Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Jack’s brows creased. Karvahul stepped closer. “Find a Dao adjacent to yours,” he instructed quickly.

“Edgar Allano. Dao of Magic,” Edgar said aloud, taking Jack’s turn.

“Like what?” Jack whispered.

“I don’t know… Battle? Power? No, you need a weapon. Gauntlets! No, that’s too similar. Club? No, they’ll know right away.” He frowned. “We need something that can work with your Skills but isn’t too close to the fist. A small blunt weapon, maybe?”

There weren’t many of those. Jack, at least, failed to come up with any on the fly.

“Next!” the djinn official barked, looking at Jack. A line had already formed behind him, but the next person—a slavic, wide-necked man—didn’t move to take his spot, only stared at Jack with a half-smile like he was onto him.

Jack looked around, searching for inspiration. By the side, Brock was squinting at him, trying to understand what was going on.

In truth, Jack didn’t need anything too special; he was confident in beating people up no matter what weapon he used. His gaze wandered over nearby small items that could be used as blunt weapons. Credit cards, stones, pieces of wood, a brick, Karvahul…

The Dao of the Screaming Djinn, he thought with amusement.

The stones seemed to be the best candidate. They were everywhere, could be used as blunt weapons, and weren’t too close to the Dao of the Fist, probably.

The problem was, that idea was terrible for publicity.

The professor had instructed him to make as big a wave as possible without blowing his cover. Besides winning the tournament, their main goal was to gather allies in secret to defend against the eventual retaliation of Gan Salin and the other scions. To that end, who would trust a maniac that smashed other people’s heads in with a rock? The rock bears sure wouldn’t.

No. He needed something unrelated to the fist, but also something that would draw positive attention to himself. Something softer than a rock. Something that would make other humans want to work with him.

In other words, Jack needed something…flashy. He suddenly looked down, and his eyes shone.

“John Brown,” he declared, stepping up to the official and handing over his token. “Dao of Spanking.”

The crowd went silent. Even the people that were climbing the stairs towards the spectator seats stopped and turned to look.

The official raised his eyes, then a brow. “Excuse me?” he asked.

“Dao of Spanking,” Jack repeated with confidence, channeling his inner strict teacher. “Never heard of it? I am not surprised. You look like a person that wasn’t properly disciplined during their childhood.”

The djinn’s brows spasmed. “And do you have a weapon, Mr. Brown?”

“Of course I do.”

“Interesting. But, I cannot see it...”

Jack stared at the merchant. His little blue eyes were narrowed and gloating; undoubtedly, he was convinced that Jack was lying, and that he’d caught him red-handed.

Unfortunately for the djinn, he was facing Jack Rust.

“If you insist.” He shrugged, then reached down to grab one of his flip-flops. “There,” he said, holding it like a weapon. He stared at the official. “Happy now?”

The djinn’s eyes narrowed further. “Sir, I have to warn you that lying in the presence of an Inte—”

He didn’t have time to finish his words. Jack spanked the air above him. The world went monochrome. All color disappeared for a moment before erupting from the point where the flip-flop snapped, along with a tremendous booming sound and a blinding flash.

Some people protested, but the majority simply stared at Jack like he’d just proven the sky did not exist. Even the official seemed flustered, though he was completely unhurt.

“Is that enough?” Jack asked, holding the bottom half of a burnt flip-flop. The other half was plastered on the wall above the official’s head. “Or should I strip myself naked so you can see I don’t have any more weapons?”

Brock burst out laughing while pointing at the djinn’s face.

The official looked like he wanted to say something, then thought better about it. His blue face turned a pale shade of red before he clenched his teeth and said, “I apologize for my suspicions, sir. Everything is in order. Can I have your token, please?”

Jack handed him the token with a straight face, and the registration was completed. He then walked back to Edgar and Karvahul’s side like it was the most normal thing in the world, ignoring all the odd gazes. After a while, people stopped paying attention to him, too. The Dao of Spanking was peculiar, but at the end of the day, nothing too important. There were many odd Daos in the tournament.

“Your flip-flop is ruined,” Karvahul said, pointing at the improvised weapon in Jack’s hand.

“It is unfortunate.” Jack agreed and shook his head in mock disappointment, speaking loudly enough that everyone could hear. He pointed at the official. “But prejudice must be disciplined. That is why I always carry a spare.” He bent down and grabbed his other flip-flop. “Whoops. I am out of spares. You’ll help me find a replacement, right, Karvahul?”

Karvahul’s face spasmed. “Of course,” he forced himself to say. “I will meet you in the arena above.”

Thus, only three people ascended the stairs. Jack wielded a flip-flop and had a face of stone, Edgar was muttering to himself, and Brock wasn’t really sure what was happening but was having fun.

Meanwhile, Karvahul was looking for flip-flops in the Integration City’s market, constantly lamenting his life choices.

***

The arena was a boiling pot of people. A population of many species filled the spectator stands, with humans being the majority. The other four species were the djinns, lycans, kovans, and ifrits.

“Come on, Karvahul!” Jack said. “It’s starting.”

The merchant returned with a stormy frown. “This is cheating,” he complained. “How can they sell corn that expensive and still make only 100% profit? They have to be lying.”

“Should I spank them?” Jack asked. Both Edgar and Karvahul glared at him. “Okay, okay, no spanking,” he added weakly.

The inside of the arena was surrounded by spectator seats, separated from the arena itself by a ten-foot fall. Down that fall was a large oval expanse covered in sand, sparkling from the sunlight that entered from the open air above. A white tower stretched from one end of the arena to the sky. It had to have been at least five hundred feet tall.

However, the most eye-catching thing was none of those.

A large cube floated above the center of the arena, even higher than the topmost spectator seats. Its sides were black and covered in a myriad tiny lights that swirled around like the stars of the night sky, forming a kaleidoscope of constellations. One moment they depicted a deer, the other a fly, then a wolf, and then a bunch of animals Jack couldn’t recognize. However, every few minutes, the stars would form into a roaring lion’s head that was many times grander than any other constellation.

“That’s the crest of the Leonines,” Karvahul explained, “the leading family of the Animal Kingdom.”

“So it really is a kingdom of animals,” Jack commented.

“Of course. After the Leonines come the Elefs, the Eaglers, the Sharkens, and the Canines. Those are the five noble families of the Animal Kingdom; but, of course, there are many others that are less noble—like the Lycans.”

“Their planet must have been chaos,” Jack noted.

“I heard that their evolutionary arms race was extremely intense before the System came. Most of their planet is covered in dense jungle, which led to many species developing opposable thumbs and, consequently, intelligence. The ensuing wars were beyond fierce. Legend says that’s why the Animal Kingdom is so strong…but, of course, those could also be rumors. Not many would argue against the noble families in their territory.”

“Fascinating…”

“Say that again…” Edgar agreed, though for a wholly different reason. He had been staring at the magical cube for the past three hours, almost like he was meditating.

“Snap out of it, Edgar,” Jack said. “It’s starting.”

“What?”

The entire audience went silent at the exact same time. Everyone shut up on instinct. There had been no sound, no horn to announce her coming. She was simply there, while the cube had disappeared.

Jack felt chills crawl down his spine. His Dao Root shuddered and tried to crawl deeper inside his soul. His hair stood on end, and his breath was shallow as he took in that majestic being. Her mere presence suffocated him.

There, hovering above the center of the arena, was the strongest creature Jack had ever seen, with the possible exception of the bald man in his vision. At first glance, she seemed like a cross between a human and a lioness. She stood on two light brown legs, had two arms and a head, and didn’t seem to have much fur.

Most of her body was hidden under simple clothes, but so finely crafted they seemed to scream power. No, scratch that; they did scream power. They had the touch of the Dao on them.

Her most striking feature, however, was her head. It was the head of a lioness.

However, her appearance paled in comparison to the vast aura that roiled in waves from her body. Jack felt like he was staring at an entire ocean, a goddess, or an ancient tree that reached the skies. His every instinct screamed that she was an existence so far above him that even worshiping her would be his honor.

Without thinking about it, he stood up and almost fell to his knees. He barely stopped himself at the last second, exerting every iota of willpower he possessed to remain at least somewhat standing. It wasn’t a conscious reaction, but an instinctive one, and something that most others failed to do.

For a moment, the arena was completely silent. You could hear a pin drop.

“Rise,” the lioness said in a strong voice, and Jack drew in a sharp breath, finally relieved from most of the pressure. He was covered in cold sweat and filled with fearsome awe. This lioness could end him with a thought, and there was nothing he could do about it.

That was nature.

And yet, deep in his soul, something resisted this feeling of absolute obedience. Something demanded freedom. Jack clenched his fists and used all the strength in his soul to ignore his instincts and scan her.

Leonine, Level ??? (C-Grade)

Faction: Animal Kingdom (B)

Title: Seventh Ring Conqueror

His will gave out. Simply summoning the courage to scan her had taken everything he had. He fell back onto his seat, shivering.

The next moment, her aura receded like it had never been there. Everyone regained their bearings. Even Brock was staring blankly at the lioness, his entire body trembling.

“What was that?” Edgar muttered.

Jack shook his head and stood back up just as the lioness started talking.

“Merchants of the Union and people of Earth-387,” she began. “Welcome to the galaxy. I am Galicia Lonihor, the overseer of your planet and a representative of the Animal Kingdom, your new supervisors.”

She stopped for a moment, letting people digest her words—or carve her name into their minds.

She then continued. “Your meaningless lives are over, for we have brought you the gift of the System. You can now participate in the War for Immortality, the System’s ultimate directive, and help shape the New World as you see fit. You can grow stronger to degrees you’ve never imagined, comprehend the Dao and the world, and navigate the stars. Your species finally has a future, and it starts with you.”

While she used grand words, Jack noticed that her voice lacked color. It felt like giving out this speech was a chore she really didn’t care about, and she wanted to be done with it as soon as possible.

“The Integration Tournament is your time to shine. The elites of your elites will fight each other for grand rewards. Some will secure a path to immortality, and others will prove themselves too weak.

“The rules are simple: Over the next days, the participants will be called to fight each other randomly in pairs until one resigns or becomes unable to fight. Death can occur if you are not careful, but keep in mind that willful harming of other participants will add a loss in your record. Whoever accumulates two losses is eliminated, and they lose all privileges of participation. Moreover, every battle will be transmitted through the System to all cultivators of your planet. When only sixteen people are left, we will proceed to the final stage. Those sixteen will attain benefits beyond your wildest imagination, so try your hardest. That is the way of the System; the strong get stronger, and the weak get weaker.

“However, do not despair. To all who are watching us through the System transmission, and to all who made it here but will lose their rights to participate soon, this is an opportunity. Watch how strong you have the potential to be. Strive to reach the heights of these fledgling cultivators. Rush here, in the middle of your Pacific Ocean, to trade in premium rates or enjoy the spectacle.

“The future of your species will be determined by the people here. May they fight well. You have been Integrated, and so…” She finished her speech, then raised a hand, and the entire arena shook from the ringing of ten massive bells hanging around it. “Let the Integration Tournament begin!”