Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse Adventure, page 1
ROAD TO MASTERY
©2023 Valerios
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ALSO IN SERIES
Road to Mastery
Road to Mastery 2
CONTENTS
1. Apocalypse Day
2. Jack vs. Goblin
3. Hello World
4. Big, Aggressive Prison Mates
5. Beating the Shit out of Stuff
6. The High Goblins
7. Challenging the Ice Pond
8. The Last Monster Group
9. Fighting a Hobgoblin
10. Serial Bonker
11. Racing a Bear
12. The Jack-Goblin War
13. Punching a Boss
14. Class Time
15. Beary Strong
16. A Summit of Kings
17. Jack Rust vs. Bear King
18. King of the Ring
19. Crossing the Pond
20. World of the Waterfall
21. The Strongest Monkeys
22. Boxing a Gorilla
23. Calamitous Punch
24. Monkey See, Monkey Do
25. Breaking Through
26. Exploring the Dao
27. Wolf Hunting
28. Between Life and Death
29. Meteor Punch
30. Reaping the Rewards
31. Brock the Monkey
32. Entering Civilization with a Bang
33. Seeking Revenge
34. Ar’Tazul the Merchant
35. Challenging an Entire Faction
36. Triumph
37. Shopping Therapy
38. Parkour!
39. Rooftop Beer
40. Alien Overlords Are Not Very Fun
41. Gan Salin
42. Dao of the Wild Dog
43. Meet the Apes
44. A Foundation of Greatness
45. Scions and Major Factions
46. The Integration Tournament
47. The Integration City
48. Training Facilities
49. Entering the Arena
50. The Dao of What!
51. The Tournament Begins!
52. Spanking the Lion
53. Making Enemies
54. The Sage
55. Making Money
56. Walking the Road to Mastery
57. Dao of Martial Arts
58. The Spanking Machine
59. Breaking the Monsters
60. Big Bro Brock
61. Jack Rust versus Dorman Whistles
62. Chasing the Dao
63. Living the System Life
64. Fighting a Monk
65. The Path of Magic
66. The Mask Falls
67. Punching Hard
68. The Immortals Descend
69. Tournament Rewards
70. Training with a Ghost
71. The System World
72. Suit-up!
73. The Integration Auction
74. The Rainbow Dao Pill
75. Breaking the Auction
76. Doomed
77. Day One of the Finals
78. A Brutal Beatdown
79. A Grandmaster in Action
80. Crawling Out of the Abyss
81. Date Night
82. Big Pack, Big Bro
83. Making Magic
84. A Contest of Speed
85. F you, Rufus Emberheart!
86. The Phoenix and the Dragon
87. Cold Murder
88. A Peek Behind the Curtain
89. Skill Training
90. The Invincible Rufus Emberheart
91. The Unstoppable Jack Rust
92. Too Good?
93. The Peak of Martial Arts
94. The Last Night
95. Defying a God
96. Facing the Fist
97. Breaking Through
98. Class Selection
99. Abandoned
100. Carving a Way Out
101. Challenge
102. Earth vs. Scions
103. For the Alliance!
104. Boss Fight
105. Overpowered
106. A Crescendo of Violence
Thank you for reading Road to Mastery
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LitRPG
CHAPTER ONE
APOCALYPSE DAY
Jack Rust gazed at the mouth of a cave, black like the night and barely wide enough for a grown man to push through. He clicked a button, and his flashlight burned to life, shooting a wide beam of light into the darkness, dispelling it.
Only rock walls met his sight. This place was a shallow slit in the hillside, but he knew that wasn’t entirely the case—another researcher had stumbled upon it and called on Jack to look.
Of course, he thought. By all means, have me explore the dark, dirty cave. I love it.
Jack was an average-built man. His dark-haired head rose six feet from the ground, but he lacked the musculature to intimidate anyone. At least his younger years of sports left him with a slim, athletic build, though he didn’t exercise anymore.
His body shape, along with his green eyes and kind smile, made him slightly handsome if you asked most people, or not at all if you asked girls named Maria, of which he had a particularly nasty streak.
It also made him quite suitable to investigate narrow, rocky crevices, which is why he was here instead of a person of lower seniority. He didn’t like it, but alas—job called.
Still better than spending the entire day in a cramped lab full of smelly undergraduates.
Grumbling, Jack made sure the pockets of his cargo pants were secured. He surveyed the rocks, mapping out the sharp ones jutting out of the walls, then ventured forth. His body went sideways, eyes glued before him, watching out for errant spider webs or multi-legged annoyances.
Though he could fit pretty easily, the rocks wound tight around him. He felt trapped.
Fortunately, claustrophobia wasn’t enough to stop Jack. If not, he wouldn’t be here.
He was aware of the precautions. He’d rehearsed them mentally while crossing the nature reserve. If anything felt off, or if the crevice got dangerously narrow, he would go back. He prayed for that, actually; it would make this excursion a paid field trip.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. A few feet ahead, the crevice opened into a cave fifteen feet across and nine to the side. Jack took out a device from his right pocket and let it inspect the air—it beeped twice; all clear.
Damn, he thought, but smiled. At least he’d make headway. If he discovered even a single female viper caterpillar here, they could mate it with the one they already had and create enough specimens to last. Plus, the cave looked pretty clean, as improbable as that sounded.
He also checked his featureless gray T-shirt. It appeared fine; hadn’t been caught in any rocks, thankfully. Though simple, it was his favorite shirt.
Jack then swung his flashlight across the walls. If there were carapaced insects skittering around, he couldn’t see them. It didn’t matter. He’d only be here for a little while, and poisonous varieties weren’t indigenous to this area.
He set his flashlight on a rock, letting it illuminate half the cave. He then removed a pair of gloves from his pocket, put them on, kneeled beside a patch of moss, and stuck his hands into it. As he idly ran his fingers over the rock, sensing nothing through the gloves, he released a sigh.
What am I even doing?
He was shuffling through moss in a tiny, dark cave in the middle of nowhere, trying so hard for something he didn’t care too much about. Not that he didn’t like his job. Being a biologist could be fun at times, and he even had a PhD—almost. He was financially set for life and with a job more interesting than most.
However, at the end of the day, it was just that—a job—and, if he was being honest, it didn’t fill him. Not at all. It wasn’t the life he dreamed about.
Jack had fo
Maybe it was youth’s boiling blood talking—the one he wasted every day. The clock kept ticking and would never go backward.
He shook his head. Unfortunately, the world was what it was. His thoughts were only pipe dreams brought forth by the novelty of exploring a small cave in the Greenway Nature Reserve. He had to survive, somehow, and having a job he didn’t dislike was already better than most. There were bright sides. That was reality.
As the professor would say, everybody had to slave away, so why not do it at something interesting?
But he couldn’t shake off the fantasy. Was this all life had to offer? Was he doomed to spend forty years of his life doing such tiny things, doomed to constantly suppress his inner desire for… something? Anything?
Jack was just a regular guy, and that brutal reality grained on his soul. It wasn’t the rock walls that trapped him—it was everything else.
But there was nothing to be done. He understood that, and at the same time, hated it.
A bump on his fingers brought him back. A little green thing squirmed to escape, and like a hawk, he grabbed it. It was helpless in his hand.
Nice! he mentally exclaimed, raising it to take a better look. A viper caterpillar! Going by the color patterns, it was a female one, too. He’d found it.
Whistling in joy, he lowered the caterpillar and dropped it in a small jar he’d been carrying, twisting its lid closed before the little insect could escape. He then wiped his gloved hand on a nearby rock. He smiled. The trip here had taken a while, but it was worth it. At least the searching part had been short.
How long did it take me? Five minutes? Wow. There have to be more of them.
A conscientious worker would keep searching. Jack took one look at the upturned moss and shook his head. Maybe it was due to his previous, morose thoughts, but he didn’t feel like doing anything. We’ll just wait a couple days for them to breed.
He focused on the caterpillar in the jar. It was tiny and trapped. Just like him.
“What am I even doing…” he muttered, sighing. He didn’t want to look for caterpillars in dark caves, just to return to his lab. He wanted to feel alive.
It was the millionth time he had that thought, and the millionth time he wasn’t going to do anything about it. This time, the universe responded.
Sapience located. Starting Integration…
Branching Immortal System…
Welcome to the New World!
A shiny blue screen snapped into existence in front of Jack’s face. He backpedaled—the screen followed—and accidentally stepped on the glass jar, breaking it under his boot. The caterpillar escaped. Jack’s elbow met a sharp rock.
“Woah!” he shouted, more surprised than hurt.
A blue screen appeared in the air. That couldn’t be right.
Before he could consider the issue further, the world shook. Rocks rumbled and groaned; the earth moaned underfoot. Jack paled. An earthquake was the worst thing to happen in a cave. He dropped to his knees and huddled around them, covering himself under a seemingly sturdy protrusion of the walls. The shaking intensified instead of stopping, and a bright cyan light blinded him again, making him hug his knees, pray for his life, and hope for the best.
A few rocks fell from the ceiling, but fortunately, not on him.
It felt like hours before the shaking stopped, though it couldn’t have been more than a minute. When everything stood still again, as caves were supposed to do, Jack opened his eyes and met an impossible sight.
A small pond now lay where the far cave wall used to stand, along with a short waterfall sprouting from the rocks behind it. The water was so cold he could feel it even from a few steps away, but there was no ice on its surface. His flashlight had tumbled into the water—he could see it—but he didn’t need it because the pond itself was shining. And had the cave grown larger?
Jack gaped. His mind failed to process the sight. I’m in a dream, he concluded. This is where I wake up.
But he didn’t wake up. Instead, the blue screen kept rolling in his sight, spitting out line after incomprehensible line.
Terraforming complete.
Overseers informed.
Immortal System initiated. Think ‘Status’ to access your status screen.
Creating dungeons…
Status?
Name: Jack Rust
Species: Human, Earth-387
Faction: -
Grade: F
Level: 1
Physical: 4
Mental: 7
Will: 6
What… the… fuck…
Jack was a smart guy, as were most scientists. Unfortunately, no amount of mental muscle could prepare him for what was currently happening.
He struggled to put things in order.
I am fully aware. If this was a dream, I should have woken up by now, but I haven’t. What the hell is happening?
Too many emotions warred inside him. Fear of the unknown, confusion, helplessness, and finally, an inexplicable relief he couldn’t deny. He was drifting in a new sea, and, for some odd reason, he suddenly felt alive. He studied the blue screen in his face, the one apparently called ‘status.’
This is like a videogame, he realized. Did AI finally conquer us?
He looked at the pond that shouldn’t be there, wondering about a bunch of things. The blue screen obliged.
Ice Pond (E-Grade)
A hidden resource of the Forest of the Strong. The piercing cold of the Ice Pond can heal and forge a cultivator’s body. The deeper you go, the more painful the cold, and the more effective the forging.
There were so many unknown words, Jack’s head spun. The status screen before, the levels, the attributes… Had his world turned into a game?
One thought pushed all others apart. Am I going to get magic? Fuck yeah!
Every child dreamed of becoming a wizard. If reality suddenly malfunctioned or was altered by advanced nanobots, why not let him shoot fire too?
Relief and excitement flooded him again, even harder than before. He had no idea what was happening, completely lost in something that didn’t make sense, but he didn’t reject it. Without even knowing what was going on, Jack instinctively hoped it was true, that the world really had turned into a game and nothing made sense anymore.
Because, if that happened, he would be free.
The child inside him awoke. A grin spread on his cheeks, and he neither could, nor wanted, to stop it. Whatever was happening was dangerous, unknown, and something he could thrive in. His escapism fantasies had turned real.
Assuming this was real, he needed to rush to understand it. Thankfully, he was good with deciphering complex information. All he needed was time.
