Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Jack shot to his feet faster than a startled deer. “Elder Puerto!” he said. “Welcome!”

She waved him off. “I see you’re meditating. Good. A talented monster like yourself shouldn’t slack off.”

“You flatter me.”

“I will get to the point, Mr… You never gave me your name, actually.”

“Jack Monstrous, Elder.”

She sat on a random chair and crossed her legs. Though Elder Puerto seemed like a buff red-haired old lady, she was much heavier. The steel chair creaked under her weight. The legs bent ominously.

“Well, Jack Monstrous, I will be leaving Empty Star City today. Have you considered my offer?”

“Your invitation to the Great Silver?”

“Precisely. If you agree, I can take you with me. I will guarantee your safety and help you get access to the main faction.”

“Please, speak plainly. With your talent, we’ll be peers soon enough.”

He laughed.

“I did think about it. I’m willing to join your faction, on two terms.”

Puerto raised a brow. “Oh?”

“My first term is that you let me join the next Canal Delve. The second is that you support me fully despite not originally being from your faction. The third is that I won’t come with you right away—I have some things to do, so I’ll make my own way to the faction.”

“Hmm.” She leaned forward, her eyes flashing with calculations. “Getting invited to the Delve is not something I can promise, but I can say it depends entirely on you. If you can show a good enough performance, you’ll naturally be invited. As for not being originally from the faction… Who cares? The only thing that matters in the Great Silver is strength. You’ll receive all the support you deserve. Are my answers satisfactory to you, Jack Monstrous?”

There was a hint of threat in her voice. The Great Silver was one of the Space Monster World’s two great overlord factions. Most monsters would kill their best friend for a chance to join, even as a janitor. Jack was personally invited by an Elder, and he still dared to put forth terms, as if he was the catch here.

Fortunately, Jack possessed the qualifications to be arrogant, and Elder Puerto knew it.

“They’re satisfactory,” he replied. “And my third term?”

“That’s no problem at all. I didn’t want to babysit you to begin with. If you say you’ll make your own way, feel free, just make sure to arrive within three years.”

“Why’s that?”

“The Canal Delve is at four, and we can’t have a stranger join us.”

“Okay, yeah, I’ll be there in time.”

She nodded. “You don’t strike me as naive, Jack Monstrous. Could you be unaware of Elder Crownbeast aiming for you? He can wait here for at least a year, and the moment you leave Empty Star City, he’ll come for you. It’s hard to avoid an A-Grade’s perception. That’s why I offered to escort you.”

Jack smiled enigmatically. “I know about Elder Crownbeast. I angered him, so he’ll do anything he can to get me… But I have my ways. I’m confident I can escape safely.”

“Mm. Good.” She sized him up once more. If he wasn’t mistaken, she was impressed. “Are you maybe looking for a sex partner?”

Jack was taken aback. “Uh. I, uh, I’m very flattered, Elder, and I would accept in a heartbeat, but I already have a dedicated partner.”

“That’s a shame. Very well then. I probably won’t catch you later, so I expect to welcome you in Great Silver faction within three years. Don’t die.”

“I’ll try my best. Thank you, Elder.”

“Good luck, Jack Monstrous.”

Elder Puerto opened the door and walked out. Jack imagined she did it for the show, because there’s no way she didn’t just teleport away the moment she was out of vision. Regardless, he couldn’t sense her. His perception was foiled. Both coming and going, Elder Puerto was like a ghost—like she was never there.

Wait. Did she have any aura at all?

Maybe it was a projection.

He shook his head and sat back down. Elder Puerto would leave today, but he didn’t have to. Three years was a long time.

First I’ll get a basic grip on this black hole thing, and then I’ll go.

***

Six months later,

Jack, Brock, and Starhair walked towards the city gates, always riding their hellhorses.

Stolen novel; please report.

“GET OUT OF THE WAY BEFORE I DEVOUR YOUR LOVED ONES!” Dolly shouted, snapping her teeth at the passers-by.

“Hey, bro, chill,” one space monster said.

“Yeah bro. Take it easy. I don’t have any loved ones.”

“Me neither!” a third replied.

“I DO NOT POSSESS LOVED ONES EITHER, BESIDES MY MASTER. I’M SORRY IF I BROUGHT UP BAD MEMORIES. AND I’M SORRY FOR CHEWING ON YOUR TAIL THAT ONE TIME.”

“No worries, it grew right back!”

“See you around, bro!”

Jack was silent on Dolly’s back. “You know, Brock,” he said, “I know I didn’t leave my room for six months, but I’d swear this city has changed a little.”

“You think?” Brock asked back. He walked next to the hellhorses, constantly clasping hands, fist-bumping, and hugging random monsters. Some of them were crying.

“We’ll miss you, big bro!” they shouted, falling into Brock’s arms like flies.

“It’s okay, bros,” Brock replied sagely. “We may be apart, but we’ll always be connected by our brohood.”

“Yes, big bro!”

“Hey.” Jack leaned towards Starhair. “How long do you think he’d need to convert this entire world?”

“Who cares? Seeing all these monsters obsessed with stupid bro love twists my guts.”

“Don’t be grumpy, Starhair. It’s fun. You like fun.”

“I don’t like fun. I prefer cultivation.”

“Then you’re doing pretty terrible I guess.”

Starhair threw Jack an astonished look, but he only laughed and shook it off. This was his first time out of meditation in six months, so Brock’s antics were refreshing. Even Starhair was. They remained in their double devil disguise, but the other cultivator had raised his bandana a little bit. His hair, half of which he’d sacrificed to let them escape Archon Summer Noon, was slowly growing back.

A contingent of bros was waiting for them by the gates. Jack didn’t know how many monsters Brock had converted, but it had to be a lot. They’d brought fireworks and gongs. It was a sad occasion they were determined to make the best out of.

“Little bros,” Brock said, hijacking the guard’s raised stage. “Separations always come, but saying goodbye is part of the art of life. I hope you keep brohood in your hearts. Farewell!”

“Farewell, big bro!” the crowd of monsters shouted, some shedding tears. The three cultivators flew away, riding their hellhorses into the sunset, while gongs and fireworks waved their goodbyes. It was the end of an era for these city bros, but also the start of a new one. And that was worthy of celebration.

“Seriously, how do you do that?” Jack asked.

Brock gave him a earnest look. “Everybody needs brohood. Even Starhair. They just don’t know it until I show them.”

“I only need one thing, and that’s my hair back,” Starhair replied. Brock smiled at him.

“We’ll see.”

A few minutes passed. The three of them dismounted the hellhorses, placed them in their inner worlds—“BYE MASTERS”—and accelerated into the distance. Sonic booms trailed their flight.

“I don’t think he’s following us,” Brock said, glancing behind his shoulder.

“I hope he isn’t,” Starhair added worriedly.

“He certainly is,” Jack replied. “He thinks he’s hiding, but I can sense him. He’s just biding his time.”

They were flying in the direction of Great Silver faction, which was very, very far away. The lush jungles below them changed into an arid desert. However, even an hour into flying, their pursuer still hadn’t shown himself.

“You know,” Jack said, “this is getting a bit nerve-wracking.”

“You think!?” Starhair replied.

Jack stopped in mid-air. He turned around, eyeing the cloudy sky above. This curtain of clouds covered the entire Space Monster World, hiding the real sky. Even now, Jack had no idea what it looked like.

“You’ve followed us long enough,” he said, enhancing his voice so it boomed over the land. “Show yourself!”

A moment of silence followed. Then another. As Jack was about to shout again, loud laughter filled the air.

“Hahahahaha!”

The clouds broke apart as if ripped by a giant hand. A second layer was revealed far above them—in between stood a giant, godzilla-like form, a massive monster with vertical irises and spikes running down its spine. Its eyes were warped with malice and triumph.

“What a fool you are, Jack Monstrous!” Elder Crownbeast shouted. “If you had left with Puerto, I wouldn’t be able to touch you. If you waited a couple years, I’d be forced to leave. But you just couldn’t hold it, could you? You threw yourself right in the monster’s mouth!”

“You are the fool,” Jack replied with a smile. “You know we’re prepared for you, and you still came.”

“I’m also prepared.”

The Elder’s massive form descended slowly. As it did, Jack noticed he’d grown even larger. He’d only been three hundred feet in the city, but now he’d risen to three thousand. Maybe this was his real size, and he’d just shrunk himself to avoid accidentally breaking things.

In fact, he looked exactly like the giant monster that one-punch man had fought in Jack’s first vision, except much stronger.

“What’s your trump card, brat?” the Elder said, narrowing his eyes. His aura roiled. “Bring it out, and let me crush it!”

“There is no trump card,” Jack replied. “Only my fist.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I am.”

Elder Crownbeast hesitated for a moment. His aura spread far but found nobody.

“You didn’t call your master?” Crownbeast asked. “Not Puerto? Not anybody?”

“Nobody,” Jack replied. “I don’t need help.”

“Could you really be an idiot?”

“You know…” Jack grinned, clenching his fist. “I’ve never killed an Autarch before.”

Elder Crownbeast started laughing, both in disbelief and ridicule, but he was cut short. Jack’s aura erupted. A potent combination of life, death, space, and time washed over the world, destroying the empty land beneath. The quantity of his energy wasn’t too great, but the Daos it carried were vast. Miniature fists floated through the air, while a larger fist phantom spontaneously formed around Jack, each finger a different color—green, black, blue, white, and purple, the color of the Fist.

Elder Crownbeast was shut up. “What’s that aura?” he asked, looking around. His eyes grew wider. “You’re so strong… How is this possible? How can you possess such power at the middle Baron level!?”

“You’ll never find out,” Jack replied calmly. He clenched his fists, and all the phantoms disappeared. The world held its breath. Brock and Starhair had already retreated.

“Do you really intend to fight me?” the Elder asked. “This is ridiculous. I’m almost a large realm above you!”

“I told you,” Jack said. “I’ve never killed an Autarch before. I want to find out how it feels—I want to step on that stage.”

Elder Crownbeast finally took Jack seriously. He considered his immense talent. Slowly, his wildly rolling aura condensed around his body, cladding him in wild red light.

“Even the brightest disciple I ever mentored cannot match up to your little toe,” Crownbeast admitted in a low growl. “I was planning on dragging you back to the faction, but I changed my mind. You cannot be allowed to grow. You must die now.”

“Bring it on, lizard,” Jack said, and he did not wait. He charged.