Tower of Avarice: A LitRPG story

Chapter 6 – Floor 0: Part 6

Rooting around in his pockets for a gold coin, Mathew’s hands came back out empty. He had no money, no gold coin to purchase passage across the bridge.

He looked at the ‘guards’ preventing him from crossing. At the end of the day, they were marionettes. Their weapons appeared to be dangerous, but how much strength could a puppet have if they attacked him?

Still, he would prefer not to test it unless he had to. The last thing he wanted to do was to get into a fight and risk injury or worse when he hadn’t even begun climbing the Tower yet. He wanted to pass this test with flying colours, as he had done when he was still in school.

Glancing past the gathered crowd, Mathew eyed the river itself. There was a strong current, and the far bank was a quarter mile away, maybe a bit further. He could swim as long as the water wasn’t too cold and the current didn’t take him too far downstream.

He was assessing his options when a glint of light caught his eye. His wristwatch, which had started as a Rolex and had morphed into a cheap piece of plastic with a digital face during the last test, had changed once again. It was now a bracelet, gold and shiny.

Mathew had an idea. When he was in college, he used to do a trick in bars, something he had learned from a book on sleight-of-hand street magic. It had only ever been helpful in getting free drinks and the occasional phone number, but now it might get him past this bridge.

Pushing his way through the crowd, careful not to tangle their strings as he did so, Mathew stopped in front of the cudgel-wielding puppet in the front.

“Hey! See this?” Mathew asked, ripping the gold bracelet from his arm and holding it up.

“It’s worth more than the coin you’re asking for. I’ll make you a bet. I toss a coin in the air, and if it comes up ‘heads,’ you let me through, and I keep the bracelet.” Mathew taunted the Guard, letting the bracelet catch the light.

He could see the grin on the man’s face at the proposition of getting a treasure and not having to do anything in return.

“And if it's tails?” The Guard said.

“You keep it, and I stay here. But I get to toss the coin.” Mathew replied. The Guard looked at his companions for a moment before turning back and nodding. The strings attached to his limbs made a jerking motion as he tossed a coin to Mathew, who deftly snatched it out of the air.

“Alright. Watch carefully.” He tossed the coin in the air. It arced upwards, spinning rapidly and letting the sunshine on its two golden surfaces. The ‘head’ side was of a crowned man while the tails were some words in a language Mathew didn’t understand.

As it descended, Mathew snatched it out of the air. Let it slip around his palm for a moment, he subtly ensured that it would show the side he wanted. Slapping in on the back of his hand, he held it forward.

“Heads!” Mathew shouted, and the Guard groaned loudly.

“Fine! You can pass. But you don’t get to keep that coin!” The Guard shouted, holding out his hand for Mathew to return it. Flicking it into the air toward the Guard, Mathew stepped across the bridge before anyone changed his mind.

As he reached the far bank, the world turned to white once again.

Mathew was in a large room, and the walls were lined with bookshelves. There were no windows, and the only door was at the far side of the space. A statue of a knight stood in front of it, with a giant axe in its hands. The axe's head rested on the ground at its feet.

There was a table of weapons to Mathew’s right. Clubs, hammers, a sword, and even an old-fashioned rifle that wouldn’t have been out of place in the Civil War made a motley collection.

To his left was a large table with beakers and vials of different coloured liquids and herbs. It reminded Mathew of a chemistry set, but one that an Alchemist could have used in Medieval Europe to treat the plague.

“What am I supposed to do now?” Mathew asked out loud. In response, the burning letters appeared on the wooden floor before him.

Test 3/3

A stone guardian defends the exit. There are many ways to bypass or defeat it. The answers are all around you.

“Helpful. Thanks.” Mathew muttered dryly. He looked at the statue once again.

“You’re going to come alive, aren’t you?” Mathew asked, not expecting a response. He looked at the weapons beside him, comparing them to the large axe the statue held. Even if it were blunt, he wouldn’t want to get hit by it.

“So. I can fight it or… brew something to stop it? I’m in a library for a reason. What do you want to bet the answer to your demise is in one of these books?” Mathew spoke to the statue once again. Ignoring the vials of liquid, the herbs and the weapons, Mathew strode to the nearest shelf.

Pulling out a book at random, he skimmed through its contents.

“A young man was walking through the forest when he came upon a sphinx. The creature asked him three riddles.” Mathew muttered. Looking at the statue, he thought for a moment.

“Do you have a riddle for me?” Mathew asked. The silence continued.

“Of course not.” He muttered, throwing the unsuccessful book on the ground. He picked up another one.

“A cooking book? Useless.” Mathew scoffed, throwing this one to the side. He continued for nearly an hour until he had an entire bookshelf bare when he came upon an answer.

“Stone-eating acid.” Mathew stated, nodding in satisfaction.

“This’ll do.” He walked to the table with the vials of liquid. Lifting them up one at a time, he read the labels and placed the ones that he needed in front of him. He didn’t know the names of the herbs, but the book was very detailed and helped him identify what there were by their leaves, stems and even their scent.

Crushing some in a mortar and pestle, he added precise amounts from the vials using the measuring devices he found in one of the drawers. It wasn’t hard; it was like following directions while cooking, something he didn’t do often, but even he could put his mind to it when it meant not fighting a stone statue.

With the last drop of a greenish liquid in a beaker, the fluorescent orange acid began to boil and smoke. The book had warned him it would do that, so Mathew wasn’t too concerned. He carried it to the front of the room and studied the statue carefully.

As he took another step, he could hear the statue begin to thrum with energy. A grinding noise filled the room as it slowly began to move. Its axe left a gash on the wooden floor as it gradually turned upright, held in two massive stone hands.

Mathew threw the beaker at the statue, letting the glass smash onto its stone torso. The orange liquid clung to its surface like bright paint. Mathew could hear a sizzling sound as the room filled with smoke. In seconds, it ate away at the statue’s body.

The axe fell to the ground with a loud crash, followed by the statue's upper body. Observing it for a moment to ensure it wasn’t going to move again, Mathew picked his way past the fallen guardian.

“There you have it. Knowledge is power.” Mathew quipped before opening the door.

He was back in the lobby of the Tower of Avarice. Looking around with confusion, he saw that nothing had changed. The outside still showed the same, drizzly mid-morning New York outdoors with people gathered to enter the Tower.

The desk in front of him was once again occupied by the smartly dressed young woman who was busy typing on her computer. Looking up, she smiled at him.

“Hello, Mr. Larson. I have your test results if you would like to step forward?” She said.

“Uh, sure. Listen, was that real? Like, any of it? The puppets, the outdoors part with the bridge….the statue? Or am I hallucinating?” Mathew asked as he leaned forward against her desk. The woman laughed, adjusting her black-framed glasses before responding.

“Of course, it wasn’t real, Mr. Larson. The test is the god's way of judging your abilities before you enter the tower. You wouldn’t have been harmed by anything you experienced. You merely would have been pushed onward to the next test. Even in failure, the gods can learn much about you.” She replied.

“The gods…right. Listen, can you explain what the hell is going on? Who are you? Who are the gods? Why did they send this tower?” Mathew asked desperately.

The young woman shook her head at the question.

“Answers will cost you, Mr. Larson. And unfortunately, you don’t have anything to purchase them with at the moment. Don’t worry, you will have an opportunity later. Now, would you like to review your results?”