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

He thought he was doing her the favor, but he would keep that to himself.

“Okay,” he said. “Step one. Let’s go over our abilities and figure out how we can best complement each other’s powers.”

Casey nodded. “Good idea. I’ll go first. So as you already know, I’m an airbringer. I can manipulate the wind and air around us.”

“That’s incredible,” said Max, sincerely. “Now tell me: can you deal significant damage with this wind ability.”

“At my current rank, no,” said Casey. “If I want to use it offensively, the best means is to amplify a projectile to give it more speed and damage.”

She then pulled out a pouch from her cardigan pocket and materialized a slingshot from the little bag.

“That’s why I have this slingshot!”

Max smiled. Paper airplanes and a slingshot. Behind the cute exterior, this girl was a devilish prankster.

“Okay, I’ve shown you my powers,” said Casey. “Show me yours.”

Max paused. He wasn’t sure how much of his trait he should reveal to Casey. Sakura told him to be very careful with who he trusted. He figured he could tell her a little bit though.

“So my slice ability is no ordinary ability,” said Max. “Even though I’m unranked, I have a slice ability at the level of B-rank.”

Casey’s eyes widened. “You have a B-rank ability!? You’re unranked and a student climber and a new kid and you have a freaking B-rank ability!? That’s incredible, Max! I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Max nodded. “I’d appreciate it if you kept what I’m telling you to yourself. I’ve been told to be very careful about trusting people here in the tower-zone.”

“My lips are sealed,” said Casey. “I’ll even pinky promise?”

She waved her pinky in Max’s face.

He gently moved her hand away. “It’s all good, I trust you,” he said.

“Bold move,” said Casey. “A pinky promise is an unbreakable vow. It’s basically the foundation of civilization. The social contract. To forego it...well, let me just say I’m honored you trust me so highly.”

Max shrugged. “I mean, it’s just a pinky promise. Isn’t that a kid’s thing?”

Casey replied with the most eloquent retort. She stuck her tongue out and made an odd noise.

Casey’s reply was definitely not persuasive at all, but he found himself silently taking back his words. He contemplated his sister, Elle. He had made a promise to her when they were little. Pinky or no pinky, promises were important. He understood that much.

Max turned his thoughts to Casey’s ability for a moment. She had the power to control the air and wind around them. Such a power could be used in so many different ways.

He shared with her the semblance of a plan.

“That sounds awesome,” she said. “Let’s do it!”

With that, they started heading deeper into the endless forest.

They walked and walked, waiting to come across a monster to attack.

“Where is everyone?” said Casey, looking around.

There were no monsters and no student climbers either.

“Let’s keep heading forward,” said Max.

They kept moving through the forest, hoping to find a monster target.

The trees began to blend together.

“Should we turn back?” said Casey. “Maybe go another way?”

Max bit his thumb, nervously, and considered their options.

We screwed up big time, Max thought to himself. We weren’t just competing against the clock, we were competing against the other students for the easy monster kills.

Now they’d have to search further away and work that much quicker to get back to the instructor.

“We have only one option,” said Max. “We gotta go deeper into the forest.”

29

Max and Casey ran deeper into the forest.

They rushed by trees and shrubbery.

“How far have we gone?” asked Casey.

Max looked around and saw no monsters.

“Not far enough,” he said.

Something didn’t seem right, thought Max. They’d seen plenty of monsters in the distance when they’d been walking through the forest with the instructor. Where had they all gone to?

They kept running until eventually Max heard a large snort sound.

He turned to Casey.

Her cheeks blushed. “You don’t think I made that sound, do you!?”

Max knew he was about to say something that was offensive to her. He wasn’t sure why it was so offensive, but regardless, he was going to leave it alone.

“There’s a monster nearby,” whispered Casey, standing against a tree to conceal herself.

Max followed suit. He peered around the tree and saw there was a cluster of four monsters.

They were small hairy beasts that were chewing on a plant shrub.

The mule-like creatures were significantly less threatening than the forest boar they’d seen earlier.

The mule-like creature glanced up as if it sensed Casey and Max’s presence.

It then made a strange noise.

Max and Casey looked at each other with quizzical glances.

A horrible smell then filled Max’s nostrils.

He raised his hands to his nose and mouth. So that was what the mule was doing.

It was taking a dump!

Max turned to Casey with a serious expression.

“You’re joking?” she said.

“No, I’m not,” said Max. “There is no better opportunity than right now.”

Casey nodded begrudgingly.

It was time to enact their strategy.

Quietly, Max hurried a few trees over to get into position.

Casey stood where she was and triggered her trait.

She manipulated the wind around the nearby group of forest mules with enough force to irritate them and cause them to move.

The group of mules then started to move away from the area they were residing in.

Casey looked at Max across the forest and nodded her head.

Casey’s trait was part one of their strategy. She would manipulate the air and get the monsters into position. Part two of their strategy now rested in Max’s hands.

Max stretched out his hand and triggered his slice ability.

A bright golden shard of energy appeared in front of him.

Max stretched his arm out, manipulating the shard, shooting it out further in front of him.

The blade stretched out like a zooming bullet and cut through the group of mules.

The energy blade sliced through the monsters at the perfect angle at the perfect opportunity, damaging them all.

Max lifted up his fist like he was doing an uppercut and so did the energy blade, ripping through the flesh