Jacob swore as he burrowed through Pluto without finding anything. It looked like humanity's common consensus on its nature as a planet had resulted in the System not counting it as one. He had just wasted three hours scanning and tunneling through the rocky world, and only now was making up for lost time.

He exited the dwarf planet at its north pole and sped out into the inky void. While he lacked the portal abilities of Sam, having needed his son to transport him to the edge of the Solar System, he was no slouch when it came to speed.

Wings of bloodred light expanded from his shoulders into the firmament, blotting out the stars behind him. Vast, twenty foot wide pinions of pure might and conceptual ego, they propelled him through the void so quickly that Pluto was soon a distant speck, even to his immaculate vision.

Still, Neptune was billions of miles away from Pluto. It took Jacob about twelve hours to make the journey from the edge of the Solar System to the azure gas giant, which all things considered, was incredibly quick. With his wing skill, he could move at up to four times his normal running speed, and with a deft application of his Authority, space itself bent around him. He estimated he was traveling at about a third the speed of light, though he was barely able to keep up with that speed. His perception was still keyed to his stats, meaning that this sort of speed would be useless in an actual fight.

By the time he reached Neptune, Jacob was itching for a fight. Half a day of traversing the emptiness of space was grating on his nerves. He wasn't used to feeling slow, what with his incredible power. Despite this, just his own Solar System made him feel inadequate. The universe was incomprehensibly vaster. It really served to show him his place in the cosmic hierarchy, and just how far he had to go.

Jacob plunged into Neptune like a child into a swimming pool, rocketing down through the layers of gas and into the liquid layer beneath. The intense cold did nothing to him, his stats a million times greater than any pre-System human. It felt a bit chilly, true, but it was almost refreshing.

At the very center of the planet was what he was looking for. Unlike Sam, Jacob had done his research on the Interweb on the way out. World Dungeons always coalesced in the center of planets, and with that knowledge, he was able to find it in a matter of moments.

He entered the glistening orb of light without hesitation. Space warped around him, and he found himself standing on a tiny island in the middle of a vast, frigid sea. Icebergs the size of moons crashed together in the distance, a constant noise like thunder filling the air.

You have entered Neptune's World Dungeon!

Hyperborean Seas: Mid D Rank

These seas are vast beyond belief, an elemental plane formed by the intersection of a higher order Water dimensional pocket and an conceptually inverted Fire realm. The result is billions of miles of tractless ocean, cooled to a bare fraction above absolute zero. Beware, for these waters can harm even you. To clear this dungeon, you must defeat the four guardians of the Solar Forge, reunite its fragments and make this world inhabitable once more.

In the distance, in each of the cardinal directions, a pillar of orange light pierced the heavens above. Just looking in its direction filled Jacob with a boundless warmth. It was obvious where the Solar Forge fragments were. He simply had to get to them.

The Genesis Disc

It took Sam hours of constant fighting to discover that none of the three species inhabiting the World Dungeon had any desire to work with him. They were unilaterally aggressive, attacking on sight. The few that he had managed to talk to practically breathed vitriol, spewing tirades of hatred at him as they threw themselves at him. The only thing they seemed to hate more than each other were outsiders.

"Surrender?" the towering rhino-man, whom Sam had learned were called Gytharki, bellowed. His body was a bloody ruin, his entire torso caved in and his legs missing. Still, the D Ranker was resolute, dragging himself towards Sam across the ground. The bodies of his fellows lay all around him, thousands of them strewn across the rocky ground, some in more than one piece.

"You can't defeat me," Sam reasoned, spinning Worldbreaker around in his hand. "I just want to clear this dungeon. I don't have to kill everyone here. The other two species are impossible to reason with. At least you're actually listening to me."

"Do you think any of us will ally with the monster who has slain entire armies? The honor of the Gytharki will only be restored with your death!"

Sam sighed, and with a deceptively small flick of his wrist, sent Worldbreaker smashing into the Gytharki's temple. A flash of Dao energy took his head off, before the hammer atomized the rest of his body. While the man had been D Rank, he wasn't especially powerful, and was only a few levels above 250.

Still, the essence Sam gained was useful. He was inching up towards the next level, though it was maddeningly slow for how many people he had killed in the dungeon.

Given the size of the Genesis Disc, he wasn't sure when he would be finished. Even with the 25 times slower passage of time, his tasks were monumental. Either killing everyone in the dungeon, or ensuring their surrender, was easier said than done. The first option seemed almost impossible, which was why he was trying to force a surrender.

To actually achieve that goal, Sam would have to find the leaders of each species, and cow them utterly. If he just killed them, his path out of the dungeon would be too difficult. He was probably stronger than everyone here, but given the size, it would take far longer than he had to destroy everything. Besides, he didn't really want to do that if it wasn't necessary.

Sam leaped into the air, breaking through the sound barrier as he ascended into the sky. He needed to find a large city. That was where he had the highest chance of encountering some sort of leader, no matter which species it belonged to.

As Sam sped through the clouds, he used his Worldsense, before realizing that the Genesis Disc was so large that his eyesight was more efficient. He started scanning the horizon, but it took nearly half an hour of flying before he found what he was looking for.

A single scale, propped up at an angle, formed the tallest mountain Sam had seen so far in the dungeon. It was dozens of miles high, and served as the base for a city so large that it would have dwarfed any on Earth. Sam narrowed his eyes, using his superhuman perception to analyze the city. It was filled with Gytharki, but to his surprise, there were children there, not just warriors. Rather than being a military outpost, this city seemed to be a hub of civilization for the Gytharki species.

As Sam neared, a shimmering dome of energy sprang up around the city, coming from lines of glyphs that stretched across the landscape. A dozen specks of golden light erupted from the center of the city, rising up from a gothic style castle.

Sam felt the auras of mid D Rankers coming his way, about as strong as Zeredran had been. Still, he had defeated the demon lord with ease, even before his recent upgrades.

"You dare to come here?" a booming voice rang out from the city as a Gytharki, twice as large as the rest, rose up to join the other twelve.

Sam instantly tensed. The aura coming from him was far stronger than any of the others, easily as powerful as all of them combined. He teleported to the edge of the shield to get a better look.

Each of the thirteen Gytharki were clad in thick plate armor, differing from the others Sam had seen. Most of the rhino people went barechested, wearing only loincloths or simple cloth pants. Their weapons were the same, however, large, brutish armaments that complemented their natural strength.

The largest one, their leader, held a hammer in both hands, not unlike Sam's own. It was made from dark iron, with brutal spikes covering the entire weapon, save for the places where the Gytharki held it. A dark, violent flame burned around the hammer's head, promising bloodshed.

"I came here to ensure your people's surrender," Sam replied eventually. "Is this your capital?"

"Surrender?" one of the others barked out, laughing. "You weak-

He was cut off by a sharp glare from his leader. "This is the man who has already slain thousands of our number. If nothing else, respect his strength. I will deal with him."

Sam crossed his arms, letting his hammer fall to the side. It shrunk as it fell, before being caught by a loop of Dao energy that formed from the side of his hip. For this interaction, he wanted to project as much strength as possible. It was the only way that he would be able to intimidate the Gytharki enough to ensure surrender.

The leader drifted forward, before accelerating a thousandfold in a second. He blasted through the barrier and stopped just before hitting Sam. The two men stared one another down for a moment, before accepting that neither would back away.

"You can't beat me," Sam declared. "But you can survive. It's your choice."

"You seem to like talking a lot when you cannot simply butcher your foes," the Gytharki spat. "Did you enjoy your slaughtering of my people?"

Sam shook his head. "I didn't enjoy a moment of it. They attacked me first. All I need is to complete this dungeon. You must simply surrender, and I can do that without bloodshed."

The Gytharki scoffed. "Your journey ends here. I am Graxus, first amongst the Gytharki. You will never defeat me."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "How about we make a bet, then? If I can bring you to the brink of death, you surrender, and so do your people. You can help me convince the others, then."

Graxus furrowed his brow. "And if you lose? What then?"

Sam laughed. "If I lose, I'll be dead. I won't surrender. You have my word on that."

Graxus curled his lips up in a rictus grin, like a man ready to do whatever it took for what he believed in. "Fine. When your battered corpse lies on the ground beneath me, I will rest easy, for my legend will never die."

Sam said nothing, electing to grasp Worldbreaker instead. The hammer expanded until it was at its resting size, about as tall as Sam was. He pointed it at Graxus, waiting for the Gytharki to make the first move.

To Sam's surprise, the hulking rhino man started to chant, guttural syllables blending into one another until he couldn't understand them. Rays of sunlight seemed to break through gaps in reality, surrounding Graxus in a nexus of raw power.

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"I can do that too," Sam declared, and used Dao Juggernaut. The sky around him shattered as his Dao Sapling pulsed within his chest. The difference between using his Unique skill in E Rank and D Rank was palpable. Like a new heart, his Dao Sapling Core beat within him, wave after wave of power bringing his strength to new heights.

With a roar of indignant rage, Graxus exploded into motion. For one moment his body seemed to slip away, merging with the image of a blazing sun. Then he was in front of Sam, his hammer descending with all of the weight and power of a collapsing star.

Sam roared in return, and swung Worldbreaker up to meet the blow. More Dao energy than he had ever possessed in E Rank filled his hammer, and when it struck Graxus' weapon, it seemed to fill with a life of its own. Faster than Sam could move, his hammer battered the Gytharki's defence aside, slamming into his gut. Worldbreaker was on a different level to anything Sam had used before, or indeed, even seen. It was a weapon with the power evident in its name, and as Graxus folded in half around it, his leathery skin turning to ash, he realized that.

The Gytharki flew backwards, slamming into the forcefield surrounding his city. It flickered from the immense power of the impact, and bent around him,

Sam followed through, a geyser of raw power exploding from his left hand as he used Rage of a World Unbound. Empowered by a Dao Sapling, it was far stronger than it ever had been before. Graxus only was able to push himself out of the way at the last moment, right before the beam punched through the force field.

With a snap of his fingers, Sam unbound the technique, both a testament to his control and a show of power. Besides, if there was to be any hope of reconciliation, he didn't want to destroy a city filled with civilians and children.

"I'm glad you aren't a pushover!' Graxus bellowed, a note of joy in his voice. "I can actually go all out!"

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Really? Show me then. What else do you have to offer?" So far, the Gytharki leader had hardly been an impressive figure, serving as more of a punching bag than anything else.

Graxus dropped to the ground, and his body started to shift and morph. Sam let him do it, curious about what was to come next. Within the span of a second, Graxus had become a titanic rhinoceros, almost fifty feet tall at the shoulders. His body was covered in brutish muscle and layered spikes, making him look more like an armored tank than anything else.

Pawing at the ground, Graxus released a wave of energy that flattened the ground around him. He started to stomp rhythmically, building power. Each stomp caused his muscles to grow, and a strange density gathered in the air around him, reaching out towards Sam.

Sam twirled his hammer uneasily, growing it out until it was about a hundred feet long. Something about the way Graxus was looking at him unnerved him. It wasn't the gaze of an underdog, making a final stand. It was the gaze of a predator looking at prey.

Bellowing in primal fury, Graxus exploded into motion. A vast drift of earth and stone flew up behind him, crashing into the shield. A small mountain formed in a moment, piled up against the energy bulwark.

Graxus' horn glowed like the core of a star, whiting out the rest of his body. Sam only had a moment to prepare before the rhino crashed into his already swinging hammer.

To Sam's surprise, his weapon was knocked backwards, and Graxus crashed into him with so much force that Sam felt the air thicken behind him. Then he blasted through the sound barrier and into the clouds above. His body was like jelly, every fragment of flesh shaken into mush. A second later, Sam was a thousand miles above the ground, floating in the void of space.

His regeneration kicked in, and the damage was reversed in moments. Sam's perfect results on the Trial of the Immortal Body ensured that he was able to return to fighting condition at speeds that would make most at his level weep in jealousy.

"FACE ME!" Graxus roared, the noise echoing all the way up into the void. "COWARD!"

Sam gritted his teeth in fury, stoking the flames of his Dao. Now that he had a worthy opponent, he was looking forward to going all out. The previous few exchanges had merely served to test the waters. Now he was ready to dive into the sunless depths.

"I'd recommend moving away from your city, unless you want it to fall!" Sam roared back, projecting his voice with the power of his Dao.

He received a derisive snort, but he saw the light of Graxus horn vanish and appear a few thousand miles away from his city, in the middle of a desolate mountain range. Sam grinned. Now he could fight.

Sam gripped Worldbreaker as tightly as he could, sending the weapon shooting out to its full size. The monolithic head of the hammer dwarfed Sam, glinting in the light of the stars. In the distance, the sun was beginning to rise, adding another layer of radiance to the metal's reflection.

"Manifestation of Vengeance!" Sam bellowed, and sent an ocean of the Dao surging into his weapon. He started layering buffs on himself, crystalline armor surrounding him even as shafts of glittering light pierced his body. Then he started his descent, peeling the air apart in front of him with his Authority.

Accelerating faster than a rocket, Sam blasted downwards, gathering speed and momentum. By the time he was halfway to the ground, his hammer looked like a falling star. He reached the ground a few milliseconds later, only having time to see Graxus leaping up, his horn aimed right at the center of Worldbreaker. The rhino had continued to grow in Sam's absence, now the size of a small mountain. The air around him warped from the Gytharki's sheer presence.

The hammer and horn hit a moment later with the noise of thunder. The air split apart at the impact point, and a disc of sheer force sliced through the mountain range, shearing the mountains in half. The two attacks were so equally matched that for a few moments, there was no motion at all. Then Sam bore down, using his superior leverage to his advantage. It felt like he was trying to hammer a nail into a diamond, but after a few tense seconds, he forced Graxus out of the way. The Gytharki's horn bent to the side, and Worldbreaker slammed into his face. Like a bullet the size of a skyscraper, Graxus shot down into the earth. A tidal wave of churned mud, calcified shell and stone spread in every direction, and the very world beneath him shattered. Sam felt the reverberations in the air even from a few dozen miles up, blasting him away.

As the dust of eons worth of accumulated earth and stone settled, Sam saw Graxus struggling to his feet, the gigantic rhino somehow even larger than he had been before. Now that Sam had a moment to breathe, he analyzed his foe's Dao. As he was beginning to suspect, Graxus' Dao allowed him to turn physical damage into size and weight, coming closer to some evolutionary peak of his species. It was honestly quite impressive that Graxus had survived Sam's strike, and without too much damage either. This was another caliber of foe to the ones that Sam was used to. Sam grinned. All that meant was that he had to grow to match the challenge.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Graxus bellowed. As he spoke, vast, leathery wings exploded from his back. Sam frowned. Perhaps his initial assessment about Graxus' abilities had been wrong. This certainly wasn't something natural to the Gytharki species.

With the resolution to fight harder, Sam gathered his power, looking beyond simple brute strength. His strongest skill had only served to injure his foe, not able to take Graxus out of the fight. With his Dao Sapling, it was time for an upgrade.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Sam's mind raced, connections forming between his Dao and his skills. Manifestation of Vengeance was a flashy and powerful skill, but at its core, it was quite simple. Sam's will and resolve to avenge the wrongs committed against himself and his allies, combined with the power to achieve that goal. It was strong, to say the least, but when matched up against powerful D Rankers, it was lacking.

Sam's new concept of Karmic Vengeance was a lot more nuanced than his ideal of the Avenger. It went beyond his own emotions and beliefs and tapped into universal truths. That made it far more powerful, but also harder to use. A Dao Sapling could never be considered weak, but it was much stronger when Sam's foes possessed negative karma, especially against him. The ceiling for power growth was much higher than he had ever had the chance to explore, as it would require vast atrocities to be committed against not just him but those he held dear. Still... That sort of power could destroy a civilization, and maybe even the planet it lived on.

Graxus beat his wings, a windstorm sweeping away vast clouds of dust in every direction. Another flap sent him rocketing up, his immense body improbably slicing through the air before him. Sam realized that Graxus was using his Authority to erase the air pressure, much the same way Sam had earlier.

"My Dao is that of the Landslide!" Graxus roared, demonstrating a seeming inability to talk at a normal volume. Then again, he was the size of a small city. Perhaps such restraint was impossible for a creature that large. "It grows from adversity, never stopping, and never ceasing. Your attacks only serve to strengthen me. Now I will show you the weight of the angry earth, crashing down upon its enemies!"

Sam ignored most of Graxus' boasts, instead focusing on the relevant parts. Against a concept like Landslide, Sam had little options in terms of fanciful Dao trickery. While natural law type concepts were less efficient against other cultivators, and had less utility, they were very hard to impede without the use of brute force. Sam couldn't convince Graxus that his Dao was flawed, as he had done against other foes. He had to be the indomitable bulwark that guarded civilization from the wrath of the elements, a wall of implacable might able to stand against the world.

Worldbreaker shrunk and expanded in a moment, Sam finding it easier to reposition the massive weapon by compressing it and pointing it in the direction that he wanted to orient it. Layers of Earth elemental energy began to condense across the hammer. For his next attack, Sam didn't plan on using his hammer as it was designed. Instead, it would simply be a focal point for him to launch his true assault.

Sam drew upon his Dao Sapling, his vision splitting as he imbued Worldsense with its power. Graxus' body lit up with strands of golden light, some thicker than others. They sped off into the distance, and as Sam focused, he identified them as karmic ties between the Gytharki and his people. There were some strands of red light, far fewer in number. One connected Sam and Graxus, quite thick for a conduit that hadn't even existed for ten minutes. The weight of millions of lives and futures rested on it, though, from both the Gytharki that Graxus represented and Sam's own people.

With the grievances of both fighters so plain to see, Sam had ample opportunity to draw upon his Dao of Karmic Retribution. Like a magnet, Worldbreaker locked into place along the line of energy, pointing directly at Graxus. Almost unbidden, Sam's Dao core started to exude power, drawn straight into his weapon. Going along with the preexisting karmic thread, Sam decided to use it as the targeting mechanism and channel for his technique.

Sam's Dao core pulsed as a titanic wave of power was torn from it. His chest exploded in crimson flame as his Dao Sapling forced its way into the world. All around him, a suit of spectral armor formed, carved in the likeness of a hellish demon, come to collect the souls of the damned. That suit billowed out, growing and growing as Sam fueled it. Then it snapped back like a star before a supernova, and formed into a tiny marble of compressed might. The sphere of Dao energy sank into the handle of Worldbreaker and the entire weapon lit up.

The air around the hammer pulsed rhythmically like a heartbeat and with the noise of a thunderbolt, it fired off a thin beam straight down the karmic thread linking Sam and Graxus. The air boiled around it, but the power containment was so great that the technique wasted no more energy than an F Ranker could have fired off.

Graxus' eyes widened, so slowly that it was almost comical. His entire face was weighed down with layer after layer of thick armor, making any facial expressions extremely difficult to make. He shifted his horn, pointing it at the center of the incoming beam.

Sam grinned as his technique swerved, moving along the same unerring track towards Graxus' underbelly. A moment later it struck home, and the Gytharki's entire body shone with the brilliance of a bonfire the size of a mountain. The ray of light pierced through Graxus and out the other end, skimming along the world beneath. Wherever it touched, the ground was erased and great scars formed on the surface of the Genesis Disc. Lines of explosions followed in its wake, tearing apart a landmass the size of a continent. The air became fire and ash, before collapsing as the air vanished, sucking everything in from the resulting vacuum. The horizon darkened, pillars of dust rising up into the sky at the very edges of the devastation.

Graxus fell from the sky like a dragon with its wings clipped, his immense body casting a colossal shadow on the ground beneath. His eyes rolled up in his head. The Gytharki's entire torso was gone, a hole nearly bisecting his body entirely. Sam let gravity tug him down, angling his descent to follow Graxus. A System message pulled at his attention, and he quickly opened it

You have upgraded a skill!

Manifestation of Vengeance: Primal -> Descent of the Heavenly Judge: Ethereal

Every living thing possesses karma. Some are saints of the highest order, blazing with the spiritual glory of a life led without wrongdoing. Most, however, are mediocre at the best and sinners at the worst. Tapping into the nature of Karmic Retribution, you may now exact the judgement of Heaven upon your foes, acting as an arbiter of cosmic will. This technique is impossible to avoid, but the damage will exponentially decrease the less karmic debt your foe has to you. Against the truly virtuous, it will deal no damage at all. Though a demon is needed to punish the wicked, be sure that though channeling that demon's power, you do not become it in truth.

Graxus hit the ground like a meteor, a shockwave tearing through the remnants left behind from the fight. Chunks of shattered stone and splinters from trees shot up into the air around him, falling like rain upon the landscape. Sam landed beside the Gytharki, watching as Graxus shrunk back to his usual size. The wound remained, stubbornly resisting the D Ranker's healing. Red energy danced across its edges, preventing any regeneration from taking effect.

"Well?" Sam asked softly, looking down at Graxus' prone form. "Will you surrender now?"

Graxus groaned, shifting slightly to look at the shattered horizon before him. He sighed and nodded. "The Gytharki… will stand with you." Then his eyes closed and he fell unconscious at Sam's feet.

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