Classless Ascension

That day was a lovely one in the savage lands. There was the sound of birds chirping, of lizards roaring far away, and of a tiny asshole lizard choking on a fat lifeless rat...Oh, and exploding!

Life was fantastic for Josh, but he only had one problem. His current task was to bring the greatest bone there was. This would mean getting the largest, longest, and coolest of them all. For that, he'd need to target the apex predator here.

Josh slowly approached an ancient tree with a radius of 10 men's arms. He then carved the bark as if writing on paper to organize his thoughts.

1 < Speedy Scaly Lizard Lv 60 >

- Small

- Insanely fast

- Incredibly sharp teeth

- Has the ability to devour things bigger than its own body mass, but only for a short duration at a time.

2 < Armored Scaly Lizard Lv 60 >

- Horse size

- Average speed

- Full of spikes

- Walking fortress

- Herbivore?

3 < Behemoth Scaly Lizard Lv 60 >

- Mammoth on steroid size

- Slow speed

- Shelled feet and sturdy scales

- Insane regeneration

4 Conclusion:

- Dino strength: Mammoth Dino > Spiky Dino > Speedy Dino

- A Speedy Dino fares better against a mammoth than a spiky one.

- A Mammoth Dino cannot kill a Speedy Dino as long as the latter is careful.

Josh's target was the one he called mammoth dino, and he really just needed its bones. He softly chuckled as he pictured the creature lying on the ground, defeated and deflated like a balloon.

The other option was the spiky dino, but this one would be even harder. At least, the mammoth was slow enough that kitting would be extremely easy. Another positive point was that he already had the bones of the smallest one.

How could he defeat such a giant? So far, all the colossal enemies he had defeated had perished via a wise use of terrain or by targeting their weakness. But this one wouldn't be that easy, thanks to its perverse defense.

Plus, even if he did hurt the enemy, its regeneration would be enough to take care of any injury quickly...No, wait! This was it!

Josh began evilly grinning as he remembered that one item he had. He quickly summoned Nightmare and rode it as if knight of legend, dashingly. "We're going to defeat that big creature in the distance!"

The horse valiantly galloped toward the giant behemoth. Somehow it didn't seem too worried about such an impossible challenge. While this one was stronger than the Iron Giant from back then, it wasn't as dangerous.

Josh signaled his mount that abruptly stopped as they were approaching, sending flying right unto the monster's back. In mid-air, he took out his ghoul claw weapon, then plunged with as much power as he could.

He enhanced his attack with tons of mana too. That's when the loud sound of a collision resounded, CLANG! Josh couldn't help but begin laughing, for he had drawn blood! The creature didn't even react as it was too small a wound. Now he would simply need to wait for the poison to act.

It expressly specified: "The higher the target's vitality, the more effective the poison". This one would soon kick the bucket at this rate! He sat down, recalled Nightmare, and stood by.

5 minutes

30 minutes

There would be a speedy lizard coming over to take a few bites of his target from time to time. It only served to make his stomach growl. He was starving.

1 hour

2 hours

5 hours

That's when he had to come to terms with reality: this poison was utterly ineffective against this creature! Most likely, either its vitality or level was too high, thus rendering it immune. He could only sigh.

He could only look in disappointment at the tiny bones he was carrying. This wouldn't cut it for sure. He tried emitting killing intent subtly, but it all turned out to be useless. His target didn't have any natural predators.

Josh could always create an army of the smaller ones, but that would be digging his own grave. Sure, they'd probably be able to eat the target, but he, too, would suffer the same fate.

No, it was time for plan B. If he couldn't get any quality bones, he had to resort to stealing. Even then, he didn't have much confidence if he went on his own, and he would make sure to bring a strong ally.

That's why Josh slowly set up a trap. Okay, the trap sucked big time, and it consisted of a single rat left in plain sight while he hid. Now, the first few attempts went really badly.

He did manage to bait some raptors, but he didn't act in time to prevent them from swallowing the rat as they burst open like defeated piñatas, bloody ones. This, in turn, scared their brethren away.

That's how he kept relocating until he finally got the hang of it. By now, he was a tiny lizard of doom expert. He'd totally put that on his CV! When one was jumping toward the rat to devour it, Josh stopped hiding as he caught it by the neck!

He was holding it as if it was a chicken, with a grip even stronger than steel. He knew that should he let this little creature go, he would be in deep trouble. Josh could notice confusion in the creature's eyes.

It was probably its first time finding someone able to keep up with its speed. Plus, it couldn't free itself due to its lacking strength. It kept rolling its eyeballs, trying to look at him while hissing. It almost looked cute as it looked so vulnerable, almost.

Fun fact, these dinosaurs' bones were considered materials and could fit in his gathering bag, so he grabbed a ton! Even if they weren't good enough for his purpose, he could still bring some back for the village kids.

Still, it made him wonder why there suddenly were drops while he couldn't get any XP. Perhaps this was the "defective" the wriggling god had spoken of. Not that Josh would pay much attention to it. The Alter Tower was being more flexible and giving him custom rewards. That was plenty already!

Well, it was time to leave this place.

He had the shitty bones, the shitty lizard, and optimism toward the future. The return was relatively easy. These monsters were actually quite clever. They all decided not to mess with him as they saw him happily walking with a raptor in his hand.

He was intimidating creatures thrice his level! How hilarious was that?! Their caution suited him just fine. He even began whistling in what everyone else would have considered a land of death.

As he left the savage lands, he didn't find any trace of his father. But, there was a message carved into the nearby rocky wall.

<Son, the traitorous bitch is at the village trying to convince our people to surrender. Hopefully, you come back with great bones. I believe in you, son, and I am hopeful there will come a day when our clan will flourish once more....> It kept going.

Josh couldn't help but be perplexed. Why would anyone ever write so much? Either way, it was time to head to the enemy village. He kind of had a time bomb on his hands....