As the last few filed in, Sam cleared his throat and began.

“For the last month, I was gone. To you, it might have seemed like I had deserted this city, and by extension, its people. However, it was a bare necessity in order to ensure our future. The Titans are in many ways the greatest threat that we have to face. Greater than the quest for the Seals, greater than the Legion. Greater perhaps than the encroaching invaders that seek to despoil our city.” Sam paused to look at every one of his audience members.

“In order to have a chance to fight against this, I needed far more power than I had. I am pleased to say that I have gained such power. Although my level has only increased by a few dozen, my power is far greater than it ever was before. I now possess two skills that eclipse anything that I had been able to use before. I would go into length about them, but I feel it would be wiser to simply show them.”

Without another word, Sam teleported into the air above the auditorium. Shouts of alarm rose up, which quickly turned to ones of wonder as he teleported around the room, alighting on the most unlikely of places. Eventually he made his way back to the stage.

“That was the first of my skills. Although it has no direct offensive potential, it is far more powerful than it might seem at first glance. In addition, it makes my other skill possible.”

Cued by these words, the roof of the city hall began to peel back, which had been set up in advance for the sole purpose of this demonstration. A massive hunk of rock was suspended in midair, held there by the power of the Metropolis Core. It had only cost a few thousand credits, on account of it having little functional purpose. It was only made out of mundane rock, and would not serve as anything other than the most rudimentary of barriers. However, it was still incredibly large, hundreds of feet wide and tall.

Sam teleported to the side of the rock, and began to channel his power into his hammer. His purified mana began to circle within the weapon, soon joined by his Dao energy. A sheath of elemental energy surrounded the two roiling streams of power, causing his hammer to glow with a bright light. He teleported in, and brought the attack down. As soon as it made contact, he teleported backwards as far as he could. He was still struck by the blast wave.

Through squinted eyes, he watched the aftermath of his attack. A shockwave of white light ripped through the rock like it was made out of air, turning the hill sized edifice into a cloud of dust. A rolling boom rang out across the city as the attack went off, and Sam smiled. Although his bones were cracked from the attack, it had still been worth it.

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Looking down as he fell, he saw everyone in the audience looking up in awe. If they had doubted his power before, they certainly did not now. Sam teleported back to the ground, still crackling with the aftermath of his skill. Tendrils of energy whipped around him, only to cease when he extended his aura. He did not speak, for no words were needed here. Instead, he walked off the stage, heading back into the building. Behind him, there was only silence.

As he strode through the nearly empty halls of the building, he heard feet striking the carpet, heralding someone’s arrival. He looked around and saw Jeffrey running to catch up.

“What in Altari’s name was that?” Jeffrey asked, his face twisted in disbelief. “I have never seen any F Ranker with that sort of power before.”

“It was an Ancient skill,” Sam replied, stopping to speak with his friend. "The rarity after Mythical.”

“I know that much. How did you get it though? There is no way that somebody of your level should be able to create a skill like that. The person I knew who had a skill like that was the king of the Salvinii System, and he was a mid E Ranker.”

“Are you really surprised at this point?” Sam asked wryly.

“Yes. I know you have come out with ridiculous boosts in power before, and displays of talent that would make any scion weep, but this is something else. The only way that you could achieve something like this is if you had gained another Dao Fragment.” Sam simply remained silent, waiting for the other man to come to the conclusion for himself. “Shit! You did, didn’t you?”

“Yes. But that is not entirely important. I can sense that you have had some concrete increases in power since I left. That Legendary class must be treating you well.”

“I know what you’re trying to do here,” Jeffrey sighed. “However, I will entertain it for now. Because of the hordes of monsters coming in from the Corpse Titan, everyone in the city has had a field day in terms of leveling. I am almost at level 70 at this point, and that many levels in a Legendary class is not insignificant.”

“How exactly does that work? I can’t imagine classes scaling enough to match the power differences between Ranks,” Sam asked. “Even if they double in effectiveness each time, that would be far less than the amount of power that I imagine an A Ranker would have, even if they had a max rarity class.”

“Eh, things get strange as one progresses. There are far more bonuses to crossing Tiers than Ranks. I believe that auxiliary sources of power are unlocked as one ascends the ranks. The rarities are not linear in strength. Compare your Ancient skills to your Mythical ones. There is a huge difference.”

“Is it enough to combat the Titans?” Sam asked, remembering the subtle hints that he had seen to the fact that they were about to rise.

“I don’t know,” Jeffrey said, grimacing. “From what I could tell so far, their strength is almost overwhelming. The one in our backyard, the Corpse Titan, is able to produce minions that are almost as powerful as the greatest fighters in this city. Even with your strength, and the special weapon that we have been cooking up, it might be a lost cause.”

“Where are they?” Sam asked, ready to test his strength.