The next day, as soon as they arrived in school, they were directly sent to the Divine Hall.
It was a spacious structure larger than the school. It consisted of a central tower with 4 rectangular buildings with rounded roofs arranged facing the 4 cardinal directions: North, South, etc.
At the entrance, they were checked for identification and recorded for attendance. There was no fee, as this was a public building. Though in the past, there were strong sects that hoarded cultivation methods for whatever inheritances, as many rose and fell, many cultivation methods would fall into the commoners hands, and become copied and publicized because of loose lips. Soon the discrepancy of techniques from the sects and vagrant cultivators narrowed, and more vagrant experts appeared, fewer and fewer people joined sects, and instead joined a commoner coalesced union to oppose them. It ended mutual destruction, but there would always be vagrants, while all sects fall in time. Eventually they became despondent, only existing as dojos around the world, while all those other methods were open to the public in divine halls such as this.
On the way in, a guard stopped Ling'er.
"I apologize missy but no contract beasts allowed on the premises, they are considered a risk to the valuable antiques. I hope you don't mind." She didn't, as he was very polite about it.
"No worries, I will handle myself properly." Hades assured her, and she let him out of her backpack. The guard offered to watch him, but he cast a glance and left to wander, though the guard could have sworn he saw a sneer on the cat's face.
Hades did not wander far. This was a public building, so security was lax, and no one wanted to steal from it, as it had little worth stealing, and any 'artifacts' were all ones popular enough for museums and were thus left here.
He found a window, and thought it an opening. He grinned smugly, no one could keep him from where he wanted to go. It was simply the willfulness of a tyrant.
'Hmph, they thought they could hold me? Foolish hu-' and he proceeded to walk straight into the glass.
???
"What is this? Something's here, but i can't see it. Solid water? Clear ice? But it doesn't look like ice. Is it similar to the sunglasses? Or is it some mystic human barrier?"
He carefully scratched it with his claw. It left a visible mark. Assured, he proceeded to cut a small hole just large enough for his body to fit through, and nimbly entered the building. He was fortunate that no one could bother with laser security with this place, but he didn't know it.
He explored, he read a sign, and found himself inside of the artifact building. He looked around.
He saw many aged human weapons. He read their names: Little Dipper Sword, Sun Swinging Axe, Bone Piercing Bow, etc. and didn't recognize any of them, not that he would be familiar with human weapons in the first place. He decided to study a few in reference to human combat.
Eventually he got bored of them as he could use none of them. He decided to move on.
He entered another room. It was filled with boxes vaguely shaped like humans. He read the sign: Graves, sarcophagi, coffins, etc.
He didn't know what that meant. He decided to open one, to take a look. Luckily the security was trash because few people came to this area anyway, only enthusiasts would care about some old dead people, while experts concerned themselves with more important corpses.
He popped one open, and found a something wrapped in what looked to him like dirty toilet paper.
Not caring at all of the consequences, he cut it open. He found a human skeleton. He was elated. Now he could get an in depth observation of the places a human could be pierced and bypass ribs and whatnot.
He didn't bother closing it, not that he was capable of doing so anyway, as he was only the size of a large cat. He could push off the lid, but he wasn't tall enough to put it back.
He looked within several coffins, hoping to find a human with an intact circulatory system and preserved organs, for purposes that were pretty obvious at this point.
As he 'dissected' a mummified corpse, he suddenly caught a whiff of blood.
He found it strange, he smelled no such thing on the other skeletons, and such a smell would have long since expired with time, yet it smelled fresh.
His eyes turned to an unremarkable wooden coffin. He read he plaque, it read 'unknown grave from an unknown destroyed ancient empire from approximately 1.2 million years ago. A coffin made of wood that didn't rot despite many years. Preservation method unknown. Identity unknown. Remains a mystery. Researchers have guessed the body to be a slave, though not conclusive.
It was truly odd that this ancient wooden coffin hadn't rotted in so long. Without care nor guilt for ancient human antiques, he flipped the lid open, it was far easier than the stone coffin lids, he was careful not to make a sound.
Not surprisingly, there was another mummified corpse within. What was surprising was, instead of rolls of cloth, it was wrapped in a single roll of canvas, similar to a burrito.
He did not take liberties, or rather he did, and directly cut it open.
There was normal looking skeleton in it, aside from some blackened parts, evidence of burns, but the scent of blood became remarkably prevalent, and for some reason, Hades' blood seemed to boil in response.
Hades presumed it was some murderer burned to death as punishment, but that didn't really matter to him. He felt something guiding him, and he reached for the skull.
Without care for permanently damage if a 1.2 million year old historical artifact, he directly wrenched the skull off, shattering a few cervical(neck) vertebrae in the process.
He looked at the skull and peered into the eye sockets, there was a glint of something in there. He flipped it over.
There were words written with the skull. It was no language he knew, but something about it felled violent, and forced his mind to comprehend it.
"Immortal Tyrant's 8 Paths."