Tower Climber (A LitRPG Adventure, Book 1) by Jakob Tanner (interesting books to read for teens .txt) 📗

The information felt like a punch to the gut.

“How is that possible? What about the rest of the world? Europe? Asia? All of Earth?”

The climber president sighed once more.

“Earth was destroyed decades ago.”

74

“But I thought—”

“You thought the tower emerged in 2045 and ten years later Zestiris was formed to protect and regulate those who went inside the tower?” said the climber president. “You’re mostly correct in that assumption. There’s a key part of the true history missing though. Those first ten years after the tower first emerged were an incredibly volatile and destructive time. Psychotic climbers went on rampages killing thousands of people. Geopolitics became the entire world versus the United States and its super-powered soldiers. After ten years, it all came to a head as psychotic climbers laid waste to entire American cities, the monster waves increased in power, and the rest of the world attempted to nuke the tower. The world crumbled, destroying itself. The entire planet was on fire, turning into a monstrous hell scape.”

The climber president took another deep breath, before continuing.

“Humanity had no hope of survival left on Earth. A plan was formed amongst some of humanity’s strongest S-rank climbers. They would do a re-do in the tower and so that’s what they did. They shepherded as many innocent people as they could through the lower-levels of the tower until they reached floor-4 where we are now.”

Max shook his head.

“How is any of that possible? Is it actually 2085? How could an entire North American city be recreated on a floor in the tower? And surely there must be people still alive who remember this exodus—how is this not more widely known? How does this secret survive unknown amongst so many?”

The climber president nodded his head.

“These are all good questions. It is indeed 2085 and there are survivors from that time, myself included. You have to remember, the three founding creators of the city were S-rank climbers. They held unimaginable power. One of them had a trait called Limitless Inventory and he was able to place entire skyscrapers into his own personal immaterial inventory by the touch of his hand. So that was how the city was built-up so quickly. Another one of the founding members had a trait called Master of Illusions and she was able to wield powerful mind magic. Combined with the third member who had a trait called Arcane Crafting, they were able to make the walls that separated the city and have the runes manipulate the memories of the populace so that they forgot Earth’s destruction.”

Max couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His entire life, his entire world, had all been one massive lie?

“Okay,” he said, trying to stay calm as question after question piled in his head, creating a motor of mental stress in his mind. “You’ve explained how Zestiris was created, but why? What was the point of stripping people’s memories away?”

“It was initially a temporary measure,” explained the climber president. “One that in the end, those who knew the truth, chose to never reveal. It was all done in the name of protecting everyone. It’s why they built walls, separating the two zones of the city. The founders wanted to separate climbers from the rest of the citizens. They did so to protect the citizens from the monster waves but also to protect the citizens from the climbers themselves. The goal was for the climbers to find a way to reach the top of the tower and revive Earth from its destruction, while keeping those who didn’t need to know more blissfully ignorant. We’d seen how panic and hysteria had helped aid the destruction of Earth once already, the founders didn’t want to let such things run rampant a second time.”

Max gulped once more.

“So we’re on floor-4, you said. How do the monster waves work? Shouldn’t there just be monsters spawning everywhere all over the city?”

The climber president nodded. “This is something that remained a mystery to the founders. Zestiris exists on floor-4 of the tower. It is a tamed floor. We suspect the monster waves happen on all tamed floors where the tower manifests itself. We also believe the floors below us have become dead floors, wrought with destruction. No one travels down there any more.”

“So why do you have guards around the teleporter?”

The man looked at Max very seriously once more. “In case anything decides to come up.”

Max tried to process all the information the climber president was telling him. It was a lot and yet he was slightly disappointed. The information hadn’t brought him any closer to finding his sister.

Yet, he had the president here. Why not ask him now?

Max gulped.

“Do you know anything about my sister?” he asked.

“I do,” said the climber president. “But we cannot discuss such matters now. Nor do I think they’ll aid you currently. You have a lot to think about. The tower climbers of Zestiris don’t just go up the tower searching for adventure and glory, they go in an effort to help save humanity and the planet we lost. You must consider the consequences of your goals and the lofty weight of your desire to become a tower climber. Are you ready to start fighting back on humanity’s behalf?”

Max didn’t know what to say back to the man.

“The final climber exams are going to begin in a few weeks. You must train hard for them. If you pass, we can speak again and I can tell you what I know about your sister. Until then, you must go train.”

The man started to shepherd Max out of his office when Max remembered his whole reason for going out into the outer-rim in the first place.

“But sir,” said Max. “I don’t know how to say this, but, um—”

“Spit it out, lad,” said the climber president.

“The Archer family. How much of what you told me do they know?”

“Samuel Archer is one the highest ranked climbers in the city,” said the president. “He knows about everything I told you today.”

“I