The voice continued, but Sam felt a strange sensation on his arm and he flicked it away, trying to listen to what he was being told. It redoubled in strength and he was dragged out of the dark space, the voice still continuing. A bright light pierced the void and he saw the face of Eduardo over him.
“Sam, it's time to get up. The first match starts soon.” Sam sprang up and out of the bed, suddenly feeling as if he had been resting for years. Indeed, he had no idea how long that vision had been. It felt like it had been millions of years, but he knew that was not the case. Somewhat flustered by the sudden removal of himself from the vision, he didn't hear what Eduardo said next.
“What was that? Sorry, I was a bit lost in my thoughts.”
“Nothing. All I wanted to say was good luck. You’re going to need it. As the tournament progresses, it's going to get harder and harder for you to beat your opponents with just your raw power alone.”
Sam let out a breath and nodded.
“I know. I am trying to find a solution, but none of it is intuitive.” Sam gritted his teeth at the reminder of his failure and Eduardo quickly dropped the subject, not wanting to upset him more. The crackly voice of Profound Visionary broke into Sam’s thoughts.
“With matters of the Dao, introspection is everything. Do you even know why your path has been broken?”
Sam turned around, startled.
“What do you mean? My path?”
The older man sighed and smiled, shaking his head.
“Your Dao is a reflection of yourself. I gained my Dao because I was steeped in the life of an isolated monk, relying on others to survive. In turn I helped them, creating a cycle of reciprocity. So I ask you this. Where did your Daos spring from?”
Sam prepared to answer, but then stopped. That was actually a good question. He understood why he had received the Dao of the Arbiter, but what about the other one? He had never been an especially angry person, not until he had gained that Dao at least. This thought prompted a small fragment of the voice in his dream to return.
“YOUR PATH SHALL BE LONG, FOR YOUR PATH IS ALL.”
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Sam wasn't sure why exactly he had remembered that, but it seemed important. Something to do with his Dao Heritage most likely. Before he could ponder this any further, he was dragged out of the room by Eduardo, and towards the arena.
When they arrived, the scene was markedly different to what Sam had seen before. There were two lines of empty chairs dividing the room into three segments. Near the front, a single man sat in his own segment, and Sam saw that it was the Overlord. On the left was the largest group, and the two unwelcome faces of Rodney Kane and Andrew Munro glared at him, with snarls on their faces. Sam flashed them a quick one finger salute, laughing when they responded with a howl of rage.
Surprised at just how much more open he had become since the System arrived, Sam smiled. He would never have had the energy or inclination to maintain this sort of oppositional relationship with anyone before. He was well known at his job as the person to always cave first in an argument. Back then, that was because he couldn't care less about life, but now that he had a reason to exist, it was like a whole new spectrum of emotions had been opened up to him.
Sitting down at a vacant chair at the head of the faction on the right, he took a quick glance back, doing a headcount of his allies. It had been heard to tell in the room, but here he was able to see the rows of chairs properly. There were about a hundred people sitting there, which meant that the other side had about a hundred and fifty people. They were outnumbered, but not by that much. In the end, it was a tournament which meant that alliances were not really alliances, but more like loose coalitions of like minded people. Yes, that sounded a lot like an alliance, but they would still have to fight each other eventually.
A few minutes later when the last of the people arrived, the camera feed board dropped down from the ceiling. Wondering how the tournament was going to go from now on, Sam waited for something to happen. Words started to scroll down on the screen, and a computerized voice read them out.
“The first match will be between Okita Masomune and Merlin.”
Sam recognized the first name as the man who had approached him all those days ago with a business proposition. Sam had completely forgotten about him, but he saw to his satisfaction that the man was sitting within his area. As he got up, he bowed to Sam and whispered something to him.
“I shall prove my worth to you now, Sam-san.”
Sam tried to tell him that was not necessary, but then he reined in his mind and saw that this was the right course of action. He needed to see if the man could defend himself, especially if he was to manage their finances.
On the other side of the room, Merlin stood up. Sam guessed that the name was an alias, seeing as he was dressed up as some sort of wizard. He was wearing gray robes and carried a gnarled wooden staff. Sam smiled, wondering if the man had confused his famous wizards. He watched as the two fighters made their way up the front of the room and out into the arena. Okita bowed to his opponent, but his gesture was not returned. A flash of light signaled the start of the match and Okita drew his sword, a long katana that looked to be sharpened to a razor edge.