Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Chapter 455: Attacking Animal Planet

Jack sat in meditation. His chest rose and fell, his face was relaxed. Deep inside his soul, he floated before a tall tree crowned with seven fruits. Now was time to develop the eighth.

Fist, Space, Life, Death, Battle, Revenge, Brotherhood… His seven fruits painted a picture of his journey through the C-Grade, the trials and lives he’d experienced. His Daos were there, as were his most signature feelings. It was like seeing his life on canvas.

Jack didn’t let himself get lost in sentimentalism. He had an eighth fruit to develop. What should it be?

Resolve? he thought, tasting the name and seeing how it resonated with him. Growth? Power?

All those were concepts he embraced, but none felt suitable. Most overlapped with other Dao Fruits, and the few that didn’t weren’t representative enough. He didn’t want to define his path through something that didn’t feel perfect.

Then, what? he wondered. I can’t afford to take it slow. There is no time.

Ah. Time. I can just go with that.

Jack cultivated space and time on the side. Of those, space was the concept he was most familiar with, while time was more of a convenient side Dao. However, he’d reached significant understanding of both by this point. Not having a Dao Fruit for time felt wrong, like something was missing, and it was exactly that feeling which Jack followed to determine his Dao Fruits.

Time it is.

The energy climbed up his Dao Tree. It was slow at times and fast at others, but it wasn’t the energy itself that was changing speed, it was the flow of time around it. Wherever it passed, flowers bloomed and wilted, the tree grew old then young again. All that energy focused on one branch, one flower, which blossomed into a splendid sphere.

Gradually, that sphere developed and changed shape. From round, it developed angles, growing into a shape which resembled a clock. From purple, which was the initial color of the flower, it turned into yellow—Jack didn’t know why yellow, but it felt suitable.

The miracle of creation was always impressive to watch. He remained there, holding his breath until the fruit was done developing, a splendid addition to his already great Dao Tree. Not just great—with all those colors on its branches, it could even be called fabulous.

“Right,” Jack said, observing his newest fruit. He had the feeling that time flowed oddly around it—and also that his connection with the Dao of Time had deepened. He’d gotten sidetracked by everything that happened, but developing this fruit was long overdue.

“Eight there, one to go…” he whispered. It felt like only recently that he’d broken into the C-Grade, a hopeful young cultivator. The B-Grade had felt impossibly distant back then—yet, suddenly, he was sitting right on its cusp.

How strong will I be then? he wondered. When I establish my inner world and reach the B-Grade, will I be able to fight A-Grades?

It didn’t seem possible. A-Grades were all astoundingly talented individuals—wanting to jump an entire Grade to fight them was a bit of a stretch. Still, Jack could dream.

The important thing wasn’t his strength in the future, but reaching that future. A huge tribulation still stood before him—the destruction of the Animal Kingdom, the fulfillment of his revenge, the reunion with his family, and the wrapping up of this part of his life. He needed to do that before heading over to the Second Crusade, and he needed to do it perfectly.

Eric… I swear I will avenge you.

Jack was done with his breakthrough. He opened his eyes in the real world, letting the System award him the remaining levels from his battle against the Supreme Ancestor. He invested all the points into Physical.

Level up! You have reached Level 361.

Level up! You have reached Level 362.

Level up! You have reached Level 363.

There were multiple paths he could choose to follow. Attacking the Kingdom now was risky—who knew how many late B-Grades they had and whether he’d be able to take them. If he wanted to, he could probably hide somewhere and wait for Sovereign Heavenly Spoon to arrive in a week, then ask him to help. To the Head Envoy, solving all of Jack’s problems would be simple.

However, that didn’t feel right. Jack wouldn’t be satisfied. This was his battle, his trial, his stepping stone into the future. Unless he resolved this issue perfectly, he would always have a lingering doubt in his heart, a “what if,” a thought to keep him awake at night and limit his potential.

He had picked this fight. He wanted to end it with his own power, not by pulling the Church into it. It was a matter of pride—even if others might call it stubbornness. His Fist had to remain hard.

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Most importantly, if he did wait for the sovereign to arrive, he wouldn’t have any time to reunite with his family. He was clueless as to how to return to Earth. There had to be people looking for him with the teleporter frequency, maybe Shol or someone else, but they couldn’t find him if he just hid around in the darkness. The only way would be to destroy the Kingdom and make his location public.

He could also go somewhere and declare his location, drawing the Kingdom’s B-Grades away from their home ground, but that would give the rest of the Kingdom time to scatter if he won. He didn’t want that. He would destroy them all. He’d made an oath to eradicate the name Emberheart from the galaxy, and he intended to see it through.

It was time to fight. It wouldn’t be easy, but after his last fruit, he liked his chances.

Jack left his room, heading for the bridge. He ran into Brock on the way. “Hey bro,” he said. “All good?”

“Of course,” Brock replied with a barely contained smile. “Eight fruits. And you?”

“Just the same.”

“Good.”

Jack’s mood remained heavy. Brock followed suit. As they reached the bridge, their friends were relaxing, but they tensed up when they saw Jack’s face.

“What happened?” Salin asked. “Did you develop a Dao Fruit of Constipation?”

“Are you guys ready?” Jack asked back.

“Ready for what?”

“We’re going to war.”

“Ohh. Sounds kinky. Is it the kind where we die or the other one?”

Jack did his best to remain grim-faced. “Both.”

“Wait,” Nauja said, standing up. “You don’t mean we’re assaulting Animal Planet, right?”

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

“What? Why? Are you crazy!?”

Jack gave a hard smile. “Because we’re running out of time.” He then described what the sovereign had transmitted to him alongside his train of thought. The arrival of the sovereign was supposed to be a secret, but Jack trusted these people with his life. If they were going to risk themselves, they had to know what it was about.

“And that’s about it,” he concluded. “I cannot afford to wait. I have to attack the Kingdom now. Today. I won’t ask you all to join me, and frankly speaking, you probably shouldn’t. The only thing you would achieve in a battle of that level is to throw your lives away.”

Besides Brock, the rest exchanged glances—Gan Salin, Nauja, Bomn, Vashter. They’d been through a lot these past months. They’d traveled together and watched Jack tear apart the galaxy. However, the truth was they were just travel companions. They could not actually participate in a battle at Jack’s level.

The four of them came to a silent agreement. “We will escort you there and wait far away,” Bomn said. “If you win, we will be there to celebrate. If not, we will record the battle and show your family how bravely you fought.”

Jack nodded. “Thanks. That’s all I could ask for.”

Brock spoke up. “I will be with you, big bro. I can’t fight directly, but I have ways to support you.”

“Are you sure?” Jack asked worriedly. “You don’t need to throw your life away.”

“I won’t.”

Brock seemed convinced, so Jack did not insist. If Brock said something, he had the confidence to see it through.

“Thank you all,” he said. “If this doesn’t work out, I want you to know you are the greatest crew to ever grace this galaxy. I appreciate you sticking with me from the bottom of my heart. I wish you all great lives.”

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Salin said, jumping up and punching Jack’s shoulder—then cradling his hand. “Ow. Anyway, you got this. You’ve never lost before. Why now?”

“I have lost before,” Jack replied, “but not this time. Not again. I will stake everything I have. Either I win or I die and my Dao shatters. This is the end.”

“Always the optimist. That’s what I like about you.”

“It was an honor to travel by your side,” Vashter said, bringing a fist to his heart. “Whatever happens, I will never forget you.”

“Thank you, Vashter…and, sorry. For what happened in the past.”

“It’s okay. Water under the bridge—everyone deserves to make mistakes.”

That phrase brought a larger smile to Jack’s face than he expected. He turned his gaze towards space, piercing it to reach Animal Planet. Since they were still in the general area of Hell, it wasn’t too far away—they could reach it in an hour.

“Let’s go,” he said.

***

Animal Planet was the capital and core of the Animal Kingdom. It was a planet similar to Earth, except larger and with more land area. Two moons circled it—the estates of the Emberheart and Lonihor families respectively.

The emergency meeting on Animal Planet had just ended when every cultivator on the planet sensed a colossal aura falling from the sky. The weaker people were forced to their knees—only D-Grades and above could remain standing.

The Elders looked up with surprise. So did the Ancestors and other B-Grades. The one most surprised was Artus Emberheart. Fear and excitement merged inside his heart, flooding him.

“Animal Kingdom and Hand of God!” An imperious voice filled the sky. It reached every mountain and valley, every house and cave, every nook and cranny of the entire planet and its two moons. It carried such majesty that animals prostrated in worship.

The voice echoed still. “You have ruled as tyrants for too long. You have chased and tried to kill me, but you failed, and now you will reap what you sowed. Today is the day you die. Come out to face me.”

The mere arrogance in those words was breathtaking. Jack was speaking to a planet containing dozens of C-Grades and multiple Ancestor-level characters, including three people at the late B-Grade. And he was just one man.

The low-level cultivators were all filled with awe, but the high-level ones were not. Jack Rust had shown up at their doorstep—he was just asking to die.

A swarm of cultivators rose from all over the planet. The weakest among them were Elders at the middle to peak C-Grade, people who commanded universal respect no matter where they appeared in the galaxy. Each could destroy entire continents. A crowd of such figures was awe-inspiring to say the least, more so when they were led by five B-Grades—the apex of power in this galaxy.

All those people rose into space and formed a line. Their auras blasted against the opposing side, which was composed of a single person: a young man with fire in his eyes, wearing only brown shorts and a gray cloak which left his chest exposed. His mere presence suffocated the Elders—even the B-Grades frowned at him.

It sounded ridiculous, but this man himself possessed the capital to stand against all of them. Whether he could win, however… That was a different issue.

“Good. Everyone is here,” Jack said, cracking his knuckles. He was not intimidated—he smiled. “Prepare to die.”

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