Chapter 288: Top Tier Treasures Aplenty

Ares looked over at the table and tried to take everything in but Windsor was quick on the beat and already explaining it all. "For the overall winners, we have the following: body tempering resources in addition to standard cultivation resources, a scroll for your affiliated pillars or for a technical if not appropriate, a ticket to Neo Gear or the compensation mentioned earlier to the runner-ups if you decline, a batch of homemade pills from our resident alchemist, ten high grade stardust, and, finally, a tailored reward for each and every single one of you. The tailored reward will be, at bare minimum, a treasure from the C.O's warehouse where we store all of out rarest finds. We may offer you something else but you are more than welcome to decline and ask for a treasure instead if that takes your fancy but the treasure you receive will be random at that point, so please do keep that in mind." 

Ares looked back over at the table now that he understood what he was looking at and was already seeing a slight problem... Whatever his tailored reward was, it wasn't here meaning he was likely the only person not just outright getting a treasure... Thankfully, it seemed the C.O's revenge would start and end with him but still he waited to see what it was exactly they were doing. Ignoring that, however, the stuff here was really great. The body tempering resources were mostly for Garmr and wouldn't benefit Ares thanks to his adept trait. Still, he'd been meaning to temper his body regardless and, although he didn't know what kind of resources he was going to receive exactly, getting them nice and early in his journey was wonderful news. If he could get a fine grind from Xasca after he would be all set to get Garmr up and running at peak strength the second he was available for use and that would be a massive benefit to Ares' overall strength. At that point, Ares' pressure and physical strength would all be top notch, exactly where they needed to be. Only his magic would still be falling behind but that was ok for now as he would make that his next priority from then on.

There were also standard cultivation resources, alongside the body tempering stuff, that appeared to be of a higher quality than what Mako's group received. Unlike Mako, Ares would be taking the Neo Gear ticket as that would be his way into the country at a later date. He'd been planning on going anyway, and was even going to rely on his foreign aid status in the sect to sneak in, but that didn't seem necessary anymore thankfully. If Ares was taking that instead of the resources, then the higher quality stuff he was getting here made a world of difference as the gap between him and Mako wouldn't grow too large. The last thing Ares wanted was for Mako to show up before him nearly two whole realms higher than him otherwise then he would actually just straight up lose the ensuing spar and there was no worming his way out of it.

Next up was the set of scrolls. Enyo would get one for the holy pillar, Li Li would get one for the weapon pillar's bare fist aspect and not the fire pillar, it seemed, and Esme was getting one for the wind pillar. Aejaz and Ares were getting technicals because their dedication cultivation, to a unique aspect and a fundamental pillar respectively, made anything else irrelevant and unusable. Unlike last time, Windsor hadn't clarified that the contents of the scroll were unknown and this was a key difference. In short, the technicals would be stuff they could both use in tandem with their current skill set. In some ways that was better than random garbage Ares and Aejaz might forget about one day. How useful it would be could only be contemplated later when he actually found out what he was receiving. For now, he just put the scroll inside his Primordial Blade.... Stuff disappearing from Ares' hands was no longer strange to anyone as his Primordial Blade was a secret no longer. Everyone knew where he was shoving his stuff! In particular, Rud was a little annoyed that the bandit bastard had lied to him earlier about not knowing where the sword was! He recognised the Blade instantly thanks to the picture of it back when he was testing Ares' affiliation on the crystal ball object. he understood why Ares lied about it but didn't appreciate it none the less!

As for the Neo Gear ticket, only Ares and Aejaz accepted it as Esme and, to an extent, Li Li, already had a way in if they really wanted to. Esme had ties to Onno who's business practically couldn't be refused. Even a region as isolated as Neo Gear had to do some trading here and there with Honesty Merchant Trading group because, quite frankly, everyone on this planet did. If Onno wanted to get in with Esme they wouldn't be able to turn him away. As for Li Li, Slick was her father's pupil and Slick was the son of a bigshot. She could get in through Slick if she had any desire to, although she might have to fabricate some kind of story about her being the tin can's apprentice or something. Still, very much doable without the need for a ticket.

As for Enyo, she just wasn't interested really. She didn't have to follow Ares everywhere and this was one place she really didn't want to go because she was partially aware how rampant crime was in that city. She would be in over her head trying to uphold justice in a society that didn't care for it. If she saw a neo droid being beaten by gear folk she would try to intervene but what for? Only to have to do it again not even five minutes later? There were some problems that just couldn't be solved by one woman alone, especially not one at her current cultivation base or anything close to it, so it was something best left ignored and in the hand of Ares who was more prone to shaking things up on a larger scale if he found a chance to. She didn't like seeing criminality like that go unpunished while feeling helpless to change the status quo, as she felt partially responsible for the victim's suffering by not lending them a hand, so Neo Gear wasn't an attractive option. There was nothing wrong with accepting the cultivation resources and just being happy with that. It looked like she was going to pass up on the ticket, and she had already walked past it, but then she did a double take and picked it up anyway. Ares knew what she was thinking and didn't say anything to her about it. It was her choice to make so, if she wanted to pick this up for Bellona and send her on a trip to Neo Gear with Ares, then so be it. It's not like Enyo really needed resources anyway as she could just hog Ares' hog and her pleasure pillar affiliation would do the rest. She was a dual cultivating expert and so keeping her cultivation afloat was not an issue provided Ares was around and not exhausted... Although she could fix that last part so, for him, there really was no escape...

Next up were the pills and it was a rock solid selection. Every team member got the exact same set of general use pills that were of a high quality. The most notable were a bunch of everlasting-highs that would be pretty expensive to acquire normally. Or rather, even if you had the stardust, finding someone who would sell this many to you at once was like finding a snowflake in hell. Mana shot pills were also in the mix as well as some berserk pills that would temporarily boost strength, tracking pills for stalking prey out in the wilderness, and 'uppers' that could raise your cultivation by two stages for a brief while before forcing you to crash back down and be weakened for a period of time. All great for carrying around on your person in case you got into any fights you weren't otherwise prepared for. Ares had been thinking about bugging Allie for some pills before he left for the Federation but he didn't need to anymore and she could spend all her time creating Mini-Pillies. She'd made a few more since Ares last checked in with her but didn't really know what kind. Ares hadn't really spent much time with Allie as of late but, well, he hadn't even really spent time with his own daughter or wives much either. Busy busy bee! That was just how the cultivation world worked, though. They lived long so he would get around to spending time with her at some point!

Second to last was the stardust. Nothing out of the ordinary and it really wasn't worth mentioning. Adding this to the bet winnings, the dead transition assassins he melted in his revenant form, and whatever Ares had scrounged form the Isasz young masters' spatial ring back in Remmy's, meant he would have around 130 high grade total by the time he set off for the Federation... Provided he didn't spend too much anyway. It was more than he'd ever had and yet he didn't feel like it was even remotely enough to get him through the Federation comfortably... That place was known for draining your money and that was true of even the richest of cultivators with thousands of high grade in their spatial wallets. Ares wouldn't be able to compete during any auctions but what could he do about it really? Not like he could manifest money out of nowhere... Not without Garmr, anyway! Ah well, Ares was just going to have be broke comparatively to everyone else aboard the Federation and put up with it. Que sera sera. Anywhere else he would be considered a rich man, though, so he really didn't have any right to moan about it. Even just the ten high grade he was getting here was more than what about 75% of the audience had ever even owned throughout their entire life and yet he was complaining about 130? They would spit on him if they could! Or not, actually, as they'd just chalk it up to a dumb kid not understanding the value of money... In this regard, Ares' child form might actually be helpful as it would save him the ire of people!

Last, but most definitely not least, were the special prizes custom picked for each member of the team. These things looked good! Even if Ares didn't know what any of them did it was looking like these would be the highlights of the tournament and worth all the effort it took to win them. As soon as everyone's attention fell on the goods, Windsor kindly gave a rundown of what everyone was receiving one by one. "First up, Li Li. Your treasure is the 'Burn Bracelet'. It's a relatively niche treasure but one that ought to benefit you greatly. Any target you hit with fire magic will receive more physical damage for a lengthy duration afterwards. A simple effect but one that will inevitably serve you well. This treasure belongs to a set that the C.O retrieved from a dead Bhorashkan shaman who was in possession of five total bracelets. Each bracelet had a similar effect but activated based on different elements. The shaman was a Panthera with impressive physical strength and considerable mastery over the fire, wind, water, earth, and electric pillars. The more varied magic he hit his opponents with the stronger he became in turn and this took him far in his cultivation journey. Unfortunately he seemed to be done in by a zippy monster he was unable to land a hit on with his magic, thus the bonus strength from his numerous bracelets went untapped during the crucial life or death match. A word of advice, Li Li, do not use this as a crutch or it may very well let you down. Treat it for what it is, an accessory and nothing more. The power it contains ought to help give your punches that extra oomph in most fights, however, so the C.O thinks you'll make very good use of it. Oh, and one more thing, and this extends to Esme too, you are always more than welcome to come and work for the C.O. We understand that Ares, Enyo, and Aejaz have their own grand designs for the future but if you ever want to live a simpler life, and hold a respectable position within our organisation, we encourage you to come and be a part of something great. you need not answer now, or ever really if you so choose, but do keep this option in mind as it will forever remain on the table.

Speaking of Esme..." Windsor turned to face Esme who was currently fanning herself as the sun was out and the temperature had risen a bit compared to earlier when it was pouring down during the fight. "Your treasure is this..." Windsor lifted up a crystal ball with a greenish tint and offered it to Esme. "This is the 'Breeze Sentry'. It hovers in the air after being activated and fires small gusts of wind at foes. The attacks detonate and create a zone of violent winds that push enemies around with considerable force so this ought to be a fantastic addition to your arsenal as it will enable you to push stubborn opponents into your traps. You're already great at planting traps, and have the mobility to facilitate doing so safely, but forcing your opponents into them appeared to be something you struggled with during the tournament. As such, we believe this to be a suitable prize that will take you to great heights as a cultivator." Li Li's treasure was generally useful and functioned as a boost to what she already did but this treasure was perfect in a different way. Esme had struggled against Leopold, from the Bhorashka team, and needed Enyo to help turn the tide and force him into her mines. So far, without a doubt, Esme was the biggest winner... Although only two treasures had been given out so far so it was pre-emptive to say as such. In fact, Enyo and Aejaz' treasures looked like they were going to be invaluable to them and really quite impressive, that was the sort of aura the treasures possessed...

"Next up, Enyo. your treasure is the 'Decompiler' and will fit snugly onto your armour at the chest region." Windsor lifted up a small piece of black glass that bore resemblance to a camera. It was rather thin so her assessment about it fitting onto Enyo's armour seemed accurate enough in that it wouldn't take up too much space, weigh her down, or get in Enyo's way whenever she fought. As for what it did... "The Decompiler will scan the remnants of destroyed magic and convert it into spare mana that it then funnels into you. No matter how, if a magic is stopped or misses you, this treasure will partially drain the source of mana and make it yours, keeping your reserves afloat in longer fights. Your barriers will count towards this so blocking an opponent's magic will net you a mana reimbursement each and every time. You ought to be able to hold out defensively with this until the other person throws away all of their mana without ever so much as suffering a scratch. Furthermore, and this is where this treasure really shines, the stored mana can be given to someone else if you so desire. The mana it stores doesn't go into you directly as soon as it decompiles magic so you can hand the treasure over to someone else, who suffers from mana shortages, and reinvigorate them mid combat.

Forgive me for prying but I did some research and found that your sister used a treasure that acts as a form of mana storage during the regionals? I take it she has mana issues so this ought to benefit the both of you in the long run. Plus, what with being married to Ares, it will give you a way to potentially support his magical output as well should you fight alongside him in the future. This was one of our better treasures but your valour and impressive strength, even in spite of not possessing a fundamental pillar, or even a unique aspect, truly awed us and we felt it fitting to give you something rather high grade as a prize." Ares' jaw nearly dropped out of its socket because this thing was phenomenal! It was exactly what the doctor ordered and, once more, Windsor's explanation was spot on. Blo Blo did have mana issues but this would help to alleviate that problem if Enyo was around and / or borrowed the treasure to her. Ares would never complain about having Enyo wear this thing nearby when he was fighting and it was also just really good for her to survive long onslaughts. A tool like this would skyrocket Enyo's war potential too as she could just summon, and maintain, an extremely large barrier as every art that bounced off it would even out the cost of keeping the barrier in tip top shape anyway.

Scary!

The C.O had really just casually handed out a treasure this powerful to Enyo?! What were they, treasure dispensing machines?! Seriously, this was good quality stuff and he was very grateful to himself for taking the last fight seriously and winning without messing around at the end. He wasn't planning on losing but if he'd lost out on such treasures even crying for a week straight wouldn't absolve him of the monumental guilt that would wrack his heart. These things weren't exactly Backfire Bindings, Celestial Cluster, or Primordial Blade level, obviously, but they were surprisingly close. Also, a good treasure with fitting functionality for the wearer was often better than a mythical treasure that was incompatible with the owner. It was why people sometimes traded down in the cultivation world because it was better to wear an ugly shoe that fits than a gold studded boot that doesn't. These treasures were the kind Ares would be seeing a lot of because Enyo, Esme, and Li Li would never have a reason to get rid of or replace them. Really good gains were being made here!... Which probably meant the C.O wanted to form good relations with the people on this team because they saw an abundance of talent ripe to take advantage of. It was hard to look them in the eyes and say, 'no, we want nothing to do with you' after being handed such great treasures...

Windsor moved onto Aejaz next. "Aejaz, I'll be upfront with you... This treasure was one of the C.O's top three and we aren't giving this away lightly..." 

IT GET'S BETTER?!  Ok, now Ares was jealous. He didn't know what those binoculars did but if they were better than the Decompiler then they must be out of this world good. Given that it looked like Ares wasn't getting a treasure, for whatever reason, he was feeling incredibly backstabbed right now! He wanted a good treasure too!... Ah well, he'd made like a bandit, which he he used to be but had completely forgotten as of late, recently and picked up a number of good treasures. Ares really didn't need anything else right now so if he could make other, less tangible but still relevant, gains that would be for the best. He had the scroll for a random technical so it's not like he wasn't getting anything new... At least that was what he kept telling himself as a form of comfort. Just looking at these treasures made Ares wanna drool in public... Ares wasn't the only one, though, as just hearing what the C.O lady had said was making Aejaz incredibly excited. New toy! He didn't always get to wield the Nyxian Prowler and so his arsenal of treasures was rather lacking. He'd given up on Vargaraad's lantern back in the tomb and so only really still possessed the Concealed serpent. It was Aejaz' best tool, and would likely always be due to what it was capable of, but he wanted something else! Something that could be used aggressively! Unfortunately, this was a pair of binoculars, so being able to assault people with it was probably out of the question, but it was still something else to mess around with and Aejaz wasn't going to turn his nose up at it. Especially if it was being lauded as a top three treasure of this domain's largest organisation. This was the kind of treasure even the four matriarchs might be interested in for themselves personally, that was how big a deal what Windsor was saying was.

"Aejaz, this treasure is called the 'Stalker' and serves one singular purpose. The binoculars come with both infra red and night vision options which enable you to spot enemies in all conditions but, what really matters, is what happens afterwards. The Stalker allows you to mark a single visible target. The marked target can be seen through walls for an entire minute after that and they will be completely unaware of this effect. Furthermore, illusions, smokescreens of any kind, and other such obstructions will not prevent you from being able to track the target. I don't think I need to explain to you the sheer utility this treasure offers?" She really didn't. This treasure was easily the strongest here and it wasn't even a debate. What's funny though is that mortals and weaker cultivators throughout the spectator's area weren't quite getting it. They didn't seem to understand the value of being able track a target through walls nor did they appreciate how simple this treasure was to use.

For starters, only having to spot the target, from any range, with the Stalker which came with unique optical alterations, mean that marking a target was impossible to mess up. You just had to look at the person and the deed would be done without question. The ease of use on this thing was off the charts which only made what came next even more ridiculous. Unchecked, uninterruptable, undetectable tracking for a whole minute?! Ignoring the fact that this alone was absurd, what really mattered here was how this worked in relation to arts. A good chunk of arts, especially those that were good for assassination, required line of sight to work properly. You had to be able to see a victim in order to use your art on them most of the time and so this effectively allowed the owner to ambush and attack the marked targets through walls, making it impossible to react to. This was all still just a start as things could get much trickier than that. Laying ambushes along the victim's current path, using spatial magic, or in Aejaz' case position stealing magic, to remove the marked target from a safe location, or artillery theory assassination from long, safe ranges with immaculate precision.

The Stalker was an assassin's best friend even just as a tracking tool, never mind anything that came after that. Plus it was worth remembering that Aejaz' magic affinity stealing art would dissipate after one minute of not seeing the victim and this mark would extend that duration. Aejaz could steal the affiliation, track them, and keep the stolen magic running in the background until he finally launched his attack, not needing to recast the art mid fight because he lost sight of them prior to engaging. None of this yet even touched on the fact that this meant Aejaz could now steal from a person that couldn't even see him. Aejaz' thievery would now work through walls, buildings, floors, roofs, A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G. Aejaz could no longer be stopped by just hiding from him as he would always be able to see you wherever you holed up. And to top it all off, that was just Aejaz!

What if Ares borrowed this thing?!

Imagine walking through a corridor and the last thing you see is a Perish Wheel come flying through the wall at Mach ten before sawing you in half! If Ares could create some kind of long range destruction magic, and combine it with this treasure, he would be able to assassinate people like a true professional! Better than one, even! Much like how Aejaz borrowed the Prowler here and there, Ares was going to have to give these Stalkers a real proper try at some point! Hell everyone needed to use this thing! What about Blo Blo's measurement manipulation magic? If she could safely cast her arts undetected through walls at her target then how could anyone stop her? What if she used her measurement manipulation to half the distance between her and her target repeatedly like she always did, resulting in a method of teleporting to a marked target wherever they were? She could bypass enemy lines, pass through heavily guarded and locked bunkers, and just appear besides her target in a flash. Hell Ares could do it too with Shift or Voidwalk if he put in the effort.

A marked target was beyond fucked which circled back around to its non-existent requirement in order to use it... You had to just spot a person... WITH BINOCULARS! Yeah, no, this thing was busted! Any cultivator could make this thing work if they wanted and it was something that experts would undoubtedly start massive clan wars over if they could. In higher domains a no-man's land would form around this thing, if it appeared out in the wild, and a free for all war would determine who owned it after many gruelling months of bloodshed. It embodied the theoretical 'perfect' treasure that was just too good to be true. And this thing was top three in the C.O's warehouse?! The hell else did they have in there that matched this thing!? That aside, Aejaz was a lucky bastard to be receiving this! Now it wouldn't just be Mako and Ares who had to fend off greedy thieves... Which was ironic because that description was perhaps most apt when used to describe Aejaz himself. What goes around comes around?

Windsor waited for the experts, and those with good analysis skills, to ascertain the value of the Stalker before moving on to Ares with a cordial grin... Cordial my ass, that's shit eating and it's not even close! The fake-ness is oozing out of this lady's eyes! Ares was not looking forward to his reward... He almost wished he could decline it here and now but, regrettably, he wasn't in a position to do so. Not hearing her out, and storming away, would only serve to make him look bad considering the calibre of treasures that had been offered thus far. Also, it might not even change anything; he didn't have to be here for Windsor to proclaim his gift aloud to everyone else. All that would happen then is that Ares wouldn't be able to refuse and / or come up with a retaliation because he wasn't present. In short, he was going to have to stick around and fight back the hard way... Now what did this devilish woman in red have up her sleeve for Ares? As it would turn out, not much really. In fact, all she was really doing was giving him something he already had... But, actually, that was the problem...