Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Chapter 375: Another Six Months

The Time Chamberthe Dao Chamber of Timewas the most enigmatic place Jack had ever seen. He stood on a small grassland surrounded by countless flowers. These flowers were identical, but each grew at different speeds. Some were blooming and dying, only for their spores to bloom soon after. Some remained completely still, not even responding to the breeze as if frozen in time. Others followed even more confusing paths; they would bloom at first, then wilt, then reverse their aging, then bloom again, eternally suspended in a cycle that didnt let them die.

Time was warped in this place. It did not flow uniformly, but rather whimsically. Space was filled with currents of time, each moving at its own pace. Jack didnt know how these currents were created, but he could sense them sometimes crossing each other, resulting in unexpected results. Other times, certain areas were stagnated of time, leading to a massive deceleration.

Of course, none of these time flows were particularly intense. They were only visible because this particular species of flower had a lifespan barely reaching two days. Even if Jack was stranded in one of the quickest currents, resisting it would be trivial.

Observing this grassland, Jack could make out a path to understanding Time. The first step was seeing through its nature. Then, one should use their Dao to create such currents of altered time flow, and finally he should be able to control the interactions of these currents to create complex results in an area of his choice.

These three steps would lead to a decent understanding of Time. As for what came after, he had no idea.

However, even as he stood inside the grassland, Jack shook his head. He could tell that, ironically, comprehending these things would take timetime he didnt have. Even the simplest mysteries of the time currents were lost on him, as he felt no connection. It wasnt like the Dao of Space, which came to him instinctively, or the Dao of Life, which was somewhat aligned with the Fist.

Every cultivator was only compatible with certain Daos, depending on their character, worldview, and experiences. Trying to go wide was a terrible ideait was better to be a master of one than a jack of none. Even when it came to ones secondary Daos, like Jacks Dao of Space, he needed to be careful and not invest too much. At the end of the day, his Dao followed the Fist, and anything else could only be auxiliary weapons.

After all, all Daos came from the same source. Their manifestations were wildly different from each other, but the higher one rose, the more each Dao resembled the others. By walking down the path of the Fist, Jack would naturally approach Life, Mortality, and other relevant Daos. By exploring the Dao of Space, he would naturally arrive at the Dao of Time, since the two were intertwined. Trying to study these other Daos individually was just a waste of time and effort.

For example, through his comprehension of Space, Jack could understand that time was just the concept of change. Its connecting point with space was through matter; space was the foundation of matter, and time was nothing but the continuum on which matter existed.

Between these threespace, time, and matterno two could exist without the third. They formed a fundamental trifecta of the universe.

These were all a bit vague to the current Jack, but the point was, he should focus on Space to understand Time. That way, his comprehension of Time would advance faster than if he studied Time itself, and he would also get all sorts of other benefits.

To him, the Time Chamber was useless.

Jack exited the chamber, welcomed by a confused octopus Envoy. Done so quickly? she asked. Dont worry. Not all Daos are for everyone. It is best to expand little and focus on your strengths, forming a pyramid of understanding.

I understand. Thank you, Jack replied politely.

Hed already suspected Time would be fruitless.

After this, he also spent some time at the Life and Death Chambers, finding similar results. The two chambers contained a blooming world and a dying one respectively. Jack could sense they hid a myriad insights, yet he was unable to grasp them. His own comprehensions of Life and Death would naturally sprout from the Fistthat was the lens through which he perceived them, therefore studying them individually was pointless. Even the Life Drop, which connected him to the Dao of Life, only did so indirectlyhis high compatibility was best utilized through the Dao of the Fist.

Time, Life, and Death were out of the picture. The elements were even more pointless to attempthe had no relation to any of them. The only Dao Chambers Jack could focus on were Mortality and Space; one helped with the comprehension of his own Dao, and the other directly increased his combat strength, though with declining efficiency, since hed already spent a few months there.

The hidden realm expedition would come in six months. Therefore, Jacks priority was to increase his power as much as possible until then. Long-term benefits could wait.

Forming a six-month training plan was easy. The Dao Chamber, though he had free access now, wouldnt be too useful in the short term. He decisively allocated little time to it, only a few days in total, and those were spent at the Mortality ChamberSpace was already offering diminishing returns.

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Most of his time was spent cultivating and body temperingthe two approaches that could increase his power the fastest.

Jack visited the Ceaseless Murder Globe and once again awed the Cathedral by securing a ranking of 98. He had finally broken into the top hundred! This was a new legend!

But Jack was too busy to care about the praise. The only reason he increased his ranking was to secure more time at the Heavy Pagoda; he could now stay there for four days every month, double his previous limit. That was great news.

He also possessed a fortune of Dao stones. Just his twenty-five consecutive duels had earned him over a thousand. As for the betting stalls profits, those went entirely to the bros. After Jack finally revealed his connection with the life stones, their price also rose to four Dao stones apiece, netting him a monthly profit of eighty stones, twenty of each were given to the bros as thanks for their assistance.

The bros had profited wildly. Just by believing in Jack and putting in a few days of work, they had secured over a dozen Dao stones eachthis was the equivalent of at least a years wages.

Over the six months until the hidden realm, Jack gathered a total of one thousand five hundred Dao stonesand change. He was a tycoon. Moreover, since he no longer needed to hemorrhage on the Dao Chamber, he could freely spend all that wealth on his own cultivation.

For four days every month, he stayed at the Heavy Pagodas fourth level and consumed Dao stones like candy. If others knew of this rate of consumption, they might have a heart attack and die on the spot.

The other twenty-six days of the month were spent on body tempering. Jack endured increasingly terrifying pain, fueled by his own desire for the top, to steadily stuff his body full of life energy.

Alternating these two practices without rest, Jack lost track of time. The months flowed like water.

Two months before the expedition, his breakneck cultivation bore fruitliterally. He broke through to the three-fruit realm. His third fruit was one of Life, incorporating his body tempering and the feeling of possessing a titanic body. With it, his combat prowess rose yet again, but he chose not to visit the Globe.

The hidden realm was in two months. Even if he earned an extra day per month at the Heavy Pagoda by increasing his rank, it wouldnt matter muchit was more important to keep his strength under wraps to guard against his enemies. After all, in the hidden realm, there was no guarantee that everyone from the Church would work together. Baron Longform would be there too, and Jack might come under attack at any point. It was better to hide his full abilities.

At almost the same time as Jack, Brockwho had received a lot of Dao stones from his big broalso broke through, developing his second Dao fruit. After a few years of cultivation, the two of them were only one small boundary apartten levels. It really made Jack emotional.

For the two months after that, Jack kept cultivating like crazy, and his third Dao fruit reached around forty percent maturity. He also had a few hundred Dao stones to spare. With a little more time, developing a fourth fruit wouldnt be difficultthough he needed to ensure his Dao understanding didnt lag behind.

One day, Jack opened his eyes. They shone like twin stars, shooting lightning into the world.

My body is finally close to saturation he muttered, then cracked a smile. Not bad.

Name: Jack Rust

Species: Human, Earth-387

Faction: Bare Fist Brotherhood (C)

Grade: C

Class: Gladiator Titan (King)

Level: 274

Strength: 4300 (+)

Dexterity: 4300 (+)

Constitution: 4300 (+)

Mental: 689

Will: 689

Free sub-points: 1

Dao Skills: Meteor Punch IV, Iron Fist Style III, Brutalizing Aura III, Neutron Star Body III, Space Mastery II, Titan Taunt I, Fist of Mortality I

Dao Roots: Indomitable Will, Life, Power, Weakness

Dao Fruits: Fist, Space, Life

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

His Physical substats had grown by another five hundred. It was a significant increase, but the speed of body tempering had clearly gone down. During the last month, he only got forty points. It had finally reached the point of saturation. From now on, the bodily improvements would need to be made in step with his cultivation.

From growing his second fruit to maturity and then developing his third fruit to forty percent, he had gotten another fourteen levels, which translated to two-hundred and eighty stat points. He had poured them all into Mental and Will, finally bringing them up to speed with the 8-1-1 distribution he followed. Now, unless some Mental or Will cultivator was far stronger than him, it could be said that Jack was their natural counter.

Future stat points would be poured into Physical, at least for a while. Jack was curious to see how his saturated body would affect the Systems ability to enhance him furtherbut not curious enough to ruin his perfectly round numbers of 4300. Not yet, at least.

His cultivation had reached a plateau. It would be difficult to increase anything in the short term, and even creating a fourth Dao fruit would be difficultif he wanted to maintain a solid foundation, he would need to work on his Dao understanding first.

When one reached such a plateau, the best thing to do was go out and adventure. Most cultivators would take all resources they could and explore the wide universe, observing the world and letting their Dao naturally develop. Through fighting others and experience life and death, they would naturally develop their Dao and discover the next steps on their path.

Expansion and consolidation. This rule applied from the start to the end of cultivation, from the humblest F-Grade to the godlike A-Grades.

Fortunately for Jack, he had no need to search for adventure. The hidden realm expedition was fifteen days away.

He wearily rose to his feet. His body was exhausted but also suffused with more power than hed ever felt. If not for his iron will and determination, he might have already devolved to the point of thinking himself God.

Fifteen days he thought, finally allowing himself a tired smile. Since there is nothing important I can do until then, I might as well relax. I have to visit home. Vivi will be worried sick about me, and the children I cant wait to see how much theyve grown.

A small break for my weary soul. And then, adventure!