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

Max suspected Cyrus must have had something to do with all the nearby monsters being killed off. Why else would he be so frustrated that they had completed the test?

“All I can say is, well done,” said the instructor. “It was very clever of you to figure out that the climber’s guild has set up a series of signs in the trees as a way of communicating the different locations of the endless forest. You’re a couple of lessons ahead of the class. Keep up the good work.”

Max and Casey smiled at each other.

“I guess we make a good team,” said Casey, cheerfully.

“Yeah,” said Max in agreement.

“Alright, class,” sighed the instructor. “Gather around. Today’s lessons are over. We’ll take the teleporter back to the ground floor of the tower. Classes will resume tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. sharp.”

“What about the monster cores we collected?” said Max.

The instructor smiled. “They’re yours to keep. In fact, they’re more than that. They’re tonight’s homework.”

32

By the time Max got back to the apartment, he was absolutely exhausted.

The lights were off when he came in. Sakura wasn’t home yet.

He sighed.

So that was day one of the climber academy. He almost got expelled and then almost killed before the day was over. Was he honestly going to be able to survive the whole school term?

He put some of his things down on the living room table and then tidied up the apartment a bit.

After twenty minutes, he got started on dinner.

He had done some grocery shopping earlier in the week with Sakura, so luckily for him, every meal wasn’t going to be bacon and egg ramen.

He chopped up some onion and garlic and started sautéing them in a pot over the oven. He added some ground beef and continued sautéing. He then opened a few cans of tomatoes and threw them in as well.

Tonight’s dinner would be Pasta Bolognese.

As he threw in the spices, he thought about what he was going to do for the rest of the evening.

I’ll cook this dinner. Eat quickly. Save the rest for Sakura and then get down to my homework with the monster cores.

When supper was ready, he wolfed down his plate of pasta rapidly. He then chugged a glass of water, put his dishes in the sink, and then went to the living room to get started on his homework.

He sat cross-legged on the floor and materialized the four copper monster cores from his pouch.

He looked at the stones. They were similar, but not identical. One was quite larger than the others and some were much more weirdly shaped than the rest.

They did all have a metallic coppery hue, however.

He sighed as he lifted each one up and turned it over.

How did these things work?

He had a feeling they were important somehow. Sakura had explained to him how the tower-zone’s entire currency was based on these monster drops and the fact that other races on higher floors used these currencies as well. If the mere coins these tower monsters dropped were enough to shape whole currencies of multiple worlds, then surely these cores were just as important, if not more so.

He picked one up and held it in his hands.

He closed his eyes and channeled his mana into the fingertips that were holding the stone.

The monster core suddenly glowed, shining out light from inside of it.

Holy crap!

The monster core had absorbed his mana.

He placed the stone down and excitedly paced the living room floor.

He then sat back down and picked up the core once more.

If the core can absorb my mana, can I drain the core of its mana?

Max took a deep breath and held the copper monster core up once more.

He closed his eyes. He had figured out the basics of manipulating the mana channels inside himself, perhaps it was the same motions necessary to draw the mana out of the monster core.

He held the monster core up and tried to drain it of its mana.

Nothing happened.

He paused.

He tried to think the puzzle through. He was able to move mana around his body because there were channels and vessels that allowed for the flow of his internal mana. He could even send mana through his fingertips into the monster core. Yet when he tried to pull the mana out of the monster core nothing happened.

Max tried one more time.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This time instead of simply trying to pull the mana out of the monster core, he was going to send his mana into it once more. Only after doing that would he try and pull the mana out. His hypothesis was by sending his mana into the monster core first, he was thereby creating a makeshift mana channel, which he could then use to drain the core of its mana.

He enacted his plan and, within seconds, felt a rush of adrenaline and energy coursing through him. It was enough to make his whole body shiver. He dropped the monster core on the ground.

He gulped. Holy smokes, what happened?

He looked down to the floor and saw the copper monster core had turned into a black lusterless stone.

He had drained it of its mana!

This was how climbers raised their mana affinity, wasn’t it?

He checked his stats with excitement, only to find his mana affinity was still at 3, exactly where it had been when he last checked.

He sighed and got to work on draining the three other monster cores.

When he was finished, he looked at his stat sheet once more.

Name: Max Rainhart

Rank: Unranked

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

Strength: 7

Agility: 7

Endurance: 6

Mana Affinity: 4

Passive Skills:

Kokoro (Warrior Spirit)

Max grinned at the sight of his profile. His mana affinity stat had gone up by one. Based on what Sakura had told him, he had to hit eleven to hit E-rank. He was now only seven mana affinity points from reaching that goal.

He collapsed on the floor in both exhaustion and satisfying