course, the idiots flaming him online had never verified his "theory" as they called it. They were just bullshiting, well Josh expected that to happen.

The next messages were about various guilds inviting Josh to join them. It seemed like all wanted to meet with him in a few days to sign a contract. They also all said they were ready to invite him to visit their facilities right now.

Josh could see right through them.

If there really was a Level 25 Boss that had been killed by a Level 7 Josh, they wanted him to join them at all costs. The visit was the bait, the delay was to give themselves enough time to verify it all.

Honestly, Josh couldn't help but think less of them for it. Not a single one had offered him to sign a contract instantly with great benefits. They were all afraid of losses.

While it was the smart move as a business, they disregarded the human aspect of it. They had missed the perfect opportunity to make a good impression on Josh.

Some of the guilds that had invited him included:

-Draconic

-Adamantium Wolves

-Golden Cauldron

-Magical

-Titanic Legion

-Hydra

-Gemini

-Power Leveling

-Era

-Jade

-Basilisk

The list went on. Josh looked up a few of those names. It seemed like most came from A-Rank guilds and some being B-Rank. The only exception was Draconic that was surprisingly S tier. Also, Gemini was there for some reason too.

The S-Rank Guilds were too proud to think this true. If they had missed the information while climbing it was probably false.

Meanwhile, many A and B guilds had the desire to recruit an ace and the budget required for it. With the lower-ranked guilds not having anything to offer thus not wasting their time.

The next message was about how a professional team was going to investigate his claims and prove once and for all that they were the ravings of a madman. They called themselves <MythBusting> which reminded Josh of a cool show on Earth. Maybe this was a parallel universe to the one he knew?

Afterward, there were a lot of messages saying the guild invitation had been sent by mistake and that they were sorry, to ignore it. Every cancelation message had been sent very quickly. Sure, so many guilds just happened to send him a message by mistake. A well-crafted one with his name properly spelled in it…right.

Josh knew the reason. Whoever was at the initial recruitment phase had clearly recognised him as the Classless guy.

Actually, there was still one guild that hadn't rescinded. Surprisingly it was the only S class one, Draconic.

That is when Josh finally reached the very last message.

It was from <NewsWorthy> saying 4800 Credits had been deposited into his account. This was the result of so many guilds and organizations buying the full footage of the interview video. Quite funny considering the said footage was completely useless.

Now, Josh couldn't help but be curious about Draconic. Was it time to pay them an official visit? He already knew where their place was anyway.

AUTORENGEDANKEN
ClasslessAscension

It always baffled me how weird these guilds could appear most of the time. But then I realized what was happening. In most of the novels I had read, the guilds were gamers above all else. In this case, they were corporations that at their essence had remained businesses. They had a different point of view toward the whole thing. A slower one based on research for fear of losing money.