Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

After the mark had fully formed, the twins opened their eyes and saw their two halves of Vahn's face on their hands before laughing together. Vahn saw how happy they were and explained, "I'm not sure if it will have the same effect as the original since there is still a lot I've yet to discover about the [Mentor] Development Ability. We'll see how well the two of you fight together before heading back to the surface. It's starting to get a bit late, and it's not necessary for us to stay here for too much longer." In response to his words, the twins faced toward Vahn and bowed politely and said, "Yes, Vahn-sama~!" Vahn's smile widened because it was always interesting to see identical girls acting in concert with each other. Even their outfits were exactly the same, and the only difference between them was that Emiru had a slight hole in her blouse and there was a different half of his face on their left hands.Before they set out to hunt more monsters, Ryuu looked toward Vahn and asked, "Should I return to the surface then?" Vahn blanked for a moment before turning his gaze and stared into Ryuu's sky-blue eyes and stalling his words a bit. Before he answered, she showed a small smile and said, "Make sure you watch over them properly. I know you should be fine, even if I'm not here to take care of you." Ryuu handed Vahn the [Rallying Whistle] and a pouch full of potions that he stowed away in his inventory. Since her presence would actually stall the progress of the twins, it wouldn't be possible for her to accompany them without experiencing some diminishing returns.Vahn felt a little awkward having Ryuu leave so quickly, so he reached his hands loosely around her waist and they shared a short hug that made Ryuu lower her head a bit. Since she didn't like to show affection in front of others, she was a little embarrassed being seen by the twins but didn't make any attempts to pull away either. After a few long seconds had passed, Vahn released Ryuu and said, "I'll see you tomorrow, unless you intend to stay at the Manor tonight..." Though there wasn't any 'intent' behind his words, all three girls misunderstood what he said as Ryuu's ears wiggled a bit before she turned away and started running out of the dungeon without responding.After watching her back for a short while, Vahn turned to see the twins giving him a strange look that caused his brows to furrow slightly. They noticed his expression before small smiles appeared on their faces as if nothing had happened at all. After shaking his head, Vahn led the two girls deeper into the dungeon until they found a room with three Goblins, and a single Kobold skulking about. Vahn whispered quietly to the twins, "From now on, you don't have to focus so much on attacking yet...I want you two to work together and evade the monsters and create openings for the other to exploit. Focus on the connect between you and see if you can coordinate your actions..."Emiru and Maemi nodded their heads at the same time before marching out into the room. After they took a few steps, the monsters were alerted to their presence and the twins leaned low and began charging forward. They followed Vahn's orders, so they didn't immediately attack and tried to 'shepherd' the monsters within the room for nearly ten minutes until the monsters' movements were interfering with each other. Vahn had been watching from the side and nodded his head approvingly at their tactics, but also knew it would be detrimental if the monsters were much stronger, and faster, than the two girls.Even though Maemi had never used stones, or throwing weapons in general, she copied Emiru's actions from earlier and they began to pelt the monsters while running around them in a counter-clockwise manner. Though the monsters didn't have strong self-preservation instincts, they still began to shy away from the combined attacks of Emiru and Maemi as they tried to shield their faces. Vahn began to realize that the girls might have a talent for taming monsters, since he had read up on it a bit in the past. The only requirement was to eventually force a monster to submit without killing it, and it started to look like the four monsters within their encirclement were about to abandon the fight and try to run away.Not long after Vahn had the thought, the Kobold tried to sprint away from the group and break the encirclement only to be greeted by Emiru's dagger as she lopped off its head. Since it had foregone defensive actions, it had left its body and head exposed to attacks. The most important thing to note, however, was that Maemi was able to exploit the opening when the goblins tried to move toward Emiru's flank to attack them from behind. She stabbed her dagger into the back of the Goblins shoulder blades and pierced its magic core before moving to attack the second one. The Goblins were confused about who to attack as Emiru turned around and both twins dispatched the Goblins before they were able to decide which direction to attack. After they had all vanished, both of the twins fell to their butts simultaneously which caused Vahn's brows to raise slightly.Since he had been watching the fight through his [Eyes of Truth], Vahn was able to tell that they were, in fact, very tired. However, he could also tell they hadn't used up enough stamina to collapse as Maemi had done previously. The fact that they both fell at the same time told him that they either experienced a mental load from focusing on the connection, or they had come to an agreement to try and get him to pamper them both. Judging by how their tails flickered about when Emiru gave him a sidelong glance, Vahn assumed it was the latter of the two possibilities. Vahn thought their actions were rather adorable and had a small smile on his face because they had acted synchronously to put on the act together.After a brief moment of thought, Vahn felt like teasing them while also testing something out at the same time. He walked over to where the two girls were sitting and asked, "Do you need me to help you recover, or would you like a stamina potion?" At the same time, both girls raised their right hands and chimed, "Help us, Vahn-sama~!" Vahn nodded his head and kneeled down next to Emiru as he said, "I want to test something out to see how the connection between the two of you works. Since I was able to help heal your wound earlier, I want to see if recovering your stamina affects Maemi. Focus your mind and relax your body..." Emiru's ears twitched up and she had a pleased expression on her face as Maemi's ears flattened and she adopted a dejected appearance.Vahn saw their reactions and wanted to laugh, but he instead said in a firm tone, "Emiru, Maemi, this is very important to discover the best method to help the two of you grow stronger in the future. Please, focus your minds and relax...if it works as intended, you should be able to feel the same sensations Maemi." Though she had been preparing to comply with his words at first, Maemi's ears shot back up after she heard the second half of Vahn's statement. She locked eyes with Emiru and they both nodded before closing their eyes. Vahn waited for a little while before he noticed the twins' breathing began to synchronize. Out of curiosity, he used [Eyes of Truth] to investigate and noticed that, though their hearts weren't in concert yet, they were beginning to match each others rhythm.After waiting for around two minutes, Vahn noticed the twins had started to overlap their actions perfectly and he was even able to tell that their auras had started to turn the same. Confident in his next actions, Vahn placed his palm against Emiru's back and used [Hands of Nirvana] to help recover any stress injuries in her body while replenishing her stamina a bit. He immediately noticed that there was a strange incongruity in his usage of the skill since it seemed to be operating at half efficacy, even though he was performing the routine normally. Though this might have confused him at first, Vahn smiled after realizing this and turned his attention to Maemi and noticed that his own energy had spread to her body even though he wasn't in contact with her at all. There was a bit of 'loss' during the transfer, but this allowed Vahn to verify that he was, in fact, able to benefit both twins at the same time while focusing his efforts on a single girl.Once Emiru was fully restored, Vahn continued to replenish her energy to top off Maemi as he reached up with his free hand and gingerly poked the back of her ear. It was an almost negligible touch, but Vahn saw that both Emiru's and Maemi's ears twitched at the same time and he felt an urge to laugh with how interesting their reactions were. He was very tempted to conduct a few other experiments, but there were more pressing matters at the moment so he removed his hand from Emiru's back and said, "This is actually one of the most incredible things I've ever seen...you two share a powerful bond between each other and can actually influence one-another without touching. However, as it was seen earlier, this can also be a double edged sword since you both share the same injuries when you are synched up and experiencing powerful emotions."Hearing Vahn's words, both girls nodded their heads and had their attention focused entirely on everything he was saying. Though they already knew they had a special connection, as they'd spent their entire lives together, it was only today that they realized how truly unique it was. The most important thing to them, however, was the fact they were able to share their senses and experienced the same pleasant feelings while also growing stronger at the same time. Unlike the other girls, who could only use the Mentor Mark individually, they were able to work together and benefit from each other's progress.After going over his hypothesis for a bit, Vahn took the twins to another room where there were only two Kobolds. He nodded his head and said, "Okay, I want to try something new this time..." Vahn stroked his chin for a bit before he continued, "I'll keep Maemi here and use [Hands of Nirvana] to help keep her body in an optimal condition while Emiru fights the Kobolds. You don't have to focus on defeating them quickly, just try to move around as much as you can and I want to see if you're able to benefit from the energy transmitted through Maemi and continue the fight for a longer period of time."The twins nodded their heads before locking eyes with each other as if they were having a conversation that Vahn couldn't hear. He squinted his eyes slightly until they nodded at each other and Emiru charged into the room with her weapon drawn. Maemi moved over and muttered, "Vahn-sama, if you please..." Vahn complied with her request and placed his palm against her back before using [Hands of Nirvana] to replenish her already full energy reserves. Since she was focused on the connection with Emiru, Vahn was able to see her muscles twitch about as if they were simulating combat even though she was standing idly at the side.Vahn watched as Emiru stretched her limits and continued going without stopping for even a moment until nearly twenty minutes had passed and both Kobolds eventually died from blood loss. She had left several small cuts on their bodies and they were unable to keep up with how quickly she was able to change direction. Though they were actually faster than her, Emiru was incredibly nimble and was able to sidestep and rapidly change direction because she had been developing her footwork in the morning with Ryuu and Aki.After the Kobolds had fallen, Vahn could see that Emiru was having small muscle spasms like she had over-drafted her body by a large amount. Though not nearly as much as her twin, Maemi was experiencing something similar and this caused Vahn to have a very serious expression on his face. Emiru had been able to continue the fight because her stamina continued to replenish, but the mental strain had taxed her greatly and it started to whittle away at how well she was able to control her body. This was both a good and bad, at the same time, since it showed they would be able to push their limits beyond normal levels with his assistance. There was even a high chance they would develop skills over time or even awaken rare abilities in the future. The major downside, however, was the fact that it could leave a trauma in their minds and bodies if they pushed themselves too far. There was a lot of adrenaline pumping through Emiru's body currently and she was very on edge because of the extended engagement.Though he could do it through Maemi as a proxy, Vahn walked over before placing a futon on the ground and saying, "Relax your body for a bit, I'll help calm your nerves. If you'd like, you can lay down as well for the time being, Maemi." Emiru released a long sigh after hearing Vahn's words before she dropped to her knees and collapsed face-first onto the futon with a tired expression even though her body had plenty of energy. Maemi had also been affected by her state, so she laid down next to Emiru and they very naturally held each others' hands and tried to relax even though they were in the dungeon.Before he kneeled down to the left of Emiru, Vahn realized he was probably teaching them bad practices, since they should never really drop their guards. However, he had spent time with the Loki Familia and noticed that they were often relaxed around each other without being overly tense as he had learned to be when adventuring solo. He expected it was good for both the body, and the mind, to not stay in such a tense state all the time and you should be able to rely on your party members more to share the awareness of your surroundings. Vahn also had his domain, so the twins weren't wrong to trust that he would alert them if things got dangerous.Vahn began to casually massage Emiru's body and realized that he had never performed his techniques on any of the girls that he had saved recently. He actually really liked to perform his massages, and had even intended to work it into his schedule in the future. The fact he had 'held back' for so long against the former slave girls caused a wry smile to appear on his face. Though he knew there could be a 'stimulating' factor to the massage, Vahn didn't consider it to be sexual in nature and there was no real harm in performing it on the girls around him. It might cause their affections for him to rise, but that didn't mean he had to let it develop into feelings, nor did he have to reciprocate their advances. Since they were also being 'suppressed' by Fenrir, Vahn figured it would be good for their bodies if he tended to them after the more intense fights in the dungeons.Less than ten minutes after he began, Emiru had already turned to putty under his hands because she had almost no resistance against his S-Ranked technique as a mere Level 1. Maemi had also been affected and Vahn got to experience the somewhat peculiar scenario where he was able to massage two girls at once, without ever having to lay a finger on the second girl. Though his instincts didn't tell him he was being watched, Vahn compressed his domain to within 10m and applied [Stealth] to blur the surrounding environment. Just like when he used his [Heart of the Eternal Flame], Vahn was able to elevate the heat within his domain to an incredible extent by compressing his domain. Though he could still perceive everything perfectly, Vahn knew it was almost impossible to probe his domain with any type of detection spells without being present within the vicinity. Even Mikoto's ability, that could track anyone within the same Familia, was useless when Vahn seriously concealed his presence.Though he wasn't absolutely certain things were safe, Vahn felt a little impatient and explained to the somewhat catatonic girls that he was going to check their Status Boards. Since she was the lesser affected of the two, Maemi nodded her head and murmured, "Yesss, Vahn-sama...mauuuu~" Vahn raised his brows a bit at the new response before shaking his head and focusing on the matter at hand. Though he had the intention of checking their Statuses, Vahn realized that the girls wore blouses that covered their entire torso. He had grown so accustomed to being around nude girls, that the matter had completely slipped his mind for a moment.After a brief moment of hesitation, Vahn shook his head before rolling up the backs of the girls' blouses and revealing their bare backs. Since they had been taught by Ryuu and Aki, both girls wore 'tape' over their breasts instead of bras, so their backs were completely exposed by his actions. Vahn proceeded to prick the tip of his index finger before tracing it down Emiru's spine and drawing a line of blood. Her Status Board, which had been concealed previously, appeared on her back as the familiar Hestia Familia crest and Vahn thought it was very suitable for her. After the blue light faded, Vahn was able to interpret the glyphs on her back and record her status within the system before performing the same ceremony on Maemi. When he was done, Vahn fixed their clothing and waited for them to recover as he stared with a massive grin on his face after seeing their updated Status.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------[[STATUS]]Name: Maemi RainLV. 1POW: I28-&gt;I44END: I34-&gt;I45DEX: I16-&gt;I31AGI: 152-&gt;I76MAG: I18-&gt;I19Skill: [Gemini: Innate(E)]Magic: -Development Skill: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------[[STATUS]]Name: Emiru RainLV. 1POW: I28-&gt;I44END: I34-&gt;I45DEX: I16-&gt;I31AGI: 152-&gt;I76MAG: I18-&gt;I19Skill: [Gemini: Innate(E)]Magic: -Development Skill: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Title: [Gemini](A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Ryuu's Waggling','INTRIGUING','Godhand now spans the void')(A/N: Woooo~! Even though I was sick this week, I managed to pump out the promised 100k words with a bit of time to spare &lt;3. Hope you enjoyed another exciting week following Vahn along on his journey to find happiness (UwU)If you'd like to support me as a writer so I can write even more stories in the future, please follow the ******* link below (O,...,O)~! Stay beautiful &lt;3https://www.*******.com/user?u=14397149

Vahn was very satisfied with the growth of Maemi and Emiru, as it was a great amount of progress for their first trip into the dungeon. The only thing he found unsatisfactory was the fact he was unable to read any of the information related to their Innate ability at all. Since he could barely interpret his own Innates, Vahn understood the reasoning behind why he was unable to see the details, but it was still somewhat inconvenient. This meant the twins were the only ones who were able to figure out how to use their Innate ability, but at least he could inform them about his speculation and the fact the skill exists in the first place.After waiting for a few minutes, Maemi was the first to recover as she raised up her body and stared blankly at Vahn for a few seconds before a mild blush appeared on her relatively fair skin. Even if he hadn't touched her body directly, Maemi had enjoyed the pleasant feelings of Vahn's massage and had dazed about for a few minutes after he raised the back of her blouse. Though she was very embarrassed, Maemi felt an excitement bubbling up in her belly that made her feel a little giddy. Vahn gave her a curt nod when they made eye contact and handed her the piece of paper that recorded their updated Status.Maemi received the paper and a smile bloomed on her face after seeing that, other than her magic parameter, every other parameter was increasing rapidly. She suddenly felt like Vahn's words about her becoming stronger were true and the only thing she needed to do was make the effort to improve alongside Emiru. As she scanned down the paper, Maemi noticed something peculiar and cocked her head to the side as she asked, "What is [Gemini]? I've never heard of such a skill before...could it be a rare skill!?" Maemi suddenly started to get very excited and Vahn explained with a smile, "Yes, it wouldn't be incorrect to say it is an incredibly rare skill that is unique to you and Emiru. Even with my powerful identification ability, I can't see through the secrets of your skill though, so you'll have to rely on each other to understand its uses. At the very least, it seems to allow your growth to continue in pace with each other while also linking your senses and experiences, both positively and negatively."Hearing Vahn's words, Maemi started to get fired up even more, since she understood that Vahn's identification ability was even stronger than most gods. If he couldn't see through it, it meant the skill had to be very powerful and unique, even though it was currently only Rank-E. Since they had been lectured several times about how skills grow, Maemi knew that the skill being at Rank-E, even though she was Level 1, showed that it had a lot of potential for development in the future. While she was thinking about its potential uses, Emiru lazily raised her body as well before turning to stare at Vahn and Maemi. They had noticed her movements and looked over with moderately shocked expressions when they noticed that the color of her eyes had changed from lilac to a snowy blue color.Maemi immediately pointed with her index finger and said, "Emiru, your eyes, they are blue!" Emiru tilted her head with an, 'Eh~?' sound before Vahn pulled out a mirror for her to check her reflection. The moment she verified her sister's words, Emiru frowned a bit and said, "But, I don't want to be different from Maemi..." Her eyes began to mist up a bit and Vahn noticed that the snowy-blue color faded until the original lilac color returned. Emiru had been the first to notice the change and released a relieved sigh as her shoulders drooped. After a short duration, she walked over and shared a hug with Maemi while Vahn was ruminating about what he had just seen.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')If you'd like to support me as a writer so I can write even more stories in the future, please follow the ******* link below (O,...,O)~! Stay beautiful &lt;3https://www.*******.com/user?u=14397149

Vahn followed behind Maemi and reminded her to always be in an alert status while making use of her natural abilities to detect monsters. Since she was a Snow Leopard, she had enhanced eyesight, great hearing, a moderately strong sense of smell, but most importantly, her body was actually extremely flexible. Whenever they were doing their stretching exercises in the morning, Vahn noticed that both Maemi and Emiru were flexible to the point where they could bend their backs and place their own feet over their shoulders. Out of curiosity, he tried to do the same thing later and realized that it was a nearly impossible feat until he pushed himself in his Báihǔ form. This allowed Vahn to realize that the flexibility of their bodies even exceeded his own, which was already developed to a relatively ridiculous level.Maemi's next opponents were a group of goblins, but Vahn finished off the majority until there were only two left. She kept her body low as she dashed forward and Vahn felt like she was trying to emulate how ninjas ran in Naruto for a brief moment until she leaped onto the closest goblin, stabbed it in the head, and then tried to vault away in an inexperienced manner. Her momentum had knocked the goblin back and it made her flip fail to launch her body far but she was able to twist herself and land on her feet regardless. Vahn felt like this was her natural instinct and thought the scene was very interesting to view from his current position. She tried to emulate his 'smooth' movements and swipe away at the remaining goblin, but the majority of her attacks were too shallow because she couldn't properly gauge the distance.Fortunately, she had learned her lesson and immediately moved to create a distance before trying again when the goblin attacked toward her. She used the momentum of its charges to strike at its sides and legs, but Vahn knew that type of moment wasn't suitable for most monsters and would correct her on it later. There needed to be more weight behind her strikes or she would never be able to penetrate the thick hides of the majority of monsters beyond the fifth floor. Vahn started to realize why the twins had chosen the 'weighted' daggers that looked like curved cleavers. They didn't have the physical strength to deal with the monsters quickly and Vahn was wondering if he should ask Chloe to teach them how to properly handle daggers.After a short while, Maemi ended up getting around to the goblins back before stabbing it through the shoulder in the approximate location of its heart. She, fortunately, managed to clip the magic stone in its body which caused it to turn to dust before she fell onto her butt again and drew heavy breaths. Vahn shook his head with a wry smile before using Shundo to appear next to her and calming her body by placing his palm on her back. He could use [Hands of Nirvana] to help to remove any muscle strains in her body just like he used to do for Lili back in the day. Maemi's breathing returned to normal after a minute or so passed and she enjoyed the comforting energy on her back in silence before Vahn helped her stand again.She showed a somewhat bashful smile as she placed her index fingers and thumbs together and said, "Thank you very much..." Vahn pat her on the head once before saying, "You're doing well, do you think you can keep going?" Maemi nodded her head confidently and they made their way further into the dungeon until she suddenly came to a stop a few minutes later. Vahn could see her eyes widen a bit as her ears twitched about so he asked, "Is something the matter, Maemi?"She had a small frown on her face as her brows furrowed and she said, "Emiru is in trouble...she is very scared." As she spoke, Maemi's body flinched and she held her hand at her side as she curled over. Vahn reached out to support her by the shoulder and noticed a small puncture wound had actually appeared in her side.Vahn healed the wound with [Hands of Nirvana] and tried to make sense of the situation as he asked, "Has anything like this ever happened before?" Though he wasn't certain, Vahn was relatively sure this had something to do with their Innate ability. Maemi nodded her head and had a concerned look on her face as she explained, "The reason we always stay together, is because whenever we feel powerful emotions, the other person can always feel it. We always get sick at the same time and when we got small injuries they would sometimes appear on the other person's body...there was even a time where we both broke our arms at the same time, even though I was the only person that fell from the tree."Though it wasn't the most gentlemanly action, Vahn lifted the side of Maemi's bouse to confirm that the wound had completely healed. Her blouse was a vanilla-white, so she now had a dark-red blood stain where the puncture had appeared earlier. He was going to ask, but Maemi's expression returned to normal as she stated confidently, "She is okay..." Vahn nodded his head before thinking about if he should return or not. He knew Ryuu could use [Noah Heal] to recover, not only wounds but stamina as well. As long as she was with Emiru, Vahn was confident they would both be okay. The most likely thing that had occurred was that Emiru had met a goblin, or something similar, that had a weapon and got injured.After thinking for a while, Vahn said, "Let's take a break for the time being...I want you to try and focus on your sister and tell me if you can feel anything for the next hour or so." Vahn moved over to the wall and set a cushion down for Maemi to sit on as he sat with his back to the wall. She nodded her head and muttered in a low voice, "Thank you, Vahn-sama..." before sitting down on the cushion and trying to calm her mind. Just like when she spoke in concert with her twin, Maemi began to focus on the 'connection' they had always shared to see if she could feel anything from her sister that was well over 2km away.A few minutes passed in silence before Maemi muttered in a somewhat lazy, almost dazed sounding, voice, "I can see...Emiru, she is fighting against a Kobold..." Vahn didn't interrupt her words and was staring at her body with his [Eyes of Truth] active so he could see the fluctuations of mana in her body. He could also see that her muscles tensed up slightly, almost as if she were subconsciously matching the movements of Emiru. With this much evidence, Vahn was certain they had a very powerful bond, and it was likely a result of their sealed Innate. Though it would take some study, Vahn even assumed they could be experiencing each others growth if they shared their thoughts and experiences together...Another two minutes passed before Maemi smiled and opened her lilac colored eyes and said, "She won~." Vahn nodded his head with a smile and said, "Go ahead and continue focusing...I want you to repeat everything you can see...focus on the feelings and try to imagine what Emiru is hearing...smelling...tasting...focus on all the senses you can share." Vahn had been speaking in a gentle, almost hypnotic tone as Maemi closed her eyes and relaxed the tensions in her body.After a while, Maemi began to narrate everything she was experiencing, "Emiru...she is tired...and she feels...jealous?" Hearing her own words, Maemi giggled a bit before continuing, "Ah, she can feel my laughter too...now she is a little angry. I can almost hear her cursing at me under her breath...oh, Ryuu-sama just yelled at her to stay focused." Without disturbing her much, Vahn whispered in a low tone, "Very good, Maemi...continue to focus on everything Emiru is experiencing."Emiru eventually got into a fight with three Goblins and was doing her best to follow Ryuu's instructions and stay outside their range to prevent herself from being surrounded. Maemi continued to narrate everything she was doing, including how she used rocks as make-shift projectiles to create gaps in the Goblins defenses. One of the stones crushed the eye of a goblin and both Maemi and Emiru felt a bit nauseous before a warm energy spread through their minds after Vahn placed his hand on Maemi's head. Emiru recovered quickly and eventually dispatched the three Goblins with a fair amount of excitement when she received compliments from Ryuu.Maemi opened her lilac eyes and stared at Vahn as he removed his hand from her head and asked, "Were you able to feel everything?" Maemi nodded her head and explained, "It's a very strange feeling, almost like I was in Emiru's body and fighting with her. When you put your hand on my head, we both felt a lot calmer and she was able to fight without feeling afraid..." Vahn nodded his head and, with a wide smile on his face, said, "Let's go to your sister, I think this is a significant matter that needs to be investigated further. If you're able to share senses like this, I think it would be better to train you together instead of separating you like this." Maemi nodded her head but Vahn saw the subtle melancholy in her eyes before he shook his head helplessly and said, "Don't worry, if you work hard I'll find a suitable reward for you. For now, aim for Level 2 alongside Emiru so you can help protect each other in the future. I think the two of you have a lot of potential if you strengthen the bond you share." Vahn wanted them to activate the [Gemini] Innate because he was very curious about the Innate abilities of other people. Each of his provided an incredible boost to his capabilities, so he had very high expectations for the unique ability shared by the twins.After hearing his encouraging words, Maemi showed a somewhat lovely smile and nodded her head in affirmation before following behind Vahn obediently. Along the way, Vahn asked her to try and send a 'message' to Emiru so they would be able to intercept each other in a shorter amount of time. He even gave Maemi a map to see if they were able to read the same map through each others vision. Other than when she was fighting small groups of monsters, Vahn led Maemi slowly through the dungeon while having her focus on the connection she had with Emiru.A half hour passed before Vahn and Maemi reunited with the somewhat surprised Ryuu who was escorting Emiru. The twins got near each other and Emiru said toward Ryuu, "I told you, I could feel Maemi calling me~!" Ryuu nodded her head and walked over to Vahn as the twins were discussing their experience. He wasn't trying to keep anything from the twins, and he also knew they could probably hear him, but Vahn said in a low voice, "They share a powerful connection with each other that will likely affect their growth in the future. I was able to see that Maemi's body actually reacted whenever Emiru was in combat, so I think their growth may be tied to each other's." Ryuu had a thoughtful expression as she looked at the twins that were giving them sidelong glances and said, "I believe it...when Emiru got wounded earlier, I noticed that it began to heal before I even used my magic. She told me she could feel a warm energy and I assumed you had done something on your end." Ryuu could see the bloodstain on Maemi's blouse and understood that Vahn's words must be true based on the contextual evidence.Vahn had a thought, so he waved over the twins and they both walked over in concert with each other, tilted their heads in the same direction, and asked, "Yes, Vahn-sama~?" Vahn smiled and said, "I wanted to try something, though I'm not sure if it'll work out..." Both Emiru and Maemi had something expectant looks as if they were encouraging him to continue, so he said, "Here, let me see your left hands." Though they weren't sure of his intention, the twins held out their left hands at the same time and Vahn placed his index fingers on the backs of each. He tried to use his [Mentor] skill to overwrite the previous mark but didn't have any luck since there were two targets instead of one.After releasing a short sigh, Vahn ruminated for a moment before saying, "I want you both to focus, not just passively feel each other, but truly focus on what each person is feeling..." Emiru and Maemi blinked in sequence before closing their eyes and trying to do what Vahn said. After waiting for a few minutes, Vahn gingerly touched Emiru's outstretched wrist before pushing down on it slightly. He noticed that Maemi's hand fell at the same time as Emiru's before an intrigued smile appeared on his face. It was very interesting to see how a second person was able to react based on the stimulus received by someone else. After removing his finger, both girls' hands raised slightly before he placed his index finger on the back of Maemi's hand. He waited for a few seconds before trying to create a new Mentor's Mark.There was a short pause between the skill activation and Vahn could feel a peculiar sensation pulsing through his own energy. It was very difficult to describe, and it was unlike anything he had ever felt before so it created a strange incongruity in his own body before a small mark began to appear, not just on Maemi's hand, but on the back of Emiru's hand at the same time. Vahn felt a bit of excitement in his heart and continued to form the mark until it eventually became solid. When he was finished, he noticed there was actually only half of his face on Maemi's hand, while Emiru's had the other half. On the same spot located on his body, two halves of the girls' faces had appeared and perfectly overlapped with each other to form a singular whole.Ryuu had been watching from the side and had even felt the strange magical fluctuations that had passed between the three. She had watched the mana flow from Vahn's body into Maemi's before it created a strange kind of feedback loop that began to feed into Emiru's body as well. She had seen the marks eventually form and wasn't sure of what to make of the situation other than the fact that Vahn's experiment had been successful. Once again, she was surprised by his capabilities because he always seemed to be able to make the impossible into a reality. A small smile appeared on her face as she began to build a few expectations about the future. Ryuu wondered what kind of miracles he would make in the future and how far they would be able to walk the same path together.(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'smol STEPS','Do you feel it now, Ms. Rain?','Queue 'we are one' from the Lion King 2')If you'd like to support me as a writer so I can write even more stories in the future, please follow the ******* link below (O,...,O)~! Stay beautiful &lt;3https://www.*******.com/user?u=14397149

Chapter 310: *Boop, Title at Bottom*

Chapter 310: Boop, Title at Bottom