Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse
Chapter 368: Min Ling’s Resolve

“One Dao stone apiece. What? You think that’s too little?”

The three cultivators shot odd glances towards Jack, who did his best to contain his excitement. “Kind of,” he replied. “I mean, such a life-saving treasure would certainly be worth more than a week’s wage?”

“Hey, we can’t all be like you and earn nine stones a month. Us middle-rankers have to settle for three or five. Plus, the life stones have just appeared; rumor has it the prices will grow soon, so we’re in a hurry to buy.”

Jack nodded. “I see. Well, nice chatting with you all, but I have a pagoda to tackle. See you around.”

“Yeah, see you…” the cultivators replied, watching Jack pace towards the pagoda’s managing Envoy. They glanced at each other.

“Which floor do you think he’ll go to?” one of them whispered.

“The second,” another replied without thinking.

The last cultivator shook his head and said, “I think he can reach the third.”

“What? How? The third floor is usually for seven- or eight-fruit disciples. Even if he can match a six-fruit in combat, there’s no way he can match their pure volume of Dao.”

As they were discussing, they saw Jack speak to the Envoy, then float upward. He rose over the first floor, then the second. “Is he really going for the third?” one of the cultivators exclaimed. “No way, right? He’s just showing off.”

Then, before their very eyes, Jack floated over the third floor and into the fourth! The three cultivators were speechless. Even the Envoy at the base of the pagoda did a double-take.

“No way…” the first cultivator muttered.

Jack pushed open the door and walked in, then closed it behind him. Half a minute passed. Then one. Jack hadn’t exited, nor had the Envoy entered to rescue him. The only explanation was…he could handle the fourth level!

That was sixteen times the Cathedral’s already extreme gravity!

“He’s a monster…” one of the cultivators said, shaking his head. Right after, however, he remembered something else, and his eyes shone. He turned to find his friends returning the look.

The third-ranked outer disciple, Baron Longform, had a standing bounty on any information pertaining to Jack Rust. He offered between three and twenty Dao stones depending on the information’s importance. As for Jack being able to enter the Heavy Pagoda’s fourth level, that was certainly a scoop!

As one, the three cultivators turned around and rushed for village one, where Baron lived.

***

Jack could barely endure the fourth level. As soon as he stepped inside, a heavy pressure crashed down on him. He almost lost his footing—it felt like the entire sky had leaned on his shoulders.

But he could last here, at least for a bit.

Gritting his teeth, Jack closed the door and took a strained step to the side. Running out of strength, he did not look for a meditation mat, instead sitting down as he was. The pressure became slightly more manageable, but it remained muscle-tearing.

The gravity of this floor was sixteen thousand times greater than Earth’s. Jack weighed over a million tons. Even with his godlike Dao working hard to offset the pressure, and with his tempered body resisting far more than the average cultivator could, he was pushed to his limits.

One deep breath after another, he tried to adapt. His goal here wasn’t to cultivate, but to use the extreme gravity to compact his body and get rid of all the leftover weaknesses of body tempering. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NʘvᴇlFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

And boy, was it working. Jack could feel his cells grinding against each other, the weaker ones dying in droves. His regeneration worked in overdrive, producing more and stronger cells. Any gaps in his body’s life energy were forcefully eliminated, distributing the energy uniformly in the same way that a grinding stone flattened any mix.

Time passed one minute at a time. No matter how Jack gritted his teeth, the pressure refused to abate, but he could sense his body growing denser and more complete. His weaknesses were disappearing. The life energy fusions he’d accomplished were hammered flat.

After what felt like a year, but was only around twenty minutes, the process was complete. Jack felt his body settle down and become fully compact as if he was made of steel. With a heave of relief, he struggled to get up and exit this floor, going to the third one where he could cultivate more freely.

However, right as he managed to force himself upright, a blue screen appeared in his vision.

Congratulations! Neutron Star Body II → Neutron Star Body III

Neutron Star Body III: Neutron stars are made from the densest material in the universe. Your body inherits some of its properties, achieving extraordinary resilience and durability, increased weight and strength, as well as resistance to all elemental attacks. You also retain extreme regenerative properties.

By greatly increasing your body’s density and achieving control over life energy, you have gained the ability to manipulate your mass at will.

“Finally!” Jack exclaimed. This skill had been one of his greatest weapons in battle, but it hadn’t increased in a very long time. Ever since he’d gotten it, before even leaving Trial Planet, it had remained at the second tier, stubbornly refusing to budge.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Being abe to manipulate his mass—and therefore weight—came at the perfect time.

Increasing one’s Physical stats was a mostly qualitative process of saturating oneself with the Dao of Life. The body’s physical weight didn’t increase much. However, after reaching a few thousand points, those little weight increases added up. Every C-Grade cultivator was heavier than a normal person—for Jack, whose Neutron Star Body also increased his weight, he was almost twice as heavy as before the Integration.

That created all sorts of problems and was especially prominent in the Cathedral and the Heavy Pagoda. In addition, he had long wondered about this: neutron stars should be extraordinarily dense, so how come the skill only made him twice as heavy?

Turns out, that density was just hidden behind the next tier.

The skill didn’t mention the limits of his mass manipulation. While he yearned to test out its upper limit, the current circumstances demanded the opposite. Calling out to his skill, and observing the life energy as it worked on his body, Jack reduced his weight to the minimum.

It wasn’t too much—it basically undid the skill’s weight increase, reducing his current weight by around twenty percent. However, even that was a life-saver. The pressure of the pagoda’s fourth level instantly decreased alongside his weight, letting him find his footing.

A smile bloomed on Jack’s lips. While it still wasn’t comfortable, he could handle this pressure now. He didn’t need to return to the third level—he could cultivate right here!

Just this fact would significantly increase his cultivation speed!

Thank you, System… Though, I guess I could have come up with this on my own.

The System did nothing but streamline the Dao. Everything it achieved, Jack could too. It just hadn’t occurred to him that manipulating his mass was possible.

Testing the upper limit will come later. Now, it’s cultivation time!

One step after the other, Jack walked deeper into the fourth level. A faint current of Dao led him to an unoccupied meditation mat, where he heavily sat down and closed his eyes.

The Dao here was rich beyond compare. It was suffocating. Resisting the pressure, Jack opened his mind and soul to his environment. His Dao Tree breathed in and out. The Dao particles around him oscillated, then were sucked inside him. They didn’t even look for his nostrils, just diving directly through his pores.

Jack’s body was flooded with the power of the Dao. He revolved his own Dao of the Fist, causing the relevant particles to draw closer while repelling the others. The meditation mat below him assisted, magnifying his Dao.

Under the dual effects of drawing in the Dao and filtering out everything unrelated, a large quantity of Fist-adjacent particles flooded Jack’s soul world, rushing to be sucked in by the Dao Tree’s roots. A rich stream traveled up the trunk and sank into the Dao Fruit, slowly pushing it towards maturity, while the rest was discharged through the many flowers and turned into mist that filled the soul world.

The entire system was operating to capacity. Thanks to the pagoda, these Dao particles were so densely clustered that large quantities could pass through the Dao Tree’s thin roots.

Copy Jack laughed, watching the dancing mist around him. Jack himself couldn’t help but grin. His cultivation was galloping forward. Just by cultivating in this floor of the pagoda for two days a month, he could form his second Dao Fruit before the one-year deadline! And, if he got his hands on Dao stones or other resources, perhaps it would be even quicker.

Most disciples of the Cathedral considered themselves lucky if they could grow one fruit every decade. If they found out that Jack could grow it in a year and still wasn’t satisfied, they might even faint on the spot!

***

“What nonsense is this?” Min Ling asked, holding a leaflet that proudly advertised ‘The Sage’s Life Stones.’

“It’s the new hot thing!” Esmeralda replied, plopping into a chair beside her friend. She was the blue-haired girl Brock called Ponytail Sis. “It’s a life saving measure. You should buy a couple for the hidden realm—I know you have Dao stones to spare.”

Min Ling hesitated. “Are they really useful for me?”

“You’re strong, so maybe one life stone wouldn’t be enough. But you can always buy, like, a dozen.”

“Hmm. I’ll consider it. They seem a bit suspicious.”

“Well, it’s the Sage. You’ve heard about him, right? Everything he does is weird. I say you splurge a little bit. You’ve earned it, girl.”

Min Ling gave her a sharp glance. “You know,” she said, “I did hear some odd things about these life stones.”

“Oh?” Esmeralda replied, inspecting her nails. “Like what?”

“That their distribution is handled by Jack Rust’s ragtag team of weaklings. And that the Sage is a friend of his.”

“How preposterous! I had no idea.”

“Es.”

“What?”

“Don’t lie to me. You know it’s useless.”

Esmeralda played coy for a minute, then laughed out loud. “Well, I think you’re right. Most people have caught on by now, but the stones are just too good. Besides, even if it is Jack Rust hiding behind this, what do you care? It’s not like his World Anchor will come to you if he fails.”

“Perhaps,” she replied with a small smile.

“Oh, I know what you’re concerned about! You’re interested in him.”

Min Ling raised a brow. “I’m no—”

“Don’t worry, I get it. He’s the talk of the Cathedral, extremely talented, and with a cute monkey sidekick. He’s handsome, too—did you see his upper robes getting torn off in that duel against Marcus William? I’m telling you, he had at least an eight-pack, and I would pay several Dao stones to be pressed into that manly chest of his.”

“Now you’re just being indecent.”

“So what? It’s just us. We can say whatever we like.” She laughed again. “Come on, Min—don’t tell me you’ve never thought about him, not even a little.”

“Of course I haven’t. We haven’t even spoken once. My entire existence is devoted to cultivation, so why would I care about a man?”

“Well, Spacewind seems to think the opposite.”

“Spacewind can go fuck himself.” Min Ling’s eyes became stormy, but she quickly suppressed her outburst. “Anyway… Your teasing aside, I might be interested in those life stones. Even if they aren’t too effective, having a few at hand couldn’t hurt. Do you mind buying some for me the next time you visit their stall?”

“No problem. How many do you want?”

“As much as this can buy,” Min said, handing over a little sack filled with Dao stones. Esmeralda’s eyes widened, then she laughed.

“You got it, girl,” she replied, pocketing the sack. “But aren’t you worried about helping Jack Rust? Even if you don’t care about his World Anchor, he might threaten your status as the top outer disciple.”

“Status is nothing to me. I would gladly sacrifice it to have a rival,” she said, sending her piercing gaze through the wall and into the void. “As for the World Anchor… I am not like those desperate weaklings that like to sabotage others. I would never drop so low. If he succeeds, he deserves it…and, if he doesn’t, I will step on him fair and square like I have on everyone else.”

Esmeralda chuckled. “That kindness of yours will come back to bite you.”

“If we lose our heart, what are we but animals?” Min Ling replied, her dark hair swishing as she turned. In that moment, her clear eyes and perfect face carried such beauty that even Esmeralda was momentarily dazed. “Whether it’s Jack Rust, Jack Must, or Jack Lust, I don’t care. My throne is right here. If anyone wants to take it, they’re free to try.”

Sᴇarch the NøᴠᴇlFire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.