Now Sam understood. He quickly opened up the notification for the floor, wondering how exactly this was supposed to be a challenge. The average E Ranker was not a match for him, even a high leveled one.

You have entered Floor 1 of the Grand Arena(Challenge Mode)

Summoned by Garnax Marn, a low ranking noble of the court of King Granthar, D Ranked ruler of Prax and its wider environs, you have been tasked with the saving of his son. You must defeat the first challenger to come his way, acting as the champion of the Marn family. Beware, for everything is not as it seems in the world of Prax. Courtly intrigue is a skill not often practiced by cultivators such as yourself. Despite the facade of power that the king presents, his planet is a jewel, rich with resources, and a coveted location by many, more powerful factions.

Completion: 0/1

Rewards: Title Upgrade

Sam closed the message, and nodded once at Garnax. “Very well. When do I begin?”

An hour later, Sam stood upon a balcony, overlooking the largest arena he had ever seen. It was almost fifty miles wide, and its stands extended upwards to mountainous heights. Considering the higher level of the planet’s inhabitants, such distances were more than enough to watch a fight.

Garnax and his family stood behind him, fretting nervously. They had offered him his pick of their treasury’s weapons, but none of them had been worth a second glance. The seats were filling up, as millions of nobles took their places. On a D Rank planet like Prax, the populations often ran into the trillions. While this arena seemed to be of unreasonable proportions, it was relative to the size of Earth, the only planet Sam was fully used to.

The Grand Arena was in the center of the capital city, also called Prax. Sam had initially thought that the king had an incredibly uncreative naming sense, but had quickly been informed that the city took the majority of the world’s surface. Everything that made Prax valuable, from natural treasures to forest filled with E Rank wood was incorporated into the city in an organic way. This made it easier to harvest them.

There were few wild monsters on the planet, but there were a plethora of dungeons, where its inhabitants leveled. Three moons orbited the world, all of them settled as well. Each of them was larger than Earth by a significant factor. To make up for the weakness of Prax’s normal residents, teleportation arrays were set up across its surface. Despite its size, only a few hundred thousand E Rankers called it home.

He had used one of those arrays with Garnax and his relatives, arriving at the arena in the blink of an eye. Now, he waited for his role to begin. As he did so, he inspected his stat sheet.

Sam Atlas

Human: E Rank

Enlightened Tier

E Rank

Class: Lesser Dao Paragon

Level 158

(346 stat points unspent)

Strength

3036

2.29x

Constitution

2626

2.24x

Resilience

2647

2.24x

Dexterity

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2587

2.29x

Intelligence

2715

2.24x

Wisdom

2788

2.24x

* Health 59085/59085

* Mana 61088/61088

* Stamina 68310/68310

* Karma: 54

* Road to Zenith

Stage 2

* Dao

Dao Echo of Inspiration

Dao Seed of the Avenger(Second Step)

* Skills

1x Rare, 2x Epic, 5x Legendary, 6x Mythical, 2x Ancient, 1x Primal, 1x Unique

* Titles

1x Legendary, 3x Mythical, 3x Ancient, 1x Transcendent

* Temporary Titles

1x Epic, 1x Legendary, 1x Mythical

* Dao Heritage

Dao Incarnation of Existence(Second Step)

* Party

None

* Skill Branches

* Lightning Neurons (Level 2)

Iron Body(Level 2)

Iron Bones (Level 2)

Muscle Density Enhancement(Level 1)

Basic Weapon Knowledge: Blunt(Level 1)

Dao Resonance(Level 1)

Karmic Cycle(Level 1)

Lucky(Level 1)

Increased Blood Flow (Level 1)

* Weapon Style

Flowing Water Style

* Weapon Mastery: Brotherhood Stage 6

* Elemental Affinities

Earth: 15% Mastery

* Elemental Boons

Elemental Infusion: Stoneskin

* Quests

The Sacred Bond: Impossible

Engines of the End Times: S

* Professions

Smith: Apprentice Stage 9

Dao Smith: Apprentice Stage 9

“The events will be starting soon,” Garnax interrupted, bringing Sam out of his stat sheet.

“What should I expect? All I know so far is that I will have to fight some other E Rankers.”

“The king will not be expecting your presence, so he will probably test your strength with one of his weaker subjects. I would recommend concealing your strength as much as possible before the match starts.” Garnax smiled nervously. “Unfortunately, the king makes the laws around here, and he will not accept anything that undermines his authority. One match was planned for my son, as it was intended to be an execution, but you will likely have more.”

Sam grabbed his hammer and slammed it into the ground, enjoying the shudder than ran along its length. Blue and red fire flashed in the eye-slits of his helmet. “That doesn’t bother me.”

A bolt of lightning the width of a tree struck the center of the arena, and Sam turned towards it, locking his eyes upon the figure standing there.

“All rise for King Granthar!” A body-less voice roared, and the stands erupted into noise as all of the nobles got to their feet. Sam was already standing, but he made a point of sitting back down.

“Why exactly do you have a balcony? I thought you were minor nobles,” Sam asked nonchalantly, ignoring the looks of dismay he was getting at his display of disrespect. He had only done it because of the shielding from the other spectators. However, he had no doubt that the king had noticed it.

A formless aura spread across the arena, the power of a being who had lived for millennia, and had the power to erase continents. The king did not radiate the same reality warping, godlike might that Berrigious, a peak D Ranker had, but he was still far stronger than Sam. The fact that across the vastness of reality, such power was relatively easy to achieve for anyone with talent, regardless of their personality, did not sit well with Sam. Berrigious had been a conniving snake of a man, trapping Earth’s strongest warriors in a net of contracts, trying to steal Sam as his own. Only the intervention of Tantalos Veruvax, a far stronger cultivator, had stopped him.