Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

The seventh floor of the Hall of Trials was silent, as if paying homage to the victory just struck.

Jack and Brock were panting, yet smiling. They’d just worked together to beat an Overlord. A suppressed Overlord, sure, but an Overlord regardless. They had, for a moment, stepped into the highest stage of the universe.

Jack’s grin touched his ears. “Can you believe how far we’ve come, Brock?” he asked.

“There is still a lot to go, bro. But… We did good. Congratulations.”

“Right back at you.” Jack raised his gaze, taking in the main features of the room. The desk of the Stone Scholar had been blown away from the battle, the parchments on it disintegrating the moment they left the desk’s area. The three doors at the back, however, remained pristine. Each had a sign over it: Dao, Will, Cultivation.

“One more thing before that,” Jack said, reaching into his inner world. “Hey, Stone… Can you explain what’s going on here?”

“Of course I can!” the Stone replied. Its mental voice was angry, like it was fuming, and Jack quickly connected Brock to their telepathy so he could participate as well. He would have taken the Stone out, but he suspected the pressure would crush it instantly.

Seeing it had everyone’s attention, the Stone continued. “That was my daddy! They attacked my daddy!”

“Jack pinched his nose. “Can you not call him that? How does father sound?”

“Okay. Tell us about your…daddy.”

“He made me!” the Stone exclaimed. “I’d forgotten all about it—it’s been a while—but he made me a long time ago. It was right there, on that desk. I was lying down while daddy inserted all sorts of magical devices into me, and—”

“Stone. Please. Don’t phrase it like that.”

“Well anyway, he created me! I remember everything now. He wanted to see the outside world but couldn’t leave, so he made me instead. After I grew up, the idea was for me to go down there, check out the world, then fly back up to tell him.”

“That didn’t work out as planned.”

“Not really, no. I, uh, I got lost a bit, and then I couldn’t go back up. My meteor shuttle broke by the pressure, no longer able to receive my mental commands, so then I just sort of…drifted.”

“All the way to the Milky Way galaxy?”

“It was a good drift.”

Jack sighed. “How did you not remember this until now, Stone?”

“Memory is a delicate thing. Do you remember being a baby?”

“I would if nothing else happened for literally hundreds of millions of years.”

“Hey, that’s mean!”

Again, Jack sighed. “Sorry. So, uh… Is that how you knew chess? The Stone Scholar taught you?”

“Oh yes, that and all the other arts. We spent a few thousand years together.”

“You mentioned he couldn’t leave,” Brock intervened, glancing at the hole in the ground where the golden light still tried to suck them in. “He’s gone now. What does that mean?”

“Oh, it wasn’t that he couldn’t leave. He just didn’t want to. His job was to guard this place, so abandoning his post would be kind of sad. Now that he’s down there, I don’t even know if he can get back up. He’s probably super pissed.”

Jack and Brock exchanged a glance. “So, an apocalyptic force has just been unleashed on the Space Monster World,” Jack said.

Brock shrugged. “It’s not that bad. Great Silver can probably take him down there. I just hope the Stone daddy doesn’t die.”

“You too, Brock? You’re one of them?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Jack rolled his eyes, then switched to telepathy. “Do you think the Stone Scholar can return if he beats Great Silver?”

“No. Daddy once said that he could stay here, but even he couldn’t battle the ascension cascade.”

“Ascension cascade?”

“The magic stopping other people from coming up here. Without the assistance of the golden light, I suspect no one will return for a long time.”

“Hmm. I see.”

Jack looked around again. He paced to Fiend King’s corpse and took his space ring, then tossed it up and down in his hand. “Our spoils,” he told Brock. “Wanna have a look?”

“Sure.”

Jack threw it over, and Brock caught it easily. He focused for a moment as his perception looked inside. “This bro was a hoarder,” he finally said. “There’s useful stuff in there, but also tons of valuable trash.”

“Valuable trash?”

“See for yourself.”

Jack took back the ring and checked it out. To his surprise, Brock hadn’t been exaggerating. This was the spaciest space ring he’d ever seen, and it was filled with piles of what seemed like garbage but was actually treasures. It wasn’t just the decorations of the previous room. There were low-level monster cores, precious ores, trinkets, weapons, armor, cultivation manuals… All rising in messy, hundred-foot-tall piles.

They say that one person’s trash is the other’s treasure, but this guy went too far! He’s a true hoarder! Jack thought. He took the time to look at these things carefully. All of them were precious, but most were useless to the current him. All the wealth of the Space Monster World mattered little right now. Even the core cultivation manuals of the Fiend King were kind of low-level. He guessed all of these could be treasures valuable to a faction, so he quickly drew them into his own space ring, filling it to the brim.

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All that remained were a few A-Grade monster cores and the decorations of the previous rooms. Statuettes, flaked paint, golden goblets, paintings, torn velvet, even a few statues of monsters killing Ancients. Not all of these could be easily restored.

Jack took out the decorations and placed them in a neat pile at a side of the room. He then bowed at them. No matter what, the creators of this place had helped him and Brock, and they would soon do it again. Respect was due.

“When we return to the Canal, let’s help Stone Daddy Bro come up here,” Brock said. “He’ll want to redecorate.”

“Right,” Jack replied. He then looked at the remainder of Fiend King’s treasure: a small pile of A-Grade cores, including two at the peak A-Grade and five at the late A-Grade. Great cultivation resources. Jack left them in the space ring and tossed it at Brock.

“What?” asked the brorilla.

“I know you took the lotus, but I’ve reaped way more harvests than you across our adventures,” Jack replied. “Take this. You deserve it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Besides…” Jack turned to the three rooms. “I suspect that the Fiend King’s wealth will pale compared to what the Old Gods have left us. That’s the real prize.”

Brock also turned to look at the doors, eagerness clear in his gaze. Jack spoke to the Stone again.

“You mentioned the Stone Scholar was both the guard and caretaker of this place,” he said. “He’s obviously not here to direct us, but since he raised you, do you happen to know how we’re supposed to accept this reward?”

“Most certainly!” the Stone replied. “It’s all coming back now. Oh my gods, I’d forgotten about Franky!”

“Who’s Franky?”

“My favorite stone buddy! He used to laugh at all my jokes. Oh, the times we had together, lying down on that stone desk while daddy trained us.”

Jack and Brock exchanged another glance. “Did Franky seem like a ticklish pebble?” Jack asked. He’d seen such a thing long ago, at Trial Planet. It was a silly pebble which ended up saving his life when he swapped it for the greatest treasure there. Presumably, Lord Longsword still had it.

“He was very ticklish, yes, but that’s not all he did. He spoke, too!”

“Okay, not the same guy then. We’ve run into a pebble which could do nothing but giggle. After the Crusade is over, we should go fetch it.”

“That would be nice. For now though, we should find Franky! Maybe he’s just behind those doors!”

Jack gave a sad smile. “Sure, buddy.” It went without saying that, if Franky was still in this place, he’d have been on the stone desk. Perhaps one of the items which disintegrated during the battle. Jack didn’t have the heart to break the news.

“So?” Brock asked, motioning at the doors.

“Right,” the Stone replied. “Ahem.” Its voice turned deeper. “Oh, brave young monsters, you finally arrived at my abode! Accept my congratulations. It has been over a hundred million—”

“Can we cut to the chase?” Jack asked.

“Ah, yes, sure. The point is, you may choose one of those doors each. Only one.”

“Right. And I guess the rest will become magically locked once we choose one?”

“I don’t know. It’s just the rule. I always thought Daddy was enough to enforce them.”

“But he isn’t here now.”

“I guess.”

Jack turned at Brock and winked. Rules were important, but with the Second Crusade raging and this place already ransacked, Jack wasn’t going to follow them. “Which door are you interested in, Brock?” he asked.

“Dao and Cultivation. They’re what we need right now.”

“I agree. Cultivation is my first priority, with the duel and the Crusade and all, but the Dao is also important. Hmm. Do you want to choose a door each first, just in case the rules are magically enforced?”

“We survive here thanks to the assistance of this place’s Dao,” Brock said. “Let’s not die stupidly.”

“Very correct, brother.”

The two walked forward, standing before the two doors. “I take Cultivation, you take Dao?” Jack asked.

“Right.”

“You first.”

Brock walked to the first door—the Dao one. It had no handle. Placing his hand onto it, he pushed, and the door creaked open as if for the first time in a billion years—which wasn’t far from the truth. A rectangular room was revealed beyond. The pyramid didn’t use space magic here—from the way this room stretched to the left, it was apparent the three of them shared the remaining surface of the seventh floor.

No space magic meant the rooms would be possible to break into, if risky. As Brock had said, it wasn’t a good idea to infuriate the place keeping you alive. But it was an option.

Brock didn’t enter the Dao room immediately. He peeked in—the inside was empty, save for a meditation mat in the center and shelves covering the walls, hosting no less than a hundred crystal spheres. Some danced with colors inside—others were dark, while yet more exuded a feeling which reached the soul.

Jack, who was also peeking in, gasped. He could sense that each of these spheres contained a Dao Vision, as well as precise instructions on how to comprehend them—similar to the incomplete black hole manual, but undamaged. They represented an incredible wealth of knowledge and power.

“Try opening another door,” he said, containing his excitement. Brock walked to the third door, the Cultivation one, and pushed. Nothing happened.

“Locked,” he said.

“Let me try.”

Jack placed his hand against the third door, pushing it open effortlessly. The two bros glanced at each other and grinned. “Bingo,” Jack said. “Let me try something.” He stepped into the room, then exited, then walked to the Dao room. He entered it easily. His grin couldn’t have been wider.

“Let’s go together,” Brock said. He tried to enter the same room as Jack but failed, his entry stopped by an invisible wall. Jack exited, and then Brock could enter without a problem.

“We can’t open more than one door each, and there cannot be two people in the same room, but we can open both doors and take turns,” Jack deduced. “The Gods didn’t expect two challengers to arrive here at once. We hit the jackpot.”

Brock laughed. “Fine by me. Where do you want to start, bro?”

“I’ll take the Dao room first. I feel I’m on the cusp of discovering something great. Do you mind?”

“Not at all. I’m peak B-Grade. With the resources of this room, I can break through.”

“To the A-Grade?!”

“To the A-Grade.”

The cultivation room also had walls covered in shelves, except, instead of crystal spheres, it contained all sorts of cultivation resources. There were several overlord cores, their vast auras only blocked by the glass cases surrounding them. Even different kinds of treasures, like body tempering ones, weren’t lacking in that room. It was, without any exaggeration, a treasure trove. Jack suspected both he and Brock could break into the A-Grade here, given enough time.

“What about the Dark Canal?” Brock asked.

“We can’t do anything about that,” Jack replied. “Whether Great Silver can beat the Stone Scholar, whether he’ll pursue Starhair next… If we go down there now, we’ll achieve nothing. We don’t have the power. Axelor can probably keep Starhair and the rest of the disciples safe, so we should focus on earning as much power as possible before we return. I’m thinking to stay here for a long time. Maybe until right before my duel with Elder Hero. There’s around twenty-five years remaining.”

“Twenty-five years is a long time.”

“or us, yes. For every other cultivator? It’s nothing. Just the blink of an eye.”

“What about the war?”F

“We can’t impact the war as B-Grades. If we want to help the Church, we should stay here until we’re strong enough, then go out there and beat Elder Hero to a pulp. If things go downhill before then… It is unfortunate, but there’s nothing we could have done anyway. In the grand scheme of things, our current power is a drop in the ocean.”

Brock considered it for a long moment, then nodded deeply. “You’re right,” he said. “This is the quickest path to power. It is the best we can do to help. To return now because we can’t handle some risk would be un-bro-like.”

Jack turned towards the three doors—two open, one closed—and took a deep breath. He missed his family. Ever since entering the Space Monster World four years ago, he’d lost contact with his clone on Earth, so he had no idea how they were doing. He imagined Ebele was steadily growing. By the time he returned, she’d be a true woman. Losing that time pained him.

However, he had left a clone behind. He missed them, yet they had him, and they could be happy. He’d enjoy the memories too, after he returned, and then hopefully he’d be able to spend endless years with his family without a looming crisis in the horizon.

He stepped into the Dao room, while Brock entered the Cultivation one. Their greatest cultivation session began.

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