Tower Climber (A LitRPG Adventure, Book 1) Jakob Tanner (reading comprehension books TXT) 📖

leaked that Max had a unique trait and Samuel was attempting to find out what that trait was.

Either way, she didn’t like that Samuel was meddling in her affairs.

A door creaked open and Max stepped out into the battle chamber.

Sakura thought he looked nervous, but then she thought maybe she was just seeing that because she was nervous for him.

“I hope he’s prepared,” said Samuel. “How much have you trained him, Sakura?”

Sakura wanted to knock the man out there and then.

The patronizing man.

She hated people like him.

How much have you trained him, Sakura?

Samuel knew very well that Max had only been in the tower-zone for three days, half of which was spent in a hospital bed.

Max stood on the waxed wooden floors of the battle room, waiting for the test to begin.

The clerk stepped out onto the arena with him.

“Any minute now,” said Samuel, grinning.

Sakura gripped her hands on the metal bar of the balcony overlooking the battle chamber.

She had planned on training him for the next three weeks before the climber academy term began. Currently, though, Max wasn’t ready for any type of fight. Not with his stats and certainly not against the monster they used for the preliminary test.

Many of the aspiring student climbers had trained for years for their term at the academy.

Max looked up at her, smiled, and gave a thumbs up.

The idiot, she thought. Why had he volunteered so willingly to take this test?

Max stood in the battle chamber, waiting for his test to begin.

Across the battle chamber from where Max stood was a metal door with the words “Caution” spray painted onto it.

“Are you ready for me to explain the rules of the preliminary test?” asked the clerk.

Max stared at the metal door. Clearly the test wasn’t going to be a written examination. Whatever the test involved lay behind that metal door.

“I’m ready,” said Max.

“The preliminary test is simple. I’ll leave the arena and open up that metal door which will send out a monster for you to fight. To pass the test you must defeat the monster by any means necessary.”

Max nodded. “Got it.”

The clerk smiled.

“Don’t be nervous,” she said. “We’ll be sending in a copper-ranked monster so it shouldn’t be too difficult for an aspiring climber to defeat.”

Max’s only experience with a tower monster was the minotaur from a few nights back and that creature had practically killed him.

He knew that the minotaur was higher ranked than copper, but that didn’t put his mind at ease.

“Alright,” said the clerk. “I’m going to leave now. The test will begin shortly after.”

The clerk walked out of the battle chamber, sealing the door behind her.

Max’s stomach lurched.

You can do this, he thought to himself. You agreed to do this. There are going to be challenges along the way and you won’t be able to take a shortcut every time. You need to do this. Plus, you have a unique trait. That must count for something.

The clerk reappeared on the balcony of the battle chamber alongside Sakura and Samuel Archer.

The clerk walked past them and went towards a control panel. She pressed some buttons and a loud alarm went off across the room.

The metal wall across the room began to slowly slide open.

“Good luck, Max,” shouted Sakura. “You can do it!”

Max gulped and nodded his head at her kind words.

The metal doors slid open further, revealing a shadowy dark chamber beyond.

What the heck are they about to send out at me?

The figure of a monster took shape and came out into the battle chamber.

“The preliminary test begins now,” declared the clerk.

14

The monster entered the battle chamber.

The creature was a circular purple blob of slime with beady orange eyes. There was a crease beneath the eyes that had a smirking expression. That must be its mouth then.

The battle chamber was deadly silent. Everyone focused on the battle about to start.

Max took in the purple blob.

What the heck was this thing? He figured he should let it strike him first to gather more information on what the monster could do.

Max readied himself in a fighting a position.

The purple blob just stood there, smiling goofily.

“Are you aware that the purpose of the test is to measure your fighting ability?” shouted Samuel Archer from above. “You’ll have to do more than stand there, boy!”

Max ignored the man taunting him.

He had a point.

But Max was in a bit of a bind. His mimic trait was still currently attached to the mending skill of the healers. He had no offensive abilities to use against the slime right now.

He was woefully unprepared for this battle.

He needed the monster to attack him first.

“Hey! Dumb slime creature,” shouted Max. “Why don’t you try and hit me! Free punch on the house!”

The slime didn’t move. It just stood there with its stupid grin on its face.

Samuel murmured to Sakura and the clerk on the balcony.

He couldn’t hear what the man was saying, but clearly taunting the slime was an unorthodox method to use in this test.

Max had no idea what he had done to that man up there, but he clearly wanted Max to fail this test.

Max decided he had to try a new strategy.

He rushed the purple slime with his fist raised.

“Grown some guts now, have you, boy?” shouted Samuel from above.

If the slime wasn’t going to attack him, it had left Max with no other options but to go on the offensive himself.

The purple slime continued to stay motionless in the middle of the battle chamber as Max rushed towards him.

When Max got into range, he swung his fist with all of his might.

SMASH!

A huge pain coursed through Max’s hand.

The purple slime continued to smile at him, but now it had a pinkish aura surrounding it.

He had expected his hand to get slimy and wet when attacking the glob, but never had he thought punching it would be similar to punching a brick wall.

The pinkish aura disappeared from the slime.

That must have been the monster’s special ability, thought Max. It was