Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Vahn awoke after four hours of rest and turned to see that Evangeline was still at her desk and translating books. After stretching a bit, Vahn asked with a yawn, "Do you not sleep?" Evangeline’s pen stopped moving as she looked over at him with cold eyes and said, "What, did you expect me to sleep in the same bed that you occupy? I’m not one of your little girlfriends in the outside world."

Rubbing his head to alleviate the awkwardness, Vahn couldn’t help but frown a bit as he said, "I wasn’t asking you to sleep at the same time, I was just curious since it’s been almost an entire day and you’re still awake." Evangeline’s brows furrowed a bit as she turned away and continued writing in her journal without responding to his question. Vahn just shook his head before leaving the bed and continuing his work in processing the materials.

Unlike the prior day, when Evangeline would constantly interrupt to ask him questions, she seemed to be keeping to herself which allowed Vahn to make steady progress. This was now the beginning of the fifth day since he started processing materials, and he had been intended to begin forging equipment soon. Every time he named an item after forging, he would gain marginally more OP than the requisite materials used in its construction. Vahn was excited by the prospect of creating an infinite loop which allowed him to gain experience, OP, and Valis when he sold the items later. Unlike equipment purchased from the system, he could give away the items he forged without relying on the ’gift’ function in the system.

Since he had been naming so many items, Vahn had inspected his [Keeper of the Akashic Tome] through the system and learned a very pleasant fact. Even though the system time showed the passage of time in the real world, the cooldowns on his abilities seemed to be tied to the passage of time within the orb. His original 60-day cooldown was already less than 39 days, even though only around two weeks had passed in the real world. At this rate, he could reduce the cooldown on his abilities by around 7 days per actual day that passed in the real world. (A/N: 6 days in the space, 1 day in the real world.)

With all this new information, Vahn forged in high spirits and wanted to improve his skills as much as he could before the cooldown finally came to an end. He planned to use part of the time till then to create the framework for an item which he intended to name using the power of his Innate skill, instead of the traditional naming method. He already had a few ideas in mind and was trying to decide which of them would be the most optimal for his future progress. Though it wouldn’t have the same power as the original, if Vahn decided to forge a sword and name it Excalibur, he knew that it would possess a fragment of the power of the original. If he put effort into it, it would even be able to grow and exceed the original in the future.

Right now, Vahn didn’t have much need for equipment, since his [Rakshasa Body] gave him incredible fighting potential. He also had [Enkidu] as well as his [Will of the Emperor] which would give him an edge over almost anyone. However, this didn’t mean he had no interest in equipment at all since the idea of wielding cool looking armor and weapons made him feel excited. Even if he didn’t use them much, just being able to wear them would be awesome.

Vahn knew these were all matters for the future, so he didn’t spend too much time thinking about it. Once he got out of the space, he would have a lot of recreational time to consider things, so, for now, he continued to forge the large weapon he started earlier. After seeing the ’Urga’ of Tiona, Vahn had wanted to try creating a similar weapon. Even with his powerful physical strength, he still had trouble handling the metal after realizing how difficult it was to work with a heavy and long object.

It took him nearly twelve hours to shape the 140kg piece of metal into the correct shape while ensuring it had proper balance. Without the support of his domain and control over fire, Vahn would have been unable to complete the weapon, since it was far more difficult than he had expected. After consideration, he mocked himself for making it all as one part instead of creating a mold for the individual blades and then linking them together later. However, since it was all one piece during its construction, the mana circuits were linked properly and the entirety of the blade was far more durable. He had used a triple layer composite of adamantine for the core, mithril to act as a cushion and conduit around that with reinforced magisteel lining the edges.

Vahn held the gigantic weapon that was longer than he was tall, and marveled at his own personal achievement. For the time being, this was his greatest masterpiece, and he even considered holding onto it until the cooldown of his Akashic Tome had ended so he could give it a powerful name. Eventually, he decided against waiting, because he was curious how much OP he would get from completing a weapon that far exceeded even his own expectations. After a bit of deliberation, he decided to name the weapon [Dance of the Amazon] after imaging Tiona jumping around and cutting through monsters in her characteristic lively movements. The moment he decided on the name, Vahn obtained 3,705 OP from the system and couldn’t help but smile at the result.

[Dance of the Amazon]

Rank: A (Magic)

Slots: 0

P.Atk: 911+90

M.Atk: 83

Ability: Impact Dampening(B), Hardening(C), Crushing Blow(A)

A gigantic weapon comprised of two blades meticulously crafted to be well balanced for ease of use. Uses a triple-layer-composite to increase the durability and striking potential of the weapon. This weapon carries the will of its creator and the hope that it will allow the wielder to dance freely amongst their enemies. Creates a thin barrier of wind around the wielder that increases agility.

Seeing the description, Vahn couldn’t help but be pleased with his own workmanship. Though he didn’t know how his [Dance of the Amazon] stacked up against Tiona’s [Urga], he believed that his creation wouldn’t be far behind. Remembering that her weapon had been made by a [Master Smith], Vahn grew excited at the prospect that he wasn’t too far from that realm. His [Blacksmith] skill was already rank S, so the only thing he needed was experience, perseverance, and time.

Evangeline had raised her head to stare at the gawking face of Vahn as he looked at the abnormally large weapon with a silly expression on his face. Before long, he started swinging around the sword to test its use, and her brows raised a bit when she saw the elemental energies of wind dancing around his body. Though she could tell he was very skilled at forging, she hadn’t expected him to be able to create magical weapons with such ease. Generally speaking, it took a powerful catalyst like a magic core or artifact if you wanted to make a magical weapon, but Vahn was able to do it using his forging skills alone.

Placing her pen down, she left the large chair Vahn had purchased for her and used Shundo to immediately close the distance between her and Vahn. Since he had been testing the weapon, Vahn had his domain focused and his senses heightened enough to be able to catch Evangeline’s movements. He still couldn’t catch her actual speed, but he was able to sense when she entered and exited the movement at the very least. Expecting her to suddenly attack, Vahn got into a position to intercept, but she just ended up standing in front of him and giving him a strange and amused look.

Seeing the small girl looking at him in such a manner, Vahn couldn’t help but feel a hint of embarrassment. If it wasn’t for [Will of the Emperor] helping him maintain his calm, he expected that he might have blushed a bit. Before he asked, Evangeline answered his question, "I wanted to inspect that weapon you made. I can sense it possesses a magical ability as well as a powerful affinity for magic in general. It’s actually pretty impressive that you’re able to forge such a weapon considering your age. I guess your intentions of becoming a [Master Smith] aren’t as baseless as I expected."

Reaching out her hands to accept the weapon, Vahn looked at her for a moment before handing it over. It annoyed him how her ’compliments’ always seemed to have sharp criticisms hidden inside them, but he was quickly learning that it was Evangeline’s way of concealing her own emotions. Since he could easily see her aura, it was very difficult for her to fool him just based on her words and actions alone. Though Vahn still remained on guard a bit after his negotiations with Loki, he had quickly understood how to better read the aura by matching against the values in the system.

After Evangeline received the [Dance of the Amazon], she was surprised when her hands dropped a few millimeters. Though she expected it to be heavy, it was a bit more than her assumption due to the adamantine core. Swinging it around a bit, she could feel the wind forming a small barrier around her that made her body feel lighter. With a slight smile on her face, she disappeared from in front of Vahn before reappearing nearly 200m away in an instant.

Vahn was amazed by the sheer speed she was capable of achieving and wondered if he should ask her to teach him that movement. He could tell it was some kind of technique, but he wasn’t able to understand the principles behind it presently. While he was a bit lost in thought, he saw Evangeline jump high into the air before coming to a stop. Vahn’s brain started to buzz because the moment she came to a stop he could feel an incredible amount of magic flowing through the air like an endless tidal wave that made him feel a bit pressured.

Evangeline wanted to see how useful the giant weapon was as a magical catalyst and she was amazed by how smoothly her magic could consolidate and flow through the blade. She felt like the weapon in her hands could rival some of the masterpieces created by magical blacksmiths back in Mundus Magicus. If she hadn’t seen the process herself from start to finish, she wouldn’t have believed Vahn was the one who forged the item in her hands. After her magic reached a critical level, she spun around in the air once and struck out with the heavy weapon.

From Vahn’s perspective, the moment Evangeline spun around, the entire world seemed to slow down as the image in his eyes was magnified with an incredible amount of clarity. He felt like he could see every movement of the muscles beneath her skin and dress, and could even see the flow of the magic creating thousands of small magical circles in the air around her. The attack that shot out from [Dance of the Amazons] seemed to contain an irresistible force which collided with the ground and sent a shockwave that reached his position from 200m away, even though she had aimed in the opposite direction. Vahn stared in horror at the giant pillar that seemed to stretch to the heavens from where her magical energy had struck. By the time the light had disappeared, there was a canyon-sized hole with the infinite white space of the floor that slowly started regenerating.

When Evangeline nodded her head with a satisfied look on her face, Vahn felt a sudden throb in his mind as both of his eyes started to emit a painful sensation which caused him to close them with a grimace. From her elevated position, Evangeline saw Vahn’s state and had a questioning look on her face as she teleported next to him without saying anything. She could feel the mana in his body converging on his eyes and around his brain and knew that he had likely awakened something due to watching her earlier actions.

After a few excruciating seconds, blood started to drips from Vahn’s closed eyes and Evangeline began to worry as she watched him continue to struggle. Since she had no understanding of his magic system and origins, she didn’t know what she could do to help. When Vahn fell to his knees and clutched his palms over his eyes, she felt a slight twinge in her heart as she grits her teeth and watched the process complete. It took nearly twenty minutes, but the energy began to stabilize in his body before he finally passed out.

Vahn fell face first onto the ground with tears of blood dripping down his face, but he no longer had a pained expression. After sighing in relieve, Evangelina used telekinesis to pick up his body and lay him down on the bed. Using a handkerchief, she wiped the blood away from his face. After he was cleaned up, Evangeline stared at him blankly for a few minutes before she was unable to resist her own curiosity any longer. Using her index and thumb, she opened the eyelids of Vahn to inspect if there had been any changes to his eyes. Though he still had the same aquamarine colored iris, she could see there was a hint of azure blue around the pupils which glowed with a magical light.

Evangeline released a long sigh as she let Vahn’s eye return to a closed state. Everything about him was a mystery, and the longer she was around him, the more the mysteries seemed to deepen. Since she knew about his past from his own recounting of events, she began to wonder why those researchers had tracked him down in the first place. She knew it likely had something to do with his blood, but there seemed to be far more to the story than Vahn understood from the events. Sitting on the bed next to him, Evangeline watched his sleeping face with a bit of curiosity and intrigue in her eyes.

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Amazon bait’,’Forging Cheat’,’Jiiiiiiiiiiii-’)