Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Though they might be as powerful as some of his other Templates, Vahn had succeeded in all three of his experiments. This included creating a Template with functionally infinite adaptability, another with a truly game-like Class system, and, last but not least, a truly unique entity that made use of a system fabricated entirely within Vahn’s mind.

Representing the being with infinite adaptability, Vahn decided to use Rimuru Tempest, the same Slime that Sis had alluded to previously. He had always been rather fond of the Record ever since his time in the Xenos Village, so, while there were a few subtle changes to their character, Rimuru was the same kind and caring person they were presented as in their original Record. The only real difference was that their base human transformation resembled an individual that held considerable status and authority within the Divine Realm.

Since the only way to gain access to the Divine Realm was to be ’invited’ there, Vahn was hoping he could catch the interest of one of the many omniscient beings that resided there. He might not be able to succeed with just a single Template, but, once someone realized he was borrowing the form of various beings within the Divine Realm, it was only a matter of time before they investigated and discovered his anomalous properties. The only problem was, while they would normally be able to observe the past, present, and future to determine who was qualified to enter the Divine Realm, the only way they would be able to observe him is by tracking him to the ’present’.

With a functionally unlimited amount of time on their hands, Vahn believed that, even if it wasn’t himself, one of his Templates would inevitably reach the Divine Realm. He would become aware of this the moment it happened, so, even if they were unable to invite him themselves, Vahn would be able to forge a path of his own through various means.

Luckily, one of the Floor Masters was a woman with an insatiably curious nature, and, though Vahn would unquestionably be ’forced’ to explain himself, she would be more amused than upset by the fact Rimuru had borrowed her form. After that, he just needed to keep her entertained, and, much like Loki, she would be pretty easy to manage. As for the name of this curious being, she was a truly breathtaking beauty by the name of Shiroyasha, the White Night Demon Goddess.

Even if Rimuru only ever came to possess a fraction of Shiroyasha’s ability as a result of sharing her likeness, they would quickly become one of the most powerful beings below the Divine Realm. After all, she was a Demon Goddess who casually collected Sun Authorities in spite of the fact she was a being closely associated with Yin and Darkness. She also had complete dominion over the direction and flow of all forms of energy, including the mysterious forces that spurred causality and fate.

Fortunately, alongside their [Predator], [Great Sage], and [Gluttony], Rimuru had gained an Innate known as [Intrigue of the Sun Goddess]. This implied that Shiroyasha was made aware of them the moment they were created, and, unsurprisingly, the Law of Identity had confirmed this. There was even a chance that she had already invited Rimuru to the Divine Realm, but, due to the peculiarities of Space-Time, Vahn would only know after the former vanished from the present time axis.

Since he wasn’t in a particular hurry to reach the Divine Realm, as he was still weak compared to beings in a much lower Realm, Vahn didn’t mind if Shiroyasha took her time reaching out to him. He still had a long journey ahead of him, and, though it ultimately had very little to do with him, he had already decided to effect change in the Tower before departing. Rimuru would undoubtedly convey this to Shiroyasha herself, so, for the next could of decades, Vahn knew he would have to live with the knowledge that a mischievous Demon Goddess was keeping a close eye on him.

When he first realized this, Vahn supposed he might as well make things as interesting as possible for the voyeuristic Goddess in order to curry a bit of favor prior to his ascent to the Divine Realm. He was no stranger to having his actions spied upon by others, so, rather than let it bother him, he decided to just go with the flow. This gave him a peculiar feeling of confidence, and, though it was impossible to know if it had any influence whatsoever, he liked to think that it had guaranteed the success of his second experimental Template.

Though Rimuru might represent infinite adaptability, Vahn’s second Template, inspired by the main character of a game known as Granblue Fantasy, had unmatched versatility. They were given a non-standard Innate in the form of a system that not only allowed them to freely change their name, it also allowed them to alternate between a male and female avatar, preload up to ten weapons into something known as a ’grid’, and, most notably, swap between one of ten starting Classes.

By default, Djeeta, the name chosen by the female avatar, had the option of choosing between the Fighter, Knight, Priest, Wizard, Thief, Enhancer, Grappler, Ranger, Harpist, and Lancer Classes. What made this most exciting was the fact that her Innates, as Vahn had hoped, changed in accordance with the Class she had equipped. The only constant among her Innates was the one that provided access to her System, the [Endless Granblue Fantasy System].

Though she would need to train each of the Classes individually, what made the [Endless Granblue Fantasy System] remarkable was the fact that she could actually ’equip’ the Skills of other Classes so long as she wasn’t in active combat. She also had a Party system that allowed up to five people to benefit from the various buffs provided by her Grids, greatly enhancing their power based on the effects of the weapons and items that had been assigned to the ten available slots.

The only real downside to Djeeta’s system seemed to be that she could only equip items that had been obtained through the [Endless Granblue Fantasy System]. Fortunately, there were many ways in which she could obtain items, the three most notable being her in-built Gacha System, her own version of a System Shop, and the compulsory drops she got whenever she or her Party defeated an enemy.

Though the Gacha and System Shop were both interesting, Vahn was far more interested in the last function. So long as Djeeta and her Party participated in the subjugation of a foe, the corpse of any enemies defeated would immediately produce a treasure chest. These could contain anything from golden coins to fully functional weapons, unique consumables, and even the Spirits of the monsters she had slain. These Spirits could then be slotted into her ’Summoning Grid’, further enhancing the capabilities of her Party members and allowing her to summon them in battle.

This was easily one of the most broken aspects of Djeeta’s system, but, as it was ultimately derived from a game, there were plenty of downsides. Chief among them was the fact that she needed to do almost everything on her own, including enhancing weapons, summons, and even ’characters’ through functions known as Uncapping and Upgrading. This was guaranteed to be an extremely time-consuming process, but, as there was a very real chance that she could ’summon’ additional characters through her Gacha System, there was a lot to be excited about.

Vahn had never played it himself, but he became aware of the existence of Granblue Fantasy during his attempts to locate the Record Fenrir’s name was derived from. He had been a little surprised to learn that her name originated from the Record of a Video Game, but, after researching it quite a bit, Vahn had developed quite an interest in the peculiar skyfaring world. As a result, he knew that it was essentially a game that revolved around a Gacha System that allowed you to summon virtually every character, weapon, or summon that existed within the verse. There were literally thousands of each, so, while she was bound to struggle in the beginning, it was only a matter of time before the roster of Djeeta’s ’Crew’ expanded to include literal Gods.

Unfortunately, even after completing a few basic missions, Djeeta was only able to get a single SSR weapon from her first 10-Consecutive Gacha Pull. This made it difficult to ascertain whether or not she could actually summon the ’characters’ from her Record of origin, but, considering everything else functioned similarly to the game, Vahn had high hopes for her future. In fact, he almost wished he was in her shoes, as, despite disliking how game-like his own life could be at times, Vahn found the [Endless Granblue Fantasy System] rather novel.

Fortunately, The Path had absolutely no limits, so, if he really wanted to, Vahn could develop his own System in a similar direction. For now, however, he was actually pretty content with the way things were. He had a clear path of progression for his own growth, and, though he found Djeeta’s system very interesting, his own System Functions were inarguably more versatile. Despite this, he didn’t really use them all that much, as, even without them, his power grew at a monstrous rate due to his own efforts.

Vahn was already benefitting greatly just from the creation of new Templates, so, while he resolved himself to develop his own System Functions in the future, it was a secondary concern. For now, he would benefit the most from developing his Innates, his two primary focuses being the [Universal Mind] and his [Eyes of Truth]. These would invariably allow him to reach Tier 5, and, if he used them properly, Vahn knew he could even kill someone on the level of Ureko with a timely activation of his ’Oblivion’ skill. He had confirmed long ago that injuries afflicted by his Oblivion could not be healed through conventional means, so, if he created a hole in someone’s brain, heart, or even their Ego, it would never recover.

With the goal of reaching the pinnacle of Tier 6 and stepping into the incomprehensible realm of Tier 7, Vahn knew the development of his Innates should be his highest priority. Thus, with the goal of pushing his [Universal Mind] to the next level, his last Template made use of a system that didn’t exist within his memory. It was something he had come up with alongside Sis, and, though he used an existing ’character’ as a point of reference for both appearance and personality, their system was something completely unique.

It was no secret that Vahn had always enjoyed cooking, so much so that he still held the desire to one day obtain the most expensive cooking manual from the System Shop. For now, however, he was content with creating a System aptly titled the [Ultimate Culinary God System]. It was a unique System that allowed the user to analyze and process virtually any ingredient, and, by creating new dishes, they could qualitatively increase their parameters while simultaneously empowering their allies.

Though there were diminishing returns from consuming the same dish over and over again, the fact the [Ultimate Culinary God System] allowed its user to create food capable of providing permanent buffs to their allies was truly monstrous. The only downside, if it could even be considered that, was that they needed to analyze and process every single ingredient in order to manually create recipes from scratch. As a result, they needed to be someone with an extreme passion for cooking, eating, and experimentation.

When he was first considering characters to serve as inspiration for his Template, Vahn, very briefly, considered a woman named Mana Nakiri and her daughter, Erina Nakiri. They were in possession of a unique ability known as [God’s Tongue], an Innate that drastically enhanced their sense of taste. It was considered the ’ultimate’ ability in a Record purely focused on cooking, but, in the end, the two inheritors of the ability weren’t particularly interesting characters. Fortunately, Vahn could easily just give it to someone else, so, without any hesitation, he bestowed both the [God’s Tongue] and the [Ultimate Culinary God System] to a mischievous redhead named Rindo Kobayashi...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Vahn planting flags years in advance...’,’Summer Zooey when?’,’Wow...never would have expected Vahn to choose a mischievous redhead over a troublesome blonde (OwO)...’)