Sam could feel how his Dao had integrated with his body, and as he sent energy through his arms and into his hammer, it traveled effortlessly. Each of his movements was as smooth as silk, but as powerful as a cannon shot. When he entered the state of using Girdings of the Arbiter, he was struck by how powerful it felt as compared to before. His Dao filled his entire being, and if he had wanted to, he could have made each of his hairs twitch. Instead of doing that, he used every ounce of power to send his hammer on a collision course with the Hammerwraith.

This time, it was unable to get out of the way in time. It almost managed, but Sam was just quick enough to catch it with his mace, and tear out a great chunk of its essence with the blow. It stumbled backwards, and Sam followed through with an overhand smash, crushing the Hammerwraith into the ground. His friends had been watching in disbelief, but now they joined in. None of them dared to approach the fight between the two titans, but they contributed in their own ways. Jeffrey provided some ranged support, and the others threw rocks and other projectiles. None of them did much, but it was more a form of moral support than anything.

Sam smiled as he saw them attack, and he centered himself, gathering power for the next blow. The Hammerwraith attacked with all of its might, and it sent its hammer into Sam’s left leg, pulverizing it, but Sam was ready. His hammer clipped the monster under its chin, sending it up into the air. He rose up with it, and hammered it down into the ground, catching it just before it hit. With a growl, he swung his hammer like a golf club, and the Hammerwraith went flying up into the sky. Leaping up 20 feet, Sam collected himself, and readied for the finishing blow.

As the lightning elemental fell, Sam arched his back once more, and brought Mjolnir down on the creature. There was a crack of lightning, and an airblast that sent the other below sprawling. With an agonized scream, the Hammerwraith shattered into nothingness. Essence flowed into Sam, and for the first time in days, it actually went somewhere. As the essence entered him, Sam could feel it started to slip off his core, as if something was impeding its progress. He grabbed hold of it with his mind, and slammed it into himself. He felt a sharp pain in his left palm, but ignored it. It was probably only an injury from the fight.

You have killed the Hammerwraith, Guardian of Mjolnir!

You have leveled up!

Sam could feel the crackling power within him from his recent rank up, and he was itching to explore it. However, the System had other plans. All around them, the mountains started to tremble, and starting in the outermost ring, they crumbled away. A glowing portal appeared in front of the party, and they ran in, not sure of where it would take them. A moment later, they were standing on the plain outside of the mountain range, watching it come crashing down. It seemed that the System did not want others to explore this area, seeing as the hammer was already gone. Now that Sam was out of the fight, he remembered something that the Hammerwraith had said.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Did anyone else catch that bit about the things that the Hammewraith said that it fought? Was it just me, or did that description seem familiar?”

Nobody responded, instead looking at Sam with awe in their eyes. He sighed. Would this happen every time that he had a significant boost in power? They snapped out of it soon enough, and Sam was relieved. He expected for there to be some measure of surprise at his success, but he did not want it to poison his relationships with these people.

“Sam, forget about the Hammerwraith. You just reached F Rank! How does it feel?” Jeffrey asked, his face alight with excitement.

"Like I was just upgraded from a horse drawn cart, to a car. Not that much of a difference, but still noticeable.”

“That’s a strange analogy, but good. If you’re feeling that much of a difference, then you must have had a near perfect rank up,” Jeffrey said.

“What? There are stages of rank ups?” Sam asked, suddenly afraid of what he had missed.

“Yeah, I didn't tell you, because I had no idea that you were just going to break through in the middle of a fight. Most people only have a simple rank up, where they break through the wall holding their essence from their cores, and then progress smoothly. Doing anything more than that can be incredibly painful, not to mention incredibly dangerous. All of the greater methods of ranking up revolve around doing something extraordinary. Gaining your essence through the killing of an especially powerful monster or cultivator will allow you to break through at a greater level than normal, and finally what you did, returning from the dead, will give the best possible rank up.”

“Every time that I want to rank up, I’m going to have to go through that torture again?” Sam said, remembering the agony that he had felt as he manipulated his essence.

“Torture? If you were dead, how would you feel anything? As far as I know, those ranking up through this method do not feel pain, but are at extreme risk of dying.” Jeffrey answered, confused.

“Never mind. I have a lot of things that I want to talk to you about, but they can wait until we get back to the headquarters.” Sam pulled out the small orb that held their ship and prepared to summon it.

"So we’re not going to search for the other Seals now?” Addas asked.

“Most definitely not. We need to resupply and upgrade our armor and weapons with the spoils of our expedition. I also want to inject a bit of cash into the economy as well. Killing that Hammerwraith gave me a lot of credits.” Sam had just checked his balance, and found that it had been swelled by millions of credits. How a monster that had never left its base would be carrying that much money, Sam did not know, but it was good for him anyway. “Anyway, it’s time to get going,” He said, tossing the orb onto the ground after imbuing it with mana.

The ship formed in front of them, and the voice of the strange simian creature that controlled the ship called out.

“Greetings, pilot and entourage. Did you have a successful trip?”

“Yes, we did. It’s time to go home now though,” Sam replied. The voice went silent, and everyone climbed into the ship. As they strapped themselves in, the ship took off, and they were on their way. It was time for Sam to check his many notifications.