He quickly reached the next of the monsters, teleporting along the surface of the bone. The monster perked up, and charged, teleporting in starts and stops along the length of the yellowing material. Unfortunately for it, Sam was far more adept at teleportation.

As the monster approached, he appeared above it, his hammer already descending. The creature was unable to dodge, and a wave of Dao energy flattened it into the ground, scouring it from the face of the world. The bone cracked as the energy was released, and when the dust cleared, nothing remained of the once proud elemental.

Sam landed a moment later, his hammer back to its normal state. A moment later, the flecks of blue and red in his eyes dissipated as well. Anyone watching him would think that he was simply a normal human, save for the unnatural perfection of his form. Not a single blemish was left after his ascension.

The rest of the floor passed in a blink of an eye, his teleportation abilities allowing him to hunt down the highly visible monsters with ease. Essence began to pile up, and he found a noticeable difference in his progress to the next rank by the end of the floor. Even with the increase in difficulty, it still only took him a few hours.

The last lion died to a casual slap of his hand, coated in Dao energy. He was starting to get better at using his Dao to affect reality around himself. It was a technique that he had started to use while in F Rank, but it was far easier to use in E Rank, as his body was blended with his mind and spirit, meaning that using his Dao was more like using a limb than channeling the ineffable energies of the universe to do his bidding.

The imprecision of the System in terms of measuring this change likely stemmed from the divide between the Dao and the System, which he had learned about previously. It likely was a piece of territory owned mostly by the Dao.

As the monster faded away into ethereal mist, the floor clear notification greeted him.

You have completed the Fulmination Fields: Layer 5! (Challenge Mode)

You have upgraded a title!

Fourth Floor Obliterator: Mythical-> Fifth Floor Obliterator: Mythical

Not content to breeze through the paltry difficulty of the base Tower of Transcendence, you have proven that you are capable of greater things.

Bonuses: +10% to all stats

By the end of the tower, if all went well, he would be sitting on top of a godlike title that would give him 200 percent increased power. Perhaps there was a reason that few such titles existed, given that to actually gain it, he would have to do something that nobody had ever done before.

The world flickered around him, depositing him on the next floor. It was like the previous, but magnified to an even greater level. A vaulted ceiling of bones cut off the sky, creating an arena like dome around the world. Each bone was dozens of miles wide, and Sam found himself gazing at them in wonder, his imagination piecing together the body parts that would have accompanied them.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

He stood upon a cliff made from what appeared to be a claw, gazing down upon a circular bowl of bone, about a hundred miles wide. It was populated with monsters, each regularly spaced. For the first time, the monsters had started to shift away from their leonid shapes, and many of them now stood hunched over, prowling on two legs rather than four. They were still made entirely of lightning, but it appeared more condensed in a way, creating figures closer to their material analogues.

Sam teleported down into the bowl, and opened the floor notification as he did so.

You have entered the Fulmination Fields: Layer 6 (Challenge Mode)

Your objective is to kill a total of 25 Elite Lightning Lion Storm Hunters.

Completion: 0/25

Rewards: Title Upgrade

The number of enemies was growing ever smaller, and their strength ever larger. Sam scanned one of them as he flickered into reality on the edge of the depression.

Elite Lightning Lion Storm Hunter

Level 165

Sam suddenly remembered the discussion with Jeffrey about monster ranks. Elite was around low to high E Rank, which meant that it would likely encompass most of the monsters in the tower. Looking at the strangely elongated name annoyed Sam though, and he quickly altered the description as he waited for the nearest monster to approach.

Lightning Lion Storm Hunter(Elite)

Level 165

He nodded in satisfaction. That was much better. Sam girded himself in crackling Dao energy as the hulking brute of lightning spotted him. An excited panting noise drifted from its jaws, somehow being produced despite a lack of lungs. The creature grinned, its compressed form allowing the electricity it was made of to move like flesh.

Sam waited until the last moment, and then teleported into the air. It was just in time, as the Storm Hunter detonated a charge of lightning behind its legs, shooting it forward like a bullet. Its clawed and twisted hand raked through the air beneath Sam, sending ripples of current outwards. As one of them snapped out to his leg, stinging him, Sam resolved to find some armor as soon as he could. He had been forced to go without, seeing as he had outgrown anything the faction could provide.

Still, his body was durable beyond just his stats, and a jolt of power that would have melted a normal human to the bone barely was as consequential as static electricity. Sam ignored it, and inverted his descent, leading with Terra’s Will. The mighty weapon descended, expanding to monstrous proportions. Many of the weapon’s effects were passive in nature, and the few that did engage were overshadowed by the increased size, and the ocean of Dao energy surrounding it. It was an attack that would spell the end to most cities back on Earth.

To the Storm Hunter, at least in its primitive mind, it was merely dangerous, and the monster met the attack with a punch limned in arcing light. The two attacks struck one another, and finally the monster realized the mistake it had made. Sam’s attack demolished its defenses, and a wave of red and blue washed along its body, unbinding its form.

The creature tried to resist, drawing deep upon its reserves of elemental energy, but it was ultimately useless. Not only did Sam possess a second tier Dao Seed, but he possessed a fused one, allowing him to draw upon power greater than the norm. Much of the energy was used up on the monster, but what remained melted the bone where it struck, only stopped by the higher durability of the presumably E Ranked substance.

The dome shuddered with the sound of a titan’s fist impacting the ground, and all of the Storm Hunters in the vicinity turned towards the source. Upon seeing Sam, they charged in unison.

Sam smiled, and imbued his body with the power of his Dao, his hammer beginning to blaze like a star. He began to teleport, zig zagging across the ground like a lightning bolt. He would not quail before odds that many low E Rankers would consider impossible. If he fell here, he might as well give up. The Tower awaited.