Sarge surged forwards again, this time at a more reasonable speed. However, Sam could sense that the robot was using far more physical power and durability than before. He would need to up the ante. He was able to tell that the robot was starting to push at the ends of his power as an F Rank being. Sarge could use the maximum power of an F Ranker, in all stats, but was unable to go past that. With all of Sam’s new enhancements, he was at, or nearly at, peak F Rank. He knew that a single good hit from his finisher attack would take out any F Rank being, perhaps in existence.
As Sarge neared, Sam began to draw upon his power, sending it into his limbs and his hammer. As his movements sped up, he began to whirl his hammer around, catching lightning with it as it moved. It sped up, creating a swirling tornado of metal and energy around himself. By the time Sarge was upon him, he had gathered enough power in the weapon to level a building. Sarge summoned his own weapon out of the air in a swirl of power and light. It was a spectral hammer, one that looked quite familiar to Mjolnir. The two weapons met in midair, struggling for dominance. Sarge was stronger than Sam was, but Sam had packed more power into the weapon. The robot was unable to use anything more than a shadow of a Dao, as he was not a living being. As a result, the amount of energy that he could manipulate was lacking.
As Sam was pushed back, a shockwave of power erupted from his weapon, sending Sarge flying backwards. The training robot skidded to a halt, hefting his weapon once more. His strength and speed increased, and he charged once more. Sam raised his weapon above his head, packing it full of purified mana. As Sarge raced in, he brought it down. The weapon seemed to tug on the air as it moved, dragging it down with its conceptual weight.
Sarge tried to dodge, but he was caught up in the attack as well. It struck the ground a moment later, blasting both fighters backwards. The arena had safeguards in place, and the floor had been protected from harm by a shield that had suddenly sprung up. However, Sam and Sarge were not so lucky. Sam slammed into the arena wall, groaning in pain, and Sarge went flying the opposite way, crumpling to the ground. The robot rose, fixing his minor injuries. He gave Sam a curious look.
“You can certainly bring a lot of power to bear for your level. Your control over such power is lacking however. I suppose you need it though, given the strength of your enemies. You need to gain more authority over the workings of your energy.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” Sam asked. “It’s not like I can control mana outside of my body.”
“You are at the Brotherhood stage of your weapon mastery, are you not? Your weapon should be like an extension of yourself. You must use it to guide your mana to where you want it. Although your force vector is contained within your weapon, you must use it to discharge your power. The wide ranging area of effect of your imbued strikes is more like the results of a siege weapon than anything else. You should use it like one.”
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Sam thought over those words for a few moments, trying to see what his body could do with his energy. With a frown, he tried to communicate with Mjolnir. To his surprise, it worked. He sent a small tendril of connection to the weapon, sending his desires along with it. Immediately, he felt the weapon seem to open up to his spiritual senses, allowing him to guide his mana into it more effectively. Whereas before it had simply been a block of metal that he had imbued, now it was more like a hollow receptacle.
He pumped his mana into it in a steady wave, filling the hammer up with blue light. Sarge saw this, and filled his body’s durability to the max. Standing in front of Sam, he summoned a large shield into existence, banishing the hammer that he had previously been wielding. The shield looked like a tower shield, something that Sam had seen in video games, but that was too ineffective for real life.
Sarge hunkered down behind the shield, waiting for Sam to strike. With a roar, he took control over the mana, and sent it out of the tip of his hammer, swinging it with incredible force. The force helped to guide the energy down to a point, and a moment later, a thick crescent of energy blasted out of the end of his weapon, crossing the distance between him and Sarge in the blink of an eye. The tower shield crumpled, and Sarge was reduced to a heap of twisted metal. As he recovered, a notification appeared in front of Sam.
You have gained a new skill!
Will of the Weapon: Mythical
Connect with your weapon on a soul to soul level, using your weapon mastery as a conduit. Doing so allows for greater control over the weapon in question.
It was not the skill that Sam had been expecting, but it still seemed useful. Sarge rose to his feet as his strangely organic metal form repaired itself, clapping lightly in praise of Sam’s progress.
“That’s better, isn’t it, Sam? You are a very curious case indeed. Most lack the ability to accomplish their goals, but with you, it is almost like your potential is near infinite, simply waiting to be unlocked. The Tower of Transcendence will not be ready for you.”
“The what?” Sam said, frowning. He could sense that this was something important.
“How silly of me. Of course you would never have heard of it. Every newly ascended E Ranker has the chance to test their mettle against the will of Fate itself. Since time immemorial, the Tower of Transcendence has been in existence, at the very heart of the Multiverse. There are rumors that every Multiverse, across the entire Boundless Expanse, contains similar places. In any case, it is a means of testing one’s potential. There are a hundred levels, and for every level that one crosses, their future potential is all the greater. Powerful factions use it to recruit promising members, or decide who needs to be culled.”
“How high is considered good?” Sam asked.
“Most beings that have reached E Rank are already content with their lot. The vast majority of them do not get past even the fifth level of the Tower. In the entire history of the Multiverse, less than a thousand beings have passed the ninetieth floor. Nobody has ever reached the final one. Those thousand beings are those who have, or had, reached the A Rank.” Sarge said. Sam thought over this for a bit.