Testing was in order. Though, really, there wasn't actually too much to test regarding the war aura. Ares soon realised he was extremely limited currently in terms of what he could do compared to last night. Normally, at any given point in time, Ares could summon a single flag... And that was it! That giant soldier he summoned the other day was a no-show and the aura's presence was pretty muted. It was definitely enough to frighten a person, especially if they were weak minded, but it wasn't going to singlehandedly be putting anyone out of commission before a fight started, in that regard pressure was better. Ares figured if he went all out he could maybe summon about three flags and some mini soldiers but he would face a backlash if the foe wasn't worth it so this was something he had to be careful with. The difference in power he controlled from one flag to three was pretty significant so any enemy who's difficulty fell somewhere in between two two was risky business. If Ares needed more than one flag but less than three... Ares was kinda screwed. If he didn't fully activate the aura he'd lose and if he did he'd win overwhelmingly and face a backlash... Though he was happy to have the war aura it gave him a tricky conundrum to consider going forward.
Still, Ares would rather be really strong than really weak and even having the option to unleash the war aura was inarguably a fantastic gain. Even with just one flag he felt like an untouchable king of the world and his combat prowess was through the roof. The qwaker from before, the giant undead elephant Ares killed when he first met Sandy, could probably be singlehandedly taken down by the war aura flag if given enough time. It was a devilish little thing that packed a considerable amount of power. Stabbing with it thrice was roughly equivalent to stabbing with the Primordial Blade once and that was seriously no joke. Ares couldn't even wield the Blade properly so having a pseudo replacement, one that was faster than even the Blade, was pretty great... Although the Blade would maybe get a bit sad it wasn't being used, that happened once before back during the international and Ares hadn't forgotten about it... Not that Ares could do anything about that for now, though! Wielding the Blade for more than a rough swing or two was near impossible and thus Ares couldn't be blamed for avoiding it!
As for Ares' control over the flag... It was pretty seamless. Ares expected a much more difficult procedure for learning to control it properly but he was making it fly around freely within the first minute after he summoned it. He couldn't make it fly beyond the range of his war aura but that was fine because it was decently large and could cover a wide range that was suitable for versatile combat. As long as somebody wasn't hiding at longer ranges, or fleeing away from him, Ares ought to be able to smack them with the flag. Plus the flag was fast anyway so if it needed to close a gap it could do so maybe even quicker than Ares could. If Ares had this one flag going into the fight last night it would have changed to the course of the scuffle significantly and Ares would have won handily. This flag dwarfed a lot of treasures he owned, never mind his basic weapons. Killing an average peak transition realm cultivator was a snap of a finger away and that was just when using this flag alone. Combined with Ares other weapons, his pressure, and his destruction arts... And then Garmr too when he reached bloodline awakening, as there was nothing prohibiting him from using war aura with Garmr... If Ares wasn't invincible in Sheryashka, nobody was.
Just to check the power of the flag, and make sure Ares wasn't overestimating it, he asked Sandy to summon some defensive sand magic. Every single one of the arts, without fail, was bested within one to two strikes which was pretty incredible as Sandy's arts were tough as nails. Only someone of Enyo's calibre could realistically create magic strong enough to keep the flag out and even then whether she could do it consistently was another matter. The flag was manaless and persistent, and Ares technically never had to get rid of it if he didn't' want to, so having a permanent threat around that could keep defences occupied was a brilliant tool and something Ares was actually lacking of Rox didn't count. If Ares fought Enyo she would spend all her time having to deal with this one flag, it was that powerful. In some situations, the flag might even be more deadly than Ares himself so he'd effectively nearly doubled his combat power with this acquisition! Ares looked over towards the Riddlemyd and smirked. If Tom Tom believed he could keep his DNA away from him then the silly sphinx had another thing coming. The speed at which Ares was going to blitz through the Riddlemyd from now on was going to be astounding. Unless a riddle stumped him there would be no stopping him and his climb through the Riddlemyd would break all kinds of records.
With roughly an hour of experimentation behind him, Ares felt like he understood where he was at with the war aura and was sufficiently pleased. Aside from the flag he also became much harder to intimidate, as was seen by his stoicism before against even Astraeus, but that was all for now. Such a thing was hard to measure and couldn't even really be tested so Ares just acknowledged its existence and moved on. There wasn't anything too flashy with the war aura right now, or anything he hadn't seen during the fight last night, but this was extremely good for now and Ares knew he couldn't complain as he'd literally only just gotten it. Dominus might actually leap out of his body and fight him to the death here and now if he dared raise a fuss about not gaining any other new toys. Speaking of Dominus, he was taking a good long rest as he'd been quite active as of late. All the time he saved up to be out and about had been drained over the span of the last few days so he wouldn't be around again for a while unless it was really urgent. He wasn't the only one that was heading out as Sandy, Arla, and Lara all needed or wanted to return to the clan for a while. Lara was worried about Arla, Arla was still somewhat shaken from the events of yesterday and needed rest, and Sandy needed to inform the elders about the loss of the hunters.
Sandy had the most business to take care of as she also needed to inform the family members as well and that wasn't going to be easy for an empathetic rhino like her. Having to see the despondence and grief on everyone's faces over and over again... Her job wasn't enviable but it was her job nonetheless and she had to carry it out despite her heavy heart. She could only grit her teeth and bare with it for now as she'd be leaving the position soon enough. This would probably be her last official job as leader of the fellahin and it was a hard one, unfortunately. Plus, afterwards, as if that wasn't enough, she'd likely go and have a private and personal talk with Bala... And then she also had to absorb the life force of the silver can-do bamboo, which was not going to be painless, on top of all that... She had it rough! Two emotional beatdowns and a physical one! At least she'd come out of it stronger mentally and physically so, although nervous, she was prepared.
Ares had offered to go look for a high quality fine grind blue for her, to replace the one-day one she was going to be getting rid of thanks to the bamboo, but apparently her clan already had a pretty incredible fine grind tucked away in stasis just for her. The fellahin have a lot of control and sway over the desert so getting their hands on excellent fine grinds isn't too tough for them compared to anybody else. They give each of their leaders and important figures at least a ten month fine grind and never anything less if it can be avoided; they're strict when it comes to this iron clad rule so unless they're ever thoroughly destitute this luxury is guaranteed. They'll usually have multiple of these rare fine grinds just sitting around in their vault but they'll never waste them or hand them out carelessly. In this case, the elders were saving a specific fine grind to give it to Sandy if she ever found a way of removing the crappy fine grind borderline poisoning her body. They weren't optimistic but they refused to compromise or budge so, once again, they weren't terrible to Sandy in any way really and that further complicated their relations.
Though Sandy was leaving the clan, the elders' stubbornness for following tradition to the letter actually paid off for once and their insistence on keeping the fine grind for her would finally become meaningful. They wouldn't renege on their promise or tradition. Sandy was owed a high quality fine grind and the elders would never go back on that even is she was leaving the clan the very next day. There were a few talented fellahin leaders and vice leaders in training in case anything happened to Sandy and Arla, and these cultivators were also given high quality fine grind, but Sandy's one specifically was never touched or given out even after all these years. It was to be stored until she could use it or she died, there was no leeway on that matter despite all the begging and cajoling of some of the branch families with talented youths who could also make use of it. Sandy's fine grind was an eighteen month fine grind, however, so it wasn't something the elders were willing to give out senselessly even if they weren't holding it for her. This was a fine grind that could only ever belong to a once in a generation talent and nobody but Sandy even deserved such an incredible specimen in this current day and age. Truthfully, Sandy had been thinking about stealing it and giving it to Ares as she assumed she'd never have a chance of using it herself. She wouldn't do it now but if he hadn't mentioned that there was probably a heaven defying fine grind, hidden away in the Riddlemyd that he was pursuing, she seriously would have done it. She felt the need to pay him back for a lot of things and this would have been her way of going about it if the situation hadn't changed for another few days. She could absorb it now, though, and Ares was genuinely really happy for her and showed no sign of wanting it, so she kept this all to herself and didn't mention any of it. Enyo would later figure this out when the two met but that was its own matter and only served to leave a better impression than the one she already gave, further cementing Enyo's stubbornness to make a relation between Sandy and Ares work.
Long story short, all this to say that Sandy had one hell of a fine grind awaiting her and she was going to become monstrously powerful by the time Ares saw her next. She might even honestly be able to swat aside the war aura flag with her raw strength. She wouldn't ever beat the flag, that was ridiculous as the war aura was mythical for a reason, but keeping it at bay with her bare hands for a while... Truly a diamond in the rough! Ares had an excuse for his rampant power, he was the fundamental champion of destruction! Why was Sandy becoming horrifying too?! There was absolutely nothing conspicuous or strange about her birth or genealogy! She was actually just a prodigy like Enyo and co and there was nothing else to say. Actually, now that Ares thought about it, Sandy, Bellona, Havanah who he now knew about, Candy, and Enyo were all shockingly powerful cultivators... If every single woman Ares married or had a relation with was this powerful he might have to tread carefully within his own harem lest he set off a whirlwind of womanly wrath that even he couldn't contend with... Hell, if even just Enyo, Bellona, and Sandy ganged up on him down here in Sheryashka he wasn't sure he could win, never mind the others...
Spooky.
After everyone left, and Ares was sitting alone in his caravan, he decided to head over to the Riddlemyd after all. He'd planned on relaxing today but, honestly, with his war aura, taking a casual stroll through Riddlemyd's lower floors could be considered relaxing. There was basically nothing that could stop him if it wasn't at least as powerful as the Anubis and Ares was still early enough in the Riddlemyd that nothing of the sort ought to show up for some time. Rather than sit around and cultivate, which he could do some other time, Ares decided to make progress and get closer to finding his DNA. He had time, according to Astraeus, but that didn't mean he was going to take things slow for no good reason. Also, it's not like Ares couldn't move around or anything, he was just tired and sleepy; nothing he couldn't handle if he put his mind to it. He was even able to conserve some energy by making the Elliot drive him to the Riddlemyd while he took a short nap. It was a lot quieter in the Elliot now that Sandy was gone, and Aejaz wasn't here either as he was given the day off, but that was fine as Ares would see them again at some point.
Ares eventually arrived at the Riddlemyd area and walked straight over to the entrance... Only to find the scavengers here again and looking to cause trouble. They recoiled slightly when they saw Ares, as he'd pinned them to the ground and shamed them twice now, but they were still being overly aggressive and threatening him... Clearly Ares had been too soft on these idiots and they needed to be taught a harsher lesson with spilled blood. By the time the scavengers blinked, at least half of their members had been run through and had their hearts shattered. Mystery holes appeared in all of their chests and they collapsed to the floor unaware of what caused their rapid deaths. The remaining scavengers turned to Ares, with fear in their eyes, and found a strange and foreboding flag hovering beside him. Ares wasn't releasing his war aura at full blast, and was just commanding the flag, but he still had an unmistakably violent presence whenever he was looked at. He couldn't summon the flag without deploying at least a little of the aura so, even though it was contained within himself, anyone that pried too deeply would be frightened senseless by the hum of war they themselves poked at. The remaining scavengers were frozen and refused to budge an inch as Ares strolled by. He had his back turned to them and yet they still didn't dare try to ambush him because they knew deep down they stood no chance. Ares didn't even have to lift a finger to kill exactly half of them in a single breath's time so the message he was sending was abundantly clear. The scavengers were never coming back here again. Or, at the very least, they would take every possible measure to avoid being here whenever Ares was around and they certainly wouldn't give him trouble anymore.
As for Ares, he entered the Riddlemyd and paused inside the hub room. Out of curiosity he commanded the flag to go flying through the rest of the unlit room and scout but something rather strange happened. The flag did indeed find something but Ares couldn't tell what it was nor could he interact with it. Ares was convinced there was a monster hiding back there, contained by the hub room's darkness, but he couldn't attack it with the flag. For whatever reason the flag was incapable of damaging the entity as it passed right through it... Ares smirked and mumbled 'interesting' to himself before leaving to go to where he left off in the Riddlemyd last time. There was nothing more to do in the hub room as of yet, as it was clear Ares couldn't undergo whatever that trial was until the room was lit, so he just put it to the back of his mind for now as he'd learn about that secret sooner or later.
Ares arrived in a simple and empty room with no pillars or puzzles in sight. Pillars indicated a combat room, usually, as they could be used as cover against ranged foes or be hidden behind for stealthy trickery. As such, Ares assumed this might be a riddle room, or something of the sort, but the door leading to the hallway to the next area was already open so maybe that wasn't the case after all. Ares could only ask Tom Tom what was up at this point so he walked over to the furthest wall and knocked against the stony sphinx' head. Usually Tom Tom was quick to respond but maybe something interesting was happening somewhere else in the Riddlemyd and his attention was glued elsewhere... Oh? Is Tom Tom cheating on me with other adventurers behind my back? How disloyal. Guess I'll have to spook this inhospitable two timing tabby a little... Ares grinned as he brought forth his war aura, as much as he could without unlocking the preventative seal anyway, and directed every single ounce of it inside the stone. The flag was also drilling gently into the sphinx head so Tom Tom, wherever he was, must have been having the shock of a life time....
"WHAT THE FUCK?!... AH!What the hell is this!?" Tom Tom unpetrified himself and looked around in horror as he truly thought some mad expert had come down from a higher domain and was bullying him for whatever reason. He calmed down as soon as he saw Ares but freaked out a little when the aura hit him square in the nose and the ominously hovering flag drifted in front of him. Tom Tom had indeed been checking in on others inside the Riddlemyd, as there was a duo worth paying attention to, but he suddenly felt like the end of days had begun weighing down on his soul out of nowhere. It truly felt like somebody was about to attack and destroy the entire Riddlemyd like it was no big deal and Tom Tom's body was in serious danger! He quickly shifted around and checked all his clones one by one until his consciousness entered this room and he was scared witless. The previous aura he felt intensified immensely now tha the was facing it head on and he would have peed himself a little if he had a proper body that could do such a thing. What was weirding him out, however, was that Ares was the only person in the room... This was very clearly an aura and, yet, Ares was surely way too young to have one?
...
Tom Tom took a moment to double check the aura and, as soon as he heard the hum of war threatening his sanity, he reeled and sunk back into the wall like a timid kitten. "... Tha.. Tha... That's the... Aura of war?! The hell is it doing down here?! Ares... Where is this expert friend you've brought along with you?... He's not someone I can offend and I don;t think you understand how big a deal this person is... I don't know why you brought them here but if you're pulling some kind of prank on me I have to ask you to stop..." Tom Tom knew of the aura of war, and that the person who wielded it was basically a living legend, so he dared not act presumptuous here. Even worse, the war aura owner was part of a sect that was never to be messed with so if Tom Tom spoke wrongly here he would be beyond screwed and not even Sevorus could or would save him. He assumed the aura of war owner was hiding somewhere in this room and applying pressure on him for some inexplicable reason but, as the aura flag began dancing slowly around Ares, Tom Tom's eyes widened in realisation. "... You can't be serious?! There's no way... Oh fuck me..." Tom Tom understood that keeping ahold of his of treasures was going to be near impossible now that Ares had a new toy. "You seriously have the war aura? Having any aura at your age is... Should be, Impossible... But the war aura too?... Kid... Uh... Anyway, can I get in your good books now while you're still young? I'm being completely honest and upfront here! By the time you reach my real body I won't be able to contend with you even if there were thousands of me... I'm loyal to Sevorus, fiercely so even, but there's a limit and whatever the hell you are is that limit..."
"Really? Just the war aura alone was enough to make you change your tune?" Ares was surprised to find out how much sway this aura had amongst those who knew of it.
"Obviously! Hell you might gain admission to that sect based on this aura alone too so I definitely cannot mess with you!... Ah forget it. There are plenty of others secrets I'm sure you have as well so it isn't necessarily just the war aura but rather everything combined. I don't even want to know what kind of little monster you truly are. You received Dominus' recognition before you even had this aura so with it now I can only imagine the depths within you. Frankly I'd rather not make an enemy out of someone so powerful so I'll stop trying to send the DNA to Sevorus if you just promise to leave me atone. I can't bring the DNA here, you'll have to find it yourself still, but you're near enough to it anyway that it makes no difference. I know when to bow my head."
"Oh? How generous..." Ares tilted his head a little and narrowed his eyes. "But what about the treasure you're hiding? I'm pretty sure its a fine grind, based on our previous discussion, right? Can I have that too?"
"That... I don't know what you're talking about..." Tom Tom was fooling nobody but the sweat dripping down his head was enough to clue Ares in that this was a BIGdeal. If he was willing to give up the DNA but not this fine grind it must have truly been something unfathomable. The lengths Tom Tom were going to keep it were not small, especially when considering his reluctance to make an enemy of Ares as it sharply contradicted his actions right now.
Ares shrugged. "Alright. I won't blame you for hiding it from me. I'll take the DNA and be happy with that..." Ares didn't want to make things too difficult for a friend of Dominus so he didn't sever bridges here. "I won't consider you an enemy but, let me be clear, I'll still be taking whatever it is you're hiding from me so no hard feelings whatever happens when the time comes alright?"
"... Are you sure?" Tom Tom was really playing it safe here because the last thing he wanted was to offend this devil in human skin. If he defended himself later and Ares got mad he would be doomed and have to spend the rest of his existence hiding in a remote domain like a coward because a fully grown Ares was beyond him.
Ares waved dismissively. "Yeah, sure. It's not like you stand a chance against me anyway so it's no biggie."
Ahem
Tom Tom cleared his throat and regained some of his previous arrogant bearing now that he was convinced there wouldn't be a problem. "Kid, the war aura is strong but you're still too young to beat this glorious sphinx! You really don't understand the immensity of heaven and earth!"
"Pft, yeah, sure. And you don't understand the immensity of my ass that you can kiss."
"Rude bastard! I'm saying this for your own good, don;t think picking a fight with me will be a simple matter. I won't go easy on you just because there's no animosity between us. You're a revenant so killing you isn't something I won't do! I'm giving you a fair warning here, one you should really heed well, this fight you're looking for isn't a part of the Riddlemyd game! The scope of what I am far exceeds anything you've faced in Sheryashka thus far, even including the stepper, so don't come crying to me once you've made this mistake and can no longer turn back!"
"You know about the stepper?"
"Hmph, of course. Though I don't know what happened last night exactly, I know that it's dead. Sevorus had ways of tracking his monsters' lives and the one for the evolved stepper broke recently. I'm guessing it had something to do with that war aura, as it's fitting you'd develop your own in response I guess, but I'm telling you, Ares, I do not care about that poxy flag!"
"You talk big but what makes you think the flag is as bad as it gets? You weren't wrong when you said I have other secrets. Guess you'll just have to find out the hard way what I've got in store for you. That is, of course, if you can even survive my plan A. If you do, then I'll let you entertain me." Ares was pretty confident here because he had a number of options up his sleeve. If nothing else, he was willing to use a Canis Stimulant as Tom Tom's defiance on this matter meant whatever he was guarding was worth fighting to the death for. Tom Tom was ok with handing over the DNA of a fundamental champion and draconic revenant God. Well he might not have known too much about the latter but the fact he was ok with handing that over but not the fine grind.... Just how old was that thing anyway?! Ares dared not guess or get his hopes up so he just ignored it for now and asked the question he'd been meaning to since he entered. "Whatever. Let's set our petty squabbling aside for now. What's up with this floor layout? It seems different compared to usual."
With a nod, Tom Tom explained, "Ah, yeah, This floor is different... Or, well, it was supposed to be something fun and unusual but, given your current power, I don't think it will keep you occupied for too long. Put simply, this floor was supposed to be a dungeon run. The trial begins as soon as you enter the corridor and, from there, you have to keep running nonstop or the traps being sprung behind you will catch up and kill you. You have to parkour through lava rooms, quickly solve complicated puzzles, and kill swathes of enemies while remaining on the move. Despite how it might sound, this floor isn't actually much harder than any of the others. I didn't invent it to kill people, I just wanted to spice things up a bit and provide some change to keep things fresh. Monotony is how things get stale in an adventure, after all. It's more like a fun minigame / side activity. A bonus floor, if you will. Don't get me wrong, it can still kill you if you aren't careful... But for someone at your level, it might as well not even exist... There are no riddles on this floor and, realistically, that's all that can stop you from climbing for a good while now. Some of the later floors might be able to slow you down but until you fight the Anubis again I think you can just waltz through this floor without fear... Whatever, do the dungeon run and move on to the next floor. If you want the DNA, that's where you'll have to start looking for it... Although there are some other people who are also searching for one of Sevorus' labs on that floor so you might want to beat them to it in case they have motives that don't align with yours. They might see your DNA and fancy stealing it if you don't hurry. I have a rough idea of what it is they're after but who's to say they won't explore the lab fully and pick up every little thing left behind?"
"Were these the people you were spectating earlier?"
"That's correct, yes."
"Huh... I think I know who they are, actually."
"You know those two?"
"Yeah, I guess so... I should hurry up then and catch up. It's been a while since I spoke to them last so I might as well see what they're up to and make sure they're doing fine." The silhouette of two nondescript cultivators appeared in Ares' mind as he recalled the duo he hadn't seen in a while... Unfortunately they remained as silhouettes and little else because, for the life of him, Ares could never remember basically anything about the Lighter Duo other than the fact that they existed... And, to be honest, he occasionally forgot that as well...