Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Chapter 446: Sixth Fruit

Eva Solvig was silent. A projection played in front of her—a massive purple fist descending from the sky. Then came screaming and an impact. That was all.

She played it over and over. All the while, she remained silent, her brows creased. No one could tell what she was thinking.

The door to her chambers burst open. “Is it true!?” Artus Emberheart exclaimed, barging in.

She turned to him, and her frown deepened. “You will show respect.”

“I’m sorry,” he quickly corrected himself, but his agitation was evident. “Is it true? I have to know.”

Eva wordlessly played the projection one more time. She watched Artus’s face change from doubt, to disbelief, to horror. “No!” he shouted. “No! It can’t be! He— He’s dead! He died a year ago!”

“Looks like he didn’t…” Eva’s voice was tired. This issue, this man, had turned from a minor annoyance to a grave worry. Too many times he’d survived the impossible—too many times she thought she had him, only for him to slip out from between her fingers.

For the past year, she’d constantly had a feeling he would one day emerge alive from the Animal Abyss. Everyone told her it was unreasonable, just a manifestation of her heart demon. Yet, it had somehow turned true. She didn’t even have the energy to rejoice at being right—grim terror filled her entire being, a premonition of coming death.

Jack Rust was a force of nature. His talent and potential were unprecedented. Soon, he would surpass her in strength, and then he would come to kill her. She had participated in murdering his son—the hatred between them was completely unbridgeable. He wouldn’t stop until she died.

“How is this possible?” Artus raved from beside her.

“I don’t know,” she replied tiredly. “It should be impossible, but the truth is before our eyes. When the Animal Abyss disappeared two weeks ago, it was his doing. Not only did he escape, but he even earned some benefits.”

“He’s a cockroach!” Artus shouted. “He just refuses to die! We must do something, Commander, or he’ll come right here and kill us!”

“Do you think I don’t know that? Calm yourself, Artus. You may have rendered great services to the Hand, but I will still remove you from your post if you revert to the thoughtless lunatic you used to be.”

“Remove me?” Artus laughed. “We’re in the same boat now, Commander. We live or die together.”

“Perhaps, but I don’t need your pestering while I try to solve this problem.” She leaned onto the table, deep in thought. “Earthen Gemini was completely destroyed,” she said. “We can safely deduce that Jack Rust’s hatred has reached a genocidal level. The only reason he’s aiming it at the Animal Kingdom is because he doesn’t have the power to face me yet—but, if he keeps earning levels so quickly, it won’t be long before he does.”

“How do we even have this recording?” Artus asked.

“The Kingdom’s Grand Elder has commanded all Enforcers to carry projection stones transmitting their recordings to an off-world outpost. That’s the only reason we even know of that man’s return—we must capitalize on this and catch him before he grows even stronger.”

“Even stronger?” Artus said, grasping at straws. “He can’t! I killed his son, I broke his Dao. There is no way he can recover!”

“Just because you can’t, it doesn’t mean he can’t either,” Eva shot back. Artus grimaced. “We must act on the assumption that he’s not only recovered, but also come back stronger. There can be no room for error. We cannot afford to underestimate him. I’m taking over.”

Artus seemed like he wanted to say something but finally held his tongue. “Yes, Commander.”

She nodded. “I will exaggerate the situation to headquarters and request back-up. We need high-level Envoys here—we will never succeed if I’m the only person in the galaxy who can catch him. Meanwhile, we need to constrain his growth. Pass down my orders to the Animal Kingdom—every Enforcer, Elder, and Ancestor must immediately return to Animal Planet, where I will personally move to stand guard. They are forbidden from taking a single step outside—otherwise, I fear they will just become fertilizer for Jack Rust’s advancement.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Eva leaned back, her tired eyes filled with resolve. She had not reached this level by being weak of mind. “I will prioritize this issue over the purging of the Church. Jack is worth ten Church Envoys, anyway—there is no point in chasing anyone else. From now on, every resource of the Hand of God will be devoted to forming a net to catch that man. Remember, Artus. No matter what happens, we must kill him before he grows! That is the only way we can survive!”

***

Meanwhile, Jack and the Trampling Ram were hovering in space, far away from all inhabited zones. He was sitting cross-legged in his cabin. Powerful undulations were emitted from his body, not harming the starship but filling it with echoes of power.

My sixth fruit… he muttered. What will it be?

A few ideas ran through his mind. He pictured them against his current five fruits to find the one which fit best.

Fist, Space, Life, Death, Battle… And then what?

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

He took a deep breath, then another. He silenced his mind, letting his inner thoughts roam free. Concepts filled his mind—ideas, emotions, pathways to the future. Yet, one stood above the others.

Jack’s eyes slammed shut. He dove into his soul world, finding himself in front of a verdant tree. Dao was sucked in through its roots, then freely traversed the trunk to nourish five fruits and innumerable purple flowers. Unlike the time when Jack had been partially crippled, his tree was now filled with life, as well as power.

He gazed at the fruits. They were purple, blue, green, black, and red respectively. They did not form a complete whole yet, not even close, but they bore the early hints of his future completion.

The next fruit would not be based on furthering such a completion. Jack stared at his tree again, more carefully this time. Hints of darkness hid amidst the purple. They slithered around like tiny black snakes, intertwined into his Dao yet unable to enter his fruits. They could only wander around the trunk, aimlessly moving up and down, wasting their power.

These were the results of Jack’s present state of mind. Though he’d mostly recovered from his grief, the darkness remained in his heart. It would stay there until he completed his revenge or, maybe, forever. The transformation he’d experienced was so great it now constituted part of him—that was the only way darkness could seep into his soul.

Jack could choose to ignore this darkness or embrace it. However, in his years of cultivation, he had learned to be true to himself. This didn’t mean he would become an amoral vigilante or a man who lost his sense of right or wrong, but that he acknowledged the darker sides of life as well.

Yin and yang. Darkness in the light. Balance.

An eye for an eye. That was also part of the Fist.

Jack spoke resolute words. “My sixth Dao Fruit…will be Revenge!”

All those dark snakes gathered into one stream, recklessly climbing his Dao Tree. They reached the branches and chose one, diving into a single purple flower. The flower turned darker and larger—it transformed. A fruit began to form, black as the night, crimson like blood. The two colors intertwined, eventually forming a dark crimson fruit as if made of dry blood. It was shaped as a skull.

Jack let the transformation complete and die down, then released a long, long sigh. Power trickled into his limbs, yet his attention was focused on the newly created fruit.

This fruit felt similar to death, yet they were clearly different. Death was a concept—cold, distant, emotionless, just an understanding of reality. Revenge was hatred, bitterness, rage, a desire to inflict harm on others. One was reality, the other was emotion.

And, perhaps, this wasn’t something he wanted to internalize.

Jack shook his head again. He did not know what the future held, but he hoped that, after this was all over, he could return to the light, though the darkness inside him would never leave.

Then again, wasn’t that the point of being human? The only people without darkness were the ones who hadn’t lived enough.

“What do you think, Copy Jack?” he asked, looking to the side. “Enjoy the colors?”

Copy Jack shrugged. He then gave Jack a thumbs-up, an encouraging smile, and flew away to wander the empty soul world. Jack watched him go.

After he’d left the Black Hole World and returned to the universe, Copy Jack had just…awoken. There was no change in him, as far as Jack could see, and he didn’t communicate anything weird. It was just like he’d taken a long and very suspiciously coincidental nap.

Jack wasn’t naive. Something had made Copy Jack sleep for the duration of Jack’s stay in the Black Hole World. Was it related to that world itself, or was it caused by his absence from the universe?

His best explanation was that Copy Jack’s slumber was related to Jack’s cracked Dao. He was a Dao Soul, after all, and he had been formed around that Dao. Maybe he couldn’t exist while it was cracked. That would explain the timing of both his slumber and, roughly, his awakening, but it still wasn’t a connection Jack grasped fully. He did not enjoy enigmas inside his soul. He wanted to be in control there.

Maybe the turtle would know once it awakened as well. Jack gazed at the door on his Dao Tree. It had already been four years since the turtle—Venerable Saint Thousand Shell—saved him and went to sleep… To such an ancient being, that amount of time was nothing. Maybe it would sleep for a hundred or a thousand years. Jack had no way to know unless he awoke it himself.

“So many things to do,” he muttered, “and so little time… Let’s make the best of it.”

He spared another glance at his Dao Tree, whose Dao was now fully absorbed in all the fruits. The newly-created sixth fruit was already growing. Soon, it would reach maturity, and then Jack could work on the next one.

His eyes opened in the real world. Notifications welcomed him.

Level up! You have reached Level 321.

Level up! You have reached Level 322.

…

Level up! You have reached Level 328.

Those were the remaining levels from destroying Earthen Gemini. They were more than he anticipated. D and E-Grades shouldn’t give him any experience, so what had?

Could it be the planet itself? Or was it his feat of annihilating multiple C-Grades with a single strike?

In any case, Jack allocated his two hundred extra stat points in Physical, then marveled at his status screen—while ignoring the error message at the very start, which was starting to get repetitive by now.

ERROR: PLEASE REPORT TO THE NEAREST AUTHORITIES IMMEDIATELY OR FACE EXTERMINATION.

Name: Jack Rust

Species: Human, Earth-387

Faction: Bare Fist Brotherhood (C)

Grade: C

Class: Gladiator Titan (King)

Level: 328

Strength: 6540 (+)

Dexterity: 6540 (+)

Constitution: 6540 (+)

Mental: 1000

Will: 1000

Free sub-points: 1

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

Dao Roots: Indomitable Will, Life, Power, Weakness

Dao Fruits: Fist, Space, Life, Death, Battle, Revenge

Titles: Planetary Frontrunner (10), Planetary Torchbearer (1), Ninth Ring Conqueror, Planetary Leader (1), Grade Defier, Planet Destroyer

He was progressing nicely. After exiting the Black Hole World, his Dao understandings had shot through the roof, so he could blitz through the levels and reach the B-Grade as soon as possible. Before then, however, he would pay a visit to the Animal Kingdom and the Hand of God branch in this galaxy. Both should be destroyed with extreme prejudice.

He didn’t need to reach the B-Grade to do that. Nine fruits should be enough. Maybe eight.

Jack rose to his feet. “Let’s go,” he said to himself. “The levels are waiting.”

***

In another part of the same starship, a brorilla sat cross-legged. He was neither cultivating nor meditating. All he did was sit there, absorbing the ripples of power released by his big brother’s breakthrough, analyzing them.

There was darkness in there—Brock could feel it clearly. More darkness than warranted. Big Bro was beginning to wander in the wrong direction, but Brock was here to set him on the right path again.

That was the duty of a bro.

Wordlessly, Brock stood up and started walking.

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