Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Jack surveyed the crowd of disciples. All were sitting on their knees on the partially destroyed, centermost dirt island.

“So,” he said, tossing the middle A-Grade core in his hand up and down, “I guess we’re all that’s left.”

“You were amazing!” Fiend Prince exclaimed, his eyes filled with stars. “How can you be so strong?”

“Luck, skill, and hard work, I guess…” Jack replied, a faint smirk on his lips.

“You are the strongest Baron I have ever seen. Stronger than I ever thought possible. Will you teach me?”

Jack laughed. “I don’t take disciples, but thank you for the kind words.”

“I can pay.”

“It’s not an issue of cores. I want to avoid unnecessary connections.”

“Hmph.” Strawpin snorted. “Of course he wouldn’t teach you. You’re nothing to him.” Receiving Jack’s glare, however, she brightened up. “I want to apologize for insulting you before. I thought you were disrespecting my faction and wasting our resources, but you clearly knew what you were doing. It was I who was blind. Please don’t take offense.”

“What are we going to do now?” she asked. “The Elders are all dead, but we are still not at the Hall of Trials…”

She let her words hang, her intention clear. Jack swept his gaze over everyone. “I’ll escort you there,” he said. “With me, Brock, and Starhair, you have little to fear. Well, I guess you’ll all die if we’re unlucky and run into a late Autarch monster, but hopefully that won’t happen.”

Fiend Prince laughed. “That’s the monster life! Thank you, Jack Monstrous. And you too, Brock. Your power is astounding.”

“Thanks, bro.”

“No problem, bro,” Prince replied, quickly picking it up.

Jack grinned. “Before we leave, however, Brock and I must absorb some treasures and enhance our power. It could take a few weeks. You guys will need to either wait here or go off on your own, whatever you prefer. This area is safe though—the elemental’s aura is still rich, and it will keep other monsters at bay for years.”

“We’ll wait, of course!” Fiend Prince replied. “Going alone is suicide. Besides… You’re so cool! We’ll follow you anywhere!”

“We’ll wait as well,” Strawpin added, notably less excited than her counterpart.

“Alright. Then, you’re all free to meditate. I suggest remaining close so we can protect yourselves if more monsters arrive.”

“Yes, sir!”

Done speaking, Jack turned around with Brock. He couldn’t deny he enjoyed the starry eyes of those super talented monsters as they looked at him. At the same time, they made him uncomfortable.

“What do you think, big bro?” Brock asked with a monkey grin. “Enjoying it?”

“I don’t understand why me. You beat them all up at once. They should be admiring you.”

“You’re my big bro, and also very impressive. They admire both of us.”

“I guess that’s right.”

Having walked away from the other disciples, who’d all switched to meditating positions suitable for their monstrous bodies, Jack retrieved some items from his space ring.

“We have one late A-Grade core, three middle A-Grade cores, and several early A-Grade ones. There is also the golden earth lotus over there.”

The lotus still stood, though defenseless. It was the single greatest harvest—an Archon-level treasure. Jack turned to Brock.

“I think you’re the biggest winner here, Brock. The elemental’s late A-Grade core and the lotus are both suitable for you, and I have to say, you absolutely deserve them. Have fun.”

“Thanks, bro,” Brock said, receiving the late A-Grade core. Jack had picked it up after the battle, alongside the various Elders’ space rings, which had been disappointingly empty.

The brorilla didn’t wait to hear the distribution of the rest of the cores. He neither wanted anything else nor was interested in giving his opinion. Instead, he flew to the top of the lotus, whose hard stem created a seating position at the very top. As Brock sat down with the late A-Grade core in hand and began to meditate, the lotus’s energies rushed up towards him, while the core also melted slowly.

Absorbing them wouldn’t be a quick process, but it would be a lavish one.

“Let’s look at the rest,” Jack said, turning his proud gaze away from Brock. “Come here, Starhair. These cores are compatible with you, and these with me. The rest can be divided amongst the disciples.”

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Starhair accepted the cores he was offered, also raising a brow. “Are you taking them under your wing?”

“I promised Great Silver to take care of them. Since these cores are useless to us, giving them to the disciples makes sense—after all, it’s their world’s resources that we’re taking. Giving back a little is fair.”

“If you say so.”

“Let’s meditate and absorb these. I suspect Brock will take weeks or months to finish, so I’ll keep guard after I finish absorbing mine. What will you do?”

“Meditate,” Starhair replied with a shrug. “What else?”

They retreated to different positions on the broad dirt island. Jack, Starhair, and the various disciples all sank into silent meditation, while Brock oversaw them from the top of the golden earth lotus.

Time passed. Over the following days, everyone except Brock finished absorbing their cores. Most switched to meditating on the Dao—a cultivator’s pastime—while Jack split his attention between meditating and keeping watch. After all, a native monster jumping out of the water to eat a disciple wouldn’t be too out of place.

Thankfully, nothing happened. The elemental’s aura persisted, just as Jack had suspected—the other native monsters had probably sensed the battle, but they had no way of knowing the powerful elemental had perished. Even if they came to investigate, it wouldn’t be anytime soon.

In contrast to the elemental’s lingering aura, the lotus’s energies were quickly drying up. Its roots were withering, and the golden color of its leaves had lost its luster. Brock was growing stronger. His aura surged every day, approaching the peak B-Grade. His Daos were growing more refined as well.

Jack didn’t mind waiting. As much as he was on the clock, he would never burden his bro with that. A few weeks were nothing, anyway—he enjoyed watching Brock’s rise to power.

Two weeks later, someone approached him. “Hey,” Strawpin said.

“Hey,” Jack replied. He noticed that her hair were tidy under her straw hat, while her pale skin shone with a certain luster. She smelled differently, too—wilder?

“I was wondering,” Strawpin began, “are you looking for a sex partner?”

“A what?”

“What did you not—”

“No, I got it. I already have a partner, though.”

“I’m sure they wouldn’t mind,” Strawpin said, inching closer. Her smell filled Jack’s ears. It probably passed as attractive to space monsters, but he wasn’t really one, so he found it was off-putting. His thoughts must have shown because Strawpin backpedaled, a surprised look on her face.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I thought we’d be a good match… There are many monsters pining for me, you know.”

Jack gathered himself. “I can imagine. You’re talented and beautiful. Unfortunately, I’m in an exclusive relationship with another monster, so I can’t return your affection. Thank you, though.”

“Are they better than me?” Strawpin asked with a pout.

“That’s…not a comparison I’d want to make.”

“I see. Okay. You don’t need to lie, though—I know that no powerful monster has exclusive partners.”

“I’m different. I’m not lying to you.”

“Mhm. Alright.” Her disappointed gaze was hard to hide. “I won’t bother you anymore, then. If you ever change your mind, let me know, alright?”

Jack gave a wry smile. “I promise.”

“Mm.”

She turned and headed back to her fellow disciples, her walk now carrying more swagger than strictly necessary. Jack didn’t see the point. Her long robes revealed nothing.

“What’s the issue with these people?” he asked Starhair telepathically. “One head disciple wants me to take them as my disciple, the other wants me to just take them.”

“The price of power,” Starhair replied, doing a mockery of Jack’s voice. “Oh no! I’m so powerful and handsome that all the most influential people want me! What am I gonna do?”

“Very funny. I don’t speak through my nose.”

“You do sometimes.”

“I do not!”

Both laughed—without a change in expression.

With nothing to do, Jack also checked his new stats, enhanced by the single middle A-Grade and various early A-Grades core he’d absorbed—the only ones compatible with him.

Level: 513

Strength: 12,530 (+)

Dexterity: 12,530 (+)

Constitution: 12,530 (+)

Mental: 2000

Will: 2000

Free sub-points: 1

Matter Condensation: 26%

He was taking steady steps towards the peak B-Grade realm. The cores had given him another ten levels, as well as five hundred stat points which he’d poured into the Physical substats. He’d also worked on his black hole skill a bit, achieving tiny improvements, and experimented with the Life-Time Dao Vision to no avail. That concept of creation, whatever it was, remained tantalizingly out of reach.

I’ll get there, he promised himself. One step at a time.

It took another two weeks for Brock to finish absorbing the lotus and core. Finally, one day, the withered lotus cracked and collapsed like old stone. Brock floated down from his previous position, golden light spontaneously flickering around him. There was a certain air to him—as if he’d grown one step closer to being the entire universe’s big bro.

“Sup,” he said as his feet touched dirt. Over the next hundred years, all of it would wash away, and the surrounding islands would go back to being bare stone.

“Hey bro.” Jack welcomed him with a smile. “You look great.”

“Thanks. I work out.”

Jack laughed. “I see you reached the peak Baron realm?”

“That’s right.” Brock smiled back. “Only one step from being an Autarch… Though it won’t come anytime soon.”

“This is the first time you’re a small realm above me, isn’t it?”

“Yes. But not for long.”

“Hopefully.”

While Starhair greeted Brock as well, Jack turned towards the monster disciples. “Are you guys ready?”

“We were born ready!” Fiend Prince replied, raising a fist to the sky. “Welcome back, big bro! Thanks for protecting us, other big bro! Is it time to test our fates?”

A grin played on Jack’s lips. This guy’s energy was infectious. “If that’s what you want to call it.”

“I do!”

“Perfect. Then, yeah, it’s time. Let’s go, bros. The Hall of Trials awaits!”

The monsters cheered, then took to the sky after Jack, Brock, and Starhair, following the trio into the darkness. The dirt island hosting the lotus’s husk remained behind them, a relic forever lost in time.

It was time to see the Hall of Trials.

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