Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

The guards of Integration City were humanoid robots with dog heads. And not just any breed; they were slick, dark, metallic dobermans, with steel cords stretching over their bodies like muscles and iron plates bulging on their chests. As they stood on two legs, they resembled hardcore club bouncers; they even wore thin sunglasses.

However, they didn’t need that. One of them had killed a member of the Ice Peak on the spot. That was intimidation enough.

Jack scanned them at once.

Guard Robot (E-Grade)

A humanoid robot with the head of a dog. Boasting heightened senses, budding intelligence, fast movement speed, and fighting power at the early E-Grade, these robots are ideal guards for low-level occasions.

Enchanted by Horrificus Egen.

Early E-Grade…

Each of these robots was equivalent to the fifth level of his robot training partner, the one that had beat him to the ground. Now, there were nine of them, and they weren’t playing around. One had blood and brain matter flowing down its jaws and stood atop a headless corpse. The rest were staring at the two factions silently.

Both the Flame River and the Ice Peak stood frozen. Surrounded by unsurpassable opponents, they’d all but forgotten their previous quarrel and hoped to simply remain alive. Even the friends of the two murdered people—the stabbed one had quickly bled out—didn’t dare make a peep.

“We are terribly sorry,” the leader of the Flame River—Vivi Eragorn—said. “We will not repeat this.”

The guards stared at them for a moment. Then, one of them spoke in a hard, calm voice. “Do not make us come again.”

“Absolutely not, sir.”

“The Ice Peak will obey,” the other leader—Alexander Petrovic—said, bowing lightly.

The dog guards gave them a long, final stare, then retreated. Jack saw them jumping to nearby rooftops and hiding in their centers, where they weren’t visible from below.

It was as Karvahul had said. There were guards, and he really hoped he didn’t see them again.

The two factions were left being awkward. Both of them had lost one member, but they didn’t dare continue. Exchanging hateful stares, they turned around and entered the town through different streets.

“Those dogs sure weren’t playing around…” Jack said, keeping his voice low.

“No proper guard would,” the Sage replied, smiling. “You can read the paper now.”

“What?”

“My prediction. You can read it.”

Jack stared for a second, then reached into his pocket to remove the piece of paper. He unfolded it, took a glance, then looked at the Sage in disbelief.

“I told you,” the Sage said, shrugging. “I’m a sage.”

He’d gotten the entire sequence of events right; from the pushing, to the stabbing, to the dog guards, to the exact person who would do the stabbing and consequently get his head crushed. It could be a coincidence; but what were the chances?

“Wait,” Jack said, struggling to comprehend the consequences of this. “You are too powerful.”

“I’m the Sage, my friend.” He smiled, then stood. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other business to attend to. It was nice meeting you, Jack. You too, Brock. Thank you for the wonderful meal—and thank you for paying attention to someone like me. Keep being open-minded.”

“Of course…”

Jack shook his hand in a daze, then watched the other man walk away. It was only when Brock punched him lightly in the shoulder that he recovered.

“What the hell happened?” he asked. “Did you see that, Brock? That guy really is a sage. He’s terrifying.”

Brock shrugged, then punched his open palm.

“Strength above all? Well, yes, but…” Jack looked in the direction the Sage had disappeared in. “Imagine how heavily he can influence things.” At the next moment, his eyes hardened. He’d decided to believe. “I must gather two million credits,” he told himself. “There’s no time to waste. Let’s go, Brock.”

After paying the bill—it had come to 69 credits—Jack put Brock on his shoulder and walked away. He wasn’t gazing at the shops anymore. Instead, he was lost in thought. The Sage had shaken him in more than one ways.

This place is filled with hidden monsters, he thought. I must get stronger fast. And two million credits… That’s a lot of money. I’d never get that much by just fighting or doing odd work in the town. I must go all-out.

A plan was forming in Jack’s mind. He didn’t know if it would be enough, but it felt like his only shot.

But first, he needed to make an investment.

He visited a large shop filled with wondrous items. Its exterior was white and its interior light green, giving a homely yet spacious impression. Unlike Ar’Tazul’s crate that was larger on the inside, this place advertized its wares in glass cases. Jack assumed it would have what he needed.

“Hello,” a spinning top woman—a Kovan—greeted him as he entered. Her smile was wide like a half-moon. “How can I help you?”

“I would like to buy an experience ball, please.”

“Of course, Sir. What size?”

“How many Levels would the large one give me?”

Tazul had said the medium-sized experience ball would give Jack one level, maybe two. Since the large one was ten times as expensive, it ought to give him many more. Given the difficulty escalation of leveling, he estimated five.

“Around six,” the Kovan said, squinting at Jack.

It’s close.

“Great. And the price?”

“Ten thousand credits, Sir.”

Jack nodded. It was the same price Ar’Tazul had offered. In the meantime, the Kovan had led him to a wall filled with glass cases, inside which shone a multitude of colorful balls.

Jack had never seen an experience ball before. They looked like glass spheres filled with rainbows, or maybe supernovas of colors. The smaller ones had simple bright strips flying around, while, in the larger ones, he could see the colors struggling to form primitive patterns, like some mystical force was guiding their rotations together.

The Kovan noticed his wonder and explained, “These are experience balls, Sir. They contain the essence harvested from a variety of monsters—the same energy we get from slaying them, which helps us level up. As a large portion of that energy is lost when directed at an experience ball, it takes a thousand F-Grade monsters for a single large ball.”

Jack raised his brow. “Slaughter, then.”

“The Star Pact limits the production of experience balls. Currently, the only legal way is during the suppression of monster breaks on smaller planets, or other necessary monster exterminations.”

Jack held the Kovan’s gaze, then nodded slowly. “Can you fly, by the way?” he asked.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’ve heard that you can fly on your planet. Is that true?” A moment later, he added, “Please let me know if this question is considered offensive. I had no such intent.”

“It’s fine.” The Kovan gave him a wide smile. “We originally evolved around the specific conditions of our home planet. That gives us a disadvantage everywhere else as we must hop instead of walking. It is a serious problem, which is why we mainly gravitate towards auxiliary professions… Only E-Grade people venture outside our planet, as hopping everywhere is exhausting, and the thinner atmosphere of other planets can cause problems for F-Grade Kovans. But, of course, all those problems are nullified if we can reach the D-Grade and fly.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“No problem. So, would you be interested in a large experience ball?”

“Yes. However, is it possible to buy it on credit?”

The Kovan squinted at him. Jack braced himself.

This was the difficult part. After meeting the Sage and watching Dorman and Rufus Emberheart display their powers in the arena, he’d come to understand that there were strong opponents around. If he was unlucky and stumbled upon one of them, not only would he be forced to reveal his true Dao and endure the consequences of lying to the officials—whatever they were—but he’d also run the risk of losing.

And losing was unacceptable. Not only because of the tournament itself, but mostly because of Jack’s other plan: betting.

In short, he’d figured that the ten thousand credit reward of every victory would never get him to two million in time. Therefore, he needed to take risks. The most obvious method was to bet everything he had on himself in every fight, since he was confident in winning, as well as bet on other fights based on his perception.

After all, Karvahul had said that the betting rates were determined by those betting—the native humans—who clearly lacked the insight a djinn could have.

That’s why, even though he had the ten thousand at hand, he wanted to pay on credit. This ten thousand might not seem like much right now, but it was a third of his budget. If he bet everything and won, this lost third would be deducted from all his future earnings.

The Koval stared at him for a moment, then said, “That could be possible… However, you must be aware that it will incur a significant increase in the item’s total value.”

Jack’s heart lightened with relief. “How much?”

“50% over the original price, and it must be paid before the Hand of God auction. Otherwise, a 5% fee is added for every day after that.”

Jack considered it for a moment. If he played his cards right, this ten thousand would transform into hundreds of thousands by the time of the auction. Then, the extra five thousand would be a drop in the bucket, and he would have made a large net profit.

However, he wouldn’t just take the Kovan’s words at face value.

“50% is a bit much. Make it twenty-five and we have a deal.”

“The lowest I can do is forty, sir—and that’s only because of your performance in the first fight.”

Jack smiled. Of course the merchants kept tabs.

“You have a deal,” he said.

“Excellent!”

They shook hands. The Kovan produced a paper contract with the terms they had agreed on in very simple language—the System world hated legalese, apparently. No scam could hide in there; Jack even checked for invisible ink by holding it to the light, which provoked the Kovan’s grumbling.

In the end, both signed, and Jack was now the proud owner of a large experience ball.

It was around the size of his head and shining with every color in the observable spectrum—and even more, probably, but Jack couldn’t see them. However, just as he was about to use it on the spot, he had another idea.

Wait. If I increase my Level now, people will know, and my betting rates will fall. What if I keep it at hand until I get a strong enough opponent?

A sardonic grin split his face. Hehehe.

“Are you okay, sir?” the Kovan asked, making Jack cough in his hand.

“Yes, all good. Can I have a bag, too?”

“Of course.”

If the Kovan realized something, she didn’t show it—but Jack suspected this particular Kovan would bet a lot on him in the next match.

Therefore, Jack left the shop with a simple bamboo bag containing an experience ball worth ten thousand credits. The bag was opaque, thankfully, and Jack even asked Brock to sit in it to hide the glow escaping from the bag’s mouth.

Then, while whistling a happy tune, he crossed the town and quickly reached his house. He entered, closed the door behind him, and released a long, drawn-out sigh.

Things were going well. He had a plan, whose first phase he’d already carried out. The next task in line was to speak with Karvahul and have him bet everything on Jack in every single round. His opponents would be unknown until the last moment, but if he happened to run into Rufus Emberheart, that would just be bad luck.

To be sure, they could wait until a few moments before the fight and hold some credits back if Rufus hadn’t already fought by then.

Jack nodded to himself. He was proud of this plan.

They’d also need to lean into the business aspects Karvahul had described, where they used his influence to get sponsorships off shops. He’d make sure to be extra flashy, just for that.

All those things combined, along with his ten thousand credits from each victory, would hopefully be enough to catapult him to two million. If not, he’d borrow from the connections he’d make.

And if the Sage was speaking out of his ass… Well, then fuck that guy.

For now, it was still afternoon, and there was only one thing for Jack to do. Well, two.

The first was to find a way to hide the experience ball and take it with him to the arena to use in a pinch, but that would be easy.

The second… He grinned. The second was to kick the ass of a particularly smug robot. Or at least try.