He started to plan out his rise to power as he walked, using his superior intelligence to plot the levels that he would gain as he defeated the Titans. Although the amount that he would gain in terms of levels would drop as he progressed, he would still gain more and more as his overall role in the battles grew larger and larger. By the time he could solo one of the Titans, he would be gaining many times the essence that he had gained this time. However, he would likely have reached the bottleneck of E Rank by then. Breaking through to the next rank would be a lot tougher than F Rank had been. As a cultivator progressed, they needed a greater connection to their paths and themselves to rank up. At E Rank, one began to blend their Dao with their bodies, which is why the next Tier of power was considered to be so much greater than the previous one. There was a bit more nuance, but he would simply ask Jeffrey when the time came.

If the System had sent a human sized E Ranker, then the faction would be gone now, wiped from the face of the planet. It was a blessing in disguise that the Titans were the chosen monsters, as they were so large that they were unable to use their Daos effectively. For an E Ranker, that was a good portion of their strength. Sam knew that the System had done this deliberately. It had placed monsters that should have been almost impossible to defeat in the path of the people of Earth in order to bring out the best. Earth was already abnormal in terms of the concentrated power that it had produced. WIthin the Grakoth Empire, the faction of Manarox, there were only two beings that were on the level of Sam, even before the training mission. That was out of an empire of trillions of souls. For the measly four million or so that had survived on Earth, the fact that multiple people were already approaching the level 100 mark was astounding.

Other concerns bounded around in his mind as well, ones about the more human monsters of this world. The Overlord had yet to use his training token, and once he did so, he would return with far more power than before. If he made even a fraction of the progress that Sam had made, he would be a force to be reckoned with. In addition, there was Rodney Kane, and the mystery of Reaper.

Sam shook his head as he began to go down rabbit holes. He needed to focus on increasing his power. While his captains planned the assaults on the Titans, he needed to gain enough strength to play his role. The trick that they had played with the bomb would not work again. From now on, all of the battle would have to be accomplished through strength of arms. That meant that only Sam and his captains would be able to go, as leaving the protective field of the city, as well as the strengthening ones, would cripple the fighting ability of most of the defenders.

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As Sam moved through F Rank, the fields had less and less of an effect on him, which meant that he was overly really affected by leaving their embrace. For low F Rankers however, that would cut their combat prowess down by over a third.

By the time Sam had reached his destination, he was itching for a fight. Sarge stood outside the Dao Tree as always, nonchalantly leading against the fence. A long line of people stood outside, a sight that was familiar to all who inhabited this city. Upon seeing Sam, Sarge made his way over.

“Aren’t you supposed to be defending the Dao Tree?” Sam asked.

“Nah. I was just put here because my training methods were too intense. Read, painful.”

“Ah,” Sam said, remembering the first time he had used his projectile skill with the robot. It had certainly been painful. “Well, I need you to help me train. I have many new skills, but my control over them is somewhat lacking.”

Sarge nodded as if this was nothing new to him.

“I can help with that. Come with me.”

Sarge raced off, and Sam followed, heading towards a nearby arena. The structure was empty, but that was for the best. Sam did not want to wipe out his citizens with a stray attack. He made his way into the building alongside Sarge, coming to a stop on the arena floor. Sarge bowed to him once, and without warning, he attacked. The robot moved with a speed at the peak of F Rank, clearly wanting to draw out Sam’s teleportation ability. He obliged, and popped out of space a few dozen feet away. Sarge came to a stop, and then charged once more, flashing through the air like a rocket.

“I didn't come here to hunt rabbits! Fight back!” Sarge shouted as he neared Sam.

Sam grimaced, and obliged. His hammer came around in a whistling arc, but it completely missed. Only a quick teleport stopped Sarge from striking him.

“I can run forever, but you cannot teleport for that long!” Sarge shouted as he approached. “You need to show me what you got.”

Sam nodded, and summoned his purified mana to his hammer, in great quantities. As it began to blaze with a blue light, he feinted to the left, and as Sarge dashed towards there, he swung. The robot was moving with such speed that he was unable to stop, and the hammer made contact a moment later. With all of his focus on speed, the robot was blindsided by the blow, and his body crumpled like a tin can. Sarge reformed as he flew through the air, a smile on his face. He landed with ease fifty feet away, as if nothing had happened. Sam found himself wishing that he possessed that ability.

“Good. Speed itself is not always the answer. You need to learn to deal with beings stronger than you, in every way. Humanoid fighters are always harder to fight than monsters of a comparable level of power.”