Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Being in a ship full of B-Grades, crossing the vast cosmos at unimaginable speeds, returning to action after a month of relaxing with his family… Jack would be lying if he said this wasn’t a little bit off putting. Yet, he was used to it. This was his life. Some instinct kicked in, making him ready to face everything despite his hesitation.

“How long is this going to take, sovereign?” he asked.

Heavenly Spoon looked up from his space ring. “Hmm, about five days. The Systemless galaxy we’re fighting in is not that far from your Milky Way.”

“And you said this was an order of Elder Boatman?”

“Right.”

Jack nodded. It made sense—their master-disciple relationship aside, Jack carried the death cube, an object which Elder Boatman deeply treasured. Yet, Jack couldn’t help wondering—how much of saving him was due to the cube, and how much was due to Jack himself?

“By the way,” he asked again, “will we pass close by the Heaven Egg galaxy?”

“Not really,” the sovereign replied. “Why?”

“I left something there, but… It’s okay. I’ll pick it up later.”

The Green Dragon Realm still waited in the Heaven Egg galaxy. By now, Jack could easily defeat Spacewind and release the rest of the Church cultivators, but he couldn’t yet absorb the realm into his inner world. He’d need to reach the B-Grade for that.

Well, whatever, he thought. I’ll go back there eventually. Shi Mo and the others can wait a little.

Which left him with only one thing to do right now. One he’d looked forward to for a long time. His eyes fell on his own space ring. After looking around and making sure nobody was trying to talk with him, he settled into a corner.

Some things were long overdue. He had to investigate the space rings of Eva Solvig and the other B-Grade he’d killed, as well as the loot he acquired from the Animal Kingdom’s vaults. Not many treasures would be valuable to the current him, but there was always hope.

Though he hadn’t really bothered with all these so far, he had done an initial screening. All the mundane, low-level stuff had been left with the Bare Fist Brotherhood back on Earth. He’d also recovered some artifacts of the Exploding Sun from the Kingdom’s vaults, which he’d returned to Huali while on Earth.

Of all his spoils of war, only the true treasures remained in his space ring. Jack dove inside it, finding himself before an assembly of objects.

The first was a crystal ball seemingly filled with snow. He shook it gently, watching the particles—which turned out to be tiny letters—swirling and forming an endless march of gibberish. Jack channeled what he knew about the Thunder Body technique, the explosiveness it preached. He focused his gaze on the crystal ball, which was actually the technique’s cultivation manual.

As he shook it, the letters moved independently of his hands, following predetermined Dao patterns. Not all letters swirled the same. Some followed the specific Dao circulation required to activate the Thunder Body technique, others copied the distinct patterns of Lightning Dao. Using his understanding of Thunder Body as the medium, Jack could extract information from both the words formed and the letters’ moving patterns. The complete manual of the Thunder Body revealed itself before his eyes, allowing him to practice far more than the elementary forms he’d learned in the Black Hole World.

A small smile formed on Jack’s lips. He’d been worried about comprehending such a complex manual, but as it turned out, it was created with enough expertise to seem doable. As he skimmed its initial stages, he realized that the hand-written copies he’d perused in the Black Hole World weren’t completely faithful to the original. They were simplified versions meant to allow the Black Hole People to recreate part of the technique’s power. That was partly the reason why Jack had learned this technique so quickly—he’d unknowingly practiced the initial steps through a shortcut, neglecting to set the foundation for higher tiers.

He wasn’t satisfied with that, obviously. He would re-learn Thunder Body from the beginning, the right way this time, so it could follow him into the B and A-Grades.

The more he read about Thunder Body, the more impressed he became. This was a masterful technique. It explained why the leonines were so far ahead of the other Animal Kingdom families. If the Hand of God and the Immortals knew what they were letting be wasted in the hands of a tiny B-Grade faction, they’d pull their hairs out. Or wires.

Such supplementary techniques were powerful, but the more powerful something was, the harder it was to learn. And not just because of its complexity—there were very strict compatibility requirements. Jack’s Dao of the Fist required exactly the explosiveness and extreme physicality preached by the Thunder Body, hence why he could study it so smoothly. The other technique taken by the leonines, the Art of Divine Providence, was not suitable for him at all—he’d left it back on Earth to help them advance faster.

Back in the Black Hole World, he’d learned that of the twelve cultivation manuals they’d inherited, the Black Hole People had given away three—the Thunder Body, the Art of Divine Providence, and something called the Three Body Principle. This third technique was something Jack had never encountered or heard about in the Animal Kingdom—he could only assume it had been lost or stolen somewhere.

Besides these techniques, the Kingdom’s wealth consisted of what Jack could only call low level treasures. Rather, it wasn’t them that were low level, but that his viewpoint was far too high. He possessed many treasures which could make even A-Grades green with envy. The belongings of a B-Grade faction—and not even a particularly strong one—just failed to enter his eyes. He left them all back on Earth, where they could be useful.

What he did keep, however, were the mountains of Dao Stones the Kingdom had amassed over the years. There were over ten thousand of them—an extreme collection of wealth, even by the standards of the Black Hole Church. Jack was sure he would find some use for them.

After the Kingdom’s loot came the space rings of Eva Solvig and the other Envoy. Both were late B-Grades of the Hand of God—the wealth they possessed could not be trivial. Indeed; as Jack emptied both space rings into his own, he found even more Dao Stones, over a thousand in each ring. Tallying them up completely, he came to a total of around thirteen thousand stones. He was rich.

The stones weren’t even the best part. Late B-Grade Envoys enjoyed much richer resources than Jack ever had at the Church, especially when they were responsible for entire galaxies. Only the most select of items would qualify to be placed in their personal space rings. Jack had high hopes, which his generous enemies didn’t fail to match.

He found a finger-sized chunk of white rock. There was even a violet hue to it, making it seem otherworldly. Jack took it out of the space ring to check it out, then immediately felt like he was holding a mountain range. His hand dropped. He barely managed to channel his Dao and stop it before it reached the floor of the starship, otherwise it would have pierced right through.

Everyone turned to gaze at Jack, who was gritting his teeth and holding up a tiny piece of stone.

“Somebody forgot to have breakfast,” the sovereign commented with a thin smile. “Put that back quickly or you’ll sprain your wrist.”

Jack nodded tightly, then forced the little thing back into the space ring. The immense weight disappeared immediately. He breathed out in relief. It was a good thing that space rings contained no gravity.

“What the hell was that?” he asked.

“A piece of a neutron star,” the Sage explained. “Heavily diluted. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to hold it. A regular piece of neutron star that large would weigh several billions tons.”

“Billions? With a b?”

The Sage laughed. “The universe is a big place, Jack.”

“I know,” Jack replied, shaking his head. He knew about neutron stars. Hell, he even had the Neutron Star Body skill. It was just that he’d vastly underestimated the density of a real one. “What am I supposed to do with this?” he asked.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“You can forge it into a weapon,” the Sage replied. “Or use it as a stabilizer during your breakthrough, melt it into energy, or exchange it for something more useful.”

Jack thought about it. He had no need for weapons, nor did he lack energy with the Life Drop. He’d either exchange it for something useful, if the opportunity arose, or use it to enhance his breakthrough. No matter how confident he felt, more assurances were always better.

Putting the neutron star fragment out of his mind for now, he got up and walked towards his room. Sitting here with everyone was nice, but maybe he’d like some more privacy.

When he arrived and closed the door, he looked towards the next item—a pair of shorts?

He took them out of the ring and raised them high. They were a pair of unadorned pants giving off a primal, wild feeling. He felt the desire to try them on—then, remembering he was not an idiot, he didn’t just wear unidentified clothing.

Scanning them was useless, since he was outside System space. However, he could use his own perception to get a rudimentary feel for an object’s properties.

These pants seemed to be a sort of armor. Not in the sense that they shielded the body from attacks, but rather that they exuded a special life force field which amplified the body’s innate defensive properties. More a protective treasure than armor. Jack whistled—he didn’t even know this was possible. Whoever made these pants was a master. He could only wonder why Eva hadn’t worn them during their battle.

The answer came quickly. As he inspected the item further, he realized that this amplifying force field had no penetrating power. It could reach his entire body, since it was made of life force, but it couldn’t penetrate any clothing. Essentially, whoever wore these shorts would need to wear nothing else.

That explained Eva’s decision. She wouldn’t look particularly noble half-naked. Jack, on the other hand…

He quickly changed out of his previous pair of shorts and into the new one. As they clamped around his waist, he sensed a soothing power course through his body as if his cells were inspired. His already impressive defense shot up—and it wasn’t a minor increase, either.

These shorts alone were worth their weight in gold. They were perfect for Jack, who didn’t wear armor anyway. Plus, they were fashionable. They were snag, wrapping around his powerful legs, and their ends were sliced up around his thighs, letting sharp flaps dance to the wind of his attacks. He felt confident—good-looking like only a barbarian could.

His enemies would have a heart attack.

“I will call them… Naked Defense Shorts,” Jack muttered. He laughed to himself, then moved on to the next item. It was…a stone?

It was white, similar to the neutron star fragment, but at a normal weight. In fact, just by scanning it, Jack could not discern its use—until it opened its mouth and spoke.

“Hi,” it said in a childlike voice. “I’m The Stone. How are you doing?”

Jack blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You are excused.”

“No, I— What are you?”

“I am a stone, but you can call me The Stone.”

Jack felt irritation welling up inside him. He expected something more…treasure-y. “And what do you do?” he asked.

“Fine, you?”

“I mean, what is your function?”

The Stone, if possible, looked offended. “What is your function?” it shot back. “You objectivist freak.”

Jack sighed. “Listen. I have all the good will to cooperate. Can you please explain what you are, besides The Stone, so we can get on with our lives?”

“Hmph! Well, if I have to,” The Stone replied. “I am a sentient piece of stone. A woman with a harsh voice found me on the asteroid where I’d lived for a long time—pretty boring, if you ask me. It’s where I learned to talk with myself. Not much else to do, you see. The other rocks weren’t the best conversationalists—all they did was scratch the ground as they rolled.”

“Okay… And what did that woman do with you?”

“Asked me bizarre questions, mostly. Like, how I can speak. What a silly concept. How am I supposed to know? How can you speak, do you know?”

“I do, actually. I’m a biologist. I can describe the exact process.”

“Really? That sounds interesting. Go ahead, I’m keeping notes.”

“Where?”

“In my mind.”

Jack could already feel the approaching headache. “So you don’t know why you can speak, where you learned the language, or how you found yourself on that asteroid where you spent a ton of time,” he said. “You don’t remember anything before that. Right?”

“...Well, yeah, but I would have used more words. Why are you in such a rush? Talk to me, I’m lonely!”

Jack sighed. “You know what? I sympathize, but I’m kind of in the middle of something right now. How about I put you in my space ring for a bit, and we can discuss again later.”

“Okay. Can you put someone else in there as well to keep me company?”

“Not really. Sentient beings can’t go inside space rings.”

“But I can.”

“Yeah, and I have no idea why. I promise I’ll get you out later, okay?”

“Okay!”

Jack stuffed The Stone back into the space ring, then sighed. This was so much trouble. How was he duped into adopting a talking stone?

The problem was, he was a busy man. He had more things to do than chat with The Stone—but it seemed so lonely. He couldn’t just forget about it, could he?

As soon as that turtle wakes up, I’m throwing The Stone in there, he decided. Until then, I guess I’ll keep it company a bit…

It wasn’t exactly uninteresting. The inner workings of The Stone eluded him completely, which meant it was a highly intricate obj— person. It had to be something important. Maybe the old experiment of an A-Grade, or a transfused soul, or something else interesting. Either that, or just a talking stone.

Sniffing a little more into the ring, he did find an accompanying piece of paper with The Stone roughly drawn on it. It contained some of Eva’s research notes.

“I can’t figure it out… This stone shouldn’t be able to produce sound, let alone words. It possesses no suitable inner workings. Can the Dao assume life by itself? Or is there some way to infuse stable life into objects? It’s a breakthrough either way.

I don’t know how this stone came to be, but I sense that seeing through its secrets will earn me the Immortals’ favor! This is world-shaking knowledge!”

That was all she’d written. Either her research had been fruitless, or she’d only acquired The Stone recently. In any case, it made Jack excited. Now, he had an excuse to keep the lonely stone—maybe he’d get something out of it. After all, he too cultivated the Dao of Life.

Come to think of it, wasn’t there a ticklish pebble back on Trial Planet? he remembered. I should get those two together. They’ll have the time of their lives.

In any case, he decided to leave the mystery of The Stone for later. Maybe the Sage would know.

I should also ask him about that mural in the Black Hole World.There was a person who looked suspiciously similar to him… But, maybe later. When there aren’t as many people around.

Thinking up to there, Jack reached into his space ring and took out the next and almost final item—a half-eaten apple.

This was not what he expected to find in an Envoy’s space ring. As he stared at it, however, he was soon shocked. The life energy inside it was tremendous, blasting his face in waves—it was like a tiny version of the Life Drop.

Good stuff! A body tempering treasure! he realized, eyes shining. Finally, something useful! Eva Solvig had this… She must have taken tiny bites every once in a while to gradually temper her body. To someone like her, who only partly cultivated Physical, digesting such a treasure should take a long, long time. Maybe centuries.

Jack shrugged, then tossed the half apple into his mouth and chewed it to bits. It had a burning taste, as if it made his taste glands come alive and rush to escape his body, so he swallowed it quickly.

A moment later, a wave of tremendous heat erupted from his stomach. Oceans of energy forcefully pushed their way into his body. A regular cultivator would have exploded—Jack simply burped.

His body was already a temple of physicality. His capacity for absorbing energy was much higher than a regular cultivator’s. This apple couldn’t harm him.

In fact, it wasn’t even painful like body tempering was supposed to be. It certainly carried some special properties, probably to make it easier on Eva. Jack scoffed. To think that a late B-Grade would bother to avoid the pain… No wonder she lost to him.

As the pain subsided, Jack checked his status screen, finding that his Physical substats had increased by an entire three hundred points each!

Strength: 7880

Dexterity: 7880

Constitution: 7880

At this stage, tempering his body anymore was hard. Every point was crucial. This apple giving him three hundred at once was a landfall, especially for such a tame medicine. He couldn’t help nodding in admiration—the children of late A-Grades sure enjoyed some great stuff.

Besides the Dao stones and those four items—the neutron star fragment, the shorts, the talking stone, and the now-fully eaten apple—there wasn't much else in the two Envoys’ space rings. Jack wasn’t complaining—just the three hundred Physical brought a noticeable increase in his combat strength.

The only other items he’d found in those rings were two badges, one representing Elder Purity and the other a faction Jack had never of. He’d disintegrated both of them long ago in case they were trackable.

“Alright,” he said, opening his eyes. “On to the fun stuff.”

He still had a Dao Fruit to develop—his last one. And, since he was there, he might as well apply a little change to his Dao Tree.

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