Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Since it was one of the things they were most interested in, it wasn’t long before Vahn found himself standing next to Solon as the latter analyzed the Quest Board, searching for a suitable Quest. It took completing at least one Quest to activate the Skill Tree so, curious to experience it themselves, Solon was eager to accept their first.

What bothered them was the fact that, among the Quests listed, Solon noticed the majority had the reward of Loyalty listed, a mechanic Vahn had already explained in detail. This effectively meant the more a person used the Quest Board, the more Loyal they would become to Vahn. Though this was a rather common arrangement, as even Noble families offered power in exchange for loyalty, it was a different matter entirely when the person you formed a pact with was a God.

To further exacerbate matters, Solon learned exactly what kind of Divinity Vahn possessed, causing them to immediately reconsider becoming his Subordinate. Unfortunately, the die had already been cast so, after obtaining ridiculously potent Magic Circuits, combined with their understanding of his power, Solon could only accept their fate. After all, even without these things, Vahn had a great deal of leverage over them due to the fact he could produce World Trees.

After ruminating over their options, Solon ended up touching an E-Rank Quest that rewarded a mere 150 Variable Experience and 10 Loyalty. The Objectives were extremely simple to complete and, after everything that had happened, they had a strong desire to just wrap everything up and take a nap. It had been a tiring day so, if it meant they could relax, suffering a moment of shame was a price they were willing to pay.

Seeing which Quest Solon had selected, Vahn was slightly surprised but, knowing they couldn’t easily ask, he took the initiative to extend his hand, lightly patting their head. This caused Solon to slouch forward, their bangs covering their eyes, but Vahn could still feel their mixed feelings even without seeing their face. He had selectively chosen a few Quests with Loyalty rewards since Solon’s current value was only 48.

Since it was dangerous to let a Loyalty value decrease below 50, as it could suffer a rapid decline at any given moment, Vahn had skewed the odds in his favor. Most of the higher-ranked, non-Loyalty, Quests listed would take several days to complete so Solon’s only real options, if they wanted to get their first Quest out of the way, was to choose one of the D or E-Rank Quests, all of which required them to do something they would generally find embarrassing.

It was likely a result of the previous procedure and related events, but Solon now seemed more willing to allow for physical contact. The other options included things like walking around and greeting people, performing menial chores, dancing in public, and other troublesome things. In comparison, having their head pat for a total of ten minutes was a relatively tame Objective so, while nobody else was around, Solon swallowed their pride and allowed Vahn to demonstrate exactly why he was called the Godhand.

Though he could have gone easy on them, making use of his Petting Laws to a minor extent, Vahn felt he wouldn’t have many opportunities to make an impression on Solon. He wasn’t going to go out of his way to meet with them that often and, given their nature, Solon was very unlike to seek him out for anything. Thus, while the opportunity presented itself, Vahn was going to take advantage of the situation, fully aware of how much frustration it would cause them. Now, when Solon spied on him and the girls, the memory of this moment would be waiting to creep upon them...

Feeling the warm and pleasant energy flowing from Vahn’s hand, Solon forced themselves to clench their teeth but, after a few minutes had passed, even that became impossible. They began to feel an indescribable amount of comfort that caused their thoughts to wander aimlessly. Then, all too soon, the comfortable feeling had passed, followed by Vahn casually informing, "Ten minutes have passed. Go ahead and turn in your Quest and see what Skills are available to you."

For a brief moment, Solon was confused by Vahn’s explanation as, due to the latter’s effort, they had actually forgotten what they were doing prior to the head pat. It was only after several seconds had passed that they realized what had happened, their hands forming into fists as they tried to rid their body of the remnants of the calming energy. This ultimately proved futile, however, due to Vahn’s infusion of Source Energy into the affecting energy.

After failing in their endeavor for several frustrating seconds, Solon eventually released a tired sigh before shaking their head and submitting the Quest. They felt like Vahn was teaching them of the ’futility’ of opposing him so the best method to deal with the current situation was simply to remove themselves from it. Thus, after turning in the Quest and confirming the semi-transparent Skill Tree did, in fact, exist, Solon looked back at Vahn and said, "I’ll be going now. Unless there is something important, please don’t bother me any time soon."

With Solon’s Loyalty going up to 55 during his petting and 65 after completing their Quest, Vahn had no reason to continue pressuring them. Even without him being around, their Loyalty would slowly increase with each use of the Quest Board, irrespective of whether or not in offered Loyalty as a reward. Unless Solon was convinced by external forces to proactively oppose him, something that was all but impossible, it was only a matter of time until the green-haired Magus relented.

Understanding this, Vahn nodded his head in response, saying, "As I said before, I don’t have any intentions of really telling you how to live. Still, I do hope you’ll be more considerate of the people I leave in your charge. The Clock Tower is still in a tumultuous state so, rather than spying on me all the time, you should consider making sure the students are kept safe."

Hearing Vahn mention spying, Solon’s face became somewhat solemn as their Loyalty decreased to 64 before jumping up to 66 a moment later. Then, without deigning to respond, one of the rings on their finger flashed with a brilliant light. When it had faded, Solon was nowhere to be seen but, as a result of Subordinating the hermetic Magus, Vahn could still sense them. Rather, he could basically sense ’everything’ within the Bounded Field of the Clock Tower due to his Map Function and Unit Management.

It rarely came into play but, ever since the completion of his Main Quest back in Danmachi, Vahn had always been able to ’see’ everything within the territory he owned. As a result, even without using his domain, he could track the physical location of everyone on Avalon and, based on the color of their dot on his Map, they could easily be identified as friend or foe.

Better yet, if they were one of his actual subordinates, Vahn could freely teleport them around his territory, albeit at a cost of Loyalty, Belief, Allegiance, or Fealty. For this reason, he only ever used this functionality during emergencies as, even without it, he could teleport around using his, or Alaya’s, power. Still, suddenly having a perfect map of everything within the Clock Tower’s Bounded Field had confirmed something Vahn had been curious about for a few years now; the fact that the properties of his Subordinates were also his own.

The link Vahn had with those listed in his Unit Management wasn’t a simple promise that could be thrown away and discarded on a whim. It was something quantifiable and, in more ways that one, it even transcended most lesser forms of contracts. After all, at high enough values, he could tell those within his Unit Management to basically do anything and, so long as it didn’t conflict with their own values too much, they would obey. Even now, if he really wanted to, he could transmit the thought to Solon, ’focus on becoming more loyal’ and, as it wouldn’t directly contradict with their intentions, they would begin to do so as if it was an original thought of their own...

Vahn rarely exploited this ability intentionally but, at times like this, he knew it could be the lesser of two evils. Thus, after considering the matter for a few moments, he transmitted an earnest plea of sorts, mentally commanding, ’Do not compromise yourself in an attempt to please me. Live the life you please and find what makes you happy. Never go out of your way to harm others unless they pose a threat to you, the things you want to protect, and those you are charged with protecting.’

After transmitting his intentions, Vahn stood with his eyes closed for a few seconds before a small smile spread across his face. The fact Solon’s Loyalty hadn’t been affected meant his order basically coincided with their original intentions. This confirmed his suspicions about the elusive Director as, while they didn’t like to associate with people, they still cared about the World as a whole. The fact they had committed to this thankless task for millennia was a testament to this so, with the order he had given them, Solon would eventually find happiness for themselves.

With another troublesome task taken care of, Vahn spent a few moments to stretch his body before teleporting to the Department of Unified Magical Theory’s primary training field. He was supposed to act as an Advisor in their afternoon classes but, due to the matter with Solon taking longer than expected, he was a little late. It would have been possible to head there with his second body but, after everything that had already happened throughout the day, Vahn needed some time to cool off.

Just as he would visit various people throughout the day, Vahn’s always set aside time to spend a few hours meditating atop Leviathan. This was actually an important part of his training, as he spent the time focusing on his comprehension of the Laws, so it wasn’t as if he was slacking off. Rather, if he didn’t go to Leviathan every now and then, the massive Watcher would be the one to call upon him, often by whispering through his shadow or sending someone like Amelia and Ikaros to retrieve him.

Since the Watcher existed for the purpose of elevating its Master to a higher level, Vahn needed to periodically undergo various trials within its labyrinthine interior. With his capabilities, these had all proven relatively easy to complete but it was still a very useful training method. After all, he didn’t have many chances to fight actual opponents these days so, with his Daily Gacha rarely giving him anything good, Vahn had been stockpiling Premium Gacha pulls by killing the ’boss’ monsters within.

Eventually, once he reached a higher tier Record, Vahn was intending to use his stockpiled Gacha pulls and Upgrade Stones. They were infinitely more useful in higher-tiered Records so, with the Nasuverse basically providing him with everything he needed to succeed, Vahn hadn’t felt the need to waste them. Rather, there weren’t any items that would be more useful to him than existences like Alaya, Tiamat, Arcueid, Aoko, Illya, and Spenta. With them on his side, there were very few things in the world that could threaten him as, soon enough, the World itself would be on his side.

Though he already had CHALDEAS to serve a similar function, Vahn imagined it would be quite the eye-opening experience to have an entire planet mapped within his system. This would allow him to not only track the location of everyone on the planet but, as a quirk of the Minimap Function, even the location of plants and animals would be within his perception. Then, much like how he was able to send his intent around, Vahn would be able to view functionally any part of the planet by simply creating a window within his field of view. Though it wasn’t true omniscience, his enemies, especially, wouldn’t be able to tell the difference...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’I blame Loki’,’Vahn be schemin’...’,’I feel bad for the Gods that cause trouble in the future xD...’)