Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

“Please depart the arena,” the lioness decreed.

As she hovered high above the arena, carrying the might of a God, who would dare disobey?

Jack paled. “Wha—”

Almost immediately, several heavy auras fell on him. Dog robots—the guards—stared at him from every arena entrance. He might have been able to handle one of those, but not that many!

Plus, only an idiot would fight here.

However, his heart was on fire. His face was going red. This was so unfair! Yes, he had lied, but he hadn’t broken the rules to attack Shard Presht! He only had one loss! This was blatant cheating! Bias!

Yet, in the end, what choice did he have? He had lied to the officials, though he’d never expected it to be such a big deal. The fault was half his. And, most importantly, he was powerless.

At least he’d protected his people for many days. Hopefully, they would be better prepared to face any blowback now.

Right as he stood there conflicted, ready to walk away in shame and helplessness, the monk above frowned. “Stay there for now,” he said, then turned to the lioness. “Your Nobility, I have watched some battles of this tournament, including the last one. The boy lied, but he did not cheat.”

“Are you saying I am mistaken?” the lioness responded calmly. Her Dao flared, enveloping the entire arena in a blanket of supremacy. She was like a God.

“I wouldn’t dare,” the monk replied, bowing slightly, “but I believe a person of your grand stature would never lower themselves to watch the first phase of an Integration Tournament. Perhaps your subordinates made a miscalculation?”

“My subordinates know the rules well enough. They do not miscalculate.”

The lioness took a hard stance, cutting off all paths to retreat. She was dead set on eliminating Jack from the tournament.

The monk stayed silent for a moment, clearly deliberating his next words. However, another immortal, the ascetic mentor of the Sage, spoke first. “The boy should remain,” he said in a quiet voice, yet everyone heard him.

This person was skinny as a stick. His ribs showed over a pair of dirty brown pants—he wore nothing else. He hovered cross-legged, and milky eyes could be seen under messy gray hair.

Jack shot him a grateful stare. The lioness turned at him. “Your Holiness,” she said, addressing him respectfully despite being a higher Grade, “the rules are clear. He committed two acts worthy of a penalty, and two losses lead to direct disqualification. If that is disharmonious, we can replace him with the last person to be disqualified before him.”

“The Barren High speak wisely,” Jack’s mentor hurried to agree. “Let us keep the boy, Your Nobility. I can sense his frustration, as can you; he clearly feels that this is an injustice. Why would he lie to himself?”

The ascetic did not respond, but he nodded.

“I concur,” the worm’s thought-voice spread over the arena.

Jack looked at it in surprise. The mentors of the Sage and Dorman had helped him… Even if he ended up disqualified, he would remember that.

The C-Grade lioness hesitated. She clearly didn’t want to give ground, but there was a limit to how many immortals she could publicly ignore—even if they were of lower rank. “Very well,” she finally agreed, staring the bald monk—Jack’s mentor—with her eyes. “The Animal Kingdom will grant the Exploding Sun this wish. The boy remains.”

The monk’s face tightened, but he did not respond.

“As per the Star Pact,” the lioness continued, addressing all mentors, “please visit the participant district, where you will remain for the duration of your stay.”

The monk turned to Jack. “When you are done here, come to me,” he instructed, then flew away so fast he practically disappeared. All other mentors said similar things and followed suit.

Everyone was left gaping, unable to process what had just happened, and most confused of all was Jack.

What the hell was that!? But hell, I remained!

“Congratulations to those of you who got chosen,” the lioness continued. She completely ignored everyone’s confusion, not giving them any time to process things, while also maintaining that arrogant tone in her voice as if she was reading a script to ants. “For the rest, do not despair. The road to immortality is fraud with opportunities for those who deserve them. I will now announce the rewards of this Tournament.”

Rewards! Who cared about mentors? Everyone refocused at once.

“Every finalist will receive one hundred thousand credits, effective immediately. Additionally, every victory from now on will be rewarded with an additional hundred thousand instead of ten.”

Most people’s eyes widened. Even to Jack, who now possessed more than two million credits, this number was no joke.

“More rewards will be given to those who place in the top four,” she continued. “Fourth and third place will receive a Trial Planet Token. Second place will receive a Trial Planet Token and an Immortality Serum. First place will receive a Trial Planet Token, an Immortality Serum, a Dao Soul, and a D-Grade automaton bodyguard. Additionally, the tournament winner—”

For the first time, the crowd’s clamor rose so high it interrupted her. The merchants on the stands were discussing so animatedly they’d forgotten to lower their tones, and the collective noise was annoying even to Jack.

“Silence,” the lioness commanded. Her godly aura, which had previously been suppressed, was released, enveloping everyone and making them unable to even breathe loudly. From one moment to the next, the arena was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

The lioness continued like nothing had happened. “Finally, the tournament winner will be granted entry into the Animal Kingdom and apprenticeship by a C-Grade immortal. The final phase of the tournament will begin in three days at dawn. Good luck.”

The crowd remained quiet, but the eyes of the merchants were about to pop out of their sockets. The lioness disappeared, and they instantly erupted into an even more chaotic collection of voices.

“Are the rewards that good?” Jack asked, looking at the members of his alliance.

“They’re unheard of!” Vivi hurried to respond. “I have looked at the rewards for previous tournament, but the Animal Kingdom has never invested so much in a newly-integrated planet.”

“Maybe it’s because we’re very strong?”

She gave him a straight look. “I am more inclined to believe they ramped up the rewards because they’re confident that their scions will get them all. For example, Rufus Emberheart is almost guaranteed to get first place. They would have already given him all that, but now they can also cultivate a reputation as generous overseers.”

Jack glanced at the lion man. He simply stood there, ramrod straight and surrounded by the other scions, gaze lost in thought. He didn’t seem surprised by the rewards.

“But what are those things?” he asked.

“The Trial Planet Token is something that only the most elite of E-Grades can obtain. It allows entry into Trial Planet, the hollow planet, where potential is given an extra set of wings,” Vivi explained. Everyone gathered around her to listen, except for the Sage, who only nodded as if he already knew these things. Jack knew this too—he already had a Token—but pretended not to.

“The Immortality Serum is a very coveted elixir which is said to unlock the potential of all those below the D-Grade. It is essentially a breakthrough in a bottle. It can increase your attributes and your resonance with the Dao. It’s priceless!”

“Sounds nice.” Jack nodded.

“As for the Dao Soul, it greatly amplifies a person’s connection to the Dao. According to rumors, it can double the speed of one’s cultivation…but, of course, those are only rumors. These things are so rare that only the most promising youths of the galaxy get them, and they keep their mouth shut. Finally, the D-Grade robot is priceless, too. The galaxy is a dangerous place, and such a strong bodyguard basically guarantees you can adventure in relative safety. Plus, D-Grade automatons are extremely expensive to manufacture. We’re talking about dozens of millions of credits.”

“Dozens of millions!?” Dorman raised his voice. “That’s a lot!”

“Yeah, and that’s just the material cost.” Vivi shook her head. “Anyway, it seems that Rufus Emberheart is a very promising scion of the Animal Kingdom. No wonder he’s so strong.”

Everyone nodded. Even Jack had to acknowledge that Rufus Emberheart was the absolute favorite. After all, his every battle so far had ended in a single, effortless strike.

“Immortality Serums are not that rare,” the Sage said, drawing everyone’s glances, but only smiled and didn’t elaborate further. He often said stuff like this.

From the stands, Karvahul was waving at them to head over, but Jack ignored him. “I think I’ll go see my mentor,” he said. “Karvahul can wait.”

“Of course.” Vivi grinned. “Mr. Golden Boy needs to get his benefits.”

Jack felt a bit bashful; after all, everyone hoped for a mentor, and he’d hogged three of them.

“I—”

“It’s okay, Jack. I was just kidding. But you still need to make up for giving us a fake name, okay? Treat us to something later.”

He smiled. “Will do. Anyone else heading home?”

Edgar, Dorman, and the Sage nodded instantly. All of them had a D-Grade mentor now, and they looked forward to talking with them—except for Sage, maybe, who remained as unreadable as ever.

“I’ll speak with Karvahul,” Vivi said. “Just go.”

“Thanks, Vivi.”

The four of them walked away quickly. However, right after they approached the arena’s exit, so did all five of the scions. Jack came to a pause. Each of those people was a planet-class powerhouse, and seeing all five of them together was quite a sight.

He looked at Gan Salin. “Sup, dog,” he said.

He was already an enemy of the scions. So what if he offended them even more?

Gan Salin bared his fangs. Beside him, Shard Presht did the same. Rufus Emberheart, who was walking in front of them, completely ignored Jack—however, the latter happened to stand between the scions and the arena exit. If he didn’t step away, they would have to step around him, and Rufus clearly wasn’t willing to do that. He stopped, chest pointed directly at the exit through Jack.

“You are blocking the way,” he said matter-of-factly.

“I am not. It’s a big arena. Walk around me.”

“You stopped in front of me.”

“I needed to tie my shoelaces,” Jack replied. He was barefoot.