The others were all cultivating, except for Jane who was sleeping uneasily, tossing and turning every few moments. Sam looked around the ship, trying to distract himself from the niggling dread. Since the System came, he had been able to avert moments of existential dread simply by being too busy to deal with them, but now that something was coming up that would be a threat in the near future rather than a century away, he was finding it hard to cope. In addition, the conversation between him, Eduardo and Lao reminded him of his true place in the universe. He was not some demigod, some chosen one who could do no wrong. He was just a human, who had gotten where he had through luck. There was always someone stronger further down the line. The only way to be utterly secure was to become the strongest being in existence, which was quite the tall order.

Sam wondered how the rest of the people living in the Boundless Expanse could bear to live in such an uncertain world, where death was just around the corner at the hands of some tyrant cultivator. Then again, they had been born into this world, whereas Sam had not. Despite all of his boosts from being part of an initialized universe, he had still been unable to cultivate the proper mindset of a cultivator. As far as he could tell, the denizens of the outer universes were universally cold, and uncaring demagogues who only cared for their own power. That was only for the powerful ones as well. The weak were simply chaff floating in the wind, existing as nothing more than servants, or even worse, playthings.

Sam roared in sudden rage as the feelings built to a crescendo within him, waking up Lao and Eduardo. His Dao was burning at the thought of the grand injustice of reality, but it slowly came under control.

“Is something the matter, Sam?” Eduardo said, wiping at bleary eyes.

“Nothing. Sorry for waking you up. I was just thinking about something.”

“Oh. Well, keep it down a little then,” Lao responded. “I am getting close to a breakthrough.”

Sam nodded and waited until the two men settled back to continue his inner jeremiad. As Sam returned to his bleak mental state, he found that it had slightly lessened, the effect of talking to his friends. That was the one thing that was not just a byproduct of the meaningless world. Actual meaningful contact between him and those he loved. He was not just fighting for his own safety and security, but for that of humanity. If his race was to ever take to the stars and become a great power in their own right, the road would be long and hard, and the greatest stumbling blocks would be their own hubris.

As Sam thought this, his Dao started to settle down, acknowledging the strength of his conviction. With a faint smile on his face, Sam returned to cultivation. A few hours later, the ship touched down at the spaceport outside the city, prompting Sam to jolt to his feet. They needed time to prepare, and not a second could be wasted. As soon as the hatch started to slide open, Sam bolted down the gangplank, tracing past the welcoming party made up of his other captains.

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"Follow me, quickly!” Sam shouted at them, not having time to stop.

Bemused, everyone ran after him, following him to the city hall. A scant few minutes later, they were all standing in the war room, with Sam waiting for some of them to catch their breaths.

“Did you rescue my sister? Is she safe?” Ava said desperately a few moments later. The woman looked distraught, but she kept her head up high in spite of all of the emotional distress that she was going through.

Before Sam could say anything, the doors swung open, and Jane walked in, with perfect timing. Ava let out a gasp, and then rushed towards her sister, embracing her tightly. Neither of them spoke a word, simply taking solace in each other’s presence. Sam smiled as he saw this. At least he had managed to avert one tragedy caused by the cruel System. Giving the two women a few minutes together, Sam started to speak to the others.

“As you can see, the mission was a success. We were able to rescue Jane, and keep our weapons. However, there is some bad news. I briefly fought with Hugo Mar, if it could even be called a fight. The man is much more powerful than I could have imagined, and he is coming for us soon.”

“Did you get his level?” Jeffrey said.

“No, but I can tell you how powerful he was. Let’s just put it this way. I hit him with a bomb that wiped out a city block, and he was fine within a few minutes.”

“Shit,” Jeffrey responded. “He must be at least level 100 then. That sort of durability would only be possible by that level, unless he had ridiculous title bonuses. I would put his Resilience stat in the high three hundreds from hearing that. Maybe even approaching his second threshold.”

“How do you know he hasn't already reached that?” Pyotr asked.

“Trust me, if he had been there, he would have been up in seconds, not minutes. The second threshold is where things start to get out of hand.”

“Even worse,” Eduardo interjected, "his followers are more powerful than any of us individually, save for Sam. He has dozens of high leveled commanders at his beck and call, each of which could deal significant damage to this city. Our only hope is the shield, and even then I don't believe it could hold up forever.”

“What are you suggesting then?” Sam asked.

“I’m saying that we need to pour all of our money into defenses. Does anyone know how much money is in the treasury?”

“Last I checked, it was a bit over 200 million credits,” Addas said.

“That much? Maybe we do have a chance after all, “Eduardo responded happily. “Sam, go to the Metropolis core and pick what you think seems best.”

Nodding, Sam made his way out of the room, listening to the muffled conversations fade behind him. As he descended the stairs, he burned with pent up aggression and fear, causing his body to shake slightly. Upon seeing that he was leaving marks on the carpet, Sam got himself under control. By the time that he reached the Metropolis Core, he was more in control of himself, and had already started planning out what he wanted. First up was something that had caught his eyes long ago, when he had lacked the funds to justify its purchase. The Icon. According to Jeffrey, it would boost the power of his allies, while weakening any enemies within its range.