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

“And while we’re on the subject of the different types of floors,” said the instructor, still leading the group further into the forest. “Let me speak briefly about tamed floors. Not that you’ll be seeing one any time soon. Tamed-floors are usually multiple times larger than wild floors, to the point that they are sometimes referred to as world floors. Typically, the tower takes shape within a tamed-floor, which is the easiest way to differentiate the two floors. Civilizations and worlds have been built on this type of floor. There are less monster inhabitants, and a much slower respawn time if any at all. Only the most dedicated and well-vetted tower climbers visit such floors, acting as ambassadors for our city and world.”

The instructor’s words stuck with Max. Only the most dedicated and well-vetted tower climbers visit such floors. It was as Sakura had told him before; of all the different types of climbers, becoming a tower climber was the most difficult. It was also the only branch of climber that would help him go up to the highest floors where he’d be able to find his sister.

The instructor stopped walking and so did the rest of the class.

The man held up his hand, signaling to the students to stop moving and to stay alert.

“Quiet down, everyone,” said the instructor. “There’s a monster nearby.”

Max knew they were going to encounter monsters on this floor, and yet he still felt surprised that they were about to battle one so soon.

The shadow of a creature emerged from between the trees. Its eyes glowed red. It then came into view.

It was a warthog-like creature with sharp horns protruding from either side of its lower jaw.

The creature started kicking its feet in the dirt as an intimidation tactic. It was going to attack any second now.

“We’re all going to die!” screamed one of the students at the back.

“Calm down,” said the instructor, pulling out a cigarette and putting it in his mouth.

Max didn’t understand what the instructor was doing. Now really didn’t seem like the time to be lighting up a cigarette.

The boar roared at us and started to charge at the instructor.

All the student climbers hurried backwards.

If someone didn’t step in soon, someone was going to get seriously injured.

The instructor stayed calm and flicked his fingers.

Balls of flame ignited on either side of his hands.

“He’s a firebringer,” shouted Casey, excitedly.

Wow, thought Max. This man had the power to wield flames. The boar didn’t stand a chance against power like that.

The instructor stretched out his arm and shot a blast of flames into the incoming forest hog.

The flames surrounded the hog, roasting its fur, until the whole creature was a blackened crisp on the ground.

The instructor hurried over to the blackened crisp and lit his cigarette from the ash and took a puff.

“And that kids is how you slay a monster,” he declared with casual coolness.

The burnt boar carcass behind him suddenly turned silver, and the creature melted away even further. In its place was a small copper stone and some coins.

The instructor went and picked up the copper stone.

“This right here is what’s called a monster core,” he said. “When you slay a monster, they leave them behind. This forest boar is one of the lowest ranked monsters and so why it left behind a copper monster core. Monsters all typically leave a few coins behind as well, but that’s usually less important than the monster core itself.”

The instructor tossed the core in the air and then snatched it with his hands.

The instructor had a grin that Max didn’t like. It reminded him of the sadistic looks Sakura gave him during training exercises.

“That concludes the lecture part of today’s lessons,” he said. “But now, there’s one last test.”

28

“Today’s last assignment,” said the instructor, “is to collect four monster cores and then meet me back at the arrival teleporter.”

The instructor then looked down at his watch. “You have until the end of the day, or roughly, three hours. If I have to come looking for you, you’ve failed the test and will have a significant deduction in points. Trust me—you don’t want to lose points. It will matter in the final exam. That is, if you even live through today’s test.”

Before any of the students could ask a follow-up question or berate the instructor for his extreme teaching style, he vanished.

“That teacher is crazy,” said one student. “He should be arrested.”

Max ignored the naysayers and tried to pay attention to the other more knowledgeable students to see how they were going about the test.

The most confident climbers turned away from the group and marched off into the woods. Cyrus and his thugs left together in their own direction as well.

Max considered the parameters of the test. Each student needed to collect four monster cores. This was a difficult task because climbers at their level could only use their trait three times before needing a significant break. Three wasn’t the daily limit, but you didn’t want any dead time in a pressurized time test. That meant you either had to be so efficient with your trait that you could defeat two monsters with one attack or you had to team up with others. Perhaps that was even the secret point to the whole test. Evaluate the assignment and figure out the most efficient way to get it done.

Max grinned. He was going to crush this test. He looked around to see if there were any super powerful students he could team up with when a girl with bright green eyes stood right in front of him, blocking his vision.

“Want to partner up!?” said Casey.

Max looked over the pretty girl’s shoulder and saw that most of the students had already disappeared on their hunts for monster cores.

“Sure,” he said.

“Hurray,” the girl cheered. “Honestly, I felt like I had to do you the favor. You wouldn’t get far with a weak trait like slice during this test.”

Max looked at her dumbfounded.