Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Information

Status

Ongoing

Year

2022

Author

Valerios

• Cosmic Tower!?
  Oct 15, 2025
• Chapter 7: Challenging the Ice Pond
  Nov 18, 2022
• Chapter 6: The High Goblins
  Nov 17, 2022
• Chapter 5: Beating the Shit out of Stuff
  Nov 17, 2022
• Chapter 4: Big, Aggressive Prison Mates
  Nov 17, 2022
• Chapter 3: Hello World
  Nov 17, 2022
• Chapter 2: Jack vs. Goblin
  Nov 17, 2022
• Chapter 1: Apocalypse Day
  Nov 17, 2022

Reviews

Community Reviews(10)

• TheBestestSealRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  This is one of the first stories I started reading on RR. I've been hooked since day one, and it's completely worth buying the book. The character's power struggles are relatable, and everything is easy to understand. At first it's very number heavy, but towards the middle you get to see how much those numbers actually mean. The way cultivation is in this novel, in my opinion, is very American, as opposed to the genre's Asian origins. It wonderfully describes combat, and has a beautiful blend of wholesome moments, comedy, inventive situations, and the lore behind everything goes DEEP. All I can say is that this is by far one of the best stories on RR in my opinion, and while I havent read everything, I have read quite a bit. Heavily underrated, but it is so worth it. If you like characters that are physically strong, but aren't completely simple minded, Jack Rust is perfect. He becomes a total legend. The way he powers through everything and still prevails through all of his struggles is awe-inspiring, and makes you wonder if anyone can actually have the willpower to achieve what he has. And of course, don't forget, there is a brotherhood between the allies, and it's pretty funny and wholesome. The way everything has a story behind it is my favorite part, and I would definitely recommend this to literally anyone.
• Bill501Royal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  If you've read the ghosthound  you'll love this book. It takes a lot of the best aspects of that book and wraps it in eastern cultivation and adds in a strong desire to live and some Brotherly love too! I hope he writes 100 books in this series. Merry Christmas 2022 from the Wolfman.
• ButtrociousRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  This story combines many well-established tropes in the isekai, cultivation, and litrpg genress into a suprisingly coherent whole. I don't consider any of the parts to be particulalry unique or groundbreaking, but the execution is excellent. The main character is likeable and relatable, the grammar and prose are excellent, and the worldbuilding is minimal so far but has teased an exciting, large-scale setting.
  Edit: While the story starts out as one man's climb to power in a fantasy setting, the later chapters have had a focus on the world at large and the apocalypse-like consequences of monsters suddenly appearing and regular people gaining and abusing fantasy super powers. I think at this point I can say that the story has developed a distinctive identity and justified it's subtitle of "litRPG apocalypse".
  Simple plot outline: The world has been integrated by the "system", which creates monster-filled dungeons and gives gives otherwise normal people classes and stats. Jack finds himself trapped in a dungeon and forced to fight his way out. Once he escapes, he sets out to learn what he can about the rules that govern the newly transformed earth.
  A minor critiscism is that the author sometimes leans a little too far into meta and meme jokes, such as the workout-obsessed monkeys called "brorillas", with their leader dubbed "harambe" by the protagonist.
• CyberskinRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  This story is a lot like Defiance of the Fall, but with a fist instead of an axe and a bit more humor.  The environment is fairly fleshed out...not quite to the extent of Defiance, but getting there.  There's not much I would want to improve on, the story moves at a good pace, he's writing frequently, and the story arcs, especially the book finale were spectactular.  In that sense it's better then Defiance because it has better pacing and doesn't get bogged down in too many details.  This story is definitely in my top 5!
• Elva the 13thRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  I read books 1, 2 & 3  on kindle, and now caught up on RR.
  The ONLY problem I've run into was the fight with the ants on the trial planet.  Even 5th graders know that ants have an exoskeleton. They're an invertebrate.  You can't break an invertebrate's spine... You can only break the shell.  One if you try to hit it, your hand won't rebound, it would either deflect or you'd leave the equivalent Of a bruises on the soft tissues inside.  You can't say that your MC is a specialist on bugs and then make glaring mistakes like that...
  However, that was the only issue I've had with this story.
  It's fast paced, the MC is the under dog that everyone roots for,  Brock learning the big thought of brother hood, and spreading his help where ever he can...  The friends he made along the way.  His drive to become the strongest so he can stop tyrany, at the expense of watching his children grow (which seems to be a nod to anyone in the military )
  All in all, an excellent premise that the Author has woven into a beautiful tapestry of words...
• JCoulterRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  There's no such thing as a problem you can't punch your way out of.  If you find one, you just didn't punch hard enough!!!
  This is not a complex story, but it's one that I am looking forward to each chapter.  It's lightweight reading and I'm really enjoying the mental break from my busy life.  I don't need another slog through some grand epic whose writer is buried in a thesaurus or trying to impart hidden meaning behind every action.  I need someone that just likes punching things in the face and Jack Rust delivers in spades!
• MarcogrecRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  I strated reading from the start now that I just finished book 2 i muscoli say for rr standards it's really good i hope the writer will give us a blast with book 3 so good luck and have fun reading these really run novel that made me want to lose sleep to finish reading it
• TheherbertRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  Really addictive reading - I ended up reading like 80 chapters in a day.
  Is the book a groundbreaking masterpiece reinveting the litRPG genre through force of will  no. But there is something to be said about the addictive nature of this series. It is a typical systen integration book with litrpg elements. However, the protaganist is a fairly interesting Bro, he has power of the first and there are entertaining elements along the way.
  Really enjoyable casual read. Keep it up Author!
• Necro42Royal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  Okay, I've listened to the first two books and am going to keep listening to the rest on Audible, so it's a good book series in my opinion. It keeps giving me flashes of the One Piece anime/manga. The world is well thought out and consistent. The fights are fun and understandable. Valerios even touches on interpersonal connections and self reflection regarding how people feel about surviving the apocalypse.
  Very nice work overall... So why didn't I give it a full 5/5?
  The writing. Oh my god the voice and characters. I would accuse Valerios of using AI if I didn't like his book so much and if there weren't so many times where it's clearly a person writing this.
  The Americans sound like they're samurai from the Edo period: Death before dishonor, but you'd rather cheat than lose. I have a lot of trouble imagining an American simply falling into that mindset in most situations, especially those that the main character endures. The word choice sometimes makes me cringe. I think I heard them say something like 'Even a pig finds acorns occasionally.' now maybe that's a southerner thing, but every piece of media I've ever experienced uses the saying 'even a broken clock is right twice a day.' there are dozens of examples like this and they're easily ignored (hence why I can give the book such a high rating) But oh my god I feel like I'm losing my mind over these two things. Word choice and Characterization. Aside from those two, it's a lovely piece of fiction.
  Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
• LonahoraRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  Reviewing after buying the first 2 books on Kindle and catching up here up to 278.
  There are two ways to look at this story to determine its quality. One way is to compare the author choices to things other authors do, i.e. side characters, lore, world, system. The other way is to focus on the main character and through him read the story.
  I prefer the latter approach and what compensate for the rest in my opinion is the pacing.
  Most important thing I learned from reading cultivation stories is from I Eat Tomatoes. That is, a major breakthrough at every book. Road to Mastery follows the same principle, unlike stories with better focus on lore, world and side characters. Until a book comes out where the main character remains at the same grade, I stick by this rating.