He teleported straight down into the waters, completely unafraid of the twin walls of water threatening to come crashing down on him at any moment. The drake lay before him, broken and pathetic from his power. The power of its elementalization came with great strengths, but unlike the other monsters Sam had fought on Gravos, it was entirely dependent on the water to survive. Without the element that it called home, it was helpless.

  Sam raised his hammer, and with a short, sharp motion, brought it down on the bright crystal of aquamarine energy he saw glowing in the center of the monster’s body, revealed by its pathetic state. It shattered as soon as his hammer touched it, and the monster was blasted apart, turning back into mundane water. Sam looked up, and teleported, just as the ocean came thundering down upon the seabed.

  The whirlpool was gone, the seas below calming. Sam hovered above the water, grinning as essence poured into him from his kill. The drake granted him even more than the other monsters had, and he was closing in on yet another level. Now he understood how the leveling curve in the Tower worked, though it would likely remain somewhere around this for the rest as there was a maximum he could earn.

  No notification appeared for the sixth layer of the Tower floor, and he took that to mean that he would need to seek out the three E Rankers he had met earlier for the next objective. The last time he had seen them was before fighting the fire serpent, and he was vaguely aware of their plans for battle. They would be waiting somewhere in that general vicinity.

  ***

  A few hours later, Sam was standing before a troop encampment, waiting for his acquaintances to emerge from their tents. Strangely enough, a battle raged on the outskirts of the camp, even as some of the soldiers rested. As none of them needed sleep, they simply rotated in and out of cultivation as the hordes of beasts approached.

  A few minutes later, Ashandra exited her tent, followed by her two companions. A smile was on her face as she beheld Sam.

  “There you are. Was your mission successful?” She asked.

  “Would I be here if it wasn’t? In any case, what comes next? There has to be more to do on this planet. It was what I was sent here for, after all.”

  She nodded. “Right. Well, there is talk of a rebel invasion near the north pole. Those vermin live on the asteroids of this system, and launch raiding parties on the more civilized planets. If you could deal with that, I’m sure it would be greatly appreciated.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Sam raised an eyebrow, but nobody saw it due to his helmet. “Rebels? Well, that sounds as good a mission as any. I’ll get going as soon as possible.” By that, he meant that a single teleport whisked him a dozen miles away in an instant, and then another took him a further fifty miles. A System message unspooled before him a moment later.

  You have entered Floor 7 of the Grand Arena(Challenge Mode).

  Acting as a servant of Granthar, your true purpose still remains the same. Find the rebels invading Gravos, and inform them of your allegiance. Their plan hinges on you over all else.

  Completion: 0/1

  Rewards: Title Upgrade

  The message was short, but exactly what Sam had expected. It was also nice to have a non fighting quest for once. Perhaps that was how the System balanced essence gain.

  Sam rose into the heavens, watching as the curvature of the planet extended beneath him. His teleports grew steadily longer, until he was able to see the frigid northern half of the planet. It was already freezing, because of its distance from the sun, and the actual north pole was far colder than its counterpart on Earth.

  Sam almost felt the cold as he moved through the sky, and as he began to descend, he saw great mountains of ice piled on top of one another, floating on a great sea of near frozen water. The titanic icebergs crashed into one another every few seconds, sending sharp, echoing cracks across the desolate landscape. Sam saw a few monsters roaming the wasteland, huge beasts that looked to be made partly of the snow that surrounded them.

  They were not his target, though, and he kept moving, searching for any signs of sapient life.

  Eventually, he saw a small camp, nearly invisible beneath a wall of fog. On second glance, the fog was somewhat suspicious, given that it did not move with the wind around it. However, there was so much ambient fog that it would have been almost impossible to detect without the sense of an E Ranker. Speaking of those senses. Sam reached up at lightning speed and grabbed a dagger out of the air, right before it sank into a joint in his armor.

  “Relax. I’m not here to fight,” he said, nevertheless not letting go.

  His unseen assailant struggled, but they were too weak to wrest the blade free, and Sam simply yanked it out of their hands. The air before him shimmered slightly, revealing a young woman, almost a child in appearance. She wore light clothing that seemed at odds with the snowy weather, but given that she was an E Ranker, she had no need for insulation.

  “Who the hell are you?” She asked, in a somewhat high pitched voice. “Do you work for Granthar?”

  “To the contrary,” Sam replied. “One of your own employed me. I saw little of his face, but he gave me a natural treasure. I am a Tower climber, and am currently engaged in that climb. He thought that my presence could help to aid your efforts.”

  The woman gasped. “Oh, it’s you! Sam Atlas. Yes, we were told about you. Only, I didn’t think you would be able to make contact so soon.” Then she frowned. “Why don’t we go inside the base? The others will want to see you.”