Classless Ascension

The usual peaceful Tower Plaza was nowhere to be seen.

It was a huge mess! Josh calmly observed his surroundings, having already overcome the mental trauma of the previous events. After all, he had already taken revenge on the being who had caused it all.

Bloodied Climbers were exiting the Tower one after the other in a rush. Many were missing limbs, and some were barely clinging to life while carried by a friend. Plenty of parties were sobbing from the loss of a friend.

The strident sound of ambulance sirens was ever-present. The flying vehicles would show up one after the other, with medics grabbing the injured and leaving in a hurry. The ordinarily empty sky was full of these!

On the side were people losing their minds, some trashing around while being held by bystanders. Many were screaming at the top of their lungs toward the crowd.

"The end is near! We're all going to die!"

"The gods want us smitten. We need to pray for forgiveness right now!

"Please, oh mighty gods! Please pardon this sinner. Just say the word, and I'll do whatever you beseech of me! Please, please, please!"

Josh clicked his tongue. As usual, madness would spread in the darkest of times. They needed an answer to their chaotic and miserable lives. They wanted something to drive the fear away. The truth didn't matter much to them.

That's when a powerful shout was heard. It resounded across the plaza, bringing a semblance of calm to it for an instant:

"The MTA will take care of things! Move out! No one near the Tower!"

Dozens of soldiers marched forward and began clearing the place up. Military flying ships soon came over as they began hovering next to the Tower.

"Exit the premises, bring the injured to the newly set-up medical tents, and cooperate with our investigation! In the meantime, Climbing is temporarily canceled!" Their leader barked orders.

The army was moving fast. Before long, Josh was pushed outward along with many others. He was still wearing the face of that youngster orator assassin and went unnoticed in the crowd.

The more he listened and the more he understood what exactly had happened. The dimensional fissures hadn't only occurred on his Floor. It had been the same on the others too!

Some Floors had only seen a few, while others had looked similar to the one he was on. The issue was that many of these Climbers had already been fighting when the apocalypse had happened.

Many believed the Tower to be unchanging and planned accordingly. What would happen when parties suddenly lost their front line to a fissure? A wipe— or close! It had just been a disturbance for the lucky ones, but others had been cleaved in half by their appearance.

Many were complaining, sobbing, and even despairing.

"This is unfair! It fucking killed him! This wasn't supposed to happen!"

"Is humanity doomed?! This can't be! I can't accept this. I'm still young!!"

"This was supposed to be a normal farming day. They're all dead. All of them."

"It's like everything fucking turned to Hellish difficulty. The Floor itself was trying to murder us!"

"One touch was enough to maim. These things were death itself. That's the only way to describe them."

"The space fucking began shattering. Does that mean the Tower is about to be destroyed? Are the gods really punishing us?!"

"What's the fucking point of training so hard if the Tower can kill us all on a whim?! Fuck the Tower, fuck the gods, fuck his world!"

Josh could only sigh. This had all begun with that one stick he had looted, but truthfully he didn't feel guilty in the least. How was he supposed to know that an item given by the Tower would cause so much chaos?!

During these events, the Tower Protocol hadn't intervened a single time. Was it even fine? The attack in there had been pretty fucking intense, enough to wreck the Floor completely. Would such damage affect it?

That's when he heard the sound of a flurry of notifications, tons of people were messaging him.

— Ding-Ding-Ding —

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- Frank the Recruiter: Holy shit, Boss, big news! The Tower is having a problem, and it will be restricted from now on. This is huge! People are going to be flooding to the Alter Tower like crazy!

- Josh MF Malum: What about that new one? The underwater Tower…

- Frank the Recruiter: Who cares about this one! It's relatively far from us, and it's still unexplored. Climbers have slowly begun entering it, but so far, no one has come out yet. We'll have to wait to know more.

- Josh MF Malum: There is still the issue of experience: AT doesn't give any. There also isn't any loot in the Training Tower. People have no reason to Climb it besides training. It can't act as a replacement for the real Tower…

- Frank the Recruiter: Sure, but now tons of Climbers will have lots of time on their hands until the situation with the Tower is investigated. Can I make a special sale about it? A limited: "Try our Tower while the other is down" special!

- Josh MF Malum: Sure, go crazy.

- Frank the Recruiter: Hehe, I will go crazy, but so will the entire world! They'll get addicted to training here! Alright, later...

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- Gorgeous Kasha: I've seen the news, what did you do this time?

- Josh MF Malum: What? Why are you just assuming that I have something to do with this situation?!

- Gorgeous Kasha: Please, don't act like I'm wrong, haha. We both know that you're a magnet for this kind of stuff. Still, it's a shame…I was just about to go back to Climbing too. I've entirely given up on beating your high scores here.

- Josh MF Malum: The cause of the disturbance is already dead. I'm just not sure how well the Tower will recover from the aftermath. Hopefully, there won't be any further complications…

- Gorgeous Kasha: Hehe, so you really were involved! Alright, thanks for the info. I'll start preparing to Climb again then!

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- Unlucky Monk: Hey Boss! I'm finally out of the Tower! I'm currently resting in the hospital, but I'll be released soon. It's just my luck, but some crazy shit happened. Just as I was leaving, the space began shattering around me, can you believe it!

- Josh MF Malum: …. Yes, it's also all over the news…

- Unlucky Monk: Oh wow. The more you know…Alright, afterward, should we meet at Draconic as usual?

- Josh MF Malum: Shit happened, and I now have a Climber school in D-23. You should check it out. It will help with your training for sure. It's a good thing to do while the Tower is down.

- Unlucky Monk: Oh wow. That's cool! I'll conquer this one too, Boss!

- Josh MF Malum: Good luck then ;)

Josh couldn't help but chuckle. The poor monk had been convinced that the whole disaster had only happened to him because of his bad luck. Funnily he hadn't made a big deal out of it either. He was simply eager to share the experience!

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- Markus: Hey Josh, are you anywhere near the Tower? I want to send troops to figure out what is happening. I want you to lead a group toward the bottom Floors. Can you do it?

- Josh MF Malum: I really wouldn't know how to fix the dimensional fissures inside. Honestly, just wait and see if the Tower Protocol manages to repair it all by itself. Hopefully, everything will go back to normal soon.

- Markus: We cannot just do nothing…

- Josh MF Malum: You're right. I suggest going for a drink, watching a movie or perhaps playing a game of poker with some friends. I'm sure you'll figure something out.

- Markus: This is not what I meant at all...Fine, tell me if you change your mind.

Josh always had the option to join the expedition and fake being surprised by the situation. Honestly, he couldn't even be bothered. It wasn't like it would change anything even if people suspected his involvement.

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- Reformed Assassin: Sir, this Alter Tower is exceptionally frightening. Thanks again for this opportunity!

- Josh MF Malum: New phone who this? Oh wait, never mind. Glad you like it!

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Josh quickly replied to many that had texted him. It wasn't just Kasha and Markus that wanted more info about what was happening in the Tower. Frankly, he couldn't be bothered to explain everything in detail.

Would he need to hire an assistant just to sort the messages? It would be a thought for the future. For now, he slowly made his way back to the tiny apartment that served as his current dwelling.

As soon as he was safely inside, away from all prying gazes, he instantly brought the stick out. Had it changed at all, or was it the same old branch as before?

<?!? Sealed Amazing ?!?>

- የታሸገ የአረሙ አምላክ ገጽታ

What the heck was this?! Why had the display language changed all of a sudden?! Also, what was wrong with the name? The amazing was still there, but that was all? Had it stopped being a branch or something?

Josh could only sigh. This was probably because the branch had absorbed the energy from the mysterious being causing it to evolve. He just had to figure out how to use it now. He was almost tempted to try the summon in the apartment but didn't want to cause a commotion.

Afterward, he turned toward his status screen, trying to check if there was anything out of place.

#SPECIAL#

- S Curse of the Greenwood Lord: Active

- ?!? Devoured Part of the Will of Iron

- ?!? የአረም አምላክ በላ

-_-

How was this any use? He now had a mystery line in his status. Wait, it had a similar format to the one right above. Maybe it just mentioned that he had devoured that glowing green light. Hopefully, this was all it meant...

Just as he was worrying over this, he heard a small knock on the door. As he went to open it, there was a single black envelop that was delicately placed at the entrance. On it was a dagger symbol...

The League of Assassins!

Creator's Thought

This was my first encounter with runes and yet it wasn't that memorable. I only thought it to be a bug. Oh boy, was I wrong! Then again, the invitation from the League of Assassins also seemed more important at the time.