Nauja appeared in a dark corner. She was instantly on guard.
There was little she could make of the surrounding space. Everything a few feet away from her was darkness. There could be anything out there.
However, Nauja was a trained warrior. She immediately fell into a crouch and directed her eyes slightly downward, away from the toches above. The better acclimated to the darkness her sight was, the earlier she would see attacks coming. At the same time, she focused on her hearing...
2023-05-12 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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Remember when Sage mentioned the existence of teleportation devices inside the labyrinth? Yeah... Those never came up, so I'll either remove their mention altogether or have the Sage say they are in both the following rings, so I can use them in Garden Ring.
I get the feeling there was one more thing I wanted to say... But, oh well. If I don't remember it, it probably wasn't important, right?
Enjoy the chapter!
---
“What are you doing there?”
The voice came f...
2023-05-11 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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Jack, Longsword, and Bocor stood before a dark cave mouth.
“Well,” the Lord said, “guess we found something. What do you think, Jack?”
“I think it’s a cave, and I also think that I cannot see in the darkness.”
Bocor snorted. “Are you afraid, little man?”
“Don’t worry,” Jack replied with a smirk. “I know my way around caves.” He wasn’t angry. This cave was too nostalgic for that. After all, his entire journey had started in a little cave in...
2023-05-10 17:37:00 +0000 UTC
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Wahoo!
---
Brock felt like his eyes were open for the first time. He saw his soul. It was beautiful.
His inner world was a gaping nothingness peppered with floating leaves. It felt crampy and impossibly expansive at the same time, like space had lost all meaning.
Brock floated in the middle of this world, gawking at the leaves surrounding him.
“Bro…” he muttered.
Right in front of him hovered the Big Thought. It was a flexed bicep, an arm that extende...
2023-05-09 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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Jack opened his eyes, glancing at the dancing bonfire before him.
He was still inside the labyrinth, of course. It was just ridiculous what kind of resources people like Lord Longsword got. He had his own bonfire, fuel-free and foldable enough to fit in his pocket.
Despite the homely light, there were still dark brown walls around them. Stone under their feet. Monsters lurking just around the corner.
Jack scowled and stood, eager to stretch his feet. By the side, Bocor was l...
2023-05-08 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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“Hey Nauja, check this out!” Salin held up a blue crab, moving its pincer from side to side. “It says hi.”
“Salin, put the poor thing down.”
“But it’s happy. It’s waving.”
“You are waving.”
“Fiiine.” Salin reluctantly placed the crab on the floor. It then immediately skittered away, disappearing behind a turn. “Goodbye, little one!”
“Can you focus for half a second?” Nauja sparked. “You’ll attract the bone monsters...
2023-05-06 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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Edgar floated in nothingness, suspended before a massive sapphire sphere. His eyes watered. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
The sphere was colored light blue, with little stars glistening inside. It was made of a material like starry silk. Its outer layers flowed around the sphere, while the inner ones stayed still. Clouds of colors floated inside, occasionally merging with each other or splitting to create new combinations.
It was magical.
Edgar tried to d...
2023-05-05 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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Jack’s eyes traveled from the tip of the long sword, down its length, to its handle, and up to the sharp brown eyes that hid under dark hair. A tattered cloak drifted behind this man, its edge almost touching the floor, and his brows were raised in amusement.
Human (Earth-74), Level 122
Faction: Wide Swirls (B-Grade)
Title: Wide Swirls Prodigy
Minotaur, Level 115
Faction: Animal Kingdom...
2023-05-04 17:36:00 +0000 UTC
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Nauja stumbled into a wall. Still reeling from the aftereffects of teleportation, she leaned on it and looked around.
Deep inside, she was excited. It was finally time to explore alone. To venture on her own power. To prove she was worthy. A primal urge rose inside her, the urge to—
“Oh, hey. Fancy seeing you here.”
Nauja’s excitement deflated.
“What?” Gan Salin asked again, standing behind her. “Are you not happy to see me?”
“Do you want the ho...
2023-05-03 17:36:00 +0000 UTC
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Shorter chapter this time, but there were some pretty large ones recently. Now, it is perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
Enjoy!
---
The labyrinth contained a whole lot of nothing. Torch-lit corridors as far as the eye could see. Turns after turns after twists and bends. Dead ends. Brown stone in all directions. Forks and intersections every two minutes.
It was driving Jack mad. Even his newest title didn’t help.
Congratulations! Title “Fifth...
2023-05-02 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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Happy new month, everyone! As always, thank you for your continued support, and I have news for you! This month, on the 30th, Book 1 of Road to Mastery goes to Kindle. That one day will define the next two years of my life, but I believe things will go great. There is pressure, but I love pressure.
I can't wait.
---
The super horde washed over this side of Space Ring, causing widespread confusion and casualties. Several cultivators were overrun. A few more were swept up by t...
2023-05-01 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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Jack didn’t respond right away. He savored the words. “Invite me into Black Hole Church?”
“Yes,” the Sage replied. “You already know I’m part of it—though I hope you’ve kept this information safe. Dorman is one of us, too, as are many people across the galaxy. And we want you.”
To the side, Dorman nodded.
“Isn’t the Black Hole Church a terrorist organization?” Jack asked, crossing his arms.
“That’s what the Hand of God says. In truth, we a...
2023-04-29 17:36:00 +0000 UTC
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Jack couldn’t believe his eyes. Here, hovering in the middle of a super horde in Trial Planet’s Space Ring, was the Sage.
What the hell?
“You aren’t even going to say hello?” the Sage said again, with a small smile. His telepathy was coming in handy.
“Hello,” Jack responded numbly.
The Sage looked almost exactly as Jack remembered him. Tattered clothes, dirty hair, and an equally dirty brown backpack on his shoulders.
However, ther...
2023-04-28 16:36:01 +0000 UTC
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My Dao of Catchy Titles is going strong.
---
Space monsters were unique creatures. They were formed by Dao that stuck together, the fundamental properties of the universe given shape and form. When that happened, sentience was developed, but most monsters only remained at the E-Grade, their infancy.
As a result, they were driven by two primary instincts: progress, and survival. Progress came from devouring other creatures that cultivated the Dao—usually cultivators, or som...
2023-04-27 17:36:00 +0000 UTC
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Jack lounged on a rock when Gan Salin woke up. He coughed, then shakily raised his upper body. “What happened?” he asked.
“Space monsters,” Jack replied, “but we pulled through. Are you okay?”
Salin’s eyes were piercing. “Did you save me?”
“It was nothing.”
“He fought off an Elite monster while carrying you and Brock,” Nauja said, stepping into the courtyard. “Hardly nothing.”
“I appreciate that,” Gan Salin said. He seemed confus...
2023-04-26 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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When the world settled, Brock found himself in a long and narrow underground chamber. Or, at least, it looked underground. There were no windows. He might as well be in a large stone box illuminated by a series of torches on the walls.
Said walls were covered in moss, like the outside ones, but the room’s main point was the floor. Brock stood on a narrow ledge against one wall. A second ledge was against the far wall, with a closed door in its midst—the only door in the room.
...
2023-04-25 17:36:00 +0000 UTC
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Happy new week, everyone!
---
A second arrow pierced space to accurately land on the tip of the eel’s nose. Jack sensed the Dao of Lightning leak out. The eel shook its head and chased him with renewed effort. They exchanged strikes. He was on the losing end, but not by much. His punches caved its flesh almost as much as its lightning charred his, but he had the Indomitable Body and Life Drop’s regenerative properties, and the eel had nothing. Its greatest weapon, the lightnin...
2023-04-24 17:36:00 +0000 UTC
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Light speared through the darkness, illuminating a long, mile-wide area. A bright path stretching from the middle of Space Ring to an exit tunnel leading to the next ring.
As Jack’s group found themselves flying through the light, he was stunned and speechless. Just a hundred feet away, the darkness was impenetrable. It could hide the richest treasures or greatest dangers of Space Ring, and nobody would know.
Bubbles occasionally floated through the light, entering from one side...
2023-04-22 17:36:59 +0000 UTC
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The outer half of Space Ring was brightly lit by the sun mushrooms that covered the outer wall. That light dimmed as it traveled. By the middle of the ring, the lighting was like a starry night.
And the final one-fourth of the ring was pitch-black. Fifty miles of darkness crowding with the strongest, meanest space monsters around, but also treasures that nobody had accessed yet.
Jack, Brock, Nauja, and Gan Salin were currently edging the darkness, skirting around just outside its ...
2023-04-21 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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Jack and his companions couldn’t sense the aftermath of the girl and the fat guy’s attack, but it must have been tremendous. The space monster horde had all but evaporated before them, sent flying by the giant palm or burned to cinders by the sun that erupted in their midst.
Thankfully, those people were so far away they were barely visible.
“As I was saying,” Gan Salin continued, “that’s Lady Priya of the Exploding Sun faction. One of the three Lords.”
“Expl...
2023-04-20 17:36:00 +0000 UTC
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Small change: Last chapter mentioned that the basket of torches in every tunnel leading from one ring to the next is provided by Hand of God. Therefore, the tunnel in the Ancient ruins did NOT have torches. I went back and edited it as such.
Many thanks to the patron who pointed this out in last chapter's comments.
---
Jack, Nauja, Gan Salin, and Brock hurtled through open space, approaching a large number of biome bubbles. The curved, sun mushroom-filled ceiling was on thei...
2023-04-19 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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The Space Ring put all physics Jack knew to shame.
It was a vast expanse of space, stretching so far he couldn’t see the end. The sun mushrooms around him pierced the darkness, illuminating little colorful bubbles, tiny compared to the vastness surrounding them, slowly floating through.
Jack could see a forest, a valley, an icy tundra, even an active volcano surrounded by an archipelago of stone islands. It was like someone had uprooted pieces of the terrain, put them in bubbles...
2023-04-18 17:36:00 +0000 UTC
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“That was amazing!” Nauja said, walking excitedly next to Jack. “The way you tricked them… Genius! And here I thought you were a dumb meathead!”
“You are literally a barbarian,” Jack replied, but he wasn’t annoyed. He was exuberant. Just now, he’d earned a great victory and secured the safety of himself and his companions.
Plus, he’d punished the asshole who slapped Brock.
“That was for you, little bro,” he said, turning to the brorilla, who was walki...
2023-04-17 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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Jack’s world sharpened to a point: the minotaur. Everything else fell away. He entered combat. A battle he couldn’t afford to lose.
Bocor closed the distance in less than a blink. His hooved legs carved the sand under them, parting it like air. He was fast, too.
But Jack was also fast.
The sharp butt of a tower shield crashed where Jack used to stand. He’d jumped away, turning in mid-air and smashing a Meteor Punch into the minotaur’s side. The ensuing explosion coul...
2023-04-15 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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“Your offer is tempting, Lord Longsword,” Jack said, consciously relaxing his body and mouth. He even forced a small smile. The first step was to give Lord Longsword his respect in front of everyone. “How could anyone refuse? You are an unmatched prodigy. Honestly, after fighting you once, my respect for you is through the roof.”
Longsword nodded. He assumed Jack was just complimenting him to make up for his earlier disrespect. Before he could say anything, Jack continued.
2023-04-14 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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Jack, Nauja, Gan Salin, and Brock ran over the sand dunes, heading as far away from the village as possible. They thought they would be fast enough. Turns out, they weren’t.
Lord Longsword’s team was the first to crest the tall sand dune between the village and the desert, sprinting after them. Jack could see them clearly under the silver starlight. Longsword himself was at the front—or, at least, the person Jack assumed was Longsword—followed by the icy witch and the dickhead m...
2023-04-13 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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Hey all, small change in the previous chapter. When they notice Gan Salin and consider breaking him out, they obviously ask themselves, "how?" The following exchange ensues:
“I can break the cage.”
Nauja raised a brow.
“What?” Jack replied. “I’ll be quick. Then, we can run to the next ring before they have time to respond.”
“...You’re lucky to have me.” She sighed. “One of my Dao Skills can harden air in a bubble. It’s nothing impressive in batt...
2023-04-12 17:36:00 +0000 UTC
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Throughout Jack’s week-long journey through the desert, he didn’t forget about the Dao Soul.
Every second night, he entered his soul world instead of sleeping. The Dao Soul waited there, a mute copy of Jack that took childlike joy in fighting.
Here, the Dao came easy, but the System was cut-off. He had changed the terrain from a grassland to a desert, to better resemble his current environment. The only other difference from last time was the shining green beacon in the sky—...
2023-04-11 17:36:00 +0000 UTC
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Happy new week, everyone!
---
Jack cracked his knuckles. He was suddenly eager to fight, eager to unleash his pent-up energy on this clueless monster.
Nauja and Brock stepped away, leaving him alone against the monstrous chameleon, which still hid in the sand, unaware they’d noticed it. Unfortunately, Jack wanted a fight.
“Come out!” he ordered, shooting a Meteor Punch from afar. The purple blow landed on the chameleon’s back with an explosion that leveled the ...
2023-04-10 17:36:01 +0000 UTC
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The sand worm was wide enough to swallow a house, and long enough that they never saw its tail. It burst out from under the sand without any warning whatsoever, biting down on and swallowing a scaled lizard that lounged on top of a dune. Thankfully, it didn’t attack them.
Giant Sand Worm, Level 124 (Elite)
Giant sand worms infest the deserts of many planets. They use the Dao of Stone to swim through the desert floor, then burst up to devour their tar...
2023-04-08 17:37:00 +0000 UTC
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