His plans were dashed a moment later as a beam of searing light shot up from a weapons battery on the side of the mountain. The air before it flashed as it was ignited, giving Sam a moment of warning. He teleported out of the way, only to be tossed aside like a ragdoll as a wave of expanding gasses hissed out in every direction. The sky collapsed back in on itself around the path of the laser, the vacuum disappearing.

Sam snarled, and sped up, trying to get to safety before it was too late. More of the weapons embankments targeted him, blasts of crimson energy streaking across the sky in pursuit. He dodged and weaved, but they just kept coming, in greater and greater quantities. A mere three seconds later, Sam had to dodge through dozens of the bolts, which was almost impossible, even for him.

Time stretched on towards infinity as Sam continued to press against the limits of his perception. Without pausing, he flitted like a wraith through the energy beams, each one powerful enough to severely injure him. Being struck by multiple would be a death sentence, plain and simple.

The various weapons embankments hummed as they charged up more and more projectiles. It almost seemed to Sam that the entire side of the city was on fire, with hundreds of the cannons firing at once. He paled. What sort of threats were the people of this world dealing with that something like this was seen as necessary? It was clearly some sort of automated structure, as it wasn't possible that all of this was for him. He was strong, sure, but not that strong.

A few more hurried teleports took him to the side of the mountain. It was far larger at this close range than it had ever looked before. He set foot on the side of a building, and finally, the cascading rain of fire stopped. Sighing in relief, he leaped off, heading into the town. It was time to see what the System had in store for him.

Hearing hurried footsteps nearby, moving at an E Ranker's pace, Sam made himself scarce, heading down an alleyway at high speed. Leaping up above the roofs, he teleported in a different direction, landing above the roof of what looked like a tavern. He hopped down, gave a nonchalant wave to a drunk curiously gazing at him, and slid into the establishment. It was as good a place as any to hide out for a bit, and find out what he needed to do.

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His quest updated, but the next goal did not yet appear. Without any guidance, Sam assumed that he would need to investigate a bit.

"You hear about the invasion?" Sam heard a man saying to another near the counter of the bar. He was vaguely humanoid, with an angular, almost crystalline appearance. His facial features were like daggers, and his fingers were literally so, long razors of bone.

The second man was a human, more notable for a long strip of neon yellow hair that parted his more normal looking brown crop."I did. An entire island, gone, just like that. Those damned raiders are getting too bold. Sovereign Elvras needs to do something about that, and soon."

"What can he do, though?" The original speaker said.

By this point, Sam was standing right behind the twosome, pretending that he was getting ready to order something. Looking around, noticing that everyone else had beers in hand, Sam shrugged, and did so.

"One of whatever he's having," Sam said, pointing vaguely along the counter. Then he sat down, right next to the two men who had captured his interest. The human, dressed in an odd combination of purple pants and a yellow shirt, flashed a quick glance at him. Then he looked away just as quickly.

"If this continues, conscription is going to come back into effect," the alien answered. "Every able bodied E Ranker, and maybe even high F Rankers, will be forced to fight."

Sam idly drummed his fingers on the stained wooden counter, watching as the bartender filled up a pint for him. As the beer arrived, he didn't look up, continuing to listen to the conversation.

"Gods damned cultists," the sharp-figured alien exclaimed, shaking his head. "Their "outer god" can go work as a whore for one of the Supremes, for all that I care about it. I mean, it calls itself the Dreamer." He scoffed. "Yeah, dreaming that it can actually do more than annoy real cultivators."

"Real cultivators," the human said drily. "You could take on a C Ranker?"

"No, but I could beat up a few cultists."

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