Classless Ascension

DO NOT READ, THANK YOU, WILL EDIT THIS MESS IN 20 MIN

The door slowly opened, creaking as an assassin appeared. But, his state was strange.

For some reason, he had trouble standing as he mechanically put one foot in front of the other. He was even sweating heavily and had trouble breathing.

In his hands, he was carrying…a tray?

Was this guy really just bringing food? Then why did he seem so stressed? The archer earlier hadn't shown any trace of fear.

"M-Matriarch, sorry to interrupt. Here is the food you asked me to deliver earlier today." His voice was shaking as he said that.

Right now, she was staring at him as if he had committed a grave crime for some reason. This glare made him freeze as he despaired at his current situation:

1. There was possibly something happening between the elder and the matriarch.

2. They were alone in a room with the door closed. (Usually, it was wide open)

3. He had just entered without knocking since he wasn't supposed to make any noise. This was all in case she was in deep reflection.

4. She had killed members, pissing her off in the past.

5. Maybe he had just offended her.

Thus he had entered with the resolve that he would perhaps die. Heck, he had tried getting someone else to do it, but none had a death wish. Now, he was perhaps really going to perish.

But that's when his gaze suddenly met the kind elder. This great man was his last hope! The illustrious man gently waved at him:

"Hey there. It's great that you're there. I'm starving!" the elder ushered him in with a friendly voice.

He even kept his arms solidly latched around the matriarch, who calmed down thanks to it. At that moment, a breath of relief escaped the assassin as he relaxed. He would live! He was so damn lucky that the elder was so understanding!

Without waiting, he approached to deliver the piping hot food. Its wonderful aroma was already spreading all across the room. But he suddenly detected another scent, one that turned his stomach over.

It smelled so damn bad! What the hell was this?!

He had the feeling that there was a corpse that had been left to rot here. It wasn't just recent rot either, but one that was choking and omnipresent. He unconsciously halted but then forced himself to keep going.

The closer he came to them and the worse it became. He felt so damn horrible! What was this?! It was death itself. It was demonic! Whatever this thing was, he had to stay far away from it!

But then he realized with horror that the smell was coming from his two superiors?! No, it was coming from the elder?! How?! Why?!

He was just sitting there casually, even flashing him a bright smile as he gestured right in front of him: "You can drop the tray right here."

This smile chilled the assassin's body entirely. He had to approach so close to him?! The kind man was nowhere to be seen. All that remained was a horrendous monster, one that would definitely devour him.

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What was he supposed to do?! Should he run? Could he run? Should he off himself?!

"Are you alright? You seem pale." The demon's "concerned" voice echoed in the room.

Was he alright?! How could he be?! That's when he noticed the sheep. In the corner, there was a fluffy sheep, one that was running away from the demon. Oh god!

"Y-yes, elder." He forced himself to utter, his voice shaky.

"You don't have to be wary of her. She won't escape my arms." The monster chuckled, joking.

He had to humor him. "Ha-ha-hahaha." The best he could muster was a nervous laugh. Would it suffice? This was insane!

From now on, whatever this monster did, he would copy. This was his only chance of survival…

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Josh couldn't help but stare at the weird man in front of him.

Why was he still so afraid? Was he perhaps fearing retribution from the matriarch once he was gone?

"Say, you won't find trouble with him once I'm gone, right?"

"Gone?! Where?"

"-_- I'm be climbing later."

"Oh right…Of course not You don't have to worry." She reassured him.

"There you have it. So don't be so stressed, alright?" Josh gently spoke to the assassin.

Hearing this, he smiled, but it was one worthy of a cadaver in a horror movie. It was so damn grotesque, and he looked so blemished. It was unbelievable! At this point, Josh just gave up and waited for him to be done.

It took him an eternity, but he finally crouched down to lower the tray on the floor in front of them. But as he rose up, his legs were so wobbly that he missed a step, touching the grimoire they had been reading.

The effect was instantaneous. As soon as there was contact, the man began throwing up a river of blood, landing on the book. But instead of dirtying the pages, it was absorbed, not leaving a trace of it.

Wait, was the book attacking him?! Josh did something he never thought he'd be doing. He slapped the thing hard:

"Bad grimoire, stand down!"

A puff of black energy escaped it as its pages rippled. The assassin heaved a sigh of relief, and so did the sheep in the corner.

The poor guy's face went through so many revolutions. Relief, incomprehension, understanding, gratefulness, awe, and finally worship!

Then started running, as quickly as possible, leaving behind the meal tray.

"This is the usual reaction upon seeing it. Yet you're holding it, not even twitching. You're putting the entire LoA to shame. Still, he's seen something he shouldn't have…."

She opened her mouth, ready to send a sonic attack his way. Josh shook his head. "There is no need. Keep reading."

She seemed to hesitate for a second before she finally let it go. Thus resumed the reading session, one that lasted a couple of days….

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"Are you sure you don't want to stay longer?"

"To read the same book yet another time? Don't worry about me. You should worry about yourself. You have a lot of work to do." Josh chuckled as he bid adieu to the matriarch.

All around, there were assassins sending him away with worshiping gaze. They all had heard the stories from that one assassin with the delivery tray.

The matriarch had wanted to kill him, and the elder had convinced her otherwise!

That one guy had also shared how the elder's aura during training had been enough to scare him shitless and make him throw blood. Just the aura! It was all by mistake too, since he was diligently training!

As for the book? None had heard about it. The guy wasn't that dumb. He knew that he would 100% die if he began to blabber.

They gave him a respectful bow as they watched the man who had tamed the scary matriarch leave. Hell, they wouldn't have dared to become her lover, so they respected him greatly!

As for their actual relation? It wasn't anything of the sort. They had simply been training a lot. The manual had contained many interesting concepts on how to use that dark energy.

The most interesting one was something that he had diligently trained until he could apply it to killing intent: locking.

It was similar to leaving a mark on one's target: something he had already done in the past. The difference was that it delved deeper into the topic. For instance, it described a move called the death step.

What it did was to consume one's deathly energy to close the distance with an opponent. It was akin to a blink that only worked close range and wasn't 100% magical either.

However, he couldn't understand how they even had such knowledge in the first place. The grimoire dated to before the Tower was even a thing. This meant that magic had been present in the world before that crazy event.

On his way out, that one assassin accosted him. "Elder, I just want you to know that no matter what happens in the future, I will always be at your service. You saved my life!"

Josh simply nodded, acknowledging him— and made him sign a slave contract while at it. (Cause why not).

Then it was time to go back to the Tower. He headed for the next floor, getting his orc in passing. The orc king was still squatting at that one's bodyguard place— much to the man's despair.

His pet opened the door, now wearing some crazy-looking tuxedo that gave him a gentlemanly and refined air. It also had a helmet that made him look like that one DJ group.

"What's with the outfit? Did you get into music or something?"

"Welcome back, master! This is my new plan to be able to walk amongst the humans. See the helmet? This way, they won't be able to guess that I'm an orc at all! I've been using it to gather information."

"Information gathering? What kind?"

"I'm trying to investigate human society. There is one thing I still cannot understand. Humans seem to worship the strong at first glance, but the way they evaluate such strength is all over the place."

"It's not like such a thing is easy to evaluate in the first place...." Josh commented.

"It is, actually. You just fight." The mighty and powerful orc nodded wisely.

"Sure...."

How long would it take to organize a humanity-wide tournament? Too fucking long! Knowing humans, they would bicker endlessly on the rules anyway.

"Great idea, but time to Climb. So get your green ass ready!"

"Hehe, you should know better, Master. An orc is always ready to fight!"

But soon, he would swallow his words...

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[A/N] What do you guys think of the latest chapters quality-wise? I'm so deep in writing and tired that I really don't know anymore. I don't want to write trash, but I don't want to stop either.