What a strange woman... Ares was leading a progressively larger and larger group, unintentionally, towards the location of the Brotherhood tryouts... But his primary concern right now was that Alice didn't seem entirely normal to him. He'd essentially confirmed her ability to see the invisible signs because she took a sneak peak at one of them on the way here when she thought nobody was looking... Or so Ares thought, he assumed he caught her out, but immediately after catching her in the act Alice looked at him and gave him a big wink. She was playing a funny game and Ares was wondering what one earth to do with this bizarre person. Was she going to take whatever trial the Brotherhood offered as well? What was her goal in all of this?
Hm... Maybe I should check just in case... Ares, up until now, actually hadn't looked at Alice with his Omniscience. The signs were all ahead of him so he had no need to see her through the lens of his Celestial Prisms before, and generally turned it off when looking at people he didn't suspect out of politeness, but he was starting to get too curious about Alice to continue ignoring her. He took a subtle approach, and slowly swivelled his head with Omniscience up and running, but by the time the corner of his eye could spy the location Alice had been at previously she was now gone... Ares sighed to himself while deactivating Omniscience and, as if on queue, Alice reappeared to his right with a hop and a skip and gave him a friendly wave... This woman was definitely not normal! There was no way something fishy wasn't happening under the hood here! The only question now was what, exactly?
Ares hedged his bet on this Alice being a fake.
The family members hadn't given Ares to understand as such, that there was anything off about the way she acted, but there was no way this woman was that much stronger than the rest of her family and nobody knew about it. Not to this extent, anyway. It was far too random that a person of her caliber was attached to this random lower domain family. Instead, it was more likely the fake was just replicating Alice's behaviour perfectly, allowing her to go unnoticed, but now the question was why and for how long? If this had been happening before Ares met the young master's group then it wasn't something that concerned him and he just happened to stumble upon this discovery and get involved in something that didn't concern him at a bad time. That was fine...
If it was after, however... If Alice was replaced before Ares met her, but after he arrived at this planet, then it might actually be him specifically getting targeted and / or investigated. He'd come from inside the Sheryashka barrier, which warranted suspicion from domain officials as he could be a terrorist or something equivalent who snuck in, and brutally beat down a spacian like it was nothing, meaning his power was unordinary, so if word spread about his feats, or somebody strong had been watching all of that unfold, Alice could have been temporarily replaced to get closer to him. It might have sounded like Ares was being paranoid here but one couldn't be too cautious! It's not like he wouldn't consider doing the same sort of strategy with Rox back in Red Sun one day, if someone suspicious showed up that is, in order to gather information. This Alice had probed Ares a considerable amount but it was impossible to know what she wanted in the grand scheme of things so Ares could take things one of either two approaches going forward; he could ignore her or he could confront her and just ask. The former option was more tempting overall, honestly, because there was basically nothing she could do to him if he just left well enough alone. Causing a scene now, by openly declaring her an imposter and demanding she reveal her true identity publicly, benefitted nobody and he really was interested in the tryouts. Getting caught up in something beyond the scope of what he was here for was a bad idea, a sure fire recipe to miss out on something interesting, as he didn't even have that much time to begin with.
After weighing up the pros and cons, now firmly resolved in his decision, Ares gave Alice a polite wave in response to hers and kept walking ahead without batting an eyelid at her. She seemed to be surprised at this turn of events because there was one thing that could be taken away from Ares' actions regardless of what his intentions going forward were. He was strong. He knew there was something off about her but didn't care to unmask her and unveil it because he was confident in his ability to sort her out if she moved out of line and stuck her nose into his business. It was a 'try me if you dare' attitude and Alice was impressed he so boldly chose that option. There was a very real risk she was some higher domain expert cultivator who'd been alive for millions of years and yet Ares just gave her the middle finger, basically, and neglected her existence entirely. From his perspective, even if that assumption was true, and she was down here in this domain for the tryouts, her cultivation would still be limited to transition realm regardless and so he clearly believed that anybody in transition realm was an easy target despite his own lacking cultivation.
Contrary to Ares choosing to ignore Alice, she was now feeling the opposite way about him and that he was perhaps a more interesting individual than she'd given him credit for. There was a appreciative glint in her eye that went unspotted by everybody else as she skipped back over to 'her family' and kept them in line by constantly nagging them about miscellaneous and minor problems like their untucked shirts or the slouches in their gait. For what it was worth, whoever this person was, they clearly knew a lot about Alice as she was replicating her existence phenomenally well and making a serious effort to blend in. If even her own son and husband didn't spot the fakery then there was some very real talent that went into his setup that commanded a good deal of respect. Ares showed Rox this woman's general behaviour and told him to take notes because, one day, when he could speak, he would be doing similar stuff on Ares' behalf. This was arguably a more important ability for Rox to learn than mimicry of battle techniques and compilated arts because it served a purpose even Ares couldn't replicate or pull off by himself. It's not like he needed additional fighting force when he himself was on the scene so, instead, having an ally capable of great subterfuge and impeccable performative displays like this was far more beneficial.
All of this happened without anybody else noticing, though, and the group was led down one last street before arriving at their destination with nobody any wiser about the odd atmosphere brewing between Ares and Alice. By the end of the journey they had something else to deliberate over because the end destination... Well it was absolutely the place everyone was supposed to be gathering at, as all sorts of people were already hanging around here for precisely the same reason, but the location itself... It was really quite something. After navigating through some dingy alleyways the large group finally arrived outside a kind of dilapidated courtyard, crusty, rundown and tucked away on a side road that was nigh impossible to find unless you were looking for it. Buildings were broken and shattered, the pathway was smudged, crooked, and rocky pebbles had been scattered all over the grass in the courtyard. Small, cracked stone fountains were spewing water erratically so no bird could ever dare get close without being hosed down and, to be honest, the place almost looked haunted. During the day it was passable but, at night, this courtyard was assuredly a ghost's haunting grounds as even the flickering lamps gave off that impression.
Worse still, this courtyard was located behind a rusty gate with gnarled trees leaning precariously over them and prodding at anyone who tried walking by. Literally. The trees weren't just overgrown, they were somewhat sentient and would check anybody passing by, presumably for ill intent as a self defense mechanism but it was still creepy regardless. This place was an absolute dump so, despite all the signs suggesting overwise, some people couldn't help but wonder if this was really the location of the tryouts. The undeniable truth was that it really was, however, as conversations could be overheard confirming everybody's suspicions about the matter. Apparently one of the people here had been told that the tryouts would start in about thirty minutes by a member of the Brotherhood themselves so there was no doubt about it unless there was a scam of epic proportions happening right now. Also, some true fanatics recognised this courtyard as it was the Brotherhood sect's outer court hub which functioned as both a meet and greet plaza as well as a mid point that connected all over the parts of the sect. They didn't know why it looked like this, necessarily, and it was usually a much more elegant and refined sight according to the history books, but it bore enough resemblance to see the inspiration behind various poetic descriptions of the place from a bygone era. Also also, to put the final nail in the coffin, all sorts of powerful cultivators were gathering here and there had to be a valid reason why. Ares figured he had time to get a bead on the competition so he subtly asked the young master he came with about some of the more prominent figures that stood out like a sore thumb, either due to the attention they were receiving from everyone else or Ares' or own personal judgement about the people he would soon be facing off against.
The way Ares saw it, there were three noteworthy individuals... Excluding Alice. Ares didn't know what was up with her, and she was definitely both strange and strong, but he was still actively ignoring her. If she took part in the tryouts he would humour her and play along with her whims but, until then, she was just an anomalous existence he wasn't going to probe into. It's not like anybody would even be able to alleviate his suspicions about her anyway because even her own family probably didn't what was happening with Alice beneath the current guise she wore like a fake skin. Instead, Ares focussed on the other three individuals and went through them one by one.
First up, Ares pointed to a small statured, dusty brown cloak wearing, bipedal space fish with a cane in its right webbed hand. Ares had only very recently become accustomed to the idea of 'spacians' and yet he was already meeting, at least indirectly, a sentient spacian. This one seemed to be from a higher domain too as its cultivation was bursting at the seams and looking to transcend beyond transition realm the second the limiter on it was released. The spacian's aura was hard to hide because it was palpable to anyone with a pulse and impossible to miss but it was rather serene more so than anything violent. His somewhat-green tinted and bearded head, his hunched back, the little grey stems coming of the back of his starry neck, and the sharp wisdom in his eyes all gave Ares to understand that this creature-of-sorts looked to be an elder or something equivalent amongst his race. This was a cultivator who'd lived a long life and endured many difficulties but was strong enough to overcome them all, a battle hardened warrior... Fish... Space fish, to be exact.
Ares still had to come to terms with that as spatial magic might be a relevant factor later and his nothingness should be primed and ready to deal with it. Anyway, Ares' rough guesses were proven correct by the young master who referred to this spacian as 'Marlar, the spacian shepherd'. Apparently this fish's sole goal in life was to have wild spacians acclimatise themselves to civilised life instead of being hunted like the monsters they acted like. He guided those that could barely converse, those that rampaged and attacked every single living organism indiscriminately, to a better future by teaching them restraint, language, and other basic concepts. He himself had a turbulent history and caused mass mayhem before he developed his sentience properly so decided to show repentance by taking up this mantle and spending all his spare time creating a better world to live in for spacians and humans alike.
Cohabitation with spacians was arguably where it was at today because of Marlar's dedicated efforts alone and he'd single handedly contributed to the very first, among the many other that followed, spacian educational facilities that functioned much like ordinary schools for humans. He'd been around for long enough now, and lived a very clean life after his rough start, so many people had forgiven him for the initial incident that sparked his regret. Of course there were still those who had personal grudges, and lost loved ones to his crazed murder sprees, but even the most devasted amongst the ranks of those who suffered would admit through gritted teeth that Marlar was a good person overall and exclusively worked towards a better future. You could scorn who he was but never who is is. He was unquestionably peaceful now and exuded a calm air effectively permanently that hinted as such. It was to the point he had a sort of passive pied piper effect towards other spacians and he was once said to have been seen shepherding over a hundred wild spacians, all obediently trailing after him at once, which is where his nickname came from.
Marlar was probably here today to join the Brotherhood so he could ask them to help him with various spacian rescue related matters. Sometimes they were tough to restrain and having an extra hand from other powerful cultivators would be wonderful for him. Also, there were many spacians just like him who'd committed atrocities that would later give them nightmares about their own horrid path. These spacians needed amnesty during this difficult transition period to a sentient being, they were vulnerable to not just those who wanted revenge but, also, themselves as suicidality was high amongst said spacians. Dealing with both persecution, even if justifiable and lawfully correct, and guilt simultaneously was a difficult task. The Brotherhood would be more than happy to let these spacians in complicated turning points in their life live at the sect and they would be pretty safe there all things considered; that was almost definitely the reasoning behind Marlar's presence here now.
There were also a large group of spacians that followed him presumably with the same goal. He was the strongest but if any of them made it in the Brotherhood instead then the end result would be the same. Some had come to just cheer him on but it seemed like most were ready to take part even if they tacitly understood the only one likely to make a dent in these tryouts was Marlar himself. Of course there could be aptitude tests, instead of raw talent tests, in which case there could be a surprise upset but it was unlikely and nobody held any hope for things to unfold in that direction. The more probable outcome was that those spacian would gang up on anyone who got in Marlar's way. It wasn't particularly good sportsmanship but they believed their cause to be worth it. Marlar himself disagreed, he was genuinely a morally airtight individual who would prefer not to resort to cheap trickery, but that was why he kept others around who weren't completely angelic like he was. He understood the value of such unfair tactics and couldn't bring himself to force these supportive lot to stay away from the tryouts. Deep down, he wanted what was best for everyone so he let it slide and pretended not to notice. Besides, unless he knocked them all out they weren't going to leave his side anyway and he would never willingly lay a hand against the innocent if he could avoid it, not after what he'd done eras ago. If someone else knocked them out and dragged them away he would not get involved, however, as this situation did leave a somewhat bitter taste in his mouth.
Spacians aside, the next person of note was another higher domain cultivator followed by a large group although the reason seemed to be somewhat different this time around as it wasn't anything to do with loyalty. Put simply, this man was perhaps the descendent, if not reincarnation, of narcissus himself. If this man wasn't pride and arrogance incarnate then nobody was. He was a pretty boy, soft, handsome down to every last facial molecule with brilliant blonde hair, red and gold clothes like royalty, and a a picture perfect, spotless and speckless appearance. It was impossible to deny it but his general attitude, his head held high and his cocky smile, his arrogance towards all the nearby cameras and the derision in his eyes even to the women who admired him, would make any sane person want to pretend otherwise just to spite him. He was verypunch-able and his overdramatic gestures and hand waving would leave anyone capable tempted to break some bones to make him less jelly like in his motions. His hands flowed from one camera to another before posing sharply with one hand draped over his forehead and the other arm outstretched, splayed towards some kind of invisible magnificence that only he could understand and grasp.
Even more annoyingly, the followers of his were lapping up every movement and every single glance he oh-so generously bestowed upon them. It seemed he had a pretty hardcore fanbase and journalists and reporters alike were utterly fascinated with him. Ares guessed he was a celebrity of some kind who also happened to be a decent cultivator and had racked up a following due to his good looks. Ares roughly understood what social media was, after having it explained and shown to him a while back, so this guy was probably the cream of the crop on various media, apps, and websites. What he was famous for, exactly, was unknown to Ares but he had to admit he was one of the stronger people here and by a decent margin. His pomposity was still unrivalled, unfortunately, so he was absolutely not the kind of person Ares would get along with. Even somebody like Eagerton would find his pride in the self dwarfed before this man, like an ant before an elephant, but at least Eagerton's pride was in his hard work and painstakingly developed talent. Whatever this buffoon was so arrogantly proud of was purely aesthetic and Ares felt like vomiting at the sight of him. There was a difference between thinking you were good looking and actively telling everyone you met how good looking you were. Ares even overheard him directly comparing himself to other people, some of which were present here today that he actively pointed at, and that was a line in the sand that Ares thought was simply embarrassing... And yet those who chased after him, down to this domain, seemed to excitedly lap it all up. Maybe this behaviour was just a show he put on for others, maybe this was all some sort of character he put on for entertainment purposes, but Ares was highly put off by it and so was everyone else nearby.
Apparently his name was 'Gram' and he was the prince of a very prominent cultivation kingdom in the higher domains. His father was aged and he was soon to become a king of a powerful region. Even still, aside from being a political figure, he was sociable to the extreme and became popular thanks to his various talents. He wasn't famous for any one thing but he became a prince charming in the eyes of teenage girls everywhere thanks to his ability to be a dab hand at basically anything he tried. He won multiple tennis tournaments despite being an amateur and beginner not even a month prior, he could sing with no practice or prep, dance with no rehearsals, cook without a recipe, etc. Some say he had perfectly sculpted genes and DNA and could do literally anything he put his mind to and, up until now, this had never been proven false. Weapons? He could wield them flawlessly. Complicated science and technological breakthroughs? He made them regularly. Other than his attitude, which was acknowledged to be the complete opposite of humble, he was considered 'perfect' by every conceivable metric.
It was this constant ass-kissing, however, that got to his head and helped him develop a monstrous ego but according to his fans it was warranted and he had a right to act like king of the world. He had it all and became one of the top figures of the current generation in a heartbeat. He was also a member of a respectable sect, and there were other prodigies there too that earned a good deal of reputation, so basically anyone who was a disciple of said sect, alongside Gram, invariably became famous even if only accidentally. The sect had a metric ton of prestige and was a sort of status symbol in the modern day. There were members of this sect that came along with Gram for he same purpose, some maybe even as strong as Gram, but they weren't garnering half as much praise because, at the end of the day, he was still the centre of attention wherever he went. His sect mates didn't seem to care for him much, or at least they just treated him as an ordinary person, but they got wrapped up in the whirlwind of his popularity quite often whenever they went anywhere as a group and had to put up with it. Still, the reason Ares focused on Gram was because he, to Ares at least, looked like the strongest amongst this particular group. Perhaps he was hiding some kind of secret that others didn't know about, or maybe he just never made the effort and made his true strength clear to others, but there was something about him that caught Ares' eye as a cultivator. He was a colossal douchebag but that didn't mean he was weak, unfortunately. Still, Ares would have to watch out for the other members of the sect too as they weren't slouches even if they were taking a backseat and hiding in Gram's shadow.
Last but not least... Nobody knew. There was a young woman who's appearance was mostly hidden by a cloak similar to the one Marlar was wearing. Her race couldn't quite be discerned due to prominent features being hidden under the hood and most of her body was covered up to boot. She emitted a decent level of power but not any more than anyone else here and so blended in quietly... But Ares knew. Ares knew there was something different about her! Sure her power level was low but that was only relative to the higher domain lot with inherently higher cultivation bases. This woman was, upon inspection, merely at bloodline awakening. Maybe around the halfway point at the fifth stage and that meant she had the courage to tackle peak transition realm cultivators, over an entire realm above her, that would flock here in droves. She wasn't from the higher domains nor was her cultivation being suppressed. Like Ares, she was just incredibly powerful compared to where her cultivation base was at and that was what made her stand out to those with a discerning eye for stuff like this.
The problem then, though, was that she was an unknown variable. Even if she was a well known figure, she would only be well known down here in the lower domains she probably originated from. Being a rising star didn't mean she was a celebrity like Gram, or well known in the higher domains that most of the current challengers came from, so there was zero information on her and, in a way, that was somewhat concerning. In fact, for much the same reason, even Ares was getting a lot of stares too because his own aura was quiet profound for his age and cultivation base. People like him and that woman were anomalies that couldn't be measures due to a lack of public appearances. No names, no known affiliations, no known power level, no known magic and combat preferences... They were complete mysteries and needed to be paid a good deal of attention to so as not to fall at their feet. They weren't belittled for their lack of cultivation, they were respected and feared approximately which was an interesting difference between the people in and outside of the barrier. These lot were wise and experienced and had seen all sorts of cultivation shenanigans over the years so they knew better than to judge based on cultivation base alone. In a way, that made Ares and and strange woman's life harder, because they couldn't get the drop on people with the element of surprise, but that was fine. It was actually rather refreshing not to have to do the old 'underestimate into humbled' routine. Of course they were still probably underestimating Ares even now, his toolset, birthright powers, and other such advantages were nonsensical and unpredictable... But what about that mysterious cloaked woman? Was she a powerhouse secretly too? Only time would tell, and that time was rapidly approaching.