Chapter 414: All Over the Place: Oliver Laplace Interlude

Not everyone that was visiting pagoda Ares at this time was a fundamental champion! Oliver was arguably a champion in his own right too, just for a very different set of reasons... Well he was technically a champion in more than one way as he'd won a considerable number of competitions which was impressive given how young he was compared to most other people in the cultivation business. Plus they were all different manner of competitions ranging from tamer eating competitions to 'slightly' more dangerous demon hunting expeditions. The latter restricted all magic of the competitors and gave them nothing more than a few crude traps to hunt berserk demons with in a forest for two days. It wasn't the most dangerous thing Oliver had ever done but tying himself up on a wooden pole to attract hungry demons towards his well hidden and manually dug pits wasn't exactly a pleasant experience! Now, whether he won that competition because he had the most demons captured and tied up by the end of it, or because he was the only person who even walked out alive, was another matter entirely... Oliver was odd in that he only had one affiliation for the passive pillar and his only real magical talent was slightly better luck than usual as well as a higher mana pool which did nearly nothing for him. In a fight he was pretty worthless, and could maybe throw a few technicals at people from far away at best, but he always seemed to come out on top in just about anything else other than combat somehow. He was a determined rat scurrying about in a world full of hungry cultivator cats. One wrong move and he'd be scooped up by the tail and never seen again, toyed with until death, and that would be the end of that. Yet persistently scurry through life with danger hot on his heels he had and even made a respectably big deal out of himself by becoming the head of the fundamental organisation he himself formed after painstakingly accruing all the needed money via odd jobs. His force of will was commendable but it came from a place of hardship after losing literally everything in his younger years when eh was still just a kid.

Oliver's story wasn't exactly an uncommon one but it wasn't something that happened all too frequently either nor was it something that resulted in many, if any, survivors whenever it did. A lower domain raided by some wayward cultivator, from somewhere up above in the cultivation ladder of life, going on a power trip and exerting their power over people who couldn't possibly defend themselves. It happened here and there but was usually eventually quelled by domain leaders from the next few domains above the one being terrorised to ensure peace. This wasn't a free cleanup, naturally, as the lower domains paid a sort of protection fee, essentially, on a yearly basis to ensure said protection was swift and actually useful. As this happened just about everywhere on the domain ladder the only people not paying a bribe were those living at the very top in the realm of Gods because there was literally nobody above them. Nobody really gained from this protection racket system, as everyone paid something in the end, but it worked well enough that nobody dared to change it and everyone followed the unofficial rules... Well almost everyone...

The few times a domain leader refused to pay throughout history naturally went very poorly and the entire domain was ransacked by the end of the very next day after their protection was annulled publicly. Oliver happened to be one of the poor people whose domain leader went gaga with greed and refused to pay his shiny new treasure he'd gambled everything for. He won the priceless treasure in the end but had nothing else left and the yearly quota was rearing its head. He stubbornly never gave it up as payment and the rest is history. What came next was entirely predictable, and not like the random occurrences of individual cultivators popping up that were usually tamer in scale as they only took over / destroyed a planet or two before they were stopped, and the domain was wiped clean of resources and lives. If you were useful, you were turned into a slave for as long as your capturer could keep you alive without having to waste resources on you. If you weren't useful you were killed and had everything stolen from you in death. Pretty simple treatment, really, but that made it easy to enact on a wide scale without any need for case by case basis so the system was put into place on day one by every single invader. Every single one of the citizens across the entire domain met this fate via one hand or another as it was a free for all over territory, planets and their resources, and human slave labour that the locals had no say in. The domain leader had practically announced a going out of business sale, and everything was on offer without restriction, so cultivators from across the entirety of the universe flocked here for one massive obliteration of morals and human life. There were some vain attempts at peace keeping by more justice oriented individuals and groups, not dissimilar to the Legion clan in that way, but there was only so much that could be done against the boundless human nature of greed and malice that swept over the domain like a plague. Once thriving planets became dry and empty husks, abandoned full of corpses and little else while suns were harvested for energy and moons were pocketed via spatial magic for personal use or for auctioning to water pillar cultivators / revenants who could benefit from them.

The domain leader was the first to die and, unsurprisingly, lost his precious treasure on the spot, meaning everything that came after his death was utterly pointless, and could have been avoided without it changing anything regarding his treasure, and the irony of it was enshrined in just about every history book that mentioned this domain ever. After the domain leader the various rulers of the planets had all their riches stolen right form underneath them and were forced into servitude to indirectly control the planet on behalf of their new masters. Then the rebellious lot amongst the masses were executed, including rebel groups, clans, or local armies. And then, by the time another year had passed, basically everyone was dead due to harsh working conditions in mines and quarries killing them off one by one. As people died, the expectations that fell on everyone else to pick up their slack meant the conditions just kept getting worse until death claimed literally everyone.

Oliver himself had been hidden away by his parents and community because he was still a child at the time and shown mercy by the gentler people he grew up around. He wasn't the only child the neighbourhood tried to rescue but, after a series of twists and turns, after months hiding in sewers and among dead corpses, he was the only one left and had seen the others die first hand in all manner of gruesome ways. He starved frequently, and had to eat things no sane person would willingly, even became horribly infected after getting desperate enough to eat flesh from fresh corpses, but managed to survive a full year making him an exception to the slaughter. Every one of the exploitative cultivators left now that there was nothing else to gain from this domain and Oliver's planet was detonated in one final bang to destroy any and all evidence of involvement of the person who'd turned it inside out in the first place. Oliver was lucky enough to have not been directly caught up in the worst of the blast and the chunk of land he was on just sorted of floated through space with him stuck on it and half dead. He struggled to breathe without oxygen because his cultivation was pretty terrible for someone his age but, before he was sent to the afterlife to meet near enough the other 99% of people who lived in this domain, he was discovered by a passer by. A knight in shining armor, as it were, from one of the peacekeeping groups that were still hanging around and searching for survivors.

Oliver woke up in a safe place a few days later but his rescuer had already departed, and left him with the rest of his group, while he went out to search for more souls to save. Oliver never met that person again, unfortunately, and didn't even know their name, but he was inspired by their creed, good deeds, and heroism. He was still depressed and stony faced as any in his situation would be but there was a small spark in him to do right by others at any cost to prevent such chaos from befalling people who did nothing to deserve it. He didn't have much he could offer but he would find any and every way to contribute to preventing people form suffering as he had. It's not like he had anything left of his old life and any goals he might have once aspired to previously were lost in time and unachievable now anyway. So what if he wanted to become a baker at one point? Everyone he wanted to bake for was dead. So what if he'd considered becoming a teacher for the local kids who weren't getting a proper education in the rundown part of town they lived in? They were all dead. He'd watched them die, even. Dead dead dead, both the people and his aspirations to help them. As such, he figured he might as well direct his efforts to those who could still be saved...

At least that was what he expressed outwardly to the public. It wasn't wrong, per se, it just wasn't his primary goal. He wanted to establish communication with the person who saved him that fateful day and, given their heroic nature, that of a saviour, if ever they needed assistance to save a life then Oliver wanted to make himself a big enough deal that he would come looking for him to repay the debt or lend aid. It was unlikely the knight would ask him to repay a debt but maybe he would try asking anyway if he was aware of what the fundamental organisation was, effectively a giant peacekeeping organisation... If he ever even remembered Oliver, that is. Maybe Oliver was just another passing act of kindness but he was the one person Oliver had left in his life from that time when he was just a young child and, though it was a fleeting moment, he believed repaying that encounter in kind was important and it was the only real goal he had currently. It's not like Oliver would give up on the organisation if it turned out that knight died or anything, or if he ever repaid that debt, he believed this was his duty in life and he was absolutely passionate about it from the bottom of his heart, but he would be lying if he said the knight wasn't his priority in most cases.

All of the above Oliver had just told one of Ares' clones in full without missing a beat... But that was the issue! He not only said all of that at lightning speed but even kept going after and keeping up with this turbo madman was impossible!

"SoYeahThat'sThePlanAndTheGoalAndWhyIWantToAskYouIfYouDon'tMindIgnoringThatSelfishAspectOfMe.AhButI'mGettingAheadOfMyselfAndMaybeWeShouldDiscussRenumerationForYourWork?NoIShouldStartWithSomeTermsIHaveBecauseYouCan'tBeRuiningOurReputationOnceYouJoinElseAllOfWhatIWorkedForWillBeRuined.OhButInOrderToAssessYouIneedToknowAllOfYourAspectsAndArtsTooSoMaybeWeShouldStartWithThat.Let'sBeQuickBecasueIHaveOtherThingsToDoButDon'tWorryTooMuchI'mNotTryingToRushYouOrAnything..."

...

...

Ares... Ares... Ares just Ares... That was it, nothing else. He did nothing in response to this verbal beatdown. He didn't respond, because quite frankly he couldn't, and he dared not ask Oliver to repeat himself... So Ares just Ares-ed. He stood stock still, stared down at the strange man, and made no movements whatsoever. HIs face gave away no hints as to what he was thinking, his mouth didn't move, he had essentially been switched off... What the hell was he supposed to do with this weird man!? Ares still wasn't even entirely sure who he was because his description had been spoken in this rapid-fire style too! Was this a mental attack!? Was Oliver casting voodoo magic?! Was he losing money for every breath he took?! Ares simply could not comprehend this guy because he was was WAY too excitable to be decipherable in any way when his motor mouth got going. Ares opened his jaw but his brain had to play catch up and come up with a question that could fix this situation and start the conversation anew properly. "You... Can you speak slower? Like... Even a bit?" It was either this or bust...

"HmOkSureIsThisAnyBetterOrShouldIMaybeTry..."

"STOP! CEASE! NO MORE!" Ares placed his palm in front of Oliver's leaky word-soup mouth and took a deep breath. "Do you understand the concept of syllables?! You aren't supposed to be unable to count them on two hands every time someone speaks! Infinity is supposed to be a mathematical concept, not a linguistic one!"

Ahem

Oliver seemingly got the message this time and 'slowed down' even further until he was speaking at a reasonable enough pace for someone trying to pass as a human... He had it in him to speak normally it's just that whenever he had a lot to say, and boy did he now that he was introducing himself to a new fundamental champion, this could very well happen. Or, rather, this had happened every other time as well... Havanah was the first fundamental champion he approached and she agreed to whatever the hell it was he wanted just to get him to shut up for five minutes... Credit where credit was due, he was jsut trying to be comprehensive about everything regarding the organisation, but boy did he need to come up with a better way of going about it like maybe a diagram or something. When he tried this crap with Sanity she let Insanity out to deal with him because she was struggling too much! His mind was an even more jumbled mess than his speech was and Sanity felt like she was the one trapped inside his head and not vice versa. Terrifying! This might actually be the first cultivator who could talk a person to death... "Um... Hm... Where should I start..."

"Not the beginning, please dear God, pick literally anywhere else!" Ares refused to allow this man to restart because he was like inverse Loris Lax! They both took an eternity to speak their mind but for two very different reasons!

"Ahem. My name is Oliver Laplace and I would like to formally extend an invitation to you, in persona and in official capacity this time, to join the fundamental organisation that I run... Well the name will change eventually but that's beside the point for now. We can have a meeting on that topic when all six champions are present and can contribute their thoughts on the matter. As for right now, I would like you to sign this..." Oliver brought out a piece of paper with a very large chunk of text on it. Ares scanned the entire thing as was mostly ok with what was being asked of him. Namely that he wouldn't be a terrorist and go around bombing people with his magic, or anything of the sort, and he had no such intentions anyway! Each of these contracts must have been tailor made for each individual champion because Ares' went in to extensive detail about the destruction cult and avoiding any form of connection with them. It was heavy handed but also understandable given the rift between the two groups and what the cultists were hoping to achieve. This ironically reinforced their crazy idea that Ares was being held by the organisation against his will but Ares was only seeing this contract now and he was perfectly fine with this clause! Teh cultists sounded like nutters anyway! As such, Ares gave his signature on the dotted line and that was that. If he broke his word in egregious fashion, without a decent reason for doing so, the other champions would all be on his case basically forever. He was needed to help with Xhilihx so they would drag him back and get to work on finding a treasure to brainwash him or whatever. He still had all his usual freedom it's just that if he turned out to be evil in any way, and wasn't curbed by the destruction pillar for whatever reason, the entirety of the organisation would bring him back on track to be a 'good guy' even if it required force and underhanded measures. The end of the universe was at stake here and they didn't have time to play around. This was especially true when it came to Ares in particular because he could easily cause the most... Well, destruction, obviously! Any of the champions going rogue would be a real horror story but Ares in particular... That would be a problem. 

"Ok... So I guess I'm in now? My real self won't know about this jsut yet, although I might be able to tell him at some point... But I have to ask... What was up with clause four in the contract? What exactly do you mean I may occasionally have to assist you in 'events' and with 'odd jobs'?" Ares was woefully unaware of Oliver's everyman, everywhere, doing everything style-shenanigans so the clause was a somewhat unclear and needed clarification. He'd already accepted the contract anyway, because he didn't think it to be a problem, and Oliver didn't look like the type to exploit something like this, plus the other champions would ignore a violation of that clause if it was an excessive ask to begin with because they acted on their own discretion regarding the contract, but Ares still wanted to know what it meant!

"That... Don't worry about that. It ought to not be relevant but Im just covering every base. There was one time I needed an assistant when I was doing plumbing for Satan's castle in hell but everyone else was busy and so I was left stranded. Both metaphorically and literally because I got stuck on the castle roof for days, clinging to a spire above a moat of lava, and couldn't get down without anyone to lower the rope I was attached to. Thankfully a passing gargoyle spotted me... Though he did mistake me for an intruder, resulting in days of torture and whipping, but the misunderstanding was cleared up eventually, a few hours before my execution, so it was all good in the end."

"... You have a strange definition of 'all good' but, and this is the scary part, you seem to speak from experience... I'm just not going to ask but I get the gist of it. If you go a whacky adventure and need someone to assist you then you can call on any of us who happen to be free."

"Yes, although again likely unnecessary. I prefer not to involve others in these tasks so I avoid it if possible. I've yet to even take advantage of this clause with the other champions so it really is just there in case I get desperate. Events and odd-jobs are where a lot of the organisation's funding comes from so I want to be secure in mind knowing I have options for backup. For what it's worth, if I do call on you, it will probably be for a tournament of some kind. I'm resourceful but hardly a warrior and my skillset is not varied enough to compete in any grand-scale cultivator challenges. Your disintegration magic, for example, if its as sharp and precise as I've heard, might be excellent for the annual magic ice-sculpting competition."

"Oddly specific... But fine... Though I'm not sure I'd win such a thing I guess it wouldn't take up too much time to at least try? Is there anything else I can help you with. I'm a bit limited in this pagoda, unfortunately, but if its within my power then I don't mind."

"Ah, yes, Mako. I'm going to be asking you about your arts and magic to add to the data base we have but could you tell me what you know currently about Mako's magic? It just reduces the amount of updating we'll have to do to our incomplete data sets when he finally arrives outside the barrier. Also, yes, I would like to know about the barrier if possible, specifically when you'll be able to lower it. Also any treasures you both possess and their effects. Information! Information is key to efficiency and efficiency is key to saving as many lives as possible. During disaster relief operations knowing where to deploy everyone is crucial so, although it's somewhat invasive of your privacy as a cultivator, I will be asking you to constantly update the databank... Or at least send us the information regularly so we can do it on your behalf. Either or."

"That's fine I guess. I'll ask to make an exception in certain scenarios though. If there's an upcoming fight fora tournament or something, and I invent a new art for it, I'm not going to update the databank and risk that information leaking in advance. That should be ok, right?"

"Sure. As long as it's updated after the fight, in that specific example, then I don't mind. Or if something springs up before the fight happens I would appreciate you telling me directly so I can plan around it. Or so White can, anyway. He's one of our de-facto strategists and letting him have this information has proven incredibly valuable time and time again already. There's a reason he earned the nickname phos-tradamus! He's very good at predicting battle outcomes and, well, I don't think the phosphorous part needs explaining..."

"No..." One of Ares' clones was trudging through the burning white stuff right this very instant in another version of this room so an explanation was most definitely not needed. That stuff stung and hurt like hell! "Anyway, as for the barrier, I think I'll need my apotheosis form at the very least to remove it. It might take a little while longer after even that but there's really nothing I can do about it. it's locked behind a mechanism with my Blade that I can't interact with right now at my real self's current level of strength... Though some people have managed to get in and out of it so kudos to them I guess... Well it did its job and trapped Dominus inside me so I guess it's function no longer matters. I'll try to remove it as soon as possible unless something that I need to deal with crops up for whatever reason. Regardless, it shouldn't take too much longer. There's a lot to deal with in Sheryashka currently but I imagine things will speed up once I leave the domain. Honestly Mako might even find a way to break it down before I do depending on how his adventures go As for magic..." Ares listed out every single art he knew, as well as Mako's that he knew of, and then followed it up with all the treasures to boot, while Oliver was listening attentively and jotting everything down on a list.

"Rune dismantling... That's fantastic news as it was something we sort of struggled with. Havanah could do it to some degree but there was a limit and was sorely lacking in the ability to deal with more complex runes. We know a few people who've requested curse removal services before but it was beyond the scope of our understanding and capabilities. People in eternal slumbers, or destined to die when the curse ticked down to doom, etc... This will be a fantastic addition and its good to know the rumours about you having a cure for Veteran were true. Mako can help with rebuilding efforts in war torn communities, countries, and planets, and your destruction will be handy whenever we get asked to help dismantle or unlock something that cant be penetrated with conventual means. This is all very handy so thank you for your honesty. You have a wider range of tools in your arts arsenal than I expected from a destruction oriented cultivator, if I'm being truthful, but it's good to know there's versatilely in the nothingness and disintegration aspects... There's more I wish to discuss but I believe my time here is running out as I have other duties to attend to. I will be sure to return at a later date and ask you more questions so I apologise for taking up your time but I believe it to be necessary. Until then!"

Oliver turned around and started walking away which left Ares to stare at his back with a wry and pitying smile... There was only one way out of this pagoda and walking around aimlessly inside this room wasn't it... Should Ares just kill him while he wasn't looking without him needing to realise his mistake and come running back? That was probably for the best... What a funny, scatter-brained guy... But still, he was the leader of arguably one of the most powerful, and soon to be the most powerful, organisations in the entire universe... What a funny guy indeed.