With this newfound connection, he started to draw power from the conceptual bond between weapon and wielder, sending his hammer flying out with far more power than he had been able to muster before. The tendrils evaporated when his hammer touched them, even without the application of his Dao. There was enough spiritual energy contained within the hammer now to damage ectoplasm without needing anything else. Of course, when he actually empowered it, then the damage done was colossal.
Each strike made in this way blasted apart a dozen of the tendrils at once, and he soon reached the monster itself, barely noticing its presence, so lost was he in his inner world. Within that world, there was only him, and his hammer. The cyclops was simply an obstacle.
Sam whirled his arm around and around, before throwing his hammer towards the cyclops, imbuing it with his power as he did so. Using the lessons that he had learned from his Anger’s Reach skill, he managed to keep the Dao energy within the weapon even when it left his grasp. The hammer shot off like a missile, and impacted the monster with the force of one, caving in its skull. The creature fell backwards slowly, before crumbling into nothingness. Holding out his hand, Sam smiled as the hammer flew back towards him. When he caught it, he laughed out loud. This was what he had been waiting for.
Notifications awaited him, and Sam quickly made his way towards a nearby tree to sit against as he studied his notifications. This was both because he was tired, and because he wanted to only have to worry about monsters coming from the front. Judging by what he had just done, he suspected that the notifications would be long indeed. He had not been able to level up, but he had done something better. As he opened his notifications, he was immediately met with a flashing notice.
You have upgraded your Weapon Mastery to Brotherhood Stage 1!
You have transcended the mortal limitations of weapon mastery, created a mystical bond with maces and other blunt weapons of all shapes and sizes. This ability allows you to access a store of martial energy that can be used to empower your strikes, your body, or to damage incorporeal threats. In addition to this, your body will now be able to use your chosen weapon in a more instinctual way, as the weapon will alter its trajectory slightly to accommodate your intentions.
+10 to Strength, +5 to Dexterity, +3 to Constitution and Resilience
Not only had he achieved the next level of connection with his hammer, meaning that he could now wield it to a far higher level he had also gotten a pretty sizable sat boost from it as well. If this was only the second level of weapon mastery, he was looking forward to seeing more. He regretted neglecting his studies of the mace and hammer, but it had all worked out in the end. The main problem was that he did not have a teacher, save for the information encoded within his weapon imprint, which was a poor facsimile of true mastery. There was one more notification, and he opened the next one eagerly.
You have begun to cultivate a nascent weapon spirit within your psyche. When complete, upon reaching the next rank of mastery, you may implant this spirit into a weapon of your choosing, imbuing it with life. Any weapon imbued within this way will grow with you rather than stagnate, and will eventually form sapience. Be sure that you pick your weapon well however, as this bonus can only be used once.
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Sam smiled as he saw this. He briefly considered using it on Mjolnir, but then decided to wait. He knew that there would be a far better weapon coming his way sometime in the future, if he succeeded with the Seven Seals quest, and that would be a better option to use for the weapon that would stick by his side for the rest of his life.
Getting to his feet, Sam started back towards the city. He had gained enough out of that one hunting trip, and if he dallied any longer, the captains would be getting worried about what had happened to him, which could potentially end up diverting them from their duties.
Sam really let loose with his speed going back towards the city, traveling at well over a hundred miles per hour. Ths slowly drained his stamina, but not to a degree that was crippling. He had to stop about halfway there to recover his resources, and then continued. By this point, he had reached the blasted plain that surrounded the city, and he saw something concerning in the distance. A large group of black shapes was moving across the plain, and they were heading straight for the city. It was too small of a group to be the Legion’s main force, but there were at least ten thousand or so members. Perhaps it was an advance force, made up of Legion members that had already been within the vicinity of the city area. He wondered briefly how they had crossed the canyon, but then cleared his mind and focused on running instead.
As he ran, he spotted the first few projectiles being launched from the city walls, arcing through the sky towards the army on the plain. As Sam dashed towards the city, he paused, having a different idea. What better way to test his new power than on the bodies of his enemies? He was only considering this because of the relatively low number of Legion soldiers out there. If they proved to be too tough, he would retreat towards the city and wait for support. However, he somehow doubted that would be the case. In any case, he could simply dash in and out if it proved to be too difficult.
Sam streaked across the plain, his aura flying out on both sides of him, creating a mantle of reddish light as he ran. He watched as a few projectiles flew his way from the Legion, but he dodged them effortlessly.The volume began to pick up as he neared however, and soon he was relying on his armor to get him by. However, it was more than up to the job, and seeing as the attacks lacked kinetic energy, he was mostly unharmed.
By the time that he reached the enemy lines, his momentum had built up to a peak, and he sent all of his energy, mana, Dao energy, and even his new power from his Weapon Mastery, into his hammer. It glowed with a blindingly bright light, and he leaped the last twenty feet, bringing it up and over his head as he did so. The enemies tried to knock him out of the air, but he ignored their paltry attacks, instead focusing on bringing down his hammer as hard as he could. It landed with far more force than he had been expecting, blasting away Legion members for a hundred feet in every direction. A massive crater exploded into being, sending dust and gore flying everywhere. All of the Legion members within twenty feet of impact had been turned into clouds of bloody mist, and the ones further away hadn't done much better either.
Sam grinned as he saw the level of destruction that he had put out. It was not a feat that he could do often, seeing as it took a considerable chunk of his power to do so, but it was certainly a great opener.