All manner of racial slurs were flung between Julio and Dabble as their arguing went long into the afternoon. Funnily enough though their relation wasn''t as bad as other dwarf and elf duos, if you could believe it. Most times it would be violence on sight and dwarves / elves had quite a a knack for killing one another. All in all, Dabble and Julio could be considered ''peaceful'' when compared to the norm... Even if they were currently yelling at one another in broad daylight...


    "POINTY MENACE!"


    "WEE NONCE!"


    "SPIDERS!"


    ""Spiders?"" Julio and Dabble came to a ceasefire as Ares woke up shouting in-between them. He''d sprung up from the floor and very nearly headbutt Dabble. Of course the fact that was even a potential risk in the first place was thanks to Dabble''s uninspiring height but Julio was too preoccupied with Ares right now to comment on it.


    "Ah to hell wit ye both. Come down to me personal forge and we can keep yapping there. We already made enough of a fuss up ''ere and disturbed teh disciples. Let''s not cause anymore of a scene than we already ''ave." Dabble kicked Julio in the ankle for good measure before disappearing down the stairs. Julio kissed his teeth and went to follow but he saw Ares, out the corner of his eyes, with his hand extended. Ares was seemingly asking for help standing up so Julio extended his own hand, helped Ares get half way up, and the pushed him back down again while he ran away giggling. Ares went to stand up again but he was zapped as soon as his hand touched the floor because Julio had sneakily left a shock rune on Ares'' palm before... And now Ares was pissed! He swore vengeance would be his as he descended into the bricky depths of the forgery department, all the while concocting various ways to get back at Julio. Ares made his way to the bottom of the stairs and pointed at the still-giggling elf.


    "Alright punk, from now on your official name is Foolio!"


    "Eh?" Julio almost gagged on his saliva when he heard his new nickname. Worse still, Dabble chuckling to himself meant this wasn''t just some one time thing that was going to be an Ares exclusive... Before long the entire sect would be calling him Foolio! Even if he got down on his knees and begged, it might work in dissuading Ares... But the chuckling dwarf could not be stopped any longer! Curse you, Ares... Curse you. Though Foolio wagged his fist at Ares, he only cursed him inwardly lest the dastardly kid had any more devastating tools in his arsenal ready to deploy.


    Seeing that Foolio had gotten the message, Ares ended his revenge here. He had more in stock but this would do for now... Although he did also give him another warning just in case the thought of fighting back ever appeared in Julio''s cranium. "You weren''t at the match today, right? The runemancer who took your job was helping a team cheat so his position should have opened up. In other words, I got you your job back and the C.O ought to be contacting you about it sometime soon. Of course, should push come to shove, I can always intercept them and let them know you aren''t a good candidate? They technically owe me big time for exposing the mess going on under their noses and I''m sure I could encourage them to search elsewhere for a runemancer?"


    Thud


    Julio fell to both his knees and clasped his hands together to beg with his all. "Have mercy! You win. You win! I''ll be a good boy!"


    Julio clearly didn''t mean it in that way but Ares had called his wives good girl one too many times to not be at least a little uncomfortable with this so he cringed at the display and shooed Julio away with a frown. "Alright alright. I get it! You''re repenting! Take those puppy eyes somewhere else, they''re making me sick!" Ares leapfrogged over Julio''s bowed head and moved onwards to Dabble''s workbench. Atop the bench were a number of artifacts, all swords, that Dabble had been experimenting with in his own time. Ares could sense varying degrees of pressure hammered into each of them and they all appeared stable. Of course that could change during usage but that was why Dabble had been testing them, to make sure they didn''t.


    "The results here are varied, laddie, so let me go through everything one by one. I''ll refer to artifacts by number so as not to confuse ye. Artifact one has teh least amount of pressure ''n'' it and works perfectly well. As teh amount of pressure is so low it barely makes much of a difference in the big picture but it does help. Artifact two has considerably more pressure and, for a while, felt like teh perfect stopping point. There was no loss of functionality with teh weapon and the benefit  it provided was huge. A single swing with artifact two, from the same laddie who tested artifact one, was roughly 1.5 times more powerful overall. For an average cultivator, dis''ll do nicely. Teh sect disciples ''n'' what not''ll get good use out of artifcats like this. Artifact three is where things start to get a wee bit tricky so I''ll skip it fer a sec'' and explain artifact four... Which is missing from this table ''cos the damn thing went and blew up. Artifact four could nae handle teh pressure and broke, unleashing the stored up pressure like a bomb. Ye could maybe use artifact four as a template for an I.E.D but as a weapon it failed right from teh get go. So then if artifact three didn''t go kablooey like four, ye would think it would be usable, right? Well sometimes it is... It''s a bit wobbly if ye don''t have the strength to wield it so the test laddie could nae even swing it without missing the target. I gave three a go meself and I could swing it just fine, however, so I thought it was jus'' a matter of cultivation. That muppet o''er there, Foolio, tried swinging it and failed though... As it turns out, there are multiple factors that go into whether ye can wield a highly pressurised artifact. The reason I could wield three was ''cos I used my own pressure in creating the artifact. Seems it didn''t much like Julio, making it lash out... Not that I can blame it... Anyway, if ye use yer own pressure it should be ok provided the artifact doesn''t break like four. Also, if yer pressure is stronger than that of the owners, ye can steal and use it too. Give it a go laddie."


    As Dabble gestured to artifact three, Ares picked it up and had to immediately settle it down with his pressure. The spastic bucking was hard to control, like trying to rodeo with a wild, enraged bull but Ares did calm it on the spot as soon as his pressure touched it. Dominus'' bloodline meant that Ares would never struggle with this and that was nice to know. He would never attempt to steal an artifact and have it leap out of his hands mid fight on his watch, no sir. Putting that aside, the weapon itself was a fierce one; that much Ares could tell now that it was resting calmly in his hand. It was multiple times sharper than a regular old sword and managed to remain light despite the power Ares could feel bubbling away inside it. This was a good artifact and anyone at around Ares'' cultivation level would be happy to have it... If they could use it, anyway. "Seems grand to me. Of course most people will have to just be satisfied with artifact two. As for what happened with four, that doesn''t fill me with confidence, to say the least. If normal pressure was too much then annihilation pressure will certainly go overboard."


    "Yes and no. There are more tests still being run but I can share the details of what I''ve found so far even if the swords themselves aren''t here right now. Artifact five used the same amount of pressure as number four but I changed the metal the sword was made out of, replacing it with something a bit more sturdy. This time, it worked and was stronger than artifact three by a considerable margin. Three would be good for someone like ye, but five would be almost at teh level where an elder would like to own such a beast. What this tells me is that provided ye can find the right material, imbuing yer special pressure might actually be feasible. Ye would need to search high and low though, maybe even venturing up into Vraizon to come across such a rare and valuable material... Or perhaps not as maybe a different approach would work for ye.


    Artifact 7... Well it was actually a treasure so I''ll refer to it as treasure 7 for clarity''s sake. Treasure 7 showed yet another improvement and could hold even more pressure without going bust. Plus there was a massive benefit the artifacts didn''t have, and that was that it stopped absorbing pressure altogether when it was filled to the brim. Ye needn''t worry about smushing yer pressure into treasures ''cos they''ll simply cap out when hitting the max load like a big fella at an all you can eat buffet. If it''s an artifact, ye need be careful and pay attention to teh state of yer creation but if it''s a treasure? Go all in from teh start and ye ought to be golden. Treasure 8 was a personal treasure and this was were things got interesting. Personal treasures can take teh most pressure but the pressure need come from teh owner as it does nae accept anyone else''s. Ye can''t borrow it teh someone else wit more pressure than ye and ''ave ''em load it up for ye, so it''s unfortunate in that regard, but the increase in overall effectiveness is typically higher than that of a normal treasure. So long story short, ye ought to be able to use normal pressure for ye artifacts and annihilation pressure for ye treasures. Yer personal treasures will be where this trick really shines so I would recommend ye start there as ye can get a hand of the process ''n'' also imbuing pressure into treasures can take a fair bit o'' time. Might as well get teh stronger tools in yer arsenal all buffed up before teh others. The personal treasure took a whopping two whole days ''n'' even then it was looking like there was room for more. There are still some specifics we don''t yet know so maybe ye''ll figure them out on ye own. For instance, we dun know if a personal treasure can store more pressure depending on who teh owner is. As ye have incredible pressure mastery, maybe yer personal treasures can take more pressure than if they were wielded by someone else? We can nae test it though so it remains speculation for now. Also, yer annihilation mana is an anomaly so we ''aven''t the foggiest on what will happen when ye mess wit it. Ye should start with personal treasures ye don''t care as much for lest something goes wrong. I wash me hands of any responsibility as I simply forwarded teh test results to ye and gave me opinion on them."


    Ares nodded as he understood blaming Dabble for something he couldn''t even possibly test was unfair. The issue here was that Ares didn''t have any personal treasures he didn''t care about as they were all mythical items or held a lot of personal value... Still, he needed to do this, considering how vast the improvements were shaping up to be, so he figured he could start with the Zephyr and see how things go. "No that''s quite alright. You''ve done more than enough good work here as is. I''ll be sure to report back with any new information once I''m done imbuing my treasures with pressure. Again, thank you for doing this while you were already busy."


    "Ah, think nuffin of it. This benefits me too, as well as the sect, so I''m more than happy to give it a crack and a whirl here and there. If ye get time to spare in teh future, would ye mind coming down here for some experiments with that annihilation pressure o'' yours? Would be real swell to see what happens under various conditions."


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Of course, by all means. Over the next few weeks I''ll pop in occasionally when I''m free... And now for Foolio..." Ares turned around only to find Julio ''swinging'' artifact three... Although really it was more like the weapon was swinging itself and Julio just so happened to have his hand on the handle. He clearly couldn''t control it or overwrite Dabble''s pressure no matter how hard he tried... "Oi! Elf! Put the floppy sword down!" Ares, when Julio ignored him and kept playing with the toy, used his telekinesis to shake the damn thing out of his hands and launch it across the room. Julio let out an audible sigh of disappointment before turning towards the fun killer himself.


    "Ares! I was playing with that!"


    "Don''t you still have that brand new axe? Why not play with that instead! Don''t tell me you''ve gotten bored of it already!"


    "Nah, but it doesn''t jump around like artifact three does! Holding it feels funny, like a bloodthirsty sword with a mind of its own... I''ll see if I can steal it from Dabble at a later date. Heh, if I bury it in a stone I can rope some suckers into paying me stardust at a chance to try pulling it out! Or maybe treat it like some kind of divine test! ''If you are chosen by the legendary wiggle sword, it shall stop struggling in thy grasp and become your eternal reward!''"


    "Scammer." Ares singular, blunt, word burrowed into Julio''s brain. ''Foolio the scammer'' was not a nickname he wanted!


    "Ok ok ok. I won''t do that! Fine! You win again! Cease your assault on my reputation!"


    "I''m not assaulting anything you muppet, you''re doing this to yourself! Ah whatever, sell the disciples snake oil on your own time. How did the whole bundle of runes that I gave you shape up? Anything interesting in there? I haven''t had a chance to check them myself thoroughly as of yet so I''m curious as to your opinion on them."


    Clearing his throat, and pulling out a notepad from his spatial ring while donning a pair of reading glasses, Julio began narrating his findings in a surprisingly professional manner. Whether Julio actually had a serious side to him, or this was some kind of elaborate bit to prank Ares, he didn''t know. Anyway, his findings on the runes were as such... "Although there were a bunch of runes, most of them were just variations of the same seven things. For the purpose of keeping it short and sweet, I''ll only discuss the seven main runes and not the variants as you can play around with that in your own time. I''ll be taking the Dabble approach and numbering them for clarity''s sake. Ahem. Rune one! A defensive runic setup for large areas such as sects or clans! Fairly self explanatory but it can defend against large attacks and keep out those who are not permitted to enter. This will be a pretty big upgrade to what our sect currently has..."


    "What does it have right now?" Ares was unaware of the current security system. He knew Slick was working overtime but the fact there was more was surprising to Ares who hadn''t seen head or tail of it!


    "Right now, the sect has nothing!"


    ...


    ...


    ...


    Well that would certainly explain why Ares hadn''t ''seen head or tail of it''... There was actually nothing defending them from the outside! Sure a barrier, even a flimsy one, would still be pricey but, considering the sect''s overall ranking, surely one should have been affordable?! "There''s really nothing other than Slick? Isn''t that asking for trouble? How has no one ever made a ruckus here?"


    "It''s mostly because the C.O wouldn''t stand for it. Although we don''t officially co-operate with them, they really do want Yulo and everyone else knows it. If someone came knocking on our front door the C.O would come to our ''rescue'' and expect Yulo to owe them a massive favour in return. Ironically, the threat of the C.O has prevented any intruders so their own willingness to defend us has backfired on them tremendously! They want to help for their own benefit but wanting to help means everyone else doesn''t want to get involved! Heh, Yulo played them pretty good. Anyway, though we''re strong, we''ve always lacked resources. Wasting what we had on a crappy barrier when we already had the C.O towering behind us was pointless. Now that we have these runes, though, they are definitely going to be something worth investing in. Of course coming into more stardust as of late, because of a certain someone..." Julio nudged Ares on the shoulder. "... Means we can do this without worrying about going bankrupt! Hooray for money!"


    "That''s wonderful news. I take it the runes are highly effective?"


    "Mhm, hella good stuff. The kinda stuff you would never find anywhere in a domain like ours. Hell even Vraizon would kill for these bad boys. Any of the four matriarchs would be overjoyed to have runes like these up their sleeves. When we finally get around to throwing up the barrier we''ll become talk of the town in a matter of minutes. Globally we might even have people come to visit purely as a tourist attraction; it''s shaping up to be that special. Ah but the special runes don''t end there! Rune two is effectively an enhanced Training Field. It has way more functions than the normal ones we use on a regular basis. You can store a person''s data and form a clone of them to set up like a trial kinda thingy with it. You can also mess with all sorts of fun settings like temporarily swapping pillar affiliation or granting people access to rare treasures and so on. Inside the Training Field, someone could potentially mess around with your destruction pillar and Black Ice Bane, for example, if it was set up right. Then there are settings like gravity, changing the scenery, and simulating various historical events like wars etc. It should be called a Simulated Field if anything because the wide range of options is extensive and the name is more fitting. Both in terms of individual training, and sparring, it offers so much more than the Training Field and it''s really sweet. Hosting tournaments inside the Simulated Field, that can be anything from racing across a map to fighting monsters in time trials, is more than doable with this new rune setup. Seriously, we can even create clones of all our elders and have the disciples fight equalised versions of them to make it fair. Plus clones can have personalities so the elders can simultaneously teach all of our disciples this way. Although the barrier is showier, this is actually probably the most important of all the runes and is a real God-send. The capabilities of this thing is never ending and we can effectively program it to augment reality in countless ways. It will be a major draw to our sect as soon as we get it done but it will still take a long while for me to learn how to set it up. Ah but you can maybe help with that here and there when you aren''t busy? It would be much appreciated."


    Ares gave a nod to indicate he would be more than happy to help. "For something as important and useful as that, I''ll lend some aid whenever I have time to spare. It would be incredibly valuable for me too as I could train against myself. No disrespect to anyone but no one I''ve met so far, other than Veteran, is really worth the time. Everyone needs to be given a cultivation advantage, at which point it isn''t about technique or skill anymore and who can overpower who first. That isn''t worth anything to me. As I have Dominus'' varied fighting style I can test a number of different situations and fighting styles against myself on repeat. It might sound arrogant but the sooner I can square off against myself, the better."


    "Uh, well, fuelling your ego aside, it would also be good for literally everyone else... So yeah! Again, really high level stuff you gave me. Whoever borrowed you these must be really fond of you to give out such rare secrets?"


    "A future wife so yes. Although, that being said, I don''t know how much of this is actually considered ''rare'' where she comes from. I think she''s far more talented than even these runes let on, it''s just that the resources to copy her specialties don''t even exist down here so she went easy on the runes. Still, this kind of runemancy / technology existing just about everywhere in the upper domains... What a sight that must be. How advanced they are compared to the rest of us almost feels a little unfair..."


    "Yeah, no, I don''t wanna hear that from a fundamental champion... Pot calling the kettle black, you know? Anyway... Rune three! A prison, basically. Anyone who we trap inside it is never leaving without our say so. It also comes with various torture methods like shocking and poisoning... A bit grim but a direct upgrade to our detention facility. We''ve never had to ''imprison'' anyone but, hey, the more tools at our disposal the merrier! Rune four! A, giant, fucking, cannon!"


    "... You seem to be enjoying the prospect of that one more than the others..."


    "Hell yeah! Giant cannon! Giant cool! It''ll be like a game of tower defence! Man I wanna pilot it so bad and give it a test run.... Unfortunately Yulo told me I won''t ever have permission to sit in it and fire it for some reason? I think that''s unfair, frankly... Well whatever, when you become the sect master you can sneak me in! Rune five! Various trap runes. They can be placed inside the sect and only go off when they''re ready and primed to deal with invaders. It''s like a second layer of defence that can also catch out anyone who sneaks their way in past the barrier. Not that they have to be used inside the sect, specifically, just that it seems like the most optimal use. Of course as long as you know the formation and have the necessary stardust you can create this bad boy anywhere and at anytime! Rune six! Crop and farming runes! Benefits the sect''s productivity by an amount that is, quite frankly, ludicrous! We can become entirely self reliant with these runes and even expand the grocery shop in the sect. Plus it can become the start of many varied businesses in the sect which could net us plenty of stardust from homegrown products. It''s not really an interesting rune compared to the others but it''s worth isn''t to be underestimated! Rune seven!... Uh, I think this one was meant more for you than for anyone else... It helps with fun time in the bedroom. It''s like a Swiss army knife rune for a bedroom that creates mood lighting, unleashes some aphrodisiac into the room, and can even store and play romantic music... Uh, yeah... Not exactly something that can benefit the sect unless we build a brothel or something..."


    Ares smiled wryly at the description of that last rune. It wasn''t even one for him, it seemed to be a gift tailored to Enyo if anything. It seemed Candy had taken a liking to the mistress of the harem and gave a parting offering to her through Ares after she barged into the floor way back when. Now the only question was whether Ares should show Enyo this rune or not. Installing it would take a while and Ares had better things to do... But if Enyo found out he was hiding it, Ares would never hear the end of it! Maybe he could find some middle ground and only install it when he finally moved into the sect master''s pagoda? At least then he wouldn''t need to keep redoing it all the time whenever he moved residence... Actually, this might even be a method of getting Enyo into runemancy. If she knew runes were capable of such feats she would inevitably dedicate time and effort to learning them. It was like dangling a carrot on a stick sometimes with this woman!


    Ignoring Enyo for the moment, these runes were a huge deal. What they provided was no small boon as no other sect in the nearby planets, not even domains, would have access to the tools Heaven''s path would. Again, this would draw in so many new applicants that the cost of setting them up would pay for itself in due time. These runes would aid the sect''s growth by an inestimable amount and, as the future sect leader, Ares was very pleased. He thanked Candy inwardly for her foresight on this matter as she''d done him a great favour in all this. She basically compiled a list of everything that could catapult a sect to greatness, minus the bedroom rune, and gifted Ares a starter pack...Thinking this just made Ares want to see her again and give her a big old hug... It was a reminder he needed to speed things up and deal with everything inside this barrier pronto! The outside world awaited him! Not that they would be quite so keen if they knew what kind of annoying person Ares was... But that was something they could figure out on their own eventually! Or, well, that was what Ares thought. what he''d forgotten about was that his clone would be more than capable of spreading the ''word'' itself... Many people were going to go on to form long term grudges with Ares because of that stupid clone...