It was finally time to disembark and it was a relatively swift affair. Ares gave Nibbler some pets, and let him see Hunter's soul one last time, before waving goodbye to Onno, Esme, and the sharkdog who were all going to be returning back to sea with the Federation whenever it set sail again. Geordie was too busy to come bid farewell and Hunter... Well, that much was obvious. Ares, Massai, Aejaz, and the Lighter duo all took off, descending down a long wooden ramp, and took their first steps on Xascan soil!... And Ares was already surrounded by a rascally group with swords drawn and evil glints in their eyes!
"It seems one minute really was too generous..." Lightning guy, or maybe it was Water guy as it was impossible to tell, was referring to his previous guesstimate about how long it would take Ares to either start, or get into, trouble. But surely this wasn't Ares' fault right?! In fact, he was getting a little annoyed about this whole situation and felt incredibly indignant!
"Do I even know you people?!" He'd been in this country for under a second so surely it was impossible for him to have annoyed anyone to the point such a greeting was needed? If he'd been here for a day at least then, maybe, MAYBE, he'd be accepting of this. He was heading towards the local sect, which were generally places were entitled young masters flocked, so if he made an enemy there by the end of the day then sure. Fine! This was completely unacceptable though and if Ares was going to get jumped by angry groups of twenty people every couple of minutes he was going to have to make a very clear example of the kind of fate awaiting these people!
"Just hand over the sword and we'll be on our way." One of the bandits near the front spoke with a gravelly voice, muffled by whatever manner of bandage-laden face covering he was wearing, but that just made Ares even more mad. Put simply, Ares was dealing with idiots! They'd heard about him, and his accomplishments at the international, but were still dumb enough to pick a fight all for a sword they couldn't possibly have anyway. Ares knew, ever since the international, he 'd come across people like this. It wasn't even the first time but, rather, that made it worse. It happening twice now was a pretty good indicator this was going to become a regular occurrence and that peeved Ares to no end. If his opposition was at least something of a threat then he wouldn't want to smack his head against a brick wall, as he could at least get some training in, but these people were dumb as all hell and not worth his time.
These bandits looked like scavengers which told Ares everything he needed to know about them. They had nothing on their persons other than rations, a single weapon, and plenty of empty spatial rings. Some of the spatial rings they carried, on closer inspection, were filled with loot they must have recently obtained from others given the blood stains on them. These lot were too weak to delve deep into the Riddlemyd so they were almost definitely just hunting for the corpses of other fools who attempted to go deeper than their talents permitted. This was not the kind of job anyone who was strong or smart enough to actually earn a proper living ever did. But if they acknowledged that such a normal life, one on the straight and narrow, was beyond them because of their incompetence then surely, by extension, picking fight with Ares was also a terrible idea? If they couldn't go too far into the Riddlemyd, but were picking a fight with somebody who could easily, what exactly did they thing the outcome of this scuffle was going to be? Were they hoping for some kind of miracle? Did they think a human was less problematic than a monster to fight? Again, Ares was giving these people too much credit. They were just dumb scavengers with barely even a single iota of intellect to their names. Still, though, Ares was annoyed at this out the blue gathering of crooks so he raised his hand and prepared to smite these fools with pressure and be done with them. They weren't worth playing around with and, again, Ares figured it was best to make it clear to everyone watching there was a bare minimum level of power needed to go toe to toe with him...
But he never lowered his hand. Or, at least, when he did it didn't come with a wave of deathly pressure. Ares wasn't going easy on these people, or sparing them their fate, but he wanted to experiment with something while the opportunity existed! He already had a pretty god idea of the outcome of what he was about to test but he couldn't possibly know unless he actually saw it with his own two eyes so these lot could be his guinea pigs going forward. "Say, have any of you idiots ever heard of King Arthur? Probably not, right? None of you look like the type to be well read so I'll make things short and simple for you..." Ares pulled out the Primordial Blade, the target of these bandit's desire, and buried it into the ground with pressure. The bandits would never be able to lift the sword but that wasn't the point as it wasn't' what Ares was after here. "I've buried this sword and made it impossible for 99% of all people in this domain to ever lift it. I could leave this thing here for a month, come back, and it would still be here even if you had everyone in this country try to yank it out for thirty days straight. However, I'll make a deal with you. If any single one of you can pull the sword out of the sheath, I'll remove the pressure anchor and let you have the sword free of charge." Ares wasn't even lying here, he would let them take the sword away if they were able to complete his task. There were two slight caveats to this, however, as, first of all, Ares never said he wouldn't recover the sword! It was a personal treasure so he could just freely return it to his side whenever. Not that that point really mattered though because the other problem here was what would happen to anyone who was stupid enough to even attempt the challenge Ares was throwing down the gauntlet for. If 99% of people in this domain couldn't lift the sheathed sword, 100% of people within this domain, and maybe even 100% of Vraizon dwellers, wouldn't be able to unsheathe it. At least not without serious repercussions anyway. Ares would suffer immensely if he tried and he had an affiliation for the damn thing. Anyone else giving it a go... Well, Ares was about to find out! He had a feeling he knew the answer though...
The bandit scavengers didn't know where to go from here because they hadn't expected such a response. The fight they were itching for had turned into some carnival style mini game and the person running it didn't look fussed in the slightest about the fact that they had upwards of twenty chances to win. Some of them were considering attacking Ares anyway, because they were just that impatient, but one brave soul stepped up towards the sword before anything else could kick off. The curiosity of everyone around, be it Federation or Xascan civilians, the other bandits, or Ares co-travellers, effectively stopped anything and everything happening in the immediate area. All spectating eyes were on this bandit because surely it would be a simple matter, removing a sword from a sheath, right? Well evidently not. First and foremost the bandit tried to be smart and pick up the sheathed sword to run away with it, even though that did literally nothing if Ares just recalled it, but failed regardless because Ares hadn't been lying about the pressure being impossible to overcome. It just made this nitwit look like a fool for even giving it a go and trying to be sneaky so a couple people, even some of his own comrades, laughed at him behind his back. It might be because they found the humiliation funny but it also might have been because they thought this individual was pathetic and they themselves could have done if it was them up there taking the initiative instead.
Regardless, the constant heckling in the background made the bandit who failed kiss his teeth and latch onto the hilt of the Blade in search of revenge. He wasn't going to waste any time feeling things out because he just wanted to get this over and done with and claim his prize. One of two things would happen. He would succeed and walk away with the goods or fail and just try to kill Ares and take it off his dead body. He'd come prepared for the second option from the very start so this was all just one big charade and was a waste of time. The bandit believed Ares was just trying to save face and give up the sword in a way that didn't completely embarrass him or paint him as a pushover. If enough people struggled before finally winning this dumb game then Ares' reputation could be spared somewhat. He could claim one of them had some kind of treasure that enabled them to cheat or whatever. The bandit didn't really care about the specifics, he just wanted the sword and this seemed like the easiest way to get it. He was underestimating Ares, sure, but he did show him enough respect to not opt for a fight if he could avoid it. The bandit assumed half the people in his group would die for an overall victory and, though he was completely wrong, at least he wasn't so ignorant he thought of Ares as someone incapable of even that. With one hand curled around the hilt, the bandit grabbed the sheath with his other hand and then pulled as if his life depended on it. He immediately felt some resistance but the blade wasn't as reluctant to say hello to fresh air as he assumed it would be. Was this going to be easy after all? Just a bit more effort, and some more flexing of his muscles, and he'd be home free? The bandit wasn't sure if this was too good to be true or not but he doubled down and heaved with all his might to finally bring the sword out of the sheath!
SPLAT
And there was the catch. This person had just been crushed by the weight of millions of planets and so his gruesome and violent death wasn't unexpected from anyone in the know. Ares couldn't wield the damn thing just yet and he had an impossible to beat affiliation! Rather, he had the only affiliation in all of existence so everyone else would just have to give up. Nobody in this domain would even be able to swing the thing sheathed so how on earth was anyone supposed to unsheathe the thing and live?! Ares was just curious to see what kind of fate befell anyone with too few braincells to realise unsheathing this thing was a bad idea. He got his answer and it was quite a showy one. The bodily explosion was so forceful the bandit's blood had splattered a good few metres around and was staining multiple buildings and peddler carpets. The bandit comrades of his were in the splash zone and were now decorated in their friend's innards but they were in too much shock at how sudden it all went down to even understand or comprehend even that much about the current situation.
"So who's next?" Ares was crouching down over what little remained of the bandit and foraging through his belongings that were still intact as he invited the rest to give the words a go. Spatial rings with loot from previous scavenges and such were worth checking just in case. There wasn't much here but free stuff was free stuff right? Also, habits of a broke street dweller died hard so waste not want not! Also also, you never when knew when some Tom, Dick, or Harry was carrying around something rare for whatever reason. It could very well happen so not checking each and every nook and cranny of a dead body was typically doing yourself a disservice in the cultivation world. As a general rule of thumb it was always worth checking corpses. Sure most rare treasures and resources required herculean effort to obtain, which was something not any old average cultivator could do, but sometimes random cultivators like this had incredible strokes of luck. Be it watching someone else obtain said treasure and then die of a heart attack or something, or maybe they just fell into a pit with rare herbs growing in it and stumbled out alive, it was entirely possible! Also, there were some people who specifically dumped rare goods on random civilians and treated them as tools to hold onto their belongings because who in their right mind would go around inspecting spatial rings that belonged to mortals when searching for expensive and legendary cultivation goods? Civilians, be they mortal or just weak cultivators, made for excellent pack mules if your balls were big enough to risk it! They couldn't defend the goods but they were extremely unlikely to be suspected of holding such a thing to begin with! Take Ares, for example. He would hunt down any rare treasures on sight but he wasn't going to look at every single mortal he passed by in this bazaar. It was entirely possible somebody here was carrying something incredible and he'd just never know about it. Especially in a place like this, actually, as so many wares passed hands here it wouldn't surprising if there was a black market of sorts hiding in the seedier areas in alleyways.
"What the hell are you doing?!" One of the bandits finally came to his senses and was bothered by the fact that Ares was stealing from the dead 'body'. Ares was utterly confounded by this, though, and almost couldn't believe his ears!
"Scavenging is only wrong when I do it? Isn't this like, literally everything you guys ever do? You can rob dead bodies but I can't? What is this level of hypocrisy?!" Ares was annoyed with these bandits and, quite frankly, done with them. His testing had been conclusive and he had a rough idea of what he was instore for if he ever got cocky and tried to pull the Blade out prematurely. He wouldn't die like that bandit, his affiliation would save him, but the result would still be unpleasant and not far off what just happened. He would be crushed by the weight of an entire dimension and that was not something he could handle or mitigate right now. For now he would just have to stick to swinging around the sheathed blade here and there and take what he could get. As for these bandits... Ares raised his hand but actually followed through with the pressure attack this time and turned them all into paste one by one. It was a similar fate to what befell the first bandit but the others had it arguably worse as their deaths were not quite as instantaneous. They'd been pushed down to the ground and slowly pulverised into the dirt like Ares was stepping on worms. Feeling each bone in their body break one by one before their brains splattered across the floor must have been pretty excruciating but they got what was coming to them. The regret they felt as Ares single handedly, and effortlessly, wiped them all out must have been as immense as their egos were not even five minutes ago. Whatever, Ares had gotten use out of them as now his name would spread quickly enough and others would get the gist of the situation. Ares assumed there was nobody in Xasca capable of challenging him at his current level so he ought to be free from human hassle going forward.. Or so he thought. There was one particularly noteworthy individual who could go head to head with Ares but she was a story for later. Anyway his public deterrence ought to give Ares at least some leeway on the 'not getting attacked every five minutes front' so he was going to be able to walk from here to the sect without getting harassed again... Hopefully. It was impossible to tell with Ares and there was no one in his travelling circus that was willing to make such a bet if prompted because the odds would not be in their favour! Still, other than Ares seemingly finding interest in a nearby food stall, it looked like the path to the sect was going to be a straightforward one form here on out with no interruptions... Although this did mean that Ares was going to be haggling for the first time ever and how that was going to go down was anybody's guess... Aejaz and co weren't sure if they should try and drag Ares away from this encounter or let it happen, much to the dismay of the stall owner, but in the end they simply decided not to get involved as the two parties could figure it themselves. God speed stall owner...
As for what this woefully-unprepared-to-deal-with-Ares stall was selling, it was shawarmas! Ares knew of this dish but had never actually gotten to try a proper one before. He figured an authentic, straight from the source, shawarma would taste infinitely better than the knock-off crap he got from a local store in Red Sun once so he was excited to try it. The store in Red Sun Ares was thinking of had gone under lightning fast, because the food quality was merely average in a sea of highly talented chefs that had already made a decent name for themselves in the area, but things ought to be different here. This stall owner seemed to be at one with the market, like they'd been here all their life, so if their earnings were considerable enough to make a living doing this in such a contested area for all these years then surely the product must have been superb! It certainly looked and smelled nice so Ares was tempted to even bring out Rox and the greedy guts eagle to partake but, as soon as he arrived in front of the stall, he was taken aback by the ridiculous asking price!
"1 high grade stardust."
"In your fucking dreams!" Was this shawarma coated in gold straight from El Dorado? Was it gifted to this man personally from a heavenly envoy? Did the deity of the cooking pillar personally shit it out?! "No way bucko, don't even think about it!" Ares made it abundantly clear he was not going to pay such an absurd price but this individual was clearly thinking Ares was some weak willed tourist, and could be taken for a ride straight to scam town, so he didn't budge. The guy just silently sat there waiting for Ares to either cough up the dough ot make like a tree and leave but, to his surprise, Ares did something far worse... Ares glared at the stall owner before activating his Omniscience for perhaps the pettiest reason ever and started loudly talking to himself. "OH? WHAT'S THIS? MULTIPLE DAY OLD SHAWARMAS? AND YOUR'RE SELLING THEM FOR A HIGH GRADE EACH? THAT'S STRANGE ISN'T IT? YOU'VE GOT FRESH ONES BUT ONLY OFFER THE STALE CRAP TO TOURISTS?" Ares was right on the money, as Omniscience always was, and the stall owner's attitude did a 180 real quick. Under normal circumstances he earned enough from locals he didn't scam to get away with this behaviour but there was a pretty massive problem with what Ares was doing as the timing was impeccably bad. A new Federation batch of tourists were just now arriving and, although the price was high, there were definitely rich and dumb nobles stupid enough to pay for it! Actually, that was the entire point. Such a selling point would bait the nobles into thinking it was a luxury item, and they wouldn't complain about the 'foreign' and 'exotic' taste no matter how terrible it was, and so this seller raked in the cash whenever the Federation dropped on by. Ares was attracting a lot of attention and really ruining this seller's plans here and so he wanted this annoying idiot to shut the hell up and stop ruining a good thing! How on earth Ares knew those shawarmas were stale was anyone's guess but he hit a bullseye and needed to be bribed into silence pronto.
"Two low grade..." This was a more reasonable asking price and normal comparatively for a single serving in a place like this. Ares was allowed to skip the haggling process entirely and get the best possible price.
"TWO LOW GRADE? YOU'RE BRIBING ME INTO SILENCE BUT THE BEST YOU CAN DO IS TWO LOW GRADE? IN EXCHANGE FOR COVERING UP THE MOULD ON THE INSIDE OF THOSE SHAWARAMS YOU'RE OFFERING ME A SINGLE DECENT ONE FOR TWO LOW GRADE?" As it turned out, being loud and obnoxious was incredibly effective and the seller promptly shoved five of his freshly cooked products into Ares' hands for free before wheeling his cart-based stall elsewhere to avoid this talkative and vocal maniac. Ares: 1, Xasca: 0.