He was unable to cultivate his Dao because of the others, and he was not in the mood to do empty contemplation. Instead, he simply mediated, clearing his mind of everything that was not germane to his current situation.

He sat like that for a few hours as the ship ascended through the sky, heading towards the nearest known location of a Titan. It was quite easy to track the monsters from orbit, even with normal satellites. With the city’s access to mana powered surveillance, it was child’s play to track the monsters across the planet.

All of the Titans in the Americas had been dealt with, and the 8 that remained were split between Europe, Africa and Asia. Gaea was currently too strong to fight, as she was much more powerful than her Titanic offspring. Just judging by mana emissions alone, she was at least thirty levels stronger than her allies, and growing every day. The Titans drew power from cultivating their element, mainly by finding a source of that energy in the natural world.

Their current Titan target was the Lawful Titan, the Titan of the element of Order. Nobody knew precisely what its powerset was, but the strange runic patterns that the multi mile tall creature of pure crystal left behind were always in the same shape and size. Presumably, it was able to manipulate regular structures of matter, which explained its crystalline structure. At least it wasn’t another pure energy monster.

The Titan was currently located in the Pyrenees, and it was trying to turn the mountain range to a crystalline array with which to impose its will upon the world. Obviously, that could not be allowed to happen, which was why it was the first target.

Sam was looking forward to fighting a Titan that was weak to his hammer. His half melted armament sent out a pulse through his armor, indicating its approval. Unfortunately, the weapon was beginning to reach the end of its tether, and Sam would have to fuse it soon with the other Seven Seals. He had a suspicion, shared with many others, that he could begin by adding Lao’s staff to the hammer. However, he decided to hold off on that, unless they actually needed it, because it would permanently remove both subsidiary weapons from existence.

As Mjolnir rested on his hip, he could feel it calling to its sibling weapon, the call far stronger now that it had been damaged. His weapon had never known defeat, until now. Unlike people, a weapon was usually unable to heal, and Mjolnir would be forever marred unless it was merged. For a somewhat sapient weapon, it would be a stain upon its psyche that would never be repaired until it was as well.

As the ship crossed the Atlantic, Sam rose from his meditation to gaze upon the inky depths below. With the System had come more exotic weather patterns that whipped up the seas with hurricane force winds. The true hurricanes were maelstroms of myth and legend, propelling massive storm surges across the sea. The waves were only prevented from wreaking utter havoc because of the increase in the planet’s size.

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Sam watched as a pod of whales danced in and out of the waves, titanic monsters that were five times larger than any whale of the Pre-System Earth. It was sights like these that reminded him that the System was not solely a construct of blood and destruction. Then he caught a glimpse of the serrated teeth that lined the whales’ mouths, and sighed. He was wrong, yet again.

Sam simply watched the seas for a time, meditating upon their stormy surface. The waves were miles below, but with his senses, he could see them as if he was standing right there. Leviathans moved in the depths, twisting and turning in an endless dance of consumption and hunger.

Eventually, the coast came into view, a series of cliffs and bluffs created by the System as a barrier to the monsters of the deeps. The ship kept going further and further, crossing down through the south of France. Eventually, the snow capped Pyrenees came into view, mountains swollen to Olympian proportions by the burgeoning of the Earth. Over a dozen miles tall, they towered above the world around themselves, only made more wondrous by the strange designs etched into them. About half of the mountains had turned to luminous crystal, a strange, rainbow hue that seemed to change depending on the angle that one watched them at.

Runes lined the sides of the crystalline peaks, glinting in the sun. Sam had no idea what they meant, but he could feel a strange, ineffable understanding as he gazed upon them, as if they were touching upon a chord of existence that he could barely understand.

As the ship neared, the air changed, starting to lock down under the influence of the Lawful Titan. The effects that the Titan had upon the world were magnified by the immense array that it had created, causing it to spread outwards for dozens of miles. It felt like he was in the presence of some cosmic judge, an immortal, omniscient being that knew all of his wrongs.

The ship began to plummet from the sky as the Titan judged it unworthy, and Sam acted. His Dao Seed exploded outwards, seizing the ship in its grasp. He gritted his teeth and imposed his own will upon reality, forcing the ship to stay aloft. It was something that would have been impossible before, but he had unlocked a new level of power.

As the ship stabilized, the others rose from their meditation, alarmed. The ship continued to shake as the warring Dao Seeds and conceptual energy fought, but within the area around Sam, he was in control. Despite the power of the array, the Titan was unable to focus its power down to a sufficient degree to overpower Sam. The ship began to descend at a more natural pace, drifting down to land upon a nearby peak. It was one of the mountains untouched by the corruption of the Titan, and the effects of the array diminished even further as the ship landed.

“What the hell was that?” Jeffrey exclaimed as the ship landed, still disorientated

“The Titan was unhappy with our presence,” Sam replied. “I had to shield the ship with my Dao Seed. There isn’t much point in flying any further.”

“Damn. We’re going to have to cross these mountains on foot? That sounds like a death sentence.” As always, Talnor’s voice was measured, but there was a thread of discomfort audible. He was not used to fighting so far above his rank, but such was life within a newly initialized universe.

“I guess so,” Sam answered. “Unless you want to crash into one of those arrays. I have no idea what they do, but I don’t want to find out.”