Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse
Chapter 369: Nouveau Riche

Every start of the month, the outer disciples of the Cathedral could go to the registration office and pick up their monthly stipulation of Dao stones. Usually, the cultivators streamed in, then casually walked out and headed to the various training grounds where they could spend them.

This time, however, the scenery was different. Some cultivators had waited here since the night before, slowly forming a line before the door. More arrived every hour. As soon as the new day came, the registration office was swarmed with people looking to receive their stipulation only to dash away as fast as their legs could take them.

The resident Envoy had never seen such haste before.

After picking up their Dao stones, the place the cultivators rushed to was the Dao Chamber, but not to enter it. A small stall had been set up beside that wide and short building. This stall wouldn’t be out of place if placed in a mortal market—there were just thirty fist-sized stones laid out on a thin blanket on top of a wooden bench. Over them, a sign proudly proclaimed, “Life Stones: Your Personal Healer!”

Manning the stall was Osmu Sosmu, the proud merchant and third big bro of the bro squad, along with two other bros. Seeing a hundred cultivators rushing their way, he grinned. “Welcome, everyone, to this month’s supply of life stones!” he shouted, spreading his arms wide.

The life stones were not suitable for everyone on the Cathedral. Top rankers had powerful bodies flooded with their own Dao, so they would need multiple stones to feel a difference. Even to most high rankers, the results wouldn’t be too pronounced. As for the low rankers, they didn’t have many Dao stones to begin with, so they were wary of spending them on anything that wouldn’t increase their cultivation.

The target audience of the life stone business were the middle-rankers of the Cathedral, the people with four to six Dao Fruits. This category included hundreds of cultivators. Many of them wished to go out soon and adventure, or feared that the Sage would stop producing life stones at some point. They mostly made up the crowd rushing towards the stall at the start of this month.

Osmu Sosmu was familiar with these kinds of situations. Normally, he would have driven up the price to squeeze these customers dry, but the Cathedral’s outer disciples were all intelligent people. A prudent approach was best. There was also Jack’s delicate status and the fact that life stones weren’t truly established yet. The sight of people rushing the stall was helpful in validating the product in the customers’ minds. Therefore, Osmu opted to double the price every month.

Now, it was one Dao stone apiece. Next month, it would be two, and it would keep increasing until the market reached a semblance of balance. Otherwise, if he tried doubling it again today, he feared that the customers would all turn around and leave.

The thirty life stones flew off the shelves. Most people frowned when they saw the current price, which had doubled since last month, but a few chose to grit their teeth and buy. Everything was sold out on the first day.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Osmu Sosmu waved goodbye to everyone as he picked up the stall and walked away. The smile on his face was inextinguishable. He arrived at his cabin, where he was visited by several bros. As everyone left, Osmu visited the Sage for some tea and to presumably deliver the profits. However, he didn’t carry any Dao stones—the stall’s earnings were secretly left with one of the bros who’d visited him before. That bro then waited a few hours before delivering the earnings to Brock, who in turn visited Jack’s cabin.

Jack’s eyes widened as he saw Brock proudly retrieve a large sack from his brand-new space ring. “All that?” he asked.

“All,” Brock replied with a smile, emptying the sack on Jack’s bed. Dozens of Dao stones rolled out. The nearby Dorman’s mouth hung open, while even Jack struggled to believe his eyes.

“How many is that!?”

“Forty-five!” Brock declared proudly—he could count up to a thousand now.

Jack had supplied Brock with thirty life stones last month, and another thirty just the day before. The first batch had been sold at half a Dao stone per life stone, while the second batch was sold at a ratio of one to one. Altogether, this amounted to forty-five Dao stones—a wealth that just seemed to fall from the sky.

Combined with Jack’s nine stones for the month and Marcus’s seven—whose wage was still taken by Jack—alongside the four he had remaining from last month, he now possessed a total of sixty-five Dao stones. He would get that amount every month, if not more. It was simply unimaginable wealth!

“Brock!” Jack exclaimed. “This is amazing! How… Just how did you achieve this?”

“Not me. Osmu. Third bro.”

“Then thank Osmu for me. Tell him he’s brilliant—he absolutely deserves it!” Jack was swimming in joy. He took in the Dao stones, quickly calculating in his mind. “Take back thirteen,” he said. “Two for you, two for Osmu, and one for every other bro. There’s one for Sage, too, as thanks for letting us use his name. I know it’s far too little, but I truly am in dire need of Dao stones right now. I promise to thank everyone properly later.”

“Thanks, bro. But I want to ask for more. I am close to making more Big Thought. Can I have stones?”

Jack did a double-take, then his face radiated joy. “You’re going to break through?” he exclaimed.

Brock nodded. “Big Thought is steady. Power is peak. I am ready.”

“That’s wonderful! Of course, of course; how many do you need?”

“Twenty,” Brock replied immediately. He was an outer disciple now, so he also had a small wage of Dao stones. He’d already absorbed one and calculated the needed amount.

“Very well. Twenty it is. Along with the eleven stones for everyone else, that’s thirty-one.”

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Jack quickly separated thirty-one stones from the pile and handed them over to Brock. It was a large amount, but he couldn’t care less. His little brother was about to break through. If he was greedy at this time, then he really wouldn’t deserve Brock.

The remaining thirty-four stones were more than enough, anyway.

“Thanks, big bro,” Brock replied, fist-bumping Jack and receiving the stones in his space ring. “I make you proud.”

“Always.”

As the two were rejoicing, drunk in their brotherhood, Dorman was meditating on the cabin’s meditation mat. His eyes were firmly shut, but his mind was in turmoil. Conflicting emotions warred inside him. He would reach the peak D-Grade soon, and he desperately needed Dao stones to break through. At the same time, Jack had already been kind to him—he couldn’t possibly ask for more.

He didn’t reveal any of these thoughts, but how could Jack not see them?

“Dorman,” he said suddenly, making the younger man open his eyes. Jack smiled. “I haven’t forgotten about you. When the time comes, I will naturally help you break through as well…but, before that, I want to help you restore your body to its optimal state. As soon as my control of life energy is precise enough, I am confident in removing the excess energy from your body.”

Dorman’s eyes widened like saucers. His heart cried out in joy, and emotions threatened to well up in his eyes.

“You don’t have to…” was all he managed to say, but Jack just laughed.

“We’re friends. We’re bros—and, moreover, we come from the same planet. Since helping you isn’t too difficult, it would be a shame not to.”

Dorman closed his eyes for a moment. When he reopened them, they were wide and clear. “Thank you,” he said. “I will keep this favor in the depths of my heart. I will repay you.”

“Just focus on yourself. You got this.”

“You good bro,” Brock added. “Bit stupid sometimes, but your heart is kind. I believe.”

“Thanks, Brock,” Dorman replied, touched.

Brock showed a toothy grin. “Call me bro.”

The three of them spent some more time talking, then Brock took thirty-one stones and departed. Jack was left with thirty—an insane amount. Even Min Ling, the first-ranked outer disciple, didn’t receive a monthly wage of thirty Dao stones.

Jack was filthy rich.

Dao stones had two uses for the current him. One was renting out the various rooms of the Dao Chamber. The other was absorbing their Dao to directly speed up his cultivation.

Now that he had enough stones, he could finally do both.

***

Jack arrived at the Dao Chamber. The same octopus Envoy was behind the desk, while four cultivators meditated in various spots of the floor. One of them sat very close to the Envoy. As soon as Jack entered, that cultivator opened his eyes and immediately arrived at the desk.

“I would like to book the Mortality Chamber for ten days,” he loudly declared.

Jack couldn’t catch the Envoy’s telepathic reply, but he did see her regretful gaze. “I’m sorry,” she told him even as she spoke with the other cultivator. “This person is obstructing you, but I cannot do anything. The rules are clear.”

Jack frowned. This cultivator was obviously acting against him on purpose. Since he’d visited the Mortality Chamber last time, his enemies had sent this guy to book out the chamber and slow down his cultivation.

Thankfully, Jack didn’t plan to enter the Mortality Chamber this time, but they didn’t know that. Since they were against him, he could play them a bit.

“Hey,” he said angrily. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“What?” the other cultivator replied with an innocent look. “I’m just preparing to meditate on the Dao.”

“You were clearly waiting for me. You jumped out to rent my Dao Chamber the moment I appeared.”

“Hmph. The world doesn’t revolve around you. I was only adjusting myself just now. This is the same chamber I always use, and you just happened to enter as I was about to stand up. If you have any proof of the opposite, bring it out!”

Of course, this was all a load of crap. The cultivator hadn’t even bothered to hide the satisfaction in his eyes. Jack pretended to be angry.

“You sure can spout shit!” he said.

“You’re still going on? What kind of idiot are you? I said I will rent this room, and I was here before you, so it’s mine. If you want, you can wait ten days for your turn—assuming, of course, that the price remains where it is. If too many people ask for the same room, the price will go up, and poor upstarts like yourself will never be able to afford it.”

“Oh yeah? Do you really think so?”

“So what if I do and so what if I don’t? I just asked for ten days at four Dao stones each. If you have the ability, how about you offer more Dao stones than me and get the room first? How about that?”

“Fine!” Jack replied, pretending to fly off the handle. “I offer five stones for five days!”

“Then I offer six stones for ten days,” the cultivator replied smoothly. It was like sixty Dao stones were nothing to him, so it stood to reason they weren’t his to begin with. Someone had supplied him with Dao stones so he could bother Jack—and it wasn’t difficult to guess who that was.

Still, the cultivator’s telepathic message sealed the deal.

“Give up, kid. Baron Longform will never let you use the Dao Chamber again—let’s see you reaching the top hundred now.”

His grin was savage, like looking at prey. Jack showed a face of indignation—though, inwardly, he was sneering at the other man’s idiocy. You just wasted sixty Dao stones, asshole.

“Fine,” he spat out in exasperation, then walked over to the octopus Envoy and spoke telepathically. “I would like the Space Chamber, please. For seven days.”

If the Envoy saw through him, she betrayed nothing. “Certainly. At three stones per day, that will be twenty-one stones, please. The chamber is unoccupied, so you can enter immediately.”

Jack passed out the stones to her, sensing the other cultivator’s gaze on his hands. Twenty-one stones were a multiple of three. However, there were many rooms costing three Dao stones, so the cultivator couldn’t directly guess which room Jack had requested. He would have to wait and see him enter.

“Well?” Jack asked. “Won’t you go to your Mortality Chamber?”

“Oh, don’t worry. My time has already started. I just had a sudden inspiration—I’ll enter when I feel like it.”

While most of Jack’s anger was fake, and inwardly he was gloating, he really wanted to punch this guy in the face. It was clear that Baron Longform, possibly with the assistance of other top rankers, was determined to make his life difficult. If he hadn’t come across sudden wealth, then he really would be unable to enter the Dao Chamber soon, which would severely impact his progress.

I will remember this, he promised, carving this enmity deep in his heart. Without another word, he walked to the Space Chamber and entered it. Next month, this chamber would surely be hotly contested—but Jack’s pockets would keep getting deeper.

Baron Longform… he thought, seething on the inside. Between you and me, let’s see who has more money to waste!