Classless Ascension

In an underground room, many LoA recruiters were left speechless by a single candidate's ignorance. They were all staring at him, feeling at an extreme loss. This dumbass had already killed more than half the candidates! How?!

"Why don't you enlighten him since you seem to understand what the next test entails." The fake lawyer told the thief, resisting the urge to curse the oblivious one aloud.

The thief could only awkwardly smile as he complied: "The Assassin's Promise is an extremely serious affair. It consists in informing one's target about their upcoming demise via a special letter. This is the actual Promise."

"Oh, I see, ever more letters! What about texting them? Wouldn't it do the same?" Josh carelessly replied.

"No way! It wouldn't have the same impact, and it's a matter of honor! It's a tradition as old as the assassin profession itself!" The thief exclaimed heatedly.

"I get it. I get it. Still, I'm surprised that its credibility hasn't been called into question by pranksters sending false ones for the fun of it..." Josh murmured.

"It would be suicide! Anyone breaking the sacred rules will be hunted. There are only two potential outcomes to an Assassin's Promise: either the assassin succeeds or dies. There is no in-between."

"So, in short, I just need to send a fancy yet serious death threat?" Josh summarized.

The recruiter then chimed in:

"If you so accept this trial, you will have a few target choices. However, just know that all the marks will be powerful and well-connected. Plus, they'll be aware of your intentions, thus negating the most powerful tool in a killer's kit: surprise attack!"

He then took a solemn look once more:

"What will you guys pick? Will it be the easiest option or the extremely challenging one?" He stared at them with great intensity as he awaited their reply. For them, it was bound to be a tough choice!

But he was barely done with his question that two were replying, not an ounce of worry in their tone:

"Assassin's Promise." The lady in blue murmured.

"The hardest one, obviously!" Josh commented.

The fake lawyer didn't know how to react. How could they be so nonchalant about it all?! It was as if this was nothing but a routine procedure to them! Then, even the thief followed their lead!

"This is so risky! ...Ah, whatever, count me in too!" While he was nowhere near confident, he was ready to die for his dreams if it was required.

The fake lawyer could only put his restlessness aside as he kept following the established protocol. "I will now send you a short target list. You can only pick one amongst them. Choose wisely, for this will determine your life or death!"

Josh received a message on his UW.

— Ding! —

<Target List Received, accept?>

A click later, he could now easily visualize who he would soon have the pleasure to kill. Apparently, they were classified by difficulty level from easiest to hardest:

- Twin-Knife Jackson — Cleaner, Cutting Edge (A)

- Holy Paladin Joseph — Adamantium Wolves (A)

- Unkillable Harry — Lucky charm, Tortoise (A)

- Runic Knight Phillips — Recruiter, Gemini (A)

The first one was a cleaner, aka the kind of shady individual that made people disappear. Due to his profession, his guild likely wouldn't help too much— it would be admitting their connection.

The second one was a regular member of a well-organized mercenary guild. Their specialty was clearing the Tower, and they would probably be easy to infiltrate given that they had a shitload of members.

The Unkillable Harry guy was apparently a symbol for his guild and guarded 24/7. He didn't even have an official position. He was simply liked!

Then finally, there was the recruiter for Gemini. Josh couldn't help but raise a brow at this one. Was this that one arrogant guy who had looked down on him? Either way, that one guild probably had the most connections and would prove highly challenging.

The other two candidates quickly selected their preferred targets. It seemed like they all had different lists too. The thief went with the one that seemed the easiest to take down while the lady in blue decisively chose one randomly.

Only Josh was left staring at his UW. Which one should he pick?!

The fake lawyer smiled seeing this. "Just select any. The difficulty of each isn't that far apart. What makes you hesitate? Are you worried about them belonging to A-Ranked guilds?"

"Not at all. Honestly, I'm surprised there are no Rankers in there. I'm just trying to figure out which one of them I like the least. The problem is that I sorely lack information." Josh answered while clicking his tongue.

It seemed like the recruiter had misunderstood once again. Most chose based on difficulty, and he was freaking picking based on his mood?! He couldn't help but complain: "You're an assassin, not a Death God! Just pick one!"

A Death God, was it? Somehow these words resonated with him. The whole point of this evaluation was to impress the LoA bigshots, right? They had probably seen countless assassinations. Would one more even make an impact? No way!

He had just the perfect idea! That's when Josh began smiling, a radiant smile that put all the recruiters on edge. They felt that something was very wrong with him…quite possibly his brain! They could already feel the crazy oozing out of him!

"I've decided. Send an Assassin's Promise to the four of them. But, instead of the regular caption promising them death, write that the Death God will visit them. Their lives will cease to be their own as they face judgment." Josh heroically ordered.

The bystanders could only stare at him in shock. What the hell was he trying to pull?! One shouted, brandishing his fist in the air. "This is an Assassin's Promise we're talking about! We won't be freaking changing it just because you feel like it!"

"Why not?"

"Because it's shameful! Assassins kill. They don't judge!"

"I'll do both. This whole practice is meant to terrify the world into submission, am I right? No matter what the victim tries, if the LoA wants them dead, they will die! Because of this, they fear going against us." Josh calmly spoke.

"Yes…." He grumbled.

"So, which one is the most terrifying: kill one guy with lots of effort or kidnap four and kill whoever the fuck you want as easily as slaughtering chickens?"

"…The latter, I guess." The recruiter reluctantly admitted.

"Great!" Josh clapped his hands happily.

Meanwhile, the recruiters sent a few messages. They were all asking the higher-ups to know if Josh's proposal was considered valid. Soon, they had their reply with the fake lawyer delivering it:

"Permission has been granted. However, you need to kidnap all of them, kill at least one of them, and you need to put on a good show. You will be graded based on how big of a wave it makes on the news." He solemnly declared.

The others were all staring at Josh while drawing a cold breath. Kidnapping four members of A-Ranked guilds, some even core ones?! He had just dug his own grave! How was he supposed to accomplish something like this?!

Yet, Josh was satisfyingly smiling. His main concern was to decide who he wanted to kill. He wouldn't just take a life because someone had ordered him to do so. He would follow his judgment.

Once again, the recruiters didn't know how to react to his nonchalance. Hence they did the only thing they could think of: "Alright, time to get out! You all have a month to finish this assignment. Once you're done, we'll contact you for a follow-up!

The lady in blue hurriedly left on her own, barely glancing at Josh. The thief, on the other hand, couldn't help but stick around to comment:

"Brother, this is the most insane plan I've ever heard. You should probably start with the harder targets. The more you kidnap and the more the targets will invest in protection." He earnestly advised.

"Thanks for the thought, but what about you? How will you proceed?" Josh asked relaxedly.

"I'm a thief, so I'll do thief things. I'll probably do some reverse-pickpocketing and hope for the best." He sighed as he pictured the dangerous task ahead.

Reverse-pickpocketing? He probably meant poisoning something the target would eat/drink ahead of time. Either way, it was his problem to deal with. Josh would be plenty busy as it was.

He quickly waved the thief goodbye and began walking away, checking his UW for information. But suddenly, plenty of messages came through, all from the same guy.

— Ding! —

— Ding! —

— Ding! —

- Frank the Recruiter: Holy shit! We just hit the jackpot once again! Look at the news. This is crazy! I can already picture all the new Climbers queuing at our doors to buy their entry to the Alter Tower!

- Frank the Recruiter: Okay, here's the summary. Remember the underwater Tower? Well, they're calling it Atlantis Tower now. Apparently, it's extremely deadly! A bunch of people entered it, and they're all getting thrown out...Well, their corpses are!

- Frank the Recruiter: I managed to find a picture, look at this! <BloatedCorpse.Png> They all came out looking like that, and the autopsy revealed that they died mere minutes after entering the Tower. They all drowned! Do you know what that means?! Yes, $$$ Haha!

Spitting corpses out? Why?! How?!

As Josh opened the attached picture, he couldn't help but frown. The corpse was so swollen that it was hard to recognize it as a human being. The white-blackish remnants of flesh were peeling off and wrinkly beyond belief.

There were green spots around its limbs and neck. It was as if algae had choked out the Climber. All in all, the whole corpse was as disgusting as grotesque! It made one's stomach turn up just looking at it!

He shivered slightly. Aquatic levels were so terrifying! Humans not only would have trouble surviving while submerged in water, but they also wouldn't be able to apply any force. It was simple but so deadly!

It was always possible that it was a Floor akin to all the others and that monsters with water abilities­ inhabited it, but it was doubtful. Would the regular Tower show such characteristics at some point? How could they even deal with it as a land-based species?!

Josh couldn't help but wonder what would have happened to him if he had gone there. Would he be just another unrecognizable bloated corpse to add to the collection? He had a dimensional belt, but could he even survive a full day in the water?

There were so many unknown variables! He would have to remain informed for sure!

- Josh MF Malum: Take care of it and update me on the news. Feel free to do any pub you want. For instance, come to the Alter Tower: 99 ways to die, but drowning ain't one!

After sending this message, he pushed the issue away for now. It was time to focus on some incredibly high-key kidnapping…

Creator's Thought

The scariest about the Tower is definitely the unknown. This made Atlantis Tower extremely dangerous. As a species, we had to explore it to further our knowledge, but at this moment it was pretty much a death sentence. It was a repeat of the early ranker days over again, tons of deaths...