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

For the next few hours, Max diligently did three hundred push-ups and sit-ups each, then ran up and down the coastline. He improved his mana affinity by balancing rocks on his fingertips imbued with mana.

Then when he was done with all of that, he crafted a pointy wooden spear and went swimming in the shallow parts of the ocean world to hunt down fish for lunch and dinner.

Then, as his last task of the day, he’d sneak up on the sleeping ogres, take them out, and collect their silver monster cores.

Before Max went to bed at night, he’d drain the cores and check his profile and watch as all his stats slowly moved upward.

Casey finished her day of training with an ice cream sundae.

“I deserve a treat,” she said to herself. “Isn’t that right, Toto? Would you like some whipped cream?”

The gerbil licked off the sugary foam on her finger and Casey sighed to herself in the booth of the ice cream shop.

She wasn’t sure what more she could do for her training. She was already E-rank. Her stats were fairly average. There was no way in two weeks’ time she’d be able to rank-up, so how else could she prepare for the final exam?

She knew what she had to do, but she didn’t know how to do it.

She needed to set herself apart. She needed a special move. She needed an attack that no one else was capable of recreating.

She pushed her sundae away suddenly losing her appetite.

Toto perked up at this, looking at Casey with disbelief.

“Don’t give me that look,” said Casey. “I can stop eating ice cream whenever I want and right now I don’t feel like anymore. I don’t deserve a treat. Not until I can figure out how to take myself to the next level. Until then, no more desert. C’mon let’s go.”

She hurried out the door with Toto on her shoulder as the owner of the ice cream shop yelled, “I’ve told you before! No pets allowed!”

Casey ignored the man, lost in her own thoughts.

She hoped she’d be able to think of how to improve her fighting style by the time of the tournament.

79

Just over two weeks later, the sea captain who’d escorted Max to Ogre Island, was looking at the foreboding patch of rock in the ocean through his spyglass.

He sighed as he looked out to the island.

“We should be docking at the coast in about an hour sir,” said one of crew.

The captain nodded and stared out at the island.

It’s been just over two weeks since we left that kid on the island. Was he going to be there waiting for them? Or were they going to find his ravished corpse strewn on the beach?

The ship parked itself near the coastline. The crew only saw an empty beach.

There was not a person or ogre in sight.

“The kid didn’t make it,” sighed one of the sailors.

“Yeah, you owe me three silver,” said another. “Pay up!”

The captain was filled with sorrow as he scanned the empty beach.

So the kid didn’t make it in the end, huh? Pluck will only get you so far...

“I see something,” said a crewmember.

“Oi! Give me my silver back then,” said another.

The figure emerged from the forest. The person’s clothes were ripped and torn apart, his body stained with dirt and cuts, but without a doubt, it was him.

The kid had survived and it looked like he had succeeded in his training as well. The boy looked significantly stronger than he had before.

As they let the kid back onto the boat, the captain could even feel the presence of his mana. It was stronger than it had been when they had left him on the island two weeks prior.

The captain turned to the kid with an impressed look on his face.

“I guess you gotta get back for your exam then. When does it start?”

The boy grinned, his face dirty and his eyes slightly manic.

“The final exam starts tomorrow.”

80

It was hard to believe that the very next day, Max woke up on a comfortable bed in Sakura’s apartment.

He’d grown used to the wild living of Ogre Island.

He felt a groggy strange feeling—almost like what he imagined jet lag to feel like—which must have been what happened to you when you spent so much time on one floor and then returned to another.

Beyond a physical tiredness, it was just psychologically strange to go from a tropical ocean world of islands to the semi-dystopian city state of Zestiris.

He could see why the captain and his crew, amongst others, preferred to live out their lives on other floors.

The archipelagos didn’t have the rules, walls, and secrets of Zestiris.

It felt more free up there somehow.

Max couldn’t wait to climb even higher in the tower.

But first he had to compete in the final climber exams.

He could worry about everything else later.

He rolled out of bed and quickly reviewed his stat sheet, going over the gains from his training.

Name: Max Rainhart

Rank: E

Trait (Unique): Mimic. Unleash the last move you were hit with at double the power.

You may choose to retain one ability you’re hit with, adding it to your arsenal of attacks at double the power.

Ability Slot: Shadow Blink (Rare)

Strength: 19

Agility: 19

Endurance: 16

Mana Affinity: 18

Passive Skills:

Kokoro (Warrior Spirit)

With stats nearing almost twenty, Max was about to exceed and go beyond the strength and agility of a professional athlete. Even now, a punch—especially one imbued with mana—would seriously hurt the average thug in the outer-rim.

To normal humans, he was now a serious threat that one wouldn’t want to mess with. Yet in the world of climbers, he was still near the bottom of the totem pole.

But so were the students he’d be competing against today. Or, at least, he hoped.

He got up, showered, and ate a decent breakfast. He didn’t want to overload himself as that might slow him down and make him sick during the tournament fights, but he also didn’t want to get hungry. He felt like