Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Chapter 438: A Taste of History

The repairing was complete. Jack’s Dao Tree was whole again. With just a few days of rest, it would recover from exhaustion and return to its former glory. As for Jack himself, he was completely and utterly spent. His mind was in tatters, and his soul was worn out. He was mentally exhausted.

However, the hardest part was behind him. The pain of his son’s loss remained, but he had regained himself and repaired his Dao. He could cultivate again. The only problems remaining now were the grief…

…and revenge.

Jack rested. He gave himself a full day of doing absolutely nothing. For the first time in a while, he actually slept.

When he awoke again, he felt combative, ready to take action. This was the dawn of a new era, and he was full of energy. Even a bit of his lost jovialty had returned. “Let’s see where we’re standing,” he said.

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Name: Jack Rust

Species: Human, Earth-387

Faction: Bare Fist Brotherhood (C)

Class: Gladiator Titan (King)

Level: 303

Strength: 6040 (+)

Dexterity: 6040 (+)

Constitution: 6040 (+)

Mental: 1000

Will: 1000

Free sub-points: 1

Dao Skills: Meteor Punch IV, Iron Fist Style III, Brutalizing Aura III, Neutron Star Body III, Supernova III, Space Mastery III, Death Mastery III, Fist of Mortality III, Titan Taunt I

Dao Roots: Indomitable Will, Life, Power, Weakness

Dao Fruits: Fist, Space, Life, Death, Battle

Titles: Planetary Frontrunner (10), Planetary Torchbearer (1), Ninth Ring Conqueror, Planetary Leader (1), Grade Defier

He took stock of things. The status screen remained the same, with the exception of the “cracked” tag being removed from his Class.

Which did feel a bit odd. If Jack was being honest with himself, he felt that his resonance with his current Class was lacking. He had hoped that, somewhere in between everything that happened, it would have changed. It hadn’t.

What’s the meaning? he wondered. Gladiator Titan… Well, my Classes haven’t led me wrong yet. Maybe I should try to embrace it. See what happens.

Thinking about it this way, he suddenly had another question. How can the System work here?

He wasn’t talking about his status screen. In the Black Hole World, he was able to use the System to scan people. That indicated he was inside System space. He hadn’t given it much thought before, being busy with other things, but it suddenly struck him as odd.

First of all, if the Immortals and the System knew about this place, why would they ignore it? Most importantly, how could they know? It was a black hole. System energy could enter but not exit. Whatever maintained System space, its connection to the System itself, should have been cut off a billion years ago.

It could make sense, he thought. Whatever constitutes System space is sucked into this black hole, but it can never leave. The inside is System space, but the System itself has no idea. Maybe it’s some sort of special particle? A Dao of the System?

That was the most reasonable explanation.

Done taking stock of his situation, Jack turned his gaze to the next step: escaping the Black Hole World.

He’d studied the Vortex for a year. It was an artificial black hole, but it was also much more—similar to a complex machine carved out of Dao patterns. There were unique circulations of energy inside it which Jack could decipher, and while far from truly comprehending it, he’d gotten the idea that this Vortex wasn’t just the core of the Black Hole World but also its control center.

With proper understanding, he could use it to perform various changes, one of which was the opening of a portal to let everyone escape.

Throughout this year, Jack had developed several theories on how to do that, but he hadn’t had the strength to try them out. Now that he did, it should only be a matter of time.

Another month flew by. Finally, Jack opened his eyes and sighed.

“Archon Black Hole…was a damn genius!”

Now that he had the power to experiment, he could confirm or disprove his theories. The Vortex was indeed the control panel of this world, but operating it was more difficult than he had imagined. In particular, he’d realized that his current power was not enough to open a portal. The most he could do was create a crack for a short amount of time, letting just himself weasel out after enduring a powerful space storm.

The Black Hole People would have to stay here for a little longer…but that was fine. Jack was confident that, given a few more years, he’d acquire the strength to let them out. It was just a matter of time.

He’d also discovered another function of the Vortex. Maybe he couldn’t open the Black Hole World…but he could move it!

As it turned out, this entire world was a separate dimension hidden in the folds of spacetime—the interdimensional sea. The black hole at the center of the Animal Abyss was just the end of a spatial tunnel connecting this world and the outside universe. However, distance was meaningless between separate dimensions. The spatial tunnel wasn’t anchored to the specific location of the Animal Abyss, but to an artifact which lay hidden at its very center.

Through the Vortex, Jack could alter the state of that artifact, turning it inactive and letting it be moved. He could physically carry the connection point between the universe and the entire Black Hole World.

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He shook his head in wonder. This had all been designed and implemented by Archon Black Hole—all Jack did was activate the mechanisms. It would be a while before he reached that level himself. That was okay—cultivation was about the journey, not the destination. He’d get there eventually.

Jack could leave through the Vortex at any time he wished, but that didn’t mean he’d just disappear.

He flew backward, slowly ascending through the Black Hole World to reach the Elder Council on the twelfth layer. He called a meeting and waited. Once the Elders convened, he let them know about his situation and everything he’d discovered.

When he mentioned that their escape was only a matter of time, the aged eyes of all the Elders turned misty. Grand Elder Pasan grabbed her chest, her heart fluttering.

“One billion years…” she whispered. “A hundred million generations… And everything will end at ours. Truly, we should be honored.”

Jack smiled. “You persisted for a very long time, and you have finally reached the end. Celebrate.”

The Elders seemed unable to believe this, too overwhelmed by joy to speak. Mia, however, who was also present, opened her mouth to speak worried words. “What about you?” she asked. “If something happens to you out there, you will be hurt…and we will also be unable to escape.”

Jack looked her in the eyes and smiled. “That will not happen.”

His confidence stirred something in her heart. Before she could reply, Grand Elder Pasan spoke up. “You have given us great hope, Jack Rust,” she said. “Simple words cannot express our gratitude. There is something I must show you before you leave. Come.”

The other Elders glanced at her with surprise, then nodded. Only Mia seemed perplexed. Jack gave her a reassuring nod and walked after the Grand Elder, who exited the building.

They walked to the nearest elevator and used the Grand Elder’s authority to travel directly to the first layer. It was empty as always. The guards saluted and let them pass.

“Where are we going?” Jack finally asked.

“Our ancestors retreated here during the Immortal Crusade,” Grand Elder Pasan replied soberly. “When they did, they brought with them all sorts of knowledge. Some of it was conducive to developing our culture, but some was unnecessary to our people, even harmful—therefore, we sealed it away. Generation after generation of Elders have taken care of this secret knowledge, keeping it away from our people so as to not contaminate them. We were the only ones who knew. However, from what you told us, the Crusade has been reignited, and you will be called to fight in it. There are some things you should know.”

Jack did not reply. He had the sense he was about to learn some monumental secret.

Pasan led him to a dark corner far away from all important locations. There were no guards here, no warehouses. It was just a place where nobody had a reason to come. The only warning came in the form of a small sign as soon as they reached the door of a small dark building.

“Do not enter,” Jack read aloud. “Did this really stop everyone for a billion years?”

“We are peaceful people,” Pasan replied. “If this sign couldn’t stop us, our civilization would have long crumbled.”

She grabbed an old torch by the entrance and lit it. Flames were born, and shadows danced on the stone walls around them. Just like the Hall of Wonders, this place felt old—far, far too old.

A sacred silence littered the air. Neither Jack nor Pasan spoke, slowly descending through flights of stairs. By the time they reached the bottom, Jack estimated they were at the edge of the first layer, just a layer of stone away from the Vortex.

“We are here,” Pasan said. She swiped her torch. The power of her Dao carried the flame, lighting up a dozen more torches on the walls around them, and Jack found himself facing a block of stone carved in ancient times.

The weight of history pressed down on him. For a moment, he forgot to breathe.

“This is a warning tablet,” Grand Elder Pasan spoke from beside him, her voice echoing in the sealed chamber. “It speaks of our past…and also our future.”

The stone tablet was ten feet wide and five tall. Smooth carvings covered its surface—far more detailed than carvings had any right to be.

One side of the tablet was occupied by an army of cultivators, flying through the void towards the other side. Leading them was a host of robots—exactly ninety-nine of them. At the very helm was a robot larger than the others, with a featureless face shaped as a rectangle.

The other side held only twelve beings, grand and majestic. They were arranged in three groups, though not of equal numbers—two groups were made of five beings each, while the last was only made of two. Despite this imbalance, the three groups stood side by side as equals.

As soon as he saw this tablet, Jack had a sense of deja-vu. Back in Trial Planet, he, Brock, and Nauja had run into a cave to escape their pursuers. After a chase of many miles, they’d ended up in unplumbed depths, facing a dusty iron door with carvings similar to this one.

Yet, there were stark differences. The carvings on that door had seemed mostly ornamental—this tablet was not only much larger in size, allowing for more details, but it also seemed designed to convey information.

“A portrayal of the Immortal Crusade,” Grand Elder Pasan explained, confirming Jack’s thoughts.

“What exactly is it showing?” Jack asked. He had a feeling that many secrets were about to be revealed—that he would suddenly see some missing pieces of the puzzle.

“These are the Immortals and their army,” Pasan explained, motioning towards the side of the robots. “The army you see is made up of A-Grades—eighty-three of them went to war alongside the immortals, including eleven Archons. Our world was built in eighty-three layers to commemorate their sacrifice.”

“They all died!?” Jack asked.

“Not all of them. But, they did fight alongside the Immortals—that is sacrifice enough.” Pasan’s face darkened as she spoke about the robots. “There used to be ninety-nine Immortals—all at the A-Grade. Of them, thirty-three were at the middle A-Grade, eleven at the late A-Grade, and three at the peak A-Grade. There was one Immortal, their leader, at the Archon realm of power. That was the Heaven Immortal—the main creator and wielder of the System. By using it as a weapon, the Heaven Immortal was able to increase its power and reach the level of the leading Old Gods. Unfortunately, that Immortal survived the Crusade.”

“But the others didn’t?” Jack asked.

“Not all of them. It was a brutal war. Of the ninety-nine Immortals, only thirty-three survived, at various levels of power. None of the Old Gods perished, but most were greatly weakened. As for the cultivators fighting alongside the Immortals, they were pushed to the front line by the compulsion of the System. Most of them perished. Between them and the many factions crushed by the Old Gods, the cultivation world received a big hit. Most of our inheritances were lost—according to the speculations of our ancestor, hundreds of millions of years would be needed for the cultivation world to recover its previous glory. The Immortals had sacrificed everything for a single flare of power.”

She raised a finger to point at a single person following the Immortals. On closer inspection, that person was painted with more detail than the ones around him—it was a man of dark hair, dark eyes, and dark robes which covered his body.

“That is our ancestor,” Pasan explained with pride. “Archon Black Hole. One of the most powerful Ancients.”

“Wait,” Jack said. “I thought the Ancients were destroyed by the Immortals long before the Crusade.”

“Not all of them. The Immortals desired to exterminate our species, but they desired power even more. They offered deals to the strongest Ancients, and some, like our ancestor, accepted. In return for joining and fighting for them, they would let his descendants survive.”

“An Archon worked with the people who genocided his species!?” Jack asked, his eyes widening.

“He had no choice. If he refused, he would die, and so would all his descendants and disciples. Even back then, we were millions. He couldn’t bear to sacrifice us, so he sacrificed himself—at least for a while.”

Jack thought for a moment. A suspicion emerged in his mind. “Then, he placed you in here to hide?”

“Correct,” Pasan replied sadly. “Throughout the Crusade and the years preceding it, our ancestor worked hard to create this world for us. He wanted us to live free, far from the tyranny of the Immortals. Unfortunately, this task was harder than he expected; it was only near the end of the Crusade that he managed to succeed. He created this world, sealed us all inside with instructions to not leave for a million years, and hid us in this far-off place of the universe. We don’t know what happened afterward, but his plan was to betray the Immortals and foster a revolution inside System space. He hoped that would create a large enough opening for the Old Gods to strike back.”

A connection was made in Jack’s mind. Archon Black Hole tried to create a rebellious organization inside System space. Could that be… The Black Hole Church?

What if their name didn’t just refer to Enas, whom they worshiped, but also to their founder?

If so, the Black Hole People would be very important to the Church. This was interesting. Jack wouldn’t endanger them, but when they left this world for the outer universe, maybe they could take refuge with the Church.

His gaze scanned the ninety-nine Immortals and their army of eighty-three cultivators. A hundred and eighty-two A-Grades, including eleven Archons and the Old God-level Heaven Immortal, as well as a large number of B-Grade soldiers who didn’t even appear in this carving. Yet, all that power had only been able to repel the Old Gods, not killing a single one.

What am I getting myself into…