And with that, all the rewards had been claimed. In order of value, from most to least was as follows: Backfire Bindings, the two fine grind blue containers, the three trailblazer stalks, and then the mana dew. The dew had been swallowed, the fine grind was going to the sister wives, Ares would take the stalks when he reached stage eight of mental accumulation, and the Bindings would be strapped on soon. Everything was done and dusted! All that was left to do now was say goodbye to Veteran and become the next overseer of floor five. It seemed like that last part came first as, according to Veteran, everyone else had already been booted out of the pagoda except for Ares. Outside, everyone was staring in amazement at the top of the pagoda. There had always been a ring of lanterns around the pagoda''s top floor but it had never been lit before like it was now. Seeing as how everyone across all floors had been kicked out, and a blue flame inside the lanterns meant someone was on the floor in question, it could only mean one thing! The pagoda had been bested! The neo Viking was crying and he wasn''t even really sure why. He''d dedicated his entire life to beating the pagoda and someone else had done it. Was it a good thing he lived to see it beaten or was he sad he didn''t do it himself? He really wasn''t sure. The hubbub and commotion eventually became questions that were directed at Transmit. The employees remained calm while they asked everyone to wait patiently. The branch leader of Transmit would be arriving shortly to answer all their questions. Of course he was more so here for Ares than anything else but he could at least settle everyone else down with a few quick words when he showed up.
Back inside the pagoda''s fifth floor Ares was looking around at the city. Apparently he had a choice here and could remodel the fifth floor to be anything he wanted. He needed to have a memory of the place but so long as he did the fifth floor could be changed to his liking. It wasn''t the most important decision ever but the environment Ares picked could be used by him or against him if he wasn''t careful. Still, he didn''t even really know that many places as he''d yet to start exploring the world. His options were limited and he had no reason not to pick the obvious answer... "Red Sun." The floor dematerialised and started building itself from the ground up in the image of the Red Sun Ares knew all too well. He knew every back alley and every building like the back of his hand so picking this place was only natural. If his clone needed to use telekinesis for whatever reason there were plenty of objects to chuck at people. It was basically just a slightly different version of Veteran''s floor without the high rise or cracked streets. Red Sun was a bit more flat and colourful but there was no major factor that complicated things. If he''d been of a different race he could have maybe even had the location be underwater for his benefit but, as that wasn''t the case, a normal city would do! Plus just as Veteran had his own memories with the high rise and surrounding city, Ares had a history here too. It just felt right to use Red Sun as opposed to anywhere else.
As the world around him filled in, he could feel the pagoda scanning him from top to bottom and recording the data needed to form a clone. It wouldn''t appear until he left pagoda, at which point he wouldn''t be allowed back in. Anyone who was an overseer wasn''t permitted to enter the pagoda so that their clone could function properly and Ares was no different in that regard. Fighting himself might have been interesting but he wasn''t beside himself at not having the chance. Ares looked around at the Red Sun recreation and couldn''t fault it. It was exactly as he remembered. Every mouse in every gutter. The Chen clan''s abode. The sect. All of it was spotless down to the last detail. Naturally the entire city was a bit big for an arena so only an section of it would be used but that didn''t really matter much at all. All Ares knew was that, going forward, the legend of Ares the bandit brother would be spread throughout the dimension! This time it wouldn''t be him robbing people of their stardust though, that would be Transmit''s job... And they were spectacularly good at it too...
Ares turned to Veteran and nodded at the city. "Whaddya think? This is what the place outside the pagoda looks like currently. My home town. Nothing special but it has its charms. Namely the people, especially the chefs." Ares pointed at one particular shop. "See that? That''s where I got the sushi from!"
Veteran chuckled. "It''s not exactly a huge city but if every chef is as talented as the sushi fellow then I would quite like to live in a place like this. I won''t ask why you seem to know the alleys well but I take it you didn''t have an easy life either."
"Meh, not atrociously bad, just inconvenient more than anything else. I''m sure my knowledge of the nooks and crannies will aid my clone."
"Will it even need such trickery? I think your clone is more than strong enough to just overpower everyone with brute force..."
"Hah, you may be right... Soooo, what now? You gonna turn into a ghost and fly away or something?"
"Actually, that''s pretty accurate. What you''re talking to now is a fragment of my conscience. In a minute, this conscience will be released from the pagoda and it will track my real body, flying towards it with no brakes. Given the distance it ought to take a short while but not any longer than half a day or two."
"Isn''t it dangerous? What happens if, like, your conscience gets stuck on a tree or something?"
"... A tree, huh? Yeah, no, it doesn''t quite work like that... Consciences can''t really be interreacted with, they just phase through everything. Planets, star ships, barriers... Trees... So don''t worry about it. As my time is limited I''ll just end our interaction for now by saying this, thank you. Regaining my affiliations means a tremendous amount to me, an amount I can never really repay. I will strive to do so regardless, however, so call upon me if ever you need a hand. That being said, I would recommend you keep training. Losing to you sucks and I''m not entirely pleased with the way things went during that last fight. I''ll want to try my hand at beating you again in the future so be prepared!" Veteran''s body became hollow and ghostly as it began ascending towards the sky.
Ares looked up and saluted. "Ciao for now rookie. Good luck getting strong enough to be worth my time!"
"Pfft, bastard. Whatever, see you in a few years kid!"
"Until then." Ares wasn''t sure if Veteran heard his last words as he''d already faded away by now, leaving Ares standing around in Red Sun by his lonesome. Larsh, Caribou, Golgo, Candy, Veteran. They were all free now. He kinda wondered what they would be up to now that they could return to their real lives... Ah well, no point in pondering over that which he couldn''t possibly know! It was time to leave this pagoda once and for all! It had been a fun week, that was for sure. Plus his power level was off the charts compared to before so his gains were non-trivial. As for what came next? Well for today he was going to have a word with the Transmit branch leader, that was a given. Both Ares and the branch leader wanted to speak with one another so there was zero chance the guy wasn''t outside by the time Ares left the pagoda. Following that conversation he would return home, have a shower, cook some dinner, and finally get some sleep in! It had been far too long since he relaxed properly... Although he was inevitably going to have to satisfy Enyo first... And cook for his dumb brother. It was honestly a miracle the people in his house didn''t starve when he wasn''t around considering how often they relied on Ares to cook. He was kinda curious what they''d been doing for food as of late. Likely just going to the restaurants Ares had recommended. As long as they were eating well Ares was content. As for tomorrow, there was a match for the Red Sun team so he would be in time to join the fray. From then on it was just a matter of competing until there were no matches left and then this whole tournament business would finally be over! Ares could finally go around and explore the world like he''d been meaning too! Happy days!
Now, how was he going to leave the pagoda?... Usually, in order to leave, he had to die... Was Ares seriously going to have commit suicide one final time? It felt anticlimactic to be in this situation... As he was about to bite his tongue, however, his was sucked through a vacuum-like portal and spat outside. He was in the usual spot but there seemed to be a crowd gathering around him. Ares pre-empted their multitude of questions by raising his hand and making a single declaration, "If you have any questions, go and ask my clone on the fifth floor. It has all the time in the world, I do not!" And thus Ares silenced the crowd. He''d confirmed he beat the pagoda while also promising to answer any other questions they may have so they didn''t pester him any longer. Besides if they barraged him with questions there were over a thousand people here so they might never get their turn. Asking the clone in a one on one setting would be far simpler so Ares was right in that regard. What they failed to understand, however, was that Ares'' clone had Ares'' personality. What was going to happen, without a shadow of a doubt, was that the clone was going to tell them to go and ask the real Ares... By which point he''d already be long gone... See, this was the problem with two Ares now existing simultaneously, they could pull of dastardly tricks like this! Double the revenant, double the nuisance!
After Ares swatted away the flies he headed over to the Transmit area as he could see a man who stood out like a sore thumb. The person in question was an aevysquall, one that bore resemblance to a peacock, with multicoloured feathers. The guy was a walking rainbow and couldn''t be missed if Ares tried. He wore a green robe that shimmered in the light with silver patterns running along it. Countless decorations adorned the robe and each were bright, if not dazzling, and were shaped like various letters of foreign languages of which Ares could recognise no more than three. The man wore a mianguan, laden with jewels, on his head and his monocle was tinted in different colours depending on the angle he was viewed at. The pièce de résistance was his feathery tail that could be seen swaying in the wind behind him. It wasn''t whole, but rather segmented into ribbon like entities that varied in length, width, and speed. Another small detail was that his eyes were constantly changing colour. There was no particular rhyme or reason to this colour change and it just seemed to be completely random. He was a rather dazzling person and added a splash of colour wherever he went, that was for sure. The man turned to face Ares and lightly waved before his sonorous voice gave greetings. "Asha la. Vishunay, ka limna."
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
"..." Ares stared blankly at the guy. "Uh, hello to you to?"
"Hm? Oh, I see. Apologies, I appear to have used the wrong language. It''s been quite a while since last I talked to anyone in this domain, you see. Though I run this branch, I usually operate on the other side of the barrier where knowledge on countless other languages is a must to run this business smoothly. Delivering to foreign worlds or setting up shop in tribal communities without a proper grasp on the local language would be a nightmare! I was quite suited to managing relations thanks to my talents in the realm of linguistics and, as such, I was given this position. Even amongst the other Transmit leaders I dare say I''m the most prodigious of the lot when it comes to language acquisition. I''m almost certain there isn''t a language out there that has evaded my pursuit of knowledge! And yet I still get my languages mixed up every now and then. I suppose that would be the burden of knowledge? Ah but where are my manners? My name is Kaleido Lingo, at your service." Kaleido gave a small bow and a courteous smile to which Ares responded in kind.
"Hello Mr Peacock." Ares was a revenant, his politeness for any given individual only went so far. It seemed Kaleido understood this in advance, however, and his smile didn''t falter before Ares'' prodding. "Although I can already somewhat guess, I was wondering what you were gonna do with the pagoda now?"
"Well it isn''t technically mine so I don''t call the shots. What has been asked of me is to keep it up and running with only the fifth floor active for now. When the pagoda''s time here is up, I will take it outside the barrier and go on an excursion in search of overseers for floor one through four. Of course this little tour of mine is also a great way of spreading your name around so its a win win as far as I can tell. I do believe all of you also heard that?" Kaleido looked past Ares at the crowd and nodded to them. "The pagoda will start taking challengers again in but a moment. Until then, please allow Ares and I some privacy? Thank you kindly sirs and madams." As the crowd dispersed, now that they''d received the confirmation they were after, Kaleido kept chatting with Ares. "You know, I really am flabbergasted you managed to clear the pagoda this rapidly. I was aware completing it would be a cinch for you, as I''d been told as such by the boss of Transmit indirectly via a letter, but I never expected it to be done in under a week! Truly impressive. I would go inside the pagoda myself and check out what your clone is capable of but I''m hardly much of a fighter and I know I''d just lose anyway. I imagine you took some time perfecting your mastery before putting Veteran out of his misery for good so could you tell me how many days it took you to beat him for the first time? Transmit is curious and we like to collect data. It may also help for publicity and so on so forth!"
"Oh, sure, I beat him on the fourth day. Third if you don''t count the day I spent getting to the fifth floor in the first place."
"Four days to master pressure... The outside world will be shocked to their cores I''m sure. I was surprised when I originally received this assignment. Being sent to a lower domain specifically to help out a random cultivator felt like a waste of my time but how wrong was I? HQ seems to really be rather fond of you, Ares, to have gone to this much effort for your sake. And yet you passed, exceeding their expectations with flying colours. Their faith in you was not misplaced. I wonder what connection you have to our boss? Ha, I''m sure that''s a secret between the two of you so I shan''t pry. Curiosity killed the cat... Or peacock I suppose. That aside, I have something to give you. I know I''m not your usual Transmit handler but this message shall be delivered by yours truly today. It''s somewhat important so we chose not to entrust it to some of our lower ranked employees..." Kaleido looked over his shoulder and bowed his head to Loris. "Sorry old friend. Don''t take it too personally would you?"
Loris took about ten seconds to complete a shrug. "That... ''s.... O... K..."
Did he just split a contraction? Ares did a triple take at the damnable sloth and almost couldn''t believe his ears. He must be doing this on purpose, right?! Ares shook his head and just ignored the guy. How many times did he have to remind himself not to give Loris the time of day? Or rather, there would be no time in the day left by the time he was done speaking...
Kaleido faced Ares once more and handed over a letter. "This is for both you and Mako. It''s a letter from the Fundamental Organisation, also known as the F.O. They''re aware you''ll be contacting them indirectly via Golgo but they wanted to write to you and clarify their position on various matters. Essentially it''s just a recruitment letter asking... Heh, begging, you to join them. Don''t take my mockery too seriously. They''re good people and very well funded. It would be in your best interest to join them I reckon. They don''t quite like Transmit though. A fundamental such as yourself having a closer relation to another organisation than to them made them feel a tad upset. Their crying and whining is rather persistent. Our company does work with them, mind you, but we do like to poke at one another every now and then. It''s nothing you need to be concerned with but our branch managers have had more than a few spats with theirs. Entirely personal and not business related sums up our quarrelling nicely. So that letter, then, is just them explaining how they operate, what they do, and what they want out of you. Naturally they''ll provide benefits, some of which will be listed in that letter. Please pass it on to Mako when you''re finished with it as he should really read it as well. As for your greetings to them, I''m sure Mr Golgo will do his job splendidly. I''ve met the man and, although he may be a tad slow on the language side of things, he seems to be a dutiful and reliable man. Alas, my own job here is complete. I know not when we shall meet with one another again but I look forward to it young man. Until then, do take care. Our company values your custom more than just about anyone else, after all!"
A multicoloured parasol spawned into Kaleido''s hand with which he blocked Ares'' view of him. The parasol spun as it grew progressively smaller until it disappeared completely alongside Kaleido who''d already vanished. The guy was strong, clearly stronger than even the matriarchs. This was someone who was not to be trifled with... Although he was already on the same side as Ares so, unless he kept insisting on calling him a peacock, that shouldn''t be an issue!... Maybe it was going to be an issue...
As Ares left, a member of Transmit officially reopened to pagoda, exclusively the fifth floor, and allowed anyone and everyone to enter. People clamoured over themselves to get in and face ''the kid'' that won. People that were stuck on the lower floors believed they were better than they actually were and deserved a shot at the crown. Those who''d been on floor five didn''t think the kid would be stronger than Veteran. Less than a few hours later, all thousand odd people here would come to realise how very wrong they were. Especially the neo Viking. That dude just started crying again after his loss... He was one of the first to give up and return to the betting brothers. He informed them that Ares had won the first half of his parlay which blew them away and nearly made Jerome, the leader, faint on the spot... At least they still had the second half of the bet to cover their asses... Ah well, even if Ares won his whole bet they would still be in the green overall... Although it would hella suck to lose that much of their profits! Damn talented kid! The betting brothers also bid goodbye to the neo Viking for now as the guy was finally returning home after all the years he spent chasing the pagoda around like a puppy running after a car. The guy had been run over at long last and knew better than to keep chasing it so his time with the betting brothers was up. The last thing he told them before going on his way was that they should up the odds on the pagoda. Beating it had somehow gotten even harder...
Meanwhile, Ares had just arrived home. Before he entered he slipped on the Backfire Bindings and tried to figure out what these things could do! He strapped them onto both hands and closed his eyes. Out the gate he made three observations. First, he no longer needed mana to control pressure. It happened automatically without the need for mana so, unless Ares was summoning annihilation pressure, he didn''t need to use any mana whatsoever. In situations he didn''t have access to mana, basic pressure would still be available to him and that was fantastic! Secondly, the amount of pressure he had increased... It was already freakishly high so this was somewhat overkill but Ares wasn''t complaining. It boosted every application of pressure by a respectable amount and just made him way stronger overall. Good stuff. Finally, and this was the real winner that Ares had discovered so far, his pressure usage was instant now. He could activate enhancement instantly. He could summon normal pressure instantly. He could create physical pressure instantly. Other than charging up physical pressure attacks, everything happened the second he willed it... After all the time spent accessing his heart on repeat during the lower floors and improving his times like he was trying to set some kind of world record... It had all become meaningless! Ares was a tad annoyed but also glad because it meant that complicated process would never be relevant to Ares again unless he removed the Bindings. Aside from speeding up his pressure generation, it also meant he didn''t have to point to direct his normal pressure anymore. He could do it with his eyes and there would no longer be a loss of speed. Also his enemies wouldn''t know where he was directing it so that was a nice additional benefit. It was a shame his clone in the pagoda couldn''t use the Bindings but rules were rules. He may have broken one or two during his time in the pagoda but, as an overseer, strict rules would be in place to prevent him from messing around too much if at all. The Bindings would never have been allowed. Still, real Ares was more than happy to have them. There were probably way more potential uses for it yet to be discovered but Ares could take his time and work it out bit by bit. Treasures at this level were not so simple you could fully comprehend them as soon as you picked them up. Even his Primordial Blade was like this so the fact he could even wield the Bindings already was incredibly lucky!
Ares entered the house and it seemed like everyone was doing their own thing. The cultivation rooms were full, bedroom doors were closed, and nobody was out and about. Instead of bothering anyone, Ares simply went to go take a shower. It had been far too long since his last one. Sure he was a cultivator and didn''t really need them but they felt nice and it''s not like they did nothing either! He removed his clothes and stepped inside. Not even five seconds after he turned the shower on he heard the door to the bathroom creak open. He could see the shape of a woman on the other side and he needed no hints as to who it was. Of course even if he did need a hint or two the fact that he could see Enyo''s chest meant it definitely wasn''t Bellona... She would kill Ares on the spot if she could read other people''s thoughts right about now... Anyway, Enyo poked her head around the shower curtain with an evil grin and Ares simply sighed. He chuckled and nodded towards the shower, inviting her to join him. Enyo had no idea what was in store for her. Ares wanted to test out how effective his annihilation enhancement was in other aspects of day to day life and this would be a good place to start. He was about to rock this foolish woman''s world!