Tower Climber (A LitRPG Adventure, Book 1) by Jakob Tanner (free children's online books TXT) 📕

The energy blade dissipated with that final stroke, but Max had done enough damage. The forest mules were dead on the ground.

The creatures were clearly copper-level monsters. A B-rank ability against them was like using a rocket launcher against a bunny rabbit. It was effective, but absolutely overkill as well.

Max and Casey stepped towards the fallen forest mules as they glowed silver and left behind a few coins and their monster cores.

Max picked up two of the copper cores and tossed them to Casey.

He then picked two up himself and placed them inside his pouch. He watched as the small bag gobbled up the two large copper stones with ease.

“Alright,” said Max. “We just need to find another four monsters and then we’re done.”

Casey looked down to the coins on the ground. “Let’s divide the coins up equally too.”

“Sure,” said Max, looking down to the ground. “They didn’t drop much. In total, it’s about twenty copper coins. So we’ll each get ten.”

Casey scooped up the coins and then handed Max his share. He let the coins fall into his pouch. So far Sakura was pretty much paying for everything he did, so he was glad to be collecting some Zestiris currency for himself.

“Let’s get back to the hunt,” said Max. “I don’t think we’ll have to travel nearly as much to find a second set of monsters.”

Max was proved right fairly quickly. They only had to travel another five minutes into the forest to find another set of mules.

They quickly got to work with their strategy and finished off the set of mules with ease.

“Hurray,” cheered Casey. “We completed the assignment!”

Max dropped the two copper monster cores into his pouch with satisfaction. He looked down at the coin drops with disappointment.

“Huh?” he said. “They didn’t leave as much.”

This time there were only sixteen copper coins on the ground.

“The money drop is always a bit random from what I understand,” said Casey, crouching down and picking up the coins. When she was done, she handed Max his share of the loot.

“I guess we should head back then,” said Max.

“Yeah, totally,” said Casey, turning and marching off.

“Wait, where are you going?” asked Max.

“I’m heading back,” said Casey. “We headed in this direction, didn’t we?”

“I thought we came from that way,” said Max, pointing in the opposite direction Casey was heading.

Max looked around, his heart beginning to beat with panic.

They had been so focused on the first part of the test, they hadn’t considered the intensity of the second part: getting back to the teleporter.

“Do you know where we are?” asked Casey.

Max peered all around the forest, nervously.

He shook his head.

They were lost.

30

Max and Casey walked nervously through the forest. Each and every one of their steps was filled with trepidation.

“Are we sure we’re going the right way?” asked Casey.

Max had no idea. He was starting to realize how dangerous this floor was. Sure, the monsters weren’t exactly the most deadly, but it was the area itself that would consume you.

Max wasn’t sure what they should do. If they didn’t keep moving, they would lose the test. But if they were lost and going in the wrong direction, it would make it even harder for the instructor to find them—at which point, they didn’t just have to worry about losing the test, but they had to worry about staying alive.

They didn’t have any food, water, or shelter. This floor didn’t seem like it offered those kinds of amenities, even if they went hunting for them.

Max sighed. All the options were bad, but at least, if they kept moving they still had a chance at finding the others and passing the test.

For the time being, he figured that was their best option.

Max and Casey continued forth in the woods—if they were going in the right direction, they had no idea.

Cyrus Archer stood with the rest of the class in front of the teleporter along with the instructor.

Cyrus kept his arms crossed and smirked as he stared out into the empty forest.

It looks like my plan worked, he thought.

Cyrus and his goons had made sure to kill off as many monsters in the surrounding area from when the test started to limit the prospects of the other students.

It looked like the plan was paying off perfectly, seeing that the new kid and the fake-vein still hadn’t made it back.

He turned to the instructor. “How much longer do we have to wait here for?”

“There’s still forty-five minutes on the clock,” said the instructor.

“But what if the remaining students are in danger?” said Cyrus. “Shouldn’t you be out there rescuing them?”

“As an instructor, it is my duty to look after the students,” said the older flamebringer. “But that also means I can’t coddle them either. I’m training you all to be warriors to protect others. I must honor those struggling with the test the allotted time.”

“Even though, you think they should’ve been back by now,” Cyrus pried.

The man didn’t respond and just stared out into the forest.

So he does think something’s gone wrong out there, thought Cyrus smugly to himself. But it doesn’t look like he’ll be convinced to call the test early. So they were just going to have to wait.

The boy grinned and contemplated what he wished for more.

For the two remaining students to fail the test.

Or for them to die out in the endless forest.

I guess option two satisfies both my desires, he grinned as he stared out to the empty forest.

“Are we there yet?” Casey groaned.

They’d been walking for ages and they hadn’t come across anywhere they recognized.

“Are you sure we haven’t been going the wrong way?” she asked Max for what may have been the tenth time.

Max wasn’t sure. If they had gone the wrong way, should they turn back? But there was no way to prove they were going the wrong way. It was possible the same area looked different on the way back, no?

His stomach growled.

“Alright,” he said.