Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

“John Brown and the Dao of Spanking versus Chen Zexi and the Dao of Beauty.”

Before the announcer’s voice had even finished ringing, Karvahul was already rolling on the floor a few seats away.

“What a pairing!” He laughed. “Go get her, John!”

Jack grimaced.

“Well?” Vivi asked, raising a brow with a smile. “Won’t you go spank her?”

Stay in character, Jack. Stay in character.

“Of course I will. I merely hope she is disciplined enough…”

Grabbing one of his flip-flops and tucking the other in his belt, Jack jumped over the railings and into the fourth sub-arena, where the energy wall that served as the ceiling had opened to let him pass. He landed in a thin cloud of sand.

Opposite him stood a stunning woman. She seemed of Asian descent—like the majority of participants—with thin features and jade-like skin, and she wore a thigh-long, flowing green dress that only accentuated her perfect curves. From her face to the tip of her toes, she was a sight to behold.

She didn’t reveal more skin than necessary, nor was she too erotic. That wasn’t her goal. Instead, just a glance into her beautiful eyes was enough to make Jack’s heart ripple with tenderness.

Human (Earth-387), Level 27

Faction: Chen Group

“Hello,” she said, and her voice was like silk. She tugged a strand of hair behind her fair ear. “My name is Chen Zexi. Please take it easy on me.”

She wasn’t shy. Her countenance screamed of dynamism, and her playful smile lit a fire in Jack’s heart.

“I’m John Brown,” he replied, “and if you could stop these games, I would appreciate it.”

“Games?” She smirked at him, then laughed whole-heartedly. “Would you that make me a naughty girl, John? Do I deserve a spanking?”

Jack had to try really hard not to visibly cringe. His face turned completely stony from the effort. “Yes,” he finally replied.

She winked. “In public, too? That’s pretty bold.”

The audience erupted into laughter, as did Chen Zexi. She was just messing with him.

“I’ll start now,” Jack said, unable to take this any longer. He groaned inwardly. These charm-related Daos rubbed him the wrong way; but then again, who was he to judge?

The next moment, he clenched his flip-flop and rushed forward.

He’d seen the Dao of Beauty before. On the first day, another girl of that Dao had been pitted against the metal guy—the one with the guitar—and lost terribly. It was a Dao that, in System lingo, focused on soul warfare.

Of course, Jack had asked about this before, prompting Edgar into a full-blown explanation of how everything worked, starting from the three main stats and how they worked.

Physical was the easiest one. It was obvious.

Mental didn’t exactly make you more intelligent. It increased the speed of your calculations and made you better at visualization. In other words, it made your mind faster and stronger. A person of high Mental would be great at chess, but they wouldn’t necessarily be a better decision maker. However, increasing Wisdom—one of Mental’s sub-stats—meant they’d recognize patterns more efficiently, which should make them better decision makers down the line.

Will was even more esoteric. It wasn’t a measure of someone’s willpower, but the power of their will, which wasn't the same. Willpower was forcing yourself to go to the dentist. Power of will was making your dentist come to you—the power to influence the world around you, mostly through magical means.

As different people progressed through the System, they emphasized different stats. Each of the three main directions focused on battles of different natures: Physical was for bodily conflicts, Mental was used for illusions and corporeal magic, while Will affected the so-called soul warfare, where people attempted to infiltrate each other’s soul.

The caveat was that, through the Dao, all stats could be used for everything. With strong enough Dao, a warrior could punch illusions and mental invasions away. The Dao itself was a weapon that could dominate all battles.

In other words, the System encouraged specialization, letting you cover your weaknesses with your strengths. Otherwise, every battle would be judged by who struck the first blow!

Jack arrived before Chen Zexi without a problem, then brought his flip-flop back to strike. She flashed him a smile, and he lost his mind.

Suddenly, his heart was in pain. She was so beautiful, so delicate, so passionate. From this close, her body exuded perfect harmony, and her face struck the deepest chords of his soul. Her wide blue eyes filled his world, and her sweet lips whispered promises of endless love. His flip-flop stopped, shuddering in mid-air.

Hers wasn’t the Dao of Seduction. Even her previous teasing had mostly been to have fun, not to turn him on. Jack didn’t feel the urge to ravage her, but to protect her and hold her dear, to love her truly and wholly. In a way, it was more fearsome than any seductive Dao.

It was painful.

“Do me a favor, John,” she whispered, leaning towards him. Her hot breath tickled his ear, lighting yet another fire inside him. “Resign this fight. Please… You are strong. You can win the next one, but I need this.”

His brows spasmed.

“Come on, John,” she continued, almost begging. From where he stood and how she was standing, he could see straight inside her dress, but it felt accidental—though it obviously wasn’t. He had the urge to reach up and lift her dress to protect her from unwanted eyes. “I need your help. Don’t leave me.”

Jack’s entire body trembled as his willpower warred against his instincts.

She flashed him the sweetest smile he’d ever seen, and leaned in to hug him. “Thank you, Jo— Eek!”

The flip-flop met her left buttcheek with a crisp slap, sending her flying a few feet to the side. She tumbled to the ground, then quickly stood back up. Somehow, not a speck of sand was on her.

“Why did you do that?” she asked with pain in her eyes. “Am I not worth even that much, John? Will you abandon me like everyone else?”

It helped that his name wasn’t John, so any mention of that broke his immersion.

“It’s useless, girl,” he replied, channeling his inner manic spanker. “When I see bad girls like you, I do not feel aroused, only a need to spank.”

“Then take me, rip my clothes off, and spank me on your bed!” she protested, changing tactics and going all-out. It had to be a Skill of some sort. Jack felt red silk strands wrap around his soul.

His Dao Root awakened. It shuddered and rose, staring at the silk strands with the finality of a professional boxer staring down a random drunkard in a bar. The silk strands danced beautifully around Jack’s soul, but the Dao Root of the Fist was relentless. It launched a rain of fist-shaped meteors that flew into the strands, destroying them without resistance.

Jack snorted, mentally grabbing the few strands that were left and ripping them apart.

When he was hesitating before, it hadn’t been about resigning, as she wanted. It was between spanking her immediately to avoid the cringy humiliation or letting her carry on just a bit longer because his heart really ached at the thought of fighting her. It felt like stomping on a beautiful flower.

However, Jack had forged himself on the razor-sharp edge between life and death. He’d crossed the ice pond. He’d fought to his very limit multiple times. He’d risked his life, thrived in danger, and faced off against the Dao itself. He had even developed a Dao Skill.

His heart could take the strain.

Plus, this particular girl was only Level 27, and her powers weren’t even suited for direct combat. If he lost here, it really would be a bad joke.

“Your tricks will never work on me,” he said, shaking his head. The crowd was hollering from all around, but he tuned them out.

“Please, John!” Her eyes got wide and bright like a cartoon. By this point, it was clearly an illusion. “I’m begging you. I don’t want to leave!”

This time, her despair must have been real because the power of her Dao was strong enough to almost make Jack question himself. Almost. He wouldn’t risk everything for a random girl, no matter how beautiful she was.

“It’s useless.” He shook his head again. “Just be a good girl and resign. Don’t make me spank you.”

“Hell no!” she shouted back. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? You sick— Eek!”

Jack flashed to her side and spanked her again, this time on the other buttcheek. He could feel her skin rippling even through her dress and the flip-flop. She hopped a step forward, clenching her butt. Her eyes held tears—maybe fake, maybe real. She bit her lip. “Please?”

“No.”

"Okay. Then, I guess I can only—"

Her hand reached inside her dress, grabbing the hilt of something. She tried to be sneaky, but of course, Jack saw it.

A third spank met her behind, this time going wide to get both halves. She yelped and fell to the ground. When she looked back, her face was red and teary, but though his heart felt on the verge of cracking, even that wasn’t enough to sway him. His hard eyes told her everything she needed to know—and the crowd’s reactions made her want to leave the stage on the spot.

“I resign,” she spat out, and with a final, complex look at Jack, she bolted away. The arena had doors leading directly to the outside, so she used those.

Jack himself looked at her departing form, shook his head, then jumped up to his seat and sat cross-legged.

“That was quite a spectacle,” Vivi said from the side, still hugging Brock, whose face had gone completely red under his fur. He looked at Jack with a new kind of respect.

“Yes.”

“Did you enjoy it?”

“No.” He shook his head. “The core of spanking lies in discipline, not pleasure. Her little tricks could have never broken my Dao Root.”

“Hmm…” Vivi hummed, squinting at him.

Inwardly, Jack was both relieved and desperate. Relieved because the spanking bullshit now flowed naturally from his tongue, and he’d probably fooled Vivi. Desperate because, oh my God, what am I saying!?

“Nice going, John!” Karvahul said, approaching. “You must be great with the ladies.”

“Leave me alone, Karvahul.”

“No, please continue,” Vivi told him, laughing and extending a hand. “I’m Vivi.”

“And I’m Karvahul,” he replied, shaking it. “It’s an honor to meet one of the planet’s future leaders.”

“There’s a long way ahead. Who knows what could happen.”

While the two exchanged pleasantries, Jack looked at Edgar, who remained in his seat and gazed at the arena with a red face. He grinned. “Hey, Edgar,” he said, making the wizardling jump, “why are you sitting there? Won’t you join us?”

Edgar turned around. He glared at Jack helplessly, then said, “Nice spanking. You know this was transmitted around the planet, right? Including the professor.”

Jack’s face fell. He leaned back and crossed his arms, regretting the fake Dao he’d chosen.

The crowd was still buzzing from Jack’s fight when the other three finished as well. The announcer’s voice filled the air again, and this time, she started with the hard match.

“Vivi Eragorn and the Dao of Flames versus Gan Salin and the Dao of Insanity.”

Vivi’s head snapped that way. Suddenly, her face was rocky, and her eyes stormy. She clenched her lips. “That’s a scion,” she said. “Crap.”

“Crap,” Karvahul repeated from her side. “You sure are unlucky…”

“I know.”

She stood, letting Brock rest on the chair. She then removed her coat, revealing the sleeveless shirt underneath. It was simple and red, with embroideries of blue flowers.

“This will be hard,” Jack told her. He was very interested in this match-up. It would be the first truly high-level fight he saw in the arena.

“I know,” she replied, flashing him a restrained smile. “Any tips?”

“Yes. He relies on speed but is physically weak. Pressure him from the start, overwhelm him, and don’t let him get the initiative. Also, careful; he bites.”

Vivi didn’t expect that. She stared deeply at him, then nodded. “Okay,” was all she said. She didn’t ask how he knew.

Then, she jumped. Warm air slowed her fall as flames licked the bottom of her hard leather boots, and she landed in the middle of her sub-arena with the grace of a feline.

“How unlucky…” Karvahul repeated, wistfully shaking his head.

“What do you mean?” Jack asked. “The strong people are bound to meet eventually. It just happened sooner for her.”

“It isn’t that. The pairings of each round are random, but weighted. Generally, the officials want to avoid pitting people with many victories against each other, as they risk eliminating future finalists early on. For the preliminary rounds—the ones we are going through now—the stronger you are, the weaker your opponents… But, in the end, there is always luck involved. Hers just ran out.”

Jack frowned. He didn’t know that. “Are scions really that strong?” he asked. “Maybe she can take him.”

“Maybe,” Karvahul agreed half-heartedly. “We’ll see.”

Across them, a slim figure emerged from a high-up, curtained-off section of the spectator stands. Gan Salin wore the same relaxed smile Jack remembered, and even from this distance, his eyes still carried the undeniable tint of insanity—maybe even stronger than last time.

However, he wasn’t the only one to emerge from the curtains. Jack saw another figure follow after Gan Salin and lean against the railings to watch the fight.

This man was humanoid, but that’s where the similarities ended. He had gray skin, gills on the side of his throat, and cobwebs between his four fingers. A large fin stretched from his back, sharp at the tip, and his eyes were elongated slits. Jack scanned him.

Sharken (Earth-387), Level 45

Faction: -

Title: Planetary Frontrunner (10)

He frowned. Another scion… Level 45, too.

The sharken didn’t seem to notice Jack’s stare, so he turned towards the arena, too.

Gan Salin smashed into the sand like a rock, but he was unhurt. “Hello,” he said. “Sorry, but can you resign? I was in the middle of something up there.”

Vivi stretched out a hand. Embers shone on her fingers. Flames flowed down her legs and licked the sand below. “Silence,” she declared. “You have no place here. In the name of my people, I will stop you. I will show the world that scions aren’t that strong.”

“Sure,” he replied, then squinted at her. “Oh, 41? This might be interesting.”

Jack scanned Gan Salin, too.

Canine (Earth-387), Level 41

Faction: -

Title: Planetary Frontrunner (10)

Reaching inside his pockets, Gan Salin removed a pair of gauntlets and made to wear them. Vivi didn’t let him. Flames suddenly gushed forth, covering the distance between them in the blink of an eye and swarming Gan Salin.

“Woah— Hey!” he shouted, jumping back. “Let me—”

She stepped forward, moving her arms in a circle. The flames she’d unleashed obeyed, rising from the ground and hurtling towards Gan Salin like an angry river. He struggled to put on a glove, but there were many latches, and the flames got there first. He was surrounded.

Luckily for him, his back met the energy wall, and pushing against it, he rushed through the flames as quickly as possible. His hair was partially charred, and his shirt was shimmering at the edges. “You honorless bitch!” he roared. His eyes widened. Froth bubbled in his mouth and ran down his chin. Veins popped all over his face, and his wide eyes got bloodshot.