章 9: Information Gathering

"Cause I'm Classless."

"WHAT?! How is this possible?!"

Josh disregarded the stew his companion had spit out.

"Easy, when the system wants to assign you a class you say, no thank you."

Dale had the same look Josh had when he first came into this world, overwhelmed and disbelieving.

"Wait, aren't you a Fallen?!"

"Yes, so?"

"You are forced to enter the Tower to live! How are you not freaking out?!"

"Why would I be freaking out? I can still do so."

Dale kept muttering wow. Over and over. Josh waited until he calmed down then asked.

"Now, you were about to explain the guild system in detail, right?"

"Eh…sure. There are many guild ranks. We call the Rankers the D to S ranks, the latter being stronger. All the other guilds are classified as Unranked. So, all people that enter the Tower are Climbers, but only the top ones are Rankers."

"Isn't it possible for a Climber to be stronger than a ranker but to be Guild-less?"

"Yes, but it pretty much never happens. All the strongest guilds are backed by businesses generally. This makes it so solo Climbers are as rare as a Phoenix Feather."

"I see, what are the requirements to become a Ranker then?"

Dale then played with his UW, quickly showing Josh a screen.

"Look here, these are the current requirements to get the title. It keeps going up."

On the screen was a table.

S Floor 30

A Floor 25

B Floor 20

C Floor 15

D Floor 10

"What about you? Are you in a guild?"

"Indeed, I'm part of Flaming Phoenix!"

"Sounds powerful!"

"I know, right?! I came up with the name!"

"Let me guess, Unranked?"

"Yep!"

Josh couldn't help but find his liveliness entertaining.

"Ah! Josh! It seems you are not the only one!"

"?"

"I just searched Classless and found a result! Someone managed to clear Floor 1 and defeat the first boss at least once. According to this article I'm reading, … Never mind, that's totally you. Also, never read this article!"

"Let me guess, the reporter is writing crap about me?"

"How did you know?!"

"Well, he called me ignorant for carrying a weapon in my hands while I already had one in my inventory slot *Shrug*."

"What a dumbass! It says here you soloed! Wow! Anyway, your luck was pretty good to get two weapons! How many times did you kill the boss?"

"About 70 times?"

"…. Brother, I take it back. Your luck sucks. It usually has a 10% drop rate. Wait, 70 times in 3 days?!"

"I mean yes. It respawns every hour, there are 24 hours in a day. Obviously."

"Nonono! This is not a normal hunting pace at all! How long does it take you to kill it?!"

"Like…30 seconds? Is that slow?"

"Brother, please stop with the humbleness! This is a critical hit to my ego! My guild can't even get a time like this with all of us!"

Josh couldn't help but find it weird.

"Can't you just puncture each head and be done with it?"

"Classless yet kicking ass. Are you some kind of sword master?!"

"Ah, I did learn some moves to fight a crime syndicate a while back. That helped a ton. Anyway, can you explain more about Floors and Skills? Oh yeah! Stats too!"

"Skills are things you get while Leveling Up. Usually, one would get a Skill every 5 to 10 levels. It would depend on your Class. Skills are a HUGE part of the power of a Climber! Except, I have no clue how that works for you.

As for Floors, there are two things you absolutely need to remember. Never go into a Floor that ends with 5 or 0 without preparation!"

Josh couldn't help but become interested.

"Every Floor that ends with 5 is a duel. This means the mission is to 1 v 1 a strong enemy."

"That doesn't sound that bad for a solo climber, what about the other?"

"Every Floor that ends with 0, the mission is to kill the Boss. These are usually really strong too.

As for stats, you can raise 4 to the limit out of 7 and all will grow with you slowly too. So, pick 3 to ignore and max the others. Without any skills, I recommend Strength and Agility. After that Pick 2 for survivability or wait until you get skills?"

"Anything else I need to know?"

"Let me see. There are various monster archetypes that come often. The more common ones are:

Wild Hunt, Insect, Scaly, Humanoid, Devil, Undead, Nature and Construct. You'll get used to these as you climb."

"You seem to know a lot! *Thumbs Up* What floor did you reach with your guild?"

"That, we are slowly preparing for Floor 5."

Josh couldn't help but agree with their approach.

The only reason he managed to bulldoze through Floor 1 was the extensive training he had done before. He would probably eventually have to slow down too.

Now, he only had to find a way to get skills.

After finishing his meal Josh couldn't help but be thankful. He had learned a lot.

"…Say, Josh. Would you like to join my guild?"

Josh thought about it for a few seconds before declining.

"I'm fine soloing for now. You seem to have things figured out on your side too. Just take it slow so you don't burn yourself."

"Please! I'm a Phoenix! Would I ever burn myself! ;)"

On that note, Josh bade him farewell.

Then he looked for a place to sleep, before quickly giving up. Most inns were either full or too expensive. According to city regulations, one couldn't sleep on the street either.

That was painfully obvious thanks to the many signs.

He could take a subway to the suburbs, but it would take a while.

That's when he decided to simply head to the Tower again. Quickly entering Floor 1, he went toward the Cerberus Boss before quickly killing it.

There was one good thing about the Boss there. The area around it was void of any monster. Josh simply lay on the floor before falling asleep.

The kind of sleep where he would wake up at the slightest disturbance, a skill he had thoroughly trained back then. Back when he was expecting the Dragon Triad's retaliation.

A retaliation that never came for he had overestimated them. He had managed to capture them all at once without any escaping.

Every hour, the Boss respawned and Josh simply killed it. He did it easily.

As if sleepwalking.

As easily as eating a snack in the middle of the night.

As methodically as one would hit the snooze button on an alarm clock.

A good thing no one saw this scene.

Otherwise, many would have been traumatized. Yet, for Josh, this course of action seemed natural. Peacefully awaiting the next day to Climb some more.

クリエイターの想い
ClasslessAscension

People usually underestimate the Tower or are scared of it. I quickly started feeling like I belonged there. Perhaps because, unconsciously, I felt like it was a link to my past. I'm not sure.