Okita was transported away, and Merlin walked off, shamefaced at his loss. A moment later, the next fight was announced by the screen. Sam heard his name, and blanked out on the rest of the speech, instead getting up and walking towards the front. As he did so, he saw to his relief that it was one of the lower ranked people, a woman by the name of Emily Ken. She seemed to be some sort of barbarian class, going by old video game terminology, and she sported a pair of small axes that were harnessed to her back. She gave Sam a toothy grin, and he was surprised to see no sign of animosity from someone who was from the other side.
“No hard feelings, eh? Just a friendly fight.” The woman had a very strong Australian accent, which belied her warrior’s appearance. She was clad in dark metal armor with a patch of fur running around her shoulders and neck. Sam nodded at her, glad that this was not going to be some frantic grudge match. He was about to check the leaderboards, but then stopped. The woman had already started ahead towards the arena and he did not want to exit behind her. As he hurried up to catch her, she looked back and smiled.
“Trying to compensate for something, mate?”
Sam scoffed, but could not respond quickly enough for it to not be awkward. She grinned at him and entered the ring. Sam took up his customary position, mace at the ready. His opponent had a more nonchalant air to her, and she lazily flicked her axes off her shoulder, hefting the weapons with a smile. As the battle started, she leaped forwards, crossing her weapons before her. A faint smell of ozone hit Sam’s nostrils, and his hair stood on end. The woman’s axes started to crackle with lightning, and she swiped them across herself as she reached Sam. He hastily blocked with his mace, starting to get into the rhythm of battle. As his next blow snaked in between her weapons and almost sent her sprawling, a look of surprise crossed her face. It quickly vanished, but Sam knew that it had been there. A moment later, Emily’s face became like a mask, and he knew that meant she was getting serious.
She rushed in with her weapons swinging, trying to distract Sam from the kick that she was preparing to launch at him. Before he had received his weapon style, he would have been hard pressed to avoid it, but now it was far easier. His own leg moved back and he flipped on one hand, showcasing far greater agility than that of a natural human. It was a bit unnecessary, but Sam had an image to preserve, especially after the good natured taunts that he had received from the woman. She was pretty good, clearly with a background with her weapons, but Sam was simply stronger, faster, and possessed the fighting style of a far more powerful cultivator who had likely studied his style for years, if not decades. Even though he was barely channeling a hint of its potential, it was enough in such a low leveled fight. With all of this in mind, she was still doing an admirable job keeping up however. Sam could tell that she had not broken through any thresholds yet, because she winced when she tried to block his strikes. This showed that her Strength was not up to par, and by the rest of her movements, neither were her other stats.
Sam decided to use this as more of a fun exercise, something to distract him from his current woes. It was refreshing to just spar without any stakes. Well, there was the matter of his position, but this woman did not have a chance in hell of winning against Sam. He still didn't know who exactly his mysterious ally was, but he thanked them a thousand times over as he fought. Then he had a dark thought. What if he had, by accepting the ability, not that he really had a choice, became beholden to whoever had sent it to him? Realizing that he was distracting himself as a wayward strike nearly pulled him off balance, Sam dismissed the thought. Berrigious had made him far too paranoid.
He returned to the fight with his full attention, and proceeded to mop the floor with his opponent. Each strike was met with a perfect counter, each block was followed up with the most optimal strike. It was not even fair to compare them at this point, and Sam was fully getting into the zone. His strikes began to blend together, and he started to lose himself. It was a far different sensation than with his Dao of Anger however, and he still maintained a razor focus on his battle, just with a large degree of detachment. This allowed him to judge his attacks with a precision that was not marred by his emotional state at the time, and he eventually reduced the woman to being weaponless with an inspired construction of two techniques, a parry and a block. Their real names were far more grand, but for now Sam couldn't care less about the poetic meaning of them. He just wanted more battle power. This resulted in a single strike both preventing him from taking damage, and disarming his opponent in a single graceful attack.
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Rather than seem dismayed, Emily seemed to be smiling. Feeling a little uneasy, Sam backed off, his senses tingling in alarm. With a roar of primal anger, the woman erupted into a pillar of yellow energy, and her axes crumbled into nothing, producing more of the yellow energy. This streamed into her, causing her technique to skyrocket in potency. Sam could almost feel multiple thresholds being passed within the woman’s body as she transformed, and he was left seeing what looked like some sort of warrior queen of the jungle, an Amazonian terror of the battlefield. Vines and plant matter had covered her body, and her face was now masked with a layer of ivy, making her look inhuman. The plants formed into a pattern that looked like grotesquely bulging muscles and highly defined veins made out of green creepers. This covering of plant life had bulked her up by an insane degree, and she was now almost ten feet tall. Small streams of lightning crackled around the armor, but they were more of a cosmetic effect as they seemed to be muted with proximity to the vines.
Squinting, Sam was able to understand what was going on. The vine and plant effect was a result of her affinity with Earth energy, hence the yellow energy. The lightning was probably the result of a skill, which was muted when in contact with her true elemental abilities. The woman turned her blank gaze at Sam and he flinched involuntarily as he felt the eye of a wrathful and ancient entity stare at him.Then the feeling retreated, aided with a blast of his aura. Even without his Dao, it was still incredibly potent, more than a match than any skill that this woman could bring to bear. All that this new form meant was that it was time for him to go all out, or at least as much as he could without his Dao.
His mace started to shine with the light of mana and he supercharged it, feeling it pulse in his hand as the weapon took on the power of the mana. With a sudden rush of motion, Sam appeared in front of the plant creature. She lashed out with a trailing vine at high speeds, succeeding it catching Sam full across the face, cutting into it. The vine end was going faster than a whip, and it was made out of some sort of durable plant that could survive contact with Sam’s leathery skin. Well, that was probably not the best, or most comforting, descriptor. It didn't look leathery, but it certainly felt that way to him sometimes. Shuddering, he banished the thought from his now cluttered mind. The sight of the transformation had shocked him out of his battle state and he was now back in contact with the rest of the world, fully susceptible to distraction.
She stalked the ground in front of him, creating small patches of plant life wherever she tread. Sam was having none of this, especially after he saw them start to grow and undulate like tentacles on the ground. This was not that kind of book. He dodged to the side as one of the tentacles lashed out at him, and he crushed it into the ground with his mace, expending a little bit of mana as he did so. Looking towards the form of the plant covered woman, he used his new skill to its fullest extent, testing its limits. When he had used his sight to detect what Okita was doing, he had found a new power that he did not know he had, one that allowed him to see the use of mana and elemental energy more acutely than he had been before. The skill was called Elemental Sight and its abilities had been confirmed by his notification.
You have gained the skill [Elemental Sight:Rare]. A bit more inquisitive than most, you have decided that you wanted to find out more about the workings of the universe. In doing so, you unlocked the hidden sense that all cultivators possess, the ability to detect elemental energy. Rejoice, for most of your level do not have this ability.
Sam had not exactly been sure if the message was sarcastic or not, but it was a new skill nonetheless. As he used it, he was able to see small rivulets of yellow energy course down the arms of the plant amalgamation and into the ground. They continued underneath the sand, somewhat muted in his sight, but still visible. Outwardly, the plant creature did not make any signs of having used a skill, but Sam surprised it by jumping up as what looked to be a massive venus flytrap snapped its serrated teeth shut where his foot had been. The glistening taint of venom that he had seen on it would not have been fun to deal with in a battle. With a frown, Sam advanced. This battle had gone on for too long anyway, and he was starting to become apprehensive of slipping up. It was time to end this farce once and for all.