Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Come morning of the next day, Edgar and Professor Margaret Rust stepped into the forest with suspicion in their eyes. Their hearts with filled with excitement and fear for the unknown, while their feet shuffled warily through the undergrowth.

Behind them, Jack trailed with a wide grin. He’d experienced so many things in this forest. It had only been a few days, but he remembered every tree and bush around here. It smelled like home.

Edgar looked at the trees around him. Nothing had changed from a few steps back, where Jack assured them was the dungeon’s border. “So, this is a dungeon,” he said. “Looks…okay?”

“A conquered dungeon,” Jack corrected him.

“I assume there are changes deeper inside,” the professor noted, inspecting everything with a sharp eye.

“And you said there are monkeys?” Edgar asked again. “Like Brock?”

“In a sense.”

“What?”

“You’ll see.”

Jack took the lead, crossing the foliage at his normal speed. The others lagged behind greatly—whether due to stats, experience, or old age, in the professor’s case, he couldn’t tell. To help them, Jack set to gently pulling the bushes aside and choosing easier paths. He didn’t harm the forest; it felt so dear to him now.

Birds chirped overhead, and small animals darted from branch to branch. Now that the monsters were gone, the forest was repopulating, and the entire fauna heaved a collective sigh of relief.

Life was returning.

Jack spared a look for two little birds on a branch. They weren’t bothered by the System’s arrival. No blue screen was shoved in their faces, no life-or-death calamities, no alien overlords looming in the horizon. They were just birds.

He smiled.

The wind ruffled some leaves above, letting a ray of sunlight dotted by leafy shadows fall on the birds, scaring them and making them take off. One followed the other as they zigzagged through branches and out of sight.

Jack followed them with his eyes. As soon as he lost track, he noticed another shape silently watching from the overgrowth, melding with the shadows and with a piece of poop in hand.

“Hold!” he shouted, raising a hand. “Wait!”

The monkey stopped just short of launching its projectile. It made sounds of surprise as it noticed it was him, then of joy as it fell from the tree and gave him a bear hug.

The professor screamed and Edgar readied a fireball.

“No fire in the forest, idiot!” Jack berated him.

“Sorry!”

“Uu-uu-aha!” the monkey yelled, hugging Jack by the waist and lifting him up with enough strength to break a pre-System human twice over. Brock rushed at the monkey and hugged its leg, happy to be finally seeing one of his kind again. The monkey froze for a moment, then petted his head—he let it.

“Easy, easy.” He laughed, turning to it. He patted its shoulder and dropped back down. “Professor and Edgar, this is one of the gymonkeys I was telling you about.”

The professor was already squinting, then said, “Fascinating…”

“Oh, wow. I didn’t know the System had a sense of humor.” Edgar looked the monkey up and down, scanning it.

Gymonkey, Level 13

A monkey variant from planet Green. Gymonkeys inhabit all forest biomes and move in packs, defending their territory with flying poop and great muscles. Their unique name comes from their habit of lifting heavy things to increase their strength.

While not particularly aggressive, they are highly territorial.

“Not the System, my friend; evolution! From what I understand, these monkeys appeared naturally on planet Green.”

“It says here they’re territorial, Jack,” the professor noted. “Aren’t we intruding?”

“It’s okay; I’m bros with their big bro, so I can bring friends over.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said, you’ll see. Come on, little one; take us to Harambe.”

Edgar’s ears propped up. “To whom?”

Jack only laughed. The monkey excitedly led them through the forest, heading to the northeast, where they had their forest gym. Jack saw the hill that hid his cave from afar, gazing at it with nostalgia. They also crossed the rocky terrain where the wolves used to live—it was clean of blood and battle remains—then made their way to a wave of vegetation that seemed out of place.

The trees were taller here, and the air moister. Edgar’s clothes stuck to his torso, while the professor’s shoulder-length gray hair clung to her nape.

“This is a jungle!” she exclaimed, looking around. “What’s a jungle doing here?”

Jack grinned as he explained. “When the System spawns a monster group, it also spawns part of their environment. The goblins, for example, came with an entire village. However, I think that the System isn’t actively maintaining this mini-biome now that the dungeon is over. It will go back to normal eventually, but I believe our new friends will adjust just fine.”

“A goblin village, you say. Did they have more subspecies?”

“Just goblins, hobgoblins, and a goblin shaman. They were pretty low-level.”

“As they should be. Have you noticed they seem to be genetically engineered?”

“Not just noticed; I’ve confirmed it.” He puffed his chest in pride. “One of my candidate Classes was called Goblin Fighter, and it said that goblins were an experiment gone wrong. I don’t know if it was an accident or not, but I won’t complain. If they weren’t such perfect enemies to start with, I would have had a lot more trouble.”

“That is akin to mind control,” the professor said, turning to look at him with hands clasped behind her waist. “Doesn’t it trouble you?”

“Everything is mind control. I don’t mind goblins—I mind the System.”

But he didn’t. Not really. The System had given him a new lease of life; as much as he opposed it morally, its arrival was the best thing that ever happened to him. The professor looked deep into his eyes, gave a nod that implied disbelief, then looked away. Jack frowned.

“I don’t mind the System,” Edgar said, not quite reading the room. Two amused glances landed on him, but before anyone could respond, a massive gorilla fell from the tall branches above and landed before them.

The professor screamed and jumped back, while Edgar summoned another fireball in his hand.

“Goddamnit, Edgar!” Jack said. “What did I tell you? No fire in the forest!”

The wizardling looked between Jack and the gorilla, who was flexing its muscles at Jack like a bodybuilder. His fireball winked off. “It’s a jungle, not a forest,” he muttered. At the same time, both he and the professor scanned the gorilla.

Brorilla, Level 22

A gorilla variant from planet Green. Brorillas usually live with Gymonkeys and train them in the ways of working out. It is due to the Brorillas’ unmatched pecs that Gymonkeys use poop to fight—they consider themselves too weak for anything else.

Brorillas are usually calm, measured animals. However, if anyone harms their little cousins or invades their territory, they go bananas.

Brock rushed to the gorilla and excitedly shook his hand, then flexed a pair of small biceps. The gorilla flexed back, at which point Brock realized he was losing and looked to the side. The brorilla gave a deep, low chuckle.

“Hmm.” The professor hummed, unsure what to comment on first. Her mind seemed to instantly pierce through ten layers of information as she asked, “Is there something off about their genders?”

“Yeah,” Jack replied, looking at her with surprise. “They’re all the same species. Brorillas are male and gymonkeys are female, like bulls and cows.”

At this, the professor’s expression scrunched up. “That’s not right,” she said. “Are you sure?”

“I’ve seen all brorillas and gymonkeys. It’s either that or a massive, unfortunate coincidence.”

Her face warped further into a scowl. “I’ll ask Ar’Tazul to be sure,” was all she said, dropping the matter.

Meanwhile, Edgar eyed the gorilla warily. Flexing or not, seeing a live gorilla from up-close was quite the experience. “We’re sure it’s friendly, right?” he asked.

“He, not it,” Jack replied. “And yes, he’s friendly. His name is Brodul.”

The professor raised a brow. “Did you name him that?”

“Yeah.”

“It shows.”

“What? Oh! I was just going for gorilla-like syllables. The rest don’t have “bro” in their name.” He considered it for a moment, then added, “I think.”

While the three humans were talking, the gymonkey informed Brodul, who was done flexing, of the situation. With a nod of acknowledgment, the brorilla turned to lead them deeper into the jungle-forest. They followed.

More gymonkeys and another brorilla appeared on the way. Brock greeted them excitedly. Though it had only been a few days, he was beyond happy to be back, even walking ahead of the others and tapping his foot in annoyance when they were slow.

Edgar and the professor stared at the primates with wonder. When they reached the forest gym, their wonder turned into astonishment.

“You have got to be kidding me,” said Edgar.

“This is fascinating!” the professor said, watching everything wide-eyed. “I can’t wait to study them.”

“Let’s leave the studying for later, Professor—and be polite, please.”

A third brorilla—Oz—stood in the center of the forest gym, inspecting the exercising gymonkeys. Harambe himself appeared from behind the bananarm plant, where he liked to lounge mid-work out. The professor and Edgar gasped.

“That’s a big gorilla,” said Edgar.

“Of course! It’s their big bro,” Jack replied, smiling.

A brown blur flew through the clearing and smashed into Harambe, who laughed deeply as he hugged his son. It was a touching reunion; both father and son looked at each other, then smiled widely.

When Brock finally let go and fell to the ground, Jack walked up to Harambe and exchanged a handshake. He’d quit flexing back at the gorillas, since his comparatively tiny muscles only drew their nods of sympathy.

Meanwhile, Brock had rushed over behind the bananarm tree, to the place where his mother usually rested. Jack let him be with a smile.

Harambe took his time studying Edgar and the professor. Then, slowly, he nodded and moved in for a handshake.

“Easy, Harambe,” Jack said quickly. “Be very gentle or you’ll break their hands.”

He listened. Despite his hands looking gigantic compared to theirs, his handshake was soft like a baby’s. The professor nodded in approval. “What a well-behaved young man.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Harambe,” Edgar said, eyes sparkling. “Nice name.”

Harambe smirked and nodded. The rest of the apes had also congregated around them by now, eyes gleaming with plain curiosity. The two of them felt nervous, of course, but tried not to show it.

Meanwhile, the professor was staring at the groins of the gymonkeys and brorillas with obvious disappointment, which made the brorillas extremely uncomfortable. Three of the five started working out on the spot to feel better.

She shook her head, then said, “I have only seen such idiocy in undergraduate exam answers… But I have to say, Jack”—she stopped as a gymonkey reached out for her hair and smelled it, then continued— “your friends here are very strong. Any of the brorillas could take on Henry White, and Harambe is Level 37. With them as the faction’s contracted monsters, I dare say we’re one of the strongest factions on Earth.”

The monkeys and gorillas, hearing that they were very strong, cheered and started flexing at once. The professor, Edgar, and even Jack watched them with mild amusement.

“They’re plenty strong, yeah,” Jack agreed. “They don’t like leaving their forest, but if we move our headquarters here, they’ll help protect everyone. Maybe work them out, too. That’s one reason why I said we should move.”

“Hmm.” The professor looked around. “And the other reason?”

“Check this out.”

Jack walked to the bananarm plant and, after asking permission from Harambe, took two bananarms—Brock had already eaten one, of course. “Try these,” he said, handing them over.

Edgar quickly peeled the bananarm and took tentative bites, while the professor studied its shape and coloration for a long moment. “Earth bananas have been selectively bred for centuries,” she said.

“I know, Professor, I know. It’s suspicious. Just eat it.”

After hesitating for another moment, she slowly peeled it off and tried. Jack and the primates watched them, making Edgar so nervous he struggled to swallow. Eventually, however, he managed, and then his eyes widened at the notification.

“Wow,” he said. “I got some bonus!” Then, after perusing his status screen, his excitement morphed into puzzlement. “Where is it, though?”

“Physical consists of Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution,” Jack explained. “The bananarm increases your Strength by ten points, but that isn’t immediately visible in the Physical stat. I suspect it shows the minimum of the three sub-stats or something like that—not the average.”

“Ten points?!” His eyes widened. “Wait. I do feel stronger. Can I have that?”

A monkey handed him a dumbbell which he struggled but managed to lift. “Look at that!” he exclaimed, letting it drop on the ground with a thud. He flexed his biceps. “I’m strong!”

Every primate smiled, nodded, and gave him encouraging pats in the back. Oz slung an arm over his shoulder and tried to lead him to a bench press but was stopped by Jack.

“Later, please,” he said. “I have more things to show them.”

“There’s more!?”

“Of course! The bananarm was just the start.”