Classless Ascension

The teacher and the student stood in a small barren VR world. One was about to share his amazing wisdom with the other.

That is how a monk could be seen holding his breath, his ears perked, his gaze expectant and his expression extremely serious. That is when the solemn silence was finally broken.

"You see, the trick to winning any fight is easy…" The pupil could be seen leaning forward in rapt attention. "Don't get hit and beat the shit out of your opponent." Josh delivered that line as if it was divine knowledge, to the stupefaction of his interlocutor.

"What? That's it? Where's the trick?" The poor monk asked uncertainly.

"That's it. Don't try and make it difficult. Just focus on dodging and attacking. Why try and purposely make it difficult? Killing isn't about flashy and fancy moves. Just take out the opponent, that easy."

"So how do I do that? I've learned martial arts but…"

"Simple. You keep practicing until you get good at it. You are missing experience. Here, let me show you. Go on attack me. Come at me with all you got."

The pupil charged at his teacher mercilessly. He used all the moves he knew and had trained for. He violently began punching and kicking quickly…before falling down on his ass. All that Josh had done was to lazily deflect it all without moving an inch. Thus began the actual lesson.

"Too predictable. If you look at my face right before punching it, it's a dead giveaway."

*Sounds of panting*

The pupil nodded in understanding. He had to hide his intent. He tried again. This time, he went for a bluff and gazed at the face before punching the ribs. But the same result happened.

"To make a bluff really work you need to be able to even fool yourself. If you can't even do that much then don't bother."

*Sounds of exhausted panting"

What was that even supposed to mean? How could one fool oneself? He figured he'd be even more careful with his intent and charged once more. Again he got thrown to the floor.

"Your gaze and facial expressions were fine, but your body betrayed you. You switched your center of gravity to attack. Power-wise that's the best move. Fighting-wise, that's like having a flashy sign telling your opponent where you'll attack."

*Sound of very exhausted panting.*

He nodded once more. This time he figured he'd do better. He attacked …and failed obviously.

"This time you barely moved your center of gravity. Of course, you'll end up unstable this way! I barely had to push you for you to fall. That's just idiotic you know."

*Sound of extremely heavy panting*

How was he supposed to clear this?! If he didn't fake it, he was instantly seen through and countered. If he faked it, he lacked power. It seemed like an impossible riddle.

"Boss, what exactly am I supposed to do?"

"Well, you simply want to balance it all for the best of results you know. You can even mix in some fake body language signals in there to confuse the opponent." Josh smilingly said.

*Sound of a body falling heavily on the floor*

At some point during the previous sentence, the pupil had been attacked and fell to the ground. But there was something crazy. He didn't know himself when that had happened! He had blinked and then ….that was it! Seriously, how the fuck was that possible?!

"That is what you want to do. Very simple stuff, really." Josh concluded.

Meanwhile, the gaze of the man on the ground changed. He already admired the man but now it became veneration. It was as if a new world had opened before his eyes. Josh's style of fighting was both incredibly complex and simple at the same time. He simply used what flowed naturally. How amazing was that?!

"Boss, I understand! Let's keep going until-" He said with stars in his eyes as he got up.

"Do you think I am that free?! How long do you think it will take before you become half-decent? I'm not going to micromanage that bullshit. Alright, let's go. Log off!"

As Josh returned to reality he couldn't help but wonder what was happening. For some reason, there was some guy in heavy-looking steel armor right next to the VR capsule. He seemed to be awaiting their return. The guy didn't let Josh place a word as he began admonishing him in a displeased tone.

"I've heard about your little 200% pain-setting stunt. You shouldn't risk someone's life with something so stupid. Do you realize your mistake? You can't just exploit your status for crap like that. You need to take responsibility!" He seemed very motivated for this speech.

The kid seemed to ooze with the pride of a peacock as he made his sermon. Also, why was Josh getting the feeling that the kid wanted to impress Kasha somehow? Perhaps the way he seemed to be posing to show her his best side-profile.

"My status?" This point puzzled Josh. If he knew that he was a White Gold Draconic member (kinda) how did he have the balls to talk back to him?

"No need to hide it. I know that you are the illegitimate son of Dario. I've heard others talk about it. You should be ashamed to tarnish a great man's reputation! But it's not too late to take your life into your own hands and…" He kept rambling.

This kid was going places. Not the right ones, but places for sure. Josh could see Kasha making her best not to erupt in laughter. Even now the clown was still going.

"… But even then, I'll do my job as a healer. Is this the victim? Don't worry brother, I'll heal you completely!" He was now heading to the monk to heal him. A bright white flash later the target went from healthy to healthy. Yep, it had been totally unnecessary. They needed a cleaner instead.

Now, why was a healer wearing heavy armor? Actually, no. This was a dumb question. Ronan was the strongest healer in Draconic and he fought close range with a staff already. Still, Josh didn't expect there to be pricks like that guy in this guild. Was it time to clean up a bit?

Josh looked at him. "Alright, what's your name? Also, you really should just care about your own business, man. Why don't you go do something more productive instead?"

"I am Jack! But I will not leave before you promise not to repeat the previous offense. There is no cause worthier than to defend a brother from the same guild." He turned toward the monk. "You don't have to suffer through such torture anymore. By the way, how long ago have you joined Draconic? It's the first time I see you here."

"?! Joined Draconic? I haven't. I'm just here for training…" Then he turned to Josh afterward. "Alright, Boss. What do we do next? I'm ready for any hardships!"

That is when this Jack character froze, looking puzzled for a few seconds, but then putting 2 and 2 together. Except that in that expression, he would have obtained 39 as a result.

"Now this is even worse! I can't believe you used your status to break a basic guild rule! Outsiders are not allowed in here! It's not because you were tasked to bring an outsider in recently that you can just do the same on your own!" He condemned.

Josh turned toward Kasha. "Isn't this supposed to be an S-Rank guild? What's with that kind of clown? Ah, whatever….Right, Jack was it? From this point onward you are now kicked out of Draconic."

The guy shook his head. "This is not how this works. Only the Guild-master himself can kick me from the guild. I will not cower! I am definitely in the right this one time. My principles will not waver. I will always be looking out for the interests of the guild!"

Oh well, whatever. Josh simply sent a message to Dario real quick.

- Josh MF Malum: Sup, some Jack the Healer in heavy armor, I kicked him from the guild. He doesn't believe me. Either you tell him he's out or I ask Kasha to beat the Hell out of him.

- Dario the Dragon: Why?! What happened?! He's probably our most normal healer…

Perhaps Josh should pray for Draconic. Their most normal healer was a dumbass wearing full plate armor. Well, he wouldn't remain in the guild for long...