The Grand Canyon
A pillar of reddish light pierced the dusky heavens as the Overlord strode out of his cultivation chamber. He had created the small cave-like room after reaching the peak of G Rank, to use as a space for breaking through to F Rank. Now, he had done so. The power coursing through his body was immense, helped on by his new Dao Fragment. He was getting ever closer to the true Dao of Supremacy, but he was still extremely far away.
In ranking up, troubling thoughts had intruded upon his mental space, thoughts of Sam Atlas, but after he had broken through, they had vanished like smoke on the wind. He had almost killed himself breaking through, but it had all been worth it. He was now on the path of ruling the planet, and the Overlord was resolved to be the one to claim it. He laughed, long and loud, and his voice boomed out across the canyon, startling a roosting flock of giant eagles. As they flapped away in the dim light of the evening, the Overlord smiled. True power was the headiest of drugs imaginable.
The Forest of Sun Wukong
It had been two hours since Sam had finished testing the others’ power, two hours that had been well spent. They were on the final approach to the center now, and nothing, man or beast, would stop them. On the way, many of the monsters had attacked them, and Sam had left them to the other members of his party, who had made short work of them. Each of them could now take on one of the larger monkeys two to one, and they could individually defeat the weakest ones. The lower level monkeys were no threat to them at all. All of the essence was being wasted on them, but at least a trickle of it went to Sam through the party link. He wouldn't be leveling up any time soon through this, but at least it was something. In addition, as he was not fighting, he was cultivating using his nodes. Again, it was a paltry source of essence, with mere single points per minute, but it was something.
Something that Sam wished that he could see how many points there were remaining until the next level, as he knew that the System could affix numerical values to essence. However, there was likely a reason why there was not one. In any case, he could roughly calculate the time to his next level, which was measured in the months, not something that he had any time to deal with here. All of the levels in F Rank were much harder to achieve than in G Rank. Killing a single F Rank monster was not enough to take him up by a level any more, not unless it out leveled him by a significant amount.
He wasn't having any difficulties with fighting so far, but as soon as he started to run into higher level F Ranks, he would be in trouble. He could close a 25 level gap between himself and an average monster, but he would be helpless against a cultivator of that level. The only reason that he had been able to defeat the Hammerwraith was because he had possessed the element of surprise. For all intents and purposes he had died on that mountain top, and there was no reason that he should have come back. In a real fight, that trick would not work. Lost in his thoughts, Sam missed the gasps coming from his companions. As Ava jogged his arm, he snapped out of it.
"Are we there?”
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“No, but look at this…” The trees in front of them were strangely bulbous, and it took Sam a moment to realize why. They were covered in small huts, each of which was made out of wood and thatch.Monkeys darted to and from among the huts, each of them wearing armor and carrying a weapon.
“So this is where that armored monkey came from,” Claude exclaimed. “Do we even have a chance of getting through there? There must be hundreds if not thousands of those monkeys there.”
“It’s the only way through. Do we even have much of a choice?” Rax answered.
"Hang on…” Sam said. "I see something strange over there.”
There was a small plaque on one of the huts, and as Sam squinted, he could just about make it what it said.
Intruders, pay in blood, or coin
It was scrawled in a rough script, which likely meant that one of the monkeys had written it there. The message was clear enough though. Nobody on Earth would be getting through this series of huts, not unless they were able to sneak through the entire thing. There was nothing that could stand up to an army of F Rank monsters, unless you counted the Titans, which still slumbered. No, giving the money was the better choice.
Sam pointed out the sign to the others, and as they conferred on what to do, there was a cracking noise behind them. A small monkey, wearing a suit of armor far too large for it, dropped down behind them with an inquisitive look on its face. It tilted its head at them, and chittered. The creature did not look hostile, and Sam did not attack it.
“Can you understand me?” Sam said slowly. If it could not, then he had no idea how they were supposed to give any money to the monkeys.
It started jumping up and down before chittering excitedly, pointing towards the huts. It clearly wanted them to go with it. As Sam turned, evidently too slowly, the monkey leaped up on his shoulder and started hitting him with its tiny fists. The impacts were negligible, but they still were quite powerful for such a small creature. Sam ignored them, and started walking towards the huts.
“Is this really wise?” Claude called out from behind, scurrying to catch up. “This could be a trap!”
“I doubt it. The System may be a bastard, but so far it has been fair in all of its dealings. There has to be a way through here, and I doubt that the monkeys are intelligent enough to resort to trickery," Sam said, wincing as the money hit his head again. “Sorry, buddy, but you're not winning any trivia shows anytime soon.”
As they approached the camp, a troop of monkeys dropped down from a nearby tree. All of them were armed to the teeth, and the central one bared its fangs at the party. Sam raised his hands in placation, and the small monkey on his shoulder curled its arms around his head. The other monkeys’ expressions softened, and they put their weapons away.
“Humans. You here for bargain?” The central monkey asked, in a broken version of English. Well, it wasn't actually English, more like a series of grunts that the System translated, but it still meant that the monkey possessed a modicum of intelligence. Sam nodded in response, and the monkey held out one hand, bearing a small token.
“Give me million money, I give you token of peace.” The monkey eyed up Sam as he took in the information. The amount was exorbitant for how little of a benefit it gave them, and Sam felt compelled to disagree.
“Can we bring that cost down a bit? Maybe to… let’s say a hundred thousand?”
The monkeys hissed.
“You are an intruder here, human. You no make rules,” the central monkey said again.
“How about a little bet then? If you can beat me in combat, I will gladly pay the full amount, but if I beat you, then we only pay a hundred thousands. What do you think?”
"You insult my strength, human. Very well.” Everyone backed off, and the monkey started to crack its joints. A moment later, it was off, racing across the ground towards Sam. And it was fast.