Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse C.465: Peak C-Grade

Jack’s Dao Tree remained tall and solid. Eight fruits littered its branches—Fist, Space, Life, Death, Battle, Revenge, Brotherhood, and Time—all fully grown. Now was time to develop the ninth and final fruit. Before that, however, Jack wanted to do one more thing.

His gaze fell on his sixth Dao Fruit—Revenge. This was something he’d created back when his heart was filled with darkness, when he single-mindedly pursued revenge in a vain attempt to escape the grief of his son’s loss. It had worked well enough, but it was now purposeless.

Jack no longer believed in revenge. He believed in righteousness, and justice, but not revenge for the sake of it. He knew now it was an empty pursuit, simply an outlet for one’s inner darkness. This fruit was an imperfection of his Dao—if he broke through like this, the foundation of his inner world would be shaky, which would affect his battle power and future achievements.

Changing one’s fruit was not easy, but it could be done. The greatest hurdle was enduring the process—something which Jack was quite confident in. He was so far ahead of the curve in everything that even developing a new Dao Fruit was trivial. He could handle a little transformation.

He flew close to the fruit and grabbed it with both hands. In one swift thought, he cut off the Dao circulation to the fruit, enduring the feeling of wrongness which filled his being. Then, he poured his will into the fruit. Its dark red skull shape was perfectly in line with its inner darkness—this was a fruit built on weakness and hatred.

Jack poured more and more energy into it. The fruit burned between his hands but he endured. His soul was shaky, and his body was suffering from the volatility of the sixth fruit’s energy he no longer controlled, but both were solid enough to persist for a little while. Ignoring all the changes around him, Jack kept his full attention on the fruit, which was now boiling hot.

Its skin slowly melted. The dark red rose in columns of smoke, and its shape turned unclear as the fruit’s flesh began to melt as well. It had reached its most malleable state.

Jack stopped pouring energy into it—he didn’t want to destroy it, just change it a little—and used his willpower to shape it. He infused it with his beliefs of justice and fair punishment, the concept of enforcing discipline as necessary. The fruit began to wobble, slowly changing into a rounder shape.

Jack intended to make it into a Fruit of Justice, shaped as a shield. At some point, however, his Dao of the Fist kicked in. He watched with surprise as the fruit’s round shape changed again, elongating, turning slimmer. His thoughts and Dao moved in tandem, and he let the transformation happen, eager to see what would occur.

He quickly regretted that decision as the fruit’s new shape began to stabilize. He could try to reshape it again, but this had already taken too long, and the rampant energy in his body was beginning to create problems. With a muffled curse, he cut off his intense pouring of energy into the fruit, letting it cool down and calmly solidify its new shape. Meanwhile, he flew a bit backward and gazed at it with an odd expression.

“Damn,” he said. “How did this even happen?”

The fruit’s new shape was a purple flip-flop. It was the Dao Fruit of Spanking.

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“This is all my fault,” Jack said again, sighing. “I used the spanking too many times… I should have known this would happen!”

Yet, somehow, it fit in. Spanking embodied elements of justice and discipline, just as he’d wanted, and it was also similar to his Dao of the Fist in style. Moreover, it was a Dao he felt close to—though he’d always used it as a joke, never realizing it was an actual Dao.

Then again, all Daos were real. It was just about belief and consistency.

Jack sighed for a third time. He did feel a bit ridiculous, but…

Oh, what the hell. Let’s spank.

He quickly left his soul world and checked his status screen, making sure everything was okay.

Dao Fruits: Fist, Space, Life, Death, Battle, Spanking, Brotherhood, Time

Revenge had been swapped for Spanking, with no weird error messages. The operation had been successful.

“Everything alright?” the Sage asked from the side—Jack had returned to the main room so he could get assistance if this fruit transformation backfired. They couldn’t see inside his soul, anyway, so he wasn’t giving away anything..

“Hmm?” Jack responded. “Yeah, why?”

“You were bleeding a bit back there. And convulsing. And I’m pretty sure some of your blood vessels exploded.”

“Oh, that. I’m fine. Just doing a bit of remodeling.”

The Sage gave Jack a blank stare, then closed his eyes and returned to meditation. So did Jack. He was in his soul world again, facing the majestic tree from which hung a flip-flop, amidst everything else. Jack scratched his head and did his best to ignore it.

“Alright,” he said, pumping himself up. “Ninth fruit time. Let’s try to avoid footwear.”

Changing a fruit hadn’t used up much energy, so he dove directly into developing his final one. Purple currents flowed into the tree roots, then crawled up the trunk and lit up a singular branch like Christmas lights. A lone flower began to grow—it went from purple leaves to forming a small fruit, which slowly developed into something more recognizable.

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During his free time on Earth, Jack had sometimes considered what his ninth fruit should be. He already had one for each of his Daos—Fist, Life, Death, Space, and Time—as well as fruits for Battle, Brotherhood, and now Spanking. All major aspects of his Dao and personality were there. Then, what should the ninth fruit be?

The answer came to him one night when he was resting in bed. Vivi was crawled up against him, and he wasn’t asleep yet, just basking in that feeling of bliss. If not for everything else, he’d have wanted nothing more than to stay with his family, enjoying and protecting them, making sure they were happy.

It was exactly this feeling of protecting that resonated with Jack.

He was a powerful man. Billions of people depended on him. His every casual decision shaped innumerable lives. He was a leader, a paragon, and a role model all at once. Moreover, everyone relied on him—that wasn’t a duty he took lightly. He wanted to use his power to change the world for the better—ensure the safety and prosperity of those who followed him.

The Fist struck where it had to. And Jack stood with his back to his people, facing all enemies and the unknown. For his family, his people, and his brothers, he would always be there. He would never let anything happen to them.

Not again.

Jack opened his eyes, realizing that while he was lost in thought, his inner sentiments had already shaped his ninth fruit. It was a white shield in the shape of a man’s back—a promise, and a commitment.

It was the Dao Fruit of Protection.

The moment his ninth fruit finished forming, Jack felt something click in his soul world. Like he was ready. The ever present streams of energy flowed together, achieving harmony, and his entire being felt aligned. His Dao felt complete, in a sense—like he’d reached the apex.

Jack breathed in this feeling, enjoying the perfection it promised. He could imagine how the first cultivator to reach this point must have felt. They must have thought they’d reached the peak—the end of the road. Who knows how long it had taken for someone to think of collapsing their tree and forming an inner world, opening a whole new avenue of cultivation.

The road of cultivation was split into three major parts—using the energy of the body, using the energy of the world, and creating one’s inner world. At this point, Jack had reached the limit of what was possible as a cultivator in the universe. The only step forward would be to create his own universe inside him, using its energy to truly step into the realm of gods.

Jack opened his eyes in the real world, drunk in this feeling of ecstasy. He was bathed in power—as if, at this very moment, he was reborn.

Everyone stared at him—some with pride, some with disinterest. Brock smiled widely. “Congratulations, big bro,” he said, and Jack shot him a grateful glance.

“Thanks, Brock. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“The nine fruits are a major threshold,” Sovereign Heavenly Spoon intoned. “You are now at the dividing line between living in a world and a world living inside yourself. Many cultivators remain stranded there for their entire lives… But, with your potential, I suspect you will just breeze through.”

“Thank you, Sovereign,” Jack replied modestly. Though his power had spiked, he still felt an instinctive sense of dread as he faced this late B-Grade man—as if he was nowhere close to being his match. It was a good reminder that he wasn’t the only talent in the universe.

“I have some Dao stones if you want to mature your ninth fruit quickly,” the Sage said, but Jack only gave a wry smile.

“About that…”

System notifications rang in his ears. The remaining levels from his final battle against the Kingdom streamed in.

Level up! You have reached Level 381.

Level up! You have reached Level 382.

…

Level up! You have reached Level 399. Form your inner world to ascend to the next Grade.

Jack’s smirk widened. “Thanks for the offer, Sage,” he said, “but I’m already at the peak C-Grade. I had a few levels left over from my last battle.”

He quickly allocated all his points into Physical, finally pushing it over eight thousand.

Name: Jack Rust

Species: Human, Earth-387

Faction: Bare Fist Brotherhood (C)

Grade: C

Class: Gladiator Titan (King)

Level: 399

Strength: 8260 (+)

Dexterity: 8260 (+)

Constitution: 8260 (+)

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, Fist of Mortality III, Death Mastery III, Titan Taunt III

Dao Roots: Indomitable Will, Life, Power, Weakness

Dao Fruits: Fist, Space, Life, Death, Battle, Spanking, Brotherhood, Time, Protection

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

That was one hell of a status screen.

Everyone glanced at each other, then scanned him. The sovereign laughed. “There’s something I haven’t seen before,” he said. “How about you keep going and break into the B-Grade right now? See how far you can sprint.”

“That’s not a good idea,” the Sage quickly intervened. “Forming one’s inner world is a critical juncture, and the better it goes, the stronger the resulting inner world. Jack should prepare as much as possible and amass all sorts of treasures before attempting the breakthrough. Not to mention that Elder Boatman will probably want a word with him first…”

“I was just kidding,” the sovereign replied with an aloof smile, then whispered, “but it would be cool, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, Sovereign…” the Sage replied in defeat.

“Thank you for your concern,” Jack said. “I will wait. I must see Master Boatman first, and there is no rush anyway.”

“There is some rush,” the Sage corrected him. “We’re still in wartime. Advance quickly but not hastily.”

“Sure thing.”

Jack leaned back, catching an odd glance from Starhair and ignoring it. Bottomless remained as passive as ever, simply muttering a quick congratulations and returning to the helm. As for Min Ling, she rushed forward and punched Jack in the shoulder. “Well done!” she exclaimed. “I can’t wait for you to reach the B-Grade. We should spar then!”

“Really?” Jack said, raising a brow. “I could take you right now.”

“No you couldn’t.”

“I sure could. I can probably face a peak B-Grade right now.”

She chuckled. “What, those weaklings who weren’t even invited to the Crusade? It’s not that I’m doubting your strength, Jack, but that you don’t comprehend mine. There are many degrees of success when forming your inner world. I’m proud to say that mine is overwhelmingly wide and solid… So, I’m looking forward to meeting you on the same level.”

She winked at him, then walked away. Jack only smiled—however well she’d done during her breakthrough, he was confident he could do better. He was looking forward to it more and more. If there really were multiple levels of success, if there was no ceiling, wasn’t this an opportunity to compare himself to every B-Grade from the start of time to now? Just how would he do?

He could hardly wait.