Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 140: Dao Seeds

He let the demon stay curious as he looked at his current status.

Name

Zachary Atwood

Level

54

Class

Hatchetman (F)

Race

Human (E)

Alignment

Human (Earth)

Titles

Born for Carnage, Ultimate Reaper, Luck of the Draw, Giantsbane, Disciple of David, Overpowered, Slayer of Leviathans, Adventurer, Demon Slayer I, Full of Class, Rarified Being, Trailblazer, Child of Dao, The Big 500, Planetary Aegis, One Against Many, Butcher

Dao

Seed of Heaviness - Middle, Seed of Trees - Early, Seed of Sharpness - Early

Strength

287

Dexterity

144

Endurance

187

Vitality

109

Intelligence

69

Wisdom

64

Luck

77

Free Points

0

Nexus Coins

308 353

Zac could only grimace as he saw his Nexus Coins. He had felt extremely wealthy when he possessed over twenty million coins and went to buy the four Creator vessels, but in just a few hours he’d spent around 17 million with the help of the insatiable little merchant. He couldn’t help but glare at the Sky Gnome, who studiously examined the roof after seeing Zac’s face.

Zac knew that he would benefit from it in the end unless the gnome messed up badly, but it still left a bad taste in his mouth. Together with the expenditure of the boats he was almost completely tapped out. Of course, he could convert some of his Nexus Crystals to quickly gain back what he spent and more, so he wasn’t too worried.

Next, he opened up his Dao window to see how it looked.

Heaviness Middle Strength +15, Endurance +10, Wisdom +5

Sharpness Early Dexterity +10, Intelligence +5

Trees Early Endurance +5, Vitality +10

The total attribute reward from the Dao Seed had only doubled but he knew that would be the case, so he wasn’t disappointed. The reward would keep doubling at Late, then Peak Mastery. Finally it would get a large boost if it was evolved or fused. This time he was given +5 Strength, +5 Endurance and +5 Wisdom, likely due to the psychological aspect of the heaviness he gained insight into.

Then again, the extra attributes were only a small bonus from the system. The main boosts came from the usage in battle. Adding the force of a middle-ranked Dao Seed compared to an early would be quite a boost.

And that wasn’t even all. Zac looked over at the demon and with a small smile unleashed his Dao.

“Urh… What the hell?” Ogras said, with a face looking like he’d just bitten into a lemon. “What’s up with your Dao of Heaviness?”

It was the Dao Field he finally was able to emit. It looked like he could only extend it a bit over two meters, but that would improve with time. At the same time, two meters was all that was needed in a melee confrontation.

“I just added the aspect of Heaviness I gained from my insights,” Zac said.

“So weird. You chose emotional heaviness? Don’t get too maudlin and go killing yourself, ok? But I have to admit it is a pretty interesting addition to your Dao Seed. It will even serve as a mental attack apart from a normal restriction if you hit someone with your Dao Field in the middle of battle,” Ogras mused.

Everyone’s Dao Seeds weren’t the same. Even if Heaviness was a low tiered Seed it was a vast concept. Zac had clearly felt it during his epiphany, and his current seed only consisted of two small snippets of a larger whole. The two parts he had gained insights into created his unique Dao Seed. A peak Seed was only a couple of more parts added to his current insight.

If he wanted to delve further into that Dao he would have to upgrade it from a seed to a real Dao Path. He wasn’t sure whether he would do that though, or try to fuse it with sharpness at an earlier point. All in all, there was no right or wrong path when it came to Dao, only suitable and unsuitable.

Of course, if you were following a heritage guide there would be a wrong and right choice. Sometimes one or two parts of the Dao Seed usually needed to correspond to the requirement for the Class upgrade, with the remaining ones enabling some customization to personal preference.

Apparently, there were even more stringent classes though, where all parts needed to match. Generally, the more specific classes and the higher rarity ones had more stringent requirements, whereas the common classes were more forgiving.

In Zac’s case there was no roadmap, and he could only hope that there was some Class waiting for him at the end of the tunnel. If not he would have to take some risks to rack up achievements or meditate in order to gain more insight into his Daos or gain new ones.

Zac simply followed his heart, as he had no real way to gauge what any potential Class upgrade would require. He gained insight into a mental component of heaviness through his harsh experiences, and that was what was added. If he kept going down that path he might turn into a spectral axeman instead, whose strikes cleaved souls rather than the physical bodies.

Suddenly he noticed something was off. Only their small group was sitting in the sofas, as the rest of the venue was empty.

“What’s going on? How long was I out?”

“I don’t know? An hour?” Ogras shrugged. “They started their information meeting not long after you Zoned out. Since you were out of it the insect and the old man went inside. We figured they’d be safe after your little outburst earlier, so we stayed behind here. Not like those guys will tell us anything we didn’t already know.”

Calrin nodded, looking a bit bored.

“So how did it go, did you finish your quest?” Zac asked, a flash of irritation once again rushing through his mind as he was reminded of his almost completely emptied bank account.

“I need to resell the items first, but I believe I will make it. The quest was for me to triple my… ehm, your… money, and I believe that will be possible. Depending on the skills of your demon craftsmen it might get even higher, but they don’t seem very skilled,” Calrin said looking a bit proud.

“What are you smiling for? Rob me like that again and you better never leave your ratty compound again or I’ll find you and show you the Thousand Tortures,” Ogras snarled.

“Brutes,” Calrin only muttered, but he still shrunk down a bit.

“I will need my Nexus Coins back before the wave starts. You have three days,” Zac only said.

“30%. I can return 30% before the wave, any more than that and I’ll be forced to sell at a discount, which will hurt both you and me.”

Zac only stared at him for a while before sighing.

“50%. Not a penny less.”

The Sky Gnome hemmed and hawed, but Zac was adamant about that level, and finally the little merchant could only acquiesce.

Zac once again closed his eyes after some more small talk, wanting to acquaint himself better with his new and improved Seed. He was eager to find out whether his guidance system from [Axe Mastery] would be able to adapt to the new aspect of his insights, but now was not the time to start swinging his axe around. He could see the pathways, but others could not, so it would look like he had gone insane and started to attack everything around him.

The sound door of the doors opening to the venue woke Zac up from his meditation, and after a bit he saw Sap Trang and Ibtep hurry back toward them.

“Ah it’s good you feel better,” Mr. Trang said as he looked relieved.

“Better?” Zac said with some confusion.

“Ah yes, I told you not to drink that much. Passing out with your attributes, embarrassing,” Ogras said with a shake of his head.

It seemed the two were putting up a play, but for who Zac had no idea, still he could only play along and hesitantly nod.

“Was there any useful information?” Zac asked Mr. Trang.

“Not much, most of it came from us, to be honest. They have released an updated version of the computer program you showed me the other day. It more clearly shows the Incursion zones. They also provided a decent amount of detail about each and every Incursion, and even provided dockets,” the fisherman answered, showing a pretty thick stack of papers.

“They also brought up new information from Ibtep. However, though they didn’t mention you at all. They only said that an ally of the government had provided the info. They never gave Port Atwood any credit,” he said with a frown.

“That’s okay, i didn’t share it to gain anything from it. I simply wanted people to be aware of the situation, so they could start preparing themselves,” Zac said with a wave of his hand.

“You should be a bit more caring in the future. That information was valuable, and it would have helped boost our reputation. While it might not seem important, but the image the commoners hold of us might become essential in the future. If we come to conflict with the World Government, what then? Whose side would the people take? The government who, at least from the looks of it, tirelessly is fighting against the invaders? Or us, the unknown force?” Ogras said.

“Ok, ok. I’ll be more selfish the next time. Was there anything else? Did they talk about the teleporters or anything like that?” Zac asked.

“No, but it seems they have some big plan, they alluded to it multiple times during the presentation. I think they’ll tell us more in the last part.”

Zac nodded as he looked at the three aliens in the party.

“I’ll go to the last meeting, you stay with these three, Mr. Trang. There are a few Ishiate who will come with us back, please arrange things with them. They are actually cultivators originally from one of the two towns we found and might be a great help in bringing them into our fold.”

Soon the break was over, and people once again streamed into the venue. This time it was only the humans, and Zac saw the Ishiate being shown to a side-area by some attendants.

He went to his original position and nodded to Nigel who sat beside a snoring Billy. He looked over at the Marshals, but the trio was pointedly ignoring him this time. He wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or peeved but simply shrugged it off. Ogras’ lesson was still fresh in his mind, but he knew he still didn’t possess the means to act and talk in a manner that gave away no information. So he was happy being left alone.

Thomas Fisher walked up to the stage with his group, and the murmurs in the venue died down.

“Welcome back to the last segment of today’s activities, and perhaps the most important one. Those here today are a significant portion of the world’s elite, with over twenty of the rankers present in this room,” Thomas said, creating some surprised murmurs.

“Humans are beset on all fronts by enemies. And let me be honest. They are stronger than us, they are more used to Cosmic Energy, and they are more brutal. In less than half a year only twenty percent of humanity is still alive, and it honestly looks bleak. But we are not without hope.

“A large reason why the invaders can run rampant is that there haven’t been concentrated and organized efforts in rebuffing them. The local forces have fought valiantly, but they have stood alone against a vastly superior force. Too many brave men and women have already died in this ignoble way.

“The solution is simple. We need to unite and fight as one entity. Alone we might be weak, but together we will stand strong. And we have found a way to make this happen.”