Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

The goblin tribe originally had seventy-two members, including the one that spawned in Jack’s cave. Five were hobgoblins, and one was their leader, the Goblin Shaman. On the first night, seven hunters failed to return—three had been killed by Jack. On the second day, the goblin squads went out as usual, but a whooping thirteen goblins never returned.

On the third day, nine more went missing—however, this time, the goblins had learned to avoid the other monsters. They couldn’t have lost nine goblins naturally. Something was hunting them.

Of the seventy-two goblins, only forty-two were left, and that alarmed their leader greatly. He didn’t know what they were facing, but he knew that something was after them—something that didn’t dare attack the tribe but could pick off hunter squads.

That night, the goblin tribe echoed with whispers of the Hunter.

When morning came, seven squads left the tribe. Each was led by a hobgoblin or a Level 5 goblin, and each numbered five goblins instead of three. The leader would have liked to condense his forces even further, but they still had to procure food for the entire tribe. This would have to be enough.

***

Crap… Jack stayed in his bush and let them pass by him. This squad had five members, one of which was an evolved version, a hobgoblin. They’re onto me.

It was bound to happen eventually. He had already killed a total of twenty-two goblins, including the one in the cave, so if they hadn’t caught on yet, they would be extremely stupid.

It’s okay. All good things must come to an end.

Jack let this squad go; he probably couldn’t take them yet. However, since they were bound to reach this stage, he already had a plan.

The first order of business was to finally scout out the last monster group. Now at Level 5 and with multiple bonuses from the pond, he was confident he could either beat, escape, or hide from most things. If the System gave him kung-fu tigers, well…that would just be playing dirty.

He had to take the risk at some point, and since the goblin squads had just gotten dangerous, now was a good time. Depending on what he met, he would just brave the risks to keep attacking goblins or switch to the new group.

After the hobgoblin’s squad was past, he receded into the shadows. His destination was north-east, approximately where the final monster group would lie, according to his calculations.

He also hadn’t met the Dungeon Boss yet, but he had no idea where it could be. His best assumption was the big rocky hill at the center of the reserve, because why not, so he took a roundabout route. His cave was in the southern part and just a bit to the west, so he circled around the center to the northeast. No other goblins crossed his path—there were too few squads by now.

Jack was careful, so the journey still took two hours.

As he approached the north-eastern part of the Greenway reserve, he knew his suspicions were correct. The forest was different here. Wilder. Silent.

The trees rose higher, reaching up to thirty feet at places, and their foliage was thicker. The System had clearly messed with this part of the forest, as such vegetation had certainly not been here before. Moreover, despite the forest’s silence, its floor was strewn with shit as if suffused with wildlife.

His previous thought about tigers crossed his mind. It had been a joke then, but now…

Could it be true?

Jack hesitated. If there really was a strong, fast enemy here, proceeding might be a mistake. However, he’d already spent two hours to reach here—four, including the return trip. Was it such an ugly risk?

He decided to keep going. His pace slowed to a crawl, and his eyes constantly surveyed the overgrowth. As he snuck from hiding place to hiding place, the distant caws of birds made him jump. He bit his lip and steadied his heart—he shouldn’t be nervous.

He continued for another hour. Gradually, he relaxed, not meeting any enemies. Only some random forest critters got in his way, but they all quickly disappeared. Jack’s eyes never left the overgrowth, and that’s why he saw it.

A small dark shape left the higher branches of a tree and flew his way. It was a projectile of sorts, but that’s all Jack had time to see. He moved his head so fast his neck cracked and barely dodged before rushing behind a tree.

At the same time, the forest around him came alive. Screams and bangs filled the air, and the sound of creaking branches was clearly audible. Jack counted many voices; however, as soon as he recognized the animal they belonged to, he quickly peeked behind his tree in shock.

He barely had time to scan the creature before a dry, brown thing smacked him right in the nose.

Gymonkey, Level 7

A primate variant from planet Green. Gymonkeys inhabit all forest biomes and move in packs, defending their territory with flying poop and great muscles. Their unique name comes from their habit of lifting heavy things to increase their strength.

While not particularly aggressive, they are highly territorial.

The poop smacked Jack’s nose and fell to the ground with a plop. His brows shivered in irritation.

Did they really throw poop at me?

A pack of monkeys screamed at him from the branches—but these weren’t any normal monkeys. They had short, off-brown fur and were bulky, way bulkier than monkeys had any right to be. It was a miracle the branches even supported them.

Their saliva-filled jaws were intimidating, but nowhere near as much as their stunning pecs. These monkeys had thick biceps, low body fat, even six-packs! They looked like they could snap a human in two with one hand. It was like the System got a bunch of body-builders and turned them into monkeys.

There were five of them, and they were using their humongous muscles to hurl poop at Jack. One was already reloading, its face covered in an evil grin.

The analytical part of Jack’s brain, the one dedicated to biology, wondered just how these monkeys had managed to evolve like this. What kind of ecosystem could push them towards strength? Maybe predators that were fast but weak? Was it a mating thing? And did the conscious act of exercising hint at intelligence, or was it just completely ingrained into their DNA?

Every other part of his brain was just pissed that they threw poop at him.

However, Jack’s annoyance quickly turned to fear when their Levels registered. His surprise and disbelief evaporated. These were five Level 7 creatures. He could not handle them.

At that moment when he stood frozen, a deep roar came from further inside the monkey territory, making Jack blanche. He knew about monkeys.

They have a gorilla!

He wasn’t going to sit around and wait for the monkey daddy to arrive. He entered flight mode, and his entire body erupted with power as he ran for his life. He turned around, and his bare feet thundered on dirt and roots even as a rain of poop whistled around him. A few even hit his back, some more recent—and wetter—than others.

Jack didn’t know whether to curse or scream in fear.

THIS IS UNFAIR, SYSTEM!!

He ran with all he had, and the monkeys chased him for a while, content to pelt him with their poop from a distance. They were strong, but luckily, they were also slow. Jack could outrun them.

Coming this deep had taken him an hour before, but it took less than three minutes for him to fly out of their area, still zig-zagging amidst flying poop. They didn’t harm him, but they were annoying, and the force of the impact was enough to make him trip a couple of times.

The poop stopped coming, but Jack kept running for another minute before he dared look around. Then, he stopped. The monkeys were watching him from the far-off trees, threat in their eyes and fresh poop in their hands. He was not welcome there.

Jack also glared at them. He had been pooped! The dishonor! The humiliation!

“I will remember this, monkeys…” he said through gritted teeth before finally turning around. He couldn’t defeat them now—but soon, he might, and then he’d get revenge. He’d make them eat their damn poop.

Ridiculous! Goblins and magic bears, and then poop-hurling monkeys? He fumed on his way back. It took you this long to show your true face, System? Fuck you! You will not make a joke of my death!

He spent the entire trip hurling insults—mental poop—at the System before finally calming down enough to think. He’d been so high-strung lately that seeing something even remotely funny had completely riled him up.

In the end, he realized he was lucky. Maybe the monkeys were annoying, but they hadn’t tried to harm him, only kicked him out. That was a good thing—and, at the same time, a bad one.

He couldn’t afford good monsters. They had to be evil, like the goblins, to justify killing them and turning them into Level material. Those Gymonkeys—what an awful name—didn’t want to harm him, just to be left alone. They were animals, not monsters.

Had the System lied? Weren’t all monsters evil? Or had he only assumed that?

Jack didn’t enjoy that train of thought.

Whatever, he concluded. For now, I’ll keep fighting the goblins—I can’t handle the monkeys or bears, anyway. When the time comes, I’ll revisit the issue.

He used to hate how manipulative the System was for engineering the goblins and making them such easy to kill creatures. They were weak, ugly, clearly evil, and exceedingly hostile—the perfect humanoid enemies for someone unused to violence.

Now, he understood their utility. If the System wanted him—and all humans—to dive head-first into a world of violence, goblins were, indeed, a good solution. He was thankful for that because, if he had to kill a more peaceful species while dealing with this change, he might have been in such harrowing confusion that he’d end up dead.

He still hated the System with a passion, but he acknowledged that it was good at its job.

What’s the end goal, though… he wondered, walking through shrubberies and undergrowth. Are they training us to fight a war? Are they broadcasting our struggles as a tv show? Is this simply a form of torture? Since the System can clearly enhance us, why demand we level-up instead of simply augmenting us to the point of superheroes?

These were difficult questions, and unfortunately, he didn’t have the information to answer them.

Maybe the Goblin Shaman will know more. If possible, I will capture it, he resolved grimly. He hadn’t captured any goblin yet or even exchanged words with them, fearing that it would make him soft. He had acclimated to this new world and its law of the jungle by now, but he didn’t want to give himself the opportunity to regress.

The forest around him suddenly became familiar. He had reached his area, his territory, and that meant he was ready. He had scouted out all monster groups and could determine a plan of action.

Kill the goblins. Kill the bears. Kill the monkeys. Dodge the Dungeon Boss for as long as possible.

It was simple and clean. The bears came before the monkeys because they were solitary, according to his earthen knowledge. Even if they were strong, he could ambush them and hopefully deliver a blow strong enough to take them out immediately. He could start from the weakest bears and slay them one-by-one.

The monkeys wouldn’t be as easy. When—if—he did attack them, he would need to be a one-man army.

“Oh!”he exclaimed, suddenly realizing the pattern. The goblins are many but weak. The bears are strong but few and solitary. And the monkeys are something in between.

It was only a hypothesis, but it checked out—and, even if it wasn’t done on purpose by the System, it still held.

Now, Jack was ready to continue his war against the goblins, and he would do so by killing his first hobgoblin.

He cracked his knuckles as he slid into the shadows. He was the hunter. And he was coming.