It was exactly what Sam had expected. A powerful, but not very flashy skill. He closed the notification and then opened his stat sheet.

Sam Atlas

Human

Mortal Tier

G Rank

Class:Dao Visionary

Level 36

(3 free stat points)

Strength

64

1.48x

Constitution

58

1.48x

Resilience

35

1.48x

Dexterity

33

1.48x

Intelligence

58

1.48x

Wisdom

76

1.48x

* Health 870/870

* Mana 870/870

* Stamina 960/960

* Dao

Dao Fragment of Righteous Anger(First Step)

* Skills

1x Common, 2x Rare, 4x Legendary, 2x Mythical

* Titles

1x Mythical, 1x Celestial

* Temporary Titles

1x Epic, 1x Legendary, 1x Mythical

* Dao Heritage

Dao Incarnation of Existence

* Party

Torturna Salvinii-Brescon: Level 29. Health 370/370

Rax:Level 28. Health 410/410

* Skill Branches

Muscle Density Enhancement(Level 1)

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Basic Weapon Knowledge:Blunt(Level 1)

* Weapon Style

Flowing Water Style

* Weapon Mastery:Implement Stage 5

* Elemental Affinities

Earth:3% Mastery

* Quests

The Sacred Bond:Impossible

Engines of the End Time:S

Sam’s stats were coming along nicely, and he was approaching 1000 in each of his resources. His new title had increased his stat multiplier to almost 50% more than he would have normally. It didn't seem that impressive on paper, but that meant that he was one and a half times stronger than someone of the same level as him, but with no multipliers. What he did with his stat points was what would determine what happened to him in the future, and he was determined to choose well. The number of levels within the rest of G Rank would get him enough stat points to cross the thresholds for all of his stats. Sam did not know why, but he had a strange desire to do so. If that was to work however, he would need to maximize his stat multiplier, which meant applying stat points in chunks rather than one at a time. The only real choice that he had was whether to increase Dexterity or Resilience. A small change to either stat would not matter that much, so he decided to metaphorically flip a coin on it.

Closing his eyes, Sam sent a message to Rax. He would invest the points into Dexterity if the herpetopede answered within five seconds, and 3 into Resilience if it took him more than five but less than ten. If neither of those were fulfilled, he would just pick for himself.

“Sam? Hello?” Rax answered six seconds later.

“Resilience it is then, I guess.”

“What?”

“Never mind. Nice to talk to you, Rax, but I need to get going now,” Sam said, feeling a little bit guilty that he could not spare more time for the lizard. He ended the connection after he was sure that the herpetopede had heard him, and then allocated his stat points. A faint buzzing sensation briefly crossed his body, but that was it. With his stat points invested, it was time for him to start his journey.

Three hours later, Sam had entered the more intact area of the woods again. This section was heavily forested, with tall evergreens coexisting with short and stout oaks. The trees looked a little bit different than normal, and Sam frowned as he took in the knot in the side of a nearby birch. It almost looked like a closed eye, and as he neared it, it opened, revealing that it was in fact an eye.

An ear splitting scream erupted from the tree, and all around him hundreds of eyes opened. They did not seem like they could do anything but scream, but perhaps it was what they could summon that would be the problem. He could hear a faint crashing noise in the distance, and it was getting steadily louder as time passed. Sam started running towards a nearby clearing. If he was going to have to fight some sort of tree monster, he wanted some space to do it in.

A shadow loomed large over the clearing, and he turned around to see a grotesque amalgamation of flesh and wood peering down at him from its lofty perch upon the top of a hundred foot tree. Four roots protruded from each side of the tree’s base, and they each ended in hooked claws that dug into the ground, supporting its multi-ton weight. Upon catching sight of Sam, it roared and launched a barrage of wood spikes at him from its mouth. They were all tipped with poison, and where they landed was perforated with sharp tipped vines. Getting hit by one of those would be extremely painful. Sam winced as he imagined being torn apart by a writhing next of vines that had formed within him.

He did not bother analyzing the monster, knowing enough about monster power to know that this was near the top of G Rank. It would be a very hard fight, but now that he had seen a part of its moveset, it would be a bit easier. Its movements were slow, and its attacks were not that powerful, meaning that it likely had a lot of health and defense. It was also probably the reason why he had not encountered any other monsters in this area. They were all already dead, killed by this thing.

He zig zagged across the forest floor, dodging more barrages of spikes. As he neared the base of the monster, it lifted one of its root legs, and stomped down where Sam had been a second ago. The ground shook, but Sam was able to keep his balance. Sam jumped up onto the root as it came around for another pass, and he whirled his mace around before sending it crashing into the monster. This was more to test its strength than anything else, and what he found was disheartening.

Only a small piece of bark was chipped off by the attack, and a small amount of sap oozed out of the hole. The tree made a noise that almost sounded like mocking laughter, and it vibrated rapidly, trying to shake him off. Sam was getting tired of the lack of humanoid enemies of sufficient skill to let him use the full repertoire of his weapon style. His weapon mastery was stagnating now, as there were no opportunities in which he could use it to the fullest.

Sam clambered further up the monster’s body, using its serrated bark as hand holds for himself. Soon he had reached its head, and he drew his mace back to strike. The monster chittered and then blasted a wave of green energy out of its mouth towards Sam.

He raised his hand to protect himself, but it did him no good. His entire body started to contort and swell, the natural limiters on the mitosis of his cells having been removed. He was wracked with what was essentially a supercharged tumor, and he fell backwards off of the monster. Sam pushed his elemental energy and Dao energy through his body as he fell, and he succeeded in stemming the flow of the contagion a bit.

Sam crashed into the ground a moment later, groaning as his bones creaked. Thankfully none of them were broken, but it was a close thing. He should have gone all out from the beginning, and he was going to do so now. One last surge of power forced the corrupting energy of the monster out of his body, and he rose to his feet, starting to merge his Dao and Earth energy into the form of his Girdings of the Arbiter skill. Sam pushed himself to his feet with his willpower, and faced down the tree, an imperious glare on his face. He flicked his mace to the side, and smiled.

“You’ve had a good run, but it's about time to get the chop,” he said.