"Soooo, basically everyone?" Ares looked around the living room and counted nodding heads. It was time to discuss who was heading to Akarala with him and nobody seemed to want to stay behind. Sandy was the only one considering it, she wanted to keep working on her flower bed projects and she'd already been on an adventure of sorts with Ares back in Xasca, but ultimately she thought it would be fun to tag along. She enjoyed sparring with Enyo and Ares or spending time chatting with Bellona here and there. Maybe if someone else stayed behind she'd feel less lonely with a companion to pass the time with. Staying here by herself in this empty house would feel like a massive contradiction to the reason she came here in the first place. Also also... Food! She liked the restaurants here, definitely, but Akarala had its own food culture worth exploring, and Ares would be cooking regularly for everyone too, so that was hard to pass up on. Actually, Sandy was very jealous of Ares' explorer nature and would absolutely go on plenty of her own adventures in the future once she was fully settled. Foodie journeys around the galaxy was on her to-do list or, at the very least, nagging Ares to remember recipes and dishes from his time abroad and bring them back for her to chomp on. According to Ares there wasn't much left to do in Sheryashka; he might investigate the issues down in Dwarvingdom, which shouldn't take him too long, and he wanted to visit Neo Gear, but other than that it was nearly time to head to Vraizon. Akarala was the only country on Ares' itinerary that tickled Sandy's fancy foodwise so she might not feel the need to tag along on any other future trips for the time being after this one. Dwarvingdom did serve some mighty fine stews and ales, supposedly, and Neo Gear had a method of converting oil into consumable liquids, but neither of those two specialties were anything Ares couldn't replicate and share with Sandy when he returned. Akarala, though? The country was jam packed with isolated tribes, all of which had their own unique cuisines based on herbs and animals / monsters available in their respective regions. Even the Frozen Thunder League was different comparatively so there was a lot of variety to be searched for high and low. Not all of it was going to be exceptional or anything, Akarala was still relatively primitive in certain aspects and places, but there would be hidden gems for sure and Sandy wasn't going to let any of those experiences slip under her radar!
Speaking of 'experiences', it seemed Bellona was slowly gravitating towards her own with how she'd been provoking Ares for the last week or so. The more intimacy she shared with Ares the more she got used to it and, at this point, almost all hesitation to hop into bed with him had vanished. If nothing else, she was occasionally actively daring Ares to 'man up' with that pointed stare of hers. When Enyo was feeling feisty she'd just stalk and jump her prey in private. Bellona, however, just gave Ares a blank stare from a slightly upturned gaze. Those enticing amber eyes locked onto him mercilessly and encouraged him to let off some steam. She wasn't as energetic as Enyo, she didn't constantly look for opportunities day in day out, but she wasn't just waiting for Ares to make the first move anymore and was satiating her own urges too. This was relevant because it meant Ares and Blo Blo were going to take the next step relatively soon so Sandy was definitely coming along to Akarala given that being the case. The food was one excuse but she also wanted to spend a night or two with Ares as well. She'd waited patiently for Bellona to take the final step, out of courtesy for maintaining a fair and friendly harem, but she wasn't going to be waiting for long afterwards. Skipping out on the Akarala trip, if Bellona was going to continue being a turtle about this matter, was one thing, but knowing a deeper connection was right around the corner meant Sandy didn't want to be twiddling her thumbs by herself. Thus, the one person who was on the fence about going ended up choosing to visit Akarala too. Ares, Aejaz, Allie, Trixie, Enyo, Bellona, Leo, Appa...
Not Quite.
Though Appa had kicked up quite a fuss about going with Ares on his trip to Baja before it actually happened, she'd developed a sort of independence since then. She chose to go with Enyo to the Grecian lands earlier and now it seemed she was interested in following her own path in the short term. Ares' pep talk about being a cultivator to defend herself, combined with the loss of the old couple in Isaz, had led to a kind of maturity in the adorable shade. Appa was still the happy little apparition she always was but she actively made the decision to head to Bhorashka with Rox and his succubus companion in search of monster cores. The old couple that looked after her spent a decent chunk of their life researching methods for Appa to transform and she wanted it to come to fruition even if they'd already passed. Rox could take care of it himself but Appa felt this was a task she should personally get involved with. Ares was naturally concerned about her safety, this was the first time Appa had gone anywhere dangerous on her own since Ares adopted her, but he trusted in her abilities and respectable cultivation base. She had strong ice and mental magic and, if need be, Rox was still going to be in the area doing his own thing. If Appa was focusing on her own transformation that gave Rox room to be a bit selfish and look for something to help him grow instead of adhering to his assigned task. He was fundamentally a monster so there was bound to be a method of evolution or mutation available to him if he looked hard enough in a place like Bhorashka. Appa and Rox both had their own goals which was somewhat funny from Ares' perspective because they were the exact opposite of one another. Appa was not humanoid but could speak perfectly fine. Rox could be humanoid in any way he desired but his speech wasn't up to snuff. Appa becoming human might help her develop her unique aspect of cuteness. Rox being able to speak as well as adjust his vocal pitch and tone would help him disguise as people more convincingly. Both goals were important for the exact opposite reason and, as family members, Ares was supportive of them growing up and solving their own issues themselves. He wouldn't always be there to solve all their issues so, while he'd love to, this was a pseudo coming of age ritual and he would wait to hear about their results when he came back from Akarala... Though he would also give them a few bags of Beads just in case... It was a small gift! He wasn't being an overbearing, worrywart parent! It was less than Enyo wanted to give them. If it were up to her, she would have given them impenetrable armor and God knows what else. Ares reminded her Rox and Appa were incredibly strong and didn't need it so she backed off, albeit with a hint of concern still.
And thus the members of the Akarala trip squad were decided for real this time!... Or not. Apparently Blo Blo and Enyo met Charity and Gladius the other day while they were roaming around the sect and those two wanted to tag along for whatever reason. Supposedly they were getting quite bored of the peaceful life and wanted to get out there once more and do the Legion clan proud. They had nothing to prove but being a dedicated Legion clan member meant they were loathe to idle for long periods of time without bringing about some form of justice. Enyo and her newly trained police force were dealing with most, if not all, of the local issues so Gladius and Charity were itching to right some wrongs themselves. Gladius, in particular, wanted more combat experience. Sparring with Sadie was great and all but she was only one person and one type of combatant, getting experience in with monsters or those with exotic combat styles was worth a quick trip abroad. Charity wasn't as adventurous but she didn't seem to mind an international journey so what better time to head out than now when Enyo and Bellona were also going? It would be nice to have familiar faces around and Ares could provide free travel to speed up the to and fro parts of the journey. Akarala wasn't a bad first choice either as it was risky for non-cultivators but potentially very relaxing if one could defend themselves properly. Also, Charity wouldn't much mind getting her hands on rare medicinal plants to practice with and keep for a rainy day. As a healer she preferred not to have to do her job, as that typically meant something had gone very wrong, but she was also prone to boredom during long stretches of inactivity so at least experimenting with potion creation using foreign substances would keep her occupied for a while. Long story short, they were happy with each other, and living a good life, but they wanted to get outside their house for a bit which lined up with Ares' little adventure so they wanted to tag along. Ares didn't much mind the added company but he was still trying to figure out how to transport everyone else, let alone these new additions.
There weren't many options. If Ares wanted to bring along this many people he had a select few choices at his disposal, only a few of which seemed reasonable to him. Gladius' chariot magic had improved by leaps and bounds since last Ares saw it, so everyone could fit inside it, but then Ares would have to drag the chariot across the ocean which would end up being rather slow as he'd have to constantly bat away monster fish looking for a snack. Most of the people coming with him to Akarala were capable of flying on their own but a few weren't and would have to be carried. in and of itself that wasn't a big issue but Ares was already the quickest flyer, with Voidwalk, by a large margin so having everyone fly by themselves, with some having to carry additional weight, would make it an incredibly slow journey. Ares wasn't sure if everyone else even had the necessary mana to use the flight technical to cross an entire ocean so this was a bad idea too. The Federation might be headed in the rough direction of Akarala, so the group could hitch a ride and then depart halfway through, but that relied on the Federation actually being available and going in the right direction, neither of which were a guarantee at this time of the year. Plus, again, the Federation wasn't exactly faster than just flying so it was a waste of time for the most part. This left Ares with only one real option, carrying everyone himself. There were two ways of going about this; the first of which was using the Puny Prisoners he got from Hunter on the Federation, to miniaturise and jail everyone in a easy to carry item, and the second was shoving everyone inside the Primordial Blade. The issue with option one was that the Puny Prisoners shrunk everyone, sure, but it's not like there was much space inside so the journey would be pretty uncomfortable for those travelling alongside him. Ares would also need to keep the Puny Prisoners away from gusts of wind or bad weather as the effects of even a single wayward gale would be like that of a tornado to the shrunken people inside. He would get to chat with people during the trip though so it was good in that sense. As for the Primordial Blade... Ares wasn't sure he could put everyone in it. It had been a while since he tested the capacity limit of the Blade but it was getting pretty occupied thanks to the stepper farming. The load it could handle, in terms of living beings, had gone up but Ares immediately used that extra space to shove aliens inside it. he'd reached bloodline awakening since, so the upper limit must have increased further, but the group this time was pretty big...
Testing time! Ares, after receiving permission, began Shifting people inside the Blade while keeping an eye on its condition. Things got a but dicey, and the space inside the Blade seemed a bit unstable, but Ares reckoned it would be ok so long as Jebben didn't raise any more steppers in the meantime. As an aside, Ares did check in with him and he seemed to be cultivating quite the farm. The livestock were looking healthy and Jebben wasn't as freaked out by the aliens anymore so good for him. If anything, he seemed to be getting along well with the brood mother for whatever reason... Ares was unaware they shared a common nightmare in him but it was probably for the best he didn't know that otherwise he would definitely have complaints! The guy who tried to burn an entire country and a hideous alien with a face only a mother could love had no business talking crap about him! Regardless, Ares had sorted out the transport issue so it was settled that everyone would hitch a ride inside the Blade. Now it was just a matter of choosing a date to set out on and that wasn't a hard discussion either. Gladius and Charity mentioned they were good to go whenever so long as they had a days' notice and that was about it. Ares wanted to stay in the sect for another few days to make sure everything was running smoothly under his watch but, after that, it would be time to depart. With every important matter settled, life resumed and time passed by. Ares did open the One With The Universe Scroll during this period and mess around with it but he was still trying to decide where to start with the art. He was leaning towards invisibility first but it was a toss up between that or reducing his presence to nothing. The former he could do to some extent with the Nyxian Prowler and the latter with the help of Visitation. Though the latter was more effective at replicating the desired result, it relied on a third party. Ares would rather be able to rely on himself rather than having to drag Visitation out every time he needed to disappear from someone's senses so, though invisibility was more tempting, Ares was leaning towards playing it safe and rounding out his own personal skillset. It's not like Visitation was going anywhere, the little meeper was still being filled up with mana on the regular, but prepping for the day he was all grown up and didn't need to hide in the Blade anymore felt like the correct thing to do. Ares was already letting Rox and Appa grow on their own so Visitation was next in line as soon as he was able.
Eventually, it was time to depart and the large group had all gathered outside the sect's gates. Rud was here and making sure to rant to Enyo about keeping Ares in line. Now that Yulo had vanished under the cover of night, Rud had, albeit it begrudgingly, accepted Ares as the new sect master. Rather than fight it any longer, he simply tried to do pre-emptive damage control via Enyo. Elsewhere, Ares was fending off gooey blob attacks from Jelly who came to see the new sect master off from afar somewhere while Sandy was discussing matters with Lara and Arla about managing the fellahin. Allie was saying bye to Zhang while Zhang was drilling Aejaz about protecting Allie from the wildlife in Akarala. A lot of monsters in Akarala were territorial and so the last thing Zhang wanted was for Allie to get too absorbed in picking rare plants she was bitten by something lurking nearby and waiting for a chance to chomp her while she was distracted. Ares hadn't seen her enter la la land in a while but it was still a bad habit of hers and it was especially pronounced when in remote and dangerous locations. Still, it was Leo, Aejaz, Trixie, and the Mini Pillies' job to escort her. Mini Pillie Parasite was officially part of the squad now and ready to defend its master so it would inevitably get to show off at some point during the trip. Allie still wanted to do some field testing and everyone was curious to see how effective the little guy was.
Once Charity and Gladius showed up, trailed by Sadie who was bidding them goodbye while hassling Ares for some snacks before he left, the group was ready to leave. Ares stored them all within the Blade and began Voidwalking out of the city while he chatted with Dominus about what to expect. He mentioned a while back that Thundraga, the little twerp Goddess dragon brat, might have left something in Akarala and Ares wanted to know more. Upon mentioning the existence of a highly sought after 'bow', Ignizz jumped into the conversation and displayed his draconic pride in his own abilities by bringing up his fireworks quiver. While Ignizz bickered with Dominus about whether his quiver was stronger than Thundraga's bow, Ares silently calculated how much power he could get his hands on if he combined both with his destruction magic. A bow of thunder, a quiver filled with firework arrows, and his own explosive annihilation magic all wrapped up into one... Though Ares was primarily going to Akarala in search of resources for the sect, and to investigate the Frozen Thunder League's connection to the void, he couldn't deny that getting his hands ona powerful legacy treasure belonging to a God was likely going to be the real highlight... Though whether it would be easy or not was another matter. There were all sorts of dangers in Akarala but one of the biggest issues he would face was the one currently trailing after him, floating in the sky and hiding unnoticed in the clouds above. Dido had a few opportunities to make Ares' life hard as of late, and was tempted to intervene during the zombie incident a while back, but had held herself back to get a feel for his strength and how best to mess with him. She'd been quiet but that didn't mean she wasn't going to play around with him and her time to make her presence known was coming up soon. Akarala was a dangerous enough place as is, the last thing Ares needed was this moody space pup on his case. He'd have at least a day or two of calm after arriving at Akarala but, after getting settled in, he was in a for a rude awakening if he seriously thought that maybe trouble wouldn't be on his doorstep for once!