Sam found himself floating in space, for the second time in less than a day. In front of him, an incredible scene unfolded. Two figures faced off, standing on nothing. They were talking to each other, but Sam couldn't make out the words. Finally one of them smiled in a wide rictus grin and laughed as a clone of himself appeared behind the other man.
Sam drifted closer and closer to the fighters as the scene progressed and he could make out their faces. The man with the clone was a snake-like humanoid with narrow eyes and a slit instead of a nose. He looked like the epitome of evil to Sam. The other man was completely average in every way, save for his overwhelming presence.
Sam noticed that he was surrounded by a shimmering dome of white energy and he could faintly feel something hammering on it. It was as if, simply by existing, the two men were creating a pressure in the space around them. If not for the barrier, Sam would have been blasted by the full force of that effect.
With a raised hand, the pressure from the average looking man surged and the clone shone with a bright light. It screamed in pain as white fire consumed it completely. The snake man’s face contorted in fear, and he tried to back away. Something happened between that moment and the next, and suddenly the average looking man had his fist through the snake man’s chest. Strangely, there was no triumph on his face, only a cold sadness.
The vision faded away, and Sam found himself back in the real world. He stared at the woman with a vacant expression on his face and she faltered in her charge. A ripple of energy shot out from his body and into the world around him, outlining the woman in a deep black aura. Immediately, his limbs filled with strength and he was the one charging her.
She raised her sword to block, and Sam’s machete came down on it. She resisted it, grinning as she did so, but his other hand snaked around the sword and grabbed her throat. Eyes bulging, she tore at his arm as he lifted her off the ground. She carved his flesh down to the bone, but still he did not let go. With a sickening crunch, her neck broke and he let go. His body filled with fatigue and he collapsed bonelessly to the ground. There were a few new things in his notifications, which he checked.
Dao has been unlocked!
Dao Mote of the Arbiter
There are many different types of warriors in this world. There are the dishonorable, the stalwart of spirit and the desperate. Rarely do any find a true purpose in their journeys, simply looking for strength or other such ephemera. You have found your calling, the calling of Justice. In your searing hate for those who act with evil, you find your absolution. In their deaths, you find peace. You feel no joy in their ends, but merely a sense of purpose. Such is the path of the Arbiter.
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Before he could think about what that meant, the next notification popped up.
You have gained the skill Lesser Mana Bulwark:Rare. Infuse mana into your flesh to improve defense.
You have gained the Dao skill, Eyes of Judgement:Legendary. Your path dictates your purpose. Your purpose is to purge the world of evil. Upon use of this skill, enemies are laid bare to your sight, revealing their sins. You gain additional power against the sinful, but reduced power against the truly virtuous. These power modifiers only apply after the skill has been used.
Finally, something appeared that made his entire being vibrate in shock. Waves of searing energy washed over his body as the notification surfaced.
You have gained the title, Dao Paragon of the 10,239,428,157th Universe:Celestial. You are the very first being in your entire universe to form a Dao. +25% to all stats, rounding to the nearest whole number.
Sam stared at the title in shock. It was far beyond anything he had expected. He had known that the mark would have given him a leg up in the creation of a Dao, but not to such a degree that he was the very first in the universe to get it. It seemed as if Tantalos was very interested in him indeed, contrary to what the mark said. He suspected that the man had written the description of that mark himself, to downplay his involvement.
Sam remembered reading the Greek myths in school and one of the themes in it was that the gods were constantly interacting with mortals. Even someone who was immortal still experienced boredom and from the way that Tantalos had spoken to him the other day, he was his new toy to play with. Immediately, he felt a resonation in his soul at the thought, Something stirred inside him, and it was angry.
Nestled next to his core, there was a small package of something indescribable. It was like there was a concentrated mass of everything that the Dao of the Arbiter entailed. The package was connected to the rest of his body with infinitesimal tendrils of energy, which was how it was influencing his mental state. He knew in his heart that Tantalos Veruvax was the true threat to this universe, the serpent in the tree, the yin to his yang, the adversary. If this universe did not band together against the threat, then there would be no universe left afterwards. The idea that someone could destroy a universe was mind boggling to Sam, but he knew that it was all too real.
He had experienced the power of Tantalos for himself, the man had seized the entire population of the universe and spoken to them all at once. In addition, the monsters that appeared were most certainly not natural beings. They were coming from somewhere else, perhaps outside of the universe.
As Sam stared ahead into the distance, thinking about the long and dangerous road ahead, a faint smile eased its way onto his face. This would be his calling, his path. He would become the strongest, so that he could protect those who could not protect themselves. He would be the shield that defended his universe, the horn that called the soldiers of the light to victory.
These grandiose thoughts seemed to resonate with his Dao and he felt the small object grow a little bit larger. This was not related to his stats at all, as the Dao was a purely spiritual object. It was related to what he envisioned his path to be. The best translation that Sam knew was that it was his Way.