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

B-ranked monster breaking through the defense lines and heading towards the wall.”

“How can that be though?” said Sakura. “I saw one. I fought it. It almost killed me and a sixteen-year-old boy.”

The clerk shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you, Sakura. I’m going by what the report says. It’s possible one of the squads is lying in their report, but that’s a very grave offence in itself. I don’t have enough seniority to question other climbers on the validity of their reports, perhaps you can though. Still, I’d approach this with caution.”

Damn, said Sakura. Still no explanation for that minotaur’s appearance.

“Okay, thanks,” said Sakura. “Let me know if anything else comes up, or if you hear anything. Like I said earlier: this stays between us, yeah?”

The clerk nodded his head.

With her enquiry done, Sakura left the department and started heading back to the training area.

Max stared at the book. It was now perfectly balanced on his fingertip. He had been looking at it with glee for over two hours now.

Shortly after Sakura had left him, he had figured out he’d been going about the exercise all wrong.

The test wasn’t about strength or endurance.

No.

It was about mana affinity.

Sakura had explained to him that there were over four hundred mana meridians and channels in his body. He’d already intuitively manipulated mana before under duress. First, during his fight with the minotaur and then again, during the climber academy’s preliminary test. Both times with the help of his trait, he was able to manipulate his mana to replicate the powers he’d interacted with. Presumably, then, he should be able to use his generic internal mana with even more ease.

It took him a couple of tries to get it. Eventually, he had stopped trying to do it with the book and simply focused on his one finger.

He focused and concentrated with all his might. Then after a minute of extreme concentration, a silver glow emanated around his finger.

Aha!

Through extreme concentration, he had figured out he could manipulate the flow of mana inside of himself, redirecting the excess mana towards his one index finger.

He then planted the book on his finger once more and tried again. This time he would have the aid of his internal mana to help keep the book balanced on his finger.

The book hadn’t fallen since.

“So you figured it out,” said Sakura, upon her return from the defense climber headquarters. She crossed her arms, impressed at Max’s display. “Imbuing mana into different parts of your body is instrumental to being a climber. You can break your fall from high distances. Endure tougher attacks. Sending internal mana to your finger is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to mana manipulation.”

Max cheered triumphantly.

“Good thing, you figured out the basics,” said Sakura, crossing her arms. “Your first day at the climber academy is in two days.”

21

With only one more full day until classes started at the climber academy, Sakura gave him the day off.

In the end, he practiced the book-balancing exercise in Sakura’s living room for most of the day.

He managed to finally raise his mana affinity by one point from two to three. He only needed to raise the stat by another eight points to rank up to E-rank.

He couldn’t wait for that to happen.

“Give yourself a break,” said Sakura once more. “You won’t be able to get your mana affinity stat up by another point by the time classes start. Besides, once you’re in the tower you’ll be able to grow the stat at a faster pace. If the tower monsters don’t kill you, that is.”

Max lay back on the floor. Sakura was right. He needed a break.

“Hey! Can I come help you with the monster wave tonight? Then I can level up my mana affinity faster.”

“Fat chance, mister,” said Sakura. “You’re going to stay inside here and have a nice relaxing evening in. You have a lot to do tomorrow and none of it is going to get done if you’re dead. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

With that, Sakura closed her apartment door behind her, and left Max to his own devices.

Max then stood up, thinking of something and ran to the door.

“Sakura, wait up—!”

It was ten-thirty p.m. and the monster wave was in full swing.

Ninja stalked the streets. He was a slithering shadow. Those who didn’t know better would struggle to say whether he was a climber or one of the attacking monsters.

In some ways, Ninja thought, he was both.

He clung to the shadow of an alleyway as an E-rank climber stepped into the streets.

What the heck was this guy doing here?

His assignment that night required there be no witnesses.

He reached for the knife he kept at his side.

I guess I’ll have to kill this guy, Ninja grinned. No witnesses mean no witnesses.

Ka-kaw!!

A harpy flew down to the street and attacked the lone E-rank climber. The lone climber shot out a puny slice skill at the demonic bird woman, which barely cut through her flesh.

Pah! Nothing but a commoner with a lousy slice skill, thought Ninja. This climber was nothing but chattel, fodder for the wolves.

The harpy was clearly much more powerful than the lone climber.

Poor guy. He must have gotten lost from his squad.

Too bad for him, thought Ninja. And lucky harpy. It stole my kill.

The E-rank climber cried in pain as the harpy ripped through its guts.

Ninja smiled at the dying man’s suffering and then continued forth, moving slyly through the streets.

He had his assignment to accomplish. He had to kill the recent arrival in the tower-zone. The kid from the outer-rim.

The defense and city climbers had pushed back the monster wave to close proximity to the tower, which meant the rest of the city was near empty. Most of the climbers on duty were at the front of the battle and everyone else was tucked up inside, protected by the runes and wards that kept the monsters from attacking the tower-zone civilians. They were all cooped up like