Jack Rust

Jack Rust is a biologist whose frustration with an unfulfilling life becomes the starting point of a transformation into a leader, cultivator, and defender of the people he gathers around him. His instinct to study living systems remains central even after the System gives him powers capable of changing a universe. (Chapters 1, 98, 560)

Biography

Integration and the Forest of the Strong

Before the Integration, Jack is a six-foot, averagely built biologist with dark hair and green eyes. He has followed the expected path through school and university, but feels trapped by a life that does not satisfy him. When the Immortal System appears while he is investigating a cave, he is frightened by the earthquake and the impossible changes around him, yet the System’s promise of a larger world answers the restlessness he has been suppressing. Rather than retreating to the life he knew, he begins testing the new rules as a scientist: inspecting status screens, comparing threats, and treating each discovery as a problem to understand. (Chapter 1)

Jack survives the first days by fighting goblins and using the Ice Pond, whose punishing cold repairs and strengthens his body. He gathers resources, develops his physical attributes, and reaches the class-selection threshold after defeating the goblin tribe. His first instinct is to treat the class as another system to investigate, but the choice also commits him to a path: he selects the Elite Pugilist, a class that fits his preference for direct hand-to-hand combat. His progress depends on repeated training and dangerous fights, not on an effortless gift. (Chapters 2–19)

The Forest of the Strong turns Jack from a lone survivor into a caretaker. He rescues and befriends a young monkey, Brock, then works with the other monkeys and brorillas against their predators. The deaths in the wolf conflict force Jack to confront how differently the animals understand death; he organizes a funeral and teaches them to mourn rather than leave their fallen to the forest. The group’s losses deepen his sense of responsibility, and when the survivors leave the forest, Brock chooses to remain at Jack’s side. Their relationship becomes the emotional center of Jack’s new life: Jack calls Brock his little brother, while Brock adopts the role with pride and begins protecting and training others himself. (Chapters 20–32)

Building the Bare Fist Brotherhood

Outside the dungeon, Jack discovers that civilization has been reorganized around the System. He and Brock enter Valville, where Jack’s strength and his defense of the settlement draw people to him. Encounters with merchant Ar’Tazul and the rival factions reveal that the crisis is planetary and political as well as personal. Jack does not seek authority for its own sake, but accepts the responsibility of leading the Bare Fist Brotherhood after the Forest of the Strong is secured. The faction’s growth makes his choices consequential for people beyond his immediate circle. (Chapters 32–47)

At the Integration Tournament, Jack tries to conceal the nature of his Dao while assessing the scions and competing factions. He uses the name John Brown and presents a deliberately misleading Dao; the disguise lets him avoid exposing the Bare Fist Brotherhood to enemies who could retaliate against his people. His rivalry with Rufus Emberheart and Shard Presht tests the balance between his enjoyment of combat and his obligation to protect his faction. Jack eventually chooses to face the danger rather than withdraw, and the tournament’s interruption by the Immortals redirects the contestants toward the wider System world. (Chapters 46–107)

Jack’s first breakthrough brings both power and responsibility. He becomes the first Earth cultivator to form a Dao Seed, but the advancement also draws attention to his faction and makes his future choices more visible. After the tournament, he travels with Captain Dordok aboard the Trampling Ram and enters Trial Planet. The trials reward rapid advancement but repeatedly place Jack in situations where survival depends on coordination, restraint, and trust. He helps protect his companions, learns from Master Shol, and develops a deeper understanding of how his Dao relates to his fighting style. (Chapters 108–142)

The Trials and the Life Drop

On Trial Planet, Jack and his companions cross a series of dangerous regions while competing for advancement. He develops additional Dao Roots, and his Dao Seed grows through its early, middle, and late stages. The challenge tests whether he can turn curiosity into controlled growth: he learns from each ring, studies the systems he encounters, and treats the rewards as tools for progress rather than proof that he has already mastered the path. (Chapters 143–200)

The trials also strain Jack’s belief that strength alone is enough. He learns when to rely on others and takes responsibility for Brock’s growth and the safety of the people traveling with him. His choices affect the group’s chances as much as his own: Jack fights to move companions forward, and they in turn help him survive the later rings. The shared danger begins to change his idea of mastery from individual power toward protecting a community. (Chapters 162–200)

In the later rings, Jack acquires the Life Drop. He initially understands it as a Dao Root of Life, but its power produces an unfamiliar battle form and additional arms. Jack conceals the experience from his friends while he tries to understand what has happened. Later revelations show that the artifact is a drop of blood from Enas rather than an ordinary Dao Root; its fusion with Jack’s soul gives him life-related power but exposes him to a danger he does not fully understand. Keeping its identity secret weighs on his relationships even as the power helps him survive. (Chapters 156–157, 270)

Defining His Dao and Fighting for Earth

The final Trial Planet challenge forces Jack to define what his cultivation means. Facing the Final Guardian and the limits of his existing abilities, he stops treating the fist as merely a means of striking and develops a personal Dao grounded in his own understanding. The breakthrough advances him to D-Grade and changes the scale of his responsibilities. He leaves Trial Planet with stronger cultivation, a new class, and a clearer sense of why he fights: not to satisfy the System’s rankings, but to protect his brothers and the home they share. (Chapters 217–227)

Jack’s subsequent path brings him into the Exploding Sun faction and its sect politics. He accepts training and instruction from people who can advance his cultivation, while refusing to abandon the Bare Fist Brotherhood or his loyalty to Master Shol. When conflict threatens Earth and his allies, Jack commits himself to the struggle rather than pursuing private advancement alone. His conflict with the Black Hole Church and its enemies on Hell draws him into guerilla warfare and morally difficult decisions; he joins the Church after learning more about its opposition to the universe’s powerful ruling order, but remains alert to the difference between its ideals and its actions. (Chapters 228–303)

The war for Earth tests the relationships that have sustained Jack’s rise. He and Brock coordinate their efforts with their allies, while Jack confronts opponents whose power and political influence exceed what his faction can handle alone. Jack’s victories do not erase the cost of the conflict, and the trials that follow require him to reassess the direction of his power. His period inside the Life Drop becomes a direct confrontation with the risks of the energy fused to his soul; through study, experimentation, and help from his companions, he learns to endure and work with the changes rather than surrender control of himself. (Chapters 304–351)

The Life Drop, the Hidden Realm, and Brotherhood

After reaching C-Grade, Jack faces a class whose relationship with him becomes unstable. The Life Drop’s effects and his cultivation do not always align. Jack adapts by relying on his knowledge of biology, examining his own condition instead of accepting the System’s descriptions as complete. The conflict is personal as well as technical: Jack’s fear of losing himself competes with his desire to become strong enough to protect those who depend on him. His friends, especially Brock, help him remain grounded while he pursues a way forward. (Chapters 340–375)

Jack later enters a hidden realm and confronts powerful opponents while trying to settle conflicts that have followed him across the universe. His cultivation continues through the C-Grade, but the more consequential development is his changing relationship with his own Dao: it becomes a source of healing and self-understanding as well as combat. He reunites with his companions and eventually returns to the wider conflict with the Animal Kingdom. (Chapters 376–411, 412–465)

Jack and Brock lead their allies through the war, and their shared sense of brotherhood becomes a source of strength for others rather than a private bond alone. Jack keeps advancing while making decisions that protect the people around him, including accepting help and allowing his friends to carry responsibilities of their own. The group’s loyalty gives him a reason to continue beyond individual mastery: the path he builds has to leave room for others to survive and grow. (Chapters 412–465)

The Hall of Trials and the Final War

Jack’s later cultivation takes him through the Space Monster World and the Dark Canal, where he pursues advancement while confronting the history behind the System and the Immortals. He reaches B-Grade after integrating his inner world with his body, an achievement that changes how he understands the relationship between personal cultivation and the wider universe. He continues developing his Dao abilities and accepts the responsibilities that accompany his growing influence, including caring for the communities and younger cultivators who now look to him. (Chapters 466–542)

The Hall of Trials provides the final threshold in Jack’s recorded cultivation. During seclusion, he brings his body and inner world into alignment and reaches A-Grade. When the final war begins, he stands with the Black Hole Church’s forces, his allies, and Brock against Enas and the powers that threaten to control or destroy their world. Jack’s struggle against Enas is fought both physically and through the life energy that has long been fused with him. His understanding of biology, honed before the Integration, lets him recognize and counter the forced evolutions attacking his body. He defeats Enas, then helps rebuild the universe’s institutions and the System so that they no longer reward killing. He remains below S-Grade at the ending, but plans to explore the universe and advance further in time. (Chapters 543–560)

Jack’s later life gives his earlier choices a quieter consequence. He and Vivi are married and raise their daughter Ebele; Jack’s clone remains with them on Earth while his main body and Brock explore new galaxies. After the war, Jack establishes the Bare Fist Brotherhood as a faction meant to uphold justice, reconstructs the System without its former kill-based rewards, and teaches new generations of cultivators. His relationship with mortality remains deliberate: when his mother dies, he chooses to let her rest rather than reverse a life that had run its course. (Chapters 550, 560)

Appearance and personality

Before the Integration, Jack is an averagely built, six-foot man with dark hair and green eyes. He describes himself as somewhat handsome and has a kind smile, though he is not physically intimidating. The System and his Pugilist training transform his body over time; by the time he enters civilization, he is visibly muscular and carries himself with the confidence of a practiced fighter. His later transformations change his appearance, and the details vary with his cultivation stage. (Chapters 1, 32)

Jack is curious, analytical, and self-aware. He approaches new powers as a biologist, testing their effects and looking for mechanisms, but he also has a playful streak and enjoys absurdity, banter, and combat. His enthusiasm for growth can make him impulsive, yet his strongest decisions are shaped by loyalty: he takes responsibility for Brock and the Bare Fist Brotherhood, keeps fighting to protect his family and friends, and makes space for others to follow their own paths. He is willing to admit uncertainty, especially when the System’s explanations fail to account for his experience. (Chapters 1, 31, 560)

Abilities and cultivation

Jack’s power develops through the Immortal System’s levels, grades, classes, skills, and Dao cultivation. His strongest capabilities center on physical combat and the Dao of the Fist, but his cultivation later incorporates Life, Space, Death, and other Daos. By the end, he combines a powerful body, a developed inner world, and a wide range of Dao Skills; the System’s classifications describe his current state but do not fully explain the mechanics of his life-related transformations. (Chapters 98, 429, 517, 545)

Pugilist classes and bodily cultivation

Jack selects the Elite Pugilist class after reaching Level 15. The class supports close-range combat and develops his physical attributes. His Pugilist Body improves flexibility, reflexes, durability, and the hardness of his knuckles. At E-Grade, this skill evolves into Iron Fiend Body, while his later class changes bring further bodily abilities such as Neutron Star Body. Jack’s physical foundation lets him survive impacts and continue fighting, but it does not make him invulnerable: battles leave him badly injured, and recovery often depends on rest, cultivation, allies, or healing resources. (Chapters 14–19, 98–99, 224–225)

At E-Grade, Jack’s class becomes Fiend of the Iron Fist (Elite); after reaching D-Grade it becomes Cosmic Fist (King), and at C-Grade it becomes Gladiator Titan (King). His class is temporarily marked as cracked during a later conflict, then appears without that condition in a subsequent status. At B-Grade, he receives Paragon of Cultivation (Legendary), which remains his class through the A-Grade advancement. These transitions substantially alter his available abilities, although the System’s description does not explain every interaction between class features and Daos. (Chapters 99, 225, 351, 429, 438, 472, 545)

Dao of the Fist and Meteor Punch

Jack’s signature attack begins when he fuses his Dao into Calamitous Punch during the fight with the black wolf. Meteor Punch is a Dao Skill: a focused punch whose impact is powerful enough to destroy the opponent, but initially damages Jack’s own hand severely. Its later improvements expand its usefulness as his strength and control grow. By B-Grade it has reached the fourth skill tier. Its force is demonstrated in combat, but its maximum range and cost are not fixed; the attack’s practical limitation is tied to Jack’s control, condition, and the danger posed by opponents at his level. (Chapters 29–30, 107, 324, 517)

Jack develops the Iron Fist Style alongside Meteor Punch. The style gives his Dao a broader expression through combat techniques rather than a single strike, and it advances through successive skill tiers. His personal Dao allows him to adapt these powers to new opponents and environments. By the final war, Jack can use his fist-based Dao with enough control to fight at a scale that threatens the surrounding fabric of space, while deliberately moving the battle with Enas away from other combatants. (Chapters 62, 107, 217–225, 559)

Other Dao Skills and the inner world

Jack’s Dao cultivation begins with a Perfect Dao Seed of the Fist and a Dao Root of Indomitable Will. His Dao Seed develops from early to middle and late stages, then becomes a Dao Tree when he reaches D-Grade. He later forms a Dao Fruit of the Fist at C-Grade, followed by additional Dao Fruits and an inner world. These developments mark structural changes in his cultivation, not merely new attacks. His status at B-Grade lists an inner world 10,000 miles across; later it reaches 16,000 miles, and by A-Grade its size is no longer displayed. (Chapters 98, 144, 156, 200, 225, 351, 429, 472, 517, 545)

His other named combat skills include Iron Fist Style, Brutalizing Aura, Neutron Star Body, Supernova, Space Mastery, Fist of Mortality, Death Mastery, Titan Taunt, Black Hole, and Immortal Commune. Their ranks develop at different rates, and some are absent from later status lists as Jack’s skill set changes. The Space abilities become central to his movement and to his later ability to control the battlefield; Life and Death cultivation also become essential to his body’s evolution and his understanding of mortality. These abilities are System-linked or cultivation-based rather than demonstrated as innate powers that remain constantly active; his access to them changes as he develops. (Chapters 135, 225, 324, 429, 438, 472, 517, 545)

Life Drop and biological adaptation

The Life Drop fuses with Jack’s Dao Seed and grants him access to powerful life energy. It can manifest a battle form with additional arms, greatly increasing his attack speed, but Jack initially cannot explain the source or limits of this transformation. Later he learns that the Drop is blood from Enas and understands that it has affected his soul as well as his body. Jack’s ability to analyze biological processes helps him control the forced evolutions Enas later triggers in his body; however, the energy is foreign and can turn his own regeneration against him. His eventual mastery is based on actively countering and directing the changes rather than on simply purging the Life Drop. (Chapters 156–157, 270, 324, 340–341, 560)

Power progression

Relationships

• Brock: Jack’s brorilla companion and chosen younger brother. Jack protects and teaches Brock, while Brock grows into a powerful leader in his own right. Their mutual loyalty shapes the Bare Fist Brotherhood and the later wars. (Chapters 31–32, 201–202, 558–560)
• Vivi: A powerful ally who becomes Jack’s wife. They share a life and raise their daughter, Ebele, while Jack’s main body continues traveling. (Chapters 81, 550, 560)
• Edgar: Jack’s close friend and fellow traveler. Jack encourages Edgar’s pursuit of magic, while Edgar develops his own power through a Dao Seed. (Chapters 183–184)
• Master Shol: Jack’s mentor, whose guidance helps him understand Dao cultivation and the meaning of his breakthroughs. (Chapters 98, 196, 248)
• Gan Salin: A powerful ally whose friendship and loyalty become important to Jack’s faction and later struggles. (Chapters 41, 122, 213)
• Dorman Whistles: A recurring rival and ally; Jack’s spar and bet with him lead to their alliance and shared involvement with the Black Hole Church. (Chapters 60–61, 177–178)
• The Sage: A charismatic and mysterious guide who gives Jack information about the System and later reveals his place in the Black Hole Church. Jack’s trust in him is measured because the Sage conceals important truths. (Chapters 54, 177–178, 280)
• Enas: The source of the Life Drop fused with Jack’s soul and the principal opponent in the final war. Jack’s resistance to Enas’s control becomes a defense of his family and of the universe’s right to choose its own future. (Chapters 156–157, 557–560)

Items

• Dao Fruit of the Fist: A physical reward that gives Jack an early cultivation resource; he consumes it after the Trial Planet arena. (Chapters 29–30, 73, 97)
• Rainbow Dao Pill: An auctioned healing pill that Jack acquires during the Integration Tournament and uses after a damaging fight. (Chapters 74–75, 97)
• Trial Planet Token: Tournament tokens Jack collects as the event proceeds and later gives away. (Chapters 29–30, 35, 70, 101, 107, 123)
• Dao Sprouting Pill: A cultivation consumable obtained during the Garden Assault, used to support his development of a Dao Tree. (Chapters 197, 205–208, 211, 214–216)
• Dao Magnet: A cultivation device allocated to Jack as Huali’s personal disciple. (Chapters 239–240, 246, 250, 255)
• Life Drop: An artifact bound to Jack’s soul that enables life-related transformations and later helps sustain him. (Chapters 156–157, 160–162, 172–173, 215–216, 218, 224, 391–392, 399, 411, 427, 431, 437, 471–472, 476, 482, 484, 489, 501, 514, 543–544, 557, 559)
• Thousand Essence Flower: A rare cultivation resource Jack handles during the Trial Planet arc. (Chapters 220, 222–223)
• Escape Talisman: A one-use talisman that teleports Jack away from the Animal Kingdom pursuit. (Chapters 260, 273)
• Storage Bead: A single-use defensive artifact that unleashes a C-Grade strike during Jack’s escape. (Chapters 260, 274)
• Overlord Core: A high-grade core Jack absorbs to expand his inner world and advance his cultivation. (Chapters 510–511, 515–517)
• Fallen Genius Mirror: An access resource for the Fallen Genius realm; Jack uses its opportunity but does not own the mirror. (Chapters 358–359)