Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse
Chapter 229: Testing One’s Power

Several people were walking or standing on the bare rock. There were feshkurs, animal people, humans… Jack inspected a few, finding them all to be part of the Animal Kingdom.

Of course, not everyone was an immortal. Everyone else parted as the D-Grade feshkur that Jack had followed entered a large red tent, leaving his sight. The only other immortal Jack saw was a clean-shaven human man at Level 136.

The most notable sight, however, was a large cage in the middle of the encampment. Jack couldn’t see inside it, as he was looking from above and the cage had a metal roof, but he could barely make out a few shackled hands sticking out of the bars.

Prisoners? he wondered. Or…slaves?

The feshkur had mentioned they carrying “large cargo.” There were no crates or anything of the sort here, so he had to be referring to the cage.

However, slavery was forbidden by the Star Pact, the galactic law signed by every B-Grade faction. Even if the Animal Kingdom was engaging in such practices, which they really shouldn’t, they couldn’t be doing it so openly.

In other words, these weren’t slaves. So what were they?

“What do you think, Brock?” Jack asked. “Should we take a look?”

Brock—who was still on Jack’s back—considered it for a moment, then nodded.

“You’re right,” Jack said. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Whoever these people are, we might share common interests… Oh. Unless they’re criminals. That would be complicated.”

Brock nodded again.

“Thanks for the confirmation, bro,” said Jack.

“No problem.”

“In any case, we have two or three days here, according to that Torm. Sabotaging the Animal Kingdom is a fine way to pass our time, right?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm. But what if things go wrong? They have at least two low D-Grades. Think I could take them?”

“Yes.”

Jack turned his head a bit to glance at Brock. “You sure believe in me, bro.”

“You are strong.”

Jack chuckled. “Guess I am. How does this sound? We discreetly collect information on these guys, then decide if it’s worth risking our lives to go against them. We also observe them for a while to see if they have anyone stronger than a low D-Grade.”

“Okay.”

Observing them came first, since they were already here. Jack found a distant mountain peak and landed there, getting them out of the miasmic clouds. Hidden behind the rocks of this peak, they could observe the camp below without being noticed.

“Let’s take turns,” Jack suggested. “Two hours each, then we swap. After eight hours total, we leave and go collect information. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Jack took first shift. When it was Brock’s turn, he watched the camp almost without blinking. Finally, just before Brock’s shift was over, he nudged Jack, who was lounging on a rock. “Bro.”

“Hmm? Yes?”

Brock pointed ahead. Jack peeked from behind the rock, catching sight of the enemy camp and the golden-haired woman who was slowly galloping through its midst—literally galloping, as she had four legs. Everybody had their heads bowed, not even daring to look at her, while even the other two immortals—the feshkur and the human—showed subservience.

Centaur, Level 210

Faction: Animal Kingdom (B-Grade)

Title: Fourth Ring Conqueror

“Shit,” said Jack. It wasn’t even about her level, her horse-like lower body, or her status as a late D-Grade—though barely, since the D-Grade reached up to Level 250. The real problem was that, even from this distance, he could sense the brutality she emitted, like waves of terror that washed over everyone present. Some guards were shaking, while the prisoners had all withdrawn to the center of their cage—or, at least, Jack could no longer see outstretched limbs between the bars.

The woman reached the cage and exchanged a few words with the prisoners. Soon after, she retreated to her abode—the same red tent that the feshkur immortal had entered previously.

Jack wiped the sweat off his brow. “That must be the leader,” he deduced. “What do you think, Brock? Is the risk still worth it?”

Brock considered it. He then shook his head.

“Yeah. I may be able to beat her, but I may not, and she has two more immortals, plus all the complications this would create. At this point, only idiots would risk their lives like this for a small “fuck you” to the Animal Kingdom. Reaching the Exploding Sun is more important.”

Brock gave a thumbs-up. Jack exhaled loudly, then sat back against the rock. “But you know,” he said, “I can’t help but wonder. How do I stack up against a late D-Grade?”

The brorilla gave him a weighting look.

Jack continued. “I mean, I matched an immortal while at the peak of the E-Grade. Even without the Life Drop, I was pretty much as strong as someone could be at my level, and I beat the three Hounds who were at the middle D-Grade—though I surprised them. Could I jump seventy-nine levels to fight that centaur? That’s… seven hundred and ninety stat points. More than double what I have.” He grimaced. “It’s a lot, isn’t it?”

Brock shrugged. “Maybe,” he said, “but you strong.”

“Right. Me strong… What’s with all the mythical creatures, anyway? Centaurs, minotaurs, cyclopses… If the ancient Greeks were right, I’ll eat my hat.”

Brock mimed that Jack had no hat.

“I’ll find one, then eat it.”

“Okay.”

They stayed quiet for a while after that, each sunk into their own thoughts. Jack kept tackling the issue of his current strength. The truth was, it bugged him. Breaking through to the D-Grade had been a massive metamorphosis, but he hadn’t fought anything since then—the Hounds were only a couple short exchanges due to the element of surprise, not a real fight.

Simply put, he had no idea how strong he was.

“You know what?” he said, jumping to his feet. “We have time. Since we’re leaving these guys alone, I think I’ll do some testing. Sound good?” All of a sudden, Brock smiled brightly. Jack laughed. “How are we always talking the same language, bro?”

“Because we awesome.”

“Damn right!”

They high-fived. Then, Brock jumped on Jack’s back again, and they flew off. They followed the mountain ridge for a few miles, reaching far enough from the camp that they couldn’t be spotted, then kept going for another quarter of an hour. Since this planet was mostly uninhabited, and Jack was flying at almost the speed of sound, they were now hundreds of miles away from any other intelligent lifeform.

“Here should be good,” he said, diving to the ground. Another canyon welcomed them—a deep, jagged crevice dug into the flat wasteland, possibly the result of a powerful earthquake.

This time, however, the canyon was completely empty; just a several miles long, thirty-foot-wide corridor carved a hundred feet into the earth, surrounded by jagged rock cliffs and littered with stones of all sizes.

The perfect site for testing Jack’s new powers.

He was giddy. As Brock dismounted and stepped far back, eager to watch Jack’s demonstration, the man himself was looking around and wondering where to start from. He once again brought up his status screen.

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)

“Let’s start from my stats, shall we?” he asked the poor canyon.

He currently had over six hundred points in all Physical substats. The average pre-System human had five—that made him at least a hundred and twenty times faster, stronger, and more durable. When combined, the results of those stats grew exponentially.

Moreover, his titles increased the efficacy of all his stats. Planetary Frontrunner (10) gave him a ten percent efficacy increase. Planetary Torchbearer (1) gave fifteen, Ninth Ring Conqueror gave a whopping fifty, and Planetary Leader gave another fifteen. Added up, the total came to a ninety percent extra efficacy.

In a few words, Jack had almost a thousand Physical. That made him…

Very, very strong.

He grinned. Looking around, there were several boulders littering the floor of the canyon. He walked up to a truck-sized one and lifted it easily—he barely felt the strain, even if the sight was almost comical. He then put it down and went looking for a greater challenge.

The largest stone present was absolutely enormous—the size of a house. Jack stared at it from below. Can I… Nah. There is no way, right?

But what if I can?

Most of the time, his feats of power were a result of his Dao, not just his physical body. In the E-Grade, he wouldn't even be able to budge this thing.

Jack faced off against the boulder. He grabbed it from a corner, squatted, braced himself…and lifted.

He felt it this time. His muscles tightened. His veins popped out. And yet, even as he struggled, the boulder rose from the ground, revealing a surface under it so massive that Jack gaped at his own strength. When he let it drop, the entire canyon shook. Stones tumbled from the cliffs, and the dust that rose was enough to make Brock cough a couple of times.

As an immortal, Jack didn’t even need to breathe, and shielding his orifices with his Dao was easy. Dust clouds could no longer touch him.

“Sorry,” he told Brock, who waved the concern away. Jack then looked back at the massive boulder he’d just lifted. “Take that, Mountain.”

He then looked around and scratched the back of his head. This was only the start of what he was hoping to test, but he now realized that this canyon was unexpectedly fragile. If he so much as touched a wall with his knuckles, it would collapse.

“We need a better place,” he decided. “Follow me.”

Grabbing Brock, the two of them flew another couple miles before arriving at a massive mountain. It reached at least a mile into the air, was surrounded by uneven rocky terrain, and its sides were bare like the teeth of a snarling wolf.

Standing at the mountain foot, Jack felt tiny.

“Now we’re talking,” he said, looking up. “Immortals are supposed to be Mountain Breakers, right? Let’s see.”

Stat-wise, there wasn’t much else to test. Dexterity was about finesse and reflexes, not speed, and he wasn’t about to ram the mountain head-first to test his Constitution.

That left only his skills.

“Oh!” he exclaimed. “Actually… Take a few steps back, please.”

Brock obliged. As soon as he had enough space, Jack focused inward. He saw his Dao Tree—a mighty fist, each finger painted a different color corresponding to his Dao Seed and Dao Roots. It hovered in the middle of his soul space, concealing such powerful energy that Jack felt a shiver of anticipation.

In the F-Grade, cultivators first touched on the power of the Dao and used it in elementary ways.

In the E-Grade, they used the Dao to augment their body. Even projectiles or extra limbs—like Vivi’s fire wings—were only projections of Dao workings that occurred inside the body. The ambient Dao was too stable to influence directly.

In the D-Grade, however…

Jack closed his eyes and focused. He reached for the power in his Dao Tree, reveled in its majesty, and slowly drew it out. He let it seep outside his body—pitting his own will against that of the universe and winning. His Dao stretched out, occupying more space around him. The infinite colored particles that made up the world’s Dao retreated, leaving behind only those compatible with Jack’s. He felt his existence stretch outside his body, assuming control of the surrounding space and imposing his will—his Dao—on it.

When his eyes reopened, he found himself surrounded by a dome of purple. Spectral flames danced at the edges of his vision like the fingers of a large fist, while the very air was compressed by Jack’s will. He could sense the control he had over this space. Gazing at a few stones by the side, he willed them to break in two—and they did.

This power was wondrous.

Against any mortal, Jack only had to open his Dao Domain to incapacitate them. Even against immortals like himself, his domain would constrain them greatly, unless they had a similarly powerful domain themselves—which, according to Old Man Spirit, most low D-Grades didn’t.

And this domain didn’t just weaken anything incompatible with Jack’s Dao. It made him stronger, too. The very world was helping him. He was like a fish in water.

“How the hell did I beat Old Man Spirit in his domain?” he wondered aloud, impressed at the power he could now wield. The D-Grade was as powerful as advertised.

Unfortunately, he had no one to test it on—Brock was still only E-Grade—but the Exploding Sun could certainly offer a plethora of strong opponents. He could wait a bit.

Which meant that, right now, there was only one thing left to test.

His Dao Skills.