Sam closed the interface. There was no justification as of now for spending so much money on the defenses. Most importantly, seeing as the invaders had now gained permission to send in E Rankers, the authorization array would be mostly useless. An E Ranker was stronger than almost any number of average F Rankers.

As he was now, Sam could probably wipe out millions with ease.

Instead, he would leave the decision to the captains. They knew more about what was good for the city than he did.

“There are some intriguing options available now,” Sam stated. “However, they’re extremely expensive. I’ll leave the decision about buying them up to you.”

“That doesn’t matter now. What matters is that you explore the possibilities opened up to you by your ascension to E Rank,” Jeffrey said. “There is more to it than simply being superior to a mortal in terms of bodily function, especially for someone as powerful as you are now.”

“Many of you are on the cusp of ascension as well, are you not?” Sam asked.

“Yes, after that battle with the E Rankers, a few of us are ready,” Jeffrey answered. “Talnor, Lao, Eduardo and myself.”

“I see. Also, does anyone know what happened to Rax? I haven’t seen or heard about him in a while.”

“He went off for his own brand of training in the wilds of Earth. I’m not sure how powerful he is now, but he might be closing in on E Rank as we speak.”

“Ah. What about the rest of you?” Sam asked, turning to the wider array of captains.

One of them stepped forwards, one of the aliens who had come with Talnor. “Most of us are around level 120 now, Lord. The constant battles have granted us great power.”

“So the average power of the faction is quite high for how small it is. Great. I still wish we could see our standings as compared to the rest of the universe though.”

“That would be ideal, but I assume we will need to wait until the tournament to see anything like that. I cannot imagine that there are many, if any, other E Rankers in this universe yet,” Talnor said. “If there are, they are probably weaker in terms of Dao and titles.”

“I appreciate the ego massage, but I would rather just be told the truth without any of the frills,” Sam replied. “Arrogance is the path to complacency.”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Is it arrogance when it is true? We are all beyond the norm in terms of power. It is not a thing to be ashamed of,” Talnor replied.

“It’s a bit hard to feel proud of my strength when I’ve personally witnessed the power of a mere D Ranker, and it felt like I was staring at a god in the eyes,” Sam said. “Never mind that, though. I have a more important concern that I need to raise. Upon reaching E Rank, I was told that I had one chance to depart to the Tower of Transcendence, before I gained a level in E Rank. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is an opportunity for E Rankers to test themselves against their own destiny. From what I can tell, it is incredibly important, and I will not be missing it.”

“You should go for it,” Talnor said. “Any power that you gain will be a boon to us as a whole.”

“What of the Overlord though?” Jeffrey asked. “Would it be safe to leave him here on his own so close to E Rank? He is quite near as far as I can tell from the energy coming from his room.”

“I will wait until he is also ready,” Sam answered, having already thought about this. “Where is he now? I want to check on him.”

“In the same hospital room as before,” Jeffrey answered. “He neglected his recovery in favor of ascension.”

“Of course he did.”

Sam turned, and then tried something that he had never done before. He had seen Gordanus teleport to parts of the training planet that had been out of his line of sight. He had been unable to replicate this, but perhaps being an E Ranker was the key.

As Sam accessed his Spacetime Razor skill, he found that his body remembered every place that he had been. Because of the fusion of body, mind and soul, his Dao remembered it as well. With a slice of his will, space opened up, and he stepped through, appearing in the hospital ward with the Overlord. This opened up many new possibilities. The only potential problem was that it used up far more Dao energy than normal.

The Overlord sat cross legged on his bed, his body still in shambles. In fact, some of the damage had grown worse. However, his eyes were still bright. Somewhere deep down, Sam felt the urge to comfort the man who wore the face of his father, but he buried it. The man who sat before him was not the same man who had cared for him as a child.

“You did it, then.”

“I did,” Sam replied. “You are not far either, from what I’ve heard.”

“I am not. However, I have been having trouble reconciling my relationship with you and this faction with my path. Perhaps I might not be entirely a lone wolf. There is room in my life for aid. After all, the awe of friends is even more potent than that of enemies.”

“Friends?” Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I meant allies,” the other man hurriedly replied.

“Hmm. Anyway, I will be back when you break through. I have something that both of us need to do once you are there.”

“Yes, the Tower of Transcendence. My mentor told me about it. You don’t want me here at E Rank when you go off gallivanting across the cosmos, do you?”

“I do not. You might be keeping your instincts down for now, but I still do not fully trust you.”

“The same to you.”

Then the man went back into meditation, and Sam left, teleporting back to his meditation chamber. He felt strangely unsatisfied with that exchange.