Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse
Chapter 244: Bros Help Each Other Shine

The outer planet consisted of one large land mass and one massive ocean. Its colors resembled Earth’s, however, reminding Jack of Pangea, the massive supercontinent that existed on Earth hundreds of millions of years ago.

As their starship dived through the atmosphere, Jack and Brock could observe the supercontinent with increasing clarity. Most of its surface was taken up by forests, deserts, savannas, icy tundras, and all sorts of natural biomes. Civilization was mostly gathered in large hubs, with sprawling megacities taking up entire mountain ranges and housing millions.

The technological level didn’t look too advanced; as the starship approached the ground, they saw dirt trails and medieval cities. The air was clean, too; there were no factories, cars, planes, or other means of pollution. As for ships, this planet’s sole supercontinent had little need for them.

All in all, this planet had a wild feeling to it; like pockets of civilization surviving in the wilderness, surrounded by dangerous environments and strong monsters in every direction.

It looked like the perfect place to train your E-Grades.

Jack’s modern sensitivities protested that thought, but his System experiences made him nod at the sight. This was a training planet. It was supposed to be rough.

The starship slowly touched down at the edge of one of the smaller cities—though still humongous. The moment Jack stepped out, with his yellow cape swaying and D-Grade status visible for all to see, the nearby people bowed slightly in deference. Many of them wore red capes with the Exploding Sun’s insignia.

“Inner disciple…” Whispers began to spread as everyone arced their necks to take a better look. Jack felt like a celebrity.

A hint of his Dao seeped outside his body, manifesting as a breeze that struck the onlookers. “At ease,” he commanded, and everyone quickly scampered away.

Disembarking the starship, Brock looked around and took in the sights. He saw the clear sky, the clean, oxygen-filled air, the lack of technology, and the fighting spirit in everyone’s eyes as they spotted his red cape. He grinned.

After shrinking and pocketing the starship, the two of them walked a bit inside the city.

Unlike the general medieval look, every street and house here was numbered. The Exploding Sun kept precise records of where everyone lived, just in case they needed to be contacted. It didn’t assign random quarters to each outer disciple, preferring to let them settle where their Dao could shine best, but they were required to declare their place of residence every year.

Prior to coming here, Jack and Brock had visited the record-keeping department of the faction and gotten the address of Salin and Nauja. They lived together—though Jack yearned to find out how Nauja handled Salin’s insanity.

Reaching a nice little house with the words “Sunrise Street 2A, 603” painted on its entrance, they knocked on the door. They waited. In the meantime, they admired the house itself—a white, one-story building with a narrow garden surrounding it, situated at the edge of the city, where the noise was not too bad. It was a far cry from the accommodation offered to an inner disciple, but it was decent. Jack even felt a pang of nostalgia at the sight of something so simple, yet so inviting.

The door opened without warning. Salin stood there, clad in full leather armor and with a suspicious gaze. He froze when he recognized them. “Jack! Brock!” he exclaimed, drawing them both into a hug. “It’s been so long!”

“Bro!” Brock shouted emotionally, while Jack laughed.

“Barely a week, Salin. I didn’t think you’d miss us so much.”

“Are you kidding? Last I heard, you were trapped in—” He cut himself off mid-sentence, looking around the street. The few people around were all staring at them. “Come on in,” he urged them. “Nauja is here, too.”

They stepped in, admiring the simple yet clean architecture. There was a main room that served as both a living room and a kitchen, as well a bathroom and a bedroom behind a closed door. That was it. Clay bowls and mugs sat neatly on shelves around the main room, while a table with four chairs stood in the very middle.

“Coffee?” Salin asked them.

“Yes, please,” Jack replied, while Brock shook his head.

“Oh, um, I don’t actually have any. I was hoping you’d say no.”

Jack laughed. “Well then, some water would be fine.”

“I’ll bring you some tea, too.”

Jack and Brock took a seat each, while Salin headed to a large water bucket and filled a few mugs, then took a teapot and started messing with it. The bedroom door slammed open, revealing Nauja in clean barbarian furrings, her eyes open wide. “Jack! Brock!” she exclaimed, completely mirroring Salin’s reaction as she pulled them into a hug.

“Copycat,” Salin muttered from the bucket.

“You made it out!” Nauja exclaimed. “How?!”

“It’s a long story,” Jack replied, laughing. “We’ll tell you all about it over tea.”

“Great! Make some tea, Salin.”

“I didn’t hear the magic word.”

“...Please?”

“There you go! I already made it, actually.”

The three of them sat down, and Salin joined a moment later with four cups of water and four of tea. Brock smelled his cup suspiciously before trying a sip. Then, his eyes brightened, and he downed the whole thing in a single gulp before getting disappointed that it was over already.

Jack passed him his own cup.

“Are you guys settled well here?” he asked.

“It’s great!” Nauja replied, gesturing around the house. “Look at how many things we have! And it’s all for free! Back in my tribe, all I had was an empty hut, but now I have my own… What did you call that, Salin?”

“A bathroom.”

“I have a walled-off bathroom! For myself!” she shouted excitedly. “Now, no dinosaur can get me while I’m vulnerable!”

Jack smiled warmly. When one comes from grass roots, they are satisfied with impressively little. “Salin, did your house look like this when you were living in the Animal Kingdom?”

“Oh, no. I had a mansion for myself, with servants and all sorts of, uh, pleasant people.”

Nauja narrowed her eyes at him.

Jack caught that and smirked, leaning forward on the table. “So. Are you guys together now?”

“No!” “Not yet!” they replied together.

Nauja glared at Salin. “What?” he defended himself. “We’re living together. It’s bound to happen at some point.”

“I don’t even like you like that.”

“Neither do I—yet. That’s the key word. Give it a couple months and you’ll see.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’d rather be eaten by a hadrosaur—and they have a lot of teeth.”

“Sorry for asking,” Jack said.

“Not a problem,” she replied. “We’re living together because it’s much better than living alone. We know nobody here. We need someone to have our back, plus it’s nice to be living with friends.”

“So, like, roommates.”

“Housemates,” she replied, looking at him like he was an idiot. “There is more than one room.”

“Yeah, that’s not what I— Well, whatever.” He quickly scanned them, too.

Human (Trial Planet), Level 110 (E-Grade)

Faction: Exploding Sun (B-Grade)

Canine (Earth-387), Level 81 (E-Grade)

Faction: Exploding Sun (B-Grade)

Huh. They leveled up, too.

They must have scanned him back, because their eyes widened a tiny bit—though not as much as he expected.

“So, you really did become an immortal,” Nauja said.

“I did. And I admit, you are less surprised than I expected.”

“The knight in Trial Planet told us you were about to break through. Plus, you have the yellow cape of inner disciples flying behind your back.”

“I guess.” He laughed. I’m laughing a lot today, aren’t I? Well, it can’t be helped. These guys put me in a great mood.

“How did you escape?” Salin asked him, unable to hold in his curiosity any longer.

Jack first scanned the surroundings with his Dao perception. Finding nothing suspicious, he quickly narrated everything that happened from the moment he beat the Final Guardian to being accepted as a personal disciple of Master Huali.

“Huali? The elder?” Salin’s eyes went wide. “Man, you really hit it big. I hear she’s going to become the next Grand Elder!”

“I’ve heard something like that, too,” Jack replied. “That she’s one of the candidates…but I didn’t know she was the favorite.”

“Well, there are only two candidates. It’s only her and elder Monsoon, so I hear it’s quite the competition. Here in the outer planet, there are entire betting rings about this.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, man! The Grand Elder is the highest authority after the Faction Leader and the B-Grade ancestors, who never leave their planet anyway. Whoever holds that position basically runs the entire constellation.”

“Really!?” Jack asked again, his eyes widening. He hadn’t realized that Master Huali was that important. It would also explain why she was so busy the day he met her—running for Prime Minister of the constellation was bound to be time-consuming.

“And how is the position decided?” he asked.

“I can’t believe you don’t know this,” Nauja said, while Salin explained.

“The Council of Elders will convene nine months after the death of the previous Grand Elder—so in seven months from today. They will elect the next Grand Elder. Three months after that, the Faction Leader will officially appoint the new Grand Elder in a grand ceremony. Technically, the Faction Leader can veto the Council’s decision and choose someone else, but that has almost never happened before.”

“Huh. So they don’t just battle each other for the position?”

“Of course not. They are elders, not animals.”

“Oh yeah, wrong faction.”

“Well, that’s how it works. But it’s just gossip for us outer disciples. The truth is, we don’t care. We just stay here, train as hard as we can, and hope to one day become inner disciples like you.”

“You will succeed,” Jack said confidently. “I am sure.”

“Only one in a thousand E-Grades becomes an immortal. Well, a bit over for that for outer disciples, but the chances are still abysmal.”

“It doesn’t matter. Both of you are experienced people in line with your Dao. As a D-Grade myself, I can promise you that you will both eventually succeed, unless you give up or grow soft along the way.”

Gan Salin and Nauja glanced at each other. “Thank you,” Salin said, turning back to Jack. “But it’s not just us; I see that Brock here is doing even better.”

Jack turned to Brock, who had a smug look on his face. Come to think of it, I haven’t scanned him in a long time, have I?

Brorilla, Level 99 (King)

A gorilla variant from planet Green. Brorillas usually live with Gymonkeys and train them in the ways of working out. It is due to the Brorillas’ unmatched pecks that Gymonkeys use poop to fight—they consider themselves too weak for anything else.

Brorillas are usually calm, measured animals. However, if anyone harms their little cousins or invades their territory, they go bananas.

This particular brorilla is a variant that visually resembles a gymonkey. Though not weaker than other brorillas, the members of this variant are often shunned due to their lack of bulging muscles.

That is not the case for this specimen. Through intense determination, it has achieved much greater strength than its species’ norm, as well as a perfect Dao Seed. Due to this specimen’s potential, taming or slaying it are advised.

“Level 99!?” he cried out. “And King? Brock, you didn’t tell me you grew so much!”

“Maybe it’s because he can’t speak,” Salin said, while Brock just wore a proud smile on his face.

“I can,” he said.

“Oh, you can?” Salin challenged him, tapping at the table. “What is the word for this thing here?”

Brock frowned. “Bad bro need smack?”

“I was just kidding, my big brother. Of course you know how to speak.”

Brock nodded.

“That is actually one of the reasons we came,” Jack said, his voice betraying seriousness. “The truth is, the inner planet is not the best place for an E-Grade to train. There are few monsters, and everything is designed for immortals. I… It is great for me, but it is holding Brock back. I intend to leave him here, with you, so you can all advance together.”

Salin and Nauja were shocked, and most of all was Brock. No; he wasn’t shocked, because he expected this. Just conflicted.

“Bro…” he muttered.

“I know, Brock. It feels weird to me, too…but you shouldn’t delay your cultivation just because I’m on the inner planet.” Jack forced back a choke he didn’t expect, then pressed on. “Besides, it’s not like we’ll separate forever. Just for a bit. I’ll come to visit often, too, and when you break through, you’ll join me at the inner planet or wherever we go next.”

Brock looked straight into Jack’s eyes, his expression unreadable. Jack’s heightened senses caught the brorilla’s bottom lip quivering. It made his heart ache. Sometimes he forgot that, for all of Brock’s strength and determination, he remained a child. He was just four months old.

However, this had to be done. Good brothers didn’t hold each other back. The outer planet was where Brock could shine, not cooped up in a planet for immortals and made to follow Jack around like a mascot. Here, he could adventure with Salin and Nauja, he could fight monsters, hone his strength, make new bros. At the same time, Jack could also focus on his own cultivation.

And it really would be just a short separation. As soon as the time came to adventure, they would go together again. They were a team. They were bros. And, despite Brock’s currently lacking strength, he had the talent required to follow Jack to the ends of the world.

Both of them knew these things. Their Daos confirmed the decision. It remained hard. Besides Jack’s month of closed-door cultivation in Garden Ring, they had not been separated since Harambe entrusted Brock to Jack, back when one of them was a baby and the other was only Level 34.

But now, it was finally time for Brock to grow on his own. This period of time would be critical—and, when they adventured together again, they really would be partners who fought back-to-back.

Hopefully.

Brock looked at Jack and nodded. “Okay,” he said, and this simple word carried all the weight in the world.

Jack nodded. “Well, I’m not going yet. Since I’m here already, let’s spend some time catching up.”

Salin and Nauja, who had been watching silently, nodded. Salin excused himself and left the house. A few minutes later, he returned with a large jug of wine, which he placed on the table.

“Fuck tea,” he said. “This is wine time. Drink up!”

Everyone laughed.

There was no night in Field Nebula. The gasses always shone in the sky, surrounding the three planets and the central moon. Despite that, Jack and Brock stayed in Salin and Nauja’s house for several hours, drinking to their heart’s content. Due to their cultivation, alcohol didn’t make them drunk, just gave them a gentle buzz.

Jack did wonder if drunk driving applied to starships before realizing he could just expel the alcohol from his blood anytime he wanted to. Being an immortal had many perks.

In these hours, the four of them really bonded. They exchanged stories of their childhood, coming from four very distinct backgrounds. They spoke about their fears and worries. About their hopes and dreams.

Brock said he wanted to become the biggest bro there was. Jack wanted to reach the apex of power and be truly free. Salin wanted to enjoy himself and be happy, while Nauja wanted to see the world.

They poured their hearts out for each other, and for a few hours, this little house in a far-off planet in the middle of a nebula was the closest thing to home they had ever felt.

As time passed, they laughed, too; Brock juggled clay mugs while dancing to Salin’s terrible singing of the Animal Kingdom anthem—he was changing a word here and there to make it sound ridiculous.

They laughed and drank and cried. It was a night to remember.

At some point, however, the hours passed. Jack stood to leave. “I will not forget you, bro,” he told Brock, clapping both his shoulders. “As soon as we’re out of this place, let’s adventure together again. The time will come before you know it. Okay?”

Brock nodded bravely. “Okay, bro.”

Jack walked away, alone into the night, waving goodbye to his three best friends in the world—with the possible exception of Edgar.

For a little bit, he would be alone. Without Brock. The thought made him sad—but he consoled himself with the knowledge that this would really help Brock shine. Here, in the outer planet, he would become a beast, and that was the only way for them to continue adventuring together in the future.

And, who knows? By the time they left this place, maybe Brock would have become bros with this entire planet. The sky was the limit.