Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

The energy over the pyramid had reached a crescendo. Great Silver and Fiend King chanted into the sky, the darkness above them roiling in huge waves, powerful Daos surging. The hiding enchantment had long been broken. If any disciples had remained outside the pyramid, they would easily be able to see what was happening at this point—and they’d probably run far away.

In fact, the energy undulations were so massive that the entire Dark Canal was upset. All the various Elders and native monsters ran away from the Hall of Trials. The ocean surged with angry waves which devoured entire islands. Strong breezes sliced through the Canal, killing anything in their path, while the Elders were in panic—they had no idea what was going on, but only fools would approach at this point. Even the strongest native monsters steered clear.

It was natural. This ritual used the cumulative energy of over twelve previous Overlords, as well as two living ones, to forcefully override the defense mechanisms established by three Old Gods working together. The clash of energy was nothing short of mythical.

The only place spared from the uproar was the interior of the Hall of Trials, where the disciples had no clue anything was happening.

***

The silver stele flickered. Its surface rippled like water, letting two people step through—Jack and Brock, each carrying an aura of victory. The two glanced at each other on the way out.

“Sup, bro,” Brock said.

“Hey Brock. Had fun?”

“Yeah.”

The shouts alerted them to their surroundings. Every other disciple had already exited the trial, and they swarmed Jack and Brock, adoration evident in their gazes. “You guys are so cool!” Fiend Prince shouted. “You’re my idols!”

“You’re certainly very impressive,” Strawpin admitted, her excitement more contained. “Eternal… I’ve never heard of such a qualification before. What does it even mean?”

Jack nodded at them, then turned to observe the stele. Fiend Prince, Starhair, and Strawpin had achieved two Genius and one Talented results each—lacking in the Dao, willpower, and combat tests respectively. Based on what they’d said before, Jack assumed this qualified them for the fifth floor. All other disciples had a mix of Talented and Average assessments, almost all qualifying for the fourth floor.

At the top of all three columns were the names of Jack and Brock, glowing golden. The qualification of Eternal was stamped next to them for all three tests. To his surprise, Jack found he’d ranked above Brock in Dao and combat, but below him in willpower. He threw a surprised glance.

“What?” Brock said. He was trying to be calm, but there was no hiding the pride in his monkeyish grin. “Don’t underestimate me, bro!”

“I never did,” Jack replied. “I’m so proud of you, Brock.”

“I’m proud of you too. You beat me in two tests. I’m glad. Otherwise, we’d need to discuss who is the real big bro here!”

They laughed.

“Most importantly, bro,” Brock said, “did you notice?”

“Notice what?”

The brorilla motioned at the stele, and Jack took another glance. He saw it now. His name was written as Jack Rust, not Jack Monstrous.

“Shit,” he said. He didn’t know how the stele knew, nor did he care right now. The important thing was that, once this reached the ears of Fiend King, he’d know the truth. Great Silver had made it clear that wasn’t allowed to happen. Jack would soon have not one, but two Overlords trying to kill him.

“This is a huge problem, isn’t it?” Starhair asked.

“Yeah,” Jack replied, no longer bothering to hide the truth from the monster disciples.

“What do we do?”

“We risk it all. Brock and I will enter the seventh floor. In the worst case, I think we can take shelter in the Hall. I have my connections.”

“The what floor!?” Strawpin exclaimed. “You mean the sixth, right?”

“No. The seventh,” he replied, winking at her.

She gasped. The disciples behind her shivered from excitement. As for Fiend Prince, he was unable to hold himself. He jumped up and down, pumping a fist into the air. “I can’t believe this, I can’t believe this!” he said. “This is so great, so fucking great! Take me as a disciple, I’m begging you! I’ll do anything!”

Jack laughed. He really liked this guy. His excitement was infectious.

“Tell you what,” he said. “If we survive this, I’ll consider making you my first disciple.”

“Yes!!! Wait—survive this?”

On cue, the entire Hall shook. The disciples almost lost their footing before remembering they could fly. Dust fell off the ceiling, while several of the huge columns holding it up cracked. The shaking abated after a while, turning into a constant low rumbling.

“What the hell was that?” Strawpin asked. “Jack! What is going on?”

“That’s our call,” Jack said, ignoring her as he looked at the ceiling. A golden portal had formed up there—one bearing the exact same color as his and Brock’s names on the stele. He turned to the brorilla. “Wanna risk your life with me, bro?”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Brock smiled. “Always.”

“Good. Let’s go. Starhair, stay with the disciples and keep them safe. Don’t leave the Hall unless you have to—I suspect the Canal is more dangerous than usual right now.”

“What about you?” Starhair asked.

“We got to fight some Overlords.”

With those words, and with the disciples’ eyes filled with confusion, Jack and Brock flew towards the golden portal.

“Should you have revealed that?” Brock asked.

“It doesn’t matter. The Hall is isolated, and I think the seventh floor will be as well. Nobody will be able to contact them.”

“Mm. Good.”

“You’re so cool!” Fiend Prince’s yell echoed from below as the two bros rushed into the portal, which closed behind them. Brilliance surrounded them in all directions. They popped out of the top of the pyramid, finding an unexpected scene.

The top of the pyramid was shorn off as if by a sword. A smaller golden pyramid stood in its center, filled with all sorts of swimming arcane runes. It was cracked. The runes steadily streamed out, weakening its power, while a wide beam of golden light speared upward from the smaller pyramid, penetrating the darkness and rising into the sky. The light was unsteady, as if whatever had created it had barely succeeded.

Jack and Brock were inside that beam of golden light, having popped out of the smaller golden pyramid. Jack quickly looked around, finding no Overlord in sight. All he saw was the Dark Canal’s energies being in complete disarray, as well as a twelve-layer totem lying broken on the pyramid’s top.

“They must have already gone up,” he said.

“What’s going on, bro?” Brock asked. Jack explained quickly.

“We must hurry,” he concluded. “Whatever is going on, we can’t afford to be late!”

The golden beam tried to pull them up, but they maintained control of themselves. On Jack’s cue, they turned into rays of light, racing upward. The pyramid soon disappeared. All that remained was a vertical road of golden light crossing the endless darkness.

Jack and Brock followed it. The darkness was pushed away by this light—the pressure was thinner, and any hidden dangers non-existent. Strawpin had mentioned that anyone trying to enter or leave the Dark Canal through anywhere other than the entrance point disappeared. Jack hoped the golden light would stave off that effect.

It did.

After rising for a while, maintaining a decently low speed to be wary of danger, the darkness around them faded. Expansive stone stretched on either side, split down the middle by the Dark Canal—what Axelor had said was the result of an ancient battle. The darkness now lay below them, while the light speared into the clouds above.

“Doesn’t feel like we spent that long in the Canal,” Brock said.

“We didn’t,” Jack replied, looking down. “Besides your months of absorbing the lotus, it was only a few days.”

“Dark days.”

“Only figuratively.”

They ascended higher. There was no Overlord in sight still. They followed the beam of light into the first layer of clouds, rushing past them to find themselves facing the second. The clouds were gray, occasionally illuminated by the crimson lightning trapped inside.

The light rose endlessly. Following it, they passed the second layer of clouds, then the third, then the fourth. Jack had tried to fly up here once but had been stopped after the eighth layer by the exponentially increasing pressure. They weren’t facing that issue now. The corridor of golden light rebuffed whatever Dao pressure existed up here, letting them just breeze through. They kept their guard up regardless.

Half an hour later, Jack and Brock were approaching the twelfth and final layer of clouds. The pressure up here must have been staggering, enough to stop even Overlords, but they weren’t feeling it.

“I think I know where the pressure comes from,” Jack said. “Axelor said the entire Space Monster World covers the inside of a sphere, and we’re headed at its center. That doesn’t make sense from a space point of view. The sphere’s dimensions to encompass the entire world would be huge, so the center of the sky should be much farther away from the surface compared to what we’ve traveled so far. My guess is that there’s space shenanigans at play, with the price of bringing the sky closer being this pressure. Endless cubic miles of highly dense volume are compressed to a mere hundred miles—of course the pressure is ungodly.”

“That makes sense,” Brock replied.

They broke through the twelfth layer to find a different scene ahead of them. They were inside a huge sphere of clouds, maybe a dozen miles in diameter. Space itself shivered by the Dao density. The light speared upwards to the very center of this sphere, where a small pyramidic structure floated, rotating slowly.

This was clearly the broken-off top of the Hall of Trials. The seventh level. Its walls were the same color, while its base looked rough, evidence it had been broken off—and not as cleanly as the pyramid down below seemed to indicate. The beam of light stopped at the center of its base, though it didn’t seem to penetrate the stone.

Jack and Brock glanced at each other. “We need to either teleport inside or go find an entrance,” said the brorilla.

“It’s risky to teleport with the Overlords present. The energy ripples of the pyramid will hide us, according to Axelor, but not if we appear in front of their noses.”

“So we need an entrance. Will we be okay if we step out of the light? Or die instantly?”

“I think we’ll be safe,” Jack replied. “Let me try.”

He activated both the Life Drop transformation and Thunderbody, pushing his defensive capabilities to the peak. He then took a tentative step outside the beam of light.

Nothing happened. The Dao around them was extremely dense, but the pressure he experienced was somehow no higher than the average of the Dark Canal.

“All good,” he called out, letting his enhancements dissipate.

Brock followed him outside the light. “Now what?” he asked.

“Can you feel this?” Jack asked back. “The Dao is aligning with us, somehow. Like we’re part of it. This must be what Axelor promised—the Dao signature of this place will hide us from the Overlords.”

“So we can die after delivering an ambush.”

“Well, hopefully there’ll be a smarter way. Come. We can’t break through the floor, obviously, so let’s look for an entrance.”

It didn’t take them long. One side of this small pyramid—only a mile tall—held a set of golden double doors. Those doors were broken, only hanging on by their bottom hinges. In front of them lay the shattered remains of a golden statue. It still emanated hints of its aura—placing it at the peak of the A-Grade.

“Even Gods can’t afford Archon guards,” Jack noticed.

“This happened recently,” Brock said. “Maybe a few moments ago. The two Overlords came here, defeated the guardian, broke the doors, and invaded. How are they handling the pressure?”

“I think they forcefully rode the same light we did,” Jack said, “though I can’t imagine it came without a price.”

“Are you sure we want to do this, bro? They easily destroyed the peak A-Grade statue. They’re too powerful.”

Jack considered it. “The rewards hidden inside are things we’ve earned. These guys are stealing them from us. We don’t need to fight—hidden by the Dao as we are, we can maybe take some things under their noses and escape undetected. Or negotiate. Or just leave.”

“Alright. I’m with you. Let’s go.”

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