Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse
Chapter 377: A-Grade

The Cathedral was in an uproar.

Today, the hidden realm expedition was leaving. The participants had gathered in the Cathedral Square, while many other cultivators had come to watch.

For such an event, even an Elder might be mobilized—and, to these people, Elders were legends!

The Cathedral received a new generation of C-Grades every thousand years or so. However, A-Grade cultivators—the Elders—could live up to a million years. They could see a thousand batches of disciples come and go like an endless tide. Why would they bother?

Most Elders remained in permanent seclusion or bothering with other affairs, meaning that the C-Grade disciples almost never saw them. Even when it came to the most talented disciples, so what? They could be rank 1, but that still meant little to an Elder. Hundreds of people would pass through that rank one position in their lifetime; why would they care about any of them?

Therefore, opportunities to see an Elder were extremely rare!

Jack waited alongside Brock in the middle of the Cathedral Square. Another twenty-eight people waited with them—ten nine-fruits, ten eight-fruits, five seven-fruits, and three six-fruits. Adding Jack and Brock, they were thirty in total.

Brock had nabbed one of the positions for six-fruit cultivators and below. This wasn’t due to Jack—highly talented individuals were usually allowed to join even if their current strength was lacking, so Brock had been formally invited.

Of the other people, Jack was only familiar with a few. There was Min Ling, the number one outer disciple—who happened to be a seven-fruit cultivator. There was Baron Longform, who hadn’t glanced in Jack’s direction even once, and Shi Mo, the old eight-fruit swordsman who’d dueled Jack six months ago. Besides those, Jack had recognized a couple faces but had no special impression.

There was one person he paid attention to, however. Min Ling was the number one disciple, and Baron Longform was number three. Then, who was number two?

It was easy to tell. Jack’s gaze was drawn to a tall, burly man. While he possessed many human features, he clearly wasn’t one. His fingers ended in sharp claws, two straight horns rose from the back of his head, and he possessed blue scales in place of skin. At the same time, his yellow eyes exuded a mix of primal threat and deep intelligence.

If Jack had to categorize him somehow, he looked like a dragonman.

“Are you curious about Salazar?” a pleasant voice came from behind Jack. As he turned, he came face-to-face with a slim-featured, athletic woman clad in leather armor. A red spear with a black tip hung on her back, dark hair cascaded over her shoulders, while her wheat-colored skin radiated health and vigor.

Jack recognized her instantly. This was Min Ling, the number one disciple of the Cathedral and also the greatest talent of the last few thousand years.

“A bit,” he replied. “I’ve never seen that species before.”

“You wouldn’t have. Salazar is a space monster.”

“A space monster?”

“It happens,” she explained. “When space monsters reach the C-Grade, they develop true intelligence. Some are even able to cultivate, though they follow a different path than us. Naturally, not all of them choose to be mindless killing machines; some can reject their natural instincts and join the cultivation world, rising alongside us.”

“Wow,” Jack said. “The universe really is wide.”

“Everything you can imagine exists,” she replied with a smile that didn’t reach her ears. She then turned to the brorilla. “And you must be Brock.” sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ N0ᴠᴇFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

“Yes.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Brock nodded like it was natural.

“So are we,” Jack responded. “Your talent is stunning.”

“I could say the same thing about you. A two-fruit reaching the top hundred ranks is nothing short of incredible, and you’ve even developed another fruit since then. I wonder just how high your strength reaches…”

Jack only laughed. “Bold of you to speak to us,” he said, changing the subject. “Aren’t you afraid of angering Baron Longform?”

She took a moment to navigate his words. “There is no relation between myself and Longform. I can do whatever I want. And, in any case, his influence is not as far-reaching as you may think.”

“Really? How so?”

“Well, he—”

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Her next words were lost in the cheers of the crowd. Jack looked up. A dozen forms descended from the sky, all wearing fluttering dark robes. The insignia of the Black Hole Church was clear: a black hole whose shape was accentuated by green lines, making it easily discernible despite the dark fabric.

These were the Envoys—the main force of the expedition.

Leading the twelve was a man who looked to be in his thirties, with dark hair and exceedingly sharp eyes. Before they even landed, Jack caught that man’s gaze on him, and it gave him shivers. It wasn’t the first time he got this impression—for some reason, this guy didn’t like him, and Jack had no idea why.

“Tsk.” Min Ling clicked her tongue. “Spacewind.”

“Greetings, everyone,” the man uttered, his steady voice overpowering the crowd. “I am Sovereign Spacewind. As you all know, I will be leading this expedition inside the hidden realm. It will be dangerous, but you have nothing to fear. I will protect all of you to the best of my ability.”

The hostile air he’d shown before had disappeared. Now, his aura was deep and heroic, making the crowd cheer.

“Have I done anything to offend him?” Jack whispered, leaning closer to Min Ling.

“You still are…but, he’s just an asshole. If you stay out of his way, he won’t go so far as to sell you out.”

Jack nodded, understanding but not quite. You still are? What was that supposed to mean?

Of the eleven Envoys following Spacewind, Jack recognized the frog-like man who operated the Ceaseless Murder Globe and the octopus Envoy from the Dao Chamber. If he wasn’t mistaken, their names were Borkuren Madiba and Ashly Sherry respectively. Both nodded at him, and he nodded back.

After the Envoys landed, the square quietened down again. Min Ling had moved away from Jack, and nobody else approached him, so he approached nobody either. After a while, Shi Mo stepped closer. “Greetings!” he said with a wide smile. “I never thanked you for last time. That was truly a splendid fight!”

Jack laughed. He could tell a fellow battle junky when he saw one. The three of them—including Brock—made some small talk. Time passed. An hour later, Jack was beginning to feel suspicious.

Everyone was here already. Why weren’t they starting?

“I don’t know either,” Shi Mo replied, “but since we’re waiting, there must be a reason.”

Jack nodded. Suddenly, he saw this in another light. They weren’t just waiting; this was an opportunity for all expedition members to get to know each other, and for those with great social skills to sharpen their blades.

Jack didn’t think himself one of those people, but wasting this opportunity would be amateurish. Therefore, he led Brock to socialize. Shi Mo was happy to help—he introduced Jack and Brock to a few eight-fruit friends of his, then let them wander alone. Jack spoke to various people, acting like a social butterfly while everyone else was doing the same. In this complicated dance, he was careful to avoid Baron Longform’s people—this really was akin to dancing with your enemy and trying to step on each other’s feet.

At this point, he and Baron Longform were public enemies. One had strength and connections, while the other had immeasurable potential—the degree of their influence was similar, therefore they quickly devolved into a social battle for supporters.

Jack even chatted with Borkuren and Ashly, the two Envoys he was familiar with. Facing him, they did not display any of a B-Grade’s arrogance. They chatted merrily, even cracking jokes, and this greatly increased Jack’s prestige amongst the surrounding C-Grades.

Jack got to know a few people. More time passed. Finally, as he was speaking to a glass-pane cultivator, something changed.

It was subtle, yet clear. The quality of the void rose. Something new was added to the mix, birthing intense awe in Jack’s heart. He turned around. At one end of the square, floating a few feet over the ground, were two individuals.

One was a kindly old man. His hair was white and his body slim, while he still exuded liveliness. He reminded Jack of some professors he’d met on Earth, the kind that remained excited about their subject even after decades of research. His robes were simple, practical, and colored a golden blue.

The other person had their entire body covered in a dark cloak. Pale, gaunt skin was visible under their hood, along with red eyes that made Jack’s heart seize. If any mortal glanced at those eyes, they would die on the spot. Moreover, a scythe was on that person’s back—just looking at it filled Jack with fear, as if he was about to lose his soul.

This person was dressed exactly like a grim reaper.

The auras of these people were impossibly deep. It was like staring at the depths of the ocean. Before them, Jack felt beyond helpless, nothing but a mortal before a god. There was only one group of people that could make him feel like this.

A-Grades. These people were Elders.

The square fell deathly silent. Whether consciously or unconsciously, everyone held their breath. Sovereign Spacewind was the first to break the silence, bowing at the waist for these two people.

“Elder Heavenstar. Elder Boatman,” he said with utmost respect. “We are deeply honored by your presence.”

“Greetings, Elders,” everyone said at the same time, bowing, while Jack caught on halfway and mumbled, “—tings, Elders.”

He was completely unaware of the decorum. With his heart racing, he also bowed his head, trying to glimpse at others and see what they were doing. Thankfully, the Elders themselves saved him.

Elder Boatman—the grim reaper lookalike—did not move or speak. He remained there, as sure as death. Elder Heavenstar, however, spoke lightly and carefreely.

“No need to stand on ceremony,” he said. “Relax, everyone.”

Jack rose slowly, making sure that everyone was rising alongside him. The last thing he wanted was to embarrass himself here.

Elder Heavenstar smiled, but Jack could tell that he really didn’t care about any of them. He was just trying to be polite and pleasant. “If there is nothing more, let’s get going.”

Without waiting for a reply, the Elder raised his finger and summoned a massive starship above the square. It was several hundred feet from end to end. Jack had no idea how the Elder had summoned this thing, because it sure as hell couldn’t fit into a space ring—not in Jack’s space ring, anyway.

The Elders flew in first, entering from a door at the side, and Jack followed the rest of the cultivators as they headed inside too. There was plenty of space and no staff. Everyone could easily get their own room.

Without any sort of ritual, the starship broke through space and disappeared. The Cathedral was flung far behind. Jack felt his excitement rising.

They were headed for the hidden realm.

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