Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse
Chapter 281: A New Hideout

Jack shook his head as he looked around. Shol, Dordok, Sage. These were people he’d shared life and death with…but could he reveal them his deepest secret?

Do I even have a choice? he asked himself. Because of me, the Hand of God is after us… I have to tell them.

“There is one more thing,” he finally said, “but only if you want to hear it. Let me warn you—it’s huge.”

“You know what’s not huge? My patience. And you’re really testing that,” Shol replied, crossing his arms.

Dordok laughed. “At this point, nothing would surprise me.”

The Sage simply motioned for him to go ahead.

Therefore, taking a deep breath, Jack completed his story of Trial Planet with the truth about the Life Drop. This time, he hid nothing. He told them about the Ancient Trial in the ruins and how he used the Life Drop to defeat Old Man Spirit, as well as how the entire planet had been locked down by the Hand of God because of him, and how he’d escaped.

“I was pretty flashy in Garden Ring. Since then, I suppose they’ve heard about me being outside, and since they’ve found no one suspicious in Trial Planet, they want to deep-scan me… I don’t hope to escape such a large organization. I just want to become as strong as possible before they find me. They couldn’t have sent C-Grades after me, right?”

“Of course not,” the Sage replied. “They’ve sent a B-Grade.”

Jack almost sighed with relief before it turned into coughing. His head whipped over. “A what!?”

“Why are you surprised? Anything pertaining to the Ancients is a major incident. Of course they’d send an Elder over—and, since the Hand of God is half a step above the other B-Grade factions of the galaxy, their Elders are all at the B-Grade.”

“Plus,” Shol added, gazing at the Sage suspiciously, “they wouldn’t risk the Black Hole Church’s interference.”

“Oh yes, true. If we wanted to contest whatever was in Trial Planet, we would also send B-Grades over.”

“Is a B-Grade really after me?” Jack asked, ignoring the revelation about the Church’s strength. “Aren’t they literal gods?”

The Sage shrugged. “They’re pretty strong, I’ll give you that, but they naturally have their limits. Right now, there is a B-Grade on this planet actively scanning it to find you. But they won’t discover us here. We’re safe.”

“Wouldn’t they have discovered us when we fought that leonine?”

“Ah, but that’s why I showed up! We escaped in the nick of time—twenty seconds later and they’d be on to us. Thankfully, your friend Vegna delayed them for some time, or even I would have been too late.”

“How do you know all that?” Jack asked wide-eyed.

“I told you, I have a person on the inside.”

“You have to be joking. There is no way you have information accurate to the second.”

“Well…” The Sage grinned slyly. “I may be approximating a little bit. The important thing is that, since they haven’t sniffed us out already, they must have arrived after we went into hiding—or not arrived yet.”

“But that’s terrible!” Jack said. “How will we get out? There is no way we can fool a B-Grade.”

“That’s the trick; we don’t.”

All three of them stared at the Sage incredulously. “We don’t!?”

“We don’t.” He shook his head. “Using that Life Drop, as you call it, leaves lasting effects on the body. The soul itself is inviolable, so even a deep scan wouldn’t spot the Life Drop, but an experienced examiner could discover some oddities. After that, they’ll just split you open to be sure.”

“So we cannot be caught.”

“Right.” The Sage nodded. “A B-Grade’s perception can cover half a planet. Right now, going outside is suicide. So what I suggest we do is hide in here for a few months until they assume we already left the planet. There really isn’t another option.”

“But what about Vegna?” Shol asked. “Suppose I believe you she’s been captured. She’s still waiting for our arrival. What should I tell her?”

“That we will no longer be needing her.” The Sage grinned. “They saw me appearing and taking you away with a high-grade spatial artifact. Jack said my name. With a little bit of research, they will connect me to the Black Hole Church, which is a powerful and mysterious organization. It isn’t such a large stretch to assume the Church has helped you all escape this planet.”

“Could they?” Dordok asked.

“Yes…but also not. With a B-Grade holding the fort, the only way to escape would be for the Church to send one of their own B-Grades to clash against the Hand of God. As you can understand, that would be a massive commitment. We are not willing to do that.”

“So how do we escape? What’s your plan?”

“There isn’t one!” the Sage replied, laughing. “We’ll have to find a way. But look at the bright side—I can divine we’ll probably be fine.”

“You have no plan!?” Shol erupted. “So you came and dragged us into a dead-end with no way to get us out?”

“You were already in a dead-end, just a different one. I dragged myself into your inescapable problems to give you another chance at survival. Therefore, I think I hardly deserve that tone, no?”

Shol grumbled. “What if he’s lying?” he told Jack and Dordok. “What if the Hand of God hasn’t discovered us yet, and Vegna is just waiting outside to take us away? He could be keeping us here for his own benefit.”

“Shol,” Jack said in warning. “The Sage really is a member of the Black Hole Church, who are enemies of the Hand of God and every B-Grade faction. What benefits could he have in keeping us here?”

“What kind of fool would dive into a desperate situation to save near-strangers for no benefit?”

“A confident one,” the Sage interceded, his face still covered in a calm smile. “Things may be looking down right now, but we’ll find a way out. We just have to play our cards right.”

“By staying down here forever?” Shol shot back. “Jack needs to return to the Exploding Sun within four months. Plus, no matter how long we wait, even if the B-Grade leaves, escaping Hell will not get any easier. All their outbound teleporters are hidden in well-guarded cities, and since I’ve left my faction, I have no way to contact anyone! We’re trapped!”

Facing Shol’s outrage, the Sage was calm and joyful.

“Come on, have some faith,” he urged him. “There is always a way. We just have to find it.”

“That’s such bullshit.”

“Yet, it is true. We just have to not lose faith.”

“What do you suggest, Sage?” Jack stepped in to calm things down. Shol looked ready to explode. “You mentioned we stay here for a few months until the situation outside calms down a little. Then what?”

“The rest is a work in progress, but when we’re ready, we could exit this place and slowly work at getting you to the peak D-Grade.”

“What?” Jack was shocked. “I thought we wanted to escape.”

“Don’t you want to become strong enough to save Earth?” the Sage asked, his face drawn into a mysterious smile.

“I do…” Jack admitted.

“Then you’re in luck, because getting you strong is our ticket out of here. You have a perfect foundation, great Dao understanding, ample battle experience, and extremely powerful titles. If you can reach the peak D-Grade, even Maximus Lonihor won’t be able to stop you. We could use you as a spearhead to assault one of the heavily guarded outbound teleporters and make our escape.”

Jack gave the Sage a complicated gaze.

In truth, he really wanted to become strong quickly. He needed to. His duel with Li Qian aside, he only had five months remaining to defeat the Planetary Overseer and save Earth—and the overseer was at the mid C-Grade. An entire Grade away.

This plan was perfect for him… So why did it feel like he was taking advantage of the situation?

“Say we do that,” Dordok spoke up. “We stay here for a while until the Hand of God leaves, then go out and have Jack kill a bunch of deacons. Won’t they be onto us again? The Hand of God can just return and force us back into the cave.”

“That’s true,” the Sage said. “However, the time of B-Grades is extremely precious. This particular one has already spent a couple of months investigating the Ancient-related incident. If we just wait her out, she will eventually return to her previous affairs, leaving only a token force behind in case more leads appear. Even if we later reveal ourselves again, extricating herself from her affairs to come chase down a D-Grade who may or may not be related to the incident…would be a stretch.”

“That makes sense,” Jack said. “But if she leaves a token force behind, wouldn’t that mean C-Grades?”

“One or two of them with a bunch of D-Grades. The Hand of God has immortals to spare. However, as long as it’s only C-Grades, we can handle them.”

“That’s a brave statement if I’ve ever heard one,” Shol commented.

“Yet, it’s true. Maybe not in combat, but Hell is a huge place. If we combine prudence, my inside information, and my divining abilities, we can assassinate late immortals and deacons without ever getting caught.”

Jack, Shol, and Dordok exchanged glances. One by one, they nodded. Shol was the last to do so.

Despite his appearance and mysterious motives, the Sage seemed to make sense. Somehow. Or, at least, none of the others had a better idea.

“But what are we going to do while waiting for the B-Grade to leave?” Jack asked. “You said it could be months. If I want to reach the peak D-Grade soon, don’t I need that time?”

“Not at all.” The Sage shook his head. “The Animal Kingdom has invested centuries of painstaking cultivation and trillions worth of resources into their D-Grades—you can usurp all that by just killing them. Therefore, levels are easy for you. I believe we’ll make it in time as long as we aren’t caught. The difficult part is having your Dao understanding keep up. If I’m being honest, cultivators are not meant to progress nearly as fast as you are. You are carried along by momentum, but you really ought to take some time and stabilize your foundation. Only then can you properly utilize your advancements in power. Right now, you’re terribly inefficient.”

Jack raised a brow. “I am?”

“Of course you are. Think about it. A deacon has less than double your amount of attribute points and around double the size of your Dao reserves. However, you have a ton of high-level titles. Even if they have some as well, your superiority there should mostly make up for the stat discrepancy. As for the Dao, they may be able to last longer and strike with more power than you, but your perfect foundation should shore up that weakness as well. You should be equal in power to a deacon. Therefore, why is it that you are completely unable to face one?”

Jack considered it. “Because I can’t use my power efficiently?”

“Exactly! And how could you? Adjusting takes time. Right now, the best thing you can do is spend some time consolidating your foundation, or any extra levels will have severely diminishing returns. Honestly, even a few months shouldn’t be enough, but it’s the best we can do.”

“I see,” Jack replied, creasing his brows. “You seem to know a lot, Sage.”

“Comes with the area. Sages should be wise, right?”

“He’s right. I had a similar plan,” Shol spoke up. “Get you to level up as fast as possible, then take you into an extended consolidation phase when you started to lag behind. I estimated that time would come in twenty or thirty levels, but since we have time to spare, you might as well start now.”

“I see,” Jack said.

“However, don’t get me wrong,” Shol continued. “This is nothing but a stopgap measure. Even if you spend a few months consolidating now and get your fighting power up to par, you will still have advanced way too quickly. Breaking through to the C-Grade like this will ruin your foundation. When you have saved your planet and are no longer in a hurry, you will need to devote a lot of time catching up with your Dao.”

“Got it,” Jack said. However, unless he found some other way to save Earth—be it Master Huali’s promise or anything else—he would still break through to the C-Grade as quickly as possible, and consequences be damned.