His other Dao Mote took a bit longer, as its concept was far more esoteric. How exactly did one upgrade something like Prescience? Doing so drew upon higher concepts, eventually ending in the element of Fate.

  Sam’s interpretation of the matter drew him more along the line of his experiences as a warrior, creating a Dao that didn’t draw upon ideals and elements beyond his control, but rather upon his own experiences. His reactions had been trained over his tenure as a cultivator, to the point where he could snatch a bullet out of the air, and return it to its sender a dozen times faster. Obviously, this shaped his Dao’s progression somewhat, and he ended up with something in line with his expectations.

  Dao Fragment of Retaliation(First Step)

  Your expertise on the battlefield has become something transcending mortal limitations, the refined insights of a demigod brought into a world of flesh and blood. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, as one of your planet’s luminaries said, and the world of war is no different. In reading your enemies’ attacks, you read their souls, and render their assaults useless against you.

  +54 to Dexterity

  Those early successes warped Sam’s image of how his Dao progression would actually work, and once the first week of cultivating his Dao Seed passed without any change, he realized his mistake. A concept like that of the Avenger was far broader than any Dao Fragment, and any cultivation of it was consequently longer.

  Insights sifted through his mind as he sat within a tent, images of his own experiences with the concept mingling with his imagination. His last upgrade had been prompted by his realization of the dangers of unleashing his Dao without restraint, and he assumed that the next upgrade would come from an extension of that. While his Dao, and the Dao of Revenge, seemed similar, there was a key distinction, which was that an Avenger was generally righteous in the achievement of their goal, while one seeking Revenge often was not.

  However, all Daos had a sense of internal balance, and Sam knew that for this upgrade, he would need to find more in common with its darker side.

  Over the weeks that it took to achieve this, he channeled images of his many life or death battles into his Dao, forcing it to open up an aperture to new realizations of its conceptual power. His final insight was that, while his Dao was one aligned with Justice, sometimes that required a more brutal touch than he would normally use. For example, if he was to ever fully safeguard Earth from invaders, he would have to make an example out of the ones currently there, one so violent that it would stop any more from ever coming, out of fear for their own lives.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  This insight prompted a Dao Vision, which Sam eagerly entered, ready to finally reach the third stage of his Dao. Reality blurred and faded around him, and suddenly, he found himself standing in the midst of a war torn world, as often happened with his Dao Visions. Looking all around himself, he saw a few familiar sights. A large, verdigrised statue half buried in a drift of debris, holding a torch high above the land. The ruins of skyscrapers, piercing ash choked clouds. And most importantly, the town where he had once lived, somehow superimposed over the rest of the bizarre mishmash of Earth’s most famous landmarks.

  Millions of warriors fought and died around him, F Rankers and E Rankers working side by side to defeat their foes. Hordes of aliens laid waste to Earth’s surface, portals depositing them in droves every few seconds. The figures of Sam’s captains were at the forefront of the battle, leading the charge to save humanity. Only, as the odds grew ever steeper, and the number of humans diminished, they began to die one by one. George fell first, the giant of a man collapsing over the ruins of his greatsword, an expression of bemused pain on his face.

  Sam tried to move, but nothing happened. His body was frozen in space and time, only his eyes able to track what was happening. Over the next few minutes, his closest allies and friends died, taking dozens of foes with them, but dying nonetheless. Finally, Jeffrey fell, his gun slipping out of nerveless fingers, and a whispered sentence on his lips, which Sam could nevertheless hear as clearly as if it had been spoken next to him.

  “Where are you, Sam? Why did you forsake us…”

  Sam bellowed in rage, only then realizing that the force holding his body in stasis had disappeared. Immense amounts of power coursed through his body, far more than he had ever felt before. He could feel the power of a hundred Tower levels propelling his strength to the levels of a demigod, a host of ephemeral achievements and upgrades bolstering that. Whatever this scenario was, it was one in which he lost himself in delusions of his own grandeur, leaving Earth undefended for too long while he honed himself on the floors of the Tower of Transcendence.

  Another roar exploded from his mouth, and red crept into his vision. He tossed his hammer to the side, uncaring of its presence. For this battle, only his fists would do. A moment later, his sheer speed carried him a dozen miles, his palm rising and falling. One of the E Rankers who had slain Jeffrey looked up, the smug smile on his face disappearing as he saw Sam’s hand descending like the judgement of an angry god.

  A tidal wave of Dao energy came hurtling out of Sam’s core, turning his hand, nay, his entire body into a torch of fire, burning brighter than the sun. When his hand touched his foe, the man disappeared instantly, turned to ash before he could even blink. Then a cone of pure power ripped through the Earth, and for a hundred miles in every direction, the ground boiled away, and millions died, turned to specks of dust floating on the wind.