Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Brilliant galaxies were suspended in the universe like fish in an endless sea. Their colors varied, as did their sizes, but flying between them really made one understand how inconsequentially tiny they were in the grand scheme of things.

Galaxies, however, were not as far apart as Jack had expected. They were clustered together. Unlike stars, which were tiny dots compared to the massive distances separating them, galaxies were more like neighboring islands. Sure, there were gaps in between, but sometimes the gaps were smaller than the galaxies themselves.

Their starship was like a tiny fish crossing a dense archipelago.

“Enjoying the view?” a voice came behind Jack, startling him. He looked away from the large window and towards the new arrival—Starhair, the peak B-Grade Envoy whose hair resembled rivers of stars. The man walked beside Jack and gazed out the window.

This starship wasn’t too small. There were various rooms and compartments. Right now, Jack and Starhair were alone.

“It’s nice,” Jack replied. “Better than looking at the other wall, which is just metal.”

Starhair didn’t laugh. Jack frowned.

“Is something the matter?” he asked.

“Nothing much. I just don’t understand why we had to waste a month to escort a C-Grade.”

This time, it was Jack who didn’t reply. What could he say? “I have great potential and might be able to affect the war situation?” That would sound extremely arrogant coming from a C-Grade, even one with Jack’s accomplishments. He also couldn’t reveal the existence of the death cube which Elder Boatman wanted, as it was a secret.

“Yeah, I guess it’s hard to understand,” was all he finally replied.

Starhair turned and raised an angry brow at him. “Are you mocking me?”

“What else do you want me to say?”

“Give me a reason to believe this is not a waste of time.”

“Can I?” Jack smiled without meaning it. “If you believed in my talent, you wouldn’t need me to say anything.”

“You sound pretty sure of yourself. Me, believing in your talent? What do you think you can accomplish? I know you’re strong, but you’re just another cog in the machine until you reach the A-Grade. This whole mission is just an Elder abusing their authority to protect their disciple at the expense of everyone else.”

“I would advise you to speak about Elders with a little more respect,” Jack replied calmly. “Especially when said Elder is my master and I’m honor-bound to protect his reputation.”

Starhair snorted. He turned to walk away. “I’m looking forward to your future achievements,” he said. On the way out, he bumped into Jack’s shoulder, probably expecting to push him aside. Instead, Jack easily remained immobile, while it was Starhair who had to turn his body. He paused for a moment, then didn’t look back and left the room.

Jack shook his head. Another clown… he thought. In his experience, these people were divided into two types—those who hopped around asking for a punch in the face, and those who hid their intentions in the dark and struck quickly, efficiently, and unexpectedly. He hoped Starhair was the former kind.

***

The journey from Milky Way to the wild galaxy which served as the Crusade’s current battlefield was neither short nor long. Bottomless steered the ship, using their extreme understanding of spacetime to constantly wormhole forward. They covered almost a hundred thousand light years a day. They passed by many galaxies, some spiral, others egg-shaped, as they speared deeper and deeper into the unexplored parts of the universe.

Jack spent most of the time meditating. He would soon attempt to break into the B-Grade—the clearer his Daos were, the better. However, without life and death battles propelling him forward, progress was slow. He focused his time on the death cube, slowly deepening his understandings of Death.

Meanwhile, the many Dao stones he’d gotten as spoils of battle were useless to him. He couldn’t level up anymore without breaking through. Therefore, he gave a lot of them to Brock, who used them to rapidly increase his cultivation base. Maybe he couldn’t level up without the System, but he sure could use Dao stones.

In the five days they spent traveling, Brock successfully reached the peak C-Grade. He had grown all nine of his fruits to maturity and was ready to take the next step. Both brothers were at the same spot.

Eventually, however, the journey came to an end. Jack watched from the windows as their starship angled towards a new galaxy, one similar in size and shape to the Milky Way but slightly redder overall—the stars here were older and larger.

“I present to you, the Spiral Stair galaxy,” Sovereign Heavenly Spoon said, suddenly materializing next to Jack. “The Church’s new home.”

“How far away from System space are we now?” Jack asked.

“Three hundred thousand light years away from the closest System galaxy,” the sovereign replied. “And half a million from your Milky Way.”

“That’s a lot.”

“Don’t think about it in terms of distance. It’s one week of traveling. I’d say that’s pretty sensible.”

Jack considered it, then nodded. “Where exactly are we headed now?” he asked.

“The Church forces are scattered across this galaxy. Not even I know the precise location, but I do know where Elder Boatman said he’d pick us up. See that slightly denser patch of stars? Up there, to the right. That’s pretty much the area.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“He’ll find us in all that?”

“Oh no, Bottomless has the exact coordinates. I just couldn’t bother to remember.” The sovereign gave Jack a lazy smile. “Anyway, we still have a few hours. Tea?”

“I guess.”

The starship dove into the galaxy, and soon they were lost in a three-dimensional sea of stars. The scenery looked similar to the Milky Way—it was hard to imagine they were inside a completely different galaxy. Bottomless led them through a winding track, following unknown directions and reference points, until they finally came to rest near a red giant—a star which ballooned and reddened greatly as it approached the end of its life.

“What now?” Jack asked. All of them were gathered at the starship’s bridge, including Dorman, who’d spent most of the time in his room. The Sage was the first to bow—immediately afterward, space rippled before them, and a hooded figure appeared directly inside their starship. The entire Spoon Squad and Dorman bent their backs.

“We greet Elder Boatman,” they said as one.

“Greetings, Master,” Jack said, while Brock nodded.

“Grandpa Dead, hello.”

Elder Boatman scanned them with his gaze. His face was hidden, but red eyes shone under his dark hood. Covered entirely in the black robe and with a scythe hanging on his back, he directly resembled the Charon of Earth’s mythology—maybe the two were related somehow, or this was a universal image in line with the Dao of Death.

“Rise,” he said in a raspy voice. Everyone stood straight again. “Thank you for bringing my disciple.”

“We are happy to be of service, Elder,” the sovereign replied. “By the way, I heard you acquired a certain delicacy recently. Do you think I could—”

“Jack,” Boatman turned to his disciple, ignoring the sovereign. “I am glad to see you well. You’ve grown much stronger, too—what’s your current battle power?”

“I should be able to match ordinary peak B-Grades,” Jack replied.

“Really?” The red eyes shone brighter. “Excellent. Come. We have things to discuss.”

He waved a hand. Instantly, the entire starship was wrapped in darkness. This wasn’t really teleporting—more like the surrounding spacetime died, reducing the distance between them and their destination. Jack spread out his perception, but before he could realize how exactly this was happening, they had already arrived.

A starship floated before them. Calling it huge was an understatement—it stretched for at least a dozen miles and contained multiple floors. It was like a city. Swarms of cultivators circled it like flies—either guards or people traveling from one place to another.

“My starship,” Elder Boatman said with a hint of pride. “Thank you, Head Envoy. I will make sure you and your squad are rewarded appropriately. Feel free to rest here for a few days before heading to your next mission.”

“Thank you, Elder,” the sovereign replied. “Our navigator is exhausted from the trip so we’d be glad to rest here for a day or two. About that item you—”

Elder Boatman waved his hand again, teleporting just himself, Jack, and Brock away. They reappeared in a grand throne room, complete with piles of bones and skeletal guards. White columns speared a hundred feet into the ceiling, giving the room a heavy, somber feel, while the ground was gray marble.

Boatman gave a tired sigh. He threw back his hood, revealing a pale vampiric face. He looked a billion years old. “Don’t mind the decorations,” he said. “I agree they’re in bad taste, but excess is necessary at times. Please, sit.”

A round table occupied the middle of the room. It was surrounded by thirteen seats, one of which was more clearly more elaborate than the others, carved with skulls and velvet. That was the chair Boatman had sat into. Jack found another chair, while Brock pulled his back and sat on the ground. This way, he wasn’t towering over the rest of them.

“No throne?” Jack asked.

“Don’t get me started. The throne is for official hearings. When strategizing, this is where I sit—it’s far more comfortable.”

Jack nodded. “Thank you for your guidance, Master. Both the death cube and the Dao Visions you gave me helped a lot. My Dao of Death has grown tremendously.”

Elder Boatman gave his disciple a long stare. “But that’s not all, is it? I can sense you’re dabbling in more Daos. Life is there, obviously, but so are Space and Time.”

There was clear doubt in his voice. Generally speaking, people avoided spreading their attention between many Daos.

“The opportunities came up and I took them,” Jack replied. “I believe it was a wise choice. It has worked out so far.”

“Mm. I can sense so, yes.” Boatman’s gaze pierced into Jack as if observing his soul. “You know best. I support your decisions regardless. If this goes well, your potential will be limitless—if hard to realize.”

“Thank you, Master!”

“About your Dao of Death…” Boatman trailed off. Jack could sense the unspoken question.

“My son passed away recently,” he replied. “It hurt me deeply, and I almost lost myself in grief. I believe it also gave my Dao of Death a perspective more suited to myself.”

Boatman nodded slowly. “I am sorry for your loss,” he said. “Death is a natural occurrence—even that of your descendants. I am glad you managed to not only overcome your grief, but also understand it. It was a pivotal experience for you. On the road of cultivation, everyone must form their own path, or they will forever be limited to a fraction of what their predecessor achieved.”

Jack nodded. He’d already figured this out—after his experience in the Black Hole World, where his Dao of Death had undergone a subtle transformation, he’d realized that the insights Elder Boatman had left him had become far less useful. They referenced Boatman’s path, not Jack’s. Even the death cube had shown decreased efficiency. As a result, Jack’s progress in the Dao of Death had slowed down, but he could feel this was the right path regardless.

It didn’t matter how quickly he followed the path of another—at the end of the day, only his own unique path had the potential to reach the top.

“I am on the cusp of reaching the B-Grade, Master,” Jack said. “Is there any advice you would like to give me?”

“No. Trying to gleam insights from the experiences of others will not help you, only further your insecurity. You will naturally understand everything when you go into it. However, I will oversee your breakthrough in its entirety. With me there, nothing will go wrong—but, as for how far you can get, that will depend entirely on you.”

Jack nodded. “Thank you, Master. If you don’t mind, I had another thing to ask. Brock and I are brothers sharing a spiritual connection. He is also at the cusp of the same breakthrough, and he is as talented as myself. Could you accept him as a disciple as well?”

“No problem,” Boatman replied immediately, turning towards the brorilla. “That was my intention as well. Brock, would you like to become my disciple? You may not cultivate the Dao of Death, but you do follow an offshoot of the Dao of Life, which is my other area of expertise.”

“Thanks, Grandpa Dead,” Brock replied.

Elder Boatman gave a strained smile. “You can call me master now.”

“Okay, Master Grandpa Dead.”

The Elder looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end he just sighed. “It is customary for a master to provide his disciples with treasures for the breakthrough,” he said. “However, it’s not about the quantity of treasures, but their quality. Jack, am I correct to assume you already have enough?”

Jack grinned. “Absolutely.”

“And you, Brock.” Elder Boatman gave him an inquisitive stare. “Your Dao is one which makes most treasures ineffective. Correct?”

“Right, Master Grandpa Dead. I have everything I need in my bros.”

“Good. Then get ready, both of you. I will have people fill you in on the current status of the war and assign you positions, but that is meaningless before you break through. You must reach the B-Grade as soon as possible.”

Jack looked up. “How soon, Master?”

“Tomorrow.”

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