Sam watched in a daze as the shadowy man darted across the ground, moving like a wraith. It appeared in front of him, cocking back one fist. It might have looked like a path of smoke, but it hit like a truck. Sam took the punch directly in his mouth, and he screamed through broken teeth as he was pummeled into the ground. The blows kept coming, growing harder and harder, until Sam was just about ready to give up. Within him, a speck of blue energy started to pulse rhythmically, infusing him with pure resolution. He might have been too weak to beat this opponent, but he could certainly give him a hard time.

Sam headbutted the shadow with all of his might, knocking it back a step. It laughed malevolently, bringing its foot back for the strike that Sam knew would end his life. It never came. The figure melted away into nothing, and Johannes’ broken body tumbled out of where it had been, landing on the ground with a thud.

However, one final attack raced out of his body, slamming into the Sage as he approached, causing the monkey to collapse. Sam looked back at the monkey, but could do nothing about it. He was back to his normal size, and as far as Sam could tell, was on the brink of death. Sam limped over, barely able to see properly, and brought his hammer down one last time.

Johannes’ head splattered over the ground, and Sam felt a tide of essence enter him. Sam immediately saw a way out of his predicament, and he forced the essence into his next node which was on the left side of his collarbone. The remaining essence rushed past it, and slammed into the next node, in the base of his neck. The flesh and bone in that area, already damaged, split apart under the strain of opening two nodes simultaneously, and Sam fell over sideways, unconscious. He had achieved his goal however, and the rest of his body healed fully. Unfortunately, he was not in any state to acknowledge that.

Hundreds of feet away, the Sage spat up blood as he rose, seeing the broken figure of Johannes lying on the ground next to Sam. The monkey smiled as he beheld this, and then fell over backwards. His body crumbled away into dust, and his staff fell out of his rapidly disappearing hands.

“Good luck, Sam Atlas. You’re going to need it…” Those were the last words that the Sage would ever say, yet another victim of the bloodsoaked meat grinder that was the System.

A few minutes later, Sam came to with a groan, shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight. Standing over him was Claude, with the others close by. Sam tried to rise, but a sharp pain in his left shoulder dissuaded him. Claude pushed him back down gently, shaking his head.

“You should wait a bit before getting up. That thing you were fighting really did a number on you.”

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Sam laughed.

“It wasn’t the fight that injured me. It was leveling up. That stuff is getting annoying. Wait, did any of you see the staff?”

"Iron staff, about your height?” Ava asked, looking at Sam.

“Yeah. How did you know?”

“It’s lying over there,” she replied, pointing at the ground a few hundred feet away. The staff lay there, glistening in the sunlight. Of the Sage, there was no trace.

Sam realized that the monkey must have died for the staff to have been there. He was glad that he did not have to fight the creature, but it felt a bit wrong for the Sage to have died before he could have his final fight. However, there was no reason to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Sam waited a few minutes for himself to heal up enough to get up, and then he did so. His left shoulder and neck were still painful, but not as bad as before. There was some lingering damage in that area that would not heal for a while. Luckily for Sam, all of the fighting was over.

Sam made his way towards the staff, walking slowly. His companions followed him, and as he reached the staff, they stopped. The iron staff looked far too mundane to be one of the seven greatest weapons on the planet, but it was. Sam picked it up, and felt it trying to bond to him. He banished the bond, and simply held it. He did not wish to wield this staff, as it was for another. He could still scan it though.

The Staff of Son Wukong

F-Rank Artifact(Staff)

This iron staff is the weapon of Sun Wukong, the legendary monkey king. In the myths, it was the weapon of a powerful dragon whom Sun Wukong intimidated into giving him. In reality, it doesn't possess such an impressive pedigree, but it is just as powerful. Make sure that you use it to its fullest potential, as this weapon is more than meets the eye.

Weapon Skill:Malleable Form

The bonded owner of this weapon can control its shape and size to a certain degree, with the maximum being fifty feet of length and relative width, and the smallest being the size of a needle.

It was a powerful weapon, but it was very different to Sam’s preferred fighting style. It required a measure of cunning to use effectively, whereas he preferred to smash things with a giant hammer. Sam tucked it away into a loop on his armor, sighing when he saw the state that it was in. Most of his armor was dented severely, with small holes in some places. It was barely worth wearing anymore. Sam was sure that George could fix it, but for now he was without proper armor. It was a testament to its incredible durability that it had kept together as long as it had. Johannes had already been a test for its structural integrity, but that shadowy figure that had possessed him had been more than a match for it.

Sam was trying not to think of the implications of the strength of that shade. If it had been that powerful without Hugo Mar even being there, then how powerful was the man himself? Sam shook his head, and as he slid the staff into his armor loop fully, the ground started to rumble. Recognizing this for what it was, Sam braced himself. A moment later, he and his group were standing outside of the forest. There was no reason to wait, and Sam pulled out the ship. As it expanded to its full form, Sam started up the gangplank. He wasn't sure what to feel after his experience in that forest, and he knew that the future would be quite interesting if nothing else.