Sam spent the last day before the tournament started talking to Jeffrey. Now that the man had seen what Sam was, something that he did not even understand himself, the man had become far more forthright with him.
Jeffrey had retained a stash of money from his time in the other universe and he had regained access to it when the System appeared. He had dismissed it as mere pocket money compared to what he had before, but it was far more than anyone on Earth had at that moment. He had transferred half of it to Sam, leaving him staring at the number on his credit balance.
Credit Balance 504,950
It was five times the bounty on his head, the largest such bounty on the Earth at that point. He had no idea what to do with such wealth, beyond saving it.
Jeffrey had regaled him with the origin story of the Boundless Expanse during the waiting period as well. In the distant past, quadrillions of years ago, or even more depending on the speaker’s interpretation of history, the System and the Dao had come into existence. Each of them were anathema to the other, the Dao a force of boundless change and the System a rigid structure of rules. The System had eventually overcome the Dao, but only its physical presence in the Boundless Expanse. The Dao still remained and the System had subsumed it into its own workings, allowing cultivators to gain access to Daos.
Jeffrey’s sect had formed millions of years ago and he said that they were the only ones that he knew of who had known the true history of existence. He went on to tell many tales about his past, most of them more relevant than the inane boasts about his promiscuity in the past. It was physically impossible for a normal sized man to have any sort of relationship with a 75 foot tall hermaphroditic giant, but Jeffrey insisted on the veracity of his claims.
Sam let him believe whatever he wanted. More importantly than his various lewd tales, he explained how the System translation feature worked. Sam had been confused at how exactly it translated things, and why it did not create a uniform template of people’s voices, instead leaving small artifacts of the previous languages such as accents. In fact, he did not understand why there were even unique languages in the first palace, especially for civilizations that had been in the System for a long time. Jeffrey had spent half an hour explaining exactly how it worked.
The System automatically translated the conversations of everyone under its power, but if two beings knew the same unique language, then they could choose to speak in that as well. The first integrated civilizations had been outraged at the erasure of their cultures and traditions, which was why the System had done this.
As the countdown passed the 10 minute mark, Sam opened his status.
Sam Atlas
Human
Mortal Tier
G Rank
Class:Dao Visionary
Level 25
Strength
40
1.325x
Constitution
25
1.325x
Resilience
28
1.325x
Dexterity
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
17
1.325x
Intelligence
15
1.325x
Wisdom
19
1.325x
* Health 250/250
* Mana 150/150
* Stamina 400/400
* Dao
Dao Mote of The Arbiter
Dao Mote of Anger
* Skills
1x Common, 1x Rare, 1x Legendary
* Titles
1x Celestial
* Temporary Titles
1x Epic, 1x Legendary, 1x Mythical
* Dao Heritage
Dao Incarnation of Existence
* Party
Torturna Salvinii-Brescon: Level 21. Health 270/270
Rax:Level 20. Health 290/290
* Skill Branches
Muscle Density Enhancement(Level 1)
Sam had put the three points from his new class into his Strength, bringing it up to an even 40. Now he felt even stronger than before. His other stats were lagging behind a bit, as both of his companions had more health than him, but he would address those during the next few levels.
Sam remembered something important and he pulled the Dao Fruit out of his pocket, before giving it wordlessly to Jeffrey. That was not something that he wanted to be with him in close proximity to so many people. The other man took it and secreted in some place on his personage, giving Sam a nod. The final few seconds ticked away and he was transported to the same room that the first System announcement had been in. This time there was no starry figure, just a voice.
“This is the beginning of the first planetary tournament. The System Overseer is currently indisposed and as such will not be able to be present for the event. Instead, I will be here. I am an imprint of the overseer left behind in the case of such an event. Now for the details of the tournament. As there are too many of you to do 1v1s, at least initially, we will be separating out the chaff from the crop. There are roughly 4.3 million of your species still alive and you will be divided into random segments. The first match will be a battle royale style event, with 1000 fighters struggling for dominance. There will be no death matches until the last 1000 fighters remain, so do not be afraid to hold back. Without further ado, I shall hand it to the entertainment correspondent for this universe, Berrigious Elevantus. He is here from the local branch of the TUB's, which stands for Trans Universal Broadcasting, Gladiatorial Sports Division to provide an entertaining match for the viewers in the other universes.”
A stunningly gaudy pink skinned man strode onto a stage that appeared out of thin air. He wore a suit that looked to be made out of solid gold, and a shimmering chain of clear gems sparkled around his neck. With a low laugh, Sam realized what this man reminded him of. Berrigious looked exactly like a pimp from one of the bad TV shows that Sam had occasionally watched in his free time. In fact, he looked even more like a stereotypical representative of that industry than any Sam had seen so far. The man cleared his throat and began to speak.
“What’s up, ladies and gentlemen! I applaud you all for your brave decision to fight for the future of your planet. Now lemme tell you how this is going to go. I want for you to provide the best show you can for the fine folks that are going to be watching, understood? They want a good time and you are going to show them one. So, when you fight, I want you to fight in the flashiest manner, understood?” The entire audience went silent at the ridiculous announcement. Then a few let out a half hearted cheer. Berrigious gave them a forced smile and backed away, vanishing from view.
Immediately, everyone found themselves standing on the streets of a small city, with a town sized coliseum in the middle. Sam felt a sharp pain in his left hand and he looked down to see that a mark had appeared.
Fighter I.D 675,431
Sam Atlas
It displayed his name along with a number that he guessed was his number out of the 4.3 million people that the voice had mentioned. All around him, other people milled around in confusion, not sure what to do. With another sudden teleport, they all found themselves sitting on the seats of the colosseum. Sam got a good look at the floor of the arena and saw that it was divided into hundreds of smaller sections. Each of those sections was about the size of a normal arena and he realized that this was how they were going to fit so many fights into a reasonably short amount of time. A giant screen hovered over the arena, with a countdown and some words on it.
9:57
Numbers 2,100,000-2,600,000
Battle Royale