Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse
Chapter 227: New Constellation, New Me

A starship flew through space. Stars flickered restlessly on all sides, but the silence was deafening and the wind non-existent, giving the impression that the ship was standing still. In reality, it was moving at multiple miles per second.

A green planet was slowly growing in the distance.

“That’s the way, Brock,” Jack said, reclining on his seat. His dark hair tumbled over his shoulders, contrasting the perfectly white chair, while his eyes seemed to contain a universe of their own. If a pre-System person looked into them right now, they would probably shit their pants and bow in worship. “Keep her steady. We’re in perfect trajectory for…what was the planet’s name again?”

Brock shrugged. “No idea.”

“Noidea it is. Great name.”

The first time they’d flown a starship, it had taken the both of them to be even barely functional. However, that time had been under pressure, and with “race mode” accidentally activated.

The starship they were currently flying was much more convenient. It had four rooms—a cabin, a bathroom, a helm room, and an exit room—as well as controls that didn’t jitter like a ticklish baby. It was certainly an upgrade.

As a result, both Jack and Brock could drive it easily. They took turns.

They had also named the starship, “Bromobile.”

“We’re almost there!” Jack shouted excitedly, watching the planet grow so large it dominated their view. He could clearly make out the continents and seas, as well as a large mountain ridge, and the sight was nostalgic enough to almost bring tears to his eyes. It reminded him of Earth. Of home. It had only been three months since he left, but with everything that happened, it left like an eternity.

He had grown so much since then. In three short months, he had risen through the entire E-Grade and broken through to become an immortal. He had also inherited the Life Drop—a drop of blood from Enas, the Old God of Life who was trapped in a black hole—and achieved a King Class called Cosmic Fist—which he looked forward to exploring.

Name: Jack Rust

Species: Human, Earth-387

Faction: Bare Fist Brotherhood (D)

Grade: D

Class: Cosmic Fist (King)

Level: 131

Strength: 695

Dexterity: 645

Constitution: 665

Mental: 120

Will: 190

Dao Skills: Meteor Punch III, Iron Fist Style II, Neutron Star Body II, Brutalizing Aura II, Space Walk I

Daos: Dao Tree of the Fist, Dao Root of Indomitable Will (fused), Dao Root of Life (fused), Dao Root of Power (fused), Dao Root of Weakness (fused)

Titles: Planetary Frontrunner (10), Planetary Torchbearer (1), Ninth Ring Conqueror, Planetary Leader (1)

Jack still struggled to comprehend how strong he had become. He was an immortal now. He possessed the power to level mountains and a lifespan of a thousand years. And he was, what, twenty-eight?

Time was weird like that. The four months since the Integration had felt like a century. For some reason, even the two hours it had been since he teleported out of Trial Planet, killed the three Hounds, and declared war on the Animal Kingdom—though they didn’t know yet—felt like months.

Unfortunately, even though those Hounds were fifty levels above him, they had only given him enough experience to level up six times, reaching Level 131. Leveling would become harder from now on.

I really should complete my PhD at some point, he realized, absent-mindedly watching the planet approach through the starship’s windshield.

“Bromobile down,” said Brock. He pulled on a lever to reduce their speed, then tilted the steering wheel upward to make them glide in parallel with the planet’s surface instead of hurtling straight at it. They descended through the atmosphere smoothly, unfettered by gravity. Clouds filled their vision. When they cleared, an entire world stretched beneath their feet, with valleys and mountains and forests.

“Wait,” Jack said. “This place isn’t empty, is it?” After all, they needed to find a teleporter and head towards the Exploding Sun.

Fortunately, it only took him a moment to discover the large dirt road wrapping around a mountain in the distance. Since they were still in the Animal Kingdom constellation, which was part of the System-integrated space, civilization meant cultivators—and, most importantly, teleporters.

Brock brought the starship to a halt and approached the windshield. A moment later, he pointed down. Jack followed with his gaze and quickly noticed a man riding a horse through a field below.

“Let’s go ask him,” he said.

Brock grabbed the controls again. They descended like a comet next to the horse-rider, who froze in terror and went pale as a sheet. He was a thin man with a long black mustache, whose hard face looked out of place when terrified like that. He was also surprisingly young—maybe twenty years of age?

“Angh,” he tried to say.

“Hello. Do you not speak our language?” Jack asked, using Space Walk to teleport outside the starship.

Human (Galipede), Level 32 (F-Grade)

Faction: -

The man jumped back in fright. His horse frothed at the mouth and started running away, causing its rider to fall.

Jack was having none of that. He flew after the horse, grabbed it from the back, and lifted it over his head so that its legs kicked harmlessly at the air. He then deposited the horse gently before its rider, leaving both shell-shocked. If they could, they would have probably hugged each other.

“Sorry,” Jack said. “We didn’t mean to scare you. We’re just looking for directions.”

The man managed to utter a few words. “Directions to what?”

“The nearest teleporter that can take us off-planet.”

“I, uh… It’s that way, venerable immortal,” the man said, pointing towards the far-off mountain. He had regained his composure somewhat. “A city in the middle of a lake. It’s called Califrede. You can’t miss it.”

“I see. Thank you. Is there any way I can repay the favor?”

The man’s eyes went wide. Once again, he mustered his courage to say, “I, uh, I was heading in the same direction, venerable immortal. I need medicine for my daughter. If you could carry me along, even in the trash compartment of your starship, I would be beyond grateful. Extremely grateful.”

“No problem. Can you open the door, Brock?”

A door at the side of the starship slid open. There was no ramp, but Jack simply carried both horse and man inside, fitting them in the helm room—which was suddenly a bit cramped.

Needless to say, the man was simultaneously scared, relieved, and unable to believe his good luck. The horse was frozen in fear.

“Brock,” Jack suggested, “can you inform this horse that good bros don’t defecate in each other’s starships? It looks scared, so you never know.”

Brock nodded and mimed the instruction. To everyone’s surprise—including itself—the horse nodded.

“No need to be scared, man,” Jack said, smiling at the pale horse-rider. “I may be an immortal, but I’m a pretty friendly guy. I won’t harm you. What’s your name?”

“Lionel, venerable immortal.”

“Well, Lionel, enjoy your flight. Can you point us in the direction of this lake city you mentioned?”

The horse rider—Lionel—looked outside and numbly pointed in a direction. Brock grabbed the helm and smoothly led the starship over a mountain and a grassland. With their speed, it only took them ten minutes to reach the city—but a horse-rider could have easily taken half a week.

“Looks like you hit the jackpot, Lionel,” Jack said. “Completely pun intended.”

Lionel nodded numbly. “You have my eternal gratitude, venerable immortal. I can never repay the help you have given me.”

“It’s no big deal. No need to get all formal.”

“Thanks to you, my daughter may survive,” Lionel continued, tears glistening in his eyes. “I was going to ride day and night to arrive in time. Thank you. Thank you!”

“Oh… Well, glad we could help.”

This lake city was, indeed, a city built on a lake. Jack couldn’t tell if there was an island under it or not, but he could see random spots of water everywhere, so he suspected not.

It was an architectural wonder. Floating platforms and small boats made up most of the city, which was inhabited by human and amphibian-looking humanoids alike. They seemed to be getting along just fine.

It also smelled a bit, but Jack had been through worse. When undergraduates fucked up in his laboratory, the stench was often putrid enough to burn his nose.

“Do you have enough money to buy that medicine, Lionel?” Jack asked.

“I do, venerable immortal. You have already provided me with enough fortune to last me ten lifetimes!”

This Lionel fellow had a particular way with words, but he seemed like a good man overall—even likable. Jack and Brock deposited him at a pharmacy—or apothecary shop, as the sign indicated—and Jack joined along to buy some stuff of his own. They then insisted on giving Lionel a lift back home as well, so he could treat his ailing daughter. They could spare a half-hour round trip to save this guy days of ceaseless horse-riding.

Lionel accepted with superfluous words of gratitude. His horse wasn’t equally relieved, mostly due to not understanding, but it should have been, because Lionel’s plan of ceaseless riding included the horse dying of exhaustion mid-way.

To punish him for that, they dropped him off a few minutes away from his village. It was more of a prank, actually. Unless the horse learned how to speak, nobody would ever believe him.

“Thank you for choosing the Jack and Brock Airline,” Jack said as they dropped Lionel off. “Enjoy your stay!”

After once again accepting Lionel’s superfluous and oddly-worded gratitude, they flew back to the lake city and landed near the furnace-shaped building that served as the teleporter. Jack willed the starship to shrink to the size of a needle—a very handy function—then stored it in his pocket.

Once on the ground, he took another look at the surrounding people. They were dressed in thigh-long, airy robes, kept their hair long, and walked around on wooden shoes. The amphibian humanoids didn’t have hair, but fins that stuck out from the top of their head, as well as gills on both sides of their throat and webbings between their fingers. Besides those, they resembled humans.

“Huh,” Jack said, scanning a random amphibian person, “would you look at that.”

Fishfolk (Galipede), Level 14 (F-Grade)

Faction: -

His biologist instinct insisted he stay here for a while and study them. Unfortunately, he had a job to do—and little time to admire the galaxy’s wonders. The Exploding Sun awaited.

There was a long line before the teleporter. Just as Jack braced himself for a wait, someone scanned him and exclaimed. The surprise spread like a wave, with everyone moving aside and bowing. Murmurs of “venerable immortal” spread through the crowd, making Jack feel slightly awkward.

“It’s all right,” he said, lifting his hands. “At ease.”

They were not at ease. Apparently, the immortals of this planet enjoyed extremely high status. Jack thought back to the stories of Vlossana, the passenger of the Trampling Ram—her continent only had a single D-Grade cultivator. If this planet was any similar, it was no wonder people reacted like that.

He felt like a celebrity.

Therefore, Jack and Brock skipped the line and arrived before the door of the teleporter building. They opened it, escaped the outside noise, and found themselves in front of a peak E-Grade guard who was too busy scribbling something down on a piece of paper.

“Wait outside the door,” the guard barked, not raising her gaze from the paper.

“Are you sure?” Jack replied.

The guard looked up. A moment later, her face went pale. “Venerable immortal!” she cried out. “My deepest apologies! If I knew who you were, I would never—”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jack cut her off. “Apology accepted. Can you help me teleport to the Exploding Sun constellation?”

“I— Certainly, venerable immortal,” the guard replied, straightening her back in a military salute. “Do you have a specific destination in mind?”

“I am headed to the Exploding Sun headquarters, so the closer to it, the better.”

“Of course, sir. May I recommend Earth-309?”

“Sure.”

“Also, pardon me for daring to ask, but could I have your name and affiliation, please? It is for record-keeping.”

“You cannot.”

The guard froze. “I cannot?”

“You cannot.”

After all, Jack was currently wanted by the Animal Kingdom. When news of him escaping Trial Planet reached the Hand of God, they would probably join, too. He had to travel incognito as much as possible.

The Bare Fist Brotherhood was usually visible when people scanned him, giving away his identity, but Jack had thought ahead. When they stopped by the apothecary shop earlier, he had bought a Disguise Potion—the same kind he’d used at the start of the Integration Tournament. When he drank it on the starship, it changed his facial structure and hid his faction from System scans. As for titles, he’d already removed them all from showing. Only his Level remained unchanged, but that didn’t matter much.

Jack currently looked like a chubby, middle-aged man with a short but fluffy mustache.

Now, only two hints gave away his identity. One was Brock, but nothing he could about that. He could only hope there were more brorillas in the galaxy. As for his species, which was registered as Human (Earth-387)... Well, nothing he could do about that, either.

The guard remained troubled. “Venerable immortal, that’s…”

“I understand this is a problem for you,” Jack said, “but if you keep insisting, you’ll have a bigger one. Just let me teleport.”

The guard hesitated for a moment. Jack considered using his Dao Domain to intimidate her, but that might give away his Dao, so he stared into her eyes instead. A moment later, she relented.

“Please step onto the teleporter,” she said weakly. “I wish you safe travels.”

Jack smiled brightly. “Thank you. Have a great rest of your day.”

Being extremely powerful sure was nice.

Jack and Brock stepped onto the teleporter. A blue screen with several destinations appeared before their eyes. Jack quickly chose Earth-309, as the guard had suggested, and felt a burst of speed as the space around him was drawn backward.

The Exploding Sun was still far away…but they had left the Animal Kingdom constellation! And, this time, they were traveling completely on their own power!