Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

With the information provided by Loki, Vahn managed to pick around 108 candidates he thought were suitable for various teaching positions in the School. He intended to personally vet each and every one of them but, considering Loki was the one that provided the information, he believed they had all passed her preliminary testing. The majority of the candidates listed were widows, retired Adventurers, or reputed Scholars in a variety of different studies. Of the 871 candidates provided, a total of 668 had been female while the remaining 203 were happily married, some already having grandchildren of their own that would rival the ages of the students attending the School. Vahn even found a face within the doc.u.ments that he hadn’t quite expected to find...

Gregory House, former Chief Customs Officer stationed at the North-West Gat of Orario. After the birth of his grandchild, he retired from active duty and now assisted his daughter and son-in-law in taking care of his grandson. Due to the fact that his son-in-law was only a Level 2, aged at twenty-six, the income he earned wasn’t quite enough to keep the family afloat. Gregory had taken up temp work as a security guard for nearby businesses while his daughter ran a laundry service out of their small residence located in the seventh district of Orario. Vahn also noted that, within the notes detailing Gregory’s character, it listed him as a kindly middle-aged man who was very empathetic towards orphans. Being someone that had once benefited from this kindness, Vahn had a deep impression of Gregory and intended to hire him as part of the School’s Staff.

Curiously, as he was going through the list of candidates, Vahn noticed many members of the Terpsichore Familia listed, including the Tiger Person that had taken an interest in him, Reika. It listed some of her background information, even detailing the trauma she had experienced in the past. However, also within those notes, it included that she had always been very fond of children and would make a suitable combat instructor. She was also a girl that had left an impression on him and, if not for the fact he already had so many women around him, Vahn couldn’t deny there might have been something between him and the exotic woman. Her dance had been rather captivating and, as she was always watching him during her performances, Vahn found it hard to pass over her file in favor of others...

In total, the staff of the School would be around 300 individuals, with the larger portion belonging to contractors and cleaning personnel that would be maintaining the grounds regularly. Vahn intended to use a system where the children cleaned up and maintained the classrooms but, as they were just a bunch of children, there obviously needed to be professionals the take care of the more important matters. As for the breakdown of actual Instructors, Vahn had decided to put Tsubaki, Terpsichore, Riveria, and, after discussing it with them, Takemikazuchi and Anubis in charge of their own departments.

Tsubaki was going to be in charge of the department that taught children how to be proper Adventurers, including the basics of monster ecology, first aid, and general techniques that would greatly increase their chances of surviving in the Dungeon. Though this would also include combat techniques, the actual person in charge of teaching the children how to fight would be Takemikazuchi. He would also be able to help the children learn proper discipline and manners, all while ensuring they were able to develop combat styles that suited them. Terpsichore would, very obviously, be in charge of the entertainment department, which would have teachers that taught arts, music, dance, and theatre. Vahn knew that not everyone was suited to fighting for a living and he also found that appreciation of the arts was very lacking within general society. As for Riveria, she would be in charge of the magic department though, for the time being, that position would be filled by Vahn personally...

The last department, which was arguably the most important, would be headed by Anubis, at least for the time being. She didn’t have much to do around the Southern Manor and, as most of her children were often busy tending to their own matters, Anubis had volunteered to be the ’Dorm Mother’ for the student dorms. She would be in charge of all the staff that tended to the dorms, including the various servants that would be taking care of all the laundry and cleaning. Her job didn’t actually require her to do much but, with her calm and motherly disposition, Vahn believed she was very suited to the position.

As Loki had suggested, most of the ’basic’ classes would revolve almost exclusively around reading, writing, and arithmetic. Once students had a basic mastery of these foundational skills, they would be able to apply for other courses and, as long as they had taken at least five classes, the rest of the time would be self-study. There was no such thing as failing out of a class, as the application to move to a higher grade could be submitted at any time. Not completing a course meant you just stayed in it until you either gave up or moved to another class. Though there were restrictions that applied, the students would have a lot of freedom in the direction they took their education. Of course, understanding they may not necessarily be able to think about their career path on their own, Vahn had selected a few people as ’guidance counselors’ for the students.

In order for a student to apply for the combat classes, they needed to have at least 10 credits in other courses while showing they are capable of passing the pre-requisite physical evaluation. For those applying to learn magic, and other advanced classes, they needed at least 24 credits and had to pass various tests proving they were qualified to begin studying such practices. For magic in particular, as Vahn intended to start introducing a basic curriculum using Eva’s magic system, a student needed to show proficiency in three languages, have a proper understanding of mathematics, and also take pre-requisite vows to protect the information they acquired.

On average, a student would be able to earn around 5-10 credits per year since the basic rotation for courses, meaning the instructor would begin anew, would be every six months. Thus, unless the student was especially gifted, there wouldn’t be anyone learning magic within the first two years. Though there would be ’exceptions’, made on a per-person basis, this was the basic idea of what Vahn had in mind for the School. Graduation would be when a student had either obtained 100 credits, though they could obtain more, or reached the age of a.d.u.l.thood, which would be standardized around age fourteen. Since all the students attending the School would be staying in the dorms, they needed to have a system to ’rotate’ graduates out to make space for new and prospective applicants...

Reading over the details Vahn had listed out, Loki made several changes in the basic structure while also suggesting some other people among the list she had originally provided to Vahn. She wasn’t entirely sure what method he had used to select the people he thought were suitable so she filled in the gaps by choosing people she knew would be beneficial to the success of the School. Once she had finished making her changes, Loki set aside the quill she had been using to write, handing the doc.u.ment back to Vahn as she said, "Check over it one more time before handing it back to me later. I’ll start arranging the interviews and have the maintenance staff begin preparations to open the School. If you’re going to be heading a department personally, your schedule is going to become even more packed than it already is. We might have to discuss letting the girls use the orb during the evening so you can still spend time with them..."

When Loki was speaking of the ’girls’, she was very obviously talking about Ina, Vana, and Erika. As Vanir, they needed to be carefully protected and there was no way they would be able to attend a normal school. With Vahn being away during the day, he would have much less time to spend with them so, even though it would accelerate their already rampant growth, it wouldn’t make too big of a difference since they already aged very quickly. Vahn, however, shook his head and said, "It will take a long time for any students to actually qualify to learn magic from me. For the [Mixing] and research-based classes, I’ll leave those to other teachers to deal with. Though I’ll make an appearance to make sure things are running properly, I don’t intend to have much direct involvement with the School until things stabilize and are running smoothly."

Tapping her chin for a few seconds, Loki eventually nodded her head and said, "Okay, but make sure you’re at least keeping an eye out for talented pupils. In order to make sure your time isn’t taken up by hundreds of students in the future, you’ll need to start grooming teachers that will be able to conduct lessons on your behalf..." Vahn smiled in response before whisking out an orb that glowed with a pale blue radiance while a hazy rainbow hue was reflected in its interior. Loki was somewhat confused at first before realizing Vahn’s intentions and asking, "You’re going to use a Space-Time orb to teach for you? Is that really a good idea?"

Vahn, understanding her concern, nodded his head and explained, "I’ve worked out the details with Terra and we essentially plan to make a room where students can ’teleport’ into the Space-Time orb. From their perspective, it will be like they moved to another location that is suitable for them to learn magic safely. The time dilation effect is only set at 1:1 so they will be unable to discern any differences between the orb and reality. Even if they get injured and ejected from the orb, we’ll be able to explain it away as a magical ward that automatically protects their bodies. With this system, the students would never actually become aware of the existence of the orb at all, meaning the secret of their existence will not be revealed." Loki raised her brows as she slightly parted her eyes, surprised by the ’solution’ Vahn had come up with to free up his own time. She realized that, if it allowed him to spend more time with his daughters, Vahn’s ingenuity reached truly monstrous proportions.

As this thought crossed her mind, Loki fell into a giggling fit that caused Vahn to momentarily blush before calming himself after a deep breath. In truth, he actually planned to use a variety of orbs within the School, primarily for testing purposes since repairing the premises of the School itself would be very time-consuming. He wanted to make it so that students in their later years would be able to enter various ’trial halls’ to put their skills to the test. It was much easier to regulate and influence laws within the orb as compared to the real world since his energy was used in their creation. Once his mastery of their creation reached a certain extent, Vahn would even be able to ’generate’ entire mountains and a variety of other environments that would help the students prepare for venturing deeper into the Dungeon...

Once Loki had stopped laughing, she gave Vahn a curious glance since she had noticed the subtle look in his eye that showed he was ’up to something’. Since he would come to her before implementing anything dangerous, Loki didn’t pry into the matter and trusted that he would consider it properly before implementing anything. Though she had been helping to groom him into a capable ’leader’ for the Alliance, Loki knew it was very important to let Vahn have the freedom to make decisions on his own. He was smart enough to always ask for advice when it was something he didn’t understand completely, something she was very fond of, so there was little harm in letting him machinate and mull over his own plans and ideas. Thus, after running her hand around the inside of his thigh, Loki gave Vahn an amorous smile and asked, "So, what are you doing after this...?"

Vahn, having made no actual plans for the rest of the morning, swallowed hard when Loki closed the distance until their faces were less than three centimeters apart. His daughters were all currently sleeping, as it was still very early in the morning, so Vahn decided to pamper ’his’ mischevious trickster goddess for a short while. Bringing his hands around her body, Vahn firmly gripped Loki’s butt, enjoying the pliant cheeks in his palms while she released a hot sigh against his face and started kissing him. Freeing one of his hands, Vahn threw a ward through the air that slammed against the frame of the door, ensuring nobody would be able to enter until he removed it. Loki’s room itself was already soundproofed and, as Tina should be outside training, Vahn was confident they had an hour or two to indulge in each other. Loki had been working very hard for their shared happiness lately and Vahn wanted to show his gratitude for everything she had done...

Unfortunately for Loki, Vahn’s ’gratitude’ was very difficult to deal with these days as the changes in his body after learning [Magia Erebea] made him ’peerless’ in the bedroom. This, combined with the fact that his [Grooming] was ’very’ effective against even goddesses, ensured that Loki was practically begging for a reprieve after around forty minutes. Things got so intense that it felt like her consciousness might actually separate from her body, forcing her back to Heaven as Vahn’s ’petting laws’ ravished the inside of her body. To resist the tidal waves breaking against the shores of her sanity, Loki relied on digging her nails into Vahn’s back while trying to stop his movements by tightly locking her legs around his waist. Unfortunately, as he was on top of her, this hadn’t been entirely effective and, for the first time in the hundreds of millions of years she had lived, Loki ’regretted’ taking on a s.e.x.u.a.l conquest by herself...

Vahn felt extremely apologetic towards Loki when she finally tapped against his shoulder and ’begged’ for him to stop. When he laid her down on the bed, she had a dazed expression that seemed to be staring off into eternity while a large amount of love nectar had soaked into the sheets below them. He had been carefully paying attention to her state while they were having s.e.x but, considering she generally enjoyed when things were more intense, it was very apparent that he had taken things too far. Fortunately, Loki’s eyes regained their clarity a few seconds later as she turned her gaze towards him and said, "You’ve been holding back a lot lately...make sure you’re releasing your tensions properly so you don’t end up hurting any of the other girls."

Loki’s words were the truth as, even though he was still having s.e.x with the girls on a rather exciting rotation, Vahn had been struggling to reach satisfaction. Though he had reached a point of pseudo-immortality, where his body didn’t immediately regenerate, it was still very difficult to reach a point of natural release. Unless he took matters into his own hand, or was sleeping with someone like Syr, Hephaestus, or a mixture of girls, it was very difficult for him to ’finish’. It hadn’t been too big of an issue but, as the tensions in his mind and body continued to build, Vahn felt like he needed to cut loose completely in the near future. This was even more important since, in as little as thirteen days, he was supposed to be having his ’showdown’ against Lili and Naaza.

Chronologically, Lili had already reached the age of a.d.u.l.thood within the orb but, as agreed upon by everyone during their meeting, time spent in the orb would not be counted towards their actual age. After all, with the influence of his [Hands of Nirvana] and [Grooming], they were already aging much slower than they should be. On average, he may have inadvertently extended their lifespans by several years while simultaneously slowing down their actual physical development. Learning Eva’s magic system, while also increasing their parameters, further decreased their rate of aging while simultaneously extending their lifespan even further. Thus, even though Lili had been ’critically’ impacted by the revelation she hadn’t reached a.d.u.l.thood, she continued to train in high spirits while periodically reminding him of how many days remained...

After taking a few minutes to help Loki recover, including cleaning her body and making sure she was comfortable, Vahn let her take a nap and left the room. He removed the ward on his way out and decided to go cool his head for a bit, making his way towards Fenrir’s room since she was almost always there at this time of day. Ever since she had learned her meditation technique, Fenrir spent a large portion of her time in the room he had created for her. The only times she really came out, other than for meals, was when she felt the need to tend to and accompany him. Unlike most of the other girls, Fenrir didn’t use the orb that much right now because her techniques relied on focusing on the natural energy within the world. Though the orb emulated reality almost perfectly, there was nothing inside to produce natural energy and it felt strangely ’devoid’ of what made reality what it was. This was because Vahn’s understanding of the orbs was still somewhat shallow and, once he mastered their creation, such things wouldn’t be an issue any longer.

Reaching the barriers outside Fenrir’s room, which kept the cold in while keeping people out, Vahn noticed that she had already ’unlocked’ the ward to let him enter. Inside, he found Fenrir sitting in a lotus position with both eyes closed, looking remarkably human if not for the fact she still had fur covering her arms and legs. Even the large fluffy ears on her head had become somewhat smaller and more pert, looking closer to Anubis’ ears than the ’oversized’ ones Fenrir was known for. As for the rest of her appearance, Fenrir was still very petite and had a body that didn’t have any discernable fat on it at all. There was a light layer of frost covering her n.a.k.e.d body that made her pale complexion look snowy and inordinately more fair than normal. Vahn smiled when he saw her, making his way over to the ice bed and sitting down across for the hard-working Vanargandr.

Opening her eyes slightly, Fenrir returned her Master’s smile as her appearance reverted back to its default state. She knew he was very fond of her ’cute’ appearance and, though she was working hard to master her transformation, his arrival here meant he probably wanted to calm down by cuddling with her. Knowing that he was so reliant on her always made Fenrir feel a sense of pride that simultaneously caused her heart to flutter about. She knew that, among all the girls surrounding her Master, the only ones he sought when he was troubled were her, Hestia, Eina, and Tsubaki. Thus, spreading her arms wide in an inviting gesture, Fenrir softly muttered, "Master, come...Fenrir will take care of you..."

(A/N: Lefiya is also ’technically’ of age right now but, for the same reasons as mentioned above, is not considered to be an a.d.u.l.t yet. Orb OP, but shouldn’t be exploited too much. It will be explained in later chapters, but they had gotten together and agreed to some changes in their previously established rules. Tina is now allowed to use the orb, as it is very beneficial for her training, but will not be considered an a.d.u.l.t until she reaches maturity according to the time in the real world. This means she has to choose against increasing her strength in the orb, effectively increasing the amount of time she has to wait before she can ’solidify’ her relationship with Vahn, or staying outside of the orb to train normally while aging at the correct rate. This, however, means she may not actually mature adequately by the time she reaches ’a.d.u.l.thood’, as a result of Vahn’s ’efforts’, so she needs to carefully balance between the two xD...[Luck] OP? Also, it came up on the Discord and I wanted to get the opinion of the comments section. Originally, the mascot-character was split between being Fenrir, pulled from Granblue Fantasy, or Medusa, also from the same franchise. Medusa has a tsundere-like personality, conflicting with Eva, and a similar skillset to Terra. Thus, when I was deciding between the two, I picked Fenrir since she is far more ’pettable’ and it matched Vahn’s perception of what ’cute’ was at the time. If you’d like to see a Medusa-chan in the future, let me know in the comments section and I’ll try to work her into the story. Fair warning though, it probably won’t be for a long while xD...)

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Gregory House Reappears~!’,’RIP Loki-sama...’,’Fenrir is here...’)