Sentient magic... Was that really a good enough answer though? One With The Universe felt like the start of the equation here and definitely not the end of it. There were still too many unanswered questions to just assume this was the end of the matter. Why was it invincible? Why did these meepers resemble shades in their infancy? What was up with the gigantic dark patch? One With The Universe's involvement didn't explain literally any of this and so Ares really wanted time out think! He was sure the answer was on the tip of his tongue but every time he tried digging into his brain for knowledge the meeper would apply pressure and chase him to the end's of the earth. Ares was getting a little fed up with this constant pursuit but he didn't really have a solution to it. There were only another three and half minutes, roughly, left before he completed the challenge but he likely wouldn't be allowed to pick a fight with this meeper again afterwards and that would leave a bitter taste in his mouth. not only was there probably a benefit to killing this thing but, and this was the real kicker, Ares was convinced there was a lab in here somewhere. Presumably it would be located roughly behind the area the meeper was chained down at but Ares didn't exactly have the freedom to go and inspect it with appropriate scrutiny right now.
Ares went over a list of every treasure, resource, artifact, art, and tool he had in his possession or up his sleeve but nothing seemed capable of dealing with this problem in any way, shape, or form. Maybe if he could summon Astraeus would that Godly being be able to do something but that was both a massive waste and also completely impossible because he still wasn't ready to come and lend aid again. Ares also had Pelagic Prison available but the chances of the meeper simply floating through the Prison were not in Ares' favour at all and he could pretty safely predict the result. Ares had even tried to attack this creature's soul by doing some guesswork with nothingness but, even if he lucked out and hit the right spot, nothing happened. It was almost as if this monster didn't even have a soul in the first place but such a thing was absolutely impossible and there was a different reason for his failures that he was unaware of. This all just reaffirmed Ares' suspicions that this monster was completely invincible and invulnerable to all forms of interaction until he figured out what the cause behind it all was. There had to be SOMETHING otherwise meepers would never get caught and the adults would be world-ending calamities...
Speaking of infant meepers... Maybe Visitation could do something here? Fight fire with fire? If anybody understood how meepers worked... It would logically be a meeper! Ares wasn't expecting it to fight, he would be stunned if the little guy could, but perhaps it could communicate with the adult meeper? Maybe it could somehow clue Ares in to the secrets currently eluding him? Even if Visitation's presence alone was enough to halt the adult meeper in its tracks for a short while then that would be plenty good enough! Ares dodge rolled over the top of a swiping claw, kicked off the floor to avoid a hand grasping at him from below, and used the Zephyr as a grappling hook to pull himself towards a torch on the wall ahead of him so as to escape from a group of wailing spirits that crashed into one another after barely missing his shadow. Ares spun in midair and threw out his palm which contained within it a tiny and cute meeper taking in its new surroundings. Not even a second ago it was in some weird galaxy, being given a tour by an Ares lookalike, and now it was back in the place it was captured in however many years ago. It did, however, notice another meeper and that made it happy for a split second until it understood that it wasn't being friendly!
Meep!
'Bad meeper'? This was Ares' best guess as to what the tiny guy was saying. Regardless, his remonstration was effective because the giant one stopped moving for the first time in a long time and so Ares followed suit to facilitate communication. His plan was to let Visitation keep distracting the big guy while he put his brain to the test!
Meep? meepy meepy
Yeah, no, definitely not following that conversation... Ares gave up all hope of participating and just went back to his initial thought process. The end goal of his investigation was to understand what race a meeper really was. Sure, sentient magic was a thing but even Garuda was ultimately a bird when it came down to it. A dumb bird but still a bird none the less. Also, sentient magic would typically have owners that spawned them so, while Ares was convinced One With The Universe was related to their origin, he wasn't entirely sold on that being the thing that ultimately defined them. Rather, there was an important clue here that needed addressing and that was the shape of young meepers. They resembled shades... But why? This also broached the ever infamous question of what a shade was but maybe the answer was simpler than it seemed? What if shades, of any and all variety, were nothing more than offspring off the universe? Treasures are created when mana mixes with various objects and merges but what if mana merged with the universe itself? Mana like, for instance, One With The Universe? Sure it's an art but arts are just well-organised clumps of mana anyway. Perhaps all of the universe's offspring are shaped exactly like shades but then grow in various different directions depending on its other 'parental figure', AKA mana source. This, if it were true, meant that Appa had been mini at one point and Ares' soul was practically crushed at the realisation that he might have missed that...
But that depressing piece of news wasn't relevant right now and he needed to keep thinking! It seemed like Visitation was lecturing the big meeper about attacking Ares, who had been kind to it, and the big meeper was paying a surprising amount of attention to the little one. It hadn't responded yet, and didn't seem interested in talking, but it wasn't relentlessly attacking anymore at least and so that was plenty good enough for Ares. It was probably hearing out Visitation before making its decision on how to go about interacting with Ares going forward. Its other two thirds were still chasing Sandy and Aejaz around, so it clearly wasn't entirely sold as of yet, but perhaps that would change by the time Visitation was done negotiating on Ares' behalf.
Meeeeeeeeeeeeeep meepmeep
Getting back on track. When the meepers grow, they eventually start to resemble the traits of their parental mana source, so One With The Universe in this case... But why was the adult covered in a shadowy black veil permanently like this? That was highly unusual because it was unlike what Ares experienced with that pesky One With The Universe art against the shadow stepper because no such thing existed back then. Granted One With The Universe did require darkness pillar mana, so maybe that affiliation was where this veil came from, but Ares felt like it wasn't in line with the nature of the art at all due to how blatantly visible it was. It couldn't exactly be considered 'stealthy' due to how much it stood out in this bright ass room... For an offspring of the most impressive invisibility art in existence it was sorely lacking in that regard if taken at face value.
Better yet, that aside, if the adult meeper's body was literally made ofdarkness, and if it had an affiliation for the darkness pillar inherently, then why did darkness restrain it? This room had been completely dark prior to now and yet the monster of darkness was freed when it came into contact with light? That didn't add up at all. If anything, light seemed like a power source and darkness was this thing's kryptonite... So why was it covered in the stuff from head to toe?! This monster was seriously a contrarian at heart! Ares kissed his teeth in frustration because there must have been a through line to connect every single piece of information he was working with but it was getting harder and harder to pinpoint it the more he thought about it... What the hell is this thing? Again, it must have had a distinct race but what kind of race was immune to attacks like this?
...
Ares glanced over at Sandy, while he was searching around the room for inspiration via the murals embedded in the walls, and everything clicked! He hadn't expected to find an answer so soon, because there was still so much left unsolved, but all the answers he could ever possibly want came flooding into his head the second he made one simple connection! He looked back at the 'darkness' shrouding the meeper before him and smirked. He didn't take any action immediately, because doing so was mostly pointless anyway, but he knew the course of action to take from now on. This thing was seriously overpowered if Ares' guess was correct. As long as a certain condition was unmet this monster was literally immune to everything so attacking it really was pointless. There was a way around it but Ares wanted to know where it stood before he started worrying about continuing this fight. Ideally he wouldn't have to. If the adult meeper decided to be friendly, thanks to Visitation's childish meeping, then Ares would let the situation come to an end without the need for any violence. He didn't feel great about the way a lot of his recent fights had gone, and he was getting internally heated about being sort of pushed around a bit by the brood mother and Wormy, as well as denied a fight against tool, but that mounting agitation could be taken out on the Anubis and not a potentially friendly monster. At this rate people would start to forget, and stop respecting, the might of a fundamental champion... Ares did feel a bit bad taking it all out on the Anubis again, as they'd gotten the short end of the stick when it came to Ares particularly often, but they were convenient outlets! That aside...
Meep meepmeep meepymeep meep! meep? meepy? meepy!
There was a brief silence that ensued after Visitation said... 'Its piece' before a long growl came from within the darkness that Ares was actually capable of translating because it wasn't infant gibberish for once. As it turned out, Ares' draconic bloodline was functioning perfectly fine and it had been a long while since he got any proper use out of it! Quite frankly, it was about damn time it made itself useful and helped Ares potentially avoid an unnecessary fight with a non-human foe.
Grrrrr?
Ares' gob was smacked, his jaw dropped, and his mind blown as he felt somewhat embarrassed on Visitation's behalf. The adult meeper said, effectively, mercilessly... "Little one... I have no clue what on earth you're saying..." It didn't understand baby speak either! Ares had to admit that made a lot of sense, it's not like he understood babies going 'goo goo ga ga' himself! Why he expected an adult to understand a baby, in just about any language, was beyond him! The tiny meeper had been so confident, and so very bold, but it was talking to a brick wall! It would have been way better for Ares to speak to the adult meeper instead from the beginning!
Ahem
"Um, apologies for interrupting... But it seems like I am capable of conversing with you better than Visitation, here, is..."
Grr (It would seem so...)
Ares sighed and let Visitation hop on his head and sulk alone in his hair for a bit. He wanted to comfort it and tell it that it would grow up soon enough but he honestly didn't even know if that was true. How long it took a small meeper to become an adult was information Ares was not privy to. Perhaps it wasn't even a matter of time but rather feeding it plenty of resources? It could really be anything as the world of cultivation was unpredictable as it was whacky at times. Hell who knows, maybe it grew up every time it meeped or something equally silly. "Ok, look, I'll keep this simple. I know what you are and I know how to kill you if you get in my way. What I want is to find the lab hidden on this floor without you bothering me, capiche? We can get along with each other like peas in a pod. I have no business with you and you have no business with me, right?"
Grrr (wrong.)
"Wrong? Why?"
Grrr Gr Grrrrrrrr Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (I don't trust you to look after the little one. I'm sure you're just like everyone else and will not hesitate to use him once you understand what he can do for you. Also, I'm not convinced you know what we are either. That man who was experimenting on us couldn't figure it out so how could you?)
"Ok, first of all, I'm not as dumb as I look! I know exactly what you are and if you think I don't then how about I go around knocking down those torches and snuffing out the light in this room?" The darkness seemingly retreated a half step so Ares had hit a sore spot there because his guess was correct. "That aside, you don't have to rescue Visitation because I'm going to protect him. I already know what kind of resource he is and can be but I chose to save him from that fate instead and keep him around. I didn't give him a name just to consume his essence later, that would be ridiculously pointless. He trusts me and he's right to because I will not harm him under any circumstance now that i have promised to look after him. Look, I'll put it this way, you have a little under five minutes to make your choice before I kill you. That illusory veil of yours is going to fade soon, right?" Ares understood that part of the key to beating this monster was getting rid of the illusion surrounding it, that was step one, and so he threatened something he couldn't even do anyway. Once the five minutes in this room were up he would get booted out and be unable to take advantage of the veil, presumably, fading but the adult meeper didn't know that! Ares was pretending he would still be here when the veil fell and, given how much he knew about the meeper, his threat really hit home. "So what will it be big guy?"
...
Grrr? (Why aren't you killing me?)
A valid question. Ares could get the hereafter-shave resource effect if he turned this adult meeper into perfume but the truth was that he really couldn't! This meeper was invulnerable until the mist went away, and Ares couldn't force it to happen, so there was really no option for him! Ares assumed the mist lasted for five minutes as the duration of the challenge coincided with it far too neatly to be anything else. Ares could quite literally not kill this thing in any conceivable way! Not that he could tell this meeper that so he had to come up with an excuse on the spot. "I don't want to worsen the grudge between you 'others' and humanity, dooming it any more than it already is doomed. Plus I have Visitation now, I don't want to kill his own race right before him and act like nothing happened. If it was a matter of self defense then sure but this isn't necessary." A decent enough reason and, thankfully, it seemed like it was bought by the adult meeper without much of a fuss.
Grrr (I see...) Grrrrrrrr? (Then how about a trade?)
"Trade?" Ares' time in this room was starting to run out but he was interested enough in this mysterious offer to set aside time for it while he looked around the room to try and spot any potential hidden areas. Now that this side of things seemed to be roughly dealt with he wanted to find the lab before he was booted out of this room with no guarantee he could return!
Grrgrrgrrrrrrr grrrrrrrrrrrrrgr (I may be a relatively weak 'other', as you call us, but I am old and wise enough to spot a talented youth when I see one. I have no way out of this cursed place, that 'Sevorus' man understood my weaknesses and strengths perfectly and managed to somehow lock me in here despite our race's abilities, so if you help me get out I will help you nurture 'Visitation' in return. I will look after him, while keeping an eye on you to make sure you don't go back on your word regarding treating him as a resource, and help Visitation grow up to become a powerful 'other'. Bring me out of here and I will stay with you for... A hundred years? That should be sufficient to get Visitation's cultivation journey underway properly and, at that point, he can replace me in terms of having a strong 'other' around. Afterwards, once that one hundred year period is up, I shall leave and go back to being a free spirit. Before I was captured I used to protect little ones all the time and I would very much like to go back to that so I think this is a good opportunity for both of us to get what we want.)
Ares blinked in shock because the meeper language was complicated! Just some short growling and it conveyed that much!? Ares had never been more thankful for his translation bloodline than now! His draconic heritage was doing wonders! Plus it had just netted him a new ally of sorts. The adult meeper probably wouldn't fight for him or on hi behalf, it might at most defend the sect where it was going to reside if it was attacked, but it was still a powerhouse, due to what it was, and thus good to have around. more sect defences were always welcome!
Ares could tell Sandy and Aejaz were curious about the race of the meepers as a whole, as they'd walked over after the meeper shadows stopped chasing them and reconverged with the main body, but he would inform them on the next floor as he talked to Tom Tom. There was no reason to hide his discovery from Tom Tom, who was also probably curious about this matter, so Ares would say it then so as not to have to repeat himself. For now there was something else Ares wanted to do before the five minute timer ticked all the way down. "Deal. a hundred years of your presence and support in nurturing Visitation is more than enough time. That aside, do you know where Sevorus' lab on this floor is? There ought to be something in there that I really want to get my hands on and should have been left behind, at least in some capacity, for me."
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (Yes and no. there is a lab but it's not something you can access... Before leaving, Sevorus reinforced the walls with a metal from the higher domains. You won't be able to scratch it and there aren't any doors to get in or anything, it's just a metal cube.) Grrr grr gr grr grrrrrrrrrrr (However, he did tell me that someone interesting would be visiting and that I should consider helping this person get whatever it was he stashed in the room. I'm assuming it's you he was referring to... I had no intention of helping but it seems like he was treating this whole situation like one big experiment and had an inkling you would find a way to get me on-side. He said something about you being a 'fundamental champion' and that you should be capable of at least this much if you wanted his help. I still think this is a coincidence but whatever, I'm not getting involved in that maniac's business if I can avoid it. Being able to trap our race is a frightening thing he came up with, whatever it was he did. The infants aren't as capable as we are, hence why they can be captured with relative ease and consistency in perfume bottles no less, but capturing us adults? That's borderline unheard of even with the right materials.)
Regarding Sevorus' method for sealing the meeper, Ares knew it and would share that later as well but it was mostly a bunch of runes overlapping to provide the necessary environment. As for why Sevorus hid his lab in such a fashion... Put simply, Sevorus was maybe mad he couldn't figure out what the meeper's race was and so left the task to Ares. HIs reward for doing it was the One With The universe tome and if he didn't figure it out then Ares simply wouldn't get it... Basically he was pawning of his research onto someone else! He had faith in the fate of fundamental champions being so unbelievably great it would outdo his own intelligence and genius and it seemed like he was right... Although, honestly, chances are Sevorus maybe had a rough idea of what these meepers were. It wasn't a stretch to come to the conclusion Ares came to, about their race, from the information Sevorus already knew definitively about the meepers thanks to being able to trap them. He was probably lacking official confirmation from the meepers he was unable to communicate with and that was about it. The fact he could somehow craft a perfect trap for this adult meeper to constrain it was proof enough he was on the right track at bare minimum because it needed to be very specific to even work. This was all just one big test to indirectly give Ares another reward but it's not like he was complaining! "Then please go pick the reward up. It should be a scroll or maybe a tome. Something knowledge of an art could be stored on. You ought to feel a connection to it too so I can't imagine it would be hard to find.
The adult meeper floated back over to where it was sealed earlier and vanished behind the wall. Ares' initial guess about the lab location was correct, as it turned out, but it would have been meaningless thanks to the metal walls so things worked out in the end. Shortly after Ares checked in on Aejaz and Sandy the adult meeper returned with a scroll in one of its shadowy claws floating beside its veil. The scroll was handed off to Ares who snuck a quick peek, confirmed it was precisely what he was hoping it was, and stored it in his Primordial Blade with a massive grin on his face. This wasn't the kind of scroll that automatically imparted its knowledge on the reader so he would have to work on learning the art over time but that was perfectly acceptable! This was a fantastic haul and Xasca was seriously going to be like heaven on earth in Ares' memory down the line. There was no way he could expect all his adventures to net him as many gains as he'd gotten from this desert so he was revelling in the loot extravaganza while it lasted. Some places were bigger than others, and had more unexplored territory to cover and search through for treasures, resources, and opportunities,, but down in Sheryashka the options for such a place where limited. Maybe Neo Gear had a ton of stuff up for grabs too, although mostly for robos, but this Riddlemyd was truly fantastic!
Ares hummed to himself merrily as he strode off towards the giant portal in the middle of the room that had just appeared signifying the five minutes was up. It would have sucked him up regardless but striding into it with swagger after earning some great stuff made him feel like a king! The adult meeper was stored into his Blade temporarily and Aejaz, Sandy, and Visitation tagged along to finally visit the last floor... Which seemed to be nothing special at a glance? Ares arrived in a somewhat small and completely empty room... Except for Tom Tom's sphinx head mulling about on the wall and doing basically nothing while he waited for Ares to show up. There was definitely more to this, as the Anubis had to be somewhere, but Ares could ask about that later. Right now it was time for Ares to officially declare the meeper's secret race! He could tell Tom Tom was chomping at the bit to know, as even he couldn't fathom what they were, so he summoned the adult meeper out of the Blade, pointed at both it and Visitation in turn, and revealed all at long last. "These guys, surprisingly, unexpectedly... Are light elementals!"