Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Deep within the Dungeon, far further than anyone before him had ever tread, Vahn was currently pinned to a wall with a massive black spear in his chest. There was blood pouring out from his mouth as intense pain radiated throughout his body. Even so, his expression remained focused as a powerful aura radiated from his body, all while the 'thing' that had thrown the spear observed him with its head tilted to the side. It was a strange monster that looked like a slime that had been comprised of the fabric of space. There were swirls of magical energy and small star-like lights making up the inside of its vaguely humanoid figure that stood more than eight meters tall. At the center of what could be called it's head, there was a swirling vortex of light that looked like a small galaxy that lobbed to the side as it asked, "Who are you...?"Vahn was trying to remove the spear that was made out of the same material as the humanoid slime's body but it kept clinging to him as it slowly tried to devour his inside. It was, fortunately, making very slow progress since his own body was rejecting the foreign matter while the Source Energy contained within was simply beyond the scope of what the slime could have absorbed. This was the main reason behind why the monster was confused and curious, as it had expected Vahn to die after its first attack. The fact he had persisted was something it couldn't rationalize, causing it to wonder what kind of strange creature the small figure before him was.Hearing the monster speak, Vahn knew it was either a Xenos or something far more unique so, while still trying to wrest the spear from his body, he answered, "I am Vahn Mason...do you mind removing this spear so we can have a proper talk? I won't attack you if you show no animosity towards me but, if you keep trying to devour my body, I will have to destroy you..." As he spoke, Vahn's aura became even denser, causing the humanoid slime to tremble like gelatine before it's arm morphed into another long spear as it said, "I am Umbra, Guardian of the 70th Floor. For trespassing my territory, you must pay with your life..."With a wry smile on his face, Vahn muttered, "This is only the 69th Floor..." as a second spear, this time aimed for his head, tore through the air with a vicious momentum. Vahn shook his head slowly, even though seemingly no time had passed, as his body transformed into his Qinglong form. He had probed into the 69th Floor after performing his daily check on Enyo's seal. Since the girls had been steadily venturing deeper into the Dungeon, Vahn had been entering ahead of them to get a general feel of the area so they wouldn't be caught off guard. It was fortunate he had been the first to enter the 69th Floor as this strange monster was nearly impossible to detect, even with his senses. It had the exact same energy signature as the Dungeon itself and, though it seemed intelligent, it lacked the aura that would have given away most truly sentient life.Now in his Qinglong transformation, Vahn's grip on the black spear tightened, causing stark blue tendrils to snake across its surface. Though they looked like lightning, this energy was actually comprised of Space Elemental energy and couldn't be resisted through normal means. The spear was torn apart in an instant while the second spear collided with a barrier that had emerged in front of Vahn's head. He could tank the spear if he wanted but suffering injuries to the head were always annoying since it would cause him to feel disoriented. As a result, the spear impacted against the barrier before the space around it collapsed, causing a spiral to emerge behind the strange monster as its own spear pierced into its body.Though Vahn tried to respect sentience, it didn't mean he would completely ignore those that were trying to proactively kill him. Just as he would deal with a human that harbored ill will towards him, Vahn turned his cold azure blue eyes on the strange monster as a small light of contempt flashed across his slit-like pupils. As if emulating the monster, Vahn formed a spear of his own but, instead of the space-like ooze that comprised his enemy, it was a vibrant blue that looked like azure lightning. It was extremely taxing on his reserves but Vahn ignored it as he spent the spear towards the concealed core near the base of its body. Whenever it came to Slime-Type monsters, the only practical way to deal with them was by destroying their cores so Vahn wasn't going to beat around the bush and waste his time breaking its malleable body.Having been distracted by its own spear, which dealt practically no damage to its body, the monster was unable to react to the impossibly fast spear of Space Elemental energy. It seemed to move faster than even time itself as an imperceptible amount of time had passed before the core it made sure to keep safe was already destroyed. The monster didn't even have time to issue any death howls as its body exploded into a veritable tidal way of purple and black dust particles. After the dust dissipated into nothingness, the only thing that remained was a large black gemstone that had starlight shining on its inside while tens of thousands of monster core fragments, each decently high quality, littered the surroundings.Vahn looked the unidentified gemstone before selling the monster cores for a startling 3,900,017 OP within his system. He currently had 2,493,551,892 OP making up his reserves, meaning he was already nearly a quarter of the required amount for purchasing a dimensional anchor. With the HDF and Alliance filtering magic cores and rare items into him, Vahn was passively gaining well over a million OP every day so the number had been steadily increasing. If he continued to encounter powerful monsters, which was guaranteed the deeper he went, the amount he could gain with each passing day would continue to increase.Removing his transformation, Vahn released a heavy sigh while stretching his tired muscles and popping his joints. Using the Qinglong transformation without his other body supplementing his reserves was extremely taxing and he could only keep it up for a few minutes before the pain grew too intense for his body and mind to tolerate. Fortunately, few enemies could last against his Qinglong transformation and, even though the strange creature seemed to be around Level 7 in strength, it died like all the rest. Now, Vahn had to decide if he wanted to probe into the 70th Floor, which the creature seemed to be protecting, or if he wanted to return to the surface and call it a day...After thinking for a few minutes, Vahn shook his head before continuing deeper into the Dungeon. It was still early in the day and he had already cleared up his schedule so he would have time to go as far as possible before returning. Though he had grown accustomed to spending quality time with his family, Vahn knew it was 'necessary' for him to conquer the Dungeon and he couldn't put it off indefinitely. Since he was an immortal, he had the responsibility of scouting ahead of those that would follow so that they wouldn't become the victims of monsters and traps that they weren't prepared to deal with. Information, individual combat capabilities, and proper preparation were the keys to venturing beyond the 60th Floor and Vahn intended to reduce the chance of a tragedy occurring.Because the 'Guardian' had been near the entrance to the 70th Floor, it didn't take long for Vahn to find the massive crystalline staircase that spiraled downward well over a kilometer. Unlike the Floors before the 60th, the staircases in the 'Frontier Floors' weren't safe zones where you could easily rest. There were a variety of different traps you would have to deal with, such as stone steps giving way, spikes protruding from the walls, and even poisonous fogs that would linger about like mist. Vahn had been keeping a proper account of everything he encountered along the way and intended to sell the information to prospective Adventurers that wanted to probe into the depths of the Dungeon in the future.During his descent to the 70th Floor, Vahn had to evade several relatively easy to evade traps before one particularly dangerous one finally caught him unprepared. He hadn't dropped his guard but, after evading a series of crystalline arrows that rained down on his position, Vahn felt his body pass through an invisible membrane that caused his skin to tingle. A moment later, a massive magical explosion consumed his body as it spread outward for more than 100m in an instant, collapsing the staircase in the process. Vahn couldn't help but retort that the trap was a bit 'extreme' as he extricated his undamaged body from the resultant rubble. Even his equipment was undamaged since the vast majority was S-Rank at this point, courtesy of Hephaestus, Tsubaki, Nanu, and his own memory fragment.Eventually, Vahn finally reached the 70th Floor, noticing that the crystalline structure was replaced with nigh-absolute darkness. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all pitch black and filled with small porous holes that seemed to be able to absorb light. Vahn created a fireball to try and light the way but, other than the light emitting in his immediate surrounding, it didn't cast its influence upon the structure of the Dungeon at all. Even his night vision capabilities and [Eyes of Truth] didn't allow him to see too far, forcing Vahn to have to rely on the information he was receiving through his domain to know which way to go.Experiencing this 'absolute darkness', Vahn couldn't help but feel more than a little unperturbed as he hesitated to venture forth. This was an environmental hazard that most parties would never be able to deal with since you would need incredible magic perception or a powerful Innate just to cope with the darkness. Vahn couldn't help wondering if this was why the party led by Bell hadn't been able to probe that much deeper into the Dungeon as traversing several hundred kilometers of pure darkness would be extremely taxing on the mind. He didn't sense any monsters just yet but, if there were enemies lurking within, Vahn felt like just the psychological effects of fighting unseen enemies would wear down even the most hardened veterans. At the same time, however, Vahn couldn't help wondering if the Dungeon was trying to hide something on the 70th Floor since this type of layout didn't seem to make much sense otherwise...Overcoming his momentary hesitation, Vahn focused his mind before infusing [Enkidu] into his domain. Since the 'light' from [Enkidu] wasn't part of the electromagnetic spectrum and was closer to a Divine Phenomenon, Vahn could use it to illuminate the way with relative ease. This would also allow him to deal with any particularly tricky enemies as he cataloged the inhabitants and structure of the 70th Floor. At least, that was what Vahn intended when he first allowed [Enkidu]'s golden light to spread nearly 4km outward from his position. He quickly realized things wouldn't be quite that simple as, shortly after leaving the connecting tunnel between the 70th and 69th Floor staircase, Vahn found that the Floor itself was one expansive space. There was nothing at all within the influence of his domain as even the Floor below was almost perfectly flat...Vahn wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation until Sis decided to chime in, explaining, (*There are several powerful illusory wards built into the structure of the Dungeon that would cause people to wander aimlessly until their supplies ran out. If there were walls and landmarks to keep their orientation, it would theoretically be possible for people with high perception and patience to navigate the interior. I believe your intuition about there being something hidden on the 70th Floor is accurate, though I can't say for certain until we reach the 71st...*)With Sis's explanation, Vahn quickly understood why walls were simply unnecessary for the structure of this particular Floor. Now, he just needed to determine if there were any real enemies while trying to come up with methods to ensure safe passage through this incredibly unnerving terrain. Few had the means to pass through such an area on their own so Vahn wanted to test a few methods that could be used to help them navigate. The most obvious method would be to leave a trail of glowstones, using them like breadcrumbs to help keep his orientation. When Vahn tried this, however, he noticed that several other glowstones seemingly appeared out of nowhere. There seemed to be invisible barriers that would reflect and emulate other areas of the Floor to ensure that people using such methods would never be able to progress very far...Shaking his head in vexation, Vahn began to make his way deeper into the Floor to personally experience what other hazards the darkness had to offer. He could easily keep his own orientation with the golden illumination in his domain while his Minimap was constantly updating within his system interface. Sis was marking the borders of each illusory barrier, allowing Vahn to navigate the terrain without any real issues. Though this Floor might have been a nightmare for most, even unnerving him a bit, Vahn was able to make quick progress with The Path and the ever-reliable Sis to help guide him forward.Using the Minimap and Map function, Vahn quickly noticed there was a 'pattern' emerging within the barriers and decided it would be best to check on them periodically over the next few weeks to see if there were any changes in their orientation. Since magic formations weren't easy to move around, there was a good chance that these were semi-permanant, meaning it would actually be much easier than anticipated to pass through the Floor if you had a proper map. Since there had yet to be a single monster showing up, even after more than two hours of walking, Vahn suspected this particular Floor was purely focused on taxing the intruder's psyche...When he eventually reached a wall on the opposite side of the Floor, Vahn felt like that had confirmed things so he took to the sky and began to systematically map the entire area. Many of the illusory formations were shaped like bubbles and, though there were some formations that extended all the way to the roof, it was possible to navigate the area by flying if you had the confidence to do so. After all, it was nearly impossible to keep your orientation when there was literally 'nothing' to see...In this manner, Vahn managed to map out much of the 370km wide Floor, noting that the layout of the illusory wards themselves actually made a much larger magical formation. It covered the entirety of the Floor and was nearly indiscernible from the natural mana that permeated through the air so Vahn hadn't even noticed he was under its influence until he translated the larger formation. His eyes reflected a curious light as he mused, "Thou who seeketh the road to Origin, know that thine path forward is a spiritual journey. You can find the key at the spot where your physical journey ended, marking the transition from mortality to godhood..."Though it would have taken others years to decipher the meaning behind the intricate formation that spanned the entire 70th Floor, Vahn had managed to complete it in a single afternoon. He imagined how many decades Adventurers would have wandered aimlessly on this Floor without understanding that the hazards they sought to desperately avoid were actually just part of a message. As for where the key lay, that was something Vahn could determine with relative ease since the 'core' of the formation actually emulated the structure of mana circuitry in the human body. The reason why he had quickly noticed the 'pattern' when he started mapping the area was the result of his extensive knowledge of the human body and all aspects pertaining to it.Vahn flew to the area on his map that would have represented the location of the 'dantian', or the 'core' where a person's mana emanated from. Before learning how to channel your mana, it wasn't incorrect to say you were extremely limited in your growth and would have to rely wholly on your physical strength to progress. Upon learning how to muster your mana, generally through intense training, focus, or even meditation, you would truly begin to walk an endless path that allowed for unlimited growth. Saying it was the transition from mortality to godhood wasn't incorrect either, as it would truly require intense spiritual development and a distinct change in perception to make true progress on this never-ending path...There was a small formation located at his destination but Vahn entered it without any hesitation since he doubted that whatever entity had developed the formation would have gone through so much effort just to mislead someone. Upon entering the formation, Vahn found himself in an area that, unlike the endless darkness outside, was pure white. At the very center of the area, Vahn saw the statue of a breathtakingly beautiful woman who looked eerily reminiscent of Helen. Though their features were actually very different from each other, they both had indescribable beauty that made Vahn instinctually compare the two while being unable to decide which was truly the more beautiful woman...Shaking his head to clear stray thoughts, Vahn made his way over to the statue and peered into the small oval-shaped mirror held by its two pristine white hands. The surface of the mirror hadn't been reflecting anything and, even after peering into it, Vahn noticed that his own image was distinctly missing from the scene. He didn't know what to make of the mirror so Vahn decided to inspect the rest of the statue to see if there were any clues. Strangely, as he paced around the inordinately beautiful work of art, Vahn felt his heart begin to palpitate and, for a brief moment, he was certain the statue had moved slightly when he saw the rather pert rear sculpted on the backside...Vahn activated his [Eyes of Truth] and noticed that the statue, instead of being a single layer of sculpted stone, was actually comprised of several layers. The clothing and accessories were all unique pieces and, beneath the stony garments, Vahn's eyes were able to discern the statues extremely 'realistic' features. If not for the fact there was no aura at all coming from the statue, regardless of how long he looked at it, Vahn would have thought she was like Gros, an entity that had been comprised of stone. He even suspected that, at one point, the figure holding the mirror had once been a biological entity that had been turned to stone at some point in the distant past...(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Surprise...!','You think the darkness is your ally...?','Even statues aren't safe from the piercing gaze of the Godhand...')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/mn5xMbE

Deciding it would be rude to continue gawking at the inordinately beautiful figure of the statue, Vahn began to inspect around the base until he found a few inscriptions carved into the surface. According to the immaculately chiseled text, the mirror held by the woman had the ability to show the user anything their heart desired. Vahn decided to test this by looking into the mirror once again and focusing his mind, only for the surface to remain unchanged. Suspecting that it may require voice commands, Vahn said, "Show me Hephaestus..." Though several other names crossed his mind, Vahn still decided to peek in on Hephaestus since he knew she was currently teaching Ina and Nanu a few tricks back in her workshop...For a brief moment, the surface of the mirror flashed with a magical light before the reflective surface showed the image of Hephaestus watching over Ina and Nanu with an appreciative smile on her face. Vahn couldn't help smiling himself when he saw the image, especially since the quality of the reflection was almost as if he were there personally observing things. As this thought crossed his mind, Vahn noticed that the image in the mirror actually changed according to his intentions and he was able to move around as if he was a disembodied phantom within the workshop. This was a very curious discovery and Vahn couldn't help but feel intrigued as he orbited Hephaestus' body before testing how far he could zoom in on objects by peering into her face.The image in the mirror became progressively closer until it almost seemed as though the surface was about to contact Hephaestus' cheek. Vahn made sure it wasn't going too fast, as he didn't want to surprise her if it ended up having a physical component, but something amazing happened just as the mirror nearly reached her skin. There had already been a mystical white light surrounding the periphery of the mirror but, after getting close enough to initiate contact, the light changed to a pink coloration as the surface of the mirror warped slightly. Vahn noticed the slight curvature as if it was part of Hephaestus' face so he reached out to touch it by instinct...Vahn could feel warmth at his fingertip as he pressed into Hephaestus' slightly squishy cheek and watched it deform. He could also feel her startle slightly so he pulled back the mirror to see if her reaction was based on his touch or something else. When Hephaestus brought her hand up to her cheek in confusion, Vahn's eyed widened since the mirror seemed far more valuable than the rather plain description below indicated. It seemed to act as a portal that connected two points and, though the radius of the mirror was quite small, Vahn could think of several potential uses for such a convenient artifact...After failing to communicate with Hephaestus with words, Vahn tried to stick his hand into the mirror, only to notice that he was unable to actually pass through. It was at this point that he noticed there wasn't any sound passing through the image as he couldn't hear what Hephaestus and Ina were talking about as he floated around their periphery. Vahn didn't give up because of these small setbacks and instead moved the mirror over towards the worktable where several pieces of paper could be found. He made the mirror 'zoom' in as close a possible until the border had lit up with a pink light once again. Pulling out a pen, Vahn made a few test strokes on the paper and was satisfied to see that the pen did indeed affect the paper on the other side. This showed that the artifact could influence objects through the surface, even though there were a few restrictions on its use.Once he had finished writing out his message, Vahn zoomed away from the piece of paper and tried to use telekinesis to manipulate it. This ultimately ended in failure and, with the pink light having faded away from the mirror's periphery, Vahn suspected it needed to be in direct contact with whatever he was looking at in order to influence it. His next test was to see if he could pull things through the mirror or, more importantly, send things through it to the other side. Since the ink managed to imprint onto the paper, Vahn knew it was theoretically possible to send things through. The problem was finding a method of doing so as the mirror seemed to require contact with something before the 'link' was established. Vahn had tried focusing the mirror onto a table and, after the pink border activated, he placed a magic core on the surface. After zooming out, the magic core simply fell from the surface of the mirror without any success...Vahn's next experiment was to pull out a glowstone to see if, at the very least, the girls were able to notice the items he placed in contact with the surface on the other side. After waiting for several minutes, however, there were no changes to the glowstone and, even though it illuminated the table from his perspective, Vahn wasn't sure if the girls could see it. He had even moved the mirror back over the Hephaestus and tried to light up her face with the glowstone while she and Ina were talking but there was no reaction from either of them. After this, Vahn decided it would be more productive to focus on himself so he said, "Show me my main body back at the Hearth Manor..."The image in the mirror quickly changed to show Vahn standing out in the hallway outside of the Library. He had been helping Erika with her studies and decided to excuse himself for a moment to conduct a few tests. Though she had given him a calculating look, Erika hadn't asked any questions as she watched his departure while playing with a loose strand of hair. She now looked like a woman in her late teens and had matured greatly in 'most' aspect. Unfortunately, though she didn't seem to mind it, Erika took after her mother quite a bit. Other than their hairstyles and eye color, the two were almost a carbon copy of each other while Erika was slightly shorter and had a more intelligent look...Now that he had access to himself, Vahn extended his palm back at the Manor while his avatar changed the focus of the mirror until the pink hue appeared. Vahn traced his finger around the surface of his own palm, noticing that he did indeed feel the touch with full clarity. He then pulled out a small knife and tried cutting along his palm but the pink hue along the edges immediately vanished. It seemed to have a failsafe that prevented the user from causing harm to the other side so Vahn stowed away the knife and tried to change the focus once again. This time, it took several minutes before the pink hue returned, indicating that the mirror had some other use conditions that he would need to investigate in the future.With the connection re-established, Vahn pulled out a glowstone and placed it against his own palm through the mirror. On the other side, he noticed that there was indeed no light showing through, even though he could clearly see the illumination from the perspective of his avatar. There was, however, a slight warmth and, though it was almost imperceptible, Vahn could feel a bit of weight in his palm. This indicated there was indeed a connection between his two bodies, even though he was unable to see the glowstone and its influence from the perspective of his main body. As a final test, Vahn pulled out a pen and began writing on his palm this time, noticing that it did indeed update from both of his perspectives...Vahn was able to conclude that he could indeed influence objects on the other side of the mirror but there were several restrictions that prevented him from doing harm and sending large physical objects through. He was, however, able to send energy through direct contact with others, meaning he could potentially use the mirror to watch over the girls and heal their bodies if they were injured. That was, of course, assuming he was able to move the mirror from the 70th Floor and take it into his possession. This proved to be extremely problematic as the statue didn't seem to be made of any normal material and Vahn felt like he would be 'stealing' the mirror if he seized it by force. After all, without breaking the fingers or cutting off the hands that were holding the small mirror, Vahn wouldn't be able to remove it. Since the statue almost felt real, and was breathtakingly beautiful, Vahn couldn't find it in himself to do something so cruel...After releasing a sigh, Vahn stared up into the beautiful face of the statue and almost felt like it was smiling back at him, even though the expression remained unchanged. He was positive there was 'something' watching him through the statue or, at the very least, it had some form of intent attached to it. Much like how he was unable to sense Ouranos, Vahn suspected this statue was likely related to one of the primordial gods and was probably indestructible by normal methods. It was far beyond the means of a mortal to create such a realistic statue and Vahn couldn't even see through the materials composition, even with his [Eyes of Truth] and [Metalurgy]. There was even a chance that the statue was part of the mirror itself and, based on how it prevented him from cutting his own palm, the intent of the statue seemed to determine how the mirror was used...Recalling the inscriptions carved into the base, Vahn's expression turned into a casual smile as he said, "Show me the person who created this mirror and this beautiful statue..." Since it professed to show him whatever his heart desired, Vahn wanted to test the limits of the mirror and see exactly what it was capable of. When the surface flashed white, Vahn's eyes widened greatly since he had never expected what was on the other side of the image. There, laying absentmindedly on an ornate lounge, Vahn could see the image of Helen staring up at the roof of her small residence. Her pink eyes were unfocused as her silvery-white hair fanned outward from her body like a masterwork painting.Vahn was more than a little confused by this revelation since it seemed to imply that Helen was the one who created this statue, even though it seemed extremely unlikely. The only way Vahn could rationalize it was if Helen was someone who had reincarnated, meaning she would have made the statue and the mirror in the distant past. This didn't seem that likely, however, as Helen had never shown any indication that she had memories of a past life. There was also no way that the gods who had been watching over mortals since the Progenitors still walked the surface would have been unaware of her existence. Vahn had no doubts that, with Helen's beauty, many gods would have been paying 'very' close attention to her every movement...As that thought crossed his mind, Vahn blinked in realization as he looked at the small oval mirror in the statue's hand and began to ruminate. He knew from the [Hearts Desire]s of various goddesses that they were able to peer into the mortal world through various means, mainly through the use of artifacts like this small mirror. They had also been able to influence people in the mortal world, sometimes giving them powerful blessings that would allow them to overcome adversity. Vahn wondered if this mirror was actually a similar grade to Hephaestus' Eternal Flame or Freya's [Brísingamen]...With his thoughts racing, Vahn decided to try another experiment to confirm something that 'should' have been impossible. Temporarily setting aside the matter of Helen's existence, Vahn gazed into the mirror and said, "Show me what lays within the depths of the Dungeon...I want to see its creator...!" Once again, the surface of the mirror showed a vibrant white light that caused Vahn's heart to begin racing. When the image clarified, Vahn's eyes became completely rounded as the surface, for the second time, showed Helen's lounging figure in the reflection. This caused Vahn's mind to completely blank as he absentmindedly said, "Show me the final Floor of the Dungeon..." Even though he wasn't thinking clearly, Vahn realized that his first question might have been confusing for the mirror so it might have shown him Helen after failing to show him the two things he had asked for...This time, the mystical light of the mirror faded to show a small room where nothing but a small stone table could be seen. Atop the table, there was an ornate crystal cup while much of the table was covered with various books and journals. There were absolutely no other features in the room other than a dark red candle that had a ghostly blue flame illuminating the 5m wide space. It was hovering around the front of the desk but Vahn could tell it was slowly orbiting the area while its ghostly flame seemed to pierce through the surrounding darkness. Using the illumination from the flame, Vahn moved the mirror's perspective to try and read the surface and the spines of the books but found each of them unmarked. He ultimately gave up on trying to gain any new information from this small room and once again said, "Show me the owner of that room..."The surface of the mirror flashed with a mystical light and, as it began to clear away, Vahn wasn't even surprised to see the image reflect Helen's figure once again. He released a long sigh and knew he needed to have a talk with Helen in the near future, even though the chances she knew anything were extremely slim. There was a good chance she was a reincarnated entity or, more likely, an artificial entity that had been created for the sole purpose of helping others conquer the Dungeon. Vahn knew a bit about Helen's 'power' so it wasn't difficult to imagine that she was something like the Dungeon's avatar, meaning there was a fair chance she was created by Tartarus or, as reason would lead him to believe, the Primordial Goddess, Nuwa...Vahn suspected that the origin mentioned in the previous formation was referring to the realm where the Primordial Gods once reigned, the place now referred to as Hell. Nuwa and Tiamat had remained behind in the old realm, even though all of the other gods migrated to Heaven after balance was restored to the three realms. Vahn didn't know why she had made such a decision but, knowing that Nuwa was the goddess who had first created sentient life that possessed a soul, she was undoubtedly a unique existence within the record. It was likely that she wanted to create a method by which her creations would be able to rise to her own standing, becoming gods that were able to once again populate the 'Origin' realm. This, however, was pure speculation on Vahn's part but, with an enigmatic existence like Helen at the center of everything, Vahn felt he was close to the truth...After calming his chaotic thoughts, Vahn looked into the face of the statue once again before saying, "Show me the Primordial Goddess, Nuwa..." He wanted to, at the very least, confirm that Helen wasn't the incarnation of Nuwa herself. Contrary to expectations, however, the image in the mirror simply faded without showing anything in the reflective surface. Vahn was confused but, upon returning his gaze to the statue's eyes, his confusion was quickly cleared up when he saw that there was indeed a smile on its face now. It wasn't a smile of condescension but had a more playful and teasing vibe to it that made Vahn's heart palpitate a few times in response. From this, he could confirm that the statue did indeed possess intent and his soul simply wasn't strong enough to allow him to see through its true nature.With the statue giving him a teasing smile, Vahn felt slightly indignant and wondered if he should tease her in return. It had first reacted when he took a glance at the statue's butt so Vahn suspected it was, at the very least, conscious of its appearance and could feel slightly flustered. He was certain that he could get an advantage against the statue but, at the same time, feared that he would be unable to make use of the mirror if he upset whatever was linked with it. Thus, Vahn decided not to be too petty and simply reached out his hand to stroke the statue's head as he said, "Thank you for your assistance. When I meet the real you, I'll make sure to express my gratitude in earnest..."Vahn spoke with a teasing undertone in his voice as he practically bombarded the statue with a mixture of petting energy and a veritable tidal wave of stimulating energy. It didn't have any muscles and nerves, from what he could see, but Vahn believed his understanding of petting laws and [Hands of Nirvana] would allow him to even influence someone through a mental link. As a result, though he wasn't certain when it happened, the expression on the statue's face appeared slightly flustered as her brows were furrowed almost imperceptibly. If she had a normal complexion, Vahn imagined it would be beet red as a result of his 'gentle' teasing. Fortunately, it didn't seem like the person guiding the intent behind the statue was too upset with him since, after asking where the entrance to the 71st Floor was located, the mirror reflected a staircase within one of the illusory barriers where the heart would have been on a human's body...(A/N: There will be one more chapter today, but it won't be until later in the afternoon. There will be three tomorrow as well, though I may do four if my focus doesn't break down.)(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'That is a dangerous mirror...','Helen really is the 'key' to reaching godhood','Even statues are powerless against the Godhand...!')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/mn5xMbE

A lot changed after Vahn's return to Orario, even though the Winter season was usually a time where everything would slow to a halt. Contrary to the past, the atmosphere in Orario was extremely lively as the sounds of construction and the perpetually ongoing festivities continued to permeate through society. With Vahn's reforms, the economy was flourishing and the means by which people could entertain themselves had increased greatly. Other than the introduction of sports, there had been a rapidly evolving entertainment culture where music and theater were becoming increasingly popular. At the same time, Vahn had purchased a variety of different board games that had been introduced into the market while several other forms of 'simulated' events were becoming popular in the Coliseums.One thing of note was the fact that many of the leaders he had contacted had already started to arrive in the city, even though there were still several weeks before the meeting was scheduled. They had been showing up at the Hearth Manor to try and have private meetings with Vahn, each trying to build an amicable relationship with him to ensure they would have greater benefits in the future. Most of them were turned away long before they even came to the attention of Vahn but there were a few persons of interest he made an exception to meet with. These were dignitaries from some of the nations that Orario had already established trade relations in the past while a few were leaders that Vahn's information network made out to be capable or wise.Even without making the meeting public, there were already dozens of rumors circulating within Orario about why Vahn had called so many people into the City. People had affectionately referred to him as the Emperor of Orario in the past but now that Vahn was in a position where he directly influenced other world leaders, it no longer sounded like a joke. This was especially true amongst the growing communities of Pallums, Beast Humans, Elves, and anyone who had directly benefitted from Vahn's assistance in the past. He also had an extreme level of influence with the successful merchant Familias and, after providing support to the fringe territories during the harsh winter, his popularity had skyrocketed in a very short period of time.Much of this popularity was the result of the efforts of Loki, Hephaestus, Freya, Fortuna, and many of the other gods that would make up the Divine Council in the future. Loki, in particular, had been using the Hermes Familia to proactively spread rumors that painted Vahn in a positive light while Fortuna had been flexing the financial might of the Alliance to seize control of the entire market, both inside of Orario and outside. It was her efforts, combined with the assistance of the Valkyries, that had caused many of the nation's leaders to arrive early. Since there were few nobles that wouldn't want to have a positive relationship with the person that would control the markets in the future, they were competing with each other behind the scenes to be the first to approach Vahn and the core members of the Alliance...Though not fully aware of what the goddesses had been doing on his behalf, Vahn knew they were taking actions to ensure that his rise had as few hiccups as possible. As a result, after returning from Telskyura with his avatar, Vahn had been spending a fair amount of time with Loki, Fortuna, and Freya every day. They rarely talked about serious issues, unless it was something pressing that Vahn needed to know about, and just spent the time lounging and discussing other matters. Vahn's relationship with Fortuna had been steadily improving as well, to the point that they eventually ended up sleeping with each other a few times. She wasn't ready to have a child just yet but that didn't mean they couldn't enjoy a bit of quality time together. It helped that Fortuna had a positive relationship with most of the other goddesses and had even won over some of his children after bringing them a few exotic gifts that her Familia had acquired through trade.As for other goddesses that Vahn had a budding relationship with, Kali had come to reside in Freya's Manor for a short while as the construction of the Amazoness community was still underway. Her Familia had yet to set out on their journey but it didn't stop her from having Vahn escort her over to spend time together beforehand. She wasn't allowed at the Manor just yet so she spent most of her time at the Coliseum with Ganesha, who hailed from the same Pantheon, whenever Vahn was busy. Seeing the various events taking place firsthand had been an eye-opening experience for Kali and, after bringing Hippolyta over to experience one of the major tournaments, both seemed far more accepting of the idea that it would become a national pastime for all Amazonesses in the future.Vahn's main focus during these times, excluding his unavoidable responsibilities, was taking care of his present and future children. Artemis' pregnancy had been relatively short since she had spent a fair amount of time within the Space-Time orb. She ended up giving birth to a healthy baby boy with uniquely pink hair and light-blue eyes. After a bit of discussion, they decided to name him Orion since, much like Vahn, he had become the object of Artemis' love and affection. His Guardian ended up being a creature known as a Wandering Owl who, much like Orion, possessed abilities related to Time. Vahn hadn't made the same mistake as before so he bestowed Orion with his artifact and [Heroic Tale] while his son had been napping in Artemis' embrace.Orion ended up having pseudo-Divinities related to Love, Animals, and, likely as a result of Artemis residing within the Sub-Space orb, Time. His artifact was a bow known as [Oebstus] that, like all artifacts, would grow along with Orion and help him strengthen his soul. It had the effect of completely ignoring all defenses and, according to the description, could even target 'concepts' like emotions. Vahn was curious about the functionality of the bow and wondered how powerful it could become if Orion developed it to an extreme. After all, being able to target concepts was almost like being able to influence the laws themselves. So long as his understanding of the target was high enough, Orion could potentially even use his bow to damage a person's 'ego' in the future...With the birth of another child, combined with his relationship with his other children, Vahn spent most days with a contented smile on his face. Most of Vahn's time with his main body was spent helping his children study, train their bodies, or simply playing around and having fun. This included girls like Yggy and, even though she was far older than he was, Diana. The former was exceptionally intelligent and had been studying with Terra to become an equally exceptional mage. As for Diana, she was given the 'important' task of making sure Vahn's room was cleaned every day since she would often get distracted with more detailed work. She still acted as a Maid, almost as if it were a matter of pride for her, but most of her time was spent just playing with the children who most closely matched her appearance's age.---Vahn was genuinely enjoying his relatively peaceful life at the moment, even though the looming 'threat' of his high Karma constantly lurked in the back of his mind. Fortunately, even without him doing much, Vahn was earning well over a million OP per day while more concerted efforts could net him over ten million. He was growing progressively closer to the requisite amount to purchase a dimensional anchor so the only things he had to genuinely concern himself with was uniting the Continent and conquering the Dungeon. The former was a foregone conclusion while the latter simply depended on when he could allocate the time to probe the Dungeon's depths. It helped that the girls were constantly increasing their strength since Ais, Lili, Haruhime, and Lefiya had already been able to clear down to the 56th Floor through their own efforts. Vahn's personal record was Floor 58 so he knew exactly how capable they had to be to reach that point without relying on his assistance.While thinking of the Dungeon and what awaited him in the deeper floors, Vahn's perception became aware of the presence making its way toward his avatar. His main body was currently enjoying the companionship of the Xenos back at Spero while he had been using his avatar had been meditating while in his Qinglong form. He was currently seated inside an empty stone chamber that had been created by Terra within the Sub-Space orb for his own personal use. Few people would come to disturb him during his training so Vahn's awareness had immediately taken note of the subtle fluctuations in the person's aura. The aura belonged to Mikoto and he could tell she was very apprehensive about interrupting his private training session so he quickly rose to his feet before teleporting behind her.Mikoto jumped nearly a meter off the ground when Vahn appeared right behind her but she quickly calmed down by patting her rather buxom chest and taking a few deep breaths. Vahn's expression was exceptionally gentle as he said, "Good afternoon, Mikoto. I was just about to exit my meditation so you're timing is impeccable..." Since he didn't want her to fret over nothing, Vahn gave an easy excuse that would allow Mikoto to relax a bit. She may not have fully believed him, as Vahn seemed to be unable to genuinely lie to the girls around him, but Mikoto still smiled in return as a loving light flashed across her eyes. Since she was wearing a loose purple kimono, Vahn's heart palpitated a few times when he saw the look in her eyes, causing his own expression to soften greatly.With the atmosphere quickly becoming warm between the two, Mikoto seemed to have calmed down a lot as her expression became more natural. She moved a few strands of stray hair before taking a deep breath and saying, "Vahn...I wanted to talk to you about something very important to me. I..." Vahn shook his head gently in response to Mikoto's words while stepping closer to her body and pulling her into his embrace. He stroked her long and silky black hair as he said, "Don't forget that I've also read the [Flying Heavenly Sword Manual]. I know what you need to do and you have my blessing. If possible, I'd like you to wait for a few months since I intend to go to the Far East myself after Tiona and Tione give birth..."Though Mikoto had been able to duel people within the Coliseum's arena, it was hard to develop real sword intent without actual life and death battles against other capable swordsmen. Her skills had developed to an extreme, to the point that she was already rumored to be the most skilled swordswoman in Orario, but they both knew her development had reached a bottleneck. She could still continue to grow, without any real limits, but Mikoto genuinely wanted to master the [Flying Heavenly Sword Manual] to develop it into a true inheritance. Before her strength increased to the point where skill was nearly meaningless, Mikoto wanted to travel the land on her own and polish her skills against other swordsmen.Upon hearing Vahn's words, Mikoto's smile truly blossomed until it had reached her eyes. Their relationship was at a point where Mikoto genuinely felt anxious just thinking about being away from Vahn for a long period of time. Her journey across the sea, combined with the time she would spend traveling the lands, would likely take several years. With Vahn escorting her over, Mikoto would be able to save a lot of time and there was a good chance she would face many powerful foes since he always seemed to get entangled with the most powerful forces in a region. Though she would eventually journey out on her own, as Vahn's presence could also be like a tree that caused other plants to starve for nutrients, Mikoto knew the first leg of her journey would be far more enjoyable with him accompanying her...For the better part of an hour, Vahn and Mikoto discussed their intentions in going to the Far East, including Vahn's intention to seek out Amaterasu while also escorting Tsubaki, Haruhime, and Shizune to their homelands. Girls like Kaguya obviously had things to take care of back in the Far East but, as their strength was still increasing, Vahn had set their matters aside for the time being. He didn't want to spend too much time in the Far East since his Empire was just about to begin 'real' development, so his first journey to the exotic land of swords and spirits would be relatively short.After their discussion had ended, Vahn and Mikoto spent a few hours just enjoying each others company since Vahn decided to treat his comment about being done with his training as the truth. Since Mikoto had a genuine love for hot springs, they moved to one of the private areas near the third spatial suppression area where a small hot spring was located. This was considered a part of Mikoto's territory so, unless she had invited them, few would ever venture to this location. The few exceptions were girls like Haruhime, who Mikoto would often bathe with, and the other women who had grown close to her over the years. This included Tsubaki, Shizune, Tina, and, on occasion, Artemis.Vahn was enjoying the hot and mineral-rich water while the Mikoto rested her rosy-cheeked face against his shoulder. She enjoyed the moments like this, where it was just the two of them, so Mikoto had been a bit more proactive than normal. Currently, she could feel Vahn's warmth spreading through her lower body as she lightly kissed his neck in response. In this manner, the two reduced the distance between their hearts and bodies even further, to the point where they were almost inseparable from each other...(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'The Divine Council is going to have a lot of bias...','Musashi vs. Mikoto, when!?','Quality Time with a demure swordmaiden...')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/mn5xMbE

Chapter 960: Probe