Sam shook his head in amazement at his power and then realized what the man had said. He checked the leaderboards and sure enough, there was a change.
Dao Leaderboard
1.The Arbiter
2.Profound Visionary
3.The Overlord
The man had gained a Dao of his own, catapulting him to even greater heights of power than he had before. Sam had no idea how the man had gained so much power in such a short time, and even worse, he would eventually have to fight him if he ever progressed that far in the tournament. Sam lay back and waited for the event to finish, keeping an open eye on the room all the while.
The last fighter emerged, a man who looked to be hundreds of years old. A long white beard extended below a wizened and cracked face, which was scrunched up with a genial smile. He looked Chinese and he regarded the room before trying to find a place to sit down. He smiled at a large man with an ax who took up multiple spaces on the ground with his weapon. So far, nobody had said anything to him after the first inquirer had been utterly humiliated by the man's aura. Now, it seemed that the same thing was to happen to the newcomer.
Sam got up on his haunches, ready to step in if anything nasty happened. The ax wielder rose up angrily to challenge the older man, but the old man smiled and touched the man on the forehead. Immediately, his eyes glazed over and he keeled over backwards. The old man picked up the ax effortlessly and placed it on top of the prone body. Then he sat down in a comfortable position and began to meditate. Sam couldn't help but laugh as he sat down, gathering stares from everyone else. He didn't bother to explain the situation, sure that people would eventually find out. The ancient man’s aura was very well hidden, but Sam had two Daos, making him a lot more perceptive than his level would suggest. A tightly controlled kernel of refined power dwelt within the other man’s spirit,and it was quite clear to Sam who it was. The other top ten people could tell as well, Sam saw from their expressions and movements. Even the Overlord seemed to have some respect for the newcomer, a sure sign of his power. For that was no ordinary old man, but Profound Visionary himself.
As to why the man came in last, Sam didn't know, but a hushed whisper traveled the room, originating from someone who had witnessed the man in action. Instead of fighting, apparently Profound Visionary had sat down in the middle of the arena, and through some strange charisma, had compelled everyone else to sit down as well. Then he had begun to teach them how to connect with the Dao and how to meditate effectively. By the time that they were done, they expressed their gratitude for his teaching by withdrawing voluntarily.
10 minutes later, the alien sports reporter, or whatever he was, appeared. Berrigious had a wide smile on his face and he spread his arms wide in appreciation of the fighters there.
“Wonderful, simply wonderful! You all performed far more impressively than most of the other civilizations in your universe. Our channel made billions of credits from just the initial part of the tournament! Now that you have all made it to the true tournament, I can explain what will happen. You will all be granted rooms within the coliseum, places that contain many resources for your personal betterment. As you reach higher places in the tournament, you will have the opportunity to be rewarded with better items at the end. The top 16 fighters will receive special rewards, while the rest will revive credit amounts based on their final placing. Now, for the insurance stuff,” the man said, wringing his hands. A piece of paper appeared in front of everyone, along with a pen. Everyone looked down at the piece of paper and a few rash people signed it immediately, but Sam read it over carefully first. He had been forced to work in his dead end job because of a contract, and he knew just how powerful they were.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
You, as a participant in the System designated 1st tournament of Planet Earth do hereby absolve us of all liability for personal injuries accrued during the matches. In addition, there will be no payout to families of the deceased if a participant happens to die.
It was a simple liability clause, ubiquitous everywhere in this universe, and apparently beyond as well. Sam didn't find any faults in it, so he signed. As he used the pen, a thin stream of mana leaked out of him, turning into bright blue ink. A moment later, the ink and paper faded away, along with the pen.
Sam felt the same as before, but he knew that he had just signed a contract far more binding than any he had ever seen on Earth. Around him, people stared at the papers as they disappeared. More than a few cried out in alarm as their mana was siphoned away. In the end, it did no harm to them so they quieted down and waited for the announcer to speak again.
“Great, now the boring legal stuff is gone,” Berrigious said, acting as if the ‘boring legal stuff’ had not regarded the possible deaths of the signers. “You all will be given access to your rooms now. The first set of fights will be tomorrow.”
In front of everyone, a small token appeared. Sam’s one had the number 57 on it and he felt a strong tug on the token from a certain direction. Noting that others were starting to drift off and follow the tugging,he did so as well. The inside of the arena was quite bare, and the walls stretched on for what felt like eternity, every now and again, a door broke the monotony. Finally, Sam found door 57.
There was a small depression in the wall next to the door and he slotted in his token. The door slid open automatically and he walked in. The room was completely dark, but he felt around the wall for a switch, flipping it on. The room was bathed in the soft light of the overhead lamp, and he froze as he took it in. For most of his life, he had lived in what was basically a walk in closet. It had been about the size of a normal bathroom, and it was home to barely ten items, most of which were items of clothing. In comparison, and perhaps anyway, this room was like a king’s residence. An ankle deep plush carpet lined the floor and giant sofas were dotted across the room, like islands in a sea of red. In the back of the room, a four poster bed stood, something that Sam had only ever seen in movies. What looked to be a hot tub was secreted in the corner, in front of a large array of training devices. Treadmills, weights, even a combat dummy all stood there. Sam saw that the weights were extremely heavy, to compensate for the System’s enhancements. The lowest weight dumbbell there was over 75 pounds, and the heaviest one looked to be almost 500. Sam walked over to one of the sofas, and plopped down on it. It was the most comfortable chair that he had ever been in and it seemed to hug his body perfectly. He had to fight off the encroaching sleep that threatened to overtake him.
Feeling that it was probably wise to explore the room before falling asleep, Sam got up and paced around it. It was about 50 feet across at its widest point and he wondered how they had fit over 4000 rooms of this size into the arena. Perhaps there was some sort of strange magic being used to enable such an effect. He walked over to the trained area and tried to lift one of the dumbbells. Despite its weight, it came up easily and he almost threw it into the ceiling. Putting it down, he moved onto the last one. Lifting it was a challenge, but he was able to raise the 300 pound weight over his head eventually. Before the initialization, he would have struggled to lift a 75 pound dumbbell at all, now he was far beyond that. The scaling of his stats were definitely not linear from what he could tell. He was at least 5 or 6 times stronger than he had been before.