Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Jack and Axelor rested on a piece of stone floating through the endless, colorful void. The Hall of Trials could teleport them back anytime, but Axelor had temporarily suppressed its functions. The dark man gazed at Jack, who lay sprawled on his back, a triumphant grin spread across his face.

“You know it’s uncouth to lay down in the presence of a God,” he said.

“I just kicked your ass—I can lay however I want. Besides, you’re not a God, just a part of one.”

Axelor chuckled. “Indeed.”

The silence stretched for a while. While the interdimensional sea didn’t possess the concept of time, the stone’s enchantments and the two cultivators’ aura forced it into being.

“I have questions,” said Jack.

“And so do I,” replied the God of Entropy. “How about we take turns?”

“Fine by me, just know I won’t reply to everything.”

“As won’t I.”

“I’ve been given a mortal mind. I find banter a core part of your reality.”

“I guess. So, what are you doing here? What do the Gods want with the Space Monster World?”

“We created it,” Axelor replied. “The world, its inhabitants, and the Hall of Trials. Long, long ago.”

“Why?”

“My turn. What happened to the outside universe after the Immortal Crusade?”

“You really don’t know?”

“No challenger to the Hall has left the Space Monster World. They tend to do it after, much to my annoyance.”

Jack chuckled. He wasn’t going to say everything—after all, while this version of Axelor seemed friendly, he did possess the power to vanquish Jack if he really wanted to. Letting him know he was trying to liberate Enas would be a bad idea.

“The Gods lost the Crusade,” Jack explained. “They retreated to the far ends of the universe, doing I don’t know what, while the Immortals enslaved all cultivators and pit them against each other. The plan was to create warriors strong enough to completely annihilate you Gods.”

“A sound plan,” Axelor said, nodding. “This mortal shell has many horrible disadvantages, but it adapts to change much better than our divine selves. I have no doubt that, while the Immortals mustered their armies, the Gods did nothing to enhance their power. Their omnipotence is so deeply entrenched in their minds that even defeat couldn’t shake it.”

“My turn,” said Jack.

“Not quite,” Axelor interrupted. “You didn’t finish answering my question.”

“Oh, you want to play it like that? Cool. A billion years after the First Crusade—that is, now—the Immortals launched a second one. Their goal is to purge all their opposition in and out of System space—which is the name of their territory. This Second Crusade is still ongoing. I came here to look for the power to stop them. From what I know, you Gods are rushing to join us.”

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“Why would we do that?”

“Not so fast. It’s my turn now. Why did you create the Space Monster World, its inhabitants, and the Hall of Trials?”

Axelor mused. He raised his gaze, piercing through the interdimensional sea to gaze at the distant past. “We needed to fight back,” he finally said. “The mortal creations of Enas were an affront to our divinity. We feared he was raising them as warriors against us—to suppress us, devour our power, and force us to reunite as one.”

“Excuse me? Reunite as one?”

“We were one being originally. One split into three, then three into twelve. That is how the Gods came into being.”

“...Alright,” Jack replied, his eyes flashing with possibilities. He hadn’t known that. He suspected no one did.

“After we realized Enas’s intentions,” Axelor continued, “we decided to create our own toy soldiers. While our ability to craft mortality paled in comparison to him—it was, after all, his domain—we combined our powers to tame the spontaneous Dao manifestations wandering the universe. We blessed their minds and turned them from mindless into civilized, creating the Space Monster World as a place for them to prosper and slowly develop civilization. The Hall of Trials was meant to enhance the strongest of them, creating a force that could rival Enas’s.”

His gaze darkened then.

“There was a war, long ago,” he continued. “We lost.”

“So the Ancients proved themselves superior to your creations.”

“Not necessarily. All mortal lifeforms are equally inferior. The creations of Enas just had more time to develop. They were already delving into the Dao by the time we discovered them, while the monster races were mindless abominations roaming the stars.”

“I see…” Jack said. This was all new information, and it brought even more questions to mind. Of course, there was no guarantee this was all true, but Jack suspected it was—at the very least, it explained why there was no statue of Enas outside the pyramid. “Your turn,” he said.

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“Why do you carry the aura of Enas?”

That question was asked with no lack of suspicion. Jack prepared his answer carefully.

“I once absorbed a legacy,” he explained. “A processed drop of Enas’s blood. It helped me a lot in earlier years, and still does.”

“That makes you his supporter.”

“I guess so. I do owe Enas a favor, but that doesn’t make me his devotee. My current goal is to protect my people from the Immortals, nothing more and nothing less.”

Axelor’s gaze was sharp. “Alright.”

“Your story contradicts what I thought I knew,” Jack began his next question. “People say that Enas created the Ancients, gave them life and Dao, and treated them like a loving father. They say that you, Axelor, corrupted them. That you led them to creating the Immortals, who later genocided the Ancients, fought the Gods, and enslaved the universe. On the other hand, you mentioned that Enas planned to utilize them as soldiers…”

“The version you’ve heard is a mix of truth and lies,” Axelor replied. “Enas did create the Ancients, and he did give them access to the world’s Dao, but there was nothing loving about that. It was merely an experiment—a game, a way to explore his powers. He never really cared. Enas, in general, is not a loving God, no more than any other. He is cold, calculating, and selfish. The Ancients liked to say his domain was Life, but a more apt name would be Survival.”

“Aren’t they the same thing?”

“In a way. However, they carry different connotations in the mortal language.”

“I see…”

That brought all sorts of implications. The Black Hole Church was trying to revive Enas because he was the God who loved and supported mortals—if that was not the case, was reviving him the right choice? Was there even a choice?

Of course, Jack wouldn’t take Axelor’s claims at face value.

Come to think of it, he realized, the Sage is kind of an Enas clone, and I don’t remember him ever being kind to anyone for no benefit of his own. He doesn’t strike me as a loving father. Calculating, sure. Uncaring. Possibly selfish.

Fuck.

“As for my own involvement in the development of the Immortals,” Axelor continued, “it was overstated. I did interact with the Ancients, but not to nudge them in any particular direction, simply to investigate. They rejected me, on Enas’s suggestion, and spun all sorts of tales about me. The creation of the Immortals was a result of natural civilization entropy—something all too easy to relate to me, given my domain.”

“So you’re saying you’re not the bad guy,” Jack said.

“I’m neither good nor evil. I’m a God. Mortal affairs are beneath me—well, not beneath this version of me, but certainly so for my real self. Any influence I might have had on the Ancients was unintended—I did not want to sabotage Enas’s creations, but rather send my own to meet them in the field of battle.”

“Why not just kill them?”

“We never really believed the mortals would be a threat. Enas threw the gauntlet—to use one of your expressions—by creating them. We simply picked it up. Using overwhelming force would ruin the meaning of his challenge and declare him the obvious winner.”

“You know, the more you talk, the more you sound like a God. Not in the good sense.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed. I can’t help it—even in a mortal shell, my thoughts and experience are those of a God.”

Jack laughed—not out of joy, but at the sudden realization he was conversing with a literal God of the universe.

“So, what now?” he asked. “Did I earn the qualifications to enter the sixth floor?”

“No.”

“No?”

“You earned the qualifications for the seventh. The Eternal floor.”

Jack’s eyes shone. “There is a seventh floor?”

“Of course. What kind of silly number is six?”

“That’s what I said!”

It was Axelor’s turn to laugh. “There was a great battle around two billion years ago. The Trial Island split in half, forming what you now call the Dark Canal, and the Hall fell into it. The seventh floor broke off and shot upward in the process. It now lays at the center of the sky, unapproachable by all, though I can give you access.”

“What do you mean the center of the sky?”

“This world is shaped as a sphere, but on the inside. The ground is the inner side of its periphery, while the sky is the innermost part. The seventh floor currently lies at the very center of the sphere—the center of the sky, after twelve layers of clouds, where the pressure is so intense not even Overlords can approach. Not usually, anyway.”

“So nobody has been there since that battle?”

“Nobody has earned the right. I must admit, I did not expect two worthy challengers to show up at the same time…”

Jack smiled. “Brock.”

“Right.”

“And what’s there? At the seventh floor?”

“The greatest inheritance eleven Gods could create. You may access it, though not a monster yourself.”

Jack wasn’t surprised his disguise had been seen through. “The other disciples will be shocked,” he said.

“You have no idea. However, I have to warn you, Jack. The current two Overlords have been pushed to their limits by the ongoing Crusade. They intend to use a long-forged treasure to forcefully activate the connection to the seventh floor and plunder it. I cannot stop them. All I can do is give you and your brorilla companion access as well, but what you and the Overlords do is up to you. You could die.”

Jack frowned. “That makes sense,” he said. “Overlords don’t usually participate in the Delve. I thought something was up when Great Silver told me to delay reaching the Hall.”

“What will you do?” the God asked. “Will you go or not go?”

“...I want to go, but not if it’s certain death. You’re trying to set me up against two Overlords. Can you give me any advantage over them? A tiny fighting chance?”

“I can adjust the seventh floor’s energy ripples to hide you. However, it is a temporary solution. If you want to claim any advantages, you’ll need to make yourself seen.”

Jack considered it. “What if I want to escape? Can you help me do that?”

“It depends on the circumstances. I can hide you from here, but my connection to the seventh floor has been cut off. I cannot join. Helping you escape is difficult. All I can promise you is that coming down will be a lot easier than going up. However… I never said you should fight the Overlords. If you can just convince them to let you join the floor’s plunder, that will be good enough. Even if you can’t, I don’t think they’d outright kill you. You can help them against the Immortals.”

Jack had to admit that made sense. He weighed the odds. If he did visit this seventh floor, he would need to negotiate with two Overlords—two entities far beyond his current power. It was risky. On the other hand, if he settled for the sixth floor, he’d lose out. And there was always a chance the Overlords would kill each other, creating a situation where he could reap all the benefits.

No, scratch that. They’re monster and cultivators. They will certainly fight.

“I’ll go,” he decided. “Brock too. This is not an opportunity we can afford to waste.”

Axelor nodded. “I thought so. Very well. I will activate the teleporter now and pull us back to the Hall of Trials, then I’ll give you and the brorilla access to the seventh floor. Only, Jack… Can I ask for a favor?”

He raised a brow. “Yes?”

“If you become strong enough in the future, can you return to liberate us? Me and my two siblings. We’ve spent too long trapped in this pyramid. We yearn to see the world.”

Jack gave a stunned smile. “I promise.”