Sevorus strikes again. Apparently it was him anyway. This fish bore all the trademark markings of his usual experimentation habits, according to Dominus, so the grand total was at three currently for his number of involvements in Sheryashka. The Scylla was his handiwork, the Riddlemyd had something to do with him as well supposedly, and now this fish. Dominus hazarded a guess that this fish was an escapee from the Riddlemyd which would explain why it was found in Xascan waters and chose to hang around here even if it couldn''t make it back to where it belonged. As for what Ares was going to do with this turbo evolved fish... Honestly Ares had no damn idea. Until he figured something out he could just leave it in the Primordial Blade where it could swim through space and fire lasers at rocks as much as it wanted to. It kept spouting something about an ''unknown environment'' and how it had to return to its original location but, unbeknownst to it, no amount of blowing up asteroids was going to solve its issue... Actually, Ares needed to make sure this dumb thing didn''t ever happen across farmer Jebben otherwise there was no easy way to explain to Onno that his brother was killed by a robot fish spewing lasers from outer space. There was simply no feasible way Ares could tell Onno such a thing without bursting out into laughter as maintaining a straight face while giving such a ludicrous report was surely impossible.
Anyway, Ares got all the information out of the fish he needed and felt comfortable leaving that matter at that for now. As long as it wasn''t Neo Gear interference again, and it was just some random higher domain cultivator accidentally creating a nuisance without explicitly trying to screw over Sheryashka, then Ares could breathe a sigh of relief. He hadn''t even gotten off the Federation yet so if he ran into another one of Torchbearer''s calling cards he would have considered taking a trip over to Neo Gear and sniffing out that damn pest right damn well now! If this robo really did have multiple plans in multiple places then sure, whatever, but upwards of potentially three in one spot?! Ares would cancel his vacation and declare war because, at that point, he wasn''t on a vacation anyway. That being said, the Torchbearer''s involvement in the quarry issue Xasca was facing was all but confirmed to have his name written all over it so Ares was prepared to run into more underhanded schemes and be forced to dedicate his time and effort to solving them. He didn''t quite know where exactly he would find said time, though, because he was also here for the Riddlemyd and that was his number on priority.
Ares had heard that the Riddlemyd practically spit out rewards based on the amount of floors cleared and so he was keen on potentially receiving a rare fine grind blue from it. He might find some elsewhere but there was a feeling in his gut about the Riddlemyd that it was the place that would dump such a treasure on him by the end of his exploration of it. Not that a fine grind would be all he got. That place was jam packed with secrets and goodies so Ares really didn''t want to be fussing around with some dumb quarry all day. The sooner he could deal with that issue the better. To be fair, though, if what he''d overheard from random strangers on the Federation, as it neared Xasca, was true then the Riddlemyd could be freely entered and exited near enough whenever anyone wanted. It had a checkpoint style system every few floors so Ares could potentially juggle both that and the quarry simultaneously. If there was any dead time with the quarry, with nothing happening, off to the Riddlemyd he''d go. If there was a stumper of a puzzle in the Riddlemyd, Ares would head back to the sect to see if there were any new developments with the quarry. It was a simple plan that maximised his time efficiently so his exploration itinerary was going to have to revolve around it. Exploration of Xasca, trying new food, pressurising his Converter, Deep blue, and Primordial Blade, and fighting local creatures for resources would have to be slotted somewhere between everything else he had on his plate so he was most definitely going to be a very busy man going forward!
Right now, though, Ares was exiting his temporary abode for the last time and heading towards the front of the Federation as Xasca was coming into view. He would be handing Nibbler over to Onno to take care of, on the return trip to Red Sun, so it was finally time to say goodbye to the sharkdog. He was showing signs of maybe being in a good mood here and there when he was able to forget about everything that happened for a few brief moments. If he was lost in curried fish while being pet by Ares then it was almost like things had never gone wrong and he could enjoy himself again for a few minutes before reality reminded him Hunter was gone. Still, improvement was improvement. It would be rough for him not having the soul around anymore for comfort but there was nothing that could be done about that so he would just have to patiently wait for Ares to return if he wanted to see it again back in the sect. As for Aejaz, the other person tagging along on the way to the front of the Federation, he seemed perfectly content with the trip thus far as he''d never been in any kind of danger and he was able to just freely run around and steal from rich people all day long. His pockets were lined and loaded, even if not to the same extent as Ares'' after all the rewards he''d received, and there was a smile on his face as he basked in the sunshine. When Aejaz returned to Red Sun he would be able to buy Trixie and Allie some gifts and treat them both to a nice meal. He was feeling good about this future so he figured he might even let Leo join in too!
Ares made his way to the area he''d be disembarking from in the next couple of hours and it was already somewhat packed thanks to the fact that Xasca, and the Riddlemyd, could both just about be seen from here. Funnily enough, the Riddlemyd was much clearer on the horizon than Xascan land which just went to show how unbelievably massive it was. You''d think such a thing appearing basically overnight would raise questions but people, back then anyway, had just assumed it to be an act of God or something. Plus they tried looking into it and found no clues or results that taught them anything about the bizarre landmark so they just accepted it for what it was, a highly dangerous floating dungeon in the sky. One that offered decent loot and a never ending supply of monsters to kill for resources that could be dug out of their corpses. It did not move, it simply sat there, blocking out the sun a few miles away from the main Xascan city and tempting all manner of adventurous cultivators into finding rarities inside its walls. It was highly dangerous but people couldn''t overlook the various stories of treasures that were found inside the upside down pyramid and so many lives were lost to this thing yearly.
The Riddlemyd, on its own, had a similar kill count compared to the twisted, the Scylla, and the krakyrn combined. A lot of people came to Xasca from abroad specifically for this one dungeon and not many ever returned. It wasn''t that the earlier floors would kill a person, no, it would actually just give them a false sense of accomplishment and entice them to dive, or rather climb as you ascended through the floors, deeper into the core of the structure. People who ascended the early floors grew an ego and assumed they could clear more but the difficulty ramped up pretty drastically and there were some major cut-off points that stone-walled weaker cultivators. You were acing floors one after another and, suddenly, you were trapped in a hellish room with no way out and regretting your overconfidence. That was generally how any and all attempts went form average cultivators. But those shiny bits of treasure that could be spied just around the corner, or in the seemingly innocuous next room, always managed to lure in even those who were aware of the risks. That was just the nature of a place like this and so nobody had any remorse for the deceased that were buried within the Riddlemyd''s walls... Actually, nobody really knew where dead bodies ended up. There were some scavenger types that hunted the freshly deceased''s corpses for free loot but any body that was over a day old was likely to never be found for some reason. The local rumour mill spread word about some kind of hallway reaper that acted like a dead body janitor and swept up the corpses every night but nobody had ever seen such a thing and, quite frankly, nobody wanted to. There was more than enough danger to go around without such a being lurking in the Riddlemyd, thank you very much!
Ares took in a deep breath and could already feel the heat in the air smothering him a little. Xasca was a real scorcher of a country so it was only natural the temperature had risen ever since they''d entered these waters. Still, Ares was optimistic and looking forward to part two of his outing! "Hmmm. Smells like adventure!" Aejaz seemed to disagree with this statement from Ares not because what he said was wrong but, rather, because the last thing Aejaz wanted was to go on one of Ares'' ''adventures''. It would no doubt be filled with pain, training, suffering, and more training. Plus more dangerous monsters and criminals with mal intent, as well as Torchbearer plots and just about every other unfortunate event or living being under the sun, than you could shake a stick at. Ares could adventure on his own! Well, Aejaz thought as such but he would be going to the Riddlemyd with Ares because he was interested in seeing it at least. There was loot to be had and so Aejaz wasn''t much better than the other adventurers in terms of having the will power to resist shiny things or the call to explore the Riddlemyd. He had the talent, though, to not die a dog''s death so that was where he differed form others. Furthermore, and this was the real clincher, he had a little thing called ''big bro'' handy and Ares was basically already on track to beating the entire Riddlemyd in Aejaz'' eyes. Ares had become some weird, alien like being with seemingly infinite power as far as Aejaz was concerned so he would just trudge along after him and eye up anything that looked valuable! "Heh." Ares chuckled. "How long do you think it will take for me to get into some kind of trouble in this new land?" He hadn''t even boarded the Federation before getting into a fight so it was a valid question!
"Knowing you, maybe five minutes?" A voice that wasn''t Aejaz'' spoke up from Ares'' left and was quickly followed up by a second unknown voice even further to Ares'' left.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!
"Isn''t that too generous? I''d give him one minute, honestly, and even then I''m not convinced that isn''t still too much leeway." The voices were too plain and unoriginal to figure out who they belonged to, which was strange as they seemed to be familiar with Ares and yet he didn''t know them, so he turned and looked at the new people inserting themselves into the conversation.
"AH! YOU!" Ares nearly popped a blood vessel in anger, mimicking that strange old man''s vocabulary from the krakyrn incident a few days ago, when he saw the two dorks he''d been looking for for quite some time now! No more running! The two guys Ares met way back in Hunter''s shop, and a few times since, were finally going to reveal all! "No, seriously, who the hell are you two anyway?!"
With wry smiles the two men turned to each and shrugged. They weren''t surprised Ares didn''t recognise them but it did still hurt somewhat! Then again, given who they were, it really wasn''t unexpected that people wouldn''t catch onto their identity unless explicitly told. This was kind of their whole schtick to begin with, ever since Ares first met them back in the sect... ""It''s us, the lighter duo...""
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"... Oh..." Ares was honestly speechless. These two needed to wear a fucking badge or something! Ares had completely forgotten these two punks even existed! Plus they blended in with just about every other insignificant human being ever so how was Ares ever supposed to pick plain Jane cultivator A and cultivator B out of crowd?! In hindsight it made sense; a lot of things made sense actually. Their water and lightning magic, how they gave up on the pincer they had against the fire tank way back when so they could be next to each other and team up like usual, how Onno and co seemed to be friendly with them... There were a lot of signs but come on! Maybe go get a scar or something to distinguish yourselves from everyone else!? Just walking around with each other always by their side wasn''t enough to give away who they were at a glance! Hell, Ares still didn''t even know their damned names and was calling them the Lighter duo like everyone else! Then again, had Ares used Omniscience on these two then maybe he would have recognised them thanks to their eerily similar DNA...
...
Actually, wasn''t this some kind of major plot point in the adventure he was about to embark on?! Exact same DNA, they were told to come here by Dominus if they wanted answers (back during the inner court test when Dominus was battering everyone), and now Ares was learning about Sevorus'' experiments? DNA, experiments, told to come here and follow Ares if they wanted to learn who they were?! Were these two going to be the main characters going forward or what?! Of all the people to get their five minutes of fame, it was seriously going to be the two people nobody remembered? Well whatever, Ares would check in on their adventure through the Riddlemyd every now and then. It was impossible to tell what kind of experience they were going to have but Ares was interested and curious enough to keep track because it sounded too juicy to pass up on! Also, more secrets about the Riddlemyd would inevitably be revealed if he trailed after them so, provided they weren''t slow as molasses, Ares wouldn''t mind going through some floors with them here and there to see what manner of mysteries could be uncovered. Also, they were decently valuable sect members so making sure nothing went wrong with their safety was something Ares, as the new sect master, should be concerned about. If they were in the middle of a tough fight in the Riddlemyd and those strange headaches came back he would rather be there to lend a helping hand than just let them struggle on their own. He wasn''t going to babysit them, he had other important things to do, but the occasional bit of assistance wasn''t an impossibility.
Eventually Onno, Esme, and fake monk Massai arrived and everyone chatted away about this and that, except for Massai who was keeping up the silent act, until the Federation arrived at the Xascan docks. It creaked over to the nearest platform available, taking up at least ten others in the process thanks to its enormity, and groaned to a halt as though it were an old man sighing as he sat on the couch after taking a mile long walk. The Federation had seen better days, and been through some tumultuous times recently, but it was alive and kicking! Some rest here, for it and the people aboard it, would do everyone some good so the stay here would likely wind up being a tad bit longer than usual for everyone to regain their bearings. Onno looked like he wanted to use that time to go and conduct some business in Xasca and he seemed a bit excited, actually. Ares could take a guess at why as his eyes and ears darted over to a bunch of nearby peddlers haggling fiercely over their products. Bearded men with curved swords adorning their waists were exerting more effort in convincing the peddlers to lower their price than they did in fights to the death with house sized scorpions in the desert. Long story short, someone like Onno would fit right in with these people.
Whether Onno was hawking wares or stalking wares like a hawk, waiting for an opportune moment to pounce on a low price product, he would no doubt have a ball and find a way to distract himself from his brotherly woes by diving headfirst into this place. On the contrary, Aejaz did not like such a place at all. He couldn''t tell what was valuable and what anything was truly worth. Sure everything looked pricy at a glance but, in a culture where haggling was the starting point for all prices, understanding what the product was worth was paramount to finding success. Aejaz didn''t know if a mug from stall A was more valuable than an antique from store B because the initial offers were too whacky to comprehend via comparison! Aejaz saw a snake charming artifact for sale and thought it might be worth a lot of money but the customer managed to lower the price down to less than the aforementioned mug even! What was the point of randomly stealing things here if they weren''t worth even half the upfront asking price in some cases?! This place was nightmare fuel for someone like Aejaz who had and interest in ''business'' but no business sense at all to speak of. And why would he? It''s not like he frequently conducted fair trades as his possessions were typically acquired for the low, low price of absolutely free. He was starting to wish he had Onno''s bloodline or could steal it and get a rough idea of the value of these objects... It was safe to say Aejaz wasn''t going to be stealing much here, as it wasn''t worth his time robbing cheap products off people, and he was better off looting the Riddlemyd as everything there would have a bare minimum value worth the hassle of acquisition.
While Aejaz sized up the market places sprawling from the dock all the way to the other end of the city, charting a straight line for multiple miles on end, Ares was more interested in the other nearby shops. He had little need for trinkets or niche treasures and artifcats, and spending his money in a place like this was a no go for him unless he found an appropriate souvenir he really wanted, so he directed his attention to the restaurants instead! Of which there were basically none! Busy busy busy, that was the word of the day, everyday in this country. Adventurers looking to tackle the Riddlemyd didn''t have time to sit and eat. Hagglers did not have time to sit and eat. Nobody had time to sit and eat! Sure a few restaurants did exist, mainly for locals who weren''t actively working or were taking some time off from work after a big payday, but the majority of food businesses took the form of stalls... At which, you guessed it, people were damn well haggling! If you weren''t contesting the price here you were a chump who would run through money like a monkey did a stash of bananas. Even if Ares wanted to cook for himself, and avoid this messy business infrastructure, he would still need to haggle for ingredients as he would run out of the stuff stored in his Blade eventually. The one saving grace here was that Ares had the potential to be so unfathomably annoying within him that the salesmen might actually just give up and give him whatever price he was asking for just to get rid of him! It was an unconventional strategy but he was dealing with unconventional expectations here so he would play things by ear and see how much mileage he could get out of his unique revenant personality in a place like this. Ares was interested in trying the local cuisine, though, as there were all sorts of yummy looking delicacies on display and his eyes didn''t quite know where to start and just wandered aimlessly, giving him a good look at the rest of the city even though it wasn''t his goal.
This city was the largest in all of Xasca and functioned as a central hub one stop shop for all your needs type of deal. Most other cities and towns in Xasca could barely even be considered as such given their relatively small size so this city in particular stood out. Given how popular a destination it was, thanks to the Riddlemyd, it was named after Xasca itself and just referred to as Xasca City by just about everyone. It was a simple and boring name but it did the job and conveyed everything it needed to. It also led to a sort of recognisability and brand style familiarity with people abroad who understood implicitly what ''going to Xasca'' meant. It was basically just a quick way of saying you were heading to the Riddlemyd as that was what this country was primarily famous for. In some circles it was the fine grind but, for the most part, the Riddlemyd drove profits across the entire country. People only really stopped in other towns on their way here so this port town was bustling from top to bottom. A lot of stardust had been invested in this place and it paid off big time so there was an interesting dichotomy amongst the people here. They wanted people to come and undergo the Riddlemyd trials but, on the other hand, if someone actually ever beat the Riddlemyd in its entirety... What would happen then? If the Riddlemyd disappeared, or word spread that the ultimate treasures at the end of the dungeon were taken, wouldn''t that mean everything this city existed for would become irrelevant? What would the draw to Xasca even be from then on? This was the risk of diverting all resources to something potentially unsustainable but, realistically, this Riddlemyd had been here for multiple generations at this point and the chances of anyone actually besting it in full were slim! Also, the quarry for fine grind did still exist and that was a half decent fall back plan if things went south. It was watched over by the Oasis sect, though, so power over the entire country would fall right in their laps should that become the country''s main source of revenue in the future. All that aside, though, Ares was looking forward to setting off on the next leg of his journey! New monsters, new people, new magic, new resources. Good times a-plenty!