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

him up on this. It was a severe offence to attack another climber outside of a controlled and organized match.

“You dare to attack me, foolish boy,” yelled Samuel at the approaching attacker.

He pulled a blue stone from his overcoat and pressed down on it.

Lightning swirled around the man’s arm and fists.

He raised his arm and swung his fist so that it would directly clash with Max’s.

The foolish boy, smirked Samuel. With my lightning stone plus my higher strength stat, you’re about to die, and I won’t even be punished for it.

The two fists clashed.

THUD!

Samuel blinked.

The boy stood in front of him.

He was alive. He should be dead right now. Or, at the very least, bleeding to death on the floor.

The boy was more than alive though.

The kid was smirking at him.

What the heck just happened?

Max pulled his hand away, a pinkish aura surrounding his hand, shattered into a million pieces.

Is that—

Is the boy’s trait the same as the shield slime’s? Is that why he couldn’t deal any damage towards it?

“You insolent boy,” shouted Samuel Archer. “You’ll now see the real power of a true climber.”

Max shrugged.

“Look, that sounds great,” the boy replied. “And thanks for the offensive ability. But I got a preliminary test to complete.”

17

Max turned back to the shield slime, while Samuel Archer fumed behind him.

Max felt a change inside of him. It was his mimic ability transforming itself into the special lightning attack Samuel Archer had come at him with.

“Smart thinking Max,” cheered Sakura from above. “Now complete the test!”

Max cracked his neck. The test was almost over.

He knew from previous experience that he passed out after using the minotaur ability four times. He had used a stolen ability only once so far: the slime’s energy shield against Samuel Archer. So he had two more ability shots left before he was in danger of passing out.

That should be enough to finish this.

He ran at the shield slime and raised his fist. This time he willed his mimic ability to conjure lightning all around his arm and fist.

He then smashed it into the shield slime.

CRACK!

The slime’s smile disappeared as its energy shield shattered.

“Not so happy-go-lucky now, are you?” shouted Max, swinging another fist of lightning into the monster.

With the energy shield destroyed, the lightning attack coursed through the shield slime, electrocuting it to death.

It collapsed into a puddle of sludge. Then it turned silver and disappeared completely, leaving a small copper stone and some coins in its place.

Sakura cheered from above.

The clerk entered the room once more and said, “Congratulations, Max Rainhart, you have passed the preliminary trial to enter the climber academy. You’re now officially enrolled!”

Sakura leapt from the balcony, landing on the floor gracefully, and rushing over to Max.

“That was brilliant,” she said. “You had no means to defeat the shield slime at first, so you took advantage of the setting around you to alter the situation and make the battle more in your favor. Well done, Max!”

The celebrations were cut short by a scowling voice. “That’s outrageous. The boy didn’t beat shield slime on his own. I contest this preliminary test.”

The man narrowed his eyes at Sakura and Max could tell he was being serious.

“You can’t do that, can you?” said Max.

Max also couldn’t understand what he’d done to bother this guy so much. Why was he so against him entering climber academy?

Samuel Archer turned to the clerk and said: “What steps must I undergo to contest this preliminary trial?”

“None.”

Everyone turned to the clerk in surprise.

“What do you mean?” hissed Samuel.

“What I mean is,” said the clerk, “there are no steps by which you can contest this preliminary trial. The rules state that you must defeat the shield slime by any means necessary—which he did.”

The clerk raised a finger before anyone could interrupt her.

“Of course, had Max convinced Sakura to lend her power to him and she did so willingly, you might have more of a case; but you were clearly in opposition to Max passing the test, so you were more of an obstacle than an ally. Yet, he was able to use that to his advantage. It was a very impressive display.”

“That is absurd,” sneered Samuel, before stomping off and leaving the battle arena.

“What’s up with that guy?” Max asked after Samuel was gone.

Sakura sighed. “I honestly have no idea. I think when you get to as high a rank as Samuel you start to see the world differently. You encase yourself in your own pride and find opponents in anyone who threatens it.”

Sakura placed her hand on Max’s shoulder affectionately.

“You did good today,” she said, smiling. “And guess what? The day isn’t even over. Let me treat you to lunch.”

Samuel strode down the street at a quickened pace.

He ignored everyone around him and walked so fast he threatened to crash into people, but they all intuitively knew to just get out of the man’s way.

So the boy had a unique trait, thought Samuel to himself as he strode back towards the Archer family penthouse. A powerful one at that. He could borrow other people’s power and attacks.

That was incredibly powerful. As the boy grew in strength and gained ranks, it would become even more deadly.

He waited until he was back in the penthouse before making the call he was eager to make.

He held the phone to his ear.

“We may have more of a problem than I initially thought,” said Samuel. “The boy has a unique trait. He might not be a threat now, but he could be later. Best to nip it in the bud. You know what to do.”

With that, the man ended his phone call and strode off to deal with his other affairs.

18

The chef slid two hot steaming bowls of soup and noodles in front of Sakura and Max.

The broth had orange bubbles of oil floating on top suggesting the soup had some hot chili spices within.

“More ramen, really?” said Max.

Considering that’s what they had for dinner yesterday, it seemed like a lot. Not to