Sam could hear the Overlord shifting uncomfortably next to him, and a slight grin formed on his face. He had no doubt that the man could hear every moment of this conversation, and was not too happy about it.
Sam ignored him, and listened as Glakassa began to speak.
“My sect is one of the largest in my home universe, with my father hovering at the peak of D Rank. He has been trying to break through for almost a hundred thousand years, but has been met with significant obstacles. I fear to say that his inner psyche has grown somewhat complacent with his power, even if he has not. After all, being able to obliterate solar systems in the blink of an eye is enough potency to rule over mortals like the greatest of gods.”
“I’ve met someone like that. His name was Berrigious.”
“Never heard of him,” Glakassa responded, shrugging. It showed that on a Multiversal scale, even beings strong enough that Sam would have considered them to be gods were of little note.
“What part of the Multiverse do you come from?”
“One of the older universes. I believe somewhere around number seven hundred and fifty million. My sect is far from the most powerful within it, and its boundaries have been swollen by time and potency. It would probably fit three or four of your universes within it.”
“Who rules over your universe?”
“Lady Akari, a potent disciple of the blade. She is mid C Rank in power. I personally witnessed her cleave through a star cluster once, when my father took me on one of his military endeavors. He serves under her, but only loosely. It is more of a relationship of power than anything else.”
“Interesting. I know little of the outside world, save for the names of a few of the more powerful factions, like the Creator Kings. Though, I assume everyone knows who they are.”
“From the lowliest peasant to the strongest B Ranker, all live in fear of those supreme beings. They can destroy entire universes, not simply over time like a B Ranker might, but with a single attack. It is rumored that Altari even possesses the power to create universes.”
“I’ve only heard of him in rumors and whispered legends, about how he led his faction in a grand crusade against the Lords of Destruction, back when the Multiverse was young.”
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“You would have, wouldn’t you? Though the true histories are hardly as burnished. Lady Akari has some contacts among the great and good of the Multiverse, and she admitted to her underlings, my father among them, that many of the Creator Kings had died during that war. The only reason there are ninety nine now, is because the rest of them all died.”
“Well, that does make sense. If they were fighting against other A Rankers, then it would hardly have been an easy battle,” Sam replied.
“Indeed. I would love to have seen such a thing in the flesh. Imagine the Dao insights that witnessing a battle between true gods would produce. Though, that is never to be, especially considering that such a clash would likely end in my demise.”
“How far do you think you will reach on the grand ladder of progression? You’re already quite a bit stronger than most, at least from what I’ve seen here. I have to assume that those who even reached this floor were stronger than normal theirselves.”
“I have a hope of surpassing my father, if all goes well. However, death is always around the corner. Even during that tournament, I could have died had I been cocky about my own strength.”
“I wouldn’t have killed you,” Sam replied. “I tried to avoid doing so, unless my hand was forced.”
“Still, I suspect your companion would have,” she said, shooting a meaningful look towards the Overlord.
“Had you tried to kill me, I would have as well,” he responded, his eyes still closed.
Glakassa simply chuckled in response, having anticipated the answer.
Sam sent a warning spike of aura towards the man, but his heart wasn’t really in it, and he found it batted aside with ease. He knew that the man was simply being cantankerous.
The Overlord also knew that actually harming Glakassa without a reason would incur Sam’s ire. Although he could put up a good fight, if Sam really let loose, he would be in trouble.
The gap between them would continue to decrease as the amount of power gained from the Tower climber title steadily eclipsed all the other titles, but Sam still had the edge in terms of Dao mastery and skills. He had no doubt that by the end of the Tower, though, that the Overlord would be far more potent than he was now. Then again, so would he.
He and Glakassa continued to talk about the greater Multiverse, and thirty minutes later, an announcement came their way, courtesy of the System.
Because of the presence of challengers far above the norm in power, the formatting of the next four events will be changed somewhat to reflect this, and to allow others on Challenge Mode to progress. As a result, some of the coming events will have two separate win conditions, one for the weaker fighters and one for the stronger ones. The next event will be a raid style battle in which the three strongest fighters will be pitted against everyone else, serving the role of Raid Bosses. To progress, they must either survive for ten minutes, or defeat half of the challengers. For the challengers to progress, they must deal damage to the Raid Bosses. A scoreboard will be created based on that damage, or on time survived if no damage is dealt. As before, challengers may surrender, but all death will be final otherwise.