Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos c1-2203, page 241
Since it wasn't a simple matter to change the color of the iris, that meant it had to be the result of a magical ability, or a skill that changed the basic function of the eye. The only skill the twins had was their [Gemini], so Vahn was positive it had something to do with their Innate ability. After thinking for a while, Vahn asked, "Wehn your eyes had changed, did you notice anything else strange?" Emiru and Maemi gave him a confused look so Vahn explained his speculation about how the change in her eye color likely had something to do with their 'rare' skill. Because it was a very serious matter, Emiru tried to think about if there had been any other changes since the time she woke up.
After a few seconds passed, Emiru's face showed a bit of confusion as she said, "I don't think there was anything after I woke up...but I remember hearing Vahn-sama talk about the skill and explaining things earlier. It was like I was Maemi for a short while...?" Vahn squinted his eyes and could feel his own interest in the subject expanding rapidly as he asked inquisitively, "Do you think you can focus on that feeling even more? Now that the two of you know about [Gemini], I think you'll be able to make better use of the connection you share from now on."
Hearing Vahn's request, Emiru nodded before making eye contact with Maemi and the two seemed to be having another private conversation that excluded Vahn. He didn't know if they had telepathy, or if there was something more unique going on, but he understood they were somehow able to understand each other without even speaking. More than a minute later, they both held out one of their hands and placed them together so that they looked to be mirroring each other. Vahn immediately activated his [Eyes of Truth] to see if there was something going on and he saw the mana in their bodies had started to intertwine until, nearly ten minutes later, it became a smooth flow. The moment the flow stabilized, a snowy-blue light flashed and Emiru vanished completely.
Vahn panicked for a brief moment until he noticed that Maemi was very calm as she looked toward him with a small smile on her face. Her smile wasn't the only thing Vahn noticed, as she now had heterochromatic eyes with one being lilac whilst the other was a snowy-blue. On her left hand, instead of a half-faced image of himself, it had now become a whole as if the two girls' bodies had completely fused together. Vahn was about to ask what was happening until a gentle lilac colored magical light shined and Emiru reappeared after splitting from Maemi's body. The moment they separated, both of the twins passed out on the spot and Vahn could tell they were in a 'Mind Down' status and had completely used up their mana.
Before they fell to the ground, Vahn caught the two girls in his arms and stared at their unconscious forms with the light of interest burning vibrantly within his pupils. He had never seen two people fusing together in the manner that they showed, and it represented countless possibilities for the future if they were to master the skill. Though he couldn't be sure, since he had been somewhat shocked when Emiru disappeared, he still had his [Eyes of Truth] active at the time and felt like Maemi had become a lot stronger when they fused together. As that thought passed through his mind, Vahn angled his head a bit and mused, "Maybe that wasn't Maemi anymore...but both of them together?" There were so many questions that Vahn wanted to know the answer to, including if Emiru was the only one that would 'vanish' and be absorbed by Maemi. If it worked both ways, the girls might even be able to avoid damage by absorbing the other into their body and randomly splitting to evade other attacks...
Vahn grew excited at the prospects that their shared Innate showed and wanted to help the girls find out the best way to make use of their abilities in the future. For now, however, he just let the two lay down as he watched over them while they slept. Though it might have been misunderstood by a random passerby, Vahn placed his palms against the navels of the two girls and began to channel his energy into their body while using [Yggdrasil's Favor] and [Hands of Nirvana] to replenish their mana with his source energy. Since the 'core' of a person's mana came from around their navel, it was the best place to insert the energy, even though simply holding hands would have allowed for a somewhat inefficient transfer.
Though he had pretended to care at first, Vahn felt like the stomachs of the sleeping girls were somewhat springy, even though they still had the softness he associated with women. Since they had very lithe figures, there wasn't much, if any, fat on their stomachs and Vahn was tempted to press his hand more firmly against their bellies but resisted the urge. After a few minutes passed, the girls finally awoke at the same time and stared at Vahn's hands where the two strange energies were entering their body. Vahn smiled at them and pulled his hands away and explained, "The two of you went into a 'Mind Down' state and I replenished your mana reserves with my own. I didn't imagine you'd like to spend the night sleeping on the dungeon floor so I decided to wake you up, sorry about that."
Without responding to his words, the twins looked at each other as if they were having another private conversation before turning back to him several seconds later and saying, "With Vahn-sama protecting us, we don't feel like sleeping in the dungeon is that scary at all~." Vahn gave the two a wry smile before ruffling their silver hair and standing up. He extended his hands to help the girls stand as he said, "We've done enough for tonight, let's head home and get some proper rest. You two did very well, and thanks for listening to my selfishness whenever I asked you to try something new."
The girls shook their heads and said, "No, Vahn-sama has allowed us to understand something very important about ourselves. Without your help, we may have grown apart at some point and never developed our own rare skill. Now, we feel like we can become a lot stronger..." The twins bowed their heads low and continued, "Thank you, Vahn-sama~!" Vahn felt very satisfied by the twins response and couldn't prevent a genuine smile from appearing on his face as he said, "You two have endless potential...I look forward to seeing how far you'll be able to go in the future. Now, let's get out of this stuffy place before it gets too late..." The twins responded with happy smiles as they followed along behind him obediently.
On their way out of the dungeon, Vahn let the twins fight together to improve their coordination further and they were able to slay most small groups of monsters without difficulty. This was the benefit of being able to update a status within the dungeon, because the twins parameters had been able to increase without having to return to the surface. They were already much stronger than when they had entered and it was very obvious to both themselves and Vahn. Seeing how rapid their own improvement was made the twins especially fired up and they managed to kill an additional 31 total monsters before they finally returned to the surface.
It was slightly after 11 PM when they exited the dungeon, but there were still stalls within Babel that were open 24/7, so Vahn purchased a late-night snack for the twins before they headed back to the Manor. It was nearing midnight by the time they arrived, but Vahn was able to see that Hestia was still awake because she had just left his room and was heading down the corridor towards the stairs. Vahn had a wry smile on his face, because he briefly imagined Hestia laying on his bed like a certain Pallum and Chienthrope girl while enjoying his scent. Though they tried to get him to join them, Vahn sent the twins off to the bath alone as he moved to intercept Hestia. Though they seemed 'dejected' at first, Vahn teased them by asking them if they had learned to read from Fenrir yet. The moment he mentioned the 'terrifying' wolf girl the twins immediately gave up on their attempts and trotted off to the bathroom to change out of their somewhat grimy clothing and enjoy a nice, hot, bath.
Hestia finally made her way down and Vahn caught her out of the air when she leaped into his arms. They exchanged a brief kiss before Vahn asked, "Did something happen that you needed to tell me before going to bed?" Hestia released a short sigh before staring up with her crystalline blue eyes and said, "I just wanted to welcome you back when you finally arrived. There is some information though, from Hephaestus and Loki. They said that, as long as you avoid approaching Freya yourself, she shouldn't be a problem for the time being. Here, let's go take a bath and I'll explain all the details." Hestia dropped down from Vahn's body and started leading the way towards the men's changing room. Vahn saw her 'casual' actions and the glaringly pink aura rising like a column of flames from her body as he followed behind her with a small smile on his face.
(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Vahn's Experimental Nature','Fuuuuuuuu-sion! Ha~!','Endless Possibilities')
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Chapter 312: Schedule
Vahn learned through Hestia about the meeting between Hephaestus, Loki, and Freya within the top floor of Babel. Though he wasn't aware of the details, Vahn knew that Freya had likely been scheming against him and that she had come to an agreement to not interfere with his life and had even allied herself with Hephaestus and Loki, though she didn't actually join the Alliance. Vahn knew that he would probably have to compromise with her a bit in the future, but at least he didn't have to worry about the troublesome goddess targeting the people close to him for the time being.
Now that the looming threat of Freya had been temporarily dealt with, Vahn had a lot of freedom to take actions and start increasing the strength of the Familia. Even though he was Level 3, with two Level 4's assisting him, the Familia itself was still only I rank. Since they had never completed any actual missions through the guild and obtained any achievements, their Familia's standing was still low and Vahn wanted to improve it now that there was time. He wanted to help the girls get to Level 2 while also trying to improve his [Mentor] Development Ability in the hopes that it will allow him to mentor more than one person at a time.
During the next day's training, Vahn noticed that Haruhime, Emiru, and Maemi were in much higher spirits than normal and were putting in more effort. It could have just been the result of their parameters increasing, but Vahn was able to see their auras burning brightly and knew they were very motivated. Once they were finished, Vahn gathered everyone together and explained what had been happening behind the scenes for the last two days. He also explained that now was the best time to try and improve their abilities while progressing into the dungeon and completing quests for the Guild. Since they were going to be much more active, Vahn consulted with Ryuu and Aki to draw up a schedule for everyone's duties, which even included a points system to obtain rewards.
Aki had explained that it was 'bad practice' to always give equipment and items to the members of the Familia, because it would inhibit them from developing a self-reliance on their own capabilities. Their members should be encouraged to push themselves a bit in order to obtain benefits since it would also promote their mentality and give them the motivation to grow stronger. Vahn agreed to their terms, even though they had only shown him one of the lists for the rewards, which included custom items and other things that the girls would have to exchange Valis, points, and materials to obtain. Vahn was aware there was a second list, but it was kept a 'secret' from him which pretty much told him it was related to 'services' he provided, amongst other things.
For Vahn's own schedule, he would be alternating between escorting Haruhime into the dungeon, and teaming up with the twins so they could progress at a relatively even pace. Vahn's main focus was on developing their skills and abilities, while Ryuu and Aki would alternate taking the other girls into the dungeon to develop teamwork and increase the Rank of the Familia. Fenrir was left on 'guard duty' since Vahn wasn't the only one worried about how the other girls would react when they saw her devouring monsters. Though they knew she was Vahn's 'tamed monster', it was hard to see Fenrir as anything more than a cute wolf girl that liked to be spoiled. Until their mentalities improved, and they were less sensitive to that type of thing, Fenrir wouldn't be partying with the other girls.
Other than the time he had scheduled for entering the dungeon, Vahn also gave Hestia the green light to accept bookings for massages in the future as well as scheduling time to take the measurements of the various girls he would be making equipment for. Though he wasn't aware of it at the time, there was also a second list going around about who would get to spend time with Vahn when he took the weekends off. There was also a 'Vahnatus' scheduled since Hephaestus and Loki wanted to gather everyone together and discuss the upcoming Denatus and what would change in the future. The number of attendees had grown by a fair amount, and they also wanted to make sure everyone was up to speed on the 'need to know' information concerning Vahn.
Though it might seem like the girls were trying to organize Vahn's life for him, he actually had a lot of sway in what he wanted to do and could easily move about as he pleased. He might not be able to visit the 'headquarters' of the members of the Alliance, but it didn't stop Vahn from meeting up with their members. The Guild had taken a 'wait and see' approach when it came to enforcing his probation anyways since Ouranos suspected there was a major event playing out that would likely come to a head at the Denatus. Using this newfound 'freedom', Vahn visited Hephaestus with Haruhime and they enjoyed a long tea time where they cuddled together after Vahn gave her the [Maternity Band] and explained its uses. Haruhime also tried to make a good impression on Hephaestus and the two seemed to mesh together well when Vahn showed Hephaestus the equipment and accessories he was developing for the young Renard.
When Hephaestus saw the accessories and learned about their function, she gave Vahn a fervent gaze like she was about to eat him up on the spot. Though it wasn't the first item she had seen that could contain mana, it was the first time she had seen it in such a compact form like a bracelet. The capacity of its storage was actually very high as well, as it could store an average of 720 mana within each accessory. This meant that, with proper preparation, a mage would have an emergency store of 3600 mana while also improving the actual efficacy of their spells. Vahn's accessories were another 'revolutionary' concept that would fundamentally change the world in the future.
Vahn explained how the items were produced and, after having Haruhime wait outside, gave her a specialized container that stored 500ml of his own blood within. Though the container he initially used couldn't keep the blood from decaying, Vahn had discovered that he could use the crystalline containers used for preserving the medicinal properties of potions to keep his blood for an indefinite period of time. Hephaestus took the container and had a serious expression on her face as she said, "I'll protect this process with absolute secrecy..." Hephaestus knew that it would cause a stir if people discovered that the blood of demigods, or gods for that matter, could be used as a container to store mana. Vahn nodded his head before lovingly stroking Hephaestus's face as he kissed her deeply for a time.
Before they eventually parted and Vahn left for the dungeon, he kneeled down and caressed her relatively firm, muscular, stomach for a short while before kissing below her belly button. Hephaestus lovingly stroked his hair and Vahn could hear an endless number of notifications sounding in the back of his mind about how her Love parameter was increasing. She was currently the person with the absolute highest parameter for him, with her Love reaching 21,483 points. The next closest was Fenrir, who had a Loyalty value of 11,992 followed by Tiona who had a Love value of 1,165.
After leaving Hephaestus's workshop, Vahn casually made his way toward the Dungeon while escorting Haruhime who was currently wearing a new kimono with a few other pieces of equipment to compliment her outfit. Her previous kimono had been torn on the sleeves, and she now wore one that was slightly more durable while also wearing a pair of thin, black, bracers on her forearms. Underneath her kimono, since it only extended to the upper half of her thigh, she wore a pair of black spats that ran to around the middle-point of her thigh with a pair of thin shin guards that merged into her black boots that had a slight heel to them. She originally wore a pair of sandals, but quickly learned that they interfered with her mobility and exchanged them for something more practical. Vahn felt like she was turning more into a kunoichi than a 'priestess', but he planned to fix the 'image' a bit when he finished her equipment in the future. She also wore a black obi around her waist with the white-gold accessories on her wrists and ankles.
Because her stats were still quite low, Vahn had decided to trade in the [001] he had given Haruhime before purchasing a magical weapon for her to use. He wasn't sure what item would suit her the best, but Vahn had noticed that Haruhime had been trying to replicate his movements with the katana in the past so he used the gacha function that he typically avoided and spent 30,000OP for three of the basic gacha roles. Since it allowed him to narrow down a few search terms, Vahn had input 'Katana', 'Magical', 'Beautiful' since he thought they were the most suitable terms for Haruhime. Within his mind, there was a giant wheel that appeared and spun around before spitting out two white lights and a single blue light. Vahn quickly inspected the basic drops and compared the items to their original OP cost and realized he had lost around 13,000OP as their combined total was only 7,000OP. Fortunately, the blue item was actually worth 91,000OP so he had obtained a net positive.
Vahn pulled out the katana named [Sakura Blossom] out of his inventory and raised his brows slightly due to the actual 'beauty' of the design. Its scabbard was predominantly black and it had vibrant pink sakura petals decorating its length as if a branch were extending from the guard. The handle of the katana was also black, with white undertones, and the cord wrapped around the scabbard was a mesh of black and pink interwoven in an intricate pattern. The guard itself was black, but it had a beautiful design that also showed sakura petals inlaid into it as if the blade bloomed from the handle. When Vahn unsheathed the katana, he noticed the blade was flawless and had an impeccable wavy pattern along the actual blade. Vahn could read the characters on the blade and understood they meant, 'Infinite', 'Sakura', and 'Blossom'. Along the spine of the katana, there was an almost unnoticeable red line that, when Vahn channeled his energy into the blade, glowed with a vibrant pink.
