While Enyo and Bellona were discussing various matters, including Enyo not constantly invading Bellona''s personal space and touching her inappropriately in public, Ares was about to start another fight with Veteran. It seemed his enhancement was picking up the pace and he was able to use more and more of it with every passing attempt. Right now he was sitting pretty at 30% which, considering he was at 20% under a day ago, was a very good sign it wouldn''t take him much longer to rise to 100%. Ares couldn''t make things go faster but the process itself sped up after some time as the body familiarised itself with pressure and could comfortably take on more. At this rate, it would probably take around a day and a half for Ares to become an actual ''threat'' to Veteran, two days to reach roughly 80% enhancement, three days to start picking up multiple wins against him per day, four to start beating him on every attempt, and on the fifth day maybe he could start using his unique bloodline and throwing some annihilation mana into the mix.


    All in all, Ares would probably be done with this pagoda in under a week and make it out in time for the next match. He was unaware of the cheating situation with the iciclops team but it seemed he would show up for the match in time to participate anyway. Not that he would have felt pressured to do so if had known about it, he trusted Enyo and Aejaz to win on their own implicitly, it''s just that now he would be the one to deal with their shenanigans himself. The fruits of his pagoda labour would be put on full display and thus the start of his ascent to legendary status would also kick off. His destruction pillar put him at the starting line but he''d yet to actually start sprinting and leave everyone in the dust. Come next match, he would make waves and his name would become known across the majority of the domain. Then he would rise to Vraizon, after cultivating some more, and do the same there, all the while his pagoda clone would wreak havoc in the outside world. By the time he was done with everything that needed to be handled immediately, everyone should know his name and respect his reputation unless, and only unless, they''d been living under a rock their entire lives. As for right now, Ares would beat this pagoda!... And hopefully no one would document his monetary struggles during this time as he was rapidly running out of stardust thanks to his numerous attempts... The two high grades he had in his Primordial Blade wallet were evaporating at the speed of light. Still, he remained calm and reminded himself the betting brothers would owe him way more afterwards and he would be able to recoup his losses and then some. 100 high grade was no joke. He would need it if his next foray was the Freeride Federation as it was a classy place filled with rich elites and pricy shops with rare goods... He might even find and use some damn cultivation resources for once in his life...


    Right now, however, it was go time! The fight started and Ares ran forward to meet Veteran halfway rather than just let him do as he pleased like always. The ''days'' of letting Veteran punch him at the start of their bouts uncontested were already over and Veteran was having to work harder to get his hits in. Of course it was still a fairly one-sided brawl but he couldn''t just do whatever he wanted anymore without potential repercussions. The difference between Ares at 20% and 30% enhancement was already pretty significant, as Veteran had to actually start thinking about the fight, so what would happen when that shot up to 80% and above? Veteran didn''t want to think on such a depressing topic. Rather he chose to just enjoy bullying Ares in the moment while he still could by whaling on his defences and aggressively taking blow for blow trades. He swung wide and missed but followed up with a knee that took Ares by surprise. Ares did react and avoid it but it left him on the backfoot while Veteran could press his newfound advantage by going for another heavy strike. Faints, grabs, etc.. Right now Veteran didn''t need any of that. When Ares eventually overcame the hurdle that was current Veteran, he would adapt and improve to match pace with Ares. Until the kid could handle his wild-but-calculated swinging and actually consistently punish him for it, this was how these fights were going to go. Veteran kept advancing forward while throwing out the exact same powerful strikes against Ares who had no solution because he didn''t have the strength to match him just yet. Ares could see the correct way to deal with it but, due to his lacking enhancement, taking advantage was impossible and he would have to find another way around the current predicament. He tried to blind Veteran with his Zephyr but Veteran had seriously gotten bored of this trick so he just leant back and thrust his boot out to kick the Zephyr. No matter where Ares was hiding this strategy would nullify his next move as Veteran could keep a wide view on his surroundings as well as cover the area directly behind the Zephyr with his attack. Ares had ran out to the right from behind the Zephyr but Veteran not over-extending meant he could see him clearly and run him down without risk... Or so he thought.


    BANG


    Veteran kissed his teeth as his head recoiled from an unexpected attack to his left which was then promptly followed up by Ares punching him clean in the face.


    THWACK


    Veteran was starting to get a little annoyed by the revenant fighting style as this was just ridiculous. He''d been conditioned by the Zephyr so much that Ares had foreseen the method Veteran would commit to in order to counter it and acted accordingly. After throwing the Zephyr, Ares cleverly shot a delayed pressure bullet before distracting Veteran by moving sideways. As Veteran followed Ares with his eyes the bullet pierced through the kicked Zephyr and smacked him in the head, allowing Ares to deck him in the jaw after and push him back a step or two. Even that wasn''t the end of it as now Ares had swooped in and taken away the advantage that once belonged to Veteran, utilising it to get another couple of swings in before Veteran could regain his bearings. Honestly, Ares was smart. Veteran had to admit it... He hated it, because being tricked like this on repeat was infuriating, but he still admitted it. The fact that the kid could turn around disastrous situations at the drop of a hat in new ways every fight was actually rather impressive.


    Ares was a stubborn cultivator and those were always the most dangerous to fight. No matter how hard they were losing they would always attempt to make you lose something in return. More than anything else, they were petty. It wasn''t about winning with these freaks, it was about making sure that if you won you felt miserable about it. As in ''yes I beat him, but he fought better''. It was a kind of mental edge that only the most dedicated of losers could levy over their opponents. If you were stronger than the other person and did this then the outcome of the fight would change and you''d probably win but no matter how many times Ares tricked Veteran at his current level that just wouldn''t happen. He didn''t have the strength to do any important damage so it was really just a way of spitting on Veteran. It could even be considered a threat. ''Look at what I''m doing to you even though I have such a massive disadvantage right now, imagine what it will be like when I improve.'' And that was the part that irked Veteran the most because he knew it was true. The threat wasn''t unsubstantiated because Ares was good. Good enough to make that threat a reality later down the line. Knowing that he would lose his throne after all these years angered Veteran a little. He wouldn''t have cared prior but now that he was feeling good about life again he had the spare time to worry about small inconveniences like this and his pride was hurt! He''d lived for how long now? He''d been a famous, revered cultivator for just how long? And he was getting one-upped by some random brat from a lower domain? Who cares if he had Dominus'' talent?! This was a slap to the face, almost literally, and Veteran wasn''t going to tolerate it! In fact, Veteran felt like giving Ares a sneak peek of the hell that awaited him further down the line.


    Veteran patiently outlasted Ares'' assault before making space and heaving a deep sigh. The pressure enhancement he was manipulating increased explosively and the thickness of his silver aura nearly tripled. He was like a walking mirage as a cape of pressure gradually manifested on his back. Ares couldn''t even walk forward into the area surrounding Veteran as his pressure was like an omnipresent forcefield. The pushback was so bad Ares had to hold his arm in front of his face so as not to get scratched by the torrent of wind battering him. There was no longer any way for Ares to fight against the guy as he literally was incapable of taking even a single step in his direction anymore. Even firing a pressure bullet was completely worthless because Veteran''s pressure also acted like a deflect zone. Ares'' fired one anyway in defiance but the bullet went flying out of the building after curving wildly in mid-air the second it touched Veteran''s pressure. Veteran had become a walking field of death that scratched away at the building wherever he stepped. The floor underneath him tore away and the walls were eroded as he hovered in the remains of the room while staring at Ares. This clearly wasn''t going to go well no matter what Ares did but he used the last trick up his sleeve and summoned his normal pressure. Physical pressure would be deflected, and his enhancement was completely inferior in every conceivable metric, but Dominus'' bloodline meant the normal pressure could actually play a role here... If it hit... Which it most certainly did not. Ares had summoned a swamp of the stuff but Veteran simply vanished and reappeared right in front of Ares, having dodged the entirety of his pressure with ease. Veteran''s posture hadn''t changed and he was still just silently staring at Ares. His stance was effectively asking Ares ''what now?'' and Ares most certainly didn''t have an answer. Or rather, his answer was ''I die obviously'' as that was what his shoulder shrug and ''resigned to fate'' attitude gave to understand.


    Veteran didn''t delay the inevitable any longer and poked forward with his pinkie finger, tearing a hole in Ares'' chest with roughly a 40cm diameter. His finger hadn''t even connected with Ares'' body but that didn''t stop the unstoppable force from ripping Ares a new one. If his finger had made it all the way to Ares body... Well there probably wouldn''t be anything left of his corpse. Veteran''s finger in this form was like a de-atomiser and had more destructive potential than Ares'' disintegration magic... If Veteran had launched an actual attack he could have destroyed this entire segment of the city with one hand behind his back... And he only had one hand anyway! If he was wielding his trusty sword on top of that... Bye Bye city. This guy could almost definitely launch nuclear scale attacks with his pressure and still none of this even took into account his magic affiliations. No wonder he was still so highly ranked in cultivation society even despite becoming a crazy, back alley rambler. The mental state of the real Veteran wasn''t great which made him a ticking time bomb in some ways. Who knows when he would just go on a rampage out of frustration and start wiping out entire domains?! When he got his affiliations back in the real world he might actually become a contender for world''s strongest himself. Granted that list was getting quite long nowadays as there were all sorts cropping up in the ''generation of geniuses'' but Veteran was, and still is, the kind of person who lived up to his namesake. A veteran through and through. He didn''t represent the old-guard necessarily, as there were others in a similar boat to him, but he was definitely a notable existence in his own right. He was absolutely in a position to take the world by storm once more and all he needed was a little push. A push that Ares had already given him. Now all he needed was for his clone to return to the real him and his cultivation path would begin again after having been halted for far too long now.


    Ares wasn''t quite dead yet, he was a revenant after all, so he rolled his eyes and pointed at his head so that Veteran would get the message. This rebelliousness only served to piss Veteran off even more but he still did as was asked of him and blew out Ares'' brain all over the walls. After Ares disappeared the building reformed itself back to its original state, ready for Ares to return and try again. It was a good thing the building could regenerate otherwise this arena would eventually become a no man''s land of rubble and dirt. Both Ares and Veteran had incredible pressure and their high level fights would undoubtedly level the entire area repeatedly so this restoration feature was much appreciated. Fumbling over a destroyed building and climbing around all the bricks would be a serious hassle otherwise as they would be enough to form a small hill... Although hiding inside the rubble and ambushing Veteran did sound fun to Ares. He could be like a sneaky mole man.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Ares appeared outside the pagoda out of thin air for the tenth time today? Eleventh? Twentieth? He didn''t even really know anymore because the deaths were all starting to blend together. Sometimes he lasted longer, sometimes he died in a few seconds. That was just the nature of the beast when learning something new, especially when your teacher was leagues above you. Ares didn''t mind dying like this though, as long as he wasn''t losing fights that he didn''t consider training then that was ok. If he lost inside a Training Field to Sadie, or in a place like the pagoda to an expert, then as far as Ares was concerned his win record was safe! There was no such thing as a cultivator that never lost, it was impossible unless you lived like a cockroach and avoided confrontation at every single junction in life. There were probably some people who lived like that but Ares would sooner jump off a cliff than go about his cultivation journey in such a manner. Besides, he was a fundamental champion, he didn''t have a choice. He would be very recognisable going forward so laying low, unless he could find some kind of disguise, just wasn''t in the cards.


    Ares walked over to Transmit, paid them, and was about to re-enter the pagoda when he was restrained by a hug from behind... Which also came with a free stroking session along his chest so he was pretty sure he knew who''s feminine hands were fondling his body right now. There was only one woman horny enough in his life to act this way so he just let her do as she pleased. He looked over his shoulder and, sure enough, there was Enyo but Bellona also seemed to be hanging around a few feet away and shaking her head in disapproval of her sister''s brazen actions. Ares heard Blo Blo call Enyo a ''whore'' under her breath before walking over and flicking Enyo on the head.


    "Enyo, you aren''t a koala and Ares is most definitely not a tree."


    Enyo licked her lips and dismissed Bellona with a sly comment. "No, but he''s got the kind of wood I''m looking for."


    "Only because you''re so woodenheaded..." Bellona sighed and turned to Ares instead. "We were just discussing meeting Candy at some point. How''s things been going on your end, made any progress against that Veteran guy?"


    "Yeah it''s getting there. He just unleashed a fraction of his power and utterly destroyed me but, you know, baby steps. I''ll definitely get there eventually. How are things on the second floor?"


    "Second floor?" Enyo chimed in with a questioning gaze and a raised eyebrow. "How are you still only on the second floor?"


    Bellona harrumphed and turned her head to the side. "I was just dealing with some idiots on the first floor is all. Anyway I think I''m nearly done there. I know where my pressure is located, in my abs, and I can kinda already control it. I can smush four of the five hills constantly but I have to strain myself to do all five at the same time so I need a bit more practice and I should be good... That Caribou cunt is still silent as ever though... Tsk, whatever, I just ain''t gonna interact with him... Heh, he''s the time sage though, right? maybe when I''m leaving the floor I''ll ask him what time it is to mess with him a bit... I mean surely there''s no way he knows the answer what with being cooped up in the pagoda all the time, right? There ain''t any windows in there so him not knowing''ll make him look like a fool! What kinda time sage doesn''t know what time it is?! Hehehe."


    Ares scratched his chin as he chuckled lightly. "I thought you said you weren''t petty?"


    "Bite my ass. Why do you remember everything I say? How about I headbutt you and maybe dislodge a few of those memories?"


    "No, thank you, that won''t be necessary. Also, don''t say ''bite my ass'' out loud or you''ll just encourage Enyo... Speaking of, Enyo''s drooling so I think I should pay her some more attention lest she start eating me while we''re conversing. If I don''t keep an eye out on her she might actually lower my pants here and now so gimme a minute..." Enyo had taken the liberty of getting frisky when Ares diverted his attention to Bellona but now that he was paying her attention again she ''innocently'' kept her hands PG... Ok maybe PG-13 as they were starting to shift dangerously downward. "Enyo... Did you come here just for this?"


    "Yes?" Enyo replied with a tilted head and doe eyes so Ares found it hard to blame or reprimand her. She was like a horse with blinkers and genuinely didn''t know or understand why the way she was acting was unusual.


    "... And how do you suggest we go about it in a public space? That''s a little to risqué for me I think. I don''t have that kind of exhibitionism in me I''m afraid."


    "You''ve got the Prowler, no?" Enyo slithered her mouth next to his ears and whispered, "Just a quickie? We can find a nice and quiet back alley and get it all out of our systems."


    "I think you mean your system, but sure, fine. A break from training won''t kill me... Or rather it''s the training killing me in the first place... Also I know if I don''t get you off and get you off my case now you''ll go rabid later." She might still go rabid later anyway... Ares added that last part in the back of his mind because he knew this woman far too well. Still, he wasn''t against getting his rocks off so he agreed to have a bit of fun. The Zone he could create would give them the same kind of privacy as a hotel room so it wasn''t like they were doing it out in the open or anything. Even if someone as powerful as Rhea, for instance, found the zone they wouldn''t be able to peek into it so Enyo could have her wish... Although even if that weren''t the case she would just give Ares the puppy eyes treatment until he offered to take her to an actual hotel. This way was far better, however, as a hotel would encourage Enyo to stay for far longer. Ares grabbed Enyo''s hand and started leading her away but he also made an effort to give Bellona a kiss before leaving as she seemed to be waiting out here specifically for that. This action only served to make Enyo even more excited though and now she was staring between Bellona''s lips and Ares'', unsure of which she wanted to taste more right about now. What an utterly degenerate woman... It was pretty impressive how quickly she could flip her switch and go from holy female knight to unholy female of the night. Not that Ares was complaining, he was perfectly fine with both sides of her. As for Bellona, she just sighed and went back into the pagoda. She was going to have to get used to watching her sister walk away with her man to go do unspeakable things right under her nose. Then again, she should consider herself lucky Enyo wasn''t dragging her away to do unspeakable things instead... Not tha that wasn''t going to start happening at some point.


    Meanwhile, Veteran was left sitting around by his lonesome wondering where Ares had buggered off to. Little did he know Ares was buggering in a very different way... Still, Ares did show up eventually with his hair all over the place, a few bite marks on his neck, and ruffled clothing. Veteran... Almost couldn''t believe his eyes. Here he was trying to teach the kid and there he was, running off to go get laid. "Really?" Veteran was floored by the audacity before he quickly remembered this was a revenant he was dealing with here and thus the word ''audacious'' didn''t even exist in their lexicon. "Did you seriously go to floor four and pay that Candy foxian a visit?"


    "Hm? No no, not at all... It was one of my other wives... One I really can''t stop."


    "Are you showing off? Are you rubbing it in because I''ve been stuck here for however many years? Is that what this is?"


    "Ok maybe a little, but that''s what you get for whipping out the silver cape you bastard! You wanna play the mockery game? I can do it too punk! You are a sore loser and that was clearly going way too far. You get what you deserve!"


    "Tsk, whatever... It really has been a while. I should go visit a brothel when I''m out of this stupid place."


    "A brothel? A guy like you could surely just drop his pants and have a flock of women gather ''round to feed on your bird seed in a matter of minutes no?"


    "Ok, never say that again. As for the point you were making behind that atrocious metaphor, yeah but screw that. Most of those kinds of women are nothing more than gold diggers. Also I want to keep it strictly business otherwise they''ll probably start chasing me down and I don''t want to deal with that right now. I have enemies that would be more than happy to kill anyone I actually try and form a relationship with and, thanks to the war, I''m not in the mood to lose anyone important to me again any time soon. Combine all of that together and a brothel is just easier. Even finding a good one shouldn''t be an issue as I have a few old friends that check up on me on the regular and they... Well they visit those kinds of places a lot... I''m getting side-tracked, did you really need to come here looking like that just to mess with me?! What on earth makes you think I won''t hit you harder as payback for taunting me? Stupid revenant."


    "You can hit me as hard as you want, won''t change the fact that you''re just jealous. The more you kill me unproductively the longer it''ll take you to get back to the real-world you. Your loss."


    "Annoying bastard. Fine, whatever, let''s get back to it. If you could refrain from up and leaving from now on that would be preferable. We don''t have all the time in the world here. I want to go back and Candy needs to as well so stop messing around."


    "Tsk, using Candy to make me take things seriously. You''re a bit of a bastard yourself, aren''t you? Fair play though, I can''t be mad if your point is valid." Ares walked over to the side of the wall and wrenched out a pipe. He held it in one hand and lightly tapped it against his other palm repeatedly as he walked back over to Veteran. "I''ve gotten the urge to swing a weapon. Doubt it''s going to do much but might as well try anyway."


    "Maybe not but this is a good time to teach you something you may not have already figured out on the lower floors. You can coat weapons with physical pressure, kind of like weapon enhancement in a way. You can even deflect with weapons if you really want but that''s usually over the top and the kind of thing you do if you''re showing off. Give it a go before we start."


    Ares did as was suggested and wrapped the pipe in pressure. This went smoothly as he''d long since mastered the basics and could apply them in any relevant way. The benefits of trying harder during the early stages were being fully reaped right now as Ares'' weapon enhancement was speedy. As quickly as he could coat it in disintegration he could just as rapidly use pressure instead if he wanted to. There weren''t many situations in which he would pick pressure over disintegration but this was just another trick he could keep hidden away in his arsenal should he ever actually come across a situation in which it was helpful. Like right now for instance! With a enhanced weapon in hand, maybe he could make Veteran flinch or leave a dent in him. Now that still required actually hitting the guy but Ares had been doing a decent amount of that recently and he felt good.


    Provided Veteran''s silver cape didn''t come out again, Ares was convinced he could last upwards of five minutes in a fight if he went all out. His growth on this floor was tremendous and yet it still wasn''t stopping. If he kept improving at this rate over the course of the next few days... By the time he left he would be able to swagger wherever he damn well pleased for the most part. To what extent? Even he himself didn''t know but what he did know was that he was going to have the perfect solution to his adept trait''s drawback. This enhancement would tide him over until he got his revenant transformation for sure. Even after that it would still be beneficial too though so, really, this would remain one of the most important time periods of his entire life regarding shaping himself as a cultivator. Though he''d just laid pipe, and was now wielding one, he was actually taking this really quite seriously deep down. If you could successfully peek beneath the blasé veneer you would be able to see a rather focussed Ares. Stressed, certainly a bit (a lot less now that Enyo had relieved some), but hyper focussed on the task at hand. This side of Ares was rare to see pop up and he himself was aware of that so he made full use of it. He shut out all irrelevant worries and woes, forgot about Enyo, Candy, and Bellona entirely, and dedicated himself to the pagoda. It was a challenge, and he was the challenger, albeit a slightly mentally challenged one... But still! Completing the pagoda was his duty and one he was now fully ready to take in his stride. There was only one way to find out how long it would take him to succeed so, without any more hesitation, he kicked off the fight with Veteran. Not the other way around, no, for the first time since arriving on this floor, Ares had made the first move. That was just a sign of how confident he was feeling right about now. These next few days were going to be incredible!