Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse
Chapter 234: Tying Up Loose Ends

The round-up was easy.

After the three wardens were defeated, including the late D-Grade centaur, the remaining guards surrendered. Their numbers had already been halved by Brock and the prisoners, anyway.

Brock’s greatest injury from the fight was a deep purple bruise on his shoulder, caused by a guard’s mace. That guard survived the battle, only to receive a long, hard glare from Jack, which probably convinced him to start a more peaceful life in another part of the galaxy, if he made it out of here alive.

There was also a group of low D-Grade officials from the Exploding Sun who came to see what was going on. Seeing that the battle was already over, they left quickly.

That left Jack, Brock, the prisoners, and the guards.

“I have many questions,” Jack said after rounding up everyone, “and I hope you will all answer them.”

“Yes, sir!” the guards and prisoners replied, each struggling to seem more helpful than the previous person.

“First of all, what are you doing here?”

A cacophony of voices rammed into his ears as everyone started speaking together.

“Silence!” Jack ordered. Everyone shut up. “You, with the red sword. Step forward and explain what is going on.”

“Yes, siiir.”

The person he’d pointed to was the only surviving peak E-Grade guard of the Animal Kingdom. He resembled a bipedal goat and spoke with a slight bleating.

Goatee, Level 124 (E-Grade)

Faction: Animal Kingdom (B-Grade)

“The Animal Kingdom has a looot of enemies. We were tasked with traveling to the far side of the Exploding Sun constellation to pick up a captured group of criminals, then deliver them to Hell. We were currently on our way back.”

“And what have these criminals done?”

The goatman hesitated for a moment. “They were space pirates in our constellation, sir.”

“Bullshit!” shouted one of the former prisoners, a heavily muscled woman with iron gauntlets. “With all due respect, sir, we are not pirates. We’re revolutionaries. We only attacked ships of the Animal Kingdom. Down with their tyranny! Down with their oppression! We are the Iron Bodies, and we will die saving the constellation!”

The rest of the former prisoners, with the exception of Vanderdecken, cheered.

Jack massaged the ridge of his nose. “Are you also part of their crew, Vanderdecken?”

“Uh, no,” the man replied. “The Animal Kingdom just randomly found me in this constellation, and they picked me up after seeing my planet of origin.”

“Then, what were you doing here?”

Vanderdecken smiled widely. “I joined a talent show on planet Elzin!” he replied proudly, then raised three fingers. “I even got third place, dude!”

Jack closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then reopened. “That’s great. I’m happy for you.”

“I know, right? I’m gonna be a rockstar!”

“But… the Dao of Metal…”

“It’s a figure of speech, dude.” He raised both his pinkies and index fingers. “I will have my concerts, but I remain loyal to THE DEVIL!” He also struck a chord on his guitar to emphasize his words.

The space revolutionaries looked at him oddly. “You can join us if you want,” said their leader.

“I appreciate the offer, but no thanks. I am loyal to THE—”

“We get it, we get it, Vanderdecken,” Jack interrupted him before this turned into an impromptu concert. He then turned back to the goatee guard—who happened to sport the appropriate facial hair. “Is what they’re saying true? Did they only attack Animal Kingdom starships?”

“We don’t have all the data, sir…” the guard said. After receiving Jack’s glare, he quickly added, “but it is possible.”

“Okay. Then, here’s what we’re going to do.”

Jack paused there to make sure he was making the right call. On one hand, the Animal Kingdom was his enemy. On the other, these guards were his prisoners of war now. He couldn’t just kill them off—be it in accordance with the Star Pact or the Geneva Convention.

Finally, he made sure he had everything in order. “Space revolutionaries,” he said. “I am also an enemy of the Animal Kingdom. I respect your actions. You can take your stuff and go be free, or revolutionaries again, or whatever you prefer.”

“Thank you, sir.” Their leader, the iron-gauntleted woman, stepped forward and placed both hands over her heart. “You saved our lives. We will engrave this kindness in our heart, and use it to hit the space tyrants even harder.”

“It was just in passing. Don’t worry about it.”

The woman nodded respectfully and stepped back in line.

“Guards,” Jack continued, “you are my prisoners of war, so I cannot just kill you off. At the same time, you seriously mistreated your prisoners before, so I consider you to have committed war crimes. You will wear the System-limiting manacles and be in the custody of the revolutionaries, who will decide your punishment in accordance with morality and galactic law.”

The guards went a shade paler, while the revolutionaries wore devious smiles. “However,” Jack continued, staring at the revolutionaries strictly, “I expect you to treat these people with respect and humanity—or whatever the multi-species equivalent is called. You may imprison or execute them if you deem it proper, but I don’t want any torture, inhumane conditions, or injustice because of your deeply-rooted hatred against their faction. You will not commit the same crimes they did. You will be just. Am I clear?”

“Yes, sir,” the woman replied, looking down.

“I need your word, leader of the revolutionaries,” Jack told her seriously. “Promise me, on your honor, that you will allow no mistreatment of these people.”

She raised her eyes and looked at him. “On my honor, I will not allow any mistreatment of these people. I will treat and punish them fairly. That, I swear.”

Jack held her stare for a moment before she looked away. “Good,” he said. The guards were extremely relieved at this exchange, while the revolutionaries didn’t seem to care too much. “That concludes my business here. I will also loot the bodies of the four D-Grades I killed, as well as their tent and storage spaces. Everything else is yours.”

“Yes, sir,” the iron-gauntleted woman replied, her gaze filled with admiration. Apparently, she approved of Jack’s handling of the situation, and was even impressed by it.

“Good,” Jack said again, giving everyone a final look to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything.

“What about me, Ja— sir?” Vanderdecken asked.

“You’re coming with me. We still have some things to talk about.”

“Oh, score!”

The entire time, Brock had stood by Jack’s side, nodding in approval and emphasizing his big bro’s decisions with appropriately hard stares.

Unfortunately, the three wardens and the bounty hunter weren’t carrying anything particularly valuable. Jack only found a shrunken starship—many of them possessed this feature, apparently—which he gifted to Vanderdecken. He also found three emerald credit cards. With Brock donating the fourth—he’d pocketed it at some point during the battle—Jack now had a wealth totaling to 80,560,011 credits, sixty million of which came from Torm the bounty hunter.

Their generous donation brought him very close to the hundred-million mark, which he needed to buy the telepathy function for his faction. That would allow him to communicate with the professor and find out what was going on in his absence, as well as coordinate his efforts with theirs.

In the meantime, he had Vanderdecken.

The two of them sat in the starship, while Brock flew them across the wasteland towards the teleportation town.

“Dude… What the hell have you been up to?” Vanderdecken asked, looking around the starship in wonder. “You’re an immortal now, and you have your own starship… It is so much faster than the ones on Earth, too!”

Jack smiled. “It’s a long story, my friend.”

“I have time.”

Jack laughed. “Fine.” He then proceeded to summarily narrate his adventures to Vanderdecken, leaving out all sensitive subjects. By the end of it, the bard’s eyes were full of stars.

“You conquered Trial Planet!?” he asked, mouth gaping. “That’s…sensational!”

“It is, so use that knowledge wisely. Tell it to the professor, and let her distribute it as she sees fit.”

“You got it, dude.”

“Now, tell me about Earth, Vanderdecken,” Jack asked, leaning forward. Suddenly, he was full of worry. “What is going on back there?”

And Vanderdecken spoke. He told Jack about the cold world war that ensued after the Tournament, where the Bare Fist Brotherhood and Flame River allied against the Ice Peak. About the battles for dungeons, the conflicts and subterfuge, the ambushes, the infiltrations, the war of misinformation conducted by both sides. How the planet was divided, only waiting for a spark before erupting into all-out war.

Jack’s face was growing darker by the minute.

“So, Alexander didn’t sit still…” he said. “I’m glad that the professor and Vivi are okay, but this cannot go on. Maybe I should head back and squash the Ice Peak.”

“No!” Vanderdecken raised his hand. “You can’t do that! If you do, the planetary overseer will intervene and kill us all!”

“Why? I’m a native. I can do whatever I like on the planet.”

“You’re an immortal now, dude! If you show up on Earth and start attacking people, the Animal Kingdom will definitely twist that into an excuse to ignore the grace period and fight back. They’ve been trying to do that for a while now—actually, the alliance is constantly trying to avoid actions that can be interpreted as “threatening the planet’s population,” which would let the overseer intervene.”

Jack frowned. “So what? I cannot return to my own planet?”

“Not unless you’re ready to fight the Kingdom. Come on, dude. I know this is hard, but you seem to be doing fine out here. Let us fight our own battle.”

Jack snorted. “Hmph. I wouldn’t put you guys at risk; you know that. It’s just frustrating.”

“Yeah, I understand.”

“Then again…it doesn’t change much, does it? My plan remains as is. Grow as strong as possible, then return to fight the overseer before the grace period is up. Even if my presence on the planet lets them break the rules, we’ll destroy all the teleporters beforehand so she has no backup, and I’ll kick her ass.”

“Kick her ass? The overseer’s ass? But that’s impossible!”

“I can fight a late D-Grade now, and there’s eight months remaining. Maybe it’s possible.”

“I… I guess so, dude. I mean, the difference between a late D-Grade and a middle C-Grade can’t be that large, right?”

Jack thought back to the large gap in power between the E and D Grades, and didn’t comment.

By now, they’d reached the teleporter town, where Vanderdecken could get his buzzer to eventually start the trip back. Jack also transferred him a hundred thousand credits; enough to cover all teleportation fees from here to Earth ten times over.

“This is where our paths diverge, Vanderdecken. I’ll be out of town for a bit, but you should be fine here. There are plenty of E-Grades around,” Jack said after they exited the teleportation building. “Send my greetings to everyone on Earth, okay? And let them know to hang on. I will be back before the grace period is up, and I will conquer Earth for us. Even if not with my own strength, I’ll definitely find a way. Okay?”

The man’s eyes shimmered with unformed tears. “You got it, dude!” he said, rushing in for a hug. “Go become great!”

“I will, Vanderdecken,” Jack replied, holding the other’s back. “I will.”

As he watched the bard walk away, the weight of his entire planet had never been heavier on Jack’s shoulders. Only now did he truly feel the responsibility he bore, as well as how far away from home he was.

He was lost in space, all alone.

Brock grabbed his shoulder. Jack turned, smiling at the sight of the short brorilla, who barely reached Jack’s chest by now, reaching up to there. “Right,” he said. “I’m not alone. I never will be, because I have my brother.”

Brock nodded, smiling. “Bro.”

“Bro.”

They settled down in a distant mountain range, where Jack could cultivate and test his powers as needed. Every time he did, they quickly changed locations, just in case there were more bounty hunters on the loose.

He also allocated his new status points. He had leveled up seven times after defeating the centaur warden and Torm. Since every level in the D-Grade gave ten stat points—compared to two in the F-Grade and five in the E-Grade—this amounted to seventy points in total.

Once upon a time, it would have been an extraordinary amount. Now, it was just an everyday occurrence.

Still maintaining the 8-1-1 distribution that Master Shol had suggested, Jack put all the points into Physical. He then admired his status screen.

Name: Jack Rust

Species: Human, Earth-387

Faction: Bare Fist Brotherhood (D)

Grade: D

Class: Cosmic Fist (King)

Level: 139

Strength: 775

Dexterity: 725

Constitution: 745

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)

Killing things is still much faster than cultivating, huh…

One battle had saved him weeks, if not months of effort. He needed that to reach his goal. All he feared was the path it signified…

War, he thought, gaze hardening. To save my planet…the Animal Kingdom must suffer. And so they will.

But first, he had to visit the Exploding Sun. As much as he wanted to defeat the planetary overseer with his own power, he wasn’t selfish enough to ignore more reliable ways of saving Earth.

Plus, he looked forward to meeting Master Shol again.

I wonder if he still qualifies to be my master, Jack thought, smirking. We’re in the same Grade now. How will he react when he sees that? Hehe.

After cultivating for a day and gaining no more levels, the buzzer finally began to glow and hum. Jack and Brock returned to the teleportation town and waited in line. An hour later, it was their turn to stand before the teleporter.

“Name, faction, and destination,” said the guard, while a low D-Grade stared at Jack discreetly from the side.

“Jack Rust. Bare Fist Brotherhood. Exploding Sun headquarters.”

The guard and the D-Grade exchanged a subtle look. Both nodded. “The teleportation fee is ten thousand credits per person, please,” said the guard, extending a credit card.

Jack raised a brow at the sizable fee but said nothing. He touched his card to the guard’s, willed the twenty thousand transfer, and stepped in the teleporter with Brock.

Due to some function of the teleporter, only a single destination appeared before Jack’s eyes: Field Nebula.

What a name, he thought, grinning, and chose it. Space lurched under his feet—and, a few moments later, he finally arrived at the Exploding Sun.