"Spacians really are a varied bunch, huh?" Ares mumbled to himself as he scanned the crowd behind Marlar. Bipedal goats, oily lizards slithering around on the floor, six-clawed birds hovering in the sky... There was a lot of unnatural biology going on over by the shepherd and Ares was at least somewhat fascinated and so he passed the time checking them all out. Some of them seemingly took on the appearance of similar monsters that existed in domains Ares couldn't even fathom so he was getting a sneak peek at difficulties he may have to one day face. Actually, Ares was curious if spacian dragons, phoenixes, or perhaps even revenants existed. Anything of the sort. Any of the big name races that were considered to be real powerhouses. Could spacians mimic the inherent racial abilities of these groups too in addition to their appearances? There were a lot of questions Ares had but didn't bother asking the young master about because it wasn't really important and Ares could probably figure it out on his own. The answer didn't even make a difference anyway, as what he had to do remained constant regardless, but the main reason he didn't ask was actually because he forgot. He was considering it but then a man walked out from the courtyard and leant against the wall while taking a swig from a bottle of water and smiling at everyone. Ares was distracted, much like a cat skittishly darting after a tossed ball of yarn, and his attention was now focused on the newcomer instead because he was worth checking. He was easily the most powerful person here and Ares wasn't even sure he could beat him unless he pulled out all the stops. This was a person who Ares might actually not be able to best thanks to his lacking cultivation. He'd never used that as an excuse before but it might actually be relevant against this guy. Literally every single method Ares had up his sleeve would be needed to defeat this guy, and even then it wasn't a guaranteed victory, so it was clear to Ares that this was a disciple of the Brotherhood sect. Probably the one that spoke to someone else here earlier and informed them how much time was left until the tryouts started. he seemed chatty enough to mention such a thing in passing.
The man in question reeked of friendliness. He was the very epitome of 'friendly neighbourhood guy' and didn't have a single negative bone in his body. He was about six foot and looked completely average to the point that calling him plain was a massive understatement. His smile was infectious and he seemed reliable and consistent; like someone who was always where he needed to be, doing exactly what he needed to do, precisely when he needed to do it. If you required help, he was the first person you should ask and, even if you didn't need help, he'd probably give out advice that could solve a problem you weren't even yet aware existed. He wasn't a leader type, that didn't seem to be his calling in life, but he was definitely excellent at leading fresh new recruits and giving them a proper rundown of what was in store for them in the future. He could take rookies under his wing comfortably and turn them into solid gold, that was the sort of impression Ares got of him.
If nothing else, being in charge of the tryouts was a clear indicator that this guy was good enough to do the job and that required its own skillset in a way. He could be seen actively chatting with even the grumpiest of cultivators who went up to him looking for answers to even the most unreasonable questions and demands and nobody was yet able to manage walking away from him in a worse, or even equivalent, mood from when they arrived. He seemed to be capable of pinpointing a person's personality traits and individual characteristics at a glance or through a short exchange of a meagre few words. From there, he would expertly navigate the conversation to make the other party feel good in whatever way was appropriate given various factors like their status, popularity, talents, area of expertise, moral compass, etc... He was fantastic at reading people on the fly and then even better telling the person opposite him what they wanted to hear. Confident, a good head on his shoulders, a good brain in said head and a good tongue with which to speak his mind, and overwhelming might that was hard to spot but definitely very visible once located. He was a social butterfly... If that 'butterfly' was actually secretly a dragon, anyway.
Also, importantly, there were no openings in this man whatsoever. He was leaning back against a wall with a casual demeanour but he was still utterly unassailable no matter the angle of attack. Some experts were even using their divine sense to scout potential approaches from unusual locations but it was all in vain. High in the sky, underneath the ground in the sewers, from inside a nearby building, through a glass window behind him... Nope. None of it would work. The experts were becoming more and more baffled with every attempt that inevitably failed because it seemed impossible this one man was able to cover every single possibility all at once while barely even positioning himself properly. It was highly impressive but the most outstanding detail about it was that the man wasn't even trying to show off; defending himself at all times was just so highly ingrained into his psyche that he'd taken up this impenetrable stance unintentionally. It spoke volumes about how talented he was as a combatant and Ares respected it.
"That's Finian, the backbone of the Brotherhood." The young master wore a reverent expression as he explained what he knew to a curious Ares. "Technically he's only an outer court disciple... But that's only if you go by his official status and look no further. He's been in the sect longer than everyone else currently in it and was only ever beaten out, membership duration wise, by the previous sect master who's probably dead by now. He could easily have been the sect master himself, both instead of the war aura sect master and the current one, but he's constantly refused the position as well as any advancements or promotions to the inner and core court. His reasoning is pretty simple and pure, he doesn't want it. Finnian doesn't like positions of responsibility but, above all else, he likes looking after the new disciples and guiding them however he can which is something he would have a harder time doing as anything other than an outer court disciple.
The brotherhood is great and all, Finnian truly believes that, but it is also somewhat precarious due to their tiny numbers so things could go wrong in the blink of an eye. They need to cherish every single applicant and especially those who meet the cutoff criteria and survive to become disciples what with how rare they are. He has a drive for taking special care of the newcomers and he's probably right to think that way too because he has valid motives and personal experience. There was a time in the Brotherhood's storied history where over three quarters of the sect died all at once in a big scuffle, leaving behind a small handful of survivors. They almost never recovered and disbanding seemed like it was a very real risk because they refused to lower the entry requirements and most were unable to join. Talks about changing the nature of the sect were entirely disregarded and refused because they wanted to maintain the integrity of the Brotherhood up until the very end even if it ended their legacy. Fortunately there were many sympathisers and so talks with various powerhouses of that era were held and manpower was allocated temporarily, as trial disciples who weren't a permanent fixture but still ostensibly represented the sect, while they fixed the damage done.
The Brotherhood eventually reorganised and, actually, it was around that time when Finian joined, during a particularly fruitful recruiting period in which there was an influx of about five members all at once, so he's seen the sect at arguably its lowest and doesn't want it to return to that. With all the years he's spent there he's grown attached and the destitution of the past is like a nightmare to him that he doesn't want to repeat. As such, to avoid that reality, he's famous for taking really good care of everyone interested in joining the Brotherhood and even if people fail the tryouts nobody has ever once complained about his examination methods, style, or general hospitality. Plenty of other Brotherhood disciples have gotten into planet destroying brawls over the results of the tryouts across the years so he's a standout in that regard. Finnian is an expert conversationalist and can defuse just about any problem that comes his way with a careful selection of a few words and is generally considered to be the most amiable person in the universe. 'If you can't make friends with Finnian, you're the problem'. Everyone in the Brotherhood has their specialties and that's his. Extreme likability. It might not seem important but many connections the Brotherhood has today is a result of his hard work acting as an envoy / diplomat so his role hasn't been small over the years. Whenever he goes to conduct foreign matters he'll try and take new recruits with him to help them gain experience while training them as cultivators and gifting them rare resource souvenirs. Finnian is often referred to as the greatest possible mentor a cultivator could ever have.
As for Finnian's strength... Well he could have been the sect master of the Brotherhood, The sect literally known for its immeasurable power... That should speak volumes about what he's truly capable of behind that refreshing smile. He's said to be at least as strong as Armageddon but that really is his lower limit. He doesn't fight much, and he's quite secretive about how he fights, but he's supposedly never lost a battle since he was born which is quite rare amongst cultivators who've lived for multiple tens and sometimes even hundreds of thousands of years. Everyone's run away with their tails between their legs at least once. Who hasn't burned a teleportation talisman to get the hell outta dodge in sticky situations before? The guy's a monster so don't be fooled by kindness or underestimate him lest you end up on your rear in no time flat... Though he might offer you a helping hand to get back up afterwards, that's par the course with him."
"Pft, fanboy much?" Ares appreciated the answer, and he learnt a lot, but the way the young master excitedly gushed, and now blushed when called out on it, had favouritism written all over it. Still, Finnian seemed like a cool guy and if anybody was going to be hosting these tryouts then the guy who was considered to be the best at it was a welcome occurrence. Ares paid attention to the conversations he was having with other cultivators and learnt some interesting titbits about various matters that were summarised as follows...
The courtyard here was a replica, a realistic hologram taking up this space temporarily for the tryouts. It wasn't always here in this city and would disappear as soon as the Brotherhood did. They got planning permission from the domain overlord as well as the city mayor so everything was perfectly legal and the logistics had been taken care of ahead of time. They were allowed to put the signs up so long as they took them down afterwards even if it was a bit of a hassle.
The reason the courtyard looked like so dilapidated was because, about a year ago, a group of a hundred or so sects started a war with the Brotherhood and invaded the outer court while most of the disciples were away. Only the outer court disciples and the sect master were present but the situation was resolved, with plenty of bloodshed, by the three outer court disciples alone. The sect master did not even directly participate and, supposedly, even Finnian's involvement was low. Over a hundred sects, with maybe around a million cultivators in total, were wiped out by three, debatably two, people. The damage dealt to the courtyard was the best the aggressing sects could do as the three disciples were pretty much uninjured. Large scale arts were chucked at them but they brushed them aside and let the sect suffer instead. It was lazy, and the sect master reprimanded them for their lack of consideration, but their victory was what truly mattered as it was quite the groundbreaking event... That people never knew of. It was known that these sects disappeared randomly but the cause behind the sudden vanishing was unknown up until the truth spilled from Finnian's lips here today. It was a mind boggling feat but if Finnian said it was true then nobody would dare doubt it as it was practically gospel at that point. Anyway, point being, the courtyard looked like this because, even now, it still hadn't been cleaned up. the sect master would eventually berate and nag the outer court disciples into dealing with it but the simulation here today was based on its current appearance and there was nothing that could be done about that. It still functioned as it needed to and was the perfect place to hold the tryouts so it didn't really matter what it looked like.
The tryouts were going to take place in about five minutes and only those here when they started would be allowed to participate. No late arrivals were going to throw any curveballs. You were on time or you weren't on the list on the list, no dice in that regard. A barrier would go up and surround this area once the time for the tryouts came but, at the very least, those not inside it could still view what was happening on the many massive TVs scattered throughout the city as they would all be relaying what happened here today. All Brotherhood sect tryouts were recorded and put on the internet for free, sometimes it was even replayed on various news networks if there was a new recruit who successfully made it in to the sect, so there was no way whatever went down here today would be a secret of any kind. Ares didn't much mind this because people already knew about him and so popping up like this would reinvigorate discussions surrounding him and further contribute to his 'I'm popular, strong, and have many allies so leave me alone, Ject, and other nuisances, strategy'. This would also be the first time a lot of people actually got to see Ares in the flesh because not all cultivators who were interested could make it to the pagoda or could be bothered to go out of their way. Put simply, win or lose here he'd be in the news again and his destruction magic might get a chance to shine for a little while.
As for the contents of the tryouts, Finnian didn't specific what each individual stage was but he mentioned that there were three different trials one would have to go through to join the sect. Every single trial would involve all remaining participants at once so there were no individual examinations and it was best to be prepared to compete with one another; even the friends you came along with were going to be opponents blocking your path forward soon enough. Finnian also mentioned that there was a chance for an extra reward to be earned depending on the challengers' performance in the third test, specifically, but left it at that, without clarifying the test or the reward, and simply encouraged people to try their best. He'd explain later but one had to actually make it to that stage in order to even have a chance so there was no point in worrying about it now.
Finally, Finian also let slip that there was supposed to be another Brotherhood outer court disciple here today with him but she disappeared from his sight the second he took his eyes of her a couple of hours ago. She was a free spirit who couldn't be chained down and always seemed to act according to her own whims regardless of the trouble it might caused others. Playing around was invaluable to this woman and so she frequently disappeared to go have fun with the locals whenever she arrived anywhere new. Finnian had a feeling she might show up in some way or form at some point during the tryouts but it was better to not worry about her and just pretend it was only him here. His fellow outer court disciples were pretty unreliable in their own ways, one was the woman who went AWOL and the other was the drunk who constantly gave out rumours about the tryout locations ahead of time, but he repeatedly promised they were good people deep down... Sometimes... He couldn't avoid adding that last part because lying, even if only by omission, seemed to visibly hurt his innocent soul somewhat. He scorched the back of his head with a wry smile as he explained his fellow disciples behaviour and it seemed like even someone as magnanimous and sociable as him had been trounced by the unruly twerps under him in the outer court. Also, as perfect as he was at making friends, Finnian seemed to do everything in his power to avoid Gram... Understandable but also somewhat shocking that even Finnian, the friendly man, the myth, the legend, couldn't stand that guy. Gram was well and truly insufferable to the extreme. Marlar also spoke to Finnian and apologised about the spacians he unintentionally brought along with him. Finnian was understanding about the matter and simply pat the fish on his shoulder and told him to 'chin up'.
Ares was tempted to go speak to Finnian too but there wasn't really anything he wanted to say or ask. The young master had informed him well about everything, anything, and anyone he needed to know about so it was rather pointless... Though, actually, maybe there was one thing he could check with Finnian about... The 'free spirit' he was supposed to be overseeing, his junior and partner in tryout hosting... Ares had an inkling he might know where that troublesome woman ran off to. In fact, he might even know who that troublesome woman was... He glanced over at Allice prancing around, inspecting the competition with sparkling eyes, and sighed to himself... This whole situation really was about him, huh? The details about his fight with the spacian must have raised eyebrows due to the flag that he used to wipe the monster out. That or the woman simply felt the war aura from wherever she was hiding on this planet and decided to take investigative matters into her own hand. If Ares really did possess the war aura then it was all but confirmed the old farmer was dead and gone so indirectly finding out about it this way was rather awkward. 'Alice' was probably just looking for confirmation but was now, for whatever reason, committing to her role for an extended period... Ares had no clue why. Maybe this was part of her 'free spirited' nature and she was just looking to entertain herself by taking part in the tryouts she was supposed to be hosting. It was problematic in its own way, and she was going to be a real standout performer who ruined many challengers' chances, but it spiced things up too and meant the competition would never be dull or easy at least.
Anyone who was afraid of facing a Brotherhood disciple in competition wasn't worth joining the sect anyway, that was what Ares believed wholeheartedly. If you were afraid, you weren't on their level. If you weren't on their level, you weren't one of them and had no right to be. It was basic common sense for cultivators and the sort of logic most experts ascribed to. It seemed that maybe some of the other notable cultivators here also figured out the unusual entity that was Alice but only a few cowards really paid it any heed while the rest simply jotted her down as a landmine not worth stepping on. Avoid if possible, confront seriously if not. Alice was not the end goal, joining the Brotherhood was and that lay beyond her... Though she really still shouldn't have been here... Even Finnian wasn't entirely sure how to deal with this woman and he kept anxiously glancing over at her while trying to summon her back to his side with subtle, and ignored, hand gestures. She wasn't having any of it and stuck her tongue out at him which nearly made the poor guy shed a tear. Ares felt sympathetic but, alas, there was little he could do...
Actually, what Ares really wanted to know...
Was what happened to the real Alice?
The Brotherhood wasn't evil, not by any stretch of the imagination, so had she really been kidnapped? She was definitely safe wherever she was but was she in on this ploy too? Though, then again, if the fake Alice's interpretation of the real one was accurate then maybe the real Alice thought this was all down right hilarious and agreed to be replaced in a heartbeat to get a kick out of the mess that followed. Perhaps she was watching everything happen from a safe place, eating cream tea and enjoying herself to no end with giggles galore... Yeah, that seemed likely the more Ares thought it over... Not that he had much free time to think about anything extensively because a barrier suddenly formed around those present and signified it was high time the tryouts kicked off. Finnian strolled towards the courtyard, opened up the gate, and welcomed everyone in. This was where the fun started.