Chapter 261: 100% Scamming!
When Josh found Alexa, she was still weak in the knee from the yoga. She began blushing as soon as he approached, probably remembering the sorry state she had been in.
"Hey, I want your help with setting up a website for this place!"
"I can definitely do that, but shouldn't you have done that before opening the school?" She asked, perplexed.
"Can you help or not?"
"Are you looking down on me? Of course, I can help! Follow me. Ah, but you'll owe me one!" She grinned as she guided him to a remote building, all the vegetation having been removed in a 20 meters radius near it.
It looked like everything else in the camp, but it was in fact full of nanomachines. As they approached, the wall opened to let them enter, revealing the prettiest pink. Walls, floors, sofa, carpet, everything was pink!
"AI, add this guy as an exception to the defense perimeter for now."
"Defense perimeter?"
"It's the area without grass outside: anyone heading inside will end up as a gooey blob. I enjoy my privacy when I'm camping." Alexa casually explained.
It was just another thing to add to the list: the Alter Tower, cool yoga, slothtrosities, and now a rich crazy tech CEO camping armed to the teeth.
"So, what do you want for your site?" She asked.
"It needs to be epic, easy to read, flashy, and to the point! This is the simplest Climber School, but it's an experience in and of itself. We aren't trying to sell something needlessly complicated here."
"You do know that there are regulations for Climber Schools, right? We'll have to wait for inspectors to come over, and they'll be snooping everywhere."
"You're right. So here is what we'll be doing. For title, just put: Totally not a Climber School ;) — Dimensional Legion."
"Pfft— people are definitely going to find problems with this. Can you think of anything less subtle than that?!" She sarcastically asked.
"How about: Dimensional Legion's Climber School, but it's not really a school since we didn't get the license," Josh replied with a sly smile.
".... Guess I'll put that first BS obvious name then. What do you want as a logo?"
"You can put the Alter Tower. Maybe have the different sections as if different Floors and make it clickable for more info?"
"That works. Now, what about the description?" She patiently inquired.
"Join now, experience dying in the Tower a thousand times, and yet stay alive! Greatest training there is!"
"Pretty sure most of the rich kids won't want to attend if that's your sales pitch." She pointed out.
"Pretty sure I don't care about the spoiled brats. They'd probably give up in a day and ask for a refund anyway." Josh countered.
"Do you have any idea for the slogan?"
"This ain't a daycare. We're gonna train the shit out of you!"
"Are you fucking serious?!"
Josh did a silent thumb up.
"Then, what about the prices and services?" She asked.
"I have it noted right here!" Josh proudly presented a sheet. Alexa read it in silence, raising her brows a few times every line in shock, trying not to facepalm.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Totally not a Climber School ;) Price chart (k Credits):
1. VIP (10):
- Get Unlimited Access to the Training Tower, a specially designed Tower to optimize one's learning experience!
- All-Included Housing in the legendary D-23: Village Hidden in the Sloths during your training!
- Become an Alumni of D.L upon completing the Training Tower.
- Opportunities to be recruited by the D.L. guild directly.
2. Super VIP (20):
- Everything from the VIP tier and more!
- Official picture and autograph with D.L. executive
- Q/A with the founder via social media
3. Amazing VIP (30):
- Everything from the Super VIP tier and more!
- Direct coaching from the legendary Josh MF Malum
- Clear of 1 Floor in a party with the founder (If appropriate level)
Join now. Places are limited! ^_^v
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"I'm just not sure about the prices," Josh admitted, with Alexa nodding in agreement. But then he kept going: "Maybe it's too cheap...."
For an instant, she choked. "Too cheap?! How is this too cheap?! 10k Credits is the price of a D Ranked item! Do you think people will blow it all up on stupid training?! Many can't get 10k even if they sell themselves!"
Josh remained pensive for a second. "Right, let's add a clause that they can take student loans if needed. The down payment only needs to be 1k. This shouldn't be that hard to stomach."
"Also, what's with the other two tiers?! It's literally just training with you! It doesn't even say for how long! For all people know, it could only be a one-time thing." She criticized.
"That's what it is." Josh shamelessly admitted.
"Let me be blunt. Who are you trying to scam?!" She exclaimed.
"Students. Don't you know, the whole education system is designed to be 90% a scam. At least there won't be any BS here. They'll learn by climbing. That's what Climbers are meant to do" Josh shrugged.
The way he saw it, it was worth it to anyone that could afford it. Sure, they probably wouldn't get anything concrete out of it, but it would teach them to think outside the box. AT was actually more troublesome than the regular Tower too!
"Just to be sure, you want me to publish this?" She worriedly confirmed once more.
"Yep, let's fire it up! I can contact a few journalists and...."
"No need, I'll just do an official post about it." Alexa smugly declared.
Right, she was an extremely successful CEO and her company sold products to all Climbers. Many would check her status just for info on new products.
Instantly the response was phenomenal....
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
On a certain social media platform:
"Hey, guys! Do you remember the recent rumors about D.L opening a school? It seems it was true!"
"Let me see! Wait, what the hell is up with the name?! Totally not a school? What?!"
"They probably don't have the certificate to open a school and are playing shady."
"That's ridiculous! That Josh guy literally toured all three Metropolises with the Black Fleet doing his bidding. Do you really think he can't get a school permit?!"
"Look at their slogan! Did they just compare usual Climber schools to daycares?! They are throwing some real shade! That explains the name!"
"OMFG! Look at these prices!"
"What? 10, 20, and 30? How can it be so cheap?!"
"Dude, it's in K Credits! It's 10k, 20k, and 30k! This ain't cheap at all!"
"Scam!!!! Scam!!! Scaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmm!"
"What about the 10k one? The others are BS, but this one seems kinda interesting."
"Training Tower? This is VR, right? How is it different from any other school?"
"Useless AF!"
"Alumni of the D.L. School....is this even useful? Maybe?"
"Most probably worthless."
"Getting recruited by the D.L. guild?! Did I see it right?! Hell, it could be worth just for this!"
"I swear, we still know absolutely nothing about that D.L. guild! What if it's a creation from that Josh guy?"
"Please! Do you think the MTAs would collaborate with him if he were a crook?"
"I mean ...maybe?"
"You guys are crazy!"
"Guys, holy fuck! You can click on the Training Tower to get more details. It's not VR! It's the goddamn Alter Tower! WTF?!"
"What do you mean it's the Alter Tower?"
"They transformed a real Tower into a training ground!! That's what it says here!"
"Fake news!"
"Then it's 100% Fake news!!!"
"Guys, Tech Queen Alexa sent this herself and designed the website....It's even hosted on her personal domain! This stuff is impossible to hack!"
"Maybe that Josh guy paid her to do it?"
"Are you retarded?! Do you think she'll jeopardize her entire career for a little bit of money! Think, Man! Think!"
"How the hell does one transform a Tower?!"
"I don't know, but the government has tried everything without being able to affect it directly. All they could do was to block the access from the outside..."
"This is insane! Now I feel like signing up just for this..."
"Can you, though? Why are we even talking about it? It's not like we poor blokes can afford this stuff."
"Yeah, it's sad. At most, I can get 1-2k, and that's if I take a loan. This training is the bane of low-level Climbers. As usual, they only cater to the rich."
"Guys.....Oh my god! They do loans! They fucking do loans!!! Later, I gotta go..."
"It's possible to sign-up with 1K ?! Count me in!"
"Places are limited?! I gotta go!"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
On the side was a flabbergasted Alexa. Many had already replied to her post, asking to reserve their places. Had they all gone crazy?!
But that's when a strident Beeping sound was heard. Instantly her face became white. The camp was under attack! What now?!