Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Three men stood at the edge of the yard fifteen feet away, pointing handguns at Jack. Two looked like hoodlums. The third was Hugo, the slavic mafia man charged with watching the professor.

Jack stared down the gun barrel and didn’t flinch. Instead, he grinned and cracked his knuckles. “Hello, Hugo,” he said. “I see your walk has been productive. You found a few more dogs.”

Hugo’s face was still as if cut from stone. “I never got your name.”

“See those guns, Hugo? That’s called deadly force. If you use deadly force against me, I will use it against you, and you will die. I want that to be very clear.”

Jack’s fist was clenched, and an invisible, savage aura rolled out of him in waves. The goons by Hugo’s side—Levels 3 and 4, both members of Henry’s Fang—shivered. Their eyes flickered towards Hugo in hesitation, but he remained still as a rock.

“Only one thing is absolute in this world,” Hugo said. “Bullets. Goodbye.”

His gun spewed fire. The goons yelped; one dropped his gun from the sound; the other emptied his magazine in Jack’s general direction.

At the same moment that Hugo’s finger clenched the trigger, Jack moved. His body flickered with speed, dashing sideways faster than the gunmen could react. Bullets flew left and right, passing by but not touching him.

He wasn’t faster than bullets—yet—but he could calculate their trajectories from watching the guns.

The second goon managed to pick up his gun and start firing, trying to catch the blur that headed his way. He failed. Jack reached him, and a terrible slap almost emptied his mouth of teeth. He was unconscious before he even hit the floor.

Hugo was now behind the other goon, but Jack didn’t care. He grabbed the goon’s gun from his hand, snapped it in half, and slapped the man hard enough to send him flying like a ballerina. He then stared at Hugo, who stared back.

Only the two of them were left. As they crossed eyes, Jack had stood still, and Hugo had three bullets remaining. He hadn’t panicked and wasted them all before like his goons.

Jack saw the excitement in Hugo’s eyes. The gun danced in his hand as it spat death. The bullets dug into Jack’s chest from almost point-blank, barely penetrating the skin before falling to the ground with a series of plinks.

Jack had been shot on purpose, of course. He was confident he could take the bullets, but how much damage would they deal?

Not much, was the answer. They felt like strong finger pokes.

Man… I’m Superman.

Hugo’s elation morphed into terror. His clean-shaven face went pale. He looked up at Jack in askance and immediately raised his hands, letting the gun hang from his finger. His lips shivered as he tried to speak.

“Sorry, Hugo.”

Jack’s fist smashed into his face like a sledgehammer. Hugo’s head exploded, and his body hit the ground a beat later, covered by its own trenchcoat.

Jack gazed at his fist. He had just murdered a man. He could have shown mercy, but he didn’t. Was that…bad?

The thing is, he felt nothing. No remorse, no regret, no doubts. His Dao had reinforced his resolve, and so had his multiple life-or-death experiences in the dungeon. Hugo had slapped Jack’s foster mother and tried to kill him. Jack killed him back. It was natural. That was the law of strength, which apparently ruled the world now.

So what if he tried to surrender at the last moment? That shit was fake. He would plant a bullet in my eye the second he got the chance.

Jack looked around. There were people watching from the distance. A few were puking, some looked the other way, and a few were running away. A woman stared at him like he was a monster. Jack only snorted.

If they can try to kill me in broad daylight, with more people and guns, I can at least punch them back.

He shook his fist to get the blood away. Next stop, Henry’s Fang.

There were definitely safer, more diplomatic options than simply storming in. However, like in the dungeon, Jack realized he'd had enough of being smart. Now, he wanted to be strong—simple and direct—and he had the power to do it. He wanted to strike ahead like a fist and make the world adapt to him instead of the opposite.

That was his life now. And if he died at some point, so be it. At least he had fun.

Heh. Fun. He chuckled, baring his teeth. I could get used to this.

After breaking the other guns as well, Jack stepped over the two unconscious thugs and out of the professor’s front yard. I should get that cleaned at some point… he mused. He hadn’t considered the issue before, but well, nothing he could do about it now. He was busy.

But where’s Henry’s Fang? Well, shit. He didn’t know. Thankfully, there were people nearby he could ask.

Jack paced to the group watching from afar, keeping his hands high to avoid scaring them. Most ran away, anyway, but a few remained.

“Hello,” he asked politely, “I’m looking for Henry’s Fang. Can you tell me where they are?”

“Across the town. They’ve commandeered the hotel behind the town square. Valville Hotel, it was called.”

“Thanks.”

The man who replied was in his fifties, with eyes that struggled between respect, hope, and disbelief. His lips were clenched as he watched Jack go. “Hey!” he finally shouted. “Will you get them?”

Jack looked behind his shoulder. He cracked a smile. “You bet.”

The man shivered, and his lips trembled for a moment. “Thank you!” he shouted again. “Thank you!”

Jack didn’t look back, only gave a thumbs-up.

Let’s see now… Valville hotel. It was a nice place; I hope they haven’t ruined it. Since I’m going by the town square, I should check that alien out as well. The information merchant.

The streets were rowdy as he passed. The rumors had time to spread, and everyone looked at him with mixed feelings. Some held hope; others, pity, and a few, even hostility.

Jack ignored them all. He walked to the town square neither slow nor fast, letting the town know of his coming. His mind was rolling; supposing he dismantled Henry’s Fang, someone would need to run the town. In other words, he needed reliable people, and thankfully, he already had a plan to find them.

Valville’s town square was a large square area surrounded by wide streets. There was a dry fountain in its center and not much else, creating a large empty space where children used to ride their bicycles or run around like the little monkeys they were.

Now, the town square was a far colder place. It was mostly empty, save for a few merchant stands around the square selling knives or makeshift armor and the alien at its center. Jack’s gaze immediately focused there.

This was an alien. An alien. Right there, in the middle of Valville Square. Just standing around.

The alien was a blue-skinned little man. He sported a short brown beard, wore a turban and colorful, lax clothes, and generally resembled someone from the merchant cities of Africa or the Middle East if they were painted blue and were only four feet in height.

He was also pudgy, with a healthy belly and a satisfied smile on his face as he lounged on the fountain’s edge and whistled a little tune. He seemed to be having a blast.

Jack shook his head, pulling his gaze away to look around. There was nobody trying to shoot him. Henry’s Fang probably knew he was coming and waited for him in their hotel, gathering their forces.

A crowd was already forming, but it still wasn’t enough for his plan. Jack wanted to get two birds with one stone. He had some time to waste.

As he approached the little blue merchant, he made out more details. A crate was by his feet, which were covered in pointy shoes. His facial features were pronounced. He wore only a light jacket despite the autumn chill, and he seemed completely relaxed in this planet of strangers.

Djinn, Level ?? (E-Grade)

Faction: Merchant Union (C-Grade)

Oh.

There were many new things there. This guy was a djinn; was there a relation to Earth’s mythical creatures? His Level was question marks, but it was in the E-Grade. Besides the Dao vision, this was the first creature Jack saw that wasn’t F-Grade.

This merchant could probably kick Jack’s ass easily. No wonder he was so relaxed.

Moreover, he belonged to a C-Grade faction. That grade was so beyond Jack’s current infantile understanding that he couldn’t even fathom what it meant. The bald man in his vision and the skyscraper-like beast had both been in the C-Grade as well.

He gulped.

When Jack approached the merchant, he was still lying on the fountain edge and enjoying the afternoon sun without a care in the world.

“Hello,” Jack said, making the merchant open an eye.

“Hello to you, my little friend,” he said in an eastern accent. “How can I— Oh. You’re pretty strong, aren’t you?”

“I do my best. I hear you sold information on Professor Rust's transactions. Is that true?”

Though the professor had said it wasn't the merchant's fault, Jack didn't fully trust that. He still felt like blaming the merchant.

However, he was brave, not suicidal. He’d just express his dissatisfaction and begone. After all, this guy was E-Grade. Taunting him would be no good.

“Hmm?” The merchant’s eyes twinkled with amusement as he jumped upright. He stood at his full height, barely reaching Jack’s chest, and crossed his arms. He smiled brightly. “I did, but she was fully aware of that possibility. The contents of all transactions with me are sellable information. If you want confidentiality, just pay for the confidentiality bonus. It’s in the terms.”

“The terms?”

“The terms and agreement of the Merchant Union. All transactions are public knowledge unless indicated otherwise. It’s even written in the condensed version for non-legally versed sapients.”

He whipped out a yellow brochure. It didn’t look more than a few pages long, and it was written in big letters. “I gave a copy to the human woman you mentioned; she read it end-to-end, understood it, and when I specifically asked about this, refused to pay for the confidentiality bonus. Here, have one too.”

The merchant stuffed the brochure into Jack’s hands, who was left trying to process this information. “Okay… Thanks.”

If the professor knew about the confidentiality term and explicitly refused to pay it… Hmm. Guess she wasn't lying, after all. It wasn't the merchant's fault.

“No problem. Happy to get that out of the way,” the merchant said. “Is there anything else I can do to help?”

“Well…” Jack looked around. Still not enough people. He turned back to the merchant, his previous grudge dissolving as he let excitement tinge his voice. This was an alien. “What are you? And how can you speak English?”

“A djinn of planet Bing.” The merchant laughed again, his voice sonorous. “I don’t usually give my name to customers, but I’ll make an exception for you: I’m Ar’Tazul, at your service. I know aliens seem like a big deal right now, but you’ll start seeing a lot more of us soon. Don’t get too excited. As for the language barrier you mentioned, the System takes care of that.”

“I’m Jack.” Jack mechanically shook the djinn’s outstretched hand.

“A pleasure. Would you like to browse my stock? I have some things you might be interested in.”

“Information?”

“That, too, but I have more. Experience balls, skills, empty crystals, advanced weapons, even Dao Fruits… I suspected there would be high-end customers on this planet, so I brought high-end goods—and you get them at Integration discount, mind you.”

Ar’Tazul winked, then retrieved a crystal from his robes. It was rhombus-shaped and pink, and it could barely fit in his small palm. He reached out, and Jack took the crystal. Now what? he thought, looking at it. The moment he had the question, a blue screen appeared before his face.

Ar’Tazul’s Store

Basic Information Package – 500 credits

Advanced Information Package – 3,000 credits

Simple weapons – 10 credits

Small Firearms – 20 credits

Experience Ball (tiny) – 100 credits

Experience Ball (small) – 300 credits

Experience Ball (medium) – 1,000 credits

Experience Ball (large) – 10,000 credits

Empty Crystal – 20 credits

Dao Weapon (F-Grade) (made on demand, delivery times vary) – 5,000 credits

Dao Fruit (F-Grade) – 10,000 credits

…

There was also a large assortment of trinkets, electronic devices, medieval weapons, and names that Jack didn’t recognize. There was even a section about Skills, and it included a bunch of stuff ranging anywhere from knitting, to advanced cybersecurity, to swordsmanship. There was the fistfighting skill, too, but it belonged to the top echelon price-wise, as did most melee combat skills. Skills were expensive overall, starting at a thousand credits and going up to five-digit numbers.

There were no Dao Skills, however.

Jack skimmed through the list briefly before returning the crystal to Ar’Tazul.

“Did anything catch your eye, my friend?” asked the merchant, his eyes gleaming.

“I’m just in a hurry. Also, I have none of these…credits.”

“Not a problem.”

Without batting an eye, Ar’Tazul handed Jack a small plaque made of green, transparent jade. The number 0 shone on its surface in clean white letters. Jack took it and turned it over. It looked pretty.

“Here’s a credit card.” Ar’Tazul smiled. “It’s free of charge; Integration benefits.”

“A credit card?”

“Exactly.”

“...I see. In any case, I still have zero credits. How do I gather them?”

“You sell things for credits, obviously; it’s the System currency used in most places throughout the galaxy. For example, we take a selection of monster parts; I have a brochure on that. Additionally, if you have any interesting items or premium information, I could give you a good deal…”

He looked on leadingly. Jack considered it. He did have a few things to sell—expensive ones, too. The Dao Fruit he had was listed in Ar’Tazul’s catalog as worth 10,000 credits, which, given the context, was a lot. He remembered the description.

Dao Fruit of the Fist (F-Grade)

Allows the user to enter a meditative nirvana state, where the speed of Dao cultivation is greatly increased. Breakthroughs are greatly assisted. This particular fruit is oriented towards the Dao Root of the Fist. Effects are reduced as the user’s Dao gets further away from the fist. Effects are reduced as the user’s Dao ascends beyond the Dao Root stage.

Only one Dao Fruit can be used per Grade.

Unfortunately, it sounded pretty damn useful and tailored specifically for him. Plus, Ar’tazul had mentioned that the prices he saw were after the Integration discount was applied, whatever that was. In any case, selling the fruit sounded like a waste.

Which left the other reward he’d gotten from the dungeon.

Trial Planet Token

Can allow one person into Trial Planet.

Hmm…