Classless Ascension

A man spawned along with a purple flash in what appeared to be…a kitchen?! 

[Welcome to AT, Floor 6!] 

[Are you ready for your first day? 😈] 

[Complete the orders at all cost! Or else….] 

How ominous…

Josh couldn't help but raise a brow as he observed his surroundings. Lots of ingredients all well separated in small containers, meat, buns, grills— this was a goddamn burger joint, wasn't it?! 

However, what seemed very freaking strange was that the kitchen was circular. It reminded him of a cooking competition with the cooks being shown right in the middle. Well, except for the low counter with a few registers on the perimeter. 

This whole place was totally out in the open! 

"This sure is…unique," Josh commented. Then again, this was expected from AT. Judging by the decor, this place would have had a slogan similar to "I'm fucking loving it!" 

That's when a sea of customers showed up: monkeys! Why were there so many monkeys! It reminded him of one of civilization's darkest ages: the NFT monkeys! 

Either way, he patiently waited for the challenge to start. He saw a few fellow humans enter the kitchen with livid faces. 

They were sweating, mumbling prayers, and looked as if they were about to freaking die! Then again, looking at how the monkeys were already looking their way, their reaction was understandable. 

Still, what kind of fast food employees couldn't handle some pressure? The veteran ones wouldn't even sweat if they were plunged in lava! 

Then it all started. 

The monkey customers ordered lightning fast as orders showed up in front of Josh's eyes as if small status screens. 

There was only one issue. Why the fuck were they only flashing for a second before disappearing forever?! Whatever, he could cope with that! 

His hands flew across the preparation table, getting the perfect ingredients needed while a man on the side cooked the meat. 

Josh played the game to the best of his abilities, soon serving a wonderful burger— it wasn't that hard! 

"Alright, guys! Let's do this!" He smiled as he encouraged his team. But he had spoken too soon, way too soon! 

A monkey customer was unhappy to see him talk instead of working (he still was). That's when he brought out a kunai and freaking threw it?! 

Josh grabbed a nearby knife, parrying the projectile— or trying. The kunai just went straight through the metal and almost dug a hole in his throat. What the fuck?! 

The single second he had spent dodging was enough to infuriate another. It also took a kunai out. 

"What gives, AT?! What's the point of making this a restaurant if there will be ninjas throwing shit from the start!" He grumbled as he began preparing the orders as quickly as possible while dodging the projectiles. 

He quickly realized that this game was rigged AF! 

<script>ChapterMid();</script><br/>No matter if he succeeded or failed his orders, there would be sharp pointy objects thrown his way. That was because the customers were very impatient, and some of the team members would commit mistakes from time to time. 

Oh yeah, many of his colleagues were already lying on the cold floor in a pool of their blood. Josh was pretty sure that this wouldn't have passed the fucking health inspection! But even then, no one seemed to care.

The allies were dwindling, making the orders harder and harder to make quickly. Now, if he lacked ingredients, he needed to grab some more himself. 

As for the enemies, they were increasing like rabbits high on aphrodisiacs and stuck in one tiny cage during Covid.

This made it, so the weapons were coming flying from all directions at once in increasingly difficult to evade pattern— fuck that round kitchen! 

"This was I call a freaking kitchen from Hell!" Josh grumbled as he kept avoiding and navigating the place. 

I only that was all: 

Nope, the more it went, and the more creative the enemies were getting both with their complaints and means of reprisal. 

Complaints: 

- Erroneous Order 

- The order is Late 

- Cashier is Slow 

- Restaurant is hot 

- Parking is full 

- Has diarrhea. 

Attacks: 

- Kunais

- Slingshots 

- Berettas 

- Grenades 

What the fuck was happening?! 

Somehow he was supposed to keep orders coming alone now?!— or that's what he initially thought. 

There was still one cook bawling as he gazed at all the corpses strewn around him. Talk about great news! 

"Yo, brother! Let's do this together! I need a guy on the grill stat!"

"I-I'm gonna die if I—"

"Oh yeah, for sure. I'll kill you myself if you don't start flipping those burgers! Think about what that one heroic sponge would do! Would it cower in fear, or would it grill the best meat patties ever?!" Josh heatedly cried out. 

Josh wasn't sure what part of his speech had moved him, but the NPC suddenly went up and got to work. He was still shaking like a leaf, but that was normal. He really couldn't afford to lose this guy. 

"They'll keep shooting, but I got you covered. When I say duck, you duck. Is that understood?" Josh asked with incredible intensity. 

"Y-yes, Sir!" He was shaking visibly less. Good! 

Thus began another round of orders and another onslaught of attacks. 

Kunai, slingshots, and berettas were projectiles that flew relatively similarly. The first had more of an arc, but the latter was way faster.

It wasn't just about dodging. It was about doing so in a way that wouldn't screw whole orders over. 

The only saving grace was the kitchen itself. Even after taking a few bullets, the food was still fine— not that it could be used as cover either. 

That's how he kept working, enduring round after round of orders. In the end, he had developed the ultimate burger-making method: he threw it all! He was akin to a pro-basketball player— cooking edition. 

The hardest part was definitely the grenades. Some he would throw in a corner, but others he'd just escape the blast radius. It was so damn annoying! He'd have to get the timing right. 

Still, eventually, it reached a point where he had the rhythm understood down to every beat. He kept shouting "Duck" and "Grill" endlessly as he instructed his partner. 

But just as both Josh and NPC were finally getting comfortable. A new kind of weapon surfaced. There was now a monkey with a…rocket launcher?! What the fuck was this?! 

The guy was aiming straight at his cook! Oh, hell to the fucking no! 

"Screw you! I'm not running this fucking kitchen alone!" Josh thundered. It was a shout that came from the heart! 

At that instant, it was as if the entire world had slowed down! Any second it would all be over….but he wouldn't just stand idle! 

He hurriedly grabbed a burger….and threw it with all his strength! 

It flew so majestically, akin to one greasy eagle! After a few seconds of pure suspense, it finally landed straight on the launcher, making it tilt a bit. 

— BOOM! —

There were fire, smoke, and bits of monkeys all over the place. He had freaking blown himself! Wait….would there be any consequences? There didn't seem to be any….How great! 

But Josh didn't dwell on this fact too much. He had to a job to do! 

Orders, orders, and even more orders. He was crumbling under a pile of burgers to make while avoiding everything the displeased customers threw his way. 

But that's when a whole new group of monkeys appeared through the door! There were now many with launchers, and they looked very impatient! 

Wait… wasn't this an opportunity?! At this moment, Josh wanted to try something. He wasn't sure if it would make him fail, but he repeated the earlier throw. 

Before long, the monkeys had all blown themselves up. Technically he hadn't done them direct damage either— thus couldn't be blamed, right?! 

— BOOM! —

— BOOM! —

— BOOM! —

A few seconds later, the entire place was crumbling, the monkeys all freaking dead. No monkeys meant no orders anymore. This also meant that he was done. 

[Congratulation on destroying the challenge….]

[This wasn't supposed to happen…] 

"Oh? How about it, are you impressed?" Josh teased. 

[Yes, very. I also understand why the Tower changed.] 

[You totally drove it crazy, that's why!] 

"What?! How dare you!" Josh faked being offended. "But seriously, what's up with that challenge? Do I get anything for clearing it?" 

[How about a burger outfit—] 

"How bout no? How would I even move in that?!" He sighed. 

[I could use the merit to enhance your Medallion some more.] 

"Alright, that sounds perfect!" Josh eagerly accepted. 

The Medallion around his neck suddenly began to float, engulfed by nice purple energy. It flashed for a few seconds, even pulsating before it finally settled down. 

As Josh inspected it, he couldn't help but scream out loud. 

"What the fuck?!" 

<AT Medallion> 

- *NEW* Daily Burger Summon 

"….." 

[^_^v] 

"….." 

What the heck was up with AT and burgers?! Josh could only sigh aloud. Still, this whole challenge would remain an excellent addition to his school: ultimate fast-food worker experience. 

"Ah, whatever. How's the orc progress?" He grumbled. 

[About that…..] 

"What is it?" 

[Well, you see….] 

Why did it sound bad?! Oh well…. 

━━━━━━ POV ━━━━━━━

Outside the Alter Tower, plenty of students was clamoring loudly. 

"What the heck, another one!!!" 

"I expected him to steal first place, but this against?!"

"Can't he just go for a normal clear? Why does he have to break everything?!" 

They were all gazing at the Floor 6 leaderboard. It was strange, to say the least: 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Floor 6 Rounds Survived 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1. Josh MF Malum ∞

2. Unlucky Monk 8

3. Phoenix Dale  7

4. Gary (student) 6

5. Jarvis (student) 6 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

What was ∞ even supposed to mean?! Most likely, he had broken the challenge completely! They couldn't help but get excited just picturing what could have happened inside…