Sam sighed, and readied himself for a long day of administration. As he settled the newcomers into the city, he found out a lot about them. They were all lower level, with some of them not even possessing a class. This may have seemed like a boon on the surface, a large increase to their numbers, but in reality it was just another burden for Sam to shoulder. Protecting and bringing these people up to par would be a large drain on the faction resources. Still, Sam would push through the difficulty and do it anyway. Humanity deserved better than this. The only way for the human race to not only survive, but thrive in the new world, would be through overwhelming strength.
As the people were situated, Sam started to rebuild the city with the help of some people with the requisite experience to construct everything. In total it took a little over a million credits to fully restore the city, and another couple hundred thousand for lodging for everyone. It would be a tight fit in some of those houses, but it was better than stasis. Sam had asked a few of the people what it had been like wherever they had been taken away to, and he had learned that they had been stored in a seemingly infinite vault. Nobody remembered anything else, because time had stopped for them, but they had seen enough to know that they had not been on Earth.
Eventually they started to adopt the same awestruck attitude to Sam that everyone else had, and he was no longer able to talk to them freely. Sighing, he had retired to the Dao Tree to consolidate his new breakthrough. Firstly however, he had some stat points to allocate. With 15 available from killing Salvar, Sam could supercharge a single stat, or add quite a lot to a few individual ones. His mental stats were out of the question, and his Constitution was already getting a boost from his class. Sam decided to split it evenly, putting 5 points apiece into Strength, Resilience, and Dexterity. As the power coursed through him, Sam centered himself. He was racing through the Dao Ranks, and it was time for him to slow down a bit and construct a more solid foundation. All that entailed was for him to trace the origins of his Fragment back to the Mote stages, and this was quite an easy process. His brain was powerful enough to do this almost autonomously at this point, allowing him to sink into a blissful nothingness. When he had succeeded in improving his Dao stability by a little bit, Sam exited his cultivation and entered the Interweb. It was time to hit the books.
Sam found himself at the bazaar once more, and he quickly opened his interface, about to teleport to the library. Then he realized that he was probably powerful enough now to further explore the city, and perhaps find an even better source of information. Sam stepped onto the road, and instantly found himself under the effects of the time dilation field. However, this time it was far weaker, and he was only slowed down to about half the speed of a normal human.
Sam started towards a large building in the distance, one that looked quite promising. It had a large golden sign over the entrance, and a steady stream of people going in and out. It did not look like a library, but it seemed worthwhile to check out.
Ten minutes later, Sam was standing outside the door, and he read the sign. It only had two words on it. Adventurers’ Guild. This was the first trace of any of the powerful factions that Sam had read about all those weeks ago in the information crystal. Sam looked around briefly, and when nobody spared him a second glance, he walked over and in the door. As soon as he entered, he was stunned by the sheer opulence of the building. Because of the fact that it was in the Interweb, and not the real world, the inside of the structure could be any size at all.
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This building was so large that Sam could not see the end clearly, even from here. Clouds drifted along high up in the rafters, and thousands of desks lined the room, going off until they were nothing but points in the distance. A large purple skinned man dressed in mismatched armor pushed Sam aside suddenly. He was holding a gigantic ax, easily ten feet in length and four in width.
“Hey, watch it!” Sam shouted angrily. The man whirled around and snarled at Sam.
“Who do you think you are? Some new member talking to me this way? I am a Copper Rank adventurer. Show some respect!”
“So you can just push everyone aside if they are lower ranked than you, huh? Let me guess, you’ve never had to fight with someone your own size?” The man’s purple skin flushed slightly and he held his ax menacingly. “That ax too. Must be compensating for something there, eh big boy?” The alien's face flushed even more and he roared in Sam’s face. Sam ignored him and kept walking.
“Hey! We’re not done here! I challenge you to a duel, right here and now!” The man bellowed after Sam. The room around them went quiet, and everyone stared. A moment later the inevitable whispers started. Sam really didn’t have time for this but his curiosity was piqued. He had no idea how a duel in the Interweb worked, and he was interested in finding out. Turning around, Sam found his mace suddenly in his hand.
“Alright then. Show me what you got, asshole.” Sam said.
Duel has been initiated. Starting in 00:10.
Sam ignored the notification, and got ready. He had no idea what was coming next, but he was ready. When the countdown ended, a large dome of force sprang up around them, and Sam suddenly felt more connected to the world around him, almost as if he was back in the real world. He could feel everything with perfect fidelity, and he had the sneaking suspicion that pain would be just as realistic as well.
His opponent laughed and started running towards Sam. He was at least F Rank, by the way that he moved, but he was not a very strong one. This was clearly some average fighter who had simply grinded to get where he was, without much danger. In addition, the ax, which seemed to be more like a fashion statement than anything else, was slowing him down. Without it he would have been a good deal faster than Sam, but with it they were just about equal. Sam waited as the other man closed in, shifting his mace from hand to hand nonchalantly. With a roar, the purple alien brought his ax down like a guillotine, imbuing it with blue energy as it fell. Sam felt something lock onto him through his elemental affinities, and he attempted to remove it with his own affinity to Earth. To his surprise, his own power was instantly overwhelmed. It seemed that elemental affinities were one thing that could truly only be improved with time.
In any case, Sam wasn’t too worried. There was only so much that the path of a weapon that large could be altered. He pretended to dive to the side, watching as the blade jerked in that direction, and then rolled the opposite way. The ax bit into the ground right behind him, bouncing off immediately. It seemed that the realism filter for the duel would only go so far. As Sam heard the ax clang off the ground, he flipped over backwards, and smashed the ax handle into the ground with his mace.
Its wielder grunted in pain as his hands vibrated rapidly, and dropped the ax. Sam was on his feet by that point, and he kicked the weapon away, or at least he tried to. It was incredibly heavy, far too heavy to move with a horizontal movement of one foot anyway. He jumped backwards, aware of the movements of the other man. It was time for Sam to see whether his opponent would try to fight without his weapon, and enjoy a boost of speed at the cost of more damage, or return to using his cumbersome ax.