章 10: Guild Invitation, Oh!

Josh contentedly stretched. He had slept peacefully. It was only regrettable that nothing had dropped from the Cerberus Boss.

The first thing Josh did was add points to his Strength stat until it reached 40 too. The difference was amazing. The raw power combined with Josh's technique and the sharpness of the dagger made a deadly combo.

He quickly finished the Hunt Mission before Teleporting Out. Then he selected Floor 2 and came back in again. Leaving him with one pitiful credit.

[Welcome to Floor 2!]

[Mission: Collect 10 Beetle Carapaces. Have Fun!]

Knowing Josh's luck, this mission would probably take a while. He quickly started scouring the place trying to find the Boss.

Josh simply ran, without bothering about the many creatures following him. Huge beetles about 5 meters large with sturdy-looking black carapaces. So shiny that a reflection of the blood-red sky could be seen in it.

Each having huge and powerful-looking pincers. It was painfully obvious that they could snap a human in half easily.

Josh kept running until he finally found it. A 15 meters large beetle. Big enough to induce nightmares.

He quickly jumped unto its back, not even bothering to slow down. Taking out his dagger, he pierced the extremely hard shell with all his might.

The creature started thrashing, sending Josh tumbling away. He realized that the creature was extremely resistant.

Josh could puncture its hard carapace but had trouble delivering a significant blow. He would have needed a longer weapon.

He then decided to clear the trash he had been ignoring. Thus, he started hacking the lv 2 and lv3 creatures, slowly reducing their numbers. He killed about a hundred of them before finally it became calm again.

Well, the Boss was still trying its best to annihilate him. Josh went back to piercing his dagger into its back. After a long while, the small injuries started piling up and it perished.

Josh had earned 280 XP in total from all the kills. He then watched all the corpses disappear stupefied.

[Collect: 0/10]

He couldn't help but think how bullshit it was.

Out of the hundred beetles he had killed, not a single one had dropped anything. Now he would simply need to wait for the boss to respawn.

Josh tried to figure out the use of skill points. He tried opening a secret interface menu and to add points to his only skill the F rank weapon mastery. Nothing worked.

Every subsequent hour, he kept killing the giant beetle. Every repetition taking a few minutes.

Somehow, the – Rank dagger didn't show any sign of losing durability. That was surprising considering it had dropped on the lowest floor.

A few hours later…

[Level up!]

Josh instantly increased his Agility and Strength to the maximum possible. Then he kept killing. All until finally, something happened.

[- Armor: Beetle Greaves!]

Josh instantly decided to equip it.

It seemed extremely peculiar. For instance, it didn't seem to have any weight at all. It also didn't restrict his movements at all. However, it didn't seem to offer much protection.

He simply went back to his task. After a day of farming, he finally dropped the first carapace. It seemed to be a material.

Probably useful for some sort of crafting.

Overall, it took Josh 10 days of constant farming to finally complete the mission. Well, minus the time spent sleeping while waiting of course.

He accumulated a grand total of 6 Beetle Greaves. Not waiting any further, he somehow picked his loot before muttering "Teleport Out"!

Funny how, after so much trouble, he left the carapaces behind for being too encumbering. Josh couldn't help but get excited about all the Credits he would get.

A red glow later he appeared in front of the Tower. He had only taken one step that a voice called out to him!

"Hey, young man!"

Turning around Josh could see the old lady, Lana Ensis. She had just exited the Tower. Her cane was nowhere to be seen and her back was more straight.

To her side stood the young lady from the welcoming event and 3 other strangers.

"Hey there! Guild activity I presume?"

"Exactly, I take it you have been successfully hunting in the Tower?"

"Of course!"

Then a young man by the side scoffed.

"I wouldn't call that successful. It has been 13 days since we came here. While we just cleared Floor 10, he is holding equipment from Floor 2."

Josh couldn't help but admit to himself that the man seemed to have a point.

"Josh, I understand that you are fine alone, but how about joining our guild? Pride is admirable but shouldn't be misplaced."

"You want this trash to join us? Just because he's your friend? We are part of the A rank Gemini guild! Not some no-names! We-" Continued the young man.

After a sharp glare from Lana, he abruptly stopped talking.

"Sure, how about you let me meet someone in charge? I'd be open to discussing it." Josh agreed.

"Hehe, I was almost expecting you to refuse."

"Still, I should probably find a place to sell these …"

The young lady from the tutorial chuckled. "Please! You can sell that at the guild headquarter! Right, I'm Eva! Pleased to officially meet you!"

Josh followed them. Meanwhile, the party talked about their next move. Josh couldn't help but think that their approach seemed extremely different from his.

They would carefully plan every mission, also assign roles. Vanguard, Flank, Support, Damage Dealer, and also someone in charge of scouting.

Before long they reached a massive, but stylish building in the C sector. The ambiance seemed convivial.

Someone quickly took the 5 greaves off Josh's hands in exchange for 50 Credits. This already seemed like a nice advantage. Josh was seriously considering joining.

It would all depend on the conditions they offered. Before long everyone dispersed, and Lana brought him to a small meeting room.

"Alright, I'll say a good word about you to the guy in charge of recruitment, be right back!"

*Nod*

There were a few snacks that Josh devoured.

After a short wait, a man wearing a stylish blue vest entered the room.

Brown hair, silver glasses, composed and confident.

"I take it you must be Josh! Pleased to meet you!"

"Likewise."

"I brought a copy of the contract, if you wish you can sign with us. We will welcome you with open arms."

Josh liked how straightforward the guy was. However, that good impression soon went sideways when he started reading.

"I think you made a mistake. This contract has me farming the lower floors over and over while handing most of the profits to the guild."

He looked Josh in the eyes.

"Josh, are you aware of the name of our guild?"

"Gemini, right?"

"Precisely. We used to be jewelers before all this Tower climbing business. As jewelers, we often work with precious materials. Do you know what this means?"

*Shake*

"You see a qualified jeweler will notice at a glance if the stone he is working with is a precious one or is worthless. You, Josh, are the latter."

He simply pushed the contract toward Josh again, gesturing to him to sign it.

"Just because I'm Classless, right?"

"No, you have many more flaws. For instance, that arrogance of yours. Your pride is getting in the way of signing a good deal. As a Fallen you need us way more than we need you."

Josh simply rose up and left.

There was no anger or disappointment, he expected such a result when he came here. He had simply given the guild a chance. They were the ones that would eventually regret it.

While the current Josh was weak he was not worried in the slightest about his future. For him, it was simply a question of the fast or fastest path.

Before long, he saw Lana in the hall waiting for him.

"So? Did you join?"

"Nope. Let me tell you, if that guy is representative of the whole guild, you should quit it. As soon as possible."

"What did he do?! I'll give him a piece of my mind and…"

"No need. I do not care. Later."

He heard her sigh as he left.

Once outside, Josh tinkered with his UW. Above all, he wanted to find a way to learn skills. That is when something caught his eyes, an advertisement:

Josh clicked on it lazily, not expecting anything.

But then, he saw the word "VR".

That was all the convincing he needed.

クリエイターの想い
ClasslessAscension

I never understood the arrogance of rankers. Especially back then. Most rank A guilds were barely reaching Floor 30. What they failed to realize was that they hadn't even cleared the true tutorial.