The rockets cut out, and Sam felt a powerful conceptual field forming around the vessel. Outside, a sphere of mingled energies formed, and space began to warp. Although Sam’s E Rank sight could pick out the planets in the distance, the time it would take to reach them was far higher than it might seem. While Earth was close to a hundred million miles from the Sun, Gravos was likely hundreds of times further away from Prax. Only the gravity of the immense star at the center of the system prevented the planets from hurtling off into the darkness.
Sam settled back in his seat, preparing to renew his cultivation. If he was to stall Granthar for even a second, he had to be on top of his game.
Hours passed by like seconds as Sam delved deep into the natures of his Daos. The air around him warped as he tried to channel his Domain, seeking to empower it to greater heights. In its current form, it was adept at contesting Dao energy, but that would be useless against Granthar, whose Dao was far more powerful than Sam’s own. The only thing that would save him here was pure defence, or raw power. As he did not have, nor had a chance of finding the strength of arms to contest a D Ranker, he needed to create an impenetrable bulwark of defences, capable of stopping attacks capable of blasting apart continents.
His Domain slowly shrunk down as time went on, Sam finding the right conceptual buttons to press. In its natural state, his Domain was one that sought to contest his foes in their manipulation of the Dao, but the resonance that he sought was a different one. The form of Revenge that he wanted to emphasize was one of patience and resolve, of taking a temporary loss for a permanent victory.
As the hours turned to days, his Domain condensed down into a suit of armor overlaid on top of his own, made from plates of interlaced red and blue light, without a crack between them. The more of his Dao he channeled into it, the more powerful the field became, eventually occluding his form in its entirety once he sent an entire half of his Dao energy reserves into it.
A period of time spent meditating that would have felt like an eternity of boredom to a mortal was like a quick nap to Sam, and if anything, he found himself yearning for more time. As the skyscraper covered surface of Prax came into view, the sun rising behind it, his time was up.
Sam stretched slightly, a habit from his time as a mortal, and gazed down at the planet that could so easily become his tomb. He had a feeling that the challenges the System were placing before him were ones never seen in the history of the Tower. What sort of prodigy, a beacon of pure potential, could be expected to contest a D Ranker while barely a step into E Rank? Even Sam knew that he was outmatched. All there was to do was survive.
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The ship coasted down into the atmosphere, unchallenged by anyone else. Sam laid eyes upon the arena, a tiny dot of grey from the distance that he was looking from. Compared to the vastness of the planet, it was utterly miniscule.
Sam sighed, mustering his resolve. There was no way out of this. He had to face Granthar, and live for long enough that reinforcements could arrive to save the day. The fate of a solar system hinged on his victory.
“Is this what it means to have power?” Sam mused out loud. “To bear the weight of worlds on one’s shoulders, and smile?”
“What?” Miranda asked, more out of politeness than anything else. Sam was sure everyone in the ship had heard his words.
“Nothing. Just a bit of introspection. I’m heading into near certain death, after all.” Sam shook his head. “But, that has been the theme of my life since I discovered the System. Nothing new after all.”
“Well, if you have any prayers to make to your gods, or rituals for luck to enact, it is the time. We will be at the palace in five minutes.”
Sam nodded, and sent out a silent call for help to the universe. Not to the A Rankers that ruled over the Multiverse. Not to the System. Rather, to the being that Sam was increasingly sure was at the beginning and the end of existence. Something had created the System and the Dao, and something would be there when they died. Perhaps that being could be called a God. Or rather, God.
The spacecraft pierced through the upper veils of Prax’s atmosphere, covering the distance to the ground in less than a minute. The field of Dao energy surrounding it cut out, and the ship flipped, the ion thrusters kicking in. Sam grabbed his hammer, and prepared for battle.
Making the more prudent decision, he allocated all of his free points, sending them into Resilience. It was the most points he had ever allocated into a single stat, and the effects were immediate. A wave of pure power surged through his body, his flesh feeling like it was made of diamond. He felt like the most solid thing in the world, able to shoulder the weight of a universe, just like his titanic namesake. Most importantly, he was only a few hundred points away from his next Threshold. Perhaps if he had achieved that, then he could have weathered a few blows from Granthar, but it was too little, too late.
He looked out through the transparent sides of the vessel, spotting the palace below. It was a massive building, fit for an emperor. Spires covered its form like spines, but his eyes were set on its center, where a throne the size of a skyscraper was set, stretching towards the heavens. On it was what looked like a temple, with streams of people coursing in and out. It was Granthar’s throne room, an ostentatious sight that Sam was not surprised by in the least.
