Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos
chapter-1017

For what felt like several hours, Vahn continued to experience a sensation similar to free-falling except, instead of moving 'down', his orientation seemed to constantly shift. At times, he would feel a floaty feeling in his stomach, as if he was being lifted upward, while other moments caused him to feel as if he were flying sideways at a speed incomprehensible to the mind. Throughout this entire process, the only thing within Vahn's perception were bright blue lines that were similar in structure to those he had witnessed atop the infinite black 'plane' that likely represented Termina Nasu. With nothing better to do, Vahn was trying to make sense of their structure in order to decipher their relationship with the Laws of Space and Time. Unfortunately, just as it felt like he was beginning to 'sense' something, Vahn perception shifted once again, this time giving him the feeling as if he was 'literally' free-falling due to the rapidly approaching planet below...

Feeling his vision 'stretch', a phenomenon that occurred when traveling near the speeds of light, Vahn suddenly felt an extreme nausea that caused him to retch forward by instinct. At the same time, he noticed that he was now standing on some kind of concrete while, dominating the surroundings, there were several similarly designed buildings built in close proximity to each other. It reminded Vahn a lot of the slums of Daedelus Street, even though the houses seemed far more high-quality than the decrepit structures that often housed ten times the number of people they should have...

Just as he was about to look around to view his surroundings more clearly, Vahn heard an annoyingly loud sound blast his ears, accompanied by the screams of several girls from the surroundings. In that same instant, Vahn raised his head, no longer feeling nauseous, only to find his vision was dominated by what appeared to be a highly advanced wagon. He didn't have time to view it in greater detail, however, as the wagon unceremoniously smashed into him with a surprising amount of force. Vahn could feel the metal wrap around his body as an odorous smell of oil and gaseous fumes assaulted his senses. Though it didn't do any damage to him, Vahn felt annoyed that his first experience in a new world was being run over by a wagon so he kicked the offending transport backward before looking towards the coachman and yelling, "Watch where you're going next time...!"

In response to his outburst, Vahn's surroundings were dominated by silence for several seconds, at least until the driver seemed to return to their senses as they climbed out from their carriage and exclaimed, "W-what the fuck...are...are you okay!?" His words seemed to awaken the surroundings as, immediately following that, Vahn noticed several tens of people pull out small square plates before pointing them in his direction. He suddenly felt a mounting frustration at how rude their behavior was but, remembering he wasn't recognized as an Emperor in this world, Vahn remained calm as he looked toward the surprisingly fat Far Eastern man and said, "I will be fine. Now, tell me, why are you driving this...carriage...in such an enclosed area...?"

From what Vahn could see, the path in which the carriage was trespassing was hardly wide enough for it to pass through without potentially damaging the surroundings. Though it seemed to rely on mechanical parts to function, giving it a higher degree of precision, the man before him didn't seem like the dexterous type that would be able to properly use such a machine. At a glance, he seemed even weaker than most of the children back in the Record of Danmachi, even though his build would indicate he was in his mid-to-late forties. However, as even the younger people in the surroundings also had a completely negligible amount of mana flowing through their bodies, Vahn suspected he was in an area with a particularly low density of elemental energy.

Seemingly having failed to process Vahn's words, the man just kept gawking with a silly expression on his face as he muttered, "I...what...ah..." It was obvious he wasn't going to be much help, so Vahn just shook his head before turning his attention to his surroundings. Though he was used to being the center of attention, the behavior of the onlookers was distinctly different from how they ought to behave. Not only was it rude, but they seemingly ignored any potential dangers as they continued to shorten the distance, many holding up the rectangular plates in their hands, causing flashes of light to occur before they would inspect whatever was on the surface. Vahn could hear what they were talking about, quickly alerting him to the fact that his ability to withstand being hit by a 'truck' was abnormal...

Deciding it was best to break away from the situation, Vahn placed his hand on the fumbling man's shoulder and said, "Don't worry about it. Sorry about your truck...drive safely from now on, okay?" Then, once the man slowly nodded in response, Vahn closed his eyes to focus before trying to use [Shundo] to move into a nearby alleyway. His domain had shrunken considerably, at least compared to the 'maximum' he had achieved upon reaching Tier 4, but it was still nearly 4km in diameter. Vahn found an empty area, which was a lot harder than he expected, before establishing a connection between his current location and his destination. A sudden pain wracked his body as, from the perspective on the onlookers, he simply vanished from sight. This left many to loudly exclaim, talking about the possibility of Vahn being some kind of alien, while the driver of the truck was left with an expression of utter confusion as he muttered, "My boss will never believe this..." in a sobbing voice.

Upon reaching the alleyway, Vahn crashed to the ground rather hard, both of his legs feeling as if they had broken from the exertion. Fortunately, the bones had only fractured slightly so Vahn was quickly on his feet, even if his [Magia Erebea] was only functioning at a fraction of its full capabilities. Still, it was more pain than Vahn had expected to feel so he decided to sit within his back against the adjacent buildings side as he took a few breaths to get his bearings. It was at this point that Sis' voice echoed within his mind, sounding decidedly annoyed as she complained, (*Vahn...did you lose your ability to think when you left the previous Record...?*)

Vahn was startled by the tone in Sis' voice, causing him to sheepishly ask, ("Did I make a mistake somewhere?") Since he had never expected to be intercepted by an 'Administrative' force upon entering a new Record, Vahn suspected there was a very real chance he had erred somehow. He had just been in such a hurry to move on to the next Record that he had decided not to waste any time sitting atop the stone dais. Something about that area unnerved him, not because it was particularly scary, but due to the 'familiarity' he felt within his personal Dimension. He felt like, if he lost focus, thousands of years would pass within that space without him even noticing it...

In response to Vahn's inquiry, Sis released an exasperated sigh before practically shouting, (*You didn't use your accumulated Karma! After you selected a new Record, I barely had enough time to convert it into Origin Points for you before the transfer had begun. Vahn, I understand your desire to return as soon as possible but you can't simply stop thinking about the present moment. You won't get anywhere if your haste causes you to make such massive oversights...!*) As this was one of the few times Sis sounded 'heated', Vahn hung his head and seriously listened to everything she was saying. At the time, he hadn't even been thinking about how to use his Karma as, after living in Danmachi for what was 'literally' hundreds of years, it had been virtually useless to him. It never even crossed his mind that the troublesome value that had caused him endless headaches would be useful once he was transferring between Records...even though he knew this was supposedly the case.

Even without Vahn apologizing, Sis knew he was sorry so her voice quickly turned more gentle as she said, (*Don't let it bother you too much. I do not expect you to never make mistakes and it is partially my fault for not drawing your attention to it before you finalized your Record selection. Besides, there is nothing wrong with having a surplus of OP after entering into a new Record...*). Though the Karma to Origin Points conversion was terrible, making it a drop in the bucket for Vahn's already expansive reserves, it was still better than nothing.

Feeling better after Sis' consolation, Vahn raised his head and said, ("Thanks, Sis...") in a sincere tone of voice. Her response was an almost inaudible sigh before she gently stated, (*Of course, Vahn. Just make sure you are properly considering your actions from here onwards. You need to familiarize yourself with this new world as soon as possible. It is obvious that the people of this world live distinctly different lives from those within Danmachi. Even the make of their clothes is fundamentally different than the casual wear of civilians back in Orario. You should change clothing soon or you'll continue to stand out like a sore thumb.*)

Hearing Sis' words, Vahn looked down and only just now noticed that he was wearing a strange bodysuit that clung to his skin and left little to the imagination. He obviously hadn't transferred into the Record wearing any clothes so Akasha must have done something when she sent him through the Root. Though he was thankful that he hadn't 'literally' exposed himself in public, Vahn grimaced slightly since he recognized how strange his clothing was compared to what everyone else was wearing. Through his domain, he could see that most people wore surprisingly high-end clothing that was comprised of several different materials neatly sewn together with the precision only a god could manage. This was a bit surprising to Vahn as, even with thousands of people walking around nearby, he couldn't sense a single god amongst them...

It was only now that Vahn truly realized he was in a new Record as even the 'common sense' he had obtained within Danmachi seemed functionally useless here. Just the fact that people walked around without any form of protection, be it weapons or armor, was enough to indicate that the place he found himself in was very 'unique'. If they were attacked, Vahn felt like thousands would die before anyone was even able to react as, regardless of where he looked, there was a distinct lack of guards present within the City. Though there were some men dressed in blue uniforms posted at intervals, Vahn saw that they were only armed with batons and a strange device attached to their hips. They weren't even equipped with guns, the weapon he most associated with the 'setting' he found himself in...

Shaking his head, Vahn set the matter of this society's apparent complacency aside as he focused on more important matters, primarily his current capabilities. He also needed to find shelter at some as, from what he could see, there were only small sections of forested areas within the City, none of which seemed adequate for making camp. Though there was plenty of open space, Vahn saw that people treated more like a picnic area or a place to relax than an area to make camp. The grounds were highly maintained while no visible areas had been flattened, indicating there hadn't been any tents set within the area in the past few weeks. Since most of the surrounding buildings were tightly compacted together, with an incredible volume of people moving about, Vahn suspected that this particular society placed a heavy emphasis on making sure everyone slept indoors. He would need to find an Inn before nightfall or risk drawing even more unnecessary attention to himself...

After a quick change of clothes, electing to wear a black undershirt, blue jeans, and a pair of robust boots, Vahn turned his attention to his Status, specifically what was reflected within the system. As detailed as the information provided by Akasha was, there was no way she would be able to see through all of his secrets under The Path's protection. Vahn imagined he might even be able to garner an emotional response from her if he were to detail each of his true capabilities. For now, however, even he didn't know the full extent of his power as even moving a few hundred meters with [Shundo] felt like it was going to rip his legs apart...

[Status]

Name: [Vahn Mason]

Age: 155 (Ageless)

Race: Human, Progenitor(sealed), *sealed*

Parameter: [Nasuverse: 1-5]

Strength: 32C

Endurance: ★

Agility: 38C+

Magical Power: 44B+

Good Luck: 11E

Circuit Quality: EX

Soul Tier: 4 (Divine Soul)

[Karma]: 100

[OP]: 3,141,903,713

Noble Phantasm: [Enkidu:SSS]

Origin: [?]

Skills: [Will of the Emperor:SSS], [Rakshasa Body:B], [Keeper of the Akashic Tome:B], [Eyes of Truth:A], [Chainbreaker:SS->B], [Veil of the Traveler:S->SS], [Hands of Nirvana:SSS->S], [Type Omega:SSS](new), [Executor of Akasha's Will:SS]

Magic: [Magia Erebea:SS->A], [Administrative Function: Space Lock:SSS](new)

Magecraft: [Shundo:E]

[Enkidu]

Rank: SSS (Anti-Divine Noble Phantasm)

Passive: Greatly enhances the user's physical and magical resistances.

Active: Generate up to nine 'Chains of Heaven', allowing the user to bind a target, robbing them of their mobility and sealing all abilities.

[Type Omega]

Rank: SSS

Passive: Any damage from B-Rank spells, and lower, is completely nullified. Provide moderate resistance to all magical attacks.

Active: Enables the user to temporarily override the directive of other Types.

Restriction: Causes Anti-Divine magical spells to deal twice the amount of damage.

[Executor of Akasha's Will]

Rank: SS

Passive: Allows the user to draw power from the Root Designation: Akasha when encountering foes that have come into contact with the Root.

Active: Enables the user to trace the Root of a target, gaining access to any unique skills and abilities of the target for the duration of the skill's use.

Restriction: Skill is only active in worlds where a primary target has been identified.

[Administrative Function: Space Lock]

Rank: SSS

Use: Allows the user to 'anchor' a timeline to its Origin, preventing the use of any Magic related to Time and Space.

Restriction: This skill affects all entities within the timeline, including the user. Use with extreme caution.

[Magia Erebea]

Rank: A

Passive: Greatly increases the passive regeneration of the user. User granted immortality equal to the level of a Greater Divine Spirit.

Active: Able to absorb Magecraft equal to skill's rank and below.

Restriction: Resistances nullified in the presence of Light, Holy, and Divine Elemental Magecraft. Regeneration is nullified on sanctified ground.

Though he wasn't entirely sure what to make of his actual parameters, Vahn felt melancholic upon seeing the absence of many of his most familiar skills and abilities. Knowing he no longer had the 'eternal flame', while also having lost the blessings of the goddesses he cared about, caused his heart to feel heavy. Fortunately, as a result of him developing the skills to an extreme on his own, Vahn still had access to his [Hands or Nirvana] and [Magia Erebea]. He could also use his previously learned magics, even though they were far more taxing on his body than anything he had expected. Now that he had gotten a better feel for the surroundings, Vahn noticed that the mana density in the air was almost non-existent, meaning he had to rely almost entirely on his own weakened reserves to use magic. He had never realized how reliant he was on the extremely saturated air present within Danmachi when executing his most common skills and abilities...

Fortunately, according to the status cards Akasha had given him regarding his targets, Vahn understood that his Parameters weren't actually that low. He had half expected to be as weak as a normal human once again but, considering he still had a Tier 4 Soul, it made sense his starting point wasn't that low. Parameters seemed to cap out at the surprisingly low value of 50, even though modifiers seemed to be able to push them beyond this restriction. The fact that his Magical Power was 44B+ meant that he was actually near the 'maximum' base Magical Power that an entity could possess on this side of the Root. The + indicated that he actually had a modifier of 50 whole Magical Power, meaning his actual value was closer to 94, at least when pushing himself to the limits.

What Vahn found most curious were the ★ and EX designations, the first representing a value that couldn't be quantified while the latter indicated that his base parameters exceeded the limit of the system itself. Since Circuit Quality indicated the conductivity of a person's magic circuits, the pathways in which they used mana through, Vahn wasn't surprised that his value exceeded the system's ability to comprehend. After all, his body was comprised of Source Energy and, even if he wasn't capable of using it efficiently, it was still far beyond the Record's standard. He could, quite literally, learn any kind of Magic, irrespective of Elemental Affinity and other factors...

Understanding that he actually had a pretty good starting point within this Record, Vahn felt more confident regarding the future. Though he would still need to gather information, this world didn't seem to be a particularly dangerous place, at least on the surface. The people walking around had their guards completely lowered, even without the presence of guards, indicating they had no fear of being attacked at any moment. They also seemed surprisingly healthy, even though their lack of mana and vitality would have indicated they were malnourished within a Record like Danmachi. Vahn could even see several overweight people while a surprising few seemed to place an emphasis on physical fitness. Seeing how little muscle the average person had, including the more athletic and handsome-looking men, Vahn couldn't help but shake his head as he rose to his feet and pulled out a small gold bar from his Inventory.

This was a bar he had forged from materials found within the Record of Danmachi so Vahn wasn't surprised as it instantly broke down into fine black particles before vanishing into nothingness. He had already known that anything he obtained in other Records wouldn't function outside of the Record but he had wanted to confirm it with his own eyes. Now that he had confirmation that the majority of his items were useless, Vahn sold everything that didn't have sentimental value, even though his current Inventory was in no risk of being filled. Just seeing the number of empty slots he had was a bit shocking for Vahn as, previously, he only had 419 total slots. Now that he had 16,384, with each slot holding ten times the amount as they could previously, Vahn felt like it might turn into a depository for random items he came across in the future...

After cleaning his Inventory, Vahn looked at his vast reserves of OP and was glad he had put in the effort to obtain more than what was necessary for his Quest. It didn't seem like there would be many ways to obtain OP in this world, at least from what he could tell, so his current reserves could very well be all he had to rely on for a while. Fortunately, he still had all of his prior knowledge and experience so, after familiarizing himself with the Record a bit, Vahn was confident he would be able to forge items to supplement his reserves, assuming it was ever necessary.

For the time being, he needed to prioritize finding a temporary residence to facilitate his need to acquire information. Thus, with that idea in mind, Vahn exited the alleyway and began looking around for a place to stay for the night. It helped that he could understand the oral and written language intuitively, as it didn't take long for him to find a number of places that advertised comfort and various other amenities at what seemed to be an affordable price, at least compared to some of the other good he had seen advertised along the way. As some of the foods he had seen were advertised to cost several thousand of the City's currency, denoted as Yen, Vahn was surprised that a hotel would only cost ¥4500 for a night's stay...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Vahn's oblivious to what happened to the Root xD','Poor Sis has to put up with Vahn for all eternity...','Akasha's 'gifts' are a bit lackluster...')

(A/N: For those wondering about the janky release schedule, it is due to the fact that I've been feeling sick since yesterday morning. I've been sleeping most of the day while using the short period of time in which I'm awake to write chapters xD. I'm starting to feel better so things should be back to normal in another day or two~!)