Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

After making sure everything was fine, the first thing Jack did was take the rifle and sling it on his back for safekeeping, then enter Valville Hotel to find the secret stash of Henry’s Fang. They’d been taking items from the townspeople as “tax,” so they were bound to have some good stuff. By conqueror’s right, everything now belonged to Jack—though he would return anything he didn’t need to the town.

The gang had apparently taken over the entire hotel. There were no signs of employees or other guests. The only person inside was a shivering goon by the counter. Jack smiled. “Show us everything,” he said. The goon hadn’t bowed deeper in his entire life.

After exploring for some time—with the help of Edgar and the random goon—they found two interesting places. One was the cellar, and the other was Henry White’s room. Both were equipped with several security and alarm measures which, of course, were now useless. Jack tore both places apart to find anything hidden.

The cellar held an assortment of guns, ammunition, and medieval weapons. There was no other rifle or heavy weaponry, but Jack did find a grenade, which made him go pale. He pocketed it quickly, then resealed the room. These guns would go to the Bare Fist Brotherhood’s future members, though he suspected firearms were of limited utility in the System world.

Henry White’s room held more surprises. The first was a System credit card with a nice, round 3,000 shining on its surface. Jack’s eyes turned golden—this was 3,000 more than he had! After quick negotiations with Edgar, they would split any loot 70-30, with the lion’s share going to Jack. He could have gotten even more, but he wanted to invest in his future faction members.

The other surprise was a Dao Fruit. It resembled a cabbage, but each of its leaves was sharp like a razor.

“Holy shit,” said Jack.

“Holy shit,” said Edgar. “I have no idea what that is.”

“It’s a Dao Fruit worth 10,000 credits.”

“What!?”

Dao Fruit of the Blade (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 Blade. Effects are reduced as the user’s Dao gets further away from the blade. Effects are reduced as the user’s Dao ascends beyond the Dao Root stage.

Only one Dao Fruit can be used per Grade.

Edgar pieced apart the fruit’s description, and his eyes were instantly filled with desire. Jack frowned, but Edgar quickly turned to him.

“Jack,” he began, “I know this is a lot to ask, but can I have this fruit? I actually leveled up twice during the fight, reaching Level 13. After I get to Level 15 and choose my Class, I might be able to develop a Dao Root and join the Integration Tournament. It’s an opportunity that could change my life.”

He fell silent. Jack also didn’t speak.

“It’s fine. I understand.” Edgar shook his head. “I went too far. This fruit belongs to you, after all; I’m sorry if I crossed any limits.”

Jack still didn’t speak. Edgar waited. A moment later, Jack said, “Give me your share of everything else, join my faction, and owe me a favor. Then, you can have it.”

Edgar looked up. “For real?”

“For real.”

“Shit, man… I’ve known you for half an hour and you’re already my best friend. You want one? I’ll owe you two!”

“One’s enough.” Jack laughed. “I already have a fruit, and it’s one perfectly suited for me. However, are you sure you want a Blade fruit? It’s not well-suited for you, so maybe selling it would be better.”

“Hmm.” Edgar cupped his chin. “I wonder if the merchant would be willing to exchange this fruit for another. What do you think, random goon?” He turned to the shivering hoodlum beside them, who stuttered.

“I— The boss exchanged another fruit for this one. I think he paid extra, but I don’t know how much. I’m sorry!”

“That’s fine. We’ll just ask.” Edgar eyed the fruit with hope, while Jack shrugged.

“I have some leverage with that smurf. Maybe I can get him to waive the premium.”

However, Edgar shook his head. “Nah, man. You’ve already helped me plenty. I’ll handle it.”

“Suit yourself.”

After picking up the fruit and making sure there was nothing else to discover, Jack and Edgar exited the building. They also ruffled through all the bodies in the courtyard for credit cards, picking up an extra few thousand. Jack discovered he could transfer funds by touching the cards to each other. The System gave him something like a bank interface when that happened. He regretted not looting Hugo’s body, too—and who knows how many credits Henry carried on his person before Jack blew him up.

Are credits card fragile? he wondered, and tested on a random one from the corpses. It took a full-force blow, but he managed to crack it; when that happened, the number on its surface disappeared. Presumably, all credits would be lost if it contained any.

Keep it somewhere safe, then. Got it.

Ironically, they also found some Earth credit and debit cards, for banks, which were probably useless now. Jack kept them anyway.

In the end, their gains were massive. Jack ended up with 6,000 credits in his card, while Edgar got a Dao Fruit. It wasn’t the lion’s share Jack intended to get, but he believed this investment would pay off in the near future.

“Let’s go to the merchant together,” he said.

The crowd was still waiting in the square, though most had dispersed after the sounds of gunfire and Meteor Punch’s explosion. Besides those gazing fearfully from the windows, only a couple dozen people remained, standing proudly with their fists clenched. When Jack arrived, they looked at him with tears of gratitude and helplessness.

These were the people that had family members killed by Henry’s Fang, or hated them for some other reason. They were too weak to do anything, so they could only look at Jack’s back as he handled things for them.

More people slowly emerged from the surrounding streets and buildings, where they’d been hiding, but Jack shooed them away. “Fuck off,” he said, then turned to those that had already been in the square. “You guys, come here.”

Hesitantly, they approached. “Thank you,” a man said from the depths of his heart, speaking for everyone.

“You’re welcome, but words are useless. If you really want to thank me, join my faction and protect this city.”

Their eyes shone. “Really?” a woman couldn’t help but ask. “We are weak…”

“It doesn’t matter. I am plenty strong myself. What I need now is loyalty, and I believe you can offer that.”

He’d seen the intensity of their gazes, their resolve, their respect and admiration for him. Those were pure eyes, or at least, so he thought. He planned to take responsibility for disbanding Henry’s Fang, the administrators of Valville, and he needed loyal people for that. Without them and a capable leader at the helm, the town would probably plunge into chaos.

Jack wasn’t necessarily a capable leader, but he knew someone who was.

“System,” he said aloud, “invite these people to my faction.”

Everyone looked at the empty space before their faces and made sounds of affirmation, including Edgar.

Nineteen members have been added to Bare Fist Brotherhood (F-Grade). You can review their details at the Members tab.

I can? Members tab.

Jack Rust (leader), Human (Earth-387), Level 34, Pugilist, Planetary Frontrunner (10)

Edgar Allano, Human (Earth-387), Level 13

Mary Gander, Human (Earth-387), Level 5

John Li, Human (Earth-387), Level 4

…

Natasha Russon, Human (Earth-387), Level 1

That’s handy.

The people he’d recruited ranged from Level 1 to 5, with a gaunt woman being the strongest. Perhaps the steady knife in her hand was the reason.

“I’ll give you all guns,” Jack said, retrieving the rifle from his back and handing it to the Level 5 woman. “You shouldn’t rely on them, but they’ll be helpful in the short run.”

Everyone nodded. Jack continued, “I’ll go fetch another member. You guys go into the hotel, arm yourselves, and don’t let anyone else in. Spread the word that the Bare Fist Brotherhood rules this place now.”

Even as he said that, he felt tired. He had no intention of ruling anything, but it wasn’t hard to imagine how things would play out over the following months. Having a steady base would be good for him, and his name could protect the townspeople.

“See you, Jack,” Edgar said with a smile.

“I’m not going yet. You and I must speak to the blue man.”

“Now? Sweet!”

The two headed for Ar’Tazul, who still lounged in the middle of the square as if oblivious to everything. When they approached, he rose from the fountain edge. “Nice to see you back, Jack,” he said with a smile. “Or should I say, new regional overlord.”

“I told you before, Ar’Tazul. I am not your friend. Give me the catalog, please.”

“Sure.”

The blue merchant didn’t seem to mind. Jack took the information crystal and perused through it, more purposely this time, while Edgar approached the merchant to ask about a Dao Fruit exchange.

Jack’s eyes shone as he scrolled. There were information packages, experience balls, firearms, even something called a Dao weapon. This last one sounded intriguing. Jack assumed it would be a weapon suited to his Dao, like Henry White’s suspicious katana—why the hell would Valville have a katana? He had to remember to secure that weapon for his faction, by the way.

Unfortunately, his own weapons were his fists, and even iron knuckles would only distance him from the core of his Dao.

After a few moments of scrolling, Jack narrowed his options down to a few things:

Advanced Information Package – 3,000 credits

Earth-387’s Major Factions – 1,000 credits

Dungeon Locations (small) – 2,000 credits

Experience Ball (medium) – 1,000 credits

Stomp Dance Footwork Skill – 4,000 credits

The information package’s utility came without question. Depending on what it contained, he could understand how the System worked, how the galaxy was partitioned, what was the Dao, how to progress faster… Its utility was likely the highest out of everything here.

The powerful factions of Earth would be useful for context. He was stronger than Henry White, sure, but Valville was barely a dot in the map. There were bound to be stronger people than him on the planet, and he would like to know by how much.

Had anyone reached the E-Grade yet? Was there a strong enemy in their immediate vicinity? Who would be his opponents in the Integration Tournament?

The dungeon locations’ usefulness was also irrefutable. According to game knowledge, dungeons had strong enemies, and they could greatly help Jack with leveling up before the tournament—as could the medium experience ball, which he also considered.

“Ar’Tazul,” he said, “how many Levels would a medium experience ball give me?”

The merchant replied instantly. “One, maybe two.”

“Oh.”

It wasn’t much. Jack mentally crossed it out.

“What about me?” Edgar asked from the side, and Ar’Tazul gave him an appraising look.

“Around seven.”

“Oh!” Edgar almost smiled before remembering he was poor.

“You could always sell the fruit,” Jack said, but Edgar shook his head.

“Even if it wasn't for the Tournament, I get the feeling that a Dao Root is more important than a few Levels. Plus, experience balls seem to defeat the purpose. Leveling up is supposed to be a sharpening stone to forge yourself, not a technicality to get over quickly.”

Jack nodded. He agreed; his suggestion had only been a test.

“How much would it cost to exchange fruits, by the way?” he asked.

“10% over the base price.”

“Do you have that much?”

“No…but I have a few hundreds. I’ll gather the rest before the tournament. You’ve already helped me enough.”

Jack nodded in appreciation again. He liked Edgar more and more.

“Very well.”

He then returned to his own options. The last thing he considered buying was the Stomp Dance Footwork skill, for multiple reasons. The professor had told him about the importance of skills. This one was the only suitable-sounding footwork skill in his price range, and he’d discovered that he lacked maneuverability in combat.

He wasn’t exactly slow, but he suspected that his high stats were underutilized when moving around. Maybe it was because his Dao let him punch too well, or because his fistfighting skill was geared towards mostly stationary combat, but he felt that his movement abilities were lacking.

He wanted to be faster, and Dance Stomp Footwork seemed perfect.

Stomp Dance Footwork: Use precise stomps to explosively move around the battlefield. Well-suited for strength-oriented builds.

All in all, after removing the experience ball from his list, he ended up with the following:

Advanced Information Package – 3,000 credits

Earth-387’s Major Factions – 1,000 credits

Dungeon Locations (small) – 2,000 credits

Stomp Dance Footwork Skill – 4,000 credits

Together, they came up to ten thousand credits. He only had six.

“Hey, Ar’Tazul,” he said. The merchant and Edgar were done negotiating by now and only waited for him to finish. “Give me a discount.”

“Impossible,” Ar’Tazul declined outright.

“Come on. You said the two of us will have to work together in the future, right? If you do me this favor, I’ll forgive you for selling out the professor.”

“I didn’t sell out anyone. It was only business—as will be when I spread information about your item, if you don’t buy the thousand-credit confidentiality term. That is already a favor to you; some people would pay in the high five-digits for that information, even on this planet.”

“Then, why don’t you sell it to them?”

“Because I can’t reach the D-Grade without taking risks.” Ar’Tazul shrugged. “Regardless; show me the items you want. Maybe I can help you work things out.”

Jack narrowed his eyes, then told the merchant what he wanted to buy. All of them were important, so any discount would go a long way. Plus, he’d forgotten about the confidentiality term, so that was an extra thousand he lacked.

“Hmm.” Ar’Tazul mulled it over. “Given your budget, I’d recommend the advanced information package first. Your older friend—”

“Mother.”

“—your mother bought the basic one, but that’s not enough to run a faction or follow the right path to power. The information inside will help you and your followers avoid many pitfalls when cultivating.”

“I see.” Jack nodded. Ar’Tazul’s assessment sounded reasonable.

“I’d also recommend skipping the dungeon locations. The small variant covers only a few hundred square miles around us, and dungeons are quite rare overall. Since you conquered the Forest of the Strong, the surrounding area is probably empty.”

Jack narrowed his eyes. “How do you know about that?”

“I’m an information merchant. I know many things. Plus, you don’t need dungeons to level in the F-Grade; there are many dangerous beasts roaming the land. If you set your mind to it, you could get three, maybe four Levels by the Integration Tournament.”

Jack frowned. At his current power, three of four levels wouldn’t make much of a difference. “Go on.”

“You can also skip the information on Earth’s powerful factions for now. These things only depict the situation the moment you buy it. It’s better to wait a week and get it shortly before the Integration Tournament. Unless you’re afraid of strong enemies nearby, of course, but there aren’t any. You can relax for now.”

Jack raised his brows. Ar’Tazul didn’t have to give him that information. Suddenly, the little blue merchant seemed slightly more pleasant to the eye—unless he was lying, of course.

“Removing the dungeon locations and the faction guide, that drops your total to seven thousand. You’re still one short.”

“And that's where the discount comes in?”

“No.” Ar’Tazul smiled. “But, let’s see… What made you choose the Stomp Dance Footwork skill?”

“It’s cheap, shores up one of my weaknesses, and sounds suitable for me.”

“That skill focuses on explosive movement based on stomping the ground. It is suited for you, as you said, but it’s mostly an offensive movement skill. It lets you move fast and explosively in straight, predictable lines. That’s why it’s cheap. It can play to your strengths, but if you’re looking to be more versatile, it’s not for you.”

“Oh,” Jack replied. “So, I shouldn’t get it.”

“It depends, of course, but probably not. However, I have another skill in that price range to recommend.”

“Really? I didn’t see any.”

“It’s not in the catalog.”

Ar’Tazul smirked, then looked into space for a few seconds. A blue screen popped up in front of Jack. Jack looked at it, then at Ar’Tazul’s grinning face, then back at the screen. His eyes widened.

“You have got to be kidding me.”