Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos
chapter-809

With battles raging around him, Vahn remained relatively unperturbed as he gently stroked Alexa’s hair and contemplated how best to use his new ability. There were many unknowns about the function thus far and he would need to conduct several tests to discover the limitations, if any, that his ’Modify’ function possessed. Vahn believed that, in the future, it would undoubtedly be without limit but, considering his experience with The Path thus far, Vahn didn’t think it gave him nearly as much power as he assumed. If that were the case, he could slowly ’upgrade’ his subordinates and retainers until he had acquired a group of allies that were simply beyond anything within the record...

Since he was able to access their information through the system interface, Vahn could see all of his current subordinates and retainers, testing a variety of different options without finalizing anything. The only exceptions to this were the ’eternal flame’ and Anubis, whose parameters could be observed but couldn’t be influenced. This, as explained by Sis, was the first proof that there were limitations to the function, this time being that his Soul Tier was simply too low. Though the functions of the system seemed incredibly powerful, they were still restricted by the level of existence he was currently at. Even so, by inputting various options under Lefiya, Vahn could see the costs of modifications, including things like turning her into a True Dragon for 390,000,000OP.

Though the prices were exorbitant, especially since he was currently trying to save up 10-100 billion OP, Vahn knew it wouldn’t be that difficult to harvest a large amount of OP in higher Tier worlds. By the time he linked the records, he would have a veritable ocean of OP to make use of, something that would undoubtedly help him promote the strength of the girls for whatever dangers would present themselves. After all, they would only be Tier 3 Souls at best by the time he left, with some having the potential of reaching Tier 4. Since the record would be Tier 7 by then, Vahn knew he wouldn’t be able to fight against the balancing component of karma entirely on his own, making the girls a major weakness of his that he was trying to lay the foundation to prevent being exploited...

After sorting through a variety of options for Lefiya, Vahn then looked through Fenrir’s information and frowned slightly when he saw she was still only a Tier 1 Soul. Her Innate, [Insatiable Hunger], was also very unique in that she couldn’t actually train it any further. It simply didn’t have the capacity to be developed as, without any exceptions whatsoever, it was entirely associated with her hunger, stress, and emotions. If she decided to cut loose and make use of her Innate to its full potential, Fenrir would eventually become strong enough to even [Devour] the entire record, all while being a Tier 1 entity...

Thus far, Fenrir had been trying to walk the path of a Cultivator so that she could increase her Soul Tier but, without any Innate to promote her strength through mastery, it was exceedingly difficult for her to do so. Vahn speculated he would be able to [Rename] her through the system function and help promote her Soul Tier further, allowing her to overcome this limitation. If this was true, the power of his ’Modify’ function would be truly immense as he could simply ’upgrade’ his subordinates, even if it required a monstrous amount of OP. However, as he toyed around with modifying Fenrir’s name, it surprisingly didn’t cost nearly as much as he expected, prompting Sis to explain, (*Though the [Rename] ability works by allowing you to assign a name of power to an entity, it isn’t on the same level as your [Keeper of the Akashic Tome]. Since Fenrir already has a fate assigned the first time you gave her a name, she is no longer an applicable target for your [Keeper of the Akashic Tome]...sorry, Vahn.*)

Though this was a minor setback, Vahn just took a slow breath through his nose and kept calm as he said, ("It isn’t your fault, Sis. Thank you for clarifying that for me..."). This prompted her to give him a quiet, ’Nn’, with an apologetic undertone, but Vahn had already started thinking of ways around the issue. He could still use the [Rename] ability to change Fenrir’s name or, more specifically, give her a secondary name that would enhance her power. It might not be at the same level as a name derived from the [Keeper of the Akashic Tome] but Vahn knew there were plenty of skills or abilities associated with names that Fenrir would benefit from. At the same time, though it was a strange way to look at the situation, Vahn knew he could potentially modify Fenrir’s physique so that she simply didn’t have a h.y.m.e.n from the start...

As that thought crossed his mind, an equally strange thought appeared, along with an image of Lili within his mind. Vahn suddenly felt incredibly fl.u.s.tered but, after using the [Grimoire of Guidance] on Bell, he realized there had been a solution to Fenrir’s ’problem’ this entire time. Now, having Fenrir sitting next to him with a concerned look on her face, Vahn felt like the biggest fool in the whole record. He had been helping her try to overcome her ’problem’ for so long but kept running down tangents that would require her to work hard and seemingly do the impossible. This was all while the ’solution’ had been in front of him the entire time...

Sending a telepathic message to Lili, as she was currently standing on the back of a cart and watching the battles, Vahn then turned to Fenrir and explained, "Fenrir...your Master has been an idiot...haaaaa..." This caused Fenrir’s eyes to widen as Alexa also stirred in his lap, curious about what her Papa had done wrong to call himself an idiot. At this time, Lili had already arrived at the cart and asked, "You called me, Vahn?" To this, Vahn nodded his head and pulled out the second [Grimoire of Guidance], saying, "Can you please imbue your [Cinder*Ella] into this book and give it to Fenrir...? I promise to help you de-" Before he even finished, Lili snatched over the book and stuck out her tongue, saying, "Don’t worry about it. Even if we don’t get along that well all the time, Fenrir is still my friend, you know~?"

When she heard Lili’s words, Fenrir snorted but didn’t refute the claim as her tail thumped against the reinforced wood of the cart with a loud thud. Vahn felt a bit of warmth in his heart at Lili’s words while also feeling as though he hadn’t ’truly’ been an idiot. If this ended up working, he could always make it up to Fenrir plentily later on...

It didn’t take long for the grimoire in Lili’s hand to have the title ’[Cinder*Ella] by Liliruca Arde’ on the cover. She then handed it over to Fenrir who, at this point, seemed to understand what was going on as she somewhat shakily accepted the heavy book. Similar to the phenomenon he had seen with Bell, the book began to dissolve into magical energy that flowed into Fenrir’s body, carrying with it the knowledge and comprehension that Lili had of her unique magic.

Since Fenrir already had a great deal of knowledge in transformation magic, she was quickly able to make sense of the new information. Even without being prompted to do so, Fenrir’s body suddenly emitted a magical light as her fair white skin became a healthy brown while the fur on her paws, arms, and legs simply retreated, replaced by adorable fingers and toes. Her midnight blue hair became dark brown as the large floppy ears atop her head vanished, replaced by two human-looking ears at the sides of her head. Even the tail on her backside seemed to be ’sucked’ into her body, with the only ’constant’ carrying over from her previous form being her two scarlet red eyes...

From the moment she heard her Master mention Lili giving [Cinder*Ella] to her, Fenrir understood what he had in mind and it made her feel extremely anxious and excited. She had seen Lili transform into a variety of different species without any issues at all, including one that Fenrir had even wished she could be at times. As a result, the moment the information for [Cinder*Ella] entered her mind, Fenrir immediately transformed into an Amazoness and now sat, blankly staring at the backs of her brown hands before turning them over and seeing they were slightly pale on the inside. She could also tell that her senses had dulled greatly, but there was also an eagerness welling up inside of her as she turned to her Master with teary eyes, on the verge of crying wholeheartedly for the first time in her life.

Lili also understood the ’implications’ behind Fenrir being able to use her magic and couldn’t help smiling, feeling very happy for this troublesome companion of her’s. At the same time, she felt like teasing Fenrir a little to prevent the mood from souring, commenting, "This is great, Fenrir. I’ll teach you a lot of my more unique transformations later...or do you already have them inside your head? Either way, now we can team up against your Master and prevent him from straying away from the Manor, ehehehehehe~."

Vahn froze up a little when he heard Lili’s words, thoughts of Lulune and Alicia running through his mind as a cold sweat beaded on his back. Fortunately, Fenrir produced a rare laugh at Lili’s comment, wiping the budding tears from her eyes as she said, "Thank you, Lili...*sniff*...I’d like that..." Then, annoying Alexa a little, Fenrir tightly hugged Vahn’s arm and began rubbing her cheek against him with a happy smile on her face, accompanied by an encroaching blush. Vahn knew that things would get dangerous if she didn’t change back so, after stroking her somewhat shaggy brown hair, he gently said, "Once we reach the 50th Floor, I’ll do my best to make up for lost time...for now, we have to stay on high alert to prevent the expedition from getting overwhelmed..."

As these words left his lips, Vahn knew the truth of the matter was actually slightly different, at least for Fenrir herself. He was really starting to feel like an idiot now, even going to far as to facepalm as he said, "Actually, I can call you to my other body, or even transfer you through my storage magic if you want to spend the night at the Manor...we can also go into the orb and have some privacy...or perhaps stay in your room...?" If he didn’t know any better, Vahn felt like Fenrir was, quite literally, about to attack him after hearing his words. The mild blush on her face had deepened considerably as a hot voice escaped her lips as she said, "Master...I don’t want to wait anymore..."

Back on the surface, Vahn had been drinking tea with Loki as she sent out dozens of messages through her information networks and compiled anything pertinent to the investigation in a logbook. With Fenrir showing her ’impatience’, not that he could blame her after she had waited for such a long period of time, Vahn knew he needed to tend to her immediately. Startling Loki a little, he picked her up from his lap and said, "I need to enter into the sub-space orb and tend to Fenrir. Using the [Grimoire of Guidance], Lili was able to teach Fenrir her [Cinder*Ella] magic spell..."

Without any other explanation required, Loki’s eyes opened to an almost normal degree as she began shooing him out of the room, saying, "Hurry up then~! Make sure you take care of her properly, you hear!?" Though Fenrir had never been that fond of her, that didn’t mean Loki wasn’t fond of the young Vanargandr. Just the thought of an existence that could become powerful enough to even devour Heaven made her feel giddy and excited. She had tried on several occasions to get Fenrir to open up to her, with the vast majority of them ending in failure. Even so, she knew how important such an event was for Fenrir and wanted the ravenous little wolf to be happy...

For the first time, Vahn found himself skulking through the Manor and evading any of his wandering children, knowing they would essentially be a landmine at this point. He swore in his heart to make it up to them later and quickly made his way to the room containing the sub-space orb. Since there could be complications if he tried to call her while in the orb, Vahn used the [Summon] function of Unit Management to bring a somewhat confused and almost ’pained’ Fenrir next to him. She quickly trained her glowing red eyes on him and, noticing the nearby orb, placed her palm against it around the same time as Vahn himself.

When they entered into the orb, Fenrir practically tackled Vahn and began pulling at his durable clothing with enough force to tear the fibers apart in an instant. Since it might cause problems to do the deed in the middle of where other people entered into the orb, Vahn bearhugged the voracious little Amazoness and quickly carried her into one of the side rooms before kicking the door closed behind him. A powerful ward emerged on the door, preventing entry to anyone while blocking all sounds from traveling to the outside. Then, after a small battle to assert dominance and inhibit Fenrir’s budding Amazonian instincts, Vahn pinned the sweaty girl to the bed and, after years of waiting, the two finally became one...

Fenrir had been more than ready to receive him and, though her body couldn’t ’adapt’ completely from the very beginning, her actions carried an almost scary carnal intensity. It was fortunate that her nails weren’t that long or, after she buried them into his back, Vahn was certain he would have been ripped apart. Even so, blood continued to trickle down his back throughout the very long session of lovemaking before it would retract and heal moments later. Fenrir only seemed to get more riled up and violent the longer they continued, but Vahn eventually managed to get her to settle down by getting ’serious’ with her...

After Vahn loosened his restraints, Fenrir became like putty in his hands and, with a deeply enamored blush, sought him out for the better part of three days before she was finally satisfied. This was a combination of the fact that, even though she was an Amazoness, Fenrir’s body still reverted back to the ’default’ state she was in during her transformation. Since she was filled with energy from his [Hands of Nirvana] and [Grooming], Fenrir had been a tireless machine that eagerly sought her Master’s touch, and much, much more. By the time the climactic event had come to an end, the barriers protecting the room had even started to crack under the intense ’battle’ that had taken place...

When all was said and done, Fenrir had returned to her Vanargandr state with Vahn assuming his own, hugging her sweating body from behind as a thin shroud of mist rose from their n.a.k.e.d figures. Her tail was tucked between his legs, wrapped around his own while Vahn was nuzzling into her hair and enjoying the rich fragrance wafting from her body. For the first time since she had assumed this form of existence, Fenrir’s scarlet eyes had a natural coloration to them, possessing of a deep darkness that seemed like it could swallow galaxies. Normally, there would always be a very subtle glow to them but now, against any expectations she had harbored, Fenrir felt incredibly contented as her Master’s warmth still lingered in her lower body, even though they had long since separated...

Back in the real world, Vahn was hovering above the expedition encampment with his fingertips against each other as he held his hands in an inverted position while meditating. There was only half the normal number of tents and they had all been brought close together as nearly a hundred Adventurers were guarding near the perimeter of a massive barrier that covered the entire encampment.

Though his own ability to cast external magic was severely lacking, Vahn hadn’t been slouching around for the last couple of years, especially with Terra constantly advancing her own magical power further. She had developed an artifact that had her barrier magic infused into it, comprised of eleven interrelated magic circles that had been shrunk down using Space magic. By channeling his energy into it, without having to manifest it into the real world, Vahn was able to use Terra’s nigh-indestructible barrier without any great expenditure of his own internal reserves.

Since his avatar was also in the orb, Vahn experienced his energy recouping at six times the normal rate and this was more than enough to keep the barrier up indefinitely, all whilst thousands of monsters slammed against the outside. Even though this was the case, there was still a guard rotation to make sure none of those strange flowers popped up within the encampment and, to prepare themselves for another surprise attack, most people had gone to sleep still fully geared up for battle.

Sensing the change in her Papa, as he had just finished having s.e.x with Fenrir a short while ago, Alexa lifted her head as if she wanted to ask something but ultimately remained silent. She then tightened her grip around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder once again; she had been clinging to him as if he had been giving her a piggyback ride. It looked a little strange to anyone observing from a distance, but most people knew that Alexa was Vahn’s ’daughter’ at this point and just figured she was a little clingy. Many had been so awed by the performance of the girls, and Vahn himself, that any ’negative’ thoughts were buried deep within their hearts. Nobody wanted to earn his ire by saying something that might offend him and, after witnessing the almost unfathomable power of the girls keeping them safe, these feelings were compounded greatly...

(A/N: I am not afraid to admit that, until I used the [Grimoire of Guidance] on Bell, I hadn’t even thought about Lili giving her [Cinder*Ella] to Fenrir. I feel like I have failed the Murder Floof...please forgive me (T^T)...Also, to all the people complaining about Bell getting [Pactio], you’re ignoring the whole reason Vahn had given for helping Bell in the first place. He wants to observe Bell in a ’controlled’ environment so he can have a better understanding of how fate can influence people in records he had no foreknowledge of. At the same time, he is helping to groom Bell into a capable ally that will ease his own burdens in the future. If Bell becomes strong enough to maintain the frontline with his own party, Vahn is freed up to deal with other issues on the surface, specifically those related to other countries and organizations. Vahn could have very easily just made the [Pactio] circles for Bell each and every time, but this current method guarantees that the girls around Bell have a higher chance of survival while also stimulating Bell’s growth. Those that point out that Bell will just get used to having everything handed to him have a fundamental lack of understanding about Bell’s character. The more you give him, the more effort Bell will put into his own training since he doesn’t want to be the type of person that takes advantage of and relies on other people one-sidedly. If the girls were actually stronger than him, this would bolster his desire to grow stronger and, at the same time, increase their ability to protect themselves. I don’t really like making huge walls of text trying to explain my reasoning, clarifying things that have already been mentioned in the context of the novel, so this will be one of the last times I do so. Just know that I read almost every comment and take into consideration what the readers want to see, so trust that I will always try to give you some form of vindication in the future. Remember, I even told you from the very beginning that most people would probably hate Bell...this is intentional xD...)

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Not as OP as expected...for now (UwU)...’,’Vahn is a big dumb dumb’,’Fenrir setting records from the start xD...’)