Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Book 2 Prologue

Book 2 Prologue

He was your grandson! the lioness growled into the air, pacing alone in an empty room at the very top of the Integration City white tower. She was Galicia Lonihor, Earth-387s assigned overseer. Her voice was deafening, but her Dao prevented the slightest whisper from exiting the room. She was supreme, and sound was not.

He was your charge, a male voice replied calmly, seemingly out of nowhere. It came distorted, like a telephone transmission from across the planet. His death is your responsibility. So is losing the tournament rewards.

The Barren High blocked me! she argued. What was I supposed to do, break their prophets spiritual projection?

You were supposed to handle things. The cost of the treasures is yours to bear. And know that the Grand Elder awaits your explanation the moment you return.

She gritted her teeth. The power to level the entire Integration City sparked in her eyes, then disappeared. Fine, she relented. Let the Grand Elder know that I will subdue this planet completely the moment the grace period is lifted. Then, I will rush back to report.

And the offender? the voice pushed. The boy who took your treasures, killed the disciple you were supposed to raise with all your strength, and spat on our factions face?

His emphasis was clear, but how could she retort? Both of them knew he was right. She was just fishing for any support she could get.

I have people tracking him down as we speak. He was heavily injured, and the teleporter had low range; only a hundred destinations. Moreover, he knows nothing of the galaxy. How far could he have gone?

Hes only an untrained native. How could he beat Rufus? And yet, he did. Do not underestimate our enemies like the low factions do. We will not suffer the fate of the Glacial Pole.

She gritted her teeth harder. This man was an elder with similar status to hers, but his power was greater. She could bargain and argue, but in the end, his authority prevailed.

I will not, she replied.

Good. Announce a bounty on his head. Something that will entice even D-Grades to actively search for him.

That was easy for him to say, because it wasnt his money. The burden of paying the bounty would naturally fall on Galicia, who had let Jack reap all benefits and escape. Moreover, if someone got Jack Rust before them, they would never return the Dao Soul, and its value would obviously be compensated from her credit card.

She could afford that, but she didnt want to.

That would harm our reputation, she argued. The other B-Grade factions will say we cant even take care of an E-Grade ourselves.

Then let them nag. Little criminals like this boy can grow up before you know it, especially with all the resources you gifted him. The Glacial Pole faction took their chances, and you saw what happened.

They were only C-Grade.

And the Sword Emperor was E-Grade three years ago. They ignored him and paid the price. Do not make me repeat myself. Announce a heavy bounty.

She gave in. Can you at least foot part of the cost? This boy killed your grandson.

Rufuss death saddens me, but such is life. He only died because he was weakand for another reason, of course.

Because Galicia had failed to protect him. He didnt say the wordsshe wouldnt take an insult like that from someone of the same rankbut they both knew what he meant. Galicia wanted to break something.

Very well. Be ever strong, she said, then abruptly cut the connection.

The three ceramic vases that decorated her new office exploded. They were nothing to a C-Grade, but it was the intention that counted.

It didnt make her feel better. Perhaps crushing Jack Rusts faction would; she only had to wait a bit. There was no way he would grow strong enough to match her in less than a yeareven if they didnt capture him within the day, as would probably happenand she wouldnt let anyone just swoop in and rescue his faction. They were cattle waiting for slaughter.

With a few thoughts, she navigated the System screens to contact a deacon in the nearby border fortress. Post a bounty on the head of Jack Rust, a low E-Grade human from Earth-387 who leads the Bare Fist Brotherhood. He uses the Dao Seed of the Fist and the Dao Root of Indomitable Will. She also sent a mental picture of Jack Rusts appearance.

Understood, Elder, an obedient voice came from the other side. And the amount?

Galicia greeted her teeth, consoling herself with the thought that her hunters would catch him before the bounty even made it to whatever random planet he had teleported to. One billion credits alive, a hundred million dead.

The Immortality Serum was gone, but the Dao Soul could be salvaged from his corpse, and it was by far the most expensive reward of the tournament. She could at least cut her losses.

***

The professor looked at the System screen before her, showing her choices from the faction shop. In the short few weeks since Jack went to the tournament, she had managed to gather a million credits, including the ones he sent her.

Now, most of that was going to vanish in a heartbeat. She took a deep breath to steady herself, then accepted. The ground shook under her feet. The trees swayed. She grabbed her armrest out of reflex, but of course, it was shaking too.

Thankfully, nobody in the Bare Fist Brotherhood was weak enough to be toppled by a mere earthquake.

The professor ran to the windowthanking the System for invigorating her old bodyand looked outside. Energy walls rose around the forest: tall, shimmering blue energy fields like the ones the System used to enclose dungeons. However, these were transparent, and people could easily walk through.

As if on cue, someone crossed a wall, releasing small fireworks. Her heart hurt. Every time someone activated the wall, one more credit was removed from her credit card. She had already instructed everyone to stay away, but some confusion was expected at the start.

The walls left a gate for people to enter or leave the forest, of course, and it was guarded by the second strongest being on planet Earth: Sparman, the D-Grade robot bodyguard. Too bad he could only be used to defend.

She directed her gaze lower, towards the base of her house, where a small starship had just materialized out of thin air. It was shaped as an elongated pyramid hovering sideways and looked like it could barely fit a few people, but it remained a vehicle faster than a plane. With the Sage and his starship gone, this one would serve them well.

It was yellow, too. She hadnt chosen that, but she liked the color.

The rest of the credits had gone to strengthening the faction. A pool of hot water now lay hidden in the ice ponds cave. That was the reason for the earthquake, actually.

It had taken half a million credits, but she had managed to summon an additional E-Grade body strengthening resource. With that, the members of the Bare Fist Brotherhood would have a higher chance of survival against whatever the world threw at them.

That would never come to pass, hopefully. There was Sparman, and before the grace period was over, Jack would be back with salvationhopefully.

But Professor Margaret Rust was always ready for the worst.

***

Edgar and Vivi stood facing each other on the edge of the Integration City. Are you sure? Edgar asked.

Very, Vivi replied. We cannot let them have all the firepower of Earth. Many factions decided to join us after the battle in the arena, and even more went neutral. We have enough power to keep the Ice Peak from actingat least openly.

Edgar gave her a sad smile. This will be the Cold War all over again.

But we have a nuke called Jack Rust. We will win, Edgar. And if we dontwere dead anyway.

Yeah.

They stood for a moment, considering each others words and the situation. Then, side by side, they boarded the private jet that the Flame River had managed to secure. It would drop Edgar off at Valville, then head for Burkina Faso.

After Jack and Rufus had left the arena, the Ice Peak was left facing the Flame River, Dorman, the Sage, an injured brother Tao, and Vanderdecken. Even though Vivi was injured too, the Ice Peak couldnt possibly win that battle. Dorman alone could sear through them.

In the end, victory had gone to the Flame River alliance. Of the five Ice Peak members that had come to the tournament, only their leader, Alexander Petrovic, had managed to escape, and only because Dorman couldnt fly. Coupled with Jack slaying Rufus, it had been an overwhelming victorybut not without sacrifices.

Li Xiang, the honorable elderly master, had fallen. Brother Tao had lost an arm. Sadaka, the second-in-command of Flame River, had also fallen in battle.

Casualties had been expected. The important thing was that they had won overwhelmingly, and that the battle had been broadcasted to the entire planet. Many factions that had previously sided with the Ice Peak, terrified of the Animal Kingdom, now chose to stay neutral or join the Flame River instead. Many governments did the same, especially those close to Burkina Faso, where Vivi and the Flame River originated.

Fesh Wui and the elef scion had both survived, and they had left the planet shortly after the tournaments conclusion. There was an inner division between their two families and the other three, so they had no reason to risk their lives for Earth. Plus, with Dorman here, there was no guarantee of victory.

Gan Salins whereabouts remained a mystery.

However, Dorman and the Sage had also secretly left the planet. Nobody knew where theyd gone, only that they had promised to return when Jack did. In fact, the only ones who knew that they had left were Edgar, Vivi, and the professor back at the Forest of the Strong.

In light of all those, there was no reason to go to war anymore. Jack and the scions were gone. Nobody would benefit from millions of dead. One way or the other, everything would be settled in eleven monthsthe Integration and the tournament had already taken one.

But this didnt mean that the planet would be unified. With the implicit support of the Animal Kingdom, the Ice Peak and their allies took control of around half the world. The Flame River and Bare Fist Brotherhood, along with their allies, controlled the other half. Many places remained neutral.

These two large alliances had already begun scheming at one another, planning discreet strikes, assassinations, and all sorts of shadowy war. They competed at everything, from the Level of their strongest cultivators to the number of starships they could buy, but the hottest competition was the amount of dungeons they could claim. After all, there were 1,111 dungeons on Eartha thousand F-Grade, a hundred E-Grade, ten D-Grade, and one C-Gradeand only a few had been conquered already. Wherever they met, the forces of the two alliances secretly tried to slaughter each other.

The Systems arrival had altered the nature of war, both open and in the shadows, and everyone would need some time to adjust, but they would manage.

Maybe they had no nuclear weapons anymorethe Star Pact forbade them, and the System had deactivated them upon arrivalbut they would soon have cultivators with the strength to achieve similar destruction. In such a tense situation, any spark would be enough to set the planet aflame.

Nobody could contact Jack Rust. And while he was missing, a second Cold War settled over Earth.