Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse
Chapter 147: Rock Bottom

Jack remembered falling. He tumbled through the air, struggling to control his descent through waves of crippling exhaustion, but it was difficult. His body was malfunctioning. His Dao, in disarray.

He accelerated for several seconds. By the end, he thought he was a goner.

Then, he crashed into icy water, and all went black.

***

Jack awoke with a groan, his eyes fluttering open. The darkness was all-consuming, impenetrable. As he’d already opened his eyes, a hint of panic threatened to consume him, thinking he was blind.

Then, someone leaned over him. Jack almost exploded with power before a calming voice said, “Bro.”

Everything came back at once. The hunt, the chase, the fall… Bocor slapping Brock. He would pay for that.

But, for now, Jack let his body sag against cold stone, indifferent about the gravel massaging his waist. He realized now that he was exhausted. Every breath took effort, and just leaning against the ground was heaven.

He also realized he was wet. His pants stuck to his skin, and his hair was one with his scalp.

“What happened?” he croaked out. His voice was coarse, like sandpaper, but understandable.

“We fell into a pond,” a woman’s voice came from the side. Nauja. “That was lucky. I think I broke my arm.”

“What?” Jack asked back, not standing. “Are you sure?”

“It’s numb and unresponsive. I think it’s bent wrong.”

“Shit.”

Nauja sounded calm, like it wasn’t her arm she was talking about. We need light, Jack realized. He didn’t know how long he’d been unconscious for, but it had to be several minutes. His regeneration had worked a bit. He was still exhausted, but not crippled.

And, most importantly, the minotaur hadn’t chased them.

“Brock,” he said, “is that torch tip still in your pocket?”

When they crossed the gate below the ant hill, there was a pile of torches waiting for them. They hadn’t taken just one; besides the one they used to go down the spiraling tunnel, they had also broken off the tips of two torches and stashed them in Brock’s pockets.

Now, that decision was proven wise.

Brock stayed silent for a moment, making sure he had them. “Yes,” he finally replied.

“Okay. Can you try to light one up?”

“Yes.”

Sounds filled the room. Fur rubbing furiously against fur and fabric. A few moments later, the sounds ceased, but there was still no light.

Jack tsked. Not only had they plunged into a pond, wetting the torch tip, but the air down here was cold and damp. Setting it on fire was going to be difficult. “Can I try?” he asked, forcing himself to a seated position. It felt like pushing away his blankets on a cold winter morning.

Brock handed him something—a short piece of wood whose tip was wrapped in slippery cloth. Jack shook his hands once, then grabbed the cloth by both sides and started rubbing it between his hands. He was careful, going as fast as he could without ripping it.

It was hard without sight. He started off slowly, then gradually picked up the pace. His hands applied pressure and friction, creating heat. The cloth gradually dried up. The hotter it was, the faster Jack could go without tearing it.

It took the better part of five minutes. Eventually, Jack felt serious heat building up under his hands.

“Careful,” Nauja said. “It might be steeped in oil.”

“I know.”

When he felt it was close, he pulled his hands away and dragged them against the stone to clear them of oil. It occurred to him that there was a pond nearby. After feeling around a bit, he found it just behind his feet, and cleaned the oil off as well as he could.

He then approached his fingers to the torch tip and snapped them, hard. Once, twice, a small spark flew off, blinding in the darkness, illuminating hints of ragged skin and dark stone.

The sparks landed on the torch tip to no effect. He kept going for a while. Eventually, one of them took hold. The entire torch tip lit up, suddenly shedding bright light in a short radius. Jack closed his eyes—they were so adjusted to the darkness that the light hurt.

“Your fingers!” Nauja warned him.

Cranking up an eyelid, he saw that his palm was on fire. It was the leftover oil he hadn’t managed to clean up. He shook his hand until the fire went off, and then was left with a brilliantly lit, short torch. There was only an inch of wood under the burning cloth, just enough that he grabbed it from below.

“Let’s see,” he muttered, carefully swinging the fire around. His light illuminated Brock’s awed face, excited to finally see properly again and full of admiration for his crafty big bro. He kept going, revealing a small expanse of dark gray stone. Blue glimmers came occasionally, hints of an unknown ore. A pond was behind him, about ten feet across, and a tunnel extended vertically over it. The wall ended just behind the pond.

He paused there for a moment, the light shining at the very end of the vertical hole. He remembered them falling for seconds. That meant the hole was very deep, and since they hadn’t crashed into its sides, it had to be straight, too.

Why would there be a perfectly vertical, five-hundred-foot-long hole right above a small pond in the bowels of an expansive cave complex?

Could it be man-made? he wondered. The edges of the hole were surprisingly smooth. But who would make this here? And why?

At least, the minotaur and his friends hadn’t followed them down here. They probably feared injuries after knowing the hole’s depth—maybe the splashing sound hadn’t even reached them, and if it did, it must have taken a long time.

Whichever the case, Jack was glad. He didn’t know how long he was out for, or which of his comrades had dragged him out of the pond, but if the minotaur had come down, they sure as hell would all be dead.

Since the pond was directly adjacent to the back wall, he directed the torch at the front. Nauja lay there, her moist skin reflecting the torchlight and her hair forming wet lines on the stone floor. Her face was calm, steady, and pointedly not looking at her twisted arm.

Jack shivered as he saw it. It was bent the wrong way at the elbow.

“Is it bad?” she asked, still not looking.

“Could be worse,” he replied. “Keep your eyes on me. You said you had a regenerative skill, right?”

“It’s weak. Just part of my body-enhancing skill. I doubt it can fix a broken arm within a week.”

Jack nodded. Inwardly, he was shocked. His own regeneration could patch up his wounds within a few hours. What was that about?

Because I’m meant to fight body-to-body and get injured a lot? he theorized. Because I have a perfect Dao Seed? Because I have an elite class, so better skills? Then again, maybe she’s an elite, too.

Maybe all those combined.

“Okay,” he replied after a moment of thought. Thankfully, he knew some things about how bones work. “Focus on me. Look into my eyes.”

She kept her gaze locked with his as he stepped around and reached for her arm. He admired her bravery. He grabbed her elbow and forearm, and with a sharp movement, twisted it to the right direction. Bone snapped. Nauja lost her breath for a moment, then gritted her teeth not to scream.

“It’s okay, it’s alright,” he said softly. “We’re done. That was the hard part.”

She was shivering still, wanting to scream but her pride not letting her. Her eyes remained glued to his, and he could see them widening until the vessels burst. With swift, confident movements, Jack reached for his shorts and tore off the parts below his thigh. That also destroyed his hidden pocket, which only contained his emerald credit card by now, but there was no other fabric left. His shirt was long used up.

Tearing the cloth into strips, he used them to tie Nauja’s arm at the right position. Though he wasn’t a paramedic, he was confident that it would last.

He tried his best to be gentle, but Nauja still had to hold back screams every time he touched her. Her arm was shivering under his touch, surprisingly soft and silken. Thankfully, he felt no bones sticking out under her skin, besides the one at the elbow.

When he was finished, he took a deep breath and said, “Done. You were very brave. Not one scream.”

“Of course I was,” she replied, her voice weak. “Can I look now?”

“Yes.”

She threw her arm a glance. Her elbow stuck out sideways. She groaned and turned her head the other way.

“I set the bone right,” Jack said. “Now, we just have to wait for your regeneration to run its course.”

“My tribe’s healer could fix this in moments,” she replied weakly.

“Well, I’m not a healer. This is the best I can do.”

“That’s not—” She bit her lip. “I was just talking to myself. Thank you. I appreciate what you did.”

He cracked a smile. “You’re welcome. Now, let’s go see what’s down here, okay?”

The back wall was taken up by the pond, but their tunnel still extended forward, farther than the torch could illuminate. After resting for a bit, he could move again, though his legs were sore to the point of numbness. And he was starving.

Unfortunately, no restaurant delivered to Trial Planet. He had to go find food.

Helping Nauja up to her feet—she wobbled but stood—and making sure Brock was ready, he held the torch in front of him and began walking into the tunnel.

They only got ten feet in.

The tunnel came to an abrupt dead-end. However, it didn’t end in stone. A door was embedded in the far wall, taking up the entirely of the tunnel. It was eight feet high and wide enough for two people to fit side by side, and it looked positively ancient. Dust had accumulated on its surface, almost hiding it from sight.

“What is this?” Jack asked, reaching out to wipe some dust. Light gray metal was revealed underneath. He didn’t recognize the material, but it felt hard, smooth, and cold. Steel?

“What’s a door doing down here?” he asked again, filled with disbelief. When he looked back, Nauja seemed equally confused.

“I have no idea,” she finally replied. “I have never heard of anything manmade in the Forbidden Cave.”

“I thought these tunnels were fully explored.”

“They are.” She frowned. “Father said so.”

“Do you think they missed this?”

“I…don’t think so. The delvers are blasted people, but pretty thorough when it comes to treasures. Someone must have discovered this before.”

“Hmm. Are you saying they kept it secret?”

“Either that, or whoever found the door never made it back.” She stared at its surface. Faint engravings were just barely distinguishable under the alighted dust.

Jack swiped his torch around, looking more carefully at the cavern, scanning it with his eyes. “There,” he said, pointing at a corner. “People.”

The barest hints were left there. Food wrappings, a broken arrow without its tip, a credit card. They didn’t look nearly as ancient as the door. “Someone has been here before us,” Jack concluded. “But they kept it secret—or, at least, didn’t tell many people.”

“Why would they leave their credit card behind?” Nauja asked. “If they returned to their camp to report the door’s existence, they would take it along.”

Jack’s eyes widened in realization. “Something happened to them. They never made it back.”

“Exactly.”

They stayed still for a moment. Jack held up his credit card—he no longer had a pocket to put it in—and touched it to the dropped one. Numbers shone on the surface. “Nine hundred thousand!” he exclaimed, drawing in a sharp breath. “This guy was rich.”

Nauja raised a brow. “It isn’t much. Most delvers carry that kind of money, if not more.”

“Hah. Correction: I’m poor. But not anymore.” The credits moved to his card. “There we go.”

“Congratulations. I’m sure the tunnels will be full of merchants.”

That reminded Jack of a grim reality. “Can you find the way back?” he asked. “We ran for a long time, made so many turns.”

Nauja hesitated. “Maybe. I mostly kept heading deeper hoping they would let us go, but…they were really persistent. One of them must have a navigation skill.”

“Which you don’t have.”

“No. I just know some tricks to find my way around caves.”

“Great. So we’re trapped here.”

“I wouldn’t say trapped. More like…temporarily stranded.”

Jack grimaced. “Without food and water.”

“There is water,” she said, pointing back to the pond. “Our bodies can take it unless it’s extremely poisonous.”

“So the sooner we start, the faster we’ll be out of here,” Jack said. However, his eyes stayed glued to the door. So did Nauja’s.

“What do you think is behind it?” she asked in a low voice.

“Something dangerous. It took out whoever left that credit card.”

“But there was only one card. One person.”

“Perhaps we could take it,” he finished her thought.

It didn’t get any more intriguing than this. An ancient door in the bottom of a supposedly empty, enormous cave complex. “Maybe your tribe knows about this. That’s why they call it the Forbidden Cave. Because they don’t want anyone to find out.”

“But why?” Nauja asked. Jack had no answer.

Brock pointed at the door, then mimed pulling it open.

“It might be dangerous,” Jack said.

“For sure it is,” Nauja replied.

“But we’re here already. And this is Trial Planet, the land of opportunities. We might as well take a look, right? And if it’s too dangerous, we retreat.”

Brock said, “Yes.”

“We really shouldn’t,” Nauja said, biting her lip. Her pale skin, blue eyes, and blond hair all shone in the torchlight. “But we could.”

“But we could. There is a saying on my planet; curiosity killed the cat.”

“We have a similar one. The curious velociraptor springs the trap.”

“But satisfaction brought it back.”

“What?”

“That’s the full saying. Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. Though people don’t say that second bit. The first sounds better.”

Nauja narrowed her eyes. “Are you saying we should open it?”

“I know we will. I’m just demonstrating my knowledge.”

Unable to hold back, she chuckled. “You’re right,” she admitted, cradling her broken arm. “We’re already here. We might as well open it. Retreating now would be cowardly.”

“Or cautious.”

“Cowardly,” she insisted. “Fear is the worst guide to follow.”

Jack considered that for a moment, then chuckled. “Fine,” he said. “Enough bantering. Let’s go.”

He reached the door in two steps and pushed. Nothing happened. Then, learning from past mistakes, he tried to find a handle to pull, but there was nothing. He groaned.

“Just one, I want something to be simple. Is that too much to ask?”