Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos
chapter-452

Soon after he touched down at the Manor, Vahn could sense a presence rapidly making its way toward him. It was an aura similar to his own so Vahn was able to easily guess that it was Fenrir coming to greet him at the door, as per usual. However, unlike in the past, Vahn was now in a different form and he was curious how she would react. With a bit of intrigue, Vahn opened the door as Fenrir trotted forward and hugged his waist as she said, "Vahn, welcome home~!" Vahn smiled and began stroking the bristly hair of Fenrir as he asked, "You can tell it’s me so easily?"

Fenrir looked up into his face with a confused expression on her’s as she asked, "Vahn was trying to fool Fenrir?" A peal of laughter escaped Vahn’s lips as he ruffled her hair and said, "Of course not, Fenrir, I wouldn’t try to fool you like this..." Fenrir nodded her head happily before running off to her previous location without delay. Unless Vahn asked her to stay, she knew it was better to tend to her own matters so she wouldn’t be a bother to him. Vahn watched her retreating figure with his eyes and realized she was growing up a lot faster after learning about the Divination...

Vahn made his way to his workshop while thinking if he should stop by and try to prank some of the other girls within the Manor before he tried to return to normal. When he was having a discussion with Hephaestus earlier, Vahn realized that he couldn’t easily alter his form right now and it seemed like the [Transfiguration Lens] was holding his current shape. He very well might be stuck as Tiona for the entire twenty-four hours at this rate, not that it particularly bothered him. It was sure to cause a small stir within the girls of the Manor, but Vahn expected them to be more intrigued than off-put by the current situation.

Using the tips he had received from Tsubaki and Hephaestus, Vahn began to set out various types of hide and leathers that he was going to treat in order to soften them up. Treating them made the material slightly weaker, but Vahn was going to be working with several layers for the final design and it wouldn’t make a big difference. He used slightly thicker parts to cover the important areas, like the heart, spine, kidneys, and the interior of the thigh, before covering the entire thing with a thin layer of shadowsilk. The final interior base ended up looking like a bodysuit that covered the neck, chest, abdomen, pelvis, and thighs. Vahn felt it looked a little bit like the start of an assassin’s outfit and decided that he needed to use lighter colors for the exterior layers if he wanted to avoid making things excessively dark.

Once he was finished with the interior design, Vahn turned his attention to the four girls that had shown up previously and had been watching him work for a fair amount of time. Seeing that he was now paying attention to them, Tiona shot up from the sofa and approached Vahn like a charging animal as she began to pat around and inspect his body with glittering eyes and a large smile on her face. Tione gave Vahn a strange look and said, "I’m not even sure what to say about this..." Ais, however, seemed to find the current situation pretty interesting as she joined Tiona in inspecting Vahn’s figure.

To save the girls the effort, Vahn equipped a stretchy amazonian top and a pair of small shorts so they wouldn’t strip off the clothes he was wearing. Tiona’s eyes widened for a brief moment before she began laughing and said, "This is totally cool~! It’s like looking at a mirror image of myself, ehehehehe~!" Tione looked Vahn up and down before focusing on a specific part of his body and nodded her head as she said, "Indeed...I could have almost mistaken him for me if not for a certain aspect..." Since Vahn didn’t have his hair tied up like Tiona, it was hanging loosely around his head and there wasn’t a great difference in his appearance compared to Tione, except that his hair was shorter.

Tiona didn’t seem to mind Tione’s little quip as she completely ignored the remark and asked, "Did you really become me completely~?" Vahn shook his head and said, "Maybe appearance-wise, but it hasn’t affected my skills and abilities at all..." Toward the end of Vahn’s words, he transformed into his Baihu form and caused the eyes of all four girls to widen greatly. His black hair become white, with black undertones, and his brown eyes turned blue as a tiger-like tail poked out of his exposed backside. Fur grew along his forearms and calves at a visible rate and a pair of circular tiger ears popped out of his hair moments later. To emphasize he was still himself, even more, Vahn held up one of his claws and a tiny flame appeared at the tip of his finger.

Though her eyes had already been shining like stars, Tiona’s eyes shone with greater intensity as she held up both hands and said, "So coooool~! I wish I could transform like this~!" She picked up Vahn’s free hand and began running her fingers through the relatively thick white and black fur with an unconcealed interest in her expression. Lefiya seemed to hint up something, however, as she asked, "If your body has changed into that of Tiona’s, how are you able to so easily use your magic and other abilities? Did the flow of energy in your body not change? What race are you currently?"

Lefiya had grown somewhat accustomed to Vahn’s ’abnormalities’ and had been assisting Riveria a lot in her research when she had free time. Seeing Vahn transform and use magic so easily caused several new questions to appear in her mind because, as Vahn himself had stated, the only difference between races was the flow of their energy. If Vahn was emulating Tiona’s body, he should have replicated her flow and lost the ability to use magic entirely. The fact that he was able to do so meant there was more going on than physical changes.

Vahn had tilted his head in contemplation as Tiona handled his body freely and played with his arms, ears, and even his somewhat sensitive tail. What Lefiya was saying was correct so Vahn had started to inspect the inner workings of his body in detail in order to better understand the changes that had occurred. Since he had Tiona standing next to him, he could directly compare himself with her and find abnormalities much faster. Vahn hadn’t really thought about it earlier, as he had been talking to Hephaestus while maintaining his [Enkidu], but the energy flow he had manipulated to change his body was his default flow. Even though he was in the form of Tiona, his energy was still normal and wasn’t remotely similar to the somewhat ditzy Amazon.

After realizing this, Vahn explained the situation to Lefiya, who had already taken out a notebook, and they began to talk about the possibilities. It seemed that the effect of unique items was much greater than they had anticipated. Either that or it meant that the flow of energy was only one of the factors that determined a person’s form and capabilities. Vahn knew about the existence of genetics and wondered if it was possible to emulate a specific flow while manipulating the genetic structure to give something a different shape. If true, Vahn might one day be able to ’engineer’ something like a homunculus that had the shape of a human but the energy flow of a dragon. He was nowhere near such capabilities and didn’t even know where to start, but it was interesting to think about.

By the time their discussion had come to an end, Vahn was being hugged by Tiona from behind as if she had claimed his current body as her own. Ais seemed to have lost a bit of interest at some point and had started to inspect the designs Vahn was working on, including the under armor which was situated on a mannequin that looked vaguely similar to herself. When the main conversation between Vahn and Lefiya had come to an end, Ais pulled at the fabric a little and asked, "Is this for me...?" Hearing her question, Vahn smiled and tried to liberate himself from Tiona but was held firmly by the Amazon who began to laugh in a playful manner before letting him go.

Vahn could tell that Tiona was a bit ’excited’ at the moment and sent a glance toward Tione which was easily interpreted by the elder twin. She felt a little annoyed seeing ’Tiona’ behaving like Vahn as she wore completely different clothes than were commonly worn by their people. The Vahn version of Tiona looked a lot more casual and confident than Tiona herself and Tione realized she was also likely overshadowed by him a bit. It was easier to tolerate in his base form, but now that they looked almost identical to each other, Tione couldn’t help but feel a little bothered...

To answer Ais’s question, Vahn picked up the diagram he was working from and explained, "I’m actually trying to make under-armor that can be worn by everyone in the Manor. It’s something that can be worn under your normal armor and will provide extra physical, magical, and defensive capabilities. It will probably take a fair amount of research, but I’m confident I’ll be able to make armor that is suitable for everyone in the future. I want to make a standardized set of equipment that can be swapped out easily so that I can optimally stock my inventory with interchangeable parts..."

Ais seemed to get excited at the prospect of new equipment, as was evident by the smile on her face. Anything that could make her stronger was something welcome by the little Sword Princess. Since it was something created by Vahn, the same person that produced her [Gram], Ais couldn’t contain her own excitement easily and her reaction caused Vahn to smile widely, satisfied by her response. Afterward, Vahn talked a little bit about the specifics and got the input of the present girls about their own preferences for such things.

Tiona and Tione didn’t seem to like the idea of having their backs and bellies covered since it would restrict their movements, but Vahn assured them that wouldn’t be the case. If they ultimately couldn’t tolerate the basic design, however, Vahn offered to tailor it to their liking once he made some headway in his research. Ais, believing that it would make her even stronger, actually asked for a version that covered the entire body. As for Lefiya, she didn’t have much input and was just curious about how it would be able to enhance her magical capabilities in the future. Vahn explained about the artificial mana circuits he was going to create and it caused a tiny flame of excitement to burn in the generally bashful Elf’s eyes...

Since they didn’t want to keep him from his work for too long, the girls prepared to leave after eating a light lunch, provided by Vahn himself. Tiona, however, decided to ask, "How long are you going to be in my body like that?" Vahn tilted his head slightly and said, "Until around 8 AM tomorrow morning...?" Tiona smiled widely at his response and said, "I want to be able to sleep together with you when you’re like this~! Tione and I have developed differences over time and seeing your current appearance is like viewing a second twin. Or maybe we can pretend to be triplets~!?"

Tione flinched slightly at Tiona’s words before shaking her head and saying, "I’ll pass...I’ll wait until Vahn returns to normal before sharing the same bed. I have enough stress just dealing with one Tiona..." Hearing her big sister’s words, Tiona began to laugh sheepishly as both Ais and Lefiya also removed themselves from consideration. Ais liked Vahn’s normal state more and it made her feel weird seeing him look like Tiona. As for Lefiya, she also felt it was a little strange seeing two Tiona side-by-side and wanted to stay with Ais instead. Tiona became a little dejected by the girls’ reactions but Vahn reached out his hand and patted the top of her head and said, "Sure..." completely banishing any negative thoughts that were beginning to well up inside her.

Vahn would have to talk it over with Eina, but he also expected she would sleep in her own room given his current appearance. Even though most of the girls were relatively fine with being in the same room, even during intimate moments, it was only because Vahn himself was there guiding things along somewhat. It was perfectly normal for the girls to have some inhibitions about sharing the same bed with him in his current state, even if they didn’t actually do anything s.e.x.u.a.l. Vahn could tell by their auras that they didn’t actually have any negative thoughts about his appearance and was even certain he could ’convince’ them if he wanted to. However, Vahn wasn’t fond of forcing such situations on people and let them act as they pleased.

After the girls left, Vahn continued working on the under-armor and started the arduous process of creating the scales and trying to attach them to the outfit. Because he couldn’t recognize the material that was used in the Divination, Vahn assumed it was something he had created himself and began experimenting with different methods to produce them. Since the base material was bluish-black in coloration, Vahn assumed it had been made of Mithril, as it was also capable of conducting mana and served a similar function.

Making the actual scales was harder than he expected since the material needed to be incredibly thin. Vahn ultimately had to ’shave’ off flakes of Mithril using an Adamantine scalpel before shaping them into the correct size. As for the runes, and the mana circuits, Vahn used his [Eyes of Truth] to create an incredibly thin channel before using a need to methodically insert flakes of Orichalc.u.m into the channel. Once he got enough inside, Vahn used his ability to infuse fire elements into an object in order to melt down just the orichalc.u.m itself so it would become a singular solid. By the time he was finished with one scale, it had taken more than an hour and Vahn was certain this wasn’t the correct method.

Though he was positive the end result would be S-Ranked, Vahn knew this wasn’t a practical method since each set of under-armor would take thousands of such scales before reaching completion. Even if he worked on a single set for an entire month, Vahn probably wouldn’t finish unless there were absolutely no hiccups. Since he wanted to create several sets of such equipment, there simply wasn’t enough time if he used this method the entire time. He either needed to come up with a way to mass produce the scales, or he needed to find a more practical method to replace them. Vahn even began to suspect that it wasn’t actually scales that he had seen in the second layer, but simply a pattern that he had carved into a mesh layer in order to emulate a similar function.

With his new train of thought, Vahn pulled out a piece of wyvern skin and tried carving a scaled pattern into the tough, but malleable, material. He found that it was much easier than trying to create individual scales, but it didn’t seem like the solution he was looking for. He had some success carving runes on the surface of the wyvern hide but there was no easy way to create the mana circuits that would be necessary to activate them. Though the hide allowed mana to flow through it, it wasn’t remotely as efficient as a material like Mithril so Vahn ended up scrapping the idea after an additional three hours of work. After taking several notes on potential solutions, which also doc.u.mented his failures, Vahn cleaned up his workshop and decided to call it quits for the day.

As he had exerted himself a fair amount during the production process, Vahn had decided to take a bath before dinner. However, he quickly realized things weren’t so ’simple’ since he was still in the form of Tiona and it almost seemed ’risque’ to take a bath right now. Of course, Vahn’s curiosity won out in the end and he proceeded into to the bath without any real hesitation. It was a strange feeling, being attracted to his own form as he undressed, but it was also somewhat exciting and Vahn felt like everything he was experiencing was ’new’. The way a woman felt excitement was decidedly different from a man and Vahn could feel a giddy feeling in his lower body that had never existed before.

Since it was common for many of the girls to bathe before dinner, there were several present, including Tiona herself. Though there was a bit of confusion at first, people quickly realized it was Vahn that had arrived and a stir passed in the bath when they saw ’his’ n.a.k.e.d figure. The biggest reaction, unsurprisingly, came from the girls Vahn wasn’t involved with, such as Preasia, Tina, and Shizune. Fenrir didn’t seem to care at all and had Vahn was her body as if there had been no changes in his appearance. As for his own body, he lost the right to wash himself and it was left to Tiona and Syr to take care of the task. Syr didn’t seem to be too affected by his change and, toward the end of the bath when they were getting dried off, actually asked if he wanted her to stay the night.

Vahn was tempted by the idea but knew things would probably develop in a ’strange’ way if he added someone like Syr to the mix. Syr teased him a little after his refusal but didn’t make any efforts to try and convince him otherwise. Afterward, Vahn got to experience having his own hair brushed by another person for the first time as Tiona treated his body as her personal plaything as he brushed Fenrir’s hair. She even used ornaments to style up his hair in a similar manner to her own and seemed to really enjoy ’testing’ new styles using Vahn as a template.

Since he could change clothing in an instant, Vahn was able to show off a variety of different outfits to the insatiably curious Amazon before dinner was finally completed. Vahn actually enjoyed the experience a fair amount because he also got to see ’Tiona’ in the outfits that she was interested in while looking at himself in a standing mirror. As long as he didn’t consider the reflection to be himself, Vahn found it was much easier to cope with wearing women’s clothing...

Dinner was decidedly more awkward than normal and Vahn found himself flanked by Tiona and Tione so they looked like triplets that were sitting together. This was Emiru’s and Maemi’s first time seeing his current appearance and both girls seemed to take a big mental impact at the change. Vahn assured everyone that his current appearance would return to normal by the end of training tomorrow and pacified them with strawberry cheesecake and milk-tea. The awkwardness of the girls had been spreading to him and Vahn had started to feel very embarrassed by his decision to turn into Tiona earlier in the day.

Of course, not every girl had a negative reaction as Vahn seemed to be very popular with the youth troupe, after they had adapted to the change, as well as the more mature women like Tsubaki, Milan, and Syr. As for Eina, she hadn’t been present for dinner as she was having a small celebratory party with her former colleagues that worked with her at the Guild. She was aware of Vahn’s current change, however, and had informed him that she would be sleeping in the bed next door unless he specifically needed her.

As a result, Vahn ended up retiring to his room with just Tiona since he had declined the offers of both Syr and Loki, who had reached out to him through the network. Tiona didn’t seem to like the idea of Loki showing up and playing with ’her’ body so it ultimately resulted in just the two of them sharing his bed. For the moment he entered the room, however, Vahn felt like he had made a grave mistake as Tiona instantly clung to his body in an overly affectionate manner and said, "I can control my urges much better when you’re like this...it makes me want to play with you lots and lots~!" as she began to nibble on his ear...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Fenrir says, ’Vahn is Vahn...’’,’Tiona becomes a narcissist?’,’Danger~!’)

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