Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Chapter 442: Counting One’s Blessings

“What do you mean it’s gone?”

“That it’s gone! The Animal Abyss is gone!”

“It’s a black hole, you idiot. It cannot just disappear.”

“Well, it did!”

The Animal Kingdom was shocked. When they sent one of the Ancestors to guard the Abyss, it was so he could keep intruders away, prevent them from stealing an artifact or two. The Abyss itself was a black hole—how could anyone possibly affect it?

Yet, it had happened. Not only did they lose the Abyss, one of the cornerstones of their Kingdom, but they also lost their strongest Ancestor. Adding all the other catastrophes that the Kingdom had experienced recently, their current status amongst the B-Grade factions was shaky.

However, the mysterious disappearance of the Animal Abyss rippled out further. All across the galaxy, the major factions were well aware of what such a thing signified. Everyone knew that the Abyss was a special black hole. That left three possibilities.

One, Mure Emberheart had accidentally discovered a way to destroy the Abyss, possibly reaping some great treasure from doing so. Two, an unknown cultivator possessing strength at least at the late B-Grade was the one to discover the Abyss’s secrets, somehow destroying it and also killing Mure Emberheart. Three, the Abyss for some reason imploded and the explosion disintegrated Mure.

These were all the possibilities they could come up with. Nobody in their right mind would suspect that someone had physically carried away the Animal Abyss.

As for Jack’s connection to the Abyss, not many people knew. Eva had spread the news that they’d killed Jack, not that he’d ran into the Abyss, to avoid misunderstandings.

As soon as she heard the news, a persistent worry surfaced inside her.

“Don’t worry, Commander,” Artus Emberheart said. His mood had been excellent for the past year—he was even close to repairing his Dao. “I don’t know what happened, but Jack Rust is deader than dead. Even he couldn’t survive a black hole.”

“A black hole which just up and disappeared one day. That isn’t supposed to happen.”

“The universe is full of mysteries. If escaping a black hole was so easy, Enas wouldn’t have stayed in there for a billion years. This is just an accident.”

“An accident?” Eva’s eyes flashed. “How can you say that, Artus? This is a time of war and upheaval. A time of change. How could there be such a coincidence that the Animal Abyss, which has remained unchanged for a million years, suddenly disappears one year after Jack Rust goes inside?”

Artus took a respectful step back. “I didn’t mean to sound naive, Commander. I understand this is probably not a coincidence. All I’m saying is, the chances of Jack Rust having anything to do with this are miniscule. He died a year ago—even if he hadn’t, he would not possess the power to affect the Animal Abyss in any way. Maybe this is the result of a powerful A-Grade becoming curious about the Abyss, or a last terrorist act of the Church before they abandon this galaxy. In any case, it is not something which should concern us. It does not change the war situation.”

Eva mulled over these words. She knew Artus was right. Yet, she couldn’t stop worrying. The image of Jack Rust kept gnawing at the back of her mind—defiant to the end, always overcoming impossible odds to survive and grow stronger, turning danger into opportunity.

Maybe I really am affected, she thought.

“I will go into meditation for a few days,” Eva said, tacitly agreeing with Artus. “You will be in command of our forces until then. Do not disturb me without reason.”

“Yes, Commander,” Artus said with the widest smile.

***

From the moment Jack had stepped out of the Black Hole World, he’d sensed something reappear in his soul. A connection which had been severed but never faded. A missing piece.

Brock…

Jack’s heart was filled with warmth. Of course, he’d had to put that on hold to fight Mure Emberheart, but after finishing up and flying away on his starship, he had time to consider things again.

How are you doing, Brock? Are you okay? Did you ever believe I was dead?

There was no answer, but Jack would know soon. Brock was not like Shol. He didn’t need to gather clues and search for him. Their souls were connected; as long as Jack wanted to, he could just travel in Brock’s general direction and they would eventually meet up.

At present, this would happen even quicker. The moment Jack felt the connection reappear, so did Brock. His relief and surprise were keenly sensed by Jack through their soul bond. Doubtlessly, Brock was also hurrying over.

They were two arrows shooting towards each other. Their reunion would come sooner rather than later.

Jack was nervous. It had been a year—this was his longest separation from Brock yet. In fact, the brorilla was someone he greatly worried over while in the Black Hole World—what if Brock, thinking that Jack was dead, did something crazy?

At least he was alive. As to his current condition…that was something Jack could only wait to find out.

The galaxy was a large place. Meeting up was not something which would take a day or two, so Jack had time to relax. He spent that time inspecting his benefits from the previous battle.

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He’d possessed the power to fight B-Grades for a while now, but this was his first time killing one. He’d jumped directly to the middle B-Grade, too. Of course, Mure Emberheart was someone who’d reached the end of his potential, far from the talented Envoys of the Hand of God, but he remained a middle B-Grade.

How far I’ve come… Jack reminisced. I am one of the strongest cultivators in the Milky Way.

Mure Emberheart had not possessed a space ring—those things were expensive and all but unknown in this galaxy. That wasn’t a huge loss. He was someone so weak the Hand of God hadn’t even bothered recruiting him for the war—his “incalculable” wealth would have been nothing but painted stones in Jack’s eyes.

No, wealth was not the point.

Killing someone that strong in System space came with all sorts of benefits. The first, and most obvious one, was Levels. A large influx of energy had surged into Jack’s body the moment he killed Mure—his Dao Tree had groaned by the sheer volume of it, then his fifth Dao Fruit had begun to grow. From its early stages of development, it had rapidly approached maturity.

Jack had earned fifteen Levels in the blink of an eye.

Since every level in the C-Grade gave twenty stat points, that left him with three hundred free points which he invested evenly into Physical. The round thousands he had in Mental and Will were too nice to break.

Level: 318

Strength: 6340 (+)

Dexterity: 6340 (+)

Constitution: 6340 (+)

Mental: 1000

Will: 1000

Free sub-points: 1

Even after all this time, three hundred points were a five percent overall increase. Jack felt his body grow more compact, his muscles tighten, his bones harden. His already titanic physicality had taken another step forward.

Unlike other times, however, the change took longer. Even an hour after Jack invested the stat points, the transformation was not done. It was clear that, after some point, even the System struggled to fit more energy into him. It was the same barrier he’d run into when body-tempering. This forced density increase was painful, too, but that was something Jack had long grown accustomed to. If anything, he’d learned to enjoy the pain because he knew it brought good things.

When he was finally done, he groaned, stretching his body as his bones made popping noises. He clenched his fist, feeling the strength contained inside. He smiled.

“Nice.”

Next came another interesting notification.

Congratulations! Titan Taunt I → Titan Taunt II

Titan Taunt II: A titan’s existence is so dominant it constitutes a challenge. Your extreme physicality and domineering stance not only intimidate enemies, but also provoke them. They will either fight you or cower away, losing in both cases.

This was a complete change in the skill. Jack remembered that the previous description was something silly about “channeling his inner punchability” and jokes about his opponent’s mother. Now, it had suddenly swapped to something serious and, if Jack was being honest, kinda cool.

Such a change feels unnatural, he couldn’t help thinking. I’m not opposed, but why? Could it be that the skill adjusts to its user? When I was sparring others on the Cathedral, that silly, crowd-riling version was exactly what I needed. Now that I’m out for blood, this one suits me better.

Well, it doesn’t matter. Thanks.

With all his skills having risen lately, Jack no longer had any skill at the first tier. Even in the second tier, he only had Titan Taunt. Almost everything else was at the third tier.

Dao Skills: Meteor Punch IV, Iron Fist Style III, Brutalizing Aura III, Neutron Star Body III, Supernova III, Space Mastery III, Death Mastery III, Fist of Mortality III, Titan Taunt II

That third tier, however, seemed like a massive moat. Reaching it wasn’t too difficult, but almost all of his skills had been stranded there afterward. The only exception was Meteor Punch, which he’d used since the Forest of the Strong. It was by far his most intimate skill.

Even Space and Death Mastery, where he was confident he easily outclassed almost everyone at his Grade, remained at the third tier.

Why?

Is something missing? Or does the fourth tier require some sort of transformation?

Meteor Punch had reached the fourth tier during his battle with the planetary overseer, when he’d achieved a preliminary fusion between this skill and the power of a supernova, essentially taking it to the next level. Maybe this was the key—reaching the next level.

It made sense, too. Since there were only five tiers, the higher ones had to represent understanding at the A-Grade level. It wasn’t weird for him to be unable to advance.

But how? he wondered, coming short of a solution. He eventually put the issue to rest. The System’s classifications were nothing but a guideline—as long as he put in the effort and consistently bettered himself, he would achieve greater strength, and the skill tiers would come by themselves.

Which left one thing.

Jack reached into his space ring, fishing out the Animal Abyss—a smooth, fist-sized, dark orb.

In truth, this wasn’t the Black Hole World. Shrinking an entire world and carrying it around was impossible even for Archons—even it if it wasn’t, there was no way the Black Hole People would be able to survive that.

The Black Hole World was a stable island in the interdimensional sea. As for the black orb Jack was holding, it was nothing but an inactive portal. Similar to how every teleporter had its own frequency and could use it to connect with others, this black orb had internalized the exact coordinates of the Black Hole World and could connect to it. The Vortex in the Black Hole World could also open a wormhole to this orb.

In essence, this was nothing but the connecting point between the universe and the Black Hole World.

It remained an extraordinary device. This little orb, by itself, had acted as the center of a black hole-like field dubbed the Animal Abyss. Given enough energy, it could reach through the folds of space and form a stable connection to a different place in the interdimensional sea. The Dao patterns contained inside it were nothing short of profound.

Unfortunately, it was difficult for Jack to study them. This orb was not meant to serve as a cultivation tool. Its patterns were convoluted, unclear, and all over the place—the kind that seemed clear if you already understood its principles but wouldn’t help if you didn’t.

In that sense, the Vortex was a much more suitable cultivation area, but Jack wouldn’t just open a portal to another dimension so he could go study. Not to mention that he already possessed the realm heart of Archon Green Dragon—if he wanted to sharpen his understandings of spacetime, he could focus on that.

However, spacetime had always been his secondary Dao. His main focus was the Fist, and by extension, the duality of Life and Death. This was exactly what Jack would practice now. His revenge would be the perfect learning ground.

Jack had only been traveling for a few hours, lost in his thoughts, when he felt his connection to Brock grow abruptly stronger. He looked up. Space was torn ahead of him like paper, and a black starship covered in glass walls flew out. Several figures gazed at him from the windows. Jack’s breath caught to his throat. He recognized them all.

And at the very front stood a brorilla shaking with excitement.

“BIG BRO!”

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