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

but a mental and emotional one as well. The climber who didn’t have anything to eat or drink right now would be in a very bad situation.

Max materialized a protein bar from his pouch, unwrapped it from its packaging, and took a bite. He was very glad he didn’t have to worry about finding something to eat, water safe to drink, and be worrying about keeping his candle aflame.

It was simply too much to juggle at once.

Thankfully, Casey and him had arrived at this exam prepared.

He scoured the summit jungle looking for another passage up top. Thankfully there wasn’t one. He set up a subtle string trap right at the top of the summit passageway and returned to Casey.

With everything set up, all they had to do now was survive the night.

Cyrus grinned at the screams of anguish coming from behind him.

His goons were torturing unranked climbers at the back of a cave.

“Please...” said one of the unranked climbers. “I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me. What more can I do? What did I do to deserve this?”

Cyrus smirked. Did he really think he could negotiate with them? The boy in some ways was correct. He was helping them, in a way, but Cyrus liked to control people with fear, not persuasion or deals that worked out for everyone.

What was the fun in that?

He turned around and saw two unranked student climbers exhausted at the back. One was sweating and looked like he’d pissed his pants as Cyrus’ goons had beat him.

“The beatings will stop now,” said Cyrus, approaching the boy squirming on the floor. “So long as we still have a deal?”

The boy and girl nodded.

“My friend Sybil and I here get to keep your lit candles, yeah?” he said. “And in exchange, we give you each a thousand gold coins tomorrow when we get back to the tower-zone. Then you can finally help your destitute traitless families?”

The two climbers nodded dejectedly.

Of course they did, thought Cyrus. They had no other choice. Pathetic fake-veins. They shouldn’t even be allowed into the academy in the first place.

“We already agreed to the deal,” said the boy. “Why must you keep hurting us?”

Cyrus grinned a monstrous smile.

“Because it’s fun,” he said. “And we can.”

He signaled to his goons to keep an eye on them.

He walked to the end of the cave and found Sybil leaning against a slab of stone.

“Is the torture really necessary?” asked Sybil. “They are doing us a favor.”

Cyrus raised his eyebrow at her. She must be joking. Sybil Westley loved every minute of making those weak students squirm and cry as their dreams of becoming climbers was whisked away from them.

“Oh shut up,” said Cyrus, running a hand through his hair. “You’re just upset because you didn’t take part.”

She stopped leaning and whipped her long blonde ponytail behind her shoulders.

“Ah, you might be right,” she sighed. “Tell me: are the candles protected.”

“Yep,” he said. “The two fake-veins did exactly as we planned. They ran off right as we arrived on the island while we created as much chaos on the beach as possible. All they want now is the money we promised them.”

“Ah, good,” said Sybil. “With that all sorted, I guess we can start the exam’s fun part. Invite your little posse as well.”

“Oh yeah?” said Cyrus, raising an eyebrow once more. “What exactly is the fun part you’re inviting us all too?”

“Ah, hunting down other students, of course,” said Sybil, grinning viciously. “And forcing them to fail.”

61

The sky on the island darkened. Night was quickly approaching.

Max and Casey sat around a fire at their base camp.

“Now, it’s all just a waiting game,” said Casey.

“Pretty much,” said Max, keeping his ears alert for the trap he’d set up. “Though, we still have to worry about people trying to steal our candles.”

Max looked at Casey who sat near their fire, holding a candle in each hand.

These tests were always so simple yet complex, he thought to himself. They all could have passed the exam together and it would have deflated the difficulty level of the test.

Why hadn’t it worked?

Where had he gone wrong in expressing his plan?

Or perhaps that was a hidden lesson in this test. Or two lessons really. First lesson: the importance of teamwork and working with other climbers. The second lesson: not all climbers like working together and can be trusted.

Max sighed. Two competing lessons. How did you resolve that?

Maybe they should have run straightaway and he could have made his proposal to individual groups at a later point.

It was too late for that now though. Forty percent of the class was now hunting the remaining students with lit candles. It wasn’t safe to traverse the island now.

Stars twinkled through the foliage. The sounds of the ocean waves echoed around them.

Max smiled at the view.

“A lot of modern historians,” said Max. “Have written about how bad the appearance of the tower was on human civilization. The destruction, the formation of a new hierarchy between the climbers with traits and those without any special powers. And maybe they were right—but then, when I look out at this beautiful world housed in this mysterious tower—I think, maybe this place can’t be all bad, right?”

Toto snored beside Casey, lying on a little leaf bed of its own.

“Toto clearly thinks I’m boring and wrong,” said Max.

“I’m not sure,” said Casey. “I see what you’re saying, but look what happened at the beach today. There’s something about climbers that force them to fight one another, like a violent magnetic pull.”

She then smiled. “But you’re right, this island and this sight of the ocean is pretty.”

They stood there in silence as the campfire flickered in front of them.

“So, after all this,” said Casey. “Are you excited for the winter ball?”

Max’s eyebrows perked up at this.

He remembered the instructor pointing out that the winter ball would follow the midterms, but he had been so focused on passing the exam that he really hadn’t given the winter ball a passing