Burp
Sandy's cheeks flushed as she put her hand to her mouth and twisted her face sideways. A burp from a cultivator was a rare thing and one would really have to go overboard eating and drinking to even cause such an outburst. Given the fact she'd bullied Ares with cute, pouty eyes for the last two hours to keep making more and more food, though, this was the natural result. Ares swore to keep making more and more dishes until she was bloated if need be and she took full advantage of his generosity to become a very round rhino but also an incredibly satisfied one. She'd basically had a food orgasm and never felt this content after eating a meal in her entire life. In fact this was probably the first time she ever understood what it meant to be 'full' since raising her cultivation to the point she could eat truckloads. She'd never bothered the fellahin chefs to attend to her foodie desires for multiple hours on end like this, because they had to cook for the other fellahin hunters and soldiers too, so this was an experience unlike any other and she was overjoyed. Plus knowing it was a mere request away, as Ares made it clear he was happy to spoil her rotten with food whenever he was available, made her heart flutter with glee. There really was something about food that just tickled her fancy and put a spring in her step so this had been a fantastic few hours and just made her all the more excited to live with Ares in the long run. He even finished the dishes off with more bundevara and Sandy had practically melted into a gooey puddle in Ares' arms on the couch with smiles all around. The burp did make her feel somewhat shy and embarrassed but Ares just smirked smirked and shook his head before going back to stroking her hair. Sandy was living the life right now, being taken care of by a considerate, generous, and gentle partner in every way she wanted. Ah bliss.
Such a happy scene of the two cuddling on the couch couldn't last forever, though, as Ares had stuff to do! First and foremost he cultivated back up to the seventh stage of sensory enhancement. He was right in assuming casting Armillary at the scavenger base would do his cultivation wonders and so now he rose to the next stage with relative ease while the Elliot drove back towards the city. Thankfully he ascended up a stage without the world causing a fuss because he'd already done it once before. It wasn't quite a tribulation he went through last time but the disturbance didn't need to be repeated and that was generally a good thing. The Xasca guards might have assumed they were under attack if Ares broke through to the next stage while nearing the city as the Elliot would have been chased by a giant sand tornado again.
This misunderstanding was avoided and Ares entered into the city to go do two things. First of all, he sent Enyo and Bellona some more food and a non-specific letter just chatting about this and that. They'd probably done 'the deed' but Ares wasn't going to be noisy and pry or ask for answers, that could be shared at their own discretion when they felt comfortable doing it. He was just primarily giving them food because feeding Sandy until she was like a balloon but not doing the same for the sisters felt unjust. Maybe Enyo would send a return gift, a Past Present Polymerisation ball of light storing memories of the incident he was thinking of, but he could only wait and see as she might choose to delay it and send it later based on whether Bellona minded or not for now.
As for the second thing Ares wanted to in the city, after leaving Transmit, he wanted to head back to the sect and clear up the air for Drai so he could relax in peace without worrying about the ever looming threat of the Torchbearer plot hanging over his head. Ares showed up and gate-crashed one of Drai's sect leader meetings but was promptly forgiven, because who could raise a fuss in front of Ares anyway, and even thanked when Drai learnt the scavengers were all but gone and the weasel plot had been foiled for good. He promised to deliver a gift to Ares for his hard work before he left Xasca but needed time to prepare it, as Drai was also preparing a gift for Massai too, so Ares would come back at a later date when he was done with the Riddlemyd.
Before leaving the sect, Ares went and dragged Aejaz out of the palace to come along with him to the Riddlemyd. The 'God of riddles' had work to do and Ares wanted to check the progress of whatever training he'd done as of late... If any. It wasn't impossible this shmuck decided to take some time off and goof around knowing him but, to Ares surprise, he really hadn't. He'd gone up a good few stages and was nearing the transition realm! Ares hadn't checked in with his cultivation in a while but apparently all the stealing Aejaz had been doing was paying off, putting him squarely ten stages ahead of Ares at the seventh stage of bloodline awakening, and all he needed was to sit down and cultivate for a while for his gains to manifest. Aejaz had also practiced his bloodline abilities, namely silent casting, so that he could do it faster, and his invisibility which was pretty much undetectable now and could last for long periods of time. Ares was sufficiently pleased and chose not to bully him for today. Physical training and combat practice could resume later, for now pitting him against Tom Tom's riddles was its own kind of torture... Although maybe more for Ares than Aejaz if he was being completely honest. Nonetheless, the gang was all back together now. Ares, Aejaz, Rox. The dynamic trio were all present and ready to continue their climb through the Riddlemyd. This was going to be the last time they entered it as Ares planned on staying inside the place until he was finished with it from top to bottom! Or more like bottom to top given the fact he had to climb upwards but that was a minor detail.
The only things left to consider were the remaining labs that needed to be explored, which would give out the artifact the Kazaz prince needed to combine into one entity as well as maybe, possibly, a One With The Universe Tome, the lurker creature hiding within the labs, the hub room foe, the Anubis, and then finally Tom Tom... Ares wasn't entirely sure that was technically everything as there was one more thing he was expecting but couldn't confirm because it had nothing to do with him. This was something that had been in motion for a while now but when it all actually went down was beyond his control. If it did happen, it would probably happen during the Tom Tom fight and become a two for one issue but that was ok as Ares had the tools to deal with it then and there. Of course he could be wrong, and maybe he overestimated the strategist of the round, but Ares had a gut feeling he would be seeing a familiar face some time soon as well as one new one. Maybe the matter with the C.O, Cultivation Organisation, would finally be settled in a way that Ares felt good about. He'd been conned by them a few times now, although he'd also conned them back and gotten Windsor trapped in Red Sun for a while, and so it was high time he settled that debt and put them in an unwinnable situation... Though really it wasn't his idea or plan and he was just taking advantage of someone else's and piggybacking. Ah well, there was no point worrying about that now. What he was thinking about would become much clearer when it happened so he just put that matter to the side and went back to cultivating. He was nearing the eighth stage and figured he would be able to reach it before his fight with the Anubis, at some point during his Riddlemyd climb, which was great news.
Ares eventually arrived at the Riddlemyd, entered through the usual means, and wound up on a new floor only to be greeted by a familiar type of trial. Ares didn't feel any specific kind of way about the riddles but he wasn't impartial to them either when Aejaz was around... Ares was going to have to beat Aejaz to the punch here because this guy was the not the riddle God he was cracked up to be. At least, for what it was worth, Sandy was also here and could contribute too. She couldn't be any worse than Aejaz so having a second brain on standby was reassuring... Though there was a disturbing possibility she actually was secretly as bad as Aejaz... Ares sincerely hoped not! Either way, Tom Tom nodded at Ares to give a small greeting, as it had been a while since he showed up here last, and immediately handed out the perplexing puzzle designed to postpone Ares' pursuit of the Riddlemyd peak. This one was a bit of a long one!
"There was once an incredibly famous man with a strange ability that defied the norm. This man was an ancient monk who resided within a remote sect, located inside a hidden, mystical valley, but curious individuals from far and wide were permitted entry to visit him and bare witness to his unusual talent firsthand. This strange ability the monk possessed was the talent to not blink for multiple hours on end. A seemingly harmless ability with no real functional use for most people but cultivators figured such a talent might actually benefit them during lengthy combat scenarios. Every blink was milliseconds wasted and potentially dulled reactions times that could mean the difference between life or death when added up over the course of day long fights.
Of course various other people were interested in this strange ability too, even if they didn't care about using it for combat, because it was interesting if nothing else. Even Dingo, a man in pursuit of all things rare, desired knowledge on this matter and paid the monk a visit in person. Every single person who visited, be they cultivator, collector, or mortal, however, left feeling the exact same way; robbed but enlightened. Upset but with a tinge of acceptance in each belaboured sight they let out and every shake of their rattled heads. The monk had well and truly lived up to everyone's expectations. He could indeed not blink for multiple hours straight. In fact, he could theoretically maintain this ability for as long as he desired and it was easily provable that such a feat was possible... And yet, again, everyone who walked away from their encounter with him was bitter about the matter and refused to elaborate or discuss it publicly.
One day, a journalist of great renown within the upper domains couldn't resist checking for himself and unveiling the hidden truth. Naturally, upon visiting the monk, he was left just as stunned as everyone else but perhaps not for the reason he was initially expecting. The monk did indeed possess the talent, that was undeniable, but there was something more to this matter that everyone who heard about the situation had overlooked and not considered before actually visiting the monk. Unlike the others who came before him, the journalist was more than willing to publicise his own humiliation in the news and inform everyone far and wide of the painfully simple truth behind this story. This is a real historical event that actually happened an era ago but my question to you is this, what was the secret behind this story that gave audiences and readers world-wide a good laugh at the expense of those who fell for it?"
Ares contemplated for a bit and narrowed down the focus of the question. It essentially boiled down to the monk's unique ability to never blink and so that was the best place to start... Ah... You've gotta be kidding me, right? Ares smiled wryly as he looked up at Tom Tom. He'd figured it out pretty quickly because there was a surprisingly obvious answer to all this... "... I know monks are supposed to contemplate on various matters, and they're somewhat known for unusual and uncanny remarks that deviate from expectancy, but isn't this a bit too much? I get they're supposed to find truths within falsehoods, and falsehoods within truths, muddying the waters of perception until clarity becomes a foreign concept... But surely this was all just a scam orchestrated by that punk monk to make his mystical valley famous and earn tourism patronage right?.. I thought Massai was the only fake monk around... I'm starting to think they're all fake!" Ares had a rough idea of what the answer was but he starting to become very disillusioned with what the monks of this universe really were! A bunch of lying crooks with hidden agendas is what!
"What do you mean?" Sandy hadn't figured out this riddle yet, and neither had Aejaz, so she was tilting her head in confusion as to why Ares came to this conclusion all because a monk could go without blinking for a long time.
Ares shook his head and kissed his teeth at the ridiculousness of it all. "How about I show you instead? If it's what I'm thinking then, hell, every single person n the world has this damn ability!" Ares slowly lowered himself to the floor and lay down on his back. "I'm going to sleep."
...
After Ares closed his eyes, the answer became painfully apparent... A person with their eyes shut didn't have to blink... No wonder the monk could 'theoretically' do this forever, he could just up and die and an eternity of this no-blinking nonsense was entirely possible! Those who went to visit him must have been infuriated at having had their time wasted but also thoroughly humiliated and too embarrassed to cause a scene. It's not like the monk 'lied', and this could be considered a sort of enlightenment about the nature of deception and the wisdom that lay within obfuscating and complicating simplicity, so what where the fooled lot supposed to do other than bite their tongue and leave? Destroying a peaceful sect of harmonious monks because one of them had gotten the upper hand against them in the field of semantics wouldn't exactly do any good for their reputations...
As for the monk responsible for this, for turning countless experts into laughing stocks for a good few years, he eventually became the head of his sect and was still around today, making fools of just about anyone and everyone who came his way. He was a notorious speaker of half truths and semi-accurate statements that befuddled even expert linguists like Kaleido Lingo if given a chance to spout his garbage rhetoric. Put simply, he was a verbal menace whose sole existence was basically there to piss people off and thus he eventually earned the nickname 'God of Trickery' despite being a monk, of all things. He did, however, promise that anyone who could beat him in a war of words, or fool him in such a manner, would be given a rare treasure the sect owned. None, to this date, had ever succeeded but the revenue from cultivator tourists visiting the sect and paying for temporary residences in the mystical valley was astronomical. This one silly monk had single handedly turned around the status of his sect with his puzzling nonsense and so Tom Tom rather admired him for it. In a way, the monk was a sort of fellow riddle master and there was a deep seated respect inside this sphinx because of that. Tom Tom was quite happy to meet him during one of the outcast gatherings because he was also a comrade of sorts with the Dominus group. Just about anyone who had a reputation for being a menace to society was likely connected to Dominus, Larsh, and Dago in some way...
"Pft... Correct..." Tom Tom nodded because Ares had hit the nail on the head and replicated the monk's antics one for one. "I hate to say this but Sevorus was admittedly fooled by this monk too. A perfect being would probably have no need to blink so the rumours garnered his interest and... Well... You know the rest. I think he still considers falling for that to be his greatest shame to date. I believe he then studied to become a logician for a while to avoid a repeat of such a scenario in the future... Which might honestly be why he created this Riddlemyd in the first place. The perfect being would never get duped by such childish antics, right? Understanding the nature of language, and how it could be used to manipulate people via false understandings, was something he looked into a great deal..." Tom Tom revealed a secret about Sevorus that made Ares chuckle. Nobody was perfect, everyone made mistakes no matter how small or silly. Maybe that event helped Sevorus understand that at least partially even if he didn't give up on his pursuit of perfection regardless
The pathway to the next room opened up and Ares and co all took off down it. From then on there were a bunch more combat rooms and mazes but they were all beaten without much, if any, hassle. The only other room of note was another riddle room at the very end of the floor but this one came in a rather strange form... The group assembled before the sphinx head, expecting wise words and twisted trickery, but all that came out of the talkative tomcat was...
"Give me ten high grade stardust."
Begging!
Shameless scrounging!
"Hell no cheapskate!" Ares spat a quick retort and refused to budge on this matter. Did Ares look like a walking piggy bank!? Just because he had more than enough to give that didn't mean he was going to fork it over when asked! Especially not to Tom Tom, Ares wasn't that stupid!
"Tsk!" Tom Tom kissed his teeth shook his head. "No, you idiot, this is part of the riddle! I swear I will give it back to you in under ten seconds. In fact, by the time I've worked my magic, you'll have more stardust than I will! Stop being a namby-pamby fleshy fool and give me money damnit!" Ares side-eyed this dodgy cat but didn't give in immediately because he still wasn't sure about this whole setup! Something smelled fishy and it wasn't this annoying cat's breath!
"I'll do it!"
"Aw hell..." Ares sighed as he watched his brother eagerly hand over the money with a determined look in his eyes. Aejaz was being baited into handing over his stardust and Ares knew it! To make matters worse, this was a riddle! There was no way Aejaz would spot the con even if he were an excellent thief himself! His inability to solve riddles somehow superseded every other aspect of his character and he was, quite frankly, doomed to walk away from this with a hole in his pocket! Ares stared deeply at every single transaction made from this point onwards and listened carefully to every single word this obnoxious sphinx spewed. He refused to let Tom Tom get away with scamming anybody!
Ahem
After successfully borrowing the stardust, Tom Tom spoke again. "Now, in return, I shall borrow you twenty high grades." Tom Tom Spat out the stardust and the money rolled around on the floor in front of Aejaz who happily picked them all up one by one, thinking he'd made a great profit. "Once more, I shall ask to borrow high grades from you. I shall pay them back, but I require thirty this time and not ten."
"Aha! This is the bullshit!" Ares waggled his finger at Tom Tom who he firmly believed was never going to cough up anymore stardust once he received this new payment! It was a classic bait and switch!
"Will you quit it already!?" Tom Tom looked offended! "I'm not going to scam him if I say I'm not! I will give him his money back! In fact I shall give him even more than he gives me!" Tom Tom's sugary words of investment idiocy tickled Aejaz' greedy soul and so he forked over another thirty high grades and watched as Tom Tom hoovered them all up into his gob for safe keeping. "It is good to see that someone here has a brain!" Ares could have sworn he saw this foul feline smirk evilly for a split second! Regardless, Tom Tom upheld his earlier promise. "As declared, now that you have borrowed me thirty stardust, I shall borrow you forty in return!" Once again, he spat out the rewards and they were all real. Ares' Omniscience had long since confirmed the payments weren't fakes or replicas so he was starting to wonder wherein the riddle of this room came into play... "Aejaz. We now owe each other a decent sum of money that totals up to one hundred high grade between us. Can you temporarily pass the stardust in your possession back to me so that we can sort this out in a simpler manner?"
Aejaz nodded along because he didn't see anything wrong with this. Tom Tom's snoot lowered and he swallowed all the stardust yet again before spitting out fifty stardust in front of Aejaz. "I have divided the one hundred stardust evenly between us and now we shall give back what was owed. You gave me ten stardust so I shall five it back to you from my own pile." Tom Tom spat out another ten high grades and forked them over to Aejaz with not a single complaint. "Then you borrowed twenty from me so I request you hand them back over from your pile next." Aejaz understood the logic behind this claim so he handed it over without questioning anything. "Good. Next I took thirty from you so this shall be my final payment to you." Tom Tom spat out the thirty as was promised and then asked for the last payment he was owed. "And last but not least, you took forty from me so I would like that back now, please and thank you."
...
Aejaz could feel something was wrong here!.. But he didn't know what? As far as he could tell, the money had been split evenly and they both gave back exactly what they took... Shouldn't this be ok? Maybe it was fine after all... Aejaz started collecting the forty stardust from his pile but was halted by Ares who was not having nay of this mathematic tomfoolery!
"Oh hell no! He doesn't owe you forty at all you conman birman!" Ares had solved the riddle! If Aejaz and Tom Tom each had fifty stardust, Aejaz receiving ten put him at sixty and Tom Tom at forty. From there, handing over twenty put Aejaz at forty and Tom Tom at sixty. After, being given thirty meant Aejaz was at seventy now and Tom Tom was at thirty stardust overall... But handing over forty would put Aejaz at thirty stardust and Tom Tom and seventy stardust! They were supposed to end up back where they started, if they were just returning their borrowed money, so why did Tom Tom have an extra ten stardust?! "I swear to God I'm seriously gonna boop your naughty snoot one of these days, Tom Tom! Aejaz doesn't owe your forty, he owes you thirty to put things back to how they were originally!" Tom Tom had put up sixty stardust overall whereas Aejaz put up forty. If Tom Tom had seventy stardust by the end then he'd robbed Aejaz successfully!
"Tsk, correct." Tom Tom complained with a grouchy voice and was somewhat saddened he couldn't rob these pesky bandit brothers. His trick almost worked on Aejaz, at least, but failed to get by his watchful older brothers' dogged interference. The trick here was splitting the one hundred stardust into two piles of fifty for no apparent reason. It made no sense to do it that way but felt normal because both parties had an even amount of stardust, like before they started, and were still giving back the exact amount owed afterwards. However, the truth of the matter here... Was that Aejaz owed sixty but was only given fifty to pay it with! It made no sense! Meanwhile Tom Tom owed forty but mysteriously had a pile of fifty stardust to play around with! It didn't matter if they gave back the correct amount afterwards, there had already been foul play form the start and there was a ten stardust discrepancy that affected the end result! Splitting the one hundred owed between them made it 'simpler'? In what universe! At that point, just give back the correct amount! Give Aejaz forty and keep the sixty!
"Heh, there was a riddle like this on the earlier floors too you know?" Tom Tom shook his head. "I would ask the trial takers for 100 high grades to pass through the room."
"I don't recall such a thing?" Ares raised his eyebrows because he had most definitely not encountered that shameless 'riddle' before, he would have remembered it.
"Of course not, I didn't try it on you. When I asked for money earlier in this room you nearly picked a fight with me and that was only over ten high grades! It wouldn't have worked on you and I knew that. If any of the trial takers refused to give me 100 stardust in that earlier riddle I would let them through without them having to pay a single penny. There was no point asking you, it would have been a waste of a riddle room. I'll admit I was trying to get vengeance here!"
"Wait, so what happened if the Riddlemyd explorers gave you the money?"
Tom Tom shrugged with a smug grin. "I kept it."
"You..." Ares couldn't believe his ears. "Remind me never to leave my wallet unattended near you ever again!"
"What?! I let them through to the next room if they paid! I'm not thatevil! It's not my fault they were so willing to part with their hard-earned stardust!" Ares really wanted to teach this damn cat a lesson but figured it was best to just let him keep acting like a money grubbing maniac for as long as he could. Ares would beat this Riddlemyd soon and then his cash flow would be halted for good!