Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Just as Shiroyasha, or, more accurately, Da Vinci had expected, the Communities specializing in the dissemination of news pounced the moment details regarding Vahn's Gift Game became known. As a result, it didn't even take a full twenty-four hours before people throughout the Little Garden, not just the East, began discussing the implications behind and potential ramifications of such an event.

The group most affected by the announcement was, unsurprisingly, the Kotoamatsukami. They had spent weeks slandering the Sage Dragon's Hearth, yet, due to Vahn's complete and utter dismissal of their antics, most of the rumors had already lost traction. Now, without even bothering to make a statement, Vahn had casually announced a Gift Game with rules that even a child could infer to be a provocation. Not towards the members of Kotoamtsukami, specifically, but everyone who had been eyeing the Sage Dragon's Hearth, its wealth, and its people.

Seraphina, Usalia, and even Fenrir had garnered themselves a considerable number of fans after their appearances in the Vahnatus. With the events of Zao Shin's Immortal Banquet also being made public, everyone knew that the Sage Dragon's Hearth was filled with inordinately beautiful and remarkably powerful women. This had garnered Vahn a substantial amount of hate and envy, so, now that they had the proper pretext, even Communities affiliated with organizations in the West were eager to take action.

Unfortunately for these people, six of the slots were filled before Vahn made the details of the Gift Game public. This included four Communities affiliated with the Jade Palace, the Nine Dragons Sword Association, and, for obvious reasons, the Sage Dragon's Hearth. In other words, among the hundreds of additional groups wishing to participate, only four would be selected.

With priority being given to Communities with higher ranks, it wasn't long before Takamagahara, the Community formerly helmed by Amaterasu, put forth its name. This garnered a considerable amount of attention from the general public, but, before it could gain any traction, news of a far more prominent organization's participation reached their ears.

Trāyastri??a, a variation of Heaven that literally translated to 'belonging to the thirty-three devas', was one of the Communities founded by Indra, Lord of the Devas, Patron God of the Moon Rabbits, and one of the single most powerful deities outside the 1-3 Digit Gates. They occupied the 1002nd Gate, so, the moment their name was put forth for contention, Amaterasu, begrudgingly, wagered Kotoamatsukami's 1009th Gate just to remain relevant in the public discourse.

Though there were several Communities that attempted to follow this example, the two that won out were the Rank 1019th Onigashima and the Rank 1023rd Akuma. The former, as the name made readily apparent, was comprised almost entirely of Yokai. They had an antagonistic relationship with the members of Kotoamatsukami, so, while their end goal was to secure a better gate, their primary objective was to 'assist' the other Communities in humiliating their long-time enemy. As for Akuma, a name that literally translated to 'Devil', their members were former humans who had ascended to the Divine Realm with various, cheat-like abilities. Very little was known about them other than the fact they were former Heroes who wanted revenge against the Gods who regarded them as pawns…

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While the Little Garden was abuzz with news and rumors related to the upcoming Gift Game, Vahn was focused on entirely separate issues. First and foremost, he finally got around to upgrading his Enkidu using the Upgrade Function of The Path. This was a matter he had been sitting on for a long time, so, now that he was preparing to, once again, install himself as the Sage Dragon Emperor, he wanted to bring his formerly favorite 'weapon' back into the limelight.

As the name implied, the Upgrade Function could increase the stats and grade of an item through the use of a consumable item known as an Upgrade Stone. Each successive upgrade would increase the stats of the item by 1% between the levels of 1-10, 2% between the levels of 11-20, and 3% for the levels between 21-30. In other words, for every ten levels, the efficacy of each upgrade would increase by an additional 1% until the item reached level 99.

Once an item had reached Level 99, upgrading its Rank and adding additional effects to the item became possible. This would reset the item's Level back to 0, and, as a result, you would be able to start the upgrade process anew, albeit with a much stronger item.

With Enkidu starting at Rank C, Vahn could Upgrade it a total of five hundred times before it was upgraded to something known as a Limit Breaker. At that point, he could continue to Upgrade it, but, no matter what grade of Upgrade Stone he used, there would only be a 1% chance to increase its base parameters by 1%.

As the percentage increase always referenced the items base parameters, upgrading Enkidu from C-Rank to B-Rank increased its Physical Attack from 100 to a relatively modest 550. Increasing it from B-Rank to A-Rank brought this value to 3,205 while each subsequent upgrade effectively broke the balance of the world with a whopping 16,637, 91,506, and 503,284.

If an attack modifier of 503,284 wasn't ludicrous enough, Enkidu had obtained a new, seemingly random Ability every time its Rank increased. At the start, its only Abilities were Indestructibility, Piercing, and Sealing. Upgrading it to B-Rank had given it an Ability known as Proliferation. As the name implied, this allowed it to rapidly increase from a mere nine chains to a functionally unlimited number dependent on the amount of energy fed into it.

If Proliferation wasn't ridiculous enough, Enkidu's subsequent Abilities bordered on the Realm of the abstract. Its A-Rank Ability, Absolute Fire Immunity wasn't particularly impressive, but, following that, it gained the Abilities: Purification, Soul Extract, and Intangibility.

Purification was one of the most prominent Laws in all realities, as, depending on the skill of the user, it could accomplish everything from counteracting negative energies to dispelling karma. It was, quite literally, of the fundamental Laws governing the Cycle of Reincarnation, so, in the hands of someone like Vahn, it was an ability that would allow him 'cleanse' the spirits of his enemies with even greater ease than before.

Making this process even simpler, the Ability, Soul Extract, allowed the user to, quite literally, pull the 'soul' out of their opponent. This could be resisted with considerable Willpower, but, with the added power of Purification, it was only a matter of time before the energies comprising their Ego were purified.

With Intangibility allowing Enkidu to move through physical objects and barriers as if they didn't exist, the only people who could resist them were beings with greater Willpower or a higher Soul Tier than Vahn. This meant, unless they had a Fragment of Origin that specifically counteracted its abilities, the only beings that could possibly resist Enkidu's influence existed within the 1-3-Digit Gates. With Shiroyasha, a Tier 5, previously occupying the Rank 10 position, there was a very real chance that even the Ranks 4-9 may not be immune. As for the Ranks 1-3, they were so far beyond everyone/everything else that even Shiroyasha couldn't fathom their power.

Simply put, stockpiling Upgrade Stones for hundreds of years had allowed Vahn to upgrade Enkidu to the point it effectively destroyed the balance of reality. This was the reason he had put off using the Upgrade Function for so long, as, even if he started off with a 'weapon' that possessed a mere 100 Physical Attack, it could be upgraded to a point that merely stabbing it into the ground could level an entire city. After all, even a 10kiloton nuclear warhead only had a Physical Attack rating of 100,000. At 503,284, Enkidu could output a force equivalent to a 50kiloton nuke even in the hands of a child.

Had Vahn started with the first S-Rank weapon he ever forged, L?vateinn, the final parameters would have been around 8,600,000 P.Atk and 5,800,000 M.Atk. In other words, swinging it around would be like hitting an opponent with a condensed, 860kiloton bomb. Casting spells with it, even something as simple as a single fireball, would be enough to annihilate entire armies, the fortress they were hiding in, the equipment on their bodies, and the ground beneath their feet.

Even in Vahn's opinion, the Upgrade Function was broken beyond compare. It took a tremendous amount of resources, sure, but, with SS-Rank items having the same upgrade path as F-Rank items, the potential returns were ludicrous. After all, even at his current level, Vahn wouldn't be able to forge an SS-Rank item without decades of effort. With the Upgrade Function, however, he simply needed Upgrade Stones of varying grades.

The only actual risk of the Upgrade Function was that Vahn might have produced an item beyond his ability to control. Now that he had reached Tier 5 and ascended to the Divine Realm, that was no longer a concern. After all, even without a sword in hand, he could sever time and space with a simple wave of his hand. The destructive force of a few kilotons was a joke at his current level, but, thanks to the parameters working as modifiers rather than a flat increase to a person's destructive output, even a simple iron dagger was a planet destroyer in Vahn's hands. The only reason he had upgraded Enkidu was so that even the most powerful beings in the Divine Realm wouldn't be able to break free from its hold. After all, its Indestructibility was directly tied to its Grade/Rank. At SSS, the only thing that could possibly destroy it was something that completely transcended The Path's ability to quantify…

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[Enkidu]-][Enkidu: Limit Broken]

Slots: 0

P.Atk: 100 -] 503,284

M.Atk: 0

Ability: Indestructible(SSS), Piercing(SSS), Sealing(SSS), Absolute Fire Immunity(SSS), Purification(SSS), Soul Extract(SSS), Intangible(SSS), Soulbound(Vahn Mason)

The Indestructible Magical Chains of the Sage Dragon Emperor. They, like their Master, have been upgraded beyond the limitations of reality, transcending common sense. Though their Legend has yet to be written, it is only a matter of time before these glorious golden chains leave their mark on history.

A desire to prove itself slumbers deep within…

(A/N: I went to a free clinic to get my leg looked at a few days ago. The pain in my leg is apparently tied to a pinched nerve in my lower back so they gave me some extra strength pain medication and advised me to avoid sitting for long periods of time. I also need to do stretches every few hours, so, for the time being, I will only be releasing 1-2 chapters a day. To that end, know that I haven't been sitting on my bum all day. Rather, I've been writing a chapter of EPIC and a chapter of the Dragon Ball Side Story. I currently have a stockpile of seven chapters that will be releasing within the next 2-3 days. I was originally going to try something with *******, but, with only 714 Collections, I have a lot of doubts about its popularity…)

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Amaterasu must be pulling her hair out…','Upgrade Function needs a patch, ASAP…','I'm living a life the Buddhist Faction would be proud of (T ^ T)…')