Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse
Chapter 171: The Darkness and the Flare

The outer half of Space Ring was brightly lit by the sun mushrooms that covered the outer wall. That light dimmed as it traveled. By the middle of the ring, the lighting was like a starry night.

And the final one-fourth of the ring was pitch-black. Fifty miles of darkness crowding with the strongest, meanest space monsters around, but also treasures that nobody had accessed yet.

Jack, Brock, Nauja, and Gan Salin were currently edging the darkness, skirting around just outside its border. This area had biome bubbles that not many approached due to the danger. From this close up, Jack and his team occasionally caught glimpses of bubbles just inside the darkness, quickly assessing them to see whether any were worth risking for.

They had been exploring for two days now. They jumped from bubble to bubble, quickly making distance from the Lords and their forces. According to Gan Salin, it was customary for a Garden Assault to spend five days in this ring, letting everyone reap the benefits they could discover, before progressing deeper.

However, exploring the Space Ring was more a measure of luck than skill or strength. The bubbles were simply too many. Their constant floating around made mapping impossible. One had to go as deeply as they dared to increase their chances, then just keep searching.

The radius where Jack’s team was currently searching was the optimal one. They were just outside the edge of the darkness. Nauja’s gaze caught all bubbles within a radius of ten miles, and they also kept an eye on the darkness itself, where the best treasures and trials might appear.

Of course, this area was highly dangerous, too. Late E-Grade space monsters patrolled everywhere, occasionally forming into hordes—or breaking up into individuals. Every movement from a bubble to the next was a dash, taking care of any attacking monsters as soon as possible to prevent them from piling up.

The darkness itself was even more dangerous. They caught glimpses of monsters in there, occasionally. Some were elites. The weakest were peak E-Grade. According to Gan Salin, even meeting King monsters wasn’t impossible. At least the D-Grade ones were so few and far between that running into them was highly improbable.

The monsters of Space Ring had their own hierarchy. The stronger a monster became, the deeper inside it moved. The reason why was unknown—maybe they just preferred the darkness. Or maybe they were somehow trained to do so by whoever created them. After all, the density of space monsters here was far, far, far greater than in actual interstellar space.

The trip so far had been fruitful. Though they hadn’t found a suitable trial for any of them yet—those things were stupidly rare—they had collected an assortment of minor treasures: berries with the Dao of Blood, herbs with the Dao of Life—that Jack kept for use later—a suspiciously sturdy rock, and even a little pebble that had a mouth and laughed whenever someone touched it.

The most precious treasures, like the laughing pebble, were even acknowledged by the System, letting Jack inspect them:

Ticklish Pebble

A pebble that laughs when touched. While possessing only minimal sentience, it is useful for cultivators pursuing the Daos of Laughter, Joy, or similar, as well as cultivators pursuing the opposite Daos, like Grief or Sadness.

Jack had kept this one, too, intending to gift it to Vlossana whenever—and if—they met again.

She’s going to love it, he thought smilingly.

However, these treasures weren’t too important right now. The greatest benefit was all the levels they accrued by fighting the space monsters.

Once again, Jack marveled at the efficiency of Trial Planet. Outside, people were willing to travel many planets away to find a late E-Grade monster. Here, they were common as dirt, letting everyone progress at unfathomable speed.

Jack was now Level 89, Nauja was 106, and Gan Salin was 78. Their team’s strength had taken a massive leap forward—and it had only been two days.

Of course, most of that was due to Jack being way stronger than his level indicated. In team fights, the other two benefitted as well.

The only problem was that he’d stopped training much with the Dao Soul for now. After fighting constantly, he just didn’t have the energy. Or the need. The Dao Soul’s utility would shine when things slowed down.

On the third day, in one inconspicuous bubble—a forest biome that was unfortunately empty of treasures—Jack suddenly noticed something odd.

“Hey,” he said, “is the light going down?”

Gan Salin’s eyes widened. He had been lounging on a log and singing, but he now shot to his feet. “Quick!” he said. “The flare is coming!” He then bolted off towards the side of the bubble facing the darkness.

“The what?” Jack asked, already running after him. Nauja and Brock were a step behind, equally confused.

“The flare!” Salin explained while running. “There are two sets of sun mushrooms. When one dims, the other lights up, and there is a short moment in between when both are lit. We must catch it!”

“Catch it for what?”

Jack remembered how, when he first entered Space Ring, only half of the sun mushrooms were lit. In hindsight, it made sense. Sun mushrooms had their cycle of day and night, as the previous rings had shown, and even the creators of Trial Planet didn’t want to sink Space Ring in total darkness.

Though they’d been here for two “days”, those were standard galactic days. The mushrooms’ cycle lasted more than that—around three days.

“The darkness!” Salin shouted, reaching the edge of the bubble and stopping. In the dim illumination that reached this bubble, the canine’s outline was the only thing visible. The space beyond was completely dark—that was the border of darkness.

Jack’s eyes widened in realization as he approached. The light kept dimming, down to half its usual intensity. By now, all of them were submerged in darkness. Jack could see nothing.

And then, in a bright flash, it was day. The second set of mushrooms flared to life before the first was done dimming. For a moment, every single mushroom on the ring ceiling was lit, pushing back the darkness and illuminating places that usually remained hidden.

The light washed over Jack, extending beyond. He caught a glimpse of what lay in the darkness.

Dozens of bubbles, each reflecting the light like stars. Humongous shapes floating around them like schools of squid, space monsters at the peak and Elite levels. Jack even caught a massive, serpentine creature lazily drifting back and forth. A King.

However, he only spared a glance for the monsters. His eyes were glued to the bubbles. This was the real prize. They had a moment of visibility. They could see far more of the dark area than ever before.

He quickly inspected the dozen bubbles as the light dimmed. He caught a volcano, a cloud, a lake. His heart skipped a beat with each, quickly assessing them and deciding if any were suitable for him or his team. Most of the bubbles spotted at least some degree of human activity—ruins, towers, houses—the telltale sign of trials. Moreover, these bubbles were close enough to the edge that they could make a run for them, if the rewards were worth it.

However, as he scoured them, his stomach dropped. Not a single one felt suitable. There was nothing visibly pertaining to insanity—or anything to do with the mind—the wind, archery, working-out, or fistfighting. The light was receding quickly. One by one, the bubbles were swallowed by darkness again.

Jack hardened his heart and decided that the cloud one might be okay. They could give it a shot. Clouds were close to wind, right?

Then, the light flashed again. Not all mushrooms had come on at the same time. A small percentage were out of sync, and as they activated, they overpowered the dimming ones to push the light a little bit farther than its previous limit.

It was momentary.

But enough for Jack to glimpse one more bubble. A stone palace floating in the darkness. Ancient-looking. Covered in moss and vines. With engravings on its side, large enough that he could make them out from here. Various animals were depicted, along with glyphs whose meaning eluded him.

The light receded quickly. The border of darkness returned to its previous radius, but just that glimpse had been enough.

Brock gripped Jack’s wrist. He’d noticed it, too. Jack looked down, but he wasn’t looking at the brorilla. He was looking at the Staff of Stone, tightly gripped in Brock’s hand. The staff made of ancient, moss-covered stone, with animals and glyphs engraved on it.

Even the feeling they gave off was similar.

“Brock,” Jack said, “I think we found your trial.”

“Yes, bro,” Brock responded.

“Which one, which one?” Salin asked excitedly, and Nauja stepped in to explain. Her sharp eyes had naturally caught the resemblance, too.

“Are you sure we should go?” she asked after explaining to Salin. “I know this seems like fate, but it’s just a random staff. Just because they happen to look similar doesn’t mean they’re related.”

“A random staff? What do you mean?” Jack asked. “Have you never inspected it before?”

“I— No. It’s inspectable?”

“Of course. How could you not know?”

“Brock is using it. We can’t scan things used by others. Quick, Brock, put it down and let us see.”

“Huh.” Jack didn’t know that. He tried inspecting the staff while Brock still held it, and indeed, he got nothing. It made sense in hindsight.

Brock quietly put his weapon down and took a step back, letting them have a look.

Staff of Stone, Life Weapon (D-Grade)

An Ancient weapon that utilizes the Dao of Density to adjust its weight, matching the wielder’s strength perfectly. Its max density is suitable for anyone with up to 1000 attribute points in Strength.

Carved and enchanted by Bozdom the Crafty.

“Woah, an Ancient artifact!” Salin cried out. “That’s impressive! Where the hell did you find it?”

“In a random anthill in Giant Ring,” Jack replied absent-mindedly. It was the first time he noticed that the “Ancient” part of the description was capitalized, indicating the Ancient race instead of just the age of the staff. The previous time he’d read this description, he didn’t even know about the Ancients, so he naturally ignored the capitalization. Now, it was a wealth of information.

“You lucky bastards,” Salin said, laughing. “Ancient artifacts are not too rare in Trial Planet, but not common, either. I’m surprised you have one.”

Brock picked up the staff and held it protectively.

“I take that back,” Nauja said. “I didn’t know the staff was an artifact. The two are clearly related. If the staff contains the Dao of Density, we can assume the palace has a trial related to a similar Dao. And since Brock is obviously well-suited for it…” She looked at the brorilla. “I guess we found our trial.”

Jack was beyond elated. Brock’s progress had been a thorn in his heart for a long time. Now, with a chance that could potentially skyrocket his little bro’s power, there was no way they’d let it slip.

Maybe Brock would even form a Dao Seed.

“We still need to find a way over,” Nauja said. “That bubble was very deep in. If we just rush it, we might be overwhelmed on the way.”

“True.” Jack cupped his chin. “Then, what do you suggest?”

“Thankfully, I also paid attention to the temple. I saw its movement. It was heading slightly deeper and sideways, in that direction.” She raised a hand to point. “And guess what’s there.”

Jack looked over. A pillar of light rose in the distance, starting from the inner wall of Space Ring and forming a lit passage into the bright area, bypassing the darkness. It was one of the light beams that led to exit tunnels to the next ring.

The creators of Space Ring didn’t want everyone dying as they blindly crossed the darkness.

“That’s not just a passage,” Nauja explained. “It’s also a way to infiltrate the darkness. I think we can use it for more than just getting to Labyrinth Ring.”

“Or, as I like to affectionately call it,” Salin added, “Labyring.”

Everyone stared blankly.

“What? I found it hilarious!”