Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Chapter 415: Returning to the Milky Way

Bobby Dickinson was a human of Earth-179, member of the Wide Swirls faction. After centuries of cultivation, he had finally reached the D-Grade, which qualified him to stay around the intergalactic teleporter and be a guard!

Honor aside, this was a boring job. The teleporter was very rarely used, if ever, and at those times he was actually escorted away for higher-ranking guards to take over. Of course, every arrival of intergalactic personnel was communicated well ahead of time.

That was why, when the teleporter began to ripple in Bobby’s shift, he grew suspicious. “Hmm?” he muttered. “That’s not supposed to happen.”

Something crashed. The teleporter shook alongside the ground, and a powerful shockwave threw Bobby away even as a blinding flash of light seared his eyelids. “Ah!” he exclaimed in pain.

He wasn’t the only guard. Everyone mobilized quickly, but it was too late—as soon as the teleporter stabilized, whatever was inside it tore through the void and flew away, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Bobby was frozen, left watching the ruins of a large teleporter.

Which had been destroyed during his shift.

“Nooo!” he yelled to the skies.

***

The bromobile tore through space at tremendous velocity. The void trembled beneath its hull, ripping apart every now and then to reveal absolute darkness. Jack had taken the helm this time. Using his deep understanding into Space, he could push this ship far beyond any speed it had displayed in the past.

Of course, the quality of the ship itself also played a part—an inferior starship would have already crumbled, but the bromobile could easily take this pressure.

This starship had been gifted to Jack by Old Man Spirit, the overseer of Trial Planet. He hadn’t known back then, but it was actually an incredible vehicle.

“We should be far enough,” Jack finally said after several minutes of all-out flying.

“I don’t know, man.” Salin shook his head. “It’s only a measly billion miles. What if someone stumbles into us?”

“Very funny. Just so you know, B-Grades could still follow our trail and locate us.”

“So why is this far enough?”

“Not far enough to be safe. Far enough to activate a warp.”

Every high quality starship possessed the ability to space-warp. Moreover, when executed through a starship’s mobile teleporter, this space-warping was far superior to a cultivator’s. This was the reason why even B-Grades rarely flew through space by themselves.

Jack’s insight into the Dao of Space was astoundingly deep, but compared to a high quality starship’s formation, it was like comparing a strongman to a mechanical crane.

Energy gathered wildly. The surrounding miles of space were completely sucked dry, while the front of the bromobile’s hull shone with an amber light. Finally, with a tearing sound, space split open, and the bromobile shot through its fabric. Stars zoomed past them—a multicolored spectrum majestic to the eyes.

When they were spat back out into normal space, the astral scenery around them was slightly different.

“Ten light years,” Jack said, nodding. “We’re finally safe.”

“Yep. You’re fast where it matters.”

Jack raised a brow at Gan Salin. Brock laughed. Nauja coughed. “Where do we go now?” she asked. “As far as I remember, Earth is hidden.”

“Right.” Jack nodded. “Earth is outside System space. Even I don’t know its exact location—and, even if I did, it’s part of a new solar system, so it constantly moves across the galaxy. Finding it without using a teleporter is impossible.”

“Always the optimist,” Gan Salin said.

“If you keep interrupting me, I’ll optimize your ass,” Jack gave a joking warning. “We need to find someone who can connect us to Earth’s teleporter—and there aren’t many candidates.”

Back when Earth had teleported, Shol had been on it as well. He desired to go back. Therefore, the people of Earth worked together with the Black Hole Church to temporarily connect their teleporter to another near the Exploding Sun headquarters.

Jack hadn’t known exactly how teleporters worked back then, nor did he care much. Now, however, he had some idea. A teleporter acted as a beacon. It radiated spatial ripples of a very specific frequency across a wide area. If someone knew a teleporter’s frequency, they could latch on to it, detect the ripples, discover their source, and so connect their own teleporter to the target one.

In other words, as long as you knew a teleporter’s frequency and its very general location, you could connect to it.

For that reason, teleporter frequencies were considered top secret information. If an enemy had them, they could just appear in your headquarters. The only people who knew the frequency of Earth’s teleporter were the Sage, the professor…and Shol! This last person was meant to act as a failsafe in case anything went wrong.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Even Jack himself didn’t know the frequency, just in case he was ever captured and somehow mind-searched. He never imagined the Cathedral would be taken over.

Now, his former caution had come to bite him in the ass.

“The professor is on Earth, presumably, and I have no idea where the Sage is or whether he’s still alive,” Jack explained. “Therefore, our best chance of reaching Earth is Shol.”

Salin perked up. “Bald head, monk robes, explosive temper?”

“That’s the one.”

“And he’s in the Exploding Sun, right? Wasn’t that the faction exterminated by the Hand of God?”

“Yes…” Jack’s face darkened. Salin had already given him this information before, but this didn’t make the pill any less bitter. Master Huali could have passed away, and maybe even Shol…

Jack shook his head. “Let’s head there first,” he said. “In finding Shol, his faction is our only clue. Even destroyed, we might discover something.”

“Whatever you say, boss. But how?” Salin asked. “From the insignias on the teleporter we just came through, we must be in the Wide Swirls constellation, near the center of the galaxy. The Exploding Sun is far away.”

“Not if we’re smart about it. There is a network of teleporters spanning System space—if we disguise ourselves, we could use them until we’re close enough to the Exploding Sun to fly with the bromobile.”

Salin perked up. “Excuse me—the what?” The name of their starship hadn’t come up before—Jack had saved it for shock value.

“The bromobile,” he replied, remaining calm and confident. “The name of this starship.”

“Bromobile? You’re sure?”

“One hundred percent.”

“And they call me the crazy one… Listen, Jack, if you’re here to steal my job you better reconsider.”

Jack chuckled. “It’s a great name and it stays. Right, Brock?”

Brock raised a brow at Gan Salin. “Bromobile is great name. Why? You have a problem?”

“I, uh… Not at all, big bro.”

“Good. I was thinking the bromobile was one Gan Salin too heavy, but it’s okay.”

Brock was obviously joking, but it was hard to tell with his hard face and piercing eyes. Gan Salin gulped. “Well, what are we waiting for? We have a galaxy to explore!”

“That’s the spirit!” Jack laughed, stepping away from the starship helm. “Nauja, will you do us the honor?”

“With pleasure,” she replied, grabbing the helm. Her mind connected to the formation operating the starship, and her hands jumped over the buttons, turning them in a certain direction and shooting forth.

“How do you know where to go?” Brock asked curiously.

“The spatial ripples of teleporters are easily detectable if you’re close enough. All ships have the appropriate devices—teleporters are partly meant to serve as beacons in empty space, guiding us to safe ports amidst the endlessness.”

“Oh,” Brock replied, nodding. “Smart.”

“I know, right?” She flashed him a bright grin. “It’s so cool! Only marginally worse than riding triceratopses back at the tribe.”

“I can imagine.”

“Don’t take us to the closest planet with a teleporter,” Jack spoke up. “If anyone is after us, they might go there and lay in wait. Choose the farthest planet.”

“Alright.” She frowned for a moment, consulting the starship devices. “I found it. It’s less than a week away—I’ll handle the piloting, so you can just relax and enjoy the ride.”

“I think I’ll read a bit,” Gan Salin said, retrieving a rolled-up magazine from his pocket. It was titled, “Architectural Boss” and displayed everyday buildings filled with advertisements. Jack had absolutely no idea what a D-Grade cultivator was doing with such a thing, but he wasn’t ready to open this can of worms.

“I’ll cultivate,” he said.

“Then I will read as well,” Brock added, conjuring his Bro Code—a golden book filled with images.

“Oh!” Salin exclaimed, putting his magazine away. “What’s that?”

“The Bro Code.”

“It has images? Can I see?”

Brock paused for a moment, then made way for Gan Salin to read alongside him as well. The canine released all sorts of exclamations—though probably not understanding anything. He also made suggestions on how the book could improve. Brock looked ready to smack him.

Jack chuckled as he walked away, heading to a separate room to cultivate in peace. This journey would be fraught with danger—yet, how come it felt refreshing?

***

In a distant place within the Milky Way stood a massive silver temple. Statues of robots decorated it—and, if one counted them, they would find exactly ninety-nine.

A door opened in the depths of the temple, and Artus Emberheart entered the room. Compared to the last time Jack had seen him, his aura was more chaotic, as his Dao had cracked—yet, the obsession in his eyes was hard to hide.

“You asked me to see me, Commander?” he said respectfully.

A woman clad in white sat behind a desk. Her hair was also white, not by age, but by purity. This was Eva Solvig, the late B-Grade commander of the Hand of God who had once been tasked with finding Jack Rust and retrieving the Life Artifact on his body. After the war began, she was assigned to purging this galaxy—both because she was familiar with it and as punishment for her previous failure.

“I have received a report from the Heaven’s Egg galaxy,” she said slowly. “There is a chance…Jack Rust has returned.”

A fierce fire lit up in Artus’s eyes. His aged face warped in hatred. “He’s here!?”

“It is still unclear. Someone matching his cultivation, Dao, and description appeared in Heaven’s Egg. He also possessed the power to jump multiple tiers to fight and was accompanied by a brorilla. He even used a similar Life Artifact to enhance his power. It is either Jack Rust or an elaborate trap…but I don’t see why anyone would go to such lengths to deceive us.”

“It is him,” Artus replied with obsession-fueled certainty. “Commander, I beg you to let me go after him. I must destroy him!”

“You are not his match,” Eva replied, shaking her head. “At the mid C-Grade, he could almost match an early B-Grade cultivator.”

Artus shook. Such talent… Such power… It was mind-boggling—but it didn’t reduce his hatred in the slightest.

“Then…” he said slowly.

“Jack Rust is a high-priority target. He must not be allowed to grow.” Eva tidied up the papers on her desk, then stood up. “I will personally lead this operation. You follow me. I have also notified every agent in the Milky Way to be on the lookout. That man has escaped us once, but if he really dares to return to this galaxy…” Her eyes sharpened. “He will die.”