He was still on the top of the Dao leaderboard and he would likely stay there, if his status as the Dao Incarnation of Existence was anything to go by. Sam was frustrated by the obtuse name of his status. It didn't tell him anything more than that he was better than others at forming Daos. The name sounded like something special, but in reality it barely increased his strength. It was like in those anime where the villain would give their final attack some ridiculously overblown name, but in reality it was just a quick sword strike.
What had confused him was why the System had seemingly hidden it from him. It had come up previously as the Mark of Tantalos Veruvax, something that Jeffrey had told him did not exist. Why would the System go to such lengths to conceal that from Sam? It wasn't like he posed any sort of threat to it, he was sure that the System could kill him in an instant if it really wanted to.
Sam sighed and sat down. Lifting weights wasn't doing anything for him, the only way to get stronger now was to increase the power of his Dao. So far, he was more inclined to increase the power of his Dao Mote of the Arbiter first. He had no wish to become some raging brute, unable to do anything but think with his fists.
Sam closed his eyes and found his Daos again. This time, he studied them intently. In the background,there was a faint light and he sent his consciousness towards it. To his surprise, he saw his core. The light coming off it was brighter than it had been before but it was still quite dim. He turned back to his Daos and saw that they were orbiting his core like tiny planets. This told him that they were connected to his cultivation in some way, which was accurate, he supposed, as both paths to power relied on vast amounts of time spent grinding. His level increased as he killed opponents and his Daos increased through contemplation.
He flew back through his corespace towards his Daos and stopped in front of his Dao of the Arbiter. The mote of light spun quickly, with the backdrop of total darkness behind it. Sam approached, but he started to feel a pressure pushing him back. As he neared, he felt more and more pain from the pressure. He gritted his teeth and touched the orb with his hand.
A jolt of incandescent agony swept through his body and he was transported off to another time and place. He stood in the middle of a battlefield and watched as two forces clashed with each other. Both of them were wearing the same armor and bearing the same flags. Their war shook the ground and all around them, cities and towns were shook to their foundations, killing millions of people. Still they fought and Sam was briefly shown why they fought.
One of the leaders sought justice for the deaths of his children, allegedly slain by the leader of the opposing army. In reality, it was a manufactured scenario, set up by the true enemy to make them fight each other. This battle would split the world apart if it did not end soon and Sam watched with bated breath as earthquakes and tsunamis ravaged the world. The power of the people in these visions were always far more than his own, to the point of absurdity.
As a fissure opened up, leading to the planet’s core, a man glowing with power appeared in the sky. Raising his hands, he called down a rain of energy beams, wiping out the warring armies to a man. He shed tears like rain as he did so, and Sam was informed that he was the king of this world, and the father of the two leaders of the armies. The man looked straight into Sam’s eyes as the vision faded away and Sam was sent back to the environs of his room. There was some deep meaning in the vision and Sam found it after a round of meditation. The vision had shown him that sometimes, justice was more important than anything else. It had greatly pained the king to kill his own children, but it was necessary for the survival of the planet. Sometimes, Sam would have to make hard choices in order to preserve justice.
You have deepened your connection to the Dao Mote of the Arbiter.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
The maintenance of Justice is not an easy task. Sometimes, your mind and spirit will rebel against the tasks that are necessary to preserve order. You have realized this truth and as such have increased your understanding of your Dao.
Sam felt like he was in greater concert with his Dao now, and he felt that he was beginning to understand its ideals. An Arbiter was an impassive instrument of Justice, one that had to preserve their path over all else. If Sam wished to be an Arbiter then he would have to follow this path to the letter. It would be a hard path, but also a rewarding one. It would take him to the top of the Multiverse if he followed it all the way through, as if he was to judge all of the unworthy, then he would need to be stronger than them.
Sam felt dizzy as he took in these parts of his Dao and he walked over to the hot tub to clear his head. Sinking into the warm waters, he felt his mind unwind and unravel. His body was in peak condition so all he felt otherwise were the soothing jets of water. If it even was water. Sam felt that there was something strange about the liquid in the tub. It was slightly more viscous than normal water and it became more viscous the more injured one was. The first time he had been in the tub, it had felt almost like honey. Now, it was like a light syrup. He only realized this now that his mind was a bit clearer than before. Either way, it was refreshing. He only hoped that he was not bathing in the mucus of some sort of high level monster. That would not have surprised him at this point.
He let himself have a long soak in the tub and then he left it, ready to return to training. Sam wondered why he had not been called back to the arena. Perhaps he was being given a short break from the fighting. After another hour of lounging around and working out, his token began to pulse again. He followed it back to the arena entrance and found his seat.
All around him, people whispered and pointed at him. Sam was glad for his mask, but he wished that he could find a more comfortable one. It was starting to get tattered as it was only a piece of clothing after all. Across the room, Eduardo gave him a thumbs up. The man had also recovered from his fight and he made it clear to Sam that there were no hard feelings. The two men who had entered the tournament together, Rodney Kane and the Scourge of New York, sat together, staring daggers at Sam. He had no idea why they were so antagonistic towards him, perhaps they were afraid that he would surpass them. Neither of them had a Dao so they clung to their number 2 and 3 positions with a very tenuous grasp. For all the acrimonious interactions that he had had with the men, he was glad that he would have a chance to put them in their place.
He had used his Dao skill on them before and both of them were as black as pitch from their sin. His Dao of the Arbiter cried out for justice and he would enact it soon enough.
Strangely enough, the System had not considered the attack that he had used against Eduardo in the last match as enough of a focused discipline to be considered a skill. He had not received any notifications about it, which was just as well because it had severely injured him. Maybe the System only codified a skill after the user had gained some degree of proficiency with it.
The match that was going on at that moment was just a low level one between some sort of beast tamer and an archer. Neither were that skilled and Sam checked the leaderboards, confirming that neither had a class. The number of people with classes was still extremely low and there was no opportunity for anyone to grow stronger here. As if to disprove his thought, Berrigious stepped out of the shadows and into the room after the match ended.
“That marks the end of the first rounds of the tournament. Some of you languish in the loser’s bracket, waiting for your chance for redemption, and the rest sit triumphantly in the winner’s bracket. Now, it has come to my attention that many of you find the fact that there are no leveling opportunities here to be unfair. Well, I have decided to create a solution. We will have an extra event within this tournament!”
The crowd looked at him with confused expressions. He paused and then snapped his fingers. “Oh, right. The event will be a monster hunt. You all will be placed into teams that will have to defeat a series of progressively stronger monsters. I have arranged for some very special specimens to be imported, so this should be fun.” Berrigious pointed up at the boards and a countdown appeared.
“You will all have 12 hours to prepare in any way that you see fit. You can visit the city outside the arena for this if you wish, but make sure that you finish up quickly because you will be teleported here when the time has passed, no matter what you are doing. I suggest that you use your time well.” The pink alien disappeared, this time eliciting no reaction from anyone.