Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Chapter 327: The Cathedral

The capital of the Black Hole Church was named the Cathedral. It was a flat piece of land spinning in orbit around a black hole in the space between galaxies, rendering it almost impossible to locate.

The upper part of this piece of land was where everyone lived. The bottom part housed a colossal magic formation crafted by the Churchs A-Grade Elders. It was this formation that counteracted the black holes gravitational pull, allowing the Cathedral to remain at a steady orbit. Naturally, the Cathedral orbited the black hole in such a way that its bottom part was always facing the hole and the upper part always facing towards the outsidejust like the moon of Earth always showed its same side to humans.

There was very little light on the Cathedral, the temperature was far below freezing, and there was no atmosphere. The only ones who could survive here were D-Grades and above, who could sustain themselves indefinitely on the ambient Dao. Another effect of the Cathedrals special location was vastly increased gravity, one thousand times stronger than on Earth. Due to that, even most D-Grades wouldnt be able to handle the pressure and would die soon after arriving.

All in all, this was one of the roughest, most hostile inhabited places in the universe. Only the strongest D-Gradesand abovecould survive.

At present, Jack could endure the gravity. Brock was much worse. His back was hunched, his teeth were gritted, and sweat dripped down his forehead, splashing onto the ground below them like bullets.

I can carry you, Jack offered with a bit of worry, but Brock shook his head.

I can, he said. For now.

Youll get used to it, the Sage said, comforting them both. The body is a fascinating mechanism. It will slowly adjust to this gravity, especially if you keep increasing your strength. Consider this a type of intense work-out.

Work-out?

Brocks eyes flashed. He gritted his teeth even harder to straighten his back, then set his jaw and started walking, one painful step at a time. After all, one of his Dao Roots was the Dao of Muscles. This place forced him to work out 24-7. It was perfect!

Jack shook his head, advancing with some difficulty. Can I even fight here? he wondered. The increased gravity strained his body, but that wasnt all. He could sense that the Dao was thicker here, like honey. Galvanizing it would be far more difficult than normal. Additionally, space was tightly compacted, making teleportation harder. It felt like hed walked into a higher-level world.

The Sage spoke up. The difficulty of locating this place is only one of the reasons the Church chose it. Another is the many benefits it offers. As you know, talented cultivators thrive in difficulty. Everything is harder to do here. It will be slow at first, but eventually, you will be forced to optimize the use of both your body and Dao. When you return to normalcy, you will be surprised at just how much you have improved.

Jack nodded. He wasnt afraid of pain or difficulty. He just wanted to get stronger. Have you been here before, Sage? he asked.

I have heard things.

Mhm.

As they walked, Jack raised his head to take a better look at this place. It seemeddead. LIke the surface of the moon. The ground below them was gray stone, while the terrain was mostly flat except for what seemed like natural stone obelisks rising from the ground. They were like exceptionally thin hills. Coupled with the constant rotation of the night sky, they gave this place an astral, otherworldly feeling, as if Jack had stepped on a completely alien landscape.

How fast are we spinning? he asked, watching the distant galaxies move across the sky with speed visible to the naked eye.

We circle the black hole once every half hour, roughly. Given that were traveling along its ergosphere, which is a pretty wide radius, I can say with certainty that were moving very quickly.

Jack raised a brow.

The black hole itself isnt spinning though, the Sage continued. Earth astronomers would call it a Schwarzschild black hole. Cultivators are not obsessed with putting their name on things, but they use a more macabre term: a stillborn black hole.

What?

I know, terrible.

Jack blinked a few times as he digested this information. Back on Earth, he had some rudimentary understanding of popular physics concepts, but nowhere near enough to know about the different types of black holes. He also didnt care very much.

You seem to know a lot about this place, he commented. I thought you had only heard some things about it.

Aha! But, you see, Im also a Sage. Knowing stuff is my job.

Jack threw the Sage a deep glance but didnt press further. By now, they had walked out of the teleporter and towards what seemed like a village. The houses here were made of white stone, easily distinguishable in the dark gray background. The sky was black, the ground gray, the buildings white, and the landscape alien. There was a certain aesthetic here.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

In the distance, a white obelisk was barely visible, with what seemed like rows of names engraved into it, but Jack couldnt take a good look from this distance.

As for the houses before him, however, he could clearly see that they had the dimensions of normal village cabins. It was hard to imagine almighty C-Grades living so modestly.

I guess its time to explain how things work around here, the Sage said as they approached. Jacks ears perked up, and even Brock, who was struggling step after step, glanced over. The Sage coughed in his hand, then started speaking.

The Black Hole Church is one of the foremost forces in the universe. Its only rival is the Hand of God. These two factions are at the late A-Grade, and they lord over the rest of the universe. Compared to them, the B-Grade factions youre used to dealing with are nothing but ants.

Naturally, the Black Hole Church has extremely high standards for its disciples. Everyone at the D-Grade and below is only considered an assistant. To become a real disciple of the Church, the minimum cultivation required is at the C-Grade, but that is not all. Over ninety percent of C-Grades are unworthy. The Church invests in quality, not quantity, so we only accept the most talented, most outstanding cultivators of the C-Grade. These C-Grades are the Churchs outer disciples. The inner disciplesalso called Envoysare all B-Grades. A-Grades are Elders.

Jack felt like the Sage had taken a sledgehammer and used it to smash his current understanding of the world into smithereens.

C-Grades were just barely worthy of being outer disciples? B-Grades, those peak existences, were only inner disciples?

What the hell!?

Back in Jacks galaxy, C-Grades were renowned Elders of the B-Grade factions. They basically ran the entire galaxy. They could destroy continents with a single blow!

And B-Grades were even worse! They were existences so high and mighty that, besides the Head Envoy that had appeared once, Jack hadnt met any of them. They were completely apex cultivators who could ignore the world to focus on their Dao. They were like gods. They could break planets!

Yet, to the Black Hole Church, B-Grades were only inner disciples

Back in the Exploding Sun, the outer disciples were E-Grades, the inner disciples were D-Grades, and C-Grades were worthy of being Elders. This Black Hole Church was two entire Grades stronger!

What sort of concept was this?

I can sense you are a bit confused, said the Sage. It is understandable. Compared to our galaxys standards of strength, what I am describing must seem extreme, but you have to remember that our galaxy is a relatively new addition to System space. Older galaxies have more resources, better cultivation methods, higher competition, and more time to develop. Besides our Milky Way, every other galaxy has at least one A-Grade faction, and the standards of strength are much higher. The Black Hole Church pulls its disciples from the cream of the crop of the universes seventy-two galaxies, excluding ours. It is only natural that it possesses such extreme power.

By the side, Brocks eyes flashed with excitement.

Jack shook his head. This was too much to take in. He thought he was close to the top of the world, but as it turned out, he wasnt even qualified to be an outer disciple of the Black Hole Church

Wait, he suddenly exclaimed. Im still at the D-Grade. How will I become a disciple here?

The Sage laughed. Rules are made to be broken. While the Church generally accepts C-Grades as its outer disciples, you are sufficiently talented. An exception will be made for you.

Oh.

Jack didnt know whether to laugh or cry. He had been the first person in galactic history to conquer Trial Planet. He had formed a perfect foundation, had ingested the Life Drop, had overcome heavenly tribulation, and then had used his own strength to repeatedly humiliate a B-Grade faction. Eventually, he had even defeated a middle C-Grade while only at the peak of the D-Grade himself. He had made historyand all that was barely enough to be accepted as an outer disciple.

It really put his place in the world into perspective.

Come on, dont pull yourself down, the Sage said. Being here is a huge honor. This is the highest stage possible, where you can compete against the greatest talents of the universe, and you were even invited here before you reached the C-Grade. In the entire history of the universe, that is not too shabby at all!

I guess youre right, Jack replied, scratching his chin. His heart was strong, after all. He looked over the village of white stone again, considering things. I guess this is where outer disciples live?

Precisely. This is the fourth village of the Cathedral. There are another eleven, but I am highly confident your residence will be in this one.

Oh? Then, how many outer disciples are there?

Around a thousand. Well, a thousand active ones, he added quickly, noticing Jacks surprised gaze. We also have many allies across the universe. Our disciples are the distilled talent of the Churchs forces.

Jack nodded. A thousand outer disciples That wasnt too many. Even the Exploding Sun had twenty thousand D-Grades and a million E-Grades. The Church really did invest in quality.

On the other hand, this meant that the competition here would be much fiercer than usual. A thousand people out of the entire galaxy Jack may have been an extreme talent, but so was everyone else!

It really made him excited.

And? he asked, eager to get into things. How does this faction work? What do I need to know?

Just one thing. The Sages face suddenly fell a little, becoming apprehensive. The Black Hole Church is an extremely competitive place. If you had in mind free benefits, you can forget about it. Here, everything depends on your own ability.

Jack and Brock raised their brows at the same time. This sounded right up their alley.

See that huge thing? the Sage said, pointing in the distance. His finger led directly to the huge obelisk Jack had noticed, the one with rows of names on it. That is the ranking obelisk. Here, every C-Grade disciple is ranked, and the benefits you get depend almost entirely on your ranking. If you fall too low, you get nothing, but if youre high up, you get so many opportunities that your jaw will drop!

Jack stared at the obelisk again. Taking a better look, he could see that in the large row of names, each had a number next to it. The topmost line read 1, Min Ling, and the last read 997, Duke Belzon.

How does that work? he asked.

Ill show you later. Its a magic formation. For now, shall we proceed to the Envoys office? We need to register your arrival.

Jacks blood was already boiling. He cast another glance at the ranking obelisk, then turned back to the Sage and nodded. There wont be any problems because of my Grade, right?

Not at all. Actually, theyre waiting for you.