Classless Ascension

Everyone's jaw was agape as they watched the scene with rapt attention. In that single instant, many couldn't help but be mesmerized by the show. The arcade became extremely lively and the excitement was palpable.

They were all watching…some random bra-less woman play Dance Dance Resolution. Yeah, that had easily outshined Josh who was simply training.

It was currently the fifth day. He had finally managed to deal with the overgrown goblins. He had developed a certain rhythm and he kept slaying and slaying while even relaxingly whistling a light tune.

It went pretty much like da-do-da-da-do…

[Game Over! Would you like to play again?]

What?! That entirely screwed Josh's flow! He had been sure that no goblin had passed through! But then, he noticed it. Right next to the campfire, there was something that looked like a mole tunnel.

Yes, there were now goblin diggers that would travel underground unnoticed. There was only one clue to their passage, the grass on the surface would rustle slightly differently. It was very subtle and could easily get mistaken for the wind's effect.

Now, not only did Josh need to pay attention to the enemies, but he also needed to look at the ground while being mindful of projectiles. This was a multitasking nightmare. Still, there were many in the rankings that had beat this content already.

For once Josh felt humbled, truly humbled. He had no excuses whatsoever. What he failed to understand was that this specific game had been out for years. It wasn't one related to the Tower at all!

In any case, noticing his own flaws only motivated Josh to further push himself. It took him another full day to clear that part. Josh felt like the developers had done a wonderful job on gating the difficulty to be both challenging yet quite fast to clear.

Many would have coughed blood had they heard Josh's thoughts. What he accomplished in one day had taken them months or years. But for him, there was nothing out of the ordinary there.

Eventually, Josh managed to instantly spot the burrowing goblins even in his peripheral vision. The trick was to carefully note the wind's orientation and remark the incongruities.

It was satisfying to ambush them right as they exited their tunnels. Josh felt good wasting all their efforts as they had wasted his. Of course, they didn't have any feelings as they were nothing but amalgams of data.

During that day, Josh had gone from lasting 55 minutes to lasting 105 minutes. On the ranking, he had gone from top 500 to 50. That is when people all across the world, albeit not many, started to realize that there was a new ranker in the game.

It had to be known that players having reached that point were all true masters that had trained for a long time already or very strong Climbers IRL. The latter had a slight advantage from the overall effect of leveling up. It didn't change the stats of their character in-game but it helped them compute the information faster, while still remaining a challenge nonetheless.

As Josh removed his headset, he noticed that the look on Dan's face had changed. Before the man had been shocked and impressed but now there was clear admiration. Josh obviously dealt with the situation tactfully …by sending him to buy more Volcano chips.

Then began the sixth day. Josh was already getting curious as to how many enemies would appear thereafter. He kept going, under the assault of all the goblins: the regular ones, the firemen, the rock-throwers, the gigantic ones, the diggers, and finally….came doom. There was no other way to describe it.

[Game Over! Would you like to play again?]

Josh had reached a wall, one he had no clue how to overcome. What changed this time was that the regular goblins stopped spawning only to suddenly be replaced by gigantic ones.

For the first time over the last 120 hours, Josh placed the VR headset aside. Then lost in thoughts he simply lay on the floor, staring at the brightly lit ceiling. He was in some sort of trance. He had forgotten where he was, he had forgotten that there were people watching, he had even forgotten that the only reason he was playing this in the first place was to hone his skills.

All Josh could think was how he'd keep progressing.

His brain somehow even ignored his surroundings completely, even when Dan asking him loudly if he was okay. At this single moment, many thought that Josh was finally having health issues. He had been here for more than 5 days straight already!

Not only had he eaten bags and bags of deadly spicy chips, but he hadn't slept or even gone to the toilet either! Only Josh was under the misconception that all that was normal for a Climber. It's only when some medics put him on a stretcher and tried to tie him up that Josh regained his spirit while loudly slapping them away.

"What are you guys doing?!", Josh shouted angrily.

"T-that we're here to save you and…."

"I don't need saving! I need to figure out how to protect my campfire! Go annoy someone else!"

His actions quickly made people worry about his mental health and this addiction that may very well claim his life at this rate. But Josh was already pondering once more. How could he kill all of these creatures? How?!

Josh was currently number 5 on the rankings. It was clearly possible to keep going! Josh felt like he was missing something obvious. How were people surviving longer than him? There was only so much one could accomplish with a single stick! That is when it hit him. Did he really have to use the stick?

Did he need to kill the gigantic goblins? What if he tried slowing them instead?! This flash of inspiration was akin to a lightning bolt, it came fast and changed everything! Josh instantly started laughing loudly as he went to game again. That convinced the spectators of his complete madness.

Many actually wanted to take him away for his own good, but Dan stopped them all. He could understand Josh's excitement. He too would be ecstatic had he ranked that high. So he kept a vigilant gaze and didn't let anyone interrupt Josh's attempt.

Inside the game, Josh quickly made short work of every wave one after the other. At this point, he knew the early game so well his brain was sending the commands instinctively.

After a while, he finally reached the insane wave of gigantic goblins. He was indeed limited to the number of enemies he could defeat simply with a single stick. The main issue was that these big guys took 5 hits each.

This time, however, Josh was ready to face them. Remember how it took a while for rocks to despawn? It was in fact the same with vats and goblin-thrower pieces. Josh simply discarded his stick completely.

No, instead he picked up the various debris all over the place. Then he started throwing it all right under the feet of the gigantic goblins. They started losing their balance and tumbling on the ground.

Josh had been hoping that something else would happen. He had been hoping that the super goblin wave was going to simply disappear. No, there were even more in the background.

The goblins slowly but inevitably made their way to Josh's campfire before mercilessly stomping it. It took way more time for Josh to lose but the ever-familiar screen still appeared.

[Game Over! Would you like to play again?]

This time Josh was at a true loss. He simply didn't know how to improve anymore. He exited the game feeling defeated. He felt his soul itself sighing and…

"You crazy motherfucker! You fucking did it! Oh my fucking god! This is insane! This is so damn amazing! How did you even do that?!"

As he came to his senses, Josh was instantly ambushed by Dan. He couldn't help but watch his surroundings wondering if he had missed anything but the bystanders too didn't understand why he was so hyper.

"What are you even going on about?"

"Ah! Check the rankings!"

There is was :

Super Wack-A-Gobbo rankings…at the very top in the number one position it read <JustBuyingSoySauce>.

Josh couldn't help but be taken aback before asking. "Wait, does that mean this game isn't supposed to be beatable?!"

"What?! Didn't you know already?!"

Josh gave an embarrassing smile. He had only cared about the "survive as long as possible" part. He simply shrugged afterward.

"Wow, just wow. Anyway, how were the last minutes? Ah, also I'.m curious! What was your ratio of time spent in Hell, devilish, extreme, fast, and normal?"

"Ah, I played on Hell."

"I know, for the majority, but when did you lower it?"

"I didn't. What are you talking about?"

"What?! How is that possible?! You did even the last part on Hell?! This is impossible!"

Did Josh make a mistake? Dan's livid face would have made one believe he had just seen a ghost. Anyway, that is how a gaming legend was born. About a man that was so addicted he had played for 6 days straight.

What about the #1 Super Wack-A-Goblin title? Well, Josh had only told Dan his username or people that didn't come to this arcade.

Some were convinced that he was the new #1 SWAG ranker, but that rumor quickly got debunked by looking at the time Josh had spent in his last game.

Some kept arguing that perhaps he could have played the whole thing on Hell, but then the previous number 1 came out and affirmed that it was impossible, even for him. The new champion had probably won him by a few seconds.

But...Josh was blissfully ignorant of that debate for he was rushing for a date, a date with rats...