Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

"Thank you for your kind intentions, but please leave..."After registering at the Gate and following the children back to a partially destroyed monastery, the interior of which had been converted to a small farm, these were among the first words Vahn heard from the Community's Leader, a young woman wearing a Nun's Habit."Pardon...?"Though he could already guess the woman's reasons, Vahn couldn't help raising his brows as the inordinately busty, pink-haired, and lavender-eyed Nun went on to explain, "Even if you do possess the power to improve our quality of life, doing so would only cause the neighboring Communities to begin eyeing us. We're able to live a relatively peaceful life because we possess nothing the other Communities covet. The moment that changes, it is the children who will suffer first and foremost..."Understanding where the woman was coming from, Vahn slowly nodded his head before looking towards Sarina, the person who had guided him here. She was currently gripping the hem of her frilly red skirt with a vexed look on her face, as, despite understanding the Sister's words, she felt it was wrong to not even try.Plopping his hand atop the girl's head, Vahn gently ruffled Sarina's hair, an equally gentle smile on his face as he said, "It's okay. This is only a minor setback. All I need to do is establish a Community of my own. Once I take over the surrounding Gates, I'll be able to improve the lives of everyone, not just the members of this Community..."Though Sarina looked like she was about to cry her little heart out, a smile developed across the fatigued-looking Nun's face as she muttered, "It would be wonderful if you're able to achieve that. Now, please leave. Your visit today would have already drawn a lot of attention. If people believe we are affiliated in any way, they will target us the moment you gain even a minute amount of fame or infamy..."Smiling wryly in response to the Nun's words, Vahn resisted the almost instinctual urge to just invite them all to stay within the Second Layer of his Little Garden. They would be significantly safer there, but, if he extended a similar offer to every downtrodden resident of the Divine Realm, it wouldn't be long before the refugee population of the Second Layer numbered in the trillions.As that thought crossed his mind, Vahn retracted his hand from Sarina's head with the intention of departing the way he came. Before he could take more than a few steps, however, the Nun's weary voice rung out again, saying, "We all walk our own paths in life, Sarina. If you wish to follow him, do not hesitate. Life is too short. Don't waste it on regrets."Turning his head, Vahn was about to mention how counterintuitive it would be to send one of their own to follow him after making such a strong case for disassociation. These words got caught in his throat, however, as Sarina enthusiastically latched onto his arm, a beaming smile on her face as she said, "I'll be in your care from now on."Though there was a fair amount of sorrow contained within her aura, likely related to the fact she would be leaving her friends and family behind, Vahn could tell that Sarina's jubilation wasn't false. She seemed absolutely determined to follow him, a sentiment that caused him to feel more than a little awkward due to the threads of pink contained in her aura as she clung to his arm...("Here we go again...")......Though there were a number of stringent requirements for advancing to the lower-digits, virtually anyone could establish a 7-Digit Community. The only real requirement was that you needed three people, primarily a Leader, a Sub-Leader, and an Adjutant. It was also recommended that you have a name, a flag, and a territory, but these were only truly necessary when you were trying to advance from a higher-digit Community to a lower one.After traveling a considerable distance, enough that most people wouldn't be able to recognize Sarina even if he did cause a ruckus, Vahn found a rather charming Cafe called Inumimi Paradise. Each of their waitresses was an adorable girl with dogs ears and a tail, and, if you paid a premium, you were allowed to caress their heads and ears at your leisure.Fortunately, while the most common currency on the East Side were the metal coins printed by the Thousand Eyes Community, smaller shops generally accepted all forms of verifiable currency. A few even allowed customers to pay using their Gifts, specifically allowing them to provide services such as cooking, cleaning, or good old-fashioned manual labor. In other words, so long as you had the means, you could barter for various goods and services without having to exchange actual currency.Though it earned him an adorable pout from Sarina, Vahn managed to convince the owner of the Cafe to allow him to pay with headpats. Others had to pay for the opportunity to fluff the girls in the Cafe, but, after proving that he could treat underlying medical conditions while simultaneously improving the health and wellness of the people he pet, Vahn earned the envy of nearly every other customer by systematically petting every girl in the Cafe for free. Even the owner stopped by a total of three times, her Doberman-like tail wagging happily as she and several others invited him to join their predominately female Community no less than ten times...As tempting as the offer was, Vahn managed to escape the Inumimi Paradise before the girls could contemplate forcibly dragging him back. He also felt sorry for Sarina, who, during their three-hour stay, became progressively more downtrodden every time the girls offered her free food and drinks just to keep her occupied."Do you like kemonomimi girls more than normal girls...?"Hearing Sarina's whisper-like inquiry, Vahn adopted a wry yet gentle smile as he tousled the girl's hair and answered, "You're overthinking things. It would be more accurate to say that I like girls as a general rule of thumb rather than having any particular preference. Besides, it's a little too soon for you to be concerning yourself with matters such as this. Based on what I can tell, you can't be more than ten years old. I don't mind if you harbor intentions towards me. Just don't expect me to lay my hands on a little girl. I have children who are older than you..."Though she was happy to have her head pat, Sarina became downcast when she heard what Vahn had to say. A part of her even regretted leaving the monastery as one of her main reasons for doing so was the expectation that romance would blossom between them if she tried her best...Understanding the little girl's thoughts, even without the Law of Identity, a slightly amused chuckle escaped Vahn's throat as he retracted his hand and said, "For now, focus on maturing both mentally and physically. If you still feel this way when you discover more about me...well, let's just say I don't have a reputation for disappointing the women in my life. You're just not one of them. At least, not right now."With that said, Vahn extended his hand towards Sarina, and, though she hesitated for a very brief moment, it didn't take long for her to reach out her own and grasp his. She had already made up her mind, so, while this was certainly a setback, she still had hope for the future.........Though the Divine Realm made use of the Geocentric Model, meaning the Sun and Moon orbited around it, each of the individual Gates was able to implement their own day and night cycle. As a result, there were some Gates where the Sun never set, others where it was a perpetually full moon, and even more where the day-night cycle was completely random. It all depended on the whims of the Community in charge.Noticing the Sun was still high in the sky even after they had been wandering around for several hours, Vahn turned to the fatigued-looking Sarina and asked, "What do you want to do? Unless you would rather become the Adjutant or remain a simple member, you're going to be the Sub-Leader of the Community we form. We can move to the Outermost Gates and try to recruit new arrivals or we can search for someone that is being oppressed by one of the more dastardly Communities. I'll let you decide."After taking a few moments to catch her breath, Sarina's mood seemed to improve quite a bit as she performed an adorable guts pose and answered, "We should try to help people! There are too many bullies in the Little Garden. If we have the power to do something about it, we should try...!"Though she lacked any real power of her own, Sarina was baselessly confident in Vahn's ability to do something about the injustices faced by the weaker residents of the Little Garden. She didn't know why, but she felt like he could just 'fix' things whenever he wanted. There had even been a few unruly-looking individuals who steered clear from him the moment he looked towards them, something that typically only occurred when famous or infamous Communities were performing their rounds and patrolling their territory.Offering a smile, Vahn resisted the urge to call Sarina a 'good girl' since it would become a problem once she was invariably introduced to people like Fenrir. Instead, he just pat her head as he looked around the area for any passersby in need of assistance. More specifically, he was looking for young boys around her age, someone he could accept as a protege while training them both to become a lot stronger than they currently were.Noticing a downtrodden youth hobbling along the periphery of the crowd with his head lowered, tightly clinging to a few tattered books, Vahn manifested to the Law of Identity to inquire about his background. Unfortunately, it seemed that he already belonged to a Community. The reason for his limp was also relatively innocent, so, other than sending a thread of healing energy into the young man's body, surprising him quite a bit, Vahn left the youth to his own devices."Hmmm..."Just as he was thinking about asking some of the locals for information, a familiar tingling spread through Vahn's mind as a young girl with auburn hair emerged from an alleyway, expression pale and tears building in the corners of her eyes she implored people to make way. This caused Vahn's expression to morph into a flawless deadpan, as, moments later, a group of bandit-like individuals burst from the same alleyway, the most muscular among them shouting, "Get back here, you brat! You're the one who agreed to participate in a Gift Game! You can't just run away because you don't like the conditions...!"Despite the soles of her feet bleeding rather profusely, the little girl continued running barefoot as the trio gradually caught up to her. As for the pedestrians in the surroundings, most simply got out of the way. After all, while the Little Garden was known to house countless Heroes, most had their Gifts stolen shortly after their arrival or quickly advanced to become members of four or five-digit Communities. The who settled in the Seven-Digit Gates were among the dregs of society within the Divine Realm, so, more often than not, they did their best to stay out of other people's business.Just as the skinniest man among the three, an individual with a mouse-like face, was about to catch up to the girl from behind, an invisible wall seemed to impede his progress. From the perspective of others, it was like he had tried to break through the barrier protecting a Gate using his face, and, as a result, blood began to pool from his nostrils as he slid, unconscious, to the ground.Borrowing a one-liner from an anime that his son, Naruto, had taken an interest in, Vahn combed his fingers through his hair, magically changing the direction in which it flowed as he mused, "Good grief..." in a defeated tone.......(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Nun don't play','Vahn about to become a VIP member at every kemonomimi Cafe xD...','Yare yare daze...')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/Jwa8PKh

Seeing their companion run into an invisible wall, the duo chasing after the young girl promptly halted in their tracks. The burliest among them then whirled around, eyes bloodshot as he shouted, "Whose the asshole gettin' in our way!?""Yo."Much to the duo's surprise, Vahn had already appeared right behind them. Thus, the moment they turned around, he grabbed both of their faces before promptly planting them into the ground. An invisible force attempted to protect their bodies from harm, but, thanks to his Source Energy, both ended up being knocked out with their heads buried in the cobbled street.After taking a moment to confirm the men weren't dead, Vahn dusted off his hands before looking towards the stunned Sarina and asking, "Shall we catch up to our little friend...?"Startling back to awareness, Sarina quickly ran over to Vahn's side, grabbing his hand as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do.Smiling wryly in response to the young girl's brazenness, Vahn attempted to teleport only to sense that the surrounding space solidified the moment he tried. This caused his brows to furrow slightly, but, rather than trying to force his way through the void, he just used an advanced form of Shundo to instantaneously cover the distance the girl had run.With her thoughts revolving around escape, the auburn-haired girl had yet to take notice of the fact that her would-be assailants had already been dealt with. Instead, she continued to push through the crowd, each step leaving behind a bloody footprint that caused intense, biting pain to shoot up her legs.Unable to hold them back any longer, a tremendous volume of tears and sweat marred the girl's face as an irresistible urge to just stop and rest began to consume her. The only thing that kept her moving forward was fear. Fear that should she stop, her life would no longer be her own. She would either have to spend the rest of her days as someone else's slave or they would forcibly appropriate her Gift. Either way, her life would be over."I just need...to find some sand..."As the pained utterance had merely been intended to compel herself forward, the auburn-haired girl never expected someone to suddenly appear in front of her, gently arresting her momentum as a deep yet velvety smooth voice answered, "You need to calm down..."Since it was usually painful to run headlong into another person, the auburn-haired girl was more than a little confused by how soft the collision had been. Even more confusing was the comfortable energy that had suffused through her body, instantaneously erasing her fatigue. At the same time, an itchy feeling transmitted from the soles of her feet, scabs quickly forming across several wounds before flaking away to reveal tender yet undamaged skin."You're safe now..."Without stepping away from the owner of the voice, the auburn-haired girl tentatively looked up, her heart skipping a beat as she found a tall and handsome man looking down at her with a smile. The sun was also shining high in the sky, so, from her perspective, a literal halo had formed around his head as his glowing green eyes cut through the shadows cast over his face...Noticing the girl's eyes roll back, Vahn smoothly scooped her into a Princess Carry before she could faint and collapse to the ground. This caused Sarina to puff out her cheeks slightly, but, by the time he had looked back, she had regained her smile, suggesting, "We should find a bench in the shade."Nodding in affirmation, Vahn surprised Sarina quite a bit by extending an invisible 'hand' to caress the top of her head. Then, before she could make sense of what had happened, he used the same hand to grasp hers, gently pulling her along with a wry yet amused smile on his face.........Since it would have been a little too troublesome to allow the girl to use his lap as a pillow, Vahn produced a memory foam pillow from thin air before further surprising Sarina as he pulled a cold compress and several other items from his Inventory. He even earned a few curious glances from various passersby, as, even in the Divine Realm, Gifts related to Spatial or Interdimensional Storage were remarkably rare.Unable to contain her curiosity, Sarina, sitting immediately to Vahn's left, decided to ask, "Just what is your Gift? Could it be...you have more than one...?"Though it wasn't unheard of, quite the contrary, it was uncommon for people who had just arrived in the Divine Realm to possess numerous Gifts. Summoning someone with just a single Gift took an unreasonable amount of resources. Thus, unless Vahn had 'strayed' into the Divine Realm, the only way he could possess numerous Gifts was if someone unreasonably powerful had both summoned and abandoned him...After folding the cold compress and placing it on the sleeping girl's forehead, Vahn elected to tease Sarina a bit by musing, "You would have a harder time ascertaining what I can't do than discovering what I can..."Punctuating his words, Vahn created a spherical pill in his left hand, its surface covered in a peculiar rainbow hue that obscured countless runic symbols. Had this been a lower realm, its presence alone would have been enough to cause the flow of time in their surroundings to stagnate. Instead, it just shimmered with a hazy light that caused it to appear as though it was moving in slow motion as he extended it towards Sarina and said, "Eat this. It will unlock the potential hidden within your body. I don't mind helping you grow stronger, but it will be your own efforts that allow you to stand at the peak..."Since she had already decided to follow someone who was basically a stranger, Sarina saw no harm in accepting 'candy' from them. Thus, without any real hesitation, she picked up the rainbow-hued pill and scrutinizing it like a piece of vibrant opal before tossing it to the back of her throat. To her surprise, she didn't actually have to swallow anything, as, the moment the pill entered her mouth, it 'melted' into a liquid form of light that instantaneously spread through her mouth before suffusing throughout the rest of her body.Alleviating some of the girl's confusion, Vahn explained, "It's my own version of a Heaven-Grade Pill known as the Innate Awakening Pill. Innates are essentially the framework of the abilities referred to as Gifts in the Divine Realm. Contrary to what others would have you believe, these can't actually be taken away. In the absolute worst-case scenario, they can be sealed away or weakened. To that end, the Gifts in this world are basically just pale imitations of a person's Innate, not the ability itself..."As he was saying these things, Vahn was also looking over Sarina's Status to confirm whether or not the pill had worked. It only had a 10% chance of success, but, even if it failed, it would still awaken a unique ability related to the Innate's awakening. This would drastically increase Sarina's power, and, so long as he guided her properly, it was only a matter of time before her Innates awakened...-----------------------------------------------[Status]Name: SarinaAge: 10Race: High HumanParameters: [Transcendental Path to Heaven]Strength: 3FAgility: 8FDexterity: 4FIntelligence: 15FLuck: 20FSpirit: 2FWisdom: 5FCharisma: 11FDivinity: N/AAuthority: N/AInnate(s): [Descendant of Hermes: F], [Talaria: (sealed)]Gift(s): [Don't Shoot the Messenger: D]Talent(s): [Language Comprehesion: F], [Reading: F], [Writing: F], [Cooking: F], [Cleaning: F], [Farming: F], [Sewing: F], [Arithmetic: F]...[Don't Shoot the Messenger]Rank: DFunction: Causes non-homing projectile attacks to curve around the user.-----------------------------------------------Though Vahn wasn't entirely sure how each of the parameters broke down into quantifiable values, it was easy to understand from Sarina's Status that she was, basically, just a normal girl. Sure, being a descendant of Hermes was rather impressive in the lower realms, but, here in the Little Garden, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that the majority of citizens were the descendent of some wayward Hero, God, Divine Spirit, or something similar...-----------------------------------------------[Status]Name: Vahn Aldrnari MasonAge: 0, AgelessRace: True Dragon, (sealed)Parameters: [Transcendental Path to Heaven]Strength: 1,492,734,993SAgility: 911,366SDexterity: 1,619,510SIntelligence: 1,450,007SLuck: 903DSpirit: 3,492,212SWisdom: 18,778,983,418,004SSSCharisma: 188,854BDivinity: Creation(B), Destruction(C), Space(C), Time(C), Forging(B), Sword(B), Spear(D), Archery(E), Life(B), Death(D), Nature(A), Wisdom(S), Sun(D), Moon(D), Sky(C), Sex(A)Authority: Self-Enforced(???)Soul Tier: 5Karma: 118Innate(s): [Will of the Emperor: SSS], [Rakshasa Body: SS-&gt;A], [Keeper of the Akashic Tome: B-&gt;C], [Eyes of Truth: A-&gt;C], [Universal Mind: B], [Actualization: (-)]Gift(s): [Authority: ???], [Hands of Nirvana: S], [Breath of Life: B], [Touch of Death: D], [Enkidu: C], [Lævateinn: S], [Alpha: A], [Beta: B], [Gamma: B], [Delta: B]...(A/N: This list would literally be longer than several chapters combined...)Talent(s): (A/N: There is very little that Vahn is unable to do and nothing he can't do...so...yeah...)-----------------------------------------------Despite feeling suffocatingly weak right now, Vahn's Status showed that he was anything but. His Wisdom, in particular, was a phenomenal value that seemed to defy common sense. Then again, he was technically an amalgamation of the knowledge and experiences of various Templates, several of which were derived from Sis. He had also 'downloaded' hundreds of thousands of grimoires to his mind, and, thanks to the Law of Identity, he had even memorized some of the contents contained within the Sacred Tome...("I never even considered myself a God of Wisdom, yet it is apparently my most comprehensive Divinity...you learn something new every day...")(*Quite literally...*)Smiling in response to Sis's witty retort, Vahn was about to issue his own when Sarina suddenly pulled out a pale green tarot card, smiling as she exclaimed, "It actually worked...!"Noticing the curious and greedy gazes of several pedestrians the moment Sarina pulled out the card, Vahn created an illusory barrier with a wave of his hand, effectively erasing their presence in the eyes of others as he said, "You shouldn't take that out in public. They might not be able to take it from you, but that won't stop people from challenging you to a Gift Game..."Though Vahn didn't actually know what the card was, it didn't take long for the Loi-chan, appearing as Shiroyasha, to explain things. It was apparently known as a Fragment of Laplace, and, as could be expected, it was basically the manifestation of a person's Gift.Having learned this, Vahn imagined his own Gifts manifesting, and, as a result, he ended up with a veritable mountain of cards erupting from his chest like a broken faucet. This caused the previously excited Sarina to adopt a flawless deadpan, as, even after a full minute had passed, cards continued to fly out of him without end.With his enhanced senses, Vahn was able to see that the vast majority of these Gift Cards were the manifestation of knowledge, skills, and abilities possessed by his Templates. This included hundreds of thousands of individual grimoires, Zanpakuto, legendary weapons, powerful armors, and a whole host of other abilities. If he hadn't turned it off, the entire plaza might have been filled with cards by the time the flow began to reduce. As for when it would end, well, even he didn't know the answer to that question...Seeing the veritable mountain of cards that had 'leaked' from Vahn's body, Sarina vaguely recalled his previous remark about it being harder to ascertain what he couldn't do. She had thought he was bragging at the time, but, now that she saw this absolutely ludicrous sight, the realization that she might have fallen in love with someone completely ridiculous had cemented itself within her mind.........(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Happy birthday to the ground...!','Bruh...that Luck parameter...','I imagined Shiroyasha performing a spit take when she saw this taking place xD...')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/Jwa8PKh

Due to the nature of the Divine Realm, virtually every inhabitant belonged to an organization known as a Community. Even Gods, Demons, Asuras, and Dragons were no exception to this, not because they were particularly interested in following rules, but because they didn't really have a choice.In the Divine Realm, a person's individual power, represented by various Gifts and Divine Blessings, took a back seat to the Authority possessed by the most powerful beings within the Realm. Simply put, it didn't matter how powerful you were prior to entering the Divine Realm. If you didn't have a sufficiently powerful backer or the requisite Authority to guarantee your own, you might as well be powerless.Regardless of their status in the Outer Worlds, every new arrival in the Divine Realm's started off in the fringe territories with absolutely no Authority to their name. This meant, without a backer, they could only make use of their power in very specific circumstances. More often than not, this meant participating in a Community-sponsored event known as a 'Gift Game'.Though there were circumstances that allowed children to be born, the vast majority of the Little Garden's inhabitants were entities that had either taken a part in its creation or were summoned there, specifically, as a result of their Gifts. These were, in the most simple of terms, non-standard Innates that could be transferred between people. Examples might include someone's Sharingan, or, much like the Heroic Spirits of the Nasuverse, abilities tied to specific legends or events.The primary purpose of the Divine Realm, as the Invitation Letter made readily apparent, was to pit the most powerful being from countless metaversal structures against each other to determine who was the most powerful. To this end, the beings at the absolute pinnacle of power had structured the world in such a way that the various Gifts possessed by its inhabitants could be won or lost. In other words, a single person could collect countless Gifts by challenging other residents. They would then bequeath these Gifts to other members of their Community with the end goal of taking over one of the many Gates comprising the Little Garden.Much like Vahn's original Little Garden, the Little Garden of the Divine Realm was separated into a total of seven concentric regions. These were further subdivided into various Gates, ownership of which allowed the Communities in charge to enforce inviolable Laws over the lesser Communities inhabiting their territory.As could be expected, the Authority of a Community was directly related to the number of Gates it controlled. Lower numbered Gates, meaning those that existed within regions closer to the center of the Little Garden, granted exponentially more Authority. In other words, the penultimate goal of anyone looking to test the limits of their power was to become a One-Digit Community. This would allow them to occupy territory near the center of the Little Garden, and, as a result, they would have the Authority to pass Laws that affected, not just the Communities located in the higher-digit Gates, but the structure of all realities.Simply put, the strongest existence within the Little Garden was basically the strongest existence in all realities. This was a status coveted by many, so, despite being one of the most unforgiving places in the entire Order of Creation, there was no end to the number of people who accepted invitations to partake in the crucible that was the Little Garden's Gift Games.Unfortunately, as horrifying as having your Gift stolen was, it was far from the only thing that could be wagered. Rather, due to the nature of the Divine Realm, being that it existed above all realities, it was possible to wager everything from your language proficiency to your literal existence across all realities. The only real limitation regarding what could be wagered was that both sides had to offer something of relative or equivalent value. Other than that, everything else was fair game.........As the Floor Master of the Eastern Quadrant of the Little Garden, Shiroyasha had Authority second only to a handful of individuals within the entire Divine Realm. She was also one of the founders of a Community known as Thousand Eyes, a Four-Digit Trade Community with more than a thousand branches extending from the 3345th Gate to the 2105380th Gate. This might sound like a lot, but, when you considered there were a grand total of 7,777,777 Gates in existence, owning a thousand branches as the former Rank 10 being in the entire Divine Realm was rather small.Unfortunately, Shiroyasha had given up most of her power and the status associated with it when she effectively 'retired'. The only thing she really cared about these days was watching interesting events play out, so, more often than not, she could be found lounging about in her room, eating snacks, and spying on events in the lower realms. In other words, she was essentially a lazy otaku, as, from the perspective of beings in the Divine Realm, all other realities were fiction.Shiroyasha's interest in Vahn was related to his existence as a singularity, something that shouldn't exist within the structure of the lower realms. All of the past, present, and future had already taken place in the lower realms, and, while there were new branches constantly being created, uncovering a single singularity among them was impossible. He also possessed knowledge that someone in the lower realms shouldn't have access to, but, rather than asking him to reveal his sources, Shiroyasha left Vahn speechless by guiding him to the outermost gate before promptly stating, "You're on your own from here. I'm not fond of babysitting, so, as you suggested, I'll be kicking back, relaxing, and enjoying the show. Feel free to stop by one of the Thousand Eyes locations if you want to exchange or purchase information."With that being said, Shiroyasha flew off before the crowd gathering in the streets could pester her. She might have abandoned her status as a Demon God, but, as the Floor Master of the entire East Side, there was no end to the number of people trying to curry favor with her. She had absolutely no interest in such things, so, unless they were someone close to her back in her Demon God days, she tended to ignore the politics of the Little Garden to the point of neglecting her duties.Wanting to ask her a few questions regarding the Little Garden and its structure, Vahn attempted to step through the Gate only to be blocked by an invisible barrier. At the same time, a status window similar to the type you would see in a video game popped up, informing him: Access Denied. Please Register your Identity at the nearest Gate Station.Knocking on the transparent window, Vahn was tempted to force his way through when the leader of a group of children, the oldest appearing no older than ten, advised, "I wouldn't try it, Onii-chan. The barriers barring entry into the Little Garden cannot be broken with physical strength or magical power. There have been people who spent days trying only to become laughing stocks the moment they entered the Gate..."Looking down, quite literally, Vahn found a little girl with short black hair and deep purple eyes staring up at him with a slightly concerned expression on her face. Her form-fitting white blouse and frilly red skirt made her stand out quite a bit, but, more so than anything else, it was the fact that all the other children surrounding her were dressed like orphans that caught Vahn's attention. Some were even carrying buckets filled with water, much like children fetching fresh water from a river in a rural village...Resisting his almost instinctual urge to pat the little girl's head, Vahn adopted an appreciative smile on his face as he said, "Thank you for your advice, Miss...?"Though she had thought Vahn was handsome from his side profile, the girl blushed beet red the moment he directed his ostensibly perfect smile towards her. She even stumbled backward a few steps, hand grasping her chest as she stammered, "M-M-Miss? Me...?" before quickly recovering enough of her faculties to answer, "M-My name is Sarina...!" in an excitedly bashful tone.Before he even realized what he was doing, Vahn extended his hand to caress Sarina's head as he amusedly replied, "Thank you for your advice, Miss Sarina. I'll be sure to repay this kindness in the future."With a veritable plume of steam rising from her head, Sarina found herself unable to respond to Vahn's words. It was only when he sought out one of the officials manning the Gate that she came back to her senses and flusteredly exclaimed, "I-If you don't have a place to go, you're welcome to join our Community! We don't have much, but there are lots of kind people who will welcome you!"Looking back, Vahn was about to answer when a man with red skin and four muscular arms butt in, saying, "Don't let those urchins fool you, mate. Giftless brats like those could only belong to a No-Name Community. If you're confident in the abilities you possessed on the outside, you should look into the Communities located near the Six-Digit Gates. If you're just lookin' to get your dick wet, the Crimson Moon Community manages a brothel filled with youthful-lookin' girls from various species. Don't waste your time on brats like this."Though he understood the man was just trying to give him some friendly advice, Vahn's expression immediately darkened at the mention of a Community that specializes in whoring out young, or, at the very least, youthful-looking girls. Sure, approximately a fifth of his harem was on the dainty side of the spectrum, but, understanding the basics of Divine Realm, it wasn't difficult to imagine most, if not all of the girls in the Crimson Moon Community being forced to be there.Raising two of his four arms in a gesture of surrender, the red-skinned man began to slowly back away as he said, "Woah, there. No need to get upset, fella. I ain't a member of the Crimson Moon Community. I'm just a simple butcher in the Apopo Trade Community. I wasn't trying to offend you or anything."Though Vahn was very clearly a new arrival in the Divine Realm, the aura emanating from his body was reminiscent of a member of the Strongest Species. This was a term colloquially associated with the three most powerful species in the Divine Realm, chiefly: Divine Spirits, Celestial Spirits, and True Dragons. Since all three could take on human forms, it was possible that even a beggar might be a True Dragon in disguise, so, the moment he noticed Vahn's pupils contract into thin slits, the four-armed man immediately tried to deescalate the situation.Snorting through his nose, Vahn decided to ignore the four-armed man as he shifted his attention to the now apologetic-looking Sarina. She felt like she had deceived him by trying to invite him to join their no-name community, as, despite her words attesting to there being a number of people willing to welcome him being true, it was also true that they possessed very few Gift Holders. This was, ironically, one of the few reasons they hadn't been subdued by one of the larger Communities. They simply weren't worth the trouble...Before Sarina could even think to apologize, Vahn returned his hand to her head, willfully messing up her hair before saying, "Relax. You didn't do anything wrong. Rather, it is the right of children to shamelessly rely on others. The real issue here is the society you're growing up in. Let's fix that, shall we...?"Though she didn't fully understand the context of Vahn's words, Sarina could tell he was offering to help them. This filled her with a strange feeling of ease, as, despite having just met, she could feel a certain 'reliability' radiating from the inordinately handsome man caressing her head. Thus, despite their Leader often telling them not to trust strangers, a radiant smile blossomed across Sarina's face as she intoned a happy, "Nn~!"......(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Basically No-Game No-Life on steroids xD...','Four-armed bro almost stepped on a Vahnmine...','Yes? FBI-sama? He's at it again...')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/Jwa8PKh

Chapter 2046: Setting Out