Classless Ascension

Across the Alter Tower, many Climbers were suddenly surprised by an announcement. 

[Ding-Ding! Leaderboards are now available! Enjoy!] 

"What?!"

"Leaderboards? Like in a game?!"

"Guess I'll check it out then." 

But as they carefully oppened it, many had the surprise of their life. It was so intense that some even perished because of it! 

A man on the desert Floor was buried in a dune, waiting for a ginormous snake to go away. Since he had nothing else to do, he figured he might as well check the new rankings. But then: 

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Floor 2 Ranking Conquest Score

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1. MF Josh: 70 000

2. Kasha: 200

3. Usain Dash: 150

4. AIYA: 50 

5. Empty

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"What the fuck?!" 

That Climber couldn't help but cry out loud. How the fuck had Josh managed to get 70 000 points when second place was only 200?! What kind of impossibly huge difference was this?! Wait, wasn't Kasha a goddamn Ranker too?! 

His outburst instantly revealed his position, and the giant snake nearby happily came over to devour him. His mind was in such turmoil that he didn't even realize it, just awakening to the Mall at some point. 

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Floor 420 Bonus Recovery Time (seconds)

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1. MF Josh: 1

2. Peaceful Joe: 2757

3. Minor: 3452

4. Dale: 3712

5. Dumpling Guy (Student): 4339

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On the shitty Floor, a climber was gawking in astonishment. Someone had managed to pass this test?! This shit was complete poison! How?! It said recovery time. Place 5 took 72 minutes? This shit was serious! 

But then he glanced upward, 61 minutes, 57 minutes, 46 minutes….1 second?! Was Josh even human?! This was clear proof that he wasn't! No, there had to be a trick! He just had to be careful and remain strong. He grabbed the shit, ate it — then got eliminated instantly. 

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Floor 420 Survival Time 

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1. MF Josh: Infinite

2. Dale: 2 weeks

3. Emsee Hammer: 2 weeks

4. Recruiter Frank: 2 weeks

5. Caroline (Student): 2 weeks

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Many contestants on that Floor were busy typing random bullshit while trying their best to resist the mental attacks (kinda). They had to resist the lack of sleep, the soul-crushingly annoying noises, and the harassment from the bosses. 

For them, the leaderboard was great news! They would be able to check it while typing, plus it would distract them from going crazy— or so they thought. But then they saw Josh's score, and all lost the challenge instantly as they stared with their mouth gaping open. 

Once out, they began thinking about these results. Why was everyone failing at the two weeks mark?! Was it possible that the difficulty ramped up drastically mid-way? If they were caught unprepared, they would likely all fail at that point. 

But how could one receive Infinite as a mark?! It wasn't like it was genuinely possible to remain an infinite amount of time in the Tower. Josh was already out! No, there had to be something else. 

That's when many Climbers figured out that they were probably not approaching the test the proper manner. Perhaps the key to success wasn't truly to survive one month! At that moment, many felt extremely silly for just copying monkeys…

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Floor 3 Prestige Score

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1. MF Josh: 6000

2. Kasha: 512

3. Emsee Hammer: 489

4. Copy Gon (Student): 67

5. Desmond (Student) 53

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Many were shocked by Josh's performance but couldn't help but notice that Emsee Hammer and Kasha seemed to score way higher than the other two. They had probably figured out a trick to this. 

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Floor 4 Enemies Killed - Allies Lost

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1. MF Josh: 10 854

2. Minor: 89

3. Emsee Hammer: -132

4. Kasha: -156

5. AIYA: -349

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What kind of leaderboard was this?! How could there be negative scores?! Ah, It meant that they had lost too many allies. Had all of them obtained pyrrhic victories? Perhaps Minor had succeeded, but it was hard to judge with Josh's result. 10k+, WTF?! 

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Floor 5 Completion Rate

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1. MF Josh: 150% 

2. Kasha: 23%

3. Usain Dash: 22%

4. AIYA: 17%

5. Emsee Hammer: 14%

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Once again, Draconic dominated that leaderboard. But even more glaring was how much of a cheat Josh seemed! A completion rate of 150% out of 100%, how was this even possible?!

Some hadn't been able to find a single banana, and they could now see that the problem lay with them. 

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Overall it was safe to say that most of them went through a similar process when confronted with Josh's performance: 

1. Shock: What the fuck was up with Josh's results?!

2. Denial: No, this had to be an error. It couldn't be possible! Perhaps the Tower had added a few zeros by mistake or something. 

3. Anger: How were they supposed to reach the expectations of such a monster?! Would it even be possible for them to clear the challenges in the first place?!

4. Bargaining: Perhaps there was a trick to it? As long as they worked hard, they would reach the same height as him. 

5. Depression: Even coming close to him was impossible! It was easier to reach a star in the night sky with a tricycle! 

6. Testing: Perhaps someone else in their cohort would manage to achieve similar results, then they could copy them? It was unlikely but not impossible, right?

7. Acceptance: Nope, no matter what they did, similar results were impossible. He was Josh Motherfucking Malum and couldn't be understood with the laws of the world. It was better not to think about it. 

In short, many were having an existential crisis. Many were looking up to Josh's strength but coming to terms that he would probably forever remain out of reach. 

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Josh happily smiled as he exited the Alter Tower. He couldn't help but feel proud of his latest contribution to the school. He could already picture how excited the students would be. 

Now, all of them were in this training together. They were all bound by the same magical NDA, and they would challenge each other to promote growth. The base was already there, and everything was working as intended. 

As he walked, he couldn't help but feel that some of them were staring at him very intensely. Could it be that AT had told them the rankings had been his idea? They were probably grateful. 

It was nice, but he now had to figure out about recruitment.. First, a visit to Tech Queen Alexa. She'd know how to create a fantastic website, right?