Voom.

The whirring of an ebony blade shone in the dark cavern, an ominous gleam coming from its edge. Claire navigated forward dodging the attacks of the gigantic creature using nothing but simple button commands. As she neared the beast, a quick click with her pinky finger and the blade was pointed upwards, miasma spewing from within it.

<Skill, [Concept: Carnage], activating>

CRASH!

A loud explosion, the gigantic monster disappearing into small particles. She had made it look easy, but the monster in front of her was a boss of the 98^th floor, one she had been farming for days on end.

A perfect clear, if I do say so myself. Claire had a satisfied smile on her face as the monster’s body toppled to the ground. Lots more efficient than previous rounds, all that analysis and planning hadn’t been for naught.

Walking up to the corpse, her avatar’s hand hovered over the creature’s body, Claire clicking a series of buttons in quick succession. This is somehow harder than the real thing…

<Skill, [Mammon the Harvester], activating>

Clicking the last button on her keyboard, the monster’s body disappeared into particles right in front of Claire’s eyes. She opened her menu and looked at her inventory, scanning the list of item drops she got from the boss.

<Items: [Vial of Demigod's Blood] x20, [Ambrosia] x1, [Essence of Death] x1>

Yes! She inwardly cheered upon seeing the item Ambrosia on the list. She had grinded this boss for so long for this single item drop, and finally she got it.

<You have accomplished an extraordinary feat: [A Godly Heist]>

<You have been given title: [Thief of the Deities’ treasury]>

<Additional reward pending: [Broken Amulet]>

"A broken amulet?" She muttered. Hovering over the item's name, she took a closer look at its description.

<An amulet belonging to [???], currently broken>

"How interesting"

Claire muttered under her breath; a faint tinge of excitement visible on her face. She turned her attention to the amulet's image.

A snapped golden chain, some of the coating coming off, revealing its silver insides. Hanging half-way from it was a beautiful piece of engraved silver, shaped like a pocket watch. There was what seemed to be a button on the very top of the amulet, a dial like design with its intricate ridges.

It's quite good looking as well, good job developers.

Closing the tab, Claire fell into thought. This probably means that this is hidden quest of some sort. I can’t wait till Servant hears about this, his face is going to turn red.

All while I’m getting a new class, is this my lucky day?

She paused her thoughts for a moment and reopened her inventory, curious of something. Speaking of which… do I have enough materials for the class ascension?

In real life, Claire stood up and went to a nearby coffee table, picking up a notebook and pen lying there. She sat back down in front of her monitor and opened the notebook up, navigating to the page where she constructed the next path ascension for her character build.

Bingo! Cross checking between the notebook and the items in her inventory, she let out a large cheer in her mind. How long had it been since her last class ascension? Too long, the answer was too long.

AC 10, the ultimate class rank for any player in Tower of Pandora, and after months of work, she was going to be the first person who reached it, but before that.

Clack, clack

<Processing teleport request to the 38th floor, confirm Yes/No>

Clack

Yes.

Claire decided to head to the 38^th floor. It had been a while since she had been there and she had some business to take care of as well. Besides, there was a certain type of romance in having her final class ascension in the same place she had her first major ascension ceremony.

<Entering the 38th floor>

As her avatar materialized into the game world, its particles slowly loading in, Claire took a good look at the surroundings of the floor. Small was a word that came to mind when describing the 38^th floor. For a residential floor, it didn’t have much going for it other than its location. She much preferred Silverveil, with its nice view and bustling atmosphere.

Still, this was the first floor she got her footing inside of this game, the she truly fell in love with everything it had to offer. That small town, nearby to a mine which was the entire purpose of this floor was where most of her best memories of the game took place. That was of course, excluding the story floors.

Considering her options, Claire chose to first carry out the ascension ceremony. She really couldn’t wait any much longer, the anticipation killing her. Let’s do this then.

Opening her menu, Claire clicked the Ascension icon, before submitting the materials she had obtained.

<Submitting, [Ambrosia x1], [Phoenix's feather x1], [Demon's Heart x1], [Dragon's claw, x10], [Essence of Death x15], [Demigod's blood x15], [Demon's horn x50] Confirm Yes/No.>

Clack.

She resolutely pressed the enter bar on her keyboard, excited for her brand-new class. She had done a lot of calculation and research for it to come to this point, making sure that her final ascension ceremony, was also her best.

<Calculating…>

Waiting in anticipation, her breath held, Claire watched as the game slowly churned through the statistics for her class ascension.

<Detected additional material [Broken amulet] consuming material>

<Class ascension success>

Confusion washed over Claire as she read the game's notification. Usually, when she ascended, she was given multiple options of how to ascend, but this time, the ascension had just finished without that screen appearing. Not to mention the notification saying that the broken amulet she had just obtained earlier was consumed. With caution, Claire opened her character screen and looked at her class.

--

<Player: Heartstealingthief>

<Status: Normal>

<Class: [Candidate]>

<Innate traits: >

<Skills: >

<Titles: >

--

"Candidate? What kind of class is that?" Glossing over the last 3 stats, Claire’s eyes were focused on a specific part of her status window. Opening the description for the class Claire expected there to be some sort of explanation for what she saw, but to her dismay.

<Class: [Candidate] | to unlock more information, please clear the 99th floor.>

To unlock more information? Mind in disarray, Claire closed the screen her eyes turned down to her notebook. My perfect plan! She wailed. Regaining herself, Claire fell into thought, reading over the class description once more.

It isn't odd for Pandora's Tower to do something like this. There are plenty of unique classes that exist after all. Even so…

Ping!

Cutting off her thoughts was a sudden notification in her in-game inbox, a message coming from one of her in-game friends.

What's this? Claire clicked the notification, opening her inbox.

<Mail sent by: [Lenlenlen04] >

<Hey Thief! U gotta to see this! Apparently, Boredservant is tryin to clear the 99th floor. Hes on live broadcast right now! Thot u mi8 want 2 know, cuz he’s gonna get your spot as rank 1 if he clears it before you.>

"WHAT!" Claire shouted, standing up from her seat.

She couldn't believe it, first the case of her class up, now her spot as number one was being contested. Her thoughts spiralled as she closed the message. Why couldn't she just enjoy clearing a floor, and not be forced to deal with the world collapsing around her?

"It's that bastard Servant as well…"

Not only was her spot as number 1 being contested, but it was being done by someone she considered her arch-nemesis. Taking in a deep breath, Claire rested her head on her palm, contemplating her next actions.

If I let him claim my seat without doing anything about it, I would never hear the end of it. So, that leaves only one other choice.

Making her decision, she returned her hands to her keyboard and mouse, a confident smirk on her face.

"Your message was confusing but, thank you Len."

Clack, clack, clack.

"I’ll show him the consequences of messing with number 1."

<Processing teleport request to the 99th floor, confirm yes/no>

Click

<Entering the 99th floor>

-

Watching as her character materialized on the 99th floor, Claire stretched her arms, her usual routine every time she attempted a trial.

'I wonder what kind of trial it will be this time.'

Inspecting the room, she had been teleported into, Claire noted the large gate stood in the far north end of the room, along with several pieces of décor, from lights to paintings. The walls were adorned with patterns of flowers, coloured a pleasant woody black. Manoeuvring her character forward, looking around for any object that might be of interest. After inspecting every nook and cranny of the room, she decided to open the gate, her fingers hovering over her combat buttons.

Creak

The sound effects of the gate opening rung out, as a purple mist entered in from beyond the large wooden doors.

Tsk. Clicking her tongue, Claire begrudgingly moved her avatar into the mist, when suddenly, the sound of a notification rang before her eyes.

<Class [Candidate] is reacting to illusionary mist, dispelling effects>

In a few short moments, the purple mist previously blocking the door disappeared, but before she could express her shock, another notification appeared in front of her.

<Class [Candidate] is interfering with the laws of the tower, prepare to be teleported>

Again? Claire was still surprised, her eyes slightly gaped, but after that first notification, she knew that there was something more to the amulet she had received.

Whatever it was, she decided that she could leave it for later. Her number 1 priority right now was to beat the 99^th floor before Servant did. She would beat any challenge the amulet threw at her, and beat the floor in record time.

Soon her avatar dematerialized, and a familiar loading screen filled up Claire's screen. In a short she was transported to another location, her avatar inside an eerily similar looking room from the last. The same dull patterns on the wall, decorations all in the place they were before.

All of this to say there was one key difference. Instead of the room being black it was instead coloured a deep ominous purple. That’s certainly something. The room wasn’t too aesthetically pleasing when compared to the previous one, but if the vibe they wanted to portray was creepy, well then, they certainly succeeded.

<Class [Candidate] has begun its trial.>

A unique ascension trial?

It was so very interesting. An ascension trial that had something to do with the penultimate floor.

Grabbing her notebook and scribbling a few things down, Claire’s attention turned back to the room she was in. She repeated her previous action of inspecting the room, her eyes moving up and down, and still finding nothing. Shame.

That left one option, the only obvious one in the entire room.

She walked up to the conspicuously placed gate, just like she did in the previous room and opened it.

Instead of mist coming out as she had expected, the doors opened to reveal a grand hallway, filled with 5 doors, pairs of them standing opposite each other, and one at the very end of the hallway. Cautiously going through the gate, Claire brought her character into the hallway.

THUD!

A loud crashing sound effect echoed, causing Claire to turn her character around, only to see the gate that had been right behind her, completely gone.

Instead of freaking out, Claire took a deep breath, leading her avatar down the long hallway. If there was a door at the very end of a room, she sure as hell was going to open it.

Upon reaching the door, Claire attempted to open it, the door not budging and a notification popping up in front of her face.

<User [Heartstealingthief] is missing 4/4 keys>

<Quest: The 4 Guardians - Commencing>

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