The Crack In Heaven [A LitRPG Progression Fantasy] Chapter 6: Chapter 6: I Persist

Read chapter 6 of The Crack In Heaven [A LitRPG Progression Fantasy] by Adamus_Auguste on NovelPedia.

Chapter 6: I Persist Atop the clock tower, Kael bundled his legs, pressing the ledger wrapped in his dad's cloak against his chest. Other children always claimed this place was their secret base, where adults couldn't beat them. What a secret when old Bernie never scolded them for climbing on his roof to reach the broken walls of the tower. After someone fell, he even left a wooden ladder, grumbling with a smile that didn't match his scolding. To Kael, it was the place closest to the city above, to the sun, to peace. The metallic rhythm of the cogs and watching the lampposts shine through the steam from above always soothed him. Not this time. He barely lifted his eyes from his tear-stained sleeves. His left hand gripped the junk flower until the scrap hurt his palm. His body hurt all over—much less after Silma's treatment—but his broken arm would take a couple of weeks to recover. You warned me, Mom. He'd tried anyway. Tried to make it big with Garrick, and look at him now. Bleeding, freezing, poorer than when he'd started. They'll always use you. The gangs. Harrow with her new dress, the one Garrick paid for. Sleep under my roof, then earn me something. Every adult down here, the same. But he still needed a roof. Food. A job, honest and slow and safe, if anyone would take a boy with a broken arm. Tomorrow. He'd figure it out tomorrow. His mind drifted to his father's entries. Then, he remembered his occasionally visceral sensations when Garrick, Brannick, Silma, and Sister Harrow looked at him. They must have awakened something within them. Powers. If I could be as strong as Brannick, no one would dare to scam me again... He unwrapped the ledger, eyes closed. For a moment, his chest tightened with an irrational hope. What if Maelin Quor failed to appraise this ledger? What if it were truly a special item like the other three? It had to be! Three items when he opened the case inside the temple. Four in Garrick's office. It appeared out of nowhere. Perhaps... it could give him powers, too? Slowly, he opened his blue eyes. Using the cloak to protect his hand from the corrosive water, he lifted the moist cover. And... Nothing. The yellowed pages were so soggy that the paper almost melded into a uniform mash. With a sigh, Kael unstuck the pages. Clean the pages. Dry them. Salvage the paper. Not perfect, but sellable. Two hundred pages worth five—no, four copper crowns each. His eyes widened. That was eight gold crowns. "Ha... Haha... HAHAHA!" Amidst the bleakness, he laughed as he saw an unexpected silver lining. Of course, fresh water and heat would cost him money he didn't have. It didn't matter. Instead, he could commission someone with a promise of shared benefits. Without leverage, promises were words blown by the winter wind. He needed more. The certainty of getting four gold crowns at the bare minimum. A shiver made him turn toward the clock. 2 A.M. Snow slowly drifted down. He could polish the how and when tomorrow. For now, even though he felt too disgusted to sleep, he knew his body needed rest and a warm place to heal. Carefully, he wrapped the ledger again. It wasn't a mark of humiliation anymore, but proof that he survived the spawn's chase and escaped the temple. He descended the stairs of the clock tower, slipped beneath planks roughly studded to a broken section of the wall, and left Bernie's roof using the ladder. The Black Cask bar faced the tower, while he was in an alley behind it. The shelter was further out, on the outskirts. He passed by factories spewing smoke from their chimneys despite the silence inside before vanishing into another alley. Kael met very few people on the way. Most would have tried to sell him drugs by the main avenue he had just left. Therefore, when two teenagers pushed off the wall they'd been leaning on to cut him off, the cold in his gut had nothing to do with the winter. Old Bernie was beside them, searching the back of his head with a coy smile. "Told you I saw him climb the cl