Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Chapter 417: Riddle

Clouds of gasses hung in the void like pregnant titans. They were brown, yellow, purple, green… All colors in existence covered the cosmos, bloating it with the essence of creation just waiting to happen.

“Pretty,” Nauja said.

Jack raised a brow. “Just that? I thought seeing a nebula up close would be a little more exciting.”

“Oh, I’ve been around. It’s not my first nebula.”

“She’s right,” Salin commented. “You should have seen that whale swimming through a nebula. That, my friend, was a sight to behold.”

Nearby, Brock snickered. Jack rolled his eyes. “Well, like it or not, this is the best I have.”

“And I’m sure it’s great, buddy,” Salin replied, patting Jack’s shoulders. “So—the Exploding Sun is in there?”

“Somewhere. We just have to find it.”

Reaching the headquarters of the Exploding Sun wasn’t too difficult. Jack already knew it was inside the Bow Nebula, a cloud of multi-colored gasses and dust so colossal it dwarfed even stars. Even in the vast galaxy, such a place was visible from extremely far away. They’d just flown directly here from Derion.

On the down side, finding a few planets nested somewhere inside a massive nebula was like looking for a needle in the haystack. Thankfully, they had the bromobile.

“I’m getting a faint reading,” Nauja said, looking at the starship’s various instruments. “There is a teleporter in the nebula, but it’s far away—it should be close to the other side.”

Jack nodded. Back when Master Huali had taken him outside the nebula to watch a supernova, reaching there had only taken a short while. Field Nebula—the Exploding Sun headquarters—should be near the edge.

“What are we waiting for?” Brock spoke up. “Let’s go! For the bros!”

“For the bros!” the other three replied, and the bromobile dove straight into the nebula. Suddenly, the star-riddled darkness was replaced by colorful gasses of all kinds. It was like flying through a rainbow. Even Nauja and Gan Salin, who had been indifferent so far, showed a rare stunned expression.

Jack stuck out his chest. “Your whale had no windows, did it?”

Suddenly, the gasses parted. A comet emerged, shooting straight for them and narrowly missing their ship.

“There is no visibility and we’re going too fast!” Nauja explained, rushing for the helm. “Do something!”

“I got it,” Jack replied. His form flickered—suddenly, he was outside the bromobile, standing stably on its prow. Waves of Fist Dao emanated from his body. The bromobile adopted a new momentum, suddenly not sailing through the nebula but punching through. A faint purple aura surrounded them, shaped as a fist, and the occasional comet was smashed away.

What was once a starship had become a fist punching through the cosmos, unstoppably tearing through all in its way. Standing on the prow, Jack couldn’t help grinning. Infinite colors swam around him—and it was only thanks to his personal power that he could experience such beauty.

Salin’s voice echoed in his mind. “That’s very impressive, don’t get me wrong,” he said, “but don’t you think we’re a little too eye-catching?”

They were supposed to approach Field Nebula stealthily. However, Jack’s grin remained unbothered. “I am dispersing the energy fluctuations into the dozens of miles of space surrounding us,” he replied. “Unless someone draws close enough to be detected, we should resemble nothing but a slightly larger meteor.”

“Oh. Okay. You do you, chief.”

They tore through the nebula. Teleporting at this time would create ripples that even Jack couldn’t suppress, so they chose the far slower method of flying. A distance that would normally take moments would now last weeks. But, this close to potentially enemy territory, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Jack still used his powers to shrink space under them, vastly accelerating their ship. Otherwise, even years wouldn’t be enough to cross a nebula.

Using Fist and Space Dao to simultaneously protect, hide, and accelerate their ship took a toll on Jack. He wouldn’t run low on energy by such limited consumption, but he also couldn’t spare the attention to meditate. Therefore, he had to settle for easier matters.

Salin took out a deck of cards and taught them a game called Crazy Guy Goes to Town.

“That’s obviously made-up,” Jack said immediately.

“All games are,” Salin replied. “Now, pay attention.”

Surprisingly, the game was fun. Whether Salin had made it himself or was just using a pre-existing game under a more amusing—for him—name, Jack had to admit it was well-designed. Cultivators of their level had extreme mental faculties, able to calculate thousands of variations on the fly. Yet, Crazy Guy Goes to Town had just the right proportion of luck and strategy for the possible variations to increase exponentially, making sure that the game remained challenging.

It was similar to chess, but with the added randomness of cards.

Since none of the four focused on the Mental stat, they were equally matched, with Jack quickly emerging as the superior player thanks to his relatively absurd stats. Still, it remained a fun pastime.

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The days flowed on. They approached their destination eventually—the starship slowed down to be less easily detectable, while all other activity was reduced to a minimum.

“We should be getting close,” Nauja said. “Be ready.”

“How close?” Salin whispered. “A minute or a day?”

“Why are you guys whispering?” Jack asked in a normal voice.

“Don’t be boring,” Salin whispered his reply. “We’re approaching stealthily—it’s good manners to speak in whispers.”

“Good manners to whom?”

“To the people we’re about to ambush! Have I taught you nothing all these years, Jack?”

Jack shook his head. As he was about to reply, the gasses grew thinner around them, and Nauja hurriedly brought the starship to a stop. Pale lights could be seen through the dust—manmade ones.

The four cultivators glanced at each other, nodded, then stepped outside the starship. Jack shrank it—a function of the bromobile—and stashed it in his space ring.

“Be careful. Let’s go,” he instinctively whispered.

Salin’s eyes brightened. “Ah-hah! You’re doing it!”

“Shut up. It’s good manners.”

They flew closer. Finally, the gasses disappeared completely, revealing a pocket of emptiness inside the nebula with three planets suspended in the center. Jack’s mind was filled with memories—this was Field Nebula, where he once lived and trained for several months. The headquarters of the Exploding Sun faction.

Except, it was no longer their headquarters.

One of the three planets was cracked and deserted. Beside it, the Inner and Outer Planets remained whole, but parts of their surface were ruined, turned into desolate expanses of unnaturally pure white sand. The once lively planets had been reduced to boulders. The apocalypse had washed over this place—an apocalypse going by the name of Eva Solvig.

Jack clenched his fists. The Exploding Sun had been kind to him—to see their headquarters reduced to such a state brought him sadness. He wasn’t the only one, either—the other three had spent even longer here, taking the Outer Planet as their home for almost a year. Now, white deserts were reflected in their eyes, places where once-glorious metropolises used to span.

“That bitch,” Salin said, his eyes oozing hatred. “I’ll fucking slaughter her.”

“Don’t lose heart,” Brock encouraged them. His eyes were dark but clear. “A true bro must remain composed at all times. Anger is a tool, not a reaction.”

“Sorry man. You make sense, but I’m insane.”

“Brock is right,” Jack said. “Let’s calm ourselves before approaching. If there are enemies here, a single mistake could get us killed.”

“There are,” Nauja replied. “Look over there. I can see their flags.”

The rest followed her finger with their eyes, settling onto the center of Field Nebula. It wasn’t just three planets—a small moon was stable between them, formerly acting as a teleportation hub. Now, that moon had been transformed into an outpost for the Hand of God, if the flags flying above it were any indication.

In a display of unhinged imperialism, a massive pole had been stabbed into the Center Moon, rising ten miles above the ground and at least as much below. A large flag lay motionless on its top, held in place by iron chains—there was no wind at such altitude.

In fact, there was no wind at all as the Center Moon had no atmosphere. The smaller flags waved due to some magic.

Seeing the massive pole which destabilized the entire moon for the sole purpose of flying a flag, Jack felt bitterness rise through his throat. He suppressed it. “Let’s focus on getting information,” he said darkly. “Even if we destroy this place, it will alert the Hand’s B-Grades. Let’s not take such a risk without reason.”

The other three nodded. They were not here to reclaim Field Nebula or punish the Hand cultivators. Their goal was to find Shol or information pertaining to him—after all, Shol was one of the very few people who knew the frequency of Earth’s teleporter. As tempting as it might be to rip that pole out of the ground and stab it into the backside of the Hand outpost leader, that was a sentiment better saved for later.

“I know where Shol’s house was,” Jack said. “Follow me.”

Space curved and hugged them like a blanket. Light passed around, not touching them—they were invisible. Like this, they flew towards the inner planet, the place where the D- and C-Grade cultivators once lived. Much of the planet was a lifeless white expanse by now, and there were no occupants to be seen. Still, Jack could make out that the area he once inhabited—Master Huali’s estate—remained standing.

Of course, it had collapsed due to the many earthquakes caused by the battling C-Grades. Blood even littered the once peaceful paths and corridors—a reminder of how brutality ruins beauty.

The estate was now completely empty. Jack brought his friends to Shol’s little wooden cabin and stepped before the entrance. “Here it is,” he said. After scanning the house with his perception, he pushed the door open, revealing a place only partially dusted by the passage of a few months.

The furniture and items were thrown all across the room. Jack sighed deeply. With a wave of his hand, everything floated back to its original position, and the cabin looked as if a day hadn’t gone by.

“I’ve come here twice,” Jack said. “Two times Shol poured me tea, and neither time was I able to finish it. Today, again, I will not taste tea…”

“Do you think there was any clue here that you just moved back into place?” Salin asked.

Jack stared at him. Salin stared back. “Shit!”

Forgetting sentimentalism, they began searching the house. If Shol had fled this place, he might have left behind some hint for Jack—otherwise, meeting again would be far too difficult.

“I got something!” Nauja exclaimed. She pushed away a stack of papers on the table to reveal a single parchment—it looked more recent than the others, and also written in haste. On it, Jack could make out Shol’s handwriting.

“Endless stars and fire flight, gather where we won the fight… ”

Salin groaned. “I should have known. Shol is a monk; of course he speaks in riddles.”

“This could indicate his hiding place,” Jack said. “Or…it could be completely unrelated. But we didn’t find anything else.”

“There is an easier way to find him. If he’s been captured and held prisoner in the Center Moon, we can just rescue him.”

“That would be ideal.” Jack nodded. They kept searching for a while, coming up with nothing. “Well, no time like the present,” Jack said. “Guess we got to beat them up.”

“Actually, big bro,” Brock said, placing a firm hand on Jack’s shoulder, “let us handle it.”

“Us?”

“Me, dog bro, girl bro. Us three. We got this—you just search for monk bro.”

Jack raised a brow. He glanced at the other two, both of whom were excited. “That’s right! We’re not useless!” Salin exclaimed. “We can do this! And, if it gets too hard, you can always join later.”

“That’s… I don’t know, guys. It could be dangerous. We’re pressed for time.”

“We don’t lose time,” Brock said. “We keep them busy, you search in secret. If you fight, you have to fight and then search. Takes more time.”

“Besides,” Nauja said, stepping forward, “don’t forget where we are—this is Field Nebula, the birthplace of the bro army. If the three of us, the original bro squad, don’t take revenge for what happened here, how will we face our other bros in the future?”

Jack laughed. “Fine. I trust you guys. Let’s do it this way.”

“Awesome!” Salin exclaimed, punching the air. “Bro squad…assemble!”