Classless Ascension

As Dale threw fireballs everywhere, a weird and deep rumbling sound came from the mountain.

Josh's group couldn't help but hope that it would cease soon. But, they weren't that "lucky". It was only getting worse and worse.

Then a few seconds later, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.

They felt the rock under their feet move as a deep fissure opened in the rock under their feet. It instantly drained the hot spring, the current almost sweeping them.

"Goddammit!" The poor monk cursed, failing to keep his balance.

Josh grabbed him as he stared at the distance. So much air was getting displaced that the fog was slowly disappearing. Now they could distinguish the fissure just growing longer and longer, gradually heading toward the monastery in the distance.

"What the fuck have you done, you birdbrain!" The monk cursed.

"T-that…." Dale mumbled.

"Are you an idiot?!"

"Yes…"

"…."

"…."

F … ⎧ᴿᴵᴾ⎫

.

.

.

.

They all watched in horror, the tension palpable.

It crept closer and closer, a complete disaster about to happen.

But then it stopped right before the monastery. Damn, this had been so damn close! They couldn't help but sigh in relief seeing this.

"How the hell can a few random fireballs cause so much destruction?" Dale asked, perplexed.

"You should have thought of that before! You almost destroyed my old mentor's legacy!" The monk thundered.

"It really was an accident, I swear! Plus, I'm positive it's your bad luck at work!" He retorted.

Just like that, the two started bickering, with the orc raising a brow.

"Master, are they always like that?"

"They weren't before. It seems that growing stronger changed their personalities for the worse." Josh sighed.

He couldn't help but gaze at the large crevasse in wonder. How does one even calculate damage done to a mountain?

In the distance that one elder was already coming over, screaming. He seemed understandably pissed.

Wait, no. He wasn't the only one. The other monks were all trailing behind him. They looked like a militia about to march against evil.

Their eyes were resolute, their brows furrowed in anger, and their fists were clenching various objects from brooms to planks of plywood.

They finally came close, and their complaints flowed very fast like a river in flood season! They were demanding explanations.

Josh pushed Dale forward: he'd let the troublemaker handle it. He would have to show his mastery of the legendary, apologetic crawling stance!

He was alone versus all the angry monks.

But before the show could start, the orc's face suddenly twisted. His mouth opened in shock as he pointed to a nearby mountain peak with apparent nervousness.

It seems like their trouble wasn't over.

Just as the dust was finally settling down, the peak began shaking. Before anyone could react, it all happened. Suddenly an avalanche began as tons of snow rolled down.

There was enough snow to bury a city whole, much less their small group.

"Defensive formation now! Dale, this is all your fault. You take care of it!" Josh thundered.

At this moment, the fiery-haired youngster couldn't help but gulp as he glanced at the white wave. How the fuck was he supposed to take care of an avalanche alone?!

At this moment, he felt fear, but not because of the avalanche!

He could feel Josh's gaze on his back. His meaning was clear: if a single monk was wounded, he would be the one paying the price, even if they were friends.

There was a devil behind him and an avalanche in front; the choice was obvious.

Without caring for his safety, Dale ran straight at the natural disaster. A few seconds later, the fire spread everywhere as he tried to derail the entire thing.

He would use his body to block it all.

He stood at the front, looking like a god of fire, as he stood his ground. At this moment, the once angry monks couldn't help but stare at the scene, shellshocked.

So this was what Climbers looked like?! Had they really just run at these people angrily?! Oh god!

Some couldn't help but glance at Josh and orc. These two were even higher in the totem pole, as far as they knew. Could it be that they were even stronger?!

As the unlucky monk saw a youngster glance curiously at Josh, he couldn't help but tease him, whispering lowly in his ear.

"If Boss is an inferno, then the guy you see in front is a tiny match."

O_O

Oh god! That strong?! Was that even humanly possible?! Climbers were really something else! The unlucky monk just nodded, confirming the monk's wild hypothesis.

As for whether that was true….probably not.

After all, an inferno looked deadly, but Josh didn't. Even now, he looked at the man fighting the avalanche in peace. Was he even putting this thing in his eyes at all? No, right?

Dale's effort did pay off.

The snow rumbled on each side of them. They had the feeling of being in a snowy ocean that had been split in two by some miracle.

Then it was quickly over, as the self-proclaimed phoenix toppled over. Never in his life had he been so exhausted, even when he had been following Josh's crazy training regimen.

Watching his performance, Josh couldn't help but be surprised. Since when had he become so strong?!

It almost seemed like he had a Ranker's power level. Then again, this was only considering his raw firepower. It seemed like he was slowly heading into a full-offensive build.

Was this the inevitable fate to the fire users?

As the catastrophe was finally, the poor monks eventually turned over toward their monastery— or tried. There was no trace of it.

They fell to their knees, many softly sobbing.

"Noooo! What are we going to do now?!" Their concerns were justified.

With their monastery buried under the snow, so would their ancestral teachings. This was the reason for the group's visit in the first place.

"Hurry up! We have to save as much as we can!" Josh waved his hand, ordering his students. But then the surroundings monks shook their heads sorrowfully.

"It's already too late."

"Just touching snow is enough to destroy it."

"Yes, it's over. Snow is its ultimate enemy after water."

They all solemnly nodded with tears in their eyes. Their whole world had just been destroyed in front of their very eyes.

But the unlucky monk suddenly chimed in:

"Aren't most of the records contained in stone tablets? It probably survived the snow…" He asked, perplexed.

This was such great news!— except the monks didn't even rejoice one bit.

"Who cares about the scriptures?! The elder knows them all by heart!"

"The real disaster is losing all the rice! The freaking rice!"

"It's already gone bad by now for sure!"

At this moment, the party couldn't help but be stunned. Their monastery had just disappeared, and yet they were mourning…the rice?! Really?!

"Was it special magical rice or something?" Josh asked, confused.

They all took a profound look as if they were about to share an enormous secret. The elder finally uttered while sighing.

"Living in this weather without food is an instant death sentence. Even if you guys have food, how long can it last more than 30 people?" He then continued.

"Even if you go out to get some, we'll be dead long before you can come back since we lack proper shelter. Also, many vowed to stay here until they reached a certain threshold of success."

"Thus losing food and shelter means that they have to choose between death and breaking their vow." He finally concluded.

The monks all nodded in agreement.

What was wrong with them?! Why were they making such a big deal of a problem with such an obvious solution?!

"Elder, won't it be fine with Master paying for the damage done?" The orc carefully asked. He was wondering what made them look so grim.

"Our monastery is very remote, and only Climbers can access it at this time of the year. Considering all the trouble it would take, the construction costs would be astronomical."

"What? I'm pretty sure it would be extremely cheap…." Josh retorted.

"No, no! Astronomical!" The elder then took an incredibly solemn look. "It would be in the five digits credits!!!"

"…."

"…."

"…."

"…."

At this moment, the party would have flipped a table if there was any.

Their interlocutors were poor monks, really impoverished monks! Josh didn't even bother to argue with them.

He went a distance away to make a call, leaving the monks to their own devices. They were already discussing:

"What is he doing?"

"Is it me, or he didn't seem shocked?"

"He's probably just good at hiding it."

"Eh, it sucks, but we'll have to break our vows."

"Yes, no point freezing to death here. That's too much serenity!"

A few seconds later, Josh was coming back.

"Alright, food will be there in an hour, the construction crew in three, and we'll have a Black Legion's battleship to sleep in by tomorrow." He nonchalantly shared.

"T-that's a joke, right?!" The elder's eyes were bulging out of his head like crazy.

"Hum? Why would I be joking?" Josh replied.

"W-who the hell are you?! No Climbing party should be able to organize that!" He asked in shock as he stared at the group.

The monks in the background opened their ears wide as they stared with gazes hotter than Dale's flames!

The unlucky monk chuckled as he heard that. He could finally understand where the confusion stemmed from.

The old man thought they were a regular climbing team. After all, they all wore different outfits, so they didn't seem to be part of an organized group. As for Dale's show of power? The monks didn't know how to evaluate it and were just impressed.

"Climbing party? Naw, we're his students….and so are a few thousand Climbers either directly or indirectly. Oh yeah, that includes peeps from the MTA and Rankers." He explained.

Government?! Rankers?! Thousands of Climbers?! Even the clueless monks understood what this meant.

What the hell was bringing such a bigshot to their small monastery?!