Sam followed him, and they made their way towards the gates. Lao let go of Sam when they arrived, and pointed at them.
“There's a small army camped outside. The aliens keep coming every few hours or so. Why don’t you go deal with them? It should get you some essence.”
“A whole army? What the hell are you thinking, Lao? How could you expect me to defeat that many soldiers?”
“They’re all G Rank, except for the leader who is a paltry F Rank. You can easily do it,” Lao responded. “Now, are you going to get out there, or do I have to force you out?”
“You couldn't force me to do anything,” Sam muttered.
“What was that?”
“Nothing. It was nothing,” Sam answered.
“Well, then get your ass out there then!”
The gates slid open, and Sam reluctantly walked out. In front of the gate, about a thousand aliens of all sizes and shapes waited, with a hulking behemoth of a creature standing in front of them. It was a reddish, four armed alien that looked like an ogre. In its hands were a pair of glaives, and it was heavily armored. Sam wondered how it was able to wield two such weapons at the same time, but he was going to find out anyway. He strode forwards, and stopped right behind the force field, taking in his opponents.
“You dare to insult us like this? Where are your troops? Where is Sam Atlas? How dare you send us out a single weakling!” The alien bellowed at Sam.
Sam had been masking his aura somewhat this entire time, and none of the aliens were astute enough to see his real strength. Sam took another step forwards, exiting the force field. A large ball of condensed mana flew his way, sent by a mage in the far left corner of the army. Sam tilted his head, and the attack fizzled out on the shield behind him. With a grin, he expanded his aura out to its maximum.
“I am Sam Atlas! You wanted to fight me? Well here you are!”
Sam charged, his feet kicking up large drifts of dust, and the front line of aliens shifted uneasily.
“Form up!” Their commander shouted, prompting the alien ranks to close.
A humming noise rose up from the center of the army, and a small ball of blue light drifted up out of each alien. They all flew into the center of the army, and a blue force field sprang up around them. It was nowhere near as powerful as the one around the city behind Sam, but it was quite powerful nonetheless. This would be a good warmup.
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Sam waited until he was about ten feet away, and then leaped the rest of the distance, bringing his hammer up behind his head. It started to crackle with lightning as he imbued it with power, and as he brought it slamming down, he saw looks of fear on the faces of his enemies. It crashed into the force field, bending it and causing the field to flicker. Sam brought back his hammer, and struck again, this time causing it to fail entirely. Within the span of a few seconds, he was upon the enemy.
Aliens fell to his hammer like chaff, and a steady stream of essence entered him. It was small individually, but added up it was quite considerable. The four armed alien roared in rage and lumbered towards Sam. It was far slower than him, indicating a skewed stat distribution. However, it was likely stronger.
Sam turned around as the brute drew near, and he got to witness first hand how it was able to use two such unwieldy weapons at the same time. It started to whirl its glaives around itself, creating a sphere of whirling metal. Sam could only make out the edges of its form, with its vital organs protected.
The wind started to whip up around it, and the glaives started to crackle with purple energy. A small sphere of light formed in the center of their path, building and building in power. Sam got into a steady stance, holding his hammer in a firm grip. He felt numerous impacts from behind as the aliens started to swarm him, but his armor protected him from most of the damage.
As the attack came to fruition, a beam of purple energy lanced towards Sam, going at high speed. Sam cocked back his weapon, and swung with all his might, meeting the attack with his full force. His Dao energy surged, and struggled against the power of his opponent. He overwhelmed it almost immediately, and the purple beam fizzled out. His own attack still possessed considerable power however, and he threw the hammer end over end towards the alien. It was too slow to dodge, and the hammer caught it full in the chest, caving in its ribcage.
The creature flew backwards a dozen feet, and fell over. Sam rushed forwards as it tried to rise, picking up his hammer. With a shout, he brought it down on the creature’s head, killing it. Behind him the aliens broke and fled, but Sam already felt that he had enough energy to level up. He ignored them, and walked back into the safety of the city’s force field. The gates opened in front of Sam, and he walked inside. All of the gate guards were staring at him in amazement, but he ignored their glances. Lao gave him a smile as he entered.
“See? That wasn’t too hard.”
“I guess. I even got a level out of it,” Sam replied. “Let’s get somewhere safe for me to apply it , however. I have a feeling that this one is going to be annoying.”
Lao instantly understood what Sam was talking about. The man was only on the initial levels of F Rank, but he knew all too well about the pain that leveling up in that rank created.
Sam and Lao made their way towards a deserted alleyway, and Sam waited until he knew that they were not being watched. With a grunt, he sent the essence into his body. It crashed into a node in his lower jaw, causing the bone to splinter. He gritted his teeth as it healed over slowly, and then relished in the new power that he could feel. He was going to wait to allocate his stat points until he had a few more in the bank, but his passive bonuses were more than enough for now. Sam massaged his jaw, wincing, and then smiled. He was slowly but surely inching up the ladder. It might be a while before he reached E Rank, but he was going to get every last drop of power out of this one that he could.