Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Chapter 298: An Offer Unseen

Jack awoke in a dark, cold prison cell. Black manacles clamped down on his wrists, limiting his ability to invoke the Dao, while a hard-faced deacon stared him down from behind steel bars.

Sup, Jack said.

The deacon snorted. He was a sizeable lycan who looked like hed seen more than his fair share of combat

Jack closed his eyes and expanded his perception. It didnt reach past the bars. The manacles on his wrists limited his connection to the Dao, constricting him to the most rudimentary level of control.

It was an odd feeling. Hed lived most of his life without any Dao whatsoever, but its absence now struck him as hard as the loss of a distant relative.

His surprise must have shown, because the guard spoke up. Its only temporary, he said. In two days, we will remove the manacles so you can duel and die at your best.

Brave of you. I didnt expect the Animal Kingdom to act with dignity.

You dont deserve it. The deacon snorted again. This is only because your duel is public. It will be transmitted across the galaxy, so we can repair the damage you did. If you ask me, a murderer like you should be tortured and executed somewhere dark and cold.

Good thing youre not in charge, then.

The deacon snorted a third time and did not respond.

Do you have people looking after every prisoner here? Jack asked.

Everyone else has the Wardens mark on their soul, except you. Now shut up.

Jack complied. He had better things to do than chat with bitter man.

I made it, somehow he thought, bursting at the seams with relief. They did not kill me instantly Now, I can try to survive. All I have to do is defeat Maximus Lonihor in a public duel. He grinned slyly. I think I got this.

Using the Life Drop was out of the question, of course, but he held a certain level of confidence. His real opponent was the planetary overseera mere D-Grade, no matter how strong, was only a warm-up.

Am I arrogant for thinking that way as a D-Grade myself? Hmm. Only if I cant live up to it.

His mind then turned to other thoughts. The last thing he remembered was getting knocked out by the Warden. Until then, all three of his companions had been alive, so they probably still were. Their lives were part of the duels stakes.

I hope the professor and the others are not too worried.

He tried to access the telepathy hed recently unlocked but came up short. In fact, he couldnt even bring up his status screen. Do the manacles cut me off from the System, too? he wondered, raising his hands to take a good look at them. Or does the System itself communicate through the Dao?

Or both?

However, even if his connection to the Dao was severed, his connection to his soul wasnt. He could still feel his Dao Tree pulsing inside him, a core of tightly-packed power he could exercise at will.

Of course, using external Dao was the main difference between the E and D Grades. Immortals could use their own Dao as a trigger to direct the ambient Dao in their environment and exert much stronger power. In Jacks current state, he was limited to his own storage, so even if he tried to escape, he wouldnt get far. Honestly, getting a deacon to watch over him was overkill. Any mid D-Grade would do.

Not that he planned to escape. This duel was right up his alley. He could humiliate the Animal Kingdom in front of the entire galaxy, and also secure the freedom of himself and his friends.

The Warden was a fool for accepting. Who knows what he had miscalculated?

Bereft of things to do, Jack dove into his soul. The moment he appeared there, floating in an empty cosmos, his Dao Tree illuminated everything like a beacon. It had grown a lot since last time. It was now a fully-fledged tree, with a thick trunk and sprawling branches. The only things missing were leaves, of which it had none, and a crown of branches at the top, which was in the middle of forming.

The five-colored Fist remained under the tree, like the soil from which it drew nutrients, while the Life Drop was still buried right under its roots, shining a lively green.

And there was a door on the bark.

Jack floated towards it. Everything else, he could understand. The Fist, the Life Drop, the trees growing process. This door was the only thing about which he had no clue. Not even Shol or the Sage could help. As far as everyone knew, there werent supposed to be any doors on a Dao Tree, yet here it was, defying every expectation.

Jacks hand pressed on the door. It was part of the tree, looking like a random bark pattern, but its similarity to a door was so striking that there was no way this was a coincidence. It even had a doorknob.

What are you? Jack muttered. He tried to open it, as he had many times in the past, but nothing happened. The door behaved just like a random pattern on the bark.

I guess my tree needs to finish maturing he muttered to himself, looking up at the half-formed crown. When I reach the peak of the D-Grade, Ill try again.

Cool! came the words of another person, though spoken in Jacks voice. Turning, he found Copy Jack hovering in the void.

Hey, Copy Jack, Jack said. You seem fine.

Just fine? Im great!

Jack simple laughed. Ever since Copy Jack had been struck by the Life Drop, for lack of a better word, hed gradually developed a personality of his own. By now, he was just like a real personor rather, a child borrowing Jacks body. It was a bit weird, but what can you do?

What do you think is behind the door? Copy Jack asked, floating around with excitement. Stars? More fist? A Copy Tree? Or nothing? I cant wait to find out!

Jack smirked. Take it easy, he said. All will be revealed in time.

But I dont want to take it easy! Copy Jack responded, pouting. I have to stay in here while you hog all the fun out there. Its not fair. I want to see the outside world too. I bet it has many trees.

Im working on it, Jack replied helplessly. I promise you, the moment I discover a way to take you to the real world, Ill do it.

Okay. Copy Jacks mood instantly swung around. So, what are we doing today? Fighting? Meditating? Experimenting? Oh! Can we play around with space again? I like that.

Uh Waiting, mostly. I was also planning to meditate a bit.

Cool! What about?

Remember the supernova? The big exploding sun thing Ive been working on but havent gotten right yet? I have some time to spare, so I thought Id give it a shot.

Awesome! Can I help?

You can try.

Nice!

Facing Copy Jacks unbridled joy at such simple things, Jack felt helpless.

This was another mystery. As far as anyone knew, Dao Souls were supposed to bewell, not real. Not people. They were just empty shells that Jacks soul could borrow to pretend to be a second person.

His best theory was that the Life Drop had somehow infused the Dao Soul with life, letting it become a real soul as well, but he had no way to confirm it. This theory was also in line with his recent realization that the Life Drop had at least a hint of consciousness of its own, as had been revealed when it refused to be detonated.

The Sage was also clueless about this issue, or so he claimed.

Why is my soul suddenly full of secrets? Jack thought, rubbing the back of his head. Well, whatever. The Life Drop hasnt caused me any problems so far. As long as I survive this and keep growing, all will be revealed in time.

Ill start meditating now, Copy Jack, he said. If you come up with anything, let me know.

Alright! the copy responded, sitting cross-legged and closing his eyes in deep concentration. Jack doubted Copy Jack could even enter a proper meditation state. All the Dao he possessed had been inherited from Jack.

Shrugging, Jack also sat cross-legged and tuned out the world. His breathing fell into a familiar pattern, his body relaxed, and he found himself visualizing the world with great clarity. Suddenly, he was back to watching the supernova with Master Huali. He saw the star erupt into a red giant, loosen its skin, then compress its core until it blew up in the most violent event of the universe.

At the same time, Jack was aware of some of the physics behind a supernova. He knew that the explosion was caused by the star collapsing so powerfully that the atoms of its outer shell were smashed together, creating a large number of nuclear fusions all at once. When the explosion was over and everything else had been expelled, all that remained was a star formed almost exclusively of tightly-packed tightly packed togethera neutron star, the namesake of one of Jacks other skills.

However, neither his knowledge of physics nor his personal experience helped him at all. He had no idea how to turn those insights into a skill.

It was easier for the Fist. He was connected to it, understood it from many sides. It represented so many things he could incarnate to connect with the Dao and make it obey him.

But what was he supposed to do about a supernova? Get really really angry?

Jack tried many things. He tried to imagine the essence of a supernova, what it would mean for a person. He tried to compress his Dao hard enough to explode. He even tried to go full Hulk mode, but it was useless. After testing everything he could think of, nothing clicked.

It was exactly the same as every other time he tried to meditate on the skill during his three months of training. It always feltoff. Like it wasnt meant for him. But he didnt want to just quit without giving it his best, so he kept trying.

Eventually, he got frustrated and opened his eyes in the real world. Guess Ill

He paused. There were two people inside his cell, a few feet ahead of him. Neither was the deacon from beforeand, oddly, he could not sense their presence. If he wasnt seeing them with his own eyes, he would have never noticed.

They were a man and a woman, both wearing clean white robes. They stared at him silently and piercingly, emitting no aura whatsoever. Jack couldnt inspect them, as he still wore the manacles, but they didnt feel like D-Gradesor even like they belonged to the Animal Kingdom.

The Hand of God, I presume, he said.

The two people nodded. We are here to deep-scan you, the man replied.

Youve been on the run for a while, the woman added. Highly suspicious.

I wasnt on the runnobody had told me you were looking for me. I only found out here, in Hell, but I couldnt come out and meet you.

The two people nodded again, revealing nothing. All will be clear soon, said the man. He raised his right hand, on which he wore an elaborate ring. It seemed made of gears, though none were turning and none seemed real. Please do not resist.

Jack wasnt planning to, but neither could he. The mans finger reached him instantly, pressing down on the spot between his brows. Jack did his best to remain still, but he soon found himself convulsing.

The feeling was extremely intrusive. It was like someone had dug their hands into his body and were snooping around, feeling everything. It wasnt painful, per se, but he wanted to puke.

Thankfully, hed swallowed the Sages pill, so even a deep scan would hopefully reveal nothing about his Life Drop.

Finally, the finger withdrew, and Jack found himself on the floor. He didnt remember falling.

No sign of tampering, said the man, to which the woman raised a surprised brow. Although I did see the Ninth Ring Conqueror title. Impressive. He gave Jack a new glance, one containing hints offriendliness? We were not aware of that, he said leadingly.

Jack gritted his teeth to regain his bearing. Hed forgotten about his titlethough it made sense that a deep scan would see his entire status screen. I didnt make it public, he replied, still panting. I thoughtit might draw too much attention.

Rightly so. The woman nodded. You are the first in this galaxy to attain it. May we ask how?

The Integration titles and four Dao Roots gave me the edge I needed. Then, I tricked the Final Guardian with a feint nobody in their right mind would use. The chances were heavily against mebut it worked, somehow. I got lucky.

Most of what he said were lies, spoken as convincingly as he could. The two people glanced at each other, then back at him. And that is how you teleported away from Trial Planet without our knowledge?

Jack nodded. The Final Guardian offered to take me somewhere closer to my next destination. I didnt think anyone was waiting for me.

Once again, they looked at each other and nodded subtly. Not lying, said the man.

Indeed, the woman agreed. This was just a big misunderstanding. But a fortunate one.

You are an exceptionally talented man, the man spoke directly. Dying here would be a waste of your potential. How about you join the Hand of God? We can make all your problems disappear and give you everything you need to realize your future. With your achievements, even reaching the B-Grade is not out of the question.

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