Six years after the previous incident.


    “Come on ‘Jaz, hurry up.” Ares’ voice had become noticeably deeper and his appearance had really doubled down on the whole rugged aesthetic. His looks were sharp with a mix of might and majesty and the Stygian Zephyr had grown alongside him, only further supplementing his almost-regal presence. He was wearing a black, long-sleeved denim shirt with a plain white undershirt and black shorts. Ares typically avoided clothing that would inhibit his mobility so his attire was usually light, comfortable, and easy to move around in even if the casualness of it all didn’t quite match his almost-noble aura. Either way, it made him look more approachable… Well it would if it weren’t for the ever present hint of smug cockiness that had taken root within his eyes. All in all, time had done some good for Ares as he was arguably handsome in his own right now. Well, at least when not compared to a certain someone.


    “Aw come on, can’t you just slow down?” Aejaz was the textbook definition of handsome, so much so that he raised the bar to heights unattainable by most. His skin was pure white and flawless without a single blemish, the kind of skin that would make even women jealous. His face was the main contributor to his devilish good-looks and gave off an impish vibe if you searched deep enough behind his outward innocence. His facial features could not have fit on his face more perfectly even if a god had attempted to craft Aejaz personally. To put it bluntly, he dwarfed Ares in comparison, but that wasn’t necessarily saying much as he dwarfed essentially everyone under the sun. Had Aejaz not been dragging his heels and chasing after a shopkeep who had no interest in him whatsoever, he would have been extraordinarily popular. He wore a thin white linen shirt, with enough buttons undone to show off a small part of his chest, alongside black trousers and a golden spiral cuff bracelet on his right am. Most notably, he wore a necklace with a palm-sized tusk on it. Aejaz was obstinate about wearing the tusk, it was a symbol of pride for him and served as a reminder of his first great achievement a few years back.


    Sometime after Ares recovered from the impaling six years ago, Aejaz trained his thievery to the point he could steal a tusk from a living sabretooth’s mouth without even waking it up from its slumber. It was his first major accomplishment in the aspect of thievery, giving the tusk a special place in his metaphorical heart and around his literal neck.


    “No, if I do, we''ll be late. Maybe if you hadn’t spent all night gambling, you wouldn''t have overslept.”


    “Hey don’t be like that, I earned us some stardust again!”


    “I still don’t agree with you stealing the stardust back whenever you lose. Besides, what’s the point of having stardust if you’re just going to get suckered into spending it all at the tailor shop again?”


    “Whoa, hey, you leave Missy out of this. She’s a lovely lady and would never flirt with a customer just to make a sale.”


    “Sureeee. Well, whatever, I know I can definitely make it in time if I leave you behind.”


    “Hold on, we can talk about this, brother.”


    “Oh, now it''s ‘brother’ huh? When you want to borrow stardust it’s ‘brother’. When you want to go visit Missy instead of doing your training it’s ‘brother’, but when I finally chase you down and make you train, it’s ‘Ares’. Fine, I won’t ditch you, but if your lazy-ass doesn’t pass the sect’s entrance exam I’m going to kick the stardust out of you.” Ares shook his head and gave up. Aejaz had become almost excessively casual and loved loafing around whenever he wasn’t ‘busy’ trying to figure out how he would go about one day creating his very own paradise. Ares still indulged him though as he wasn’t the type of person to force anyone to do anything they really didn’t want to. He didn’t have to anyway as Aejaz was a surprisingly quick learner and could already hold his own in a fight, even if Aejaz did everything in his power to avoid conflict. Aejaz had also assured Ares that he was currently creating thievery aspect arts that could be used in combat, so Ares trusted him and avoided pestering Aejaz too much about training.


    Aejaz smiled and gave Ares a thumbs up as a way of saying thanks. At least if they were both late, he wouldn’t be the only one to catch flack and be glared at by everyone. Aejaz was a strange existence in that he was in a permanent state of identity crisis. Part of him loved attention, but his inner thief utterly detested it. Perhaps this was the reason why he sometimes became such a showy and extravagant con-man, brazenly swindling people in broad daylight; and why at other times he’d steal from people in the dead of night without leaving a single trace.


    Half an hour later, both Ares and Aejaz arrived at the sect gates. The guards outside queried them before briefly admonishing them for being late and finally letting them in. On the way, Ares had used his nothingness movement art ‘Shift’ to speed up their journey by instantaneously crossing small distances repeatedly. In the end, they were only seven minutes late. Although Shifting used up some of his mana, it wouldn''t be consequential enough to have any effect on his chances of success in the exam. It was worth it as, if they’d taken too long and arrived much later, they wouldn''t have been allowed to take the test this time around.


    They wound up outside a large hall and gave each other a quick fist bump as something of a good luck gesture before going in. Although they were confident they would end up passing, they didn’t know what the test was and weren’t so conceited that they thought failing was impossible. It could be a test of pure luck for all they know.


    After entering, they noticed a small checkpoint with two devices and a large book sitting on a desk. There was an Elder behind the checkpoint and further back there was another Elder leading the examinees to the other end of the hall.


    The Elder behind the checkpoint was wearing a light grey robe and had a crafty aura to him. He had just snapped the book shut as the two had walked in. He sighed to himself before opening the book up again. The Elder behind the checkpoint slightly twisted his neck and called out, “Wait a minute Teng, two more just arrived,” the Elder’s voice caused all the exam participants to turn around and scowl at Ares and Aejaz. The Elders didn’t seem particularly bothered though as they were fairly used to this situation after countless years of experience. As long as people weren’t unreasonably late, they were willing to be a little lenient.


    “Hahaha. I told you not to put the book away, Rud. The latecomers get you every year.” Elder Teng was an easy-going middle-aged man in a brown leather jacket and beige trousers.


    “Let a man dream, Teng. One day I’ll get some time to rest.”


    “No rest for the wicked.”


    “Bah, you’re just saying that because I cut your wages again.” Elder Rud turned to face Ares and Aejaz. “Alright fellas come on over, I don’t bite. I won’t ask why you’re late, but do try to be timelier in the future, alright?”


    “My apologies.” Ares kept his apology simple.


    “Sorry Elder.” Aejaz did not. Although his words were simple, it was the fact that he had the Elder’s book in his hands that really threw everyone for a loop. The hall went completely silent as everyone stared at Aejaz, completely mystified. It wasn’t even necessarily because he had stolen the book, although that was certainly impressive, it was because no one even saw him do it. “This book is huge and yet it’s so light!” Aejaz’ compulsion to steal was borderline unstoppable and it was basically his raison d''être, but thankfully Ares had already somewhat expected this to some extent.


    Slap


    Without blinking or even turning his neck to face Aejaz, Ares palmed the back of his brother’s head, took the book off him, and handed it back to the surprised Elder in one fluid motion with practiced movements. Ares was incredibly well-versed in returning stolen goods after years of correcting his brother’s mistakes. “Please ignore him, he’s an idiot so I’ll apologise again on his behalf.”


    “Ah, no worries. I’ll forgive and forget for showing me something interesting.” A small smile wormed its way onto the Elder’s face and he waved his hand in a dismissive manner. “Anyway, who’s first?”


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    “I’ll go first because he’ll just start stealing from the people over there if I let him go ahead alone,” Ares spoke in a completely neutral tone as if the words he was saying were actually reasonable.


    The examinees'' faces turned ugly. On one hand they wanted to argue they weren’t so easy to steal from, on the other hand, everyone just saw what happened and knew there was no way in hell they could actually say something like that with any confidence.


    “...Ok then. What’s your name?”


    “Ares.”


    Gasp


    Nearly everyone except the Elders took a deep breath at practically the exact same moment upon hearing the name. Even the Elders raised their brows, albeit for a different reason entirely. Suddenly, Aejaz’s little act of thievery made a whole lot more sense. Even without the Elder’s questioning, everyone present knew his name.


    Over the course of the last six years, the two bandit brothers had become infamous as the greatest thieves in the history of Red Sun City. They had built up a notorious reputation after having repeatedly, successfully, stolen from clans and well-known shops in the local area. It eventually reached a point where even the sect was receiving mission requests to capture them. Countless outer court disciples failed one after another. Even when groups were formed, they still couldn’t deal with the bandit brothers. Eventually, the sect was forced to give up when a dejected inner-court disciple returned after being unable to find them, but still managing to somehow be robbed of a bag of stardust. It wasn’t like they could waste the core disciples'' time on something like this and, besides, the two brothers had also cleaned up a lot of the city''s criminals too. Keeping them around was actually somewhat beneficial for the locals as they never stole from people who weren’t well off and even occasionally did menial favours for them.


    Many of the exam participants started cold-sweating whilst praying to whichever deity they believed in that the exam wouldn’t be head-to-head. These two were legendary, undefeated existences amongst the outer court. There were some hopefuls, however, that were secretly wishing for a chance to scrap.


    As for the Elders, six years ago, the resident arch-alchemist Zhang had told these two to keep an eye out for two boys who would eventually take the exam by the names of Ares and Aejaz. To Rud and Teng’s surprise, those two became infamous shortly thereafter, making the two incredibly curious as to what kind of little devils Zhang had chanced upon. Sure enough, Aejaz had already made a lasting impression after stealing a book straight out of an Elder’s hand; a normally otherwise impossible feat for a newcomer.


    Although Teng still had no clue what happened, mostly because he wasn’t paying attention, Rud had seen some traces of mana and accurately guessed in his mind that he was dealing with a unique aspect. Now he was curious as to what made Ares special. He had originally planned to try and find somewhere hidden-away so the sect-master wouldn’t find him, allowing him to sneak in a few hours of sleep. Now though, after he finished registering these two, he wanted to stay and watch the exam unfold. “So, it’s the bandit brothers, is it?” Rud was making casual conversation while turning the pages of the book to find an empty slot for Ares.


    Ares noticed the tell-tale iron smell of blood coming from the book and immediately realised what kind of treasure it was. These types of treasure were referred to as ‘Vermillion Records’. Upon joining the sect, the disciple would drop a bit of blood on the page. The blood essence would automatically write your name for you as a form of un-cheatable verification. It was quite common for sects and organisations to use these books to keep track of members if they were lucky enough to have one. It would also link with various runic formations throughout the sect, allowing usage of certain equipment or entry to various places via blood drops. In this case, the Elder was adding names then removing them later if they failed the test. At the very least, this meant that part of the exam would involve sect equipment that required an approved identity to use. It also meant the Elder in front of him actually held quite a hefty position within the sect as not just any old fogey would be allowed to carry that kind of book around.


    “Don’t group me in with Arsène Lupin over there, please. He does all the stealing, not me,” Ares spoke in a wronged tone while slightly shaking his head and pointing at Aejaz.


    “Oh, but you''re both quite famous, aren’t you? What’s your role in this dynamic duo of yours then?” the Elder was about to ask Ares to drop blood on the page when he found an available spot but, to his surprise, Ares was already doing it.


    “Counter-balance of public opinion, I guess? If all we did was steal, the city guards would have long since gotten fed up with us. I mainly deal with the underground criminal syndicate in this city as the guards are most likely being bribed into passivity, which is why they turn a blind eye to us. We’re doing their job for them and they’re pretty happy to let us.”


    “How noble.” Rud was about to roll his eyes.


    “Not even remotely, we need to train and no one minds a few dead murderers here and there. Fighting humans is considerably different to fighting wild beasts outside the city so it’s good to have some practice. It’s also directly related to my dedication cultivation so it''s a win-win for everyone that isn’t a criminal. As for him, his dedication cultivation necessitates stealing if he doesn’t want to cultivate at a painfully slow rate.” Ares looked over at Aejaz who was staring at the ceiling and whistling to himself.


    “Hmm, so it really is a unique aspect then. Those are always fun. Put your hand on this device first.” Rud pointed at one of the two black squares on the table.


    Ares obliged and, shortly after, a little hologram appeared with the number 18 on it. It was an age detector. The sect had certain requirements and an age no higher than 21 was one of them. “This one too.” Rud pointed at the second black device which Ares correctly assumed would be for checking cultivation. 3rd realm cultivation was another requirement.


    As there were many ways of tackling the first four cultivation realms, in order to know how many realms a person had completed, a specific naming system was used. It was really quite simple, if you were a 1st realm cultivator, you''d still be undergoing your first cultivation realm. If you were a 2nd realm cultivator, you’d be on your second cultivation realm, and so on so forth. Of course, this wasn’t necessary after the first four realms, but it was really helpful until then. If someone only said they were at meridian expansion, they could technically be a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th realm cultivator depending on the order they’d approached their cultivation in, which was why the distinction was important.


    Another little hologram appeared, but this time Rud was a little confused. “3rd realm meridian expansion, 8th stage, considerably below average.”


    For Ares’ age, his cultivation base was disappointingly low. Most average 18-year-olds of this new generation were 4th realm, 3rd or 4th stage cultivators. Typically speaking, the newer generations always had a quicker cultivation speed than the one that came before it, but Ares was slower than not only the current generation, but even the few before it.


    Most of the examinees were slightly relieved and began feeling complacent. The smarter ones, however, were more worried than before. His track record as a bandit brother was undeniable and killing criminals was a mission only a few outer court disciples would accept due to the high-risk rate. He must have some non-standard method of fighting people otherwise he wouldn’t have lived this long. Whatever it was clearly made any small differences in cultivation base irrelevant so, although the Elders were a tad disappointed, they were even more curious now. Ares passed by the checkpoint and went over to the crowd.


    “And you must be Aejaz then? Place a drop of blood here… Good, now put your hand on the device.”


    “You''re not gonna give the guards my fingerprint, are you?” Aejaz pretended to be hesitant before finally putting his hand on the square. The number 17 popped up.


    “Why give them fingerprints when I could just give them you? I’m sure they’d give me a decent lump-sum. They might subtract a bit if you aren’t still breathing though.” Rud smiled evilly at Aejaz. Just as quickly as the smile appeared, it promptly disappeared as if it had never been there at all. Anyone who knew Rud knew that he was not the kind of person you should try to be sly with unless you were equally venomous. “Next device.”


    Aejaz put his hand on the second square and now Rud was seriously mystified. “4th realm meridian expansion, 8th stage, Genius.”


    Every one of the examinees went right back to being nervous as all hell when they heard the results. Just how much does this guy steal to raise his cultivation so damn fast? Was he stealing other people’s cultivation? Truthfully, Aejaz wasn’t capable of that, at least not yet anyway, but he really did steal a lot.


    As for Rud, he was once again more concerned with Ares. Why was he the one that went around killing people if Aejaz’ cultivation was that much higher? Was his combat prowess really that high?


    Aejaz passed the checkpoint and stood next to Ares who made sure to keep him in check to prevent him from stealing from the others.


    “Alright now that everyone is here…” Teng quickly took another peek at the door to make sure no-one else was going to come in. “... We can start the test. The test is split into three parts, the first of which will be a trial of will and involves pressure resistance. If you’re unable to hold on, I’m afraid you’ll have to try again next year. You’re all still young though so don’t fret too much if you fail. Please go and stand on the raised platform so we may begin.”


    There were roughly 100 participants but, thankfully, the platform was more than big enough for everyone to find a place to themselves. As Ares and Aejaz were among the last to join the group, they were forced to find a place at the front. Some of the others at the front were incredibly nervous. Everyone was going to be far too busy to turn around, but they were directly ahead of everyone. Everyone would see the performance of those at the front whether they wanted to or not. Naturally there were a few malicious types that wanted everyone at the front to fail just because that’s the kind of people they were, the type that wanted to revel in the spectacle of misery, but there were also some competitive types that wanted to try and do better than Ares and Aejaz. Before those two had come along, there were three individuals in particular that had garnered everyone’s attention, but they were quickly forgotten shortly thereafter thanks to the commotion.


    The first of the three was Dirk, a shady looking guy with a dark red cloak hiding most of his features. His hands and face were covered in scars and he reeked of blood. It wasn’t hard to guess he was a haemomancer as they had a tendency to make deep wounds on their own body frequently to blood-let and use arts.


    The second was an androgynous female named Li Li that many people were still staring at even now, trying to figure out her gender. She wore a backwards cap as well as loose, baggy, and bright clothes with brass knuckle dusters on her fists. She was perpetually chewing on dark, reddish-orange bubble-gum that almost looked burnt.


    The third was by far the most interesting, and also the most avoided, of the three. A strange, white cloth was floating just above the ground. The cloth was about four and a half feet tall and shaped like an upside down ‘U’. There were two, perfectly round, pitch-black holes near the top of the cloth. Around the midsection of the cloth was a taut rope, neatly tied into a knot. This bizarre creature was a damned-shade by the name of Appa. All varieties of shade were genderless, but damned-shades in particular actually had quite a friendly, gentle look and temperament so most people would typically, inadvertently use female pronouns. No matter how friendly it looked or was though, people couldn’t help but fear the unknown and kept their distance, greatly saddening the shade who really just wanted to get to know some new people and make friends. Appa had come close to finally starting a conversation with Dirk and Li Li, who were curious about it, but then Ares and Aejaz had shown up, ruining its chance. This, in turn, led to it accidentally emitting a frosty aura which only scared away even more people.


    Aejaz was particularly curious about Appa as this was his first time seeing a non-human. He heard from Ares there were all sorts of unusual places and people in this world and Appa only further sparked his curiosity.


    “Now that you''re all in your places, the trial will start in three, two, one. BEGIN!”