Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Jack stepped into the ice pond first. He wanted to act like a proper leader. Unfortunately, the moment his broken hand touched the water, he screamed like a little girl.

The pain was the worst he’d felt so far. It was like someone was using pliers to readjust his bones, except these pliers were ice-cold and everywhere at the same time.

The monkeys watched him from outside the lake, torn between trying to help him and watching the water with fear. A moment ago, it had looked beautiful. Now, they no longer felt like swimming.

“It’s fine!” Jack gritted his teeth and spoke through the pain. “This is only because I’m injured. Fuck! Just come in.”

They looked at each other. They did not want to go in.

The big brorilla, Harambe, stepped forth. With a snort at his fellow monkeys, he stepped into the water and instantly frowned. The cold had reached him, and though it couldn’t harm him, it was a unique sensation.

The monkeys watched with bated breath as their big bro took a step forward, then another. Soon, the gorilla was halfway across the lake and still going, but now, his steps were slow. Measured. Careful.

The pauses between each step got longer. Harambe was shivering now. Ice glinted on his fur, shining like little stars. The monkeys cheered him on, ignoring Jack, whose screams of pain had died down by now.

The gorilla took another step, then finally stopped. Jack had needed thirteen steps to reach the waterfall, but Harambe, being larger, had only taken nine. The pond was thirteen feet long, anyway, and Jack resolved to measure it as such from now on. Confusion would help no one.

“Don’t go further,” said Jack. Harambe turned to look, and his face was pale below his fur. His eyes were shaking but still full of passion. “The waterfall is dangerous. Stay there for a while, get used to the cold, and I’ll help you touch it safely.”

He nodded. Jack turned back to the monkeys.

“All of you. In,” he commanded.

The brorillas were first. They all frowned when they touched the water, but their brohood was too strong to fear a little bit of cold. Walking side by side in two rows—they could barely fit—they crossed the first half of the pond before slowing down. Eventually, each brorilla made it between the seventh and tenth foot, all of them pushed to their limits.

It was a brave attempt.

Finally came the gymonkeys, who weren’t nearly as stoic as the gorillas. The moment they touched the water, they began screaming, jumping on top of each other, and making faces. The fact that most were still high didn’t help.

It took both Jack and Harambe to convince them to enter the pond. The monkeys weren’t happy, but they complied, still letting out the intermittent cry. At least the cold washed away the High Speed Bush’s effects.

In the end, the gymonkeys reached anywhere from the second to the fifth foot of the lake, with only one of them barely stopping at the sixth foot for a bit.

Their efforts weren’t for naught. According to Jack’s inspection, each gymonkey had gained one to three Levels, the brorillas got three to five, while the big brorilla, Harambe himself, increased in power by a whooping six Levels, reaching Level 34—and, if he could enter the waterfall, he’d get another few.

Everyone felt the change in themselves and were overjoyed. The monkeys hollered and did their best to advance further, while the brorillas grinned and nodded at each other as they flexed their muscles. The big brorilla, intoxicated by power, stared at Jack, debating whether to challenge him again.

A moment later, he shelved the thought; he was smart enough to appreciate that this increase in his power was only thanks to Jack.

However, it remained that, while all the monkeys had ventured into the pond—whose power seemed inexhaustible—Jack himself was only at the shallows, nursing his wounds. The gymonkeys didn’t care much, but all gorillas stared at him in question. Would he not surpass them? Was his mind too weak to traverse the pond?

Jack raised his eyes from the crystal clear waters. He took in the gazes of the gorillas, the challenge in Harambe’s stare. He grinned.

Watch and marvel. I’m healed already.

He stood up. With slow, purposeful steps, he crossed the lake. He went past the gymonkeys. He reached the gorillas, whose eyes were slowly transitioning from doubt to respect, and stepped past them without missing a beat. His speed was steady, his pace fluid.

The gorillas entered the ice pond for the first time, but Jack was a virtuoso.

He reached the big brorilla and stopped beside him. He met his stare with pride: If you want to challenge me, I’m right here.

Harambe growled but didn’t act. Jack nodded.

“Come, Harambe. Since you could stay here this long, you’re ready to touch the waterfall, but be prepared. The cold in there is incomparable to here. You might die. Are you ready to risk your life for power?”

Harambe didn’t even consider it. He nodded.

“Good,” Jack continued. “Then go in. I’ll spot you—to speak in gym terms. If you freeze, I’ll try to pull you out…but I might fail.”

Jack had grown stronger since last time, but not by too much. He had zero confidence against this waterfall.

Every single monkey watched with faith and curiosity. Harambe turned to stare at the falling water. On his grumpy face, yellow eyes shone with resolve. Despite the cold, he balled his fists, released a monkey cry, and dived right in.

Then, silence.

Through the hazy waters, everyone saw Harambe’s body freeze before his voice was abruptly cut short.

The gymonkeys wreaked havoc with their howls, and even the brorillas growled. Jack ignored them. He kept his eyes glued on Harambe, watching him intently.

He knew that freezing over wouldn’t kill you—he’d tested that himself. The gamble was to pull Harambe out after he got the stat bonuses but before he froze to death.

Unfortunately, Jack didn’t know how long he’d spent frozen himself, nor did he know when the bonuses would come. Therefore, he simply kept scanning Harambe over and over, hoping for his Level to suddenly spike.

Nothing happened for a while. Harambe’s fur took on a paler shade as time went by. The monkeys were going insane from worry. Jack remained still as a rock, ignoring the cold that slithered up his spine. He fired off one System inspection after another, but nothing changed.

Maybe I won’t see it, he thought. Maybe the System won’t let me cheat like this. Maybe it’s already too late.

He steeled his resolve. Better a weaker Harambe than a dead one. He was a good gorilla; he didn’t deserve to die.

Jack took a deep breath. All of a sudden, he burst from immobility. His arms snaked into the waterfall to grab Harambe and pull him out. At that moment, as he fired off an Inspection, he saw it.

Big Brorilla, Level 37

The bonus was there.

Jack would have smiled if he could move his face. His arms in the waterfall were assaulted by relentless waves of soul-freezing cold. He couldn’t feel them anymore. His mind was slowing down. His body was growing heavier. His fingers refused to close around Harambe’s arm.

But he had to save his bro.

Jack gritted his teeth and screamed through the freeze. Veins popped in his forehead as if snapping through solid ice, and with a burst of will, he caught Harambe’s ice-cold body and pulled.

The two fell backward into the pond. Jack struggled to recover and get back up—thankfully, he’d only barely entered the waterfall, or he’d be frozen solid already. On the bright side, Harambe had frozen in an upright position—as upright as a gorilla on his knuckles could be—and he was big enough for his head to stay above the surface even when he fell back.

After Jack recovered, he pushed Harambe a bit towards the brorillas waiting close behind. They were fine; they grabbed Harambe and pulled him out, showering him with their worry. All the gymonkeys had exited the pond by now, and they crowded over Harambe, pushing each other for the right to stand beside him.

Jack smiled. These monkeys really adored their big bro. Harambe would be fine—he was already defrosting.

Jack then turned back to the waterfall. It cascaded as calmly as ever, unconcerned with the mortal affairs around it. In its endless cold, a gorilla and a human were nothing.

But, in Jack’s eyes, the waterfall was many things. It was a mystery, a challenge, and a blessing.

In that endless cold lay the hidden world he’d entered, a world in his own mind that he could only unlock through this waterfall. Last time, he’d inspected the bald man’s punch from all angles—the scene was carved in his mind with crystal-clear precision, but it was only in that frozen state that he could freely inspect it.

Jack had spent an unknown amount of time pondering on that vision, watching it again and again, trying to discern its secrets. How had that bald man unleashed such power? What did Jack lack?

Unknowingly, the vision had become an obsession for Jack. When he slept, he dreamed of the bald man’s punch. When he rested, his mind kept jumping back there, analyzing every tiny movement.

There was something there. Something gargantuan hid just beyond his sight, he was certain. He could sense it, almost touch it, but every time he tried, epiphany escaped like a slippery fish. He wanted to know. He needed to know. It was extremely important.

Unfortunately, his progress was slow outside the waterfall. In there, he’d analyzed everything, and despite that, something was still missing. He was trying to solve a puzzle with a few important pieces still in the box, and no matter how he tried, whether in or out of the waterfall, he came up empty.

However, during his fight with Harambe, he’d discovered something, a clue in a direction he hadn’t considered before. The bald man’s punch was clearly magical, in some way. Why, then, would its origins be strictly physical?

This might have been the missing piece of the puzzle, and Jack yearned to enter the waterfall to find out. He needed that frozen state to progress fast.

The waterfall was dangerous, sure, but he’d survived it before, when he was three Levels weaker. Plus, he now had a bro to spot him. He would be fine. It was a risk worth taking.

But not hastily.

Jack turned around and followed the monkeys outside. Harambe woke up, eventually, and impressed everyone with his new power. He even considered challenging Jack again, but not only were the circumstances less than ideal, Jack was also busy.

He sat on a rock and stared at infinity, lost in thoughts so deep that even the monkeys’ incessant howling didn’t budge him. Harambe left him alone for now. He even stood beside him, making sure nobody would disturb his bro for no reason. Jack was clearly busy with something important.

An hour later, Jack stood up. All cold had left his system by now, and his body was back in pristine condition. His eyes were sharp, his breathing steady, and he radiated an aura of no chill.

“Harambe,” he said, making the gorilla turn around. “I will go in the waterfall. Spot me.”

Harambe nodded. As the rest of the monkeys watched, the two of them headed deep into the pond—thanks to Harambe’s stat bonuses from the waterfall, it was now easier.

They reached the waterfall at the back and stopped before it.

“Don’t pull me out too early,” said Jack. “I can probably get out by myself, so act only if you think I’m dying. I trust you, Harambe. Okay?”

The big brorilla met Jack’s eyes and nodded. He wouldn’t let his bro die, but he’d do his best to delay the saving.

“Good.”

Jack dived into the waterfall and let the cold consume him. The next moment, he opened his eyes in the plain cyan world of tranquility, where his mind belonged entirely to him.

It was time to solve the riddle.