Boulder traps, spiked pitfalls, and crumbling ruins all drove Ares to speed through the floor as fast he could lest he get crushed shamefully. It's not like the traps were particularly dangerous to him, he was powerful enough to not get killed by them even if he slowed down, but he wanted to have some fun with this floor and treat it properly as a way of relaxing after last night. The floor was supposed to be an exhilarating reward after more than seven floors of same-old same-old so Ares enjoyed it for what it was without just breaking everything with his overwhelming magic and might. It was a fun detour from regular scheduled programming and that was good enough. Plus it was another floor in the bag and one less standing between him and finishing the Riddlemyd. He wasn't even halfway done with it yet but he had plenty of time from now on to blitz through it without breaks and he only really had to stop to go deal with the scavengers in a few days. The fellahin would almost definitely not send any assistance after what happened with the hunters but Sandy seemed like she wanted to show up and join in so Ares would wait for her to return first. Until then, racing through the Riddlemyd and maybe killing some western monsters was in order. Ares also wanted to visit the east of Xasca once more, and have a good look round through the larger monster settlements for anything tha caught his fancy, but that could be done later as there was no real rush. It seemed like he had a fair few things left to deal with but it was really mostly just the Riddlemyd as that would take up the most of his time comparatively.
Ares stepped foot on the new floor and wasted no time in barreling through it to find the Lighter duo. His pace was almost the exact same as it was on the previous floor which was really saying something considering the fact that the rooms were all blocked off and he needed to complete them one by one before he could move on. Siamun barely even had time to orate his orders by the time Ares completed the room and, whenever he tried to hand out a challenge that would delay Ares, he was promptly ignored and Ares completed the room normally. Not skipping a room was actually quicker than waiting five minutes in his current one without attacking, or whatever nonsense the dummy mummy came up with, so Ares paid Siamun little attention. Even if there was a punishment waiting in the wings for disobedience it was never anything Ares couldn't swat aside with his war aura flag in a matter of seconds so he took all the forfeits like a champ. Eventually, after about ten rooms of searching, Ares found himself outside a locked room. This indicated there were people inside it and he needed to either wait or partake in their trial. Given that he already knew who was ahead of him, he opted for the latter.
Inside the room, the Lighter duo had actually only just gotten started on their trial. It was a combat room featuring a copycat as their given opponent but it wasn't quite as large or angsty as the one Ares fought alongside the Hunters the day before. It was definitely a mean kitty, and it hissed with all the venom of a toxic snake, but it was barely even half the size of its ancestors outside the Riddlemyd so it was a fair trial for this stage of the Riddlemyd. Before the copycat attacked, though, Siamun came out from his hiding spot inside the walls and begun his usual spiel. The Lighter duo ignored the copycat for now, as the monsters never begun the fight before Siamun spoke for whatever reason, and paid attention because, for them, the caveats Siamun added were extremely annoying. Siamun was a bit of a bastard and would intentionally target weaknesses of the adventurers based on Tom Tom's observations of them. In the Lighter duo's case they weren't anything special individually so a lot of Siamun's crap involved them splitting up or not being able to work together in one way or another. The last time Siamun showed up before the duo Water guy was forced to sit out for the first minute of the fight while Lightning guy was made to sit out for the second minute. If it weren't for the fact that they each had a stock of each other's arts hidden up their sleeves for situations exactly like this they would have struggled quite hard. They'd gotten better at fighting without relying on one another but they were still weaker than all of the other people Ares knew in the sect as individual combatants; there was just no way around that as they really were average for the most part. Point being, these two really dreaded Siamun Says because it caused setbacks and complications each and every time his dusty ass made an appearance. What could they do other than play along, though? They glared together at their cruel taskmaster and waited for his damning directions.
"For this trial you must..."
BANG
A massive hole appeared where Siamun's head once was and the Lighter duo's jaws dropped as they turned to look at the intruder who blew off the mummy's head. Ares was standing with one foot forward, his hand outstretched, and his fingers posing as an invisible gun. He smirked at the dead mummy and blew imaginary smoke off his imaginary weapon. "Ares says you can go fuck yourself!" Ares had gotten pretty damn fed up with this annoying Siamun gimmick over the last few rooms so he finally decided to try attacking it. His disintegration could have maybe done the job but he didn't want to risk attacking and failing as the punishment would definitely be severe. Here, now, he still used disintegration, but he coated his war aura flag with it and... Well... The lethality was self evident and off the charts. The barrier surrounding Siamun split apart like a piece of tissue paper vs a saw blade and the flag could not be stopped for even a single second. Siamun was deader than dead once more and the mummy could finally rest in peace without being paraded around for Tom Tom's silly games. Also, the copycat was dead too but the Lighter Duo hadn't even realised that yet because they didn't even see it happen. Ares had passed the flag through the copycat on the way back after blasting a hole through Siamun's head and it was definitely easier killing this one than fighting the big one yesterday. Not just because this one was clearly weaker in every way but now that Ares had a lethal weapon, that wasn't an art that could be mimicked, he was in the clear to go all out and eradicate the foe with impressive firepower. The copycat couldn't summon a war aura flag, that would be ridiculous, so it was heavily outmatched and outclassed.
Tom Tom was distraught! He came into the room and watched one of his favourite toys get murdered in cold blood! He couldn't even do anything about the loss of Siamun because the technology and magic needed to resurrect a mummy like that again was not something he had access to. This was all Sevorus' doing to being with as he strictly created Siamun to indulge Tom Tom's tomfoolery; this mummy could not be replicated by the sphinx so he couldn't play around with it anymore! Sure he could maybe use one of the many captives in this Riddlemyd to replace it and fill its shoes but the entire Siamun Says joke wouldn't work if it wasn't a mummy! Ares had gone too far! Alas, Tom Tom couldn't really punish him in any way, and he was more concerned with finding another way of implementing challenges into combat rooms without the mummy, so Ares got off freely with his bulldozing of Siamun's cranium.
"Looks like Ares has gotten stronger again..." Water Guy mumbled as he stared at the mummified corpse.
Tap
Lightning Guy lightly flicked Water Guy's head and nodded at Ares. "You mean 'sect master', right? Little guys like us gotta use the correct titles, you know?"
"Ah. Sorry sect master... Yeah that just feels weird though... Never imagined a dolt like Ares would become sect master. Doesn't seem like the type you know?"
"Yeah I know. You can't say that, though, and definitely not in front of him either. What's the point of politely using his title and then calling him an idiot right to his face?"
"I didn't call him an idiot, I called him a dolt. You took the chance to one up me... Though he is incredibly stupid..."
"Now who's taking advantage of the situation to one up and call him the dumbest man on the planet?"
Ahem
Ares wasn't going to let this stand! They were right but he wasn't going to let this stand! What was this silly routine they were pulling here, progressively insulting him more and more with every passing back and forth?! "Alright alright! I get it! Your sect master is a dumb dumb sometimes! You can stop saying it now!"
"See?" Lightning Guy pointed at Ares. "It's rude to call sect master dumb. He doesn't like it. He'll probably put us in confinement if you keep calling him an idiot."
"STOP!" Ares felt like these two were about to start up again and he had enough of this crap! "Do you mind?! I came here specifically to make sure disciples from the sect weren't getting bullied only for them to turn around and bully me! Bah, you're lucky I know you mean well otherwise I would have taught you two a lesson here and now. Whatever. Have you found any leads about your past yet?"
""Yes.""
...
"Are you going to tell me?" Ares had never realised just how slow on the uptake these two could be... It was like drawing blood form a stone. Maybe they each shared half a brain or something...
"We know there's a lab on this floor and we can maybe get some information from it if we're lucky." Lightning Guy shrugged. There was still a little more that needed to be said but he had no intention of saying it because Water Guy was on the case anyway.
"There are multiple labs hidden throughout the Riddlemyd but the only one ever found by adventuring cultivators until now was on a lower floor. It was cleared out and everything in it was auctioned off, but the sphinx assured us nothing to do with out history was present in that lab specifically so we aren't too late to the party. Sect master, don't you have that funny looking golden eye art that lets you see all kinds of hidden things like a super advanced peeping tom?"
"I don't like the way you phrased that, but yes I do." Ares could have sworn these two didn't have the character trait of mindlessly insulting him every time they spoke before so he was pretty certain this was some kind of personal vendetta against interesting people. They were dull and forgettable, literally background characters most of the time, so now that they'd understood how much of a protagonist Ares was they'd decided to be antagonistic as payback? Was that it?! Well, at least being petty was a definable trait that Ares could now resolutely say they actually possessed as opposed to being stumped when asked to speak about them. It was still strange they were showcasing any kind of humanity compared to the empty husks they were before but maybe they'd already located some information regarding their past and they were slowly changing as a result. At the end of the day, he was just here to get his DNA back and help them if ever they needed it. It was common for sect masters, ancestors, and other such powerful figures to help out their juniors and become borrowed knives on the regular so Ares was fulfilling that role even if these two muppets were taking every opportunity available to sneak an insult into the conversation.
"Then can you help us locate the lab? It should be in the next hallway somewhere according to our fragmented memories..."
"Fine, just don't call Omniscience a peeping tool!"
"But it kinda is, no?" Lightning Guy seemed to wholeheartedly believe as such and Water Guy even backed him up on this matter.
"It for sure is. There are succubi in this place and it would be a great tool for seeing through their illusions... And what little clothes they wear..."
"Mhm, definitely. I bet sect master has used his Godly Omniscience extensively on the succubus like a perv, right?"
"That's no good sect master, you have a loving family back home and shouldn't be doing this."
"I understand the temptation, sect master, but you need to have a stronger heart like us."
"Yep, we weren't shaken by the succubus at all. Bros before hoes, sect master."
"Will you two shut up for five minutes!?" Ares was being berated over mistakes he didn't even make! He'd been nothing but loyal to Enyo and Bellona!... So long as Sandy was ignored, anyway... But that had northing to do with succubus lust and he was absolutely not staring at anything he shouldn't have back then! Slander! "Whatever, let's just go before I lose my mind with you two."
"But..."
"NO! No 'buts'! I don't wanna hear another word out of you two until we find the lab! So much as a peep and I'll beat you so hard you start seeing triple!"
"Shouldn't it be 'seeing double', sect master?"
"Oh please, you two are basically twins. You see double every day..." Ares didn't wait for another response and started speed walking down the corridor. He would have flown down it with Voidwalk but he wasn't sure the duo could keep up with him and, though he wanted to get away from these nutjobs, he promised he would find the lab for them. He was looking for it himself anyway but, surprisingly, they'd gotten here first and so he wouldn't barge on ahead without them. Ares wasted a lot of time on other things but it was still quite surprising how on the ball they were when it came to investigating this place. Thewy must have really wanted answers. Dominus had really riled them up back at the sect and it seemed they were determined to know the truth. Back on the Federation, when they had that spontaneous bout of headaches, their memories had probably been jogged as they neared Xasca so they were serious about all of this and God only knows what they were remembering as time passed. Who knows, maybe these two nobodies would get some kind of powerup here and escape their fate as mouthy npcs? Ares wasn't complaining, he wouldn't be outshone by whatever they found here and if it made them stronger then it was his sect hat stood to gain.
It was only really a hunch but Ares felt like these two guys were 'loyal' to the sect even if only because they couldn't be bothered to go anywhere else. Up until recently they were satisfied with just being another part of the crowd and they were probably more than willing to stay in the sect for the rest of their lives. Even if they became something a little more in the near future that laziness and plainness was pretty deeply ingrained by this point. Plus, under Ares, there would be plenty of chances to stand out a bit more than usual so regardless of whether they wanted a quiet or louder life, Ares could offer it to them. They were in good hands which was why they were throwing friendly banter Ares' way. They'd come into the sect at the same time as him, and been neighbours for a good while, so he really didn't feel like a sect master that commanded respect and obedience to them. Especially not given his usual personality. It was hard to look at someone like Ares and make the connection between someone as playfully annoying as him and a sect master. Granted Ares had been minding other people's perception of him specifically to avoid this association as of late but the Lighter Duo didn't exactly know that. Maybe if they'd seen him interact with Drai or the fellahin elders they would see him in a somewhat different light but, really, anyone who knew Ares knew full well what he was usually like and that wouldn't ever change. Put simply, the duo were content with Ares as a sect master so they'd be sticking around for the long haul, he reckoned. Ares could be completely wrong about this assessment but he had faith he'd gotten a good grasp of their general attitude and wasn't too worried. Even if they did want to leave later for whatever reason it would be fine, though, as there was plenty of talent within the sect as is. Losing them wouldn't be great but it also wasn't the end of the world. Sandy had just joined and, no matter how good these two were as a duo, they still couldn't take on a Sandy calibre opponent and that was the kind of person Ares really wanted in his sect. The duo were strong in their own way compared to the average but they would still be low tier elders in the future at best given their current standing.
About two minutes of walking in silence later, as the duo weren't entirely sure if Ares would follow through on his threat to rough them up and they didn't want to find out the hard way, Ares stopped in his tracks. He stared at a small, barely partible crack in the wall and put his palm over it. There wasn't any clear tell in his Omniscience that this was the place he was looking for but he had a feeling it was as he felt a cold wind blow from beyond the crack and chill his hand. There was seemingly another room on the other side of this wall so he prepared himself to knock it down. It was surprising his Omniscience hadn't worked but, in hindsight, it made a lot of sense Sevorus would design his stuff with anti-Dominus measures in mind. Dominus hunted him down more persistently than just about anyone else, even including the most dogged of bounty hunters, so him taking countermeasures against his celestial cluster treasures wasn't farfetched. The Omniscience art didn't work here because it was literally just a normal crack in the wall and there was nothing special or noteworthy about it. It wasn't even 'technically' done by Sevorus and had happened 'naturally'. The brick was worn down and eroded by water over however many years but the process was 100% natural so there was no reason for anything to show up on Omniscience. If Ares walked through a mountain range the hills wouldn't randomly start glowing in his Omniscient view because they were normal, there was nothing out of the ordinary about them, and this was the same sort of deal. Ares was searching for a hidden lever or pathway so this slight anomaly would go undetected by him because it just wasn't interesting enough. There were plenty of worn down walls inside this Riddlemyd and this was hardly any different. If Sevorus broke the brick with his own two hands then it would have become very visible under Ares' Omniscience but he'd been clever, forcing Ares to keep his wits about him. Not that it was aimed at Ares intentionally, again this was to keep a nosy Dominus out, but that hadn't exactly worked in the end... It was a good thing Ares wasn't over-reliant on the Prisms and didn't get lazy with his awareness. He'd even used pressure to feel around on every single wall he passed by up until now so he wasn' t playing around! Though, admittedly, if it weren't for the duo assuring him this was where the lab was he might have just sped past if he was by himself. The counter-Dominus method was highly effective, it just didn't have a chance to shine given the circumstances.
Smack
Ares kicked out with his annihilation enhancement and broke down the wall without too much effort. The downside to making the wall look natural was that it wasn't reinforced in anyway and thus easy to remove. Its defenses were entirely optical so actually accessing the room once it was found wasn't difficult in the slightest. Ares and the duo piled into the room and the lights turned on with a few dim flickers. This lab was mostly sterile and clean with metal floors, tools, and tables as far as the eye can see. Aside from the brick wall meant to keep people out, even the rest of the walls were made of sheets of metal. Sevorus was either a clean freak or he just really didn't want any possible errors due to contamination when working. If he was still doing experimentation with amalgams and stitching monsters to technology then not having infected wounds, thanks to easily washable surfaces, was naturally quite important as it might affect the overall quality and reliability of his research. Thankfully this made it easy to navigate the room as it was orderly and laid out in neat fashion with clear demarcations for each segment of the room.
The operating table in the middle was empty with one single dried up blood stain near the edge indicating Sevorus had worked on something right before he left. He would have cleaned up the blood stain, knowing what Ares knew of him, if he wasn't in a rush at the time so he missed a spot when dragging his experiment of the table and packing it seemed. To the left of the table there were all sorts of records and reports about his findings over years and there was likely some good intel hiding within the various documents and folders neatly stacked in a half open cabinet. To the right of the operating table there was a separate room that Ares could just about peek through form where he was currently standing and there were countless blood-filled vials all stored in rows based on their coloration. The vial rows were probably divided into monster types but Ares didn't know their blood colour or types just based on sight alone like Sevorus must have so he couldn't tell what they belonged to without a closer inspection. Ares could use his Omniscience to see if his, or the duo's, DNA was stored here. That would be a pretty quick task so he set off to do that first while the duo started scanning the documents off to the side. There wasn't anything else in this lab, so any othered stored samples or living specimens musty have been deeper in the Riddlemyd, but this was looking to be a good haul nonetheless. it might take a few more of these labs to get a full picture regarding the duo's history but the investigation had to start somewhere after all... And Ares had just found something rather interesting.