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15.94% Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos / Chapter 372: Thrillseeking

Chapter 372: Thrillseeking

Waking up Sunday morning sandwiched by Syr and Ryuu was a refreshing experience and Vahn spent the first part of the morning sharing a bit of intimacy with the two in the bath. Though she still maintained her 'cool' personality, Ryuu was opening up a lot when it was just the three of them and Vahn enjoyed her affections that seemed to be stirred by the presence of Syr. When they were in the bath, Ryuu stuck close to him and helped wash his body while Syr helped clean Vahn's hair. Vahn returned the favor and helped clean the two girls before finally bringing their private moment to an end when it came time to prepare breakfast. Syr, though she seemed to lack any cooking skill of her own, always 'managed' the kitchen for meals and her guidance actually increased the quality of food prepared by the other girls. Vahn found this to be very strange since, if Syr was such a capable teacher, it didn't make sense why she was unable to make delicious meals on her own.

During breakfast, Vahn was talking about his plans for the day and mentioned that he wanted to try something new that he thought would be fun for the girls. Before everyone got excited, however, Vahn had Sis run the numbers and mentioned that anyone with less than 1800 total Endurance wouldn't be allowed to participate. This pretty much eliminated anyone under Level 3 and left quite a few of them saddened by the fact. Vahn consoled them for a bit and explained that there were simply some things that couldn't be done unless you had the capabilities required. If they wanted to be involved in some of the more 'interesting' things he had in mind, they would have to become stronger through their own efforts.

Though he left it 'optional', all of the girls he asked to come along with him ended up agreeing without requiring any convincing. Even though Vahn didn't tell them what they were going to do, they all thought it should be fun and exciting since he wasn't the type that would genuinely endanger them. The participants ended up being, Tiona, Ais, Tione, Ryuu, Aki, Riveria, and, even though she didn't meet the requirements, Fenrir. Vahn could easily watch over one person, and he wanted Fenrir to experience something new and exciting. Since he would be in the Dungeon for another three days, Vahn knew Fenrir would be 'sad' when he was away and wanted to spend time with her when he could.

Before they left, Vahn told the other girls they wouldn't actually be gone too long and that he would try to think of something fun for everyone else to do when he returned. After taking several 'suggestions', Vahn parted with the girls at the Manor and lead everyone to the Southern Gate before logging their exit in the logbook. First-Class Adventurers were required to undergo vows after reaching Level 4 and higher since their power was capable of causing chaos outside of the City if they weren't kept in check. Though there were several loopholes that were commonly exploited, the majority of First-Class Adventurer's followed the rules so as not to cause problems for themselves and their respective Familias.

Once they exited the City and found a large enough clearing, Vahn turned to the group and said, "Okay, I wanted to keep this a secret from the younger and less durable girls since it would cause a lot of problems if anything went wrong. I'll look after Fenrir, but I'll trust each and every one of you to take care of yourself from hereon. Don't worry, even if it's 'scary', you're not actually in any real danger as long as you keep your sensibilities..." Vahn was being intentionally vague in order to increase the tensions and it was very obvious to most of the girls present.

Riveria crossed her arms and asked, "So, we're doing something 'dangerous', but is also 'safe' as long as you have above a certain threshold of Endurance...?" She cocked her head to the side in thought but was interrupted when Tiona laughed loudly and asked, "What are we going to do, jump off a cliff or something~?" Though it wasn't by much, Vahn's eye twitched a bit and several of the girls had noticed it. This was the downside to being in a group full of girls with very high levels as they were all very perceptive and constantly paying attention to the changes in other people.

Vahn laughed awkwardly as everyone gave him strange, almost 'accusatory' looks before he shook his head and said, "No, we're not going to jump off a cliff..." Shortly after his words fell, a massive dragon head appeared out of the ground and made Ais flinch for a moment as she grabbed for a weapon that didn't exist before calming down. Fafnir cocked its head to the side and said, (*Hello everyone~! Vahn, you called for me~?*). The moment Fafnir popped out, it spoke into the minds of everyone present with its somewhat adorable and childish voice.

Though they were all aware of its existence, most of the girls didn't interact with Fafnir much and were still a bit 'intimidated' by its appearance. However, the moment they heard its voice and saw its actions, most of the girls immediately lost their tensions and started affectionately patting the 'evil' looking colossal dragon. The only exception to this was Ais who, even though she had seen it several times, was still somewhat uncomfortable around dragons in general, especially giant black ones.

Vahn grabbed her hand in his own and said, "It makes me sad that Fafnir always has to hide away, so I'd like everyone to get along with it whenever possible. Fafnir will be a very important part of our family in the future..." Ais had gripped Vahn's hand with her own and listened closely to his words before nodding her head and saying, "I will do my best...family..." Vahn gave Ais a short embrace and stroked her long golden hair for a bit as he whispered, "Thank you, Ais, I'll also do my best for everyone." When they eventually parted, Vahn pulled Ais forward and helped her climb onto Fafnir's back before everyone else jumped up to the platform it had created for their comfort.

This was the first time any of the girls, minus Fenrir, had ridden on Fafnir and it was quite an experience for them when it launched itself from the ground with enough force to uproot some nearby trees. Tiona immediately shouted out, "Whoooooooa~! This is super amazing~!" She was holding onto a small 'handle' that grew out of Fafnir's scales and was peeking over the side of Fafnir's body as they ascended higher and higher into the sky. Tione, surprisingly, seemed to be afraid of heights as she clutched onto her own handle with enough force that it looked like she might break it off. Vahn knew this would be a 'trying' experience for her and knew he would have to watch over her if anything went wrong. Hopefully, her fear of heights would fade away after the fact since she would know for a fact that heights weren't a factor she needed to be concerned with...

Ais sat next to Vahn and snuggled up to him without using the handle while Fenrir sat in his lap and kicked her legs about in a playful manner without seeming to mind being at an increasingly incredible height. Ryuu and Riveria had thoughtful expressions on their faces as they 'inspected' the flow of mana around Fafnir's body that allowed it to fly without actually relying on its wings. Vahn couldn't blame them, as he had also looked into it quite a bit in the past since he would like to fly through the sky on his own one day. As for Aki, she seemed to be nervous but was holding up much better than Tione and had enough courage to peek up and over Fafnir's back on occasion.

Since the magical barrier around Fafnir's body protected them, even though it was moving faster than the speed of sound Vahn was able to speak to everyone without issue. Now that it was 'too late' for them to back out, Vahn explained in a somewhat teasing tone, "As I was saying earlier, we're not going to be jumping from a cliff. I once traveled to the upper atmosphere on Fafnir's back and tested out what it was like to fall from a great height. It was a very enriching experience and I'd like everyone to experience it for themselves since it is more freeing than you might expect..."

Hearing his words, Tione finally managed to break the 'handle' she was holding onto as she shouted, "No way, no how, are you insane!? If we fall from this kind of height, we'd be dead for sure!" Tione's eyes were round as saucers and it appeared like she was looking for some way off of Fafnir's back, excluding the method in Vahn's mind. Tione's sentiments seemed to be shared by the other girls as they gave Vahn strange looks like he was putting their lives at risk based on a delusion. The only ones that seemed completely fine with the situation were Tiona, Ais, and Fenrir in his lap. Riveria had a serious expression on her face, but she kept to herself since she assumed Vahn was going to explain things to 'convince' everyone.

Vahn noticed everyone's reaction and shook his head with a smile on his face as he asked, "Do you know what happens when you fall from a great height?" Tione, being the person with the highest tensions said, "You'll die!" Vahn's smile didn't break as he asked, "When you leap about at your highest speed, do you ever feel the air break around your body like a shockwave?" For a few moments, Tione's mind blanked before she responded, "Yes, but what does that have to do with anything!?" Vahn nodded his head and explained, "For that type of phenomenon to occur, you have to temporarily exceed more than 1200km/h and break what is called the 'sound barrier'. Everyone here should have a basic understanding of why it's called the 'sound barrier' since, after you break through that threshold of wind, all sounds temporarily cease to exist, right?"

Even Riveria's Agility exceeded 3,000 total parameters so she was also capable of bursts of speed that could break the sound barrier even though she was a mage. Everyone knew exactly what Vahn was talking about so they nodded their heads before he continued, "When falling from a great height, you have to take into consideration things like 'gravity', 'atmospheric composition', and 'wind resistance' to generate what can be called 'terminal velocity'. For humanoids, this value never really goes beyond 300-350km/h depending on the angle your orient your body at when falling..."

Riveria squinted her eyes after hearing Vahn's words and said, "So, you're saying that, regardless of height, you can fall any distance as long as your body is capable of resisting the 'terminal velocity' of free fall...?" Vahn nodded his head with a smile and explained, "That's right, since everyone here can break the sound barrier and be perfectly fine, there is absolutely no reason to believe falling from any height would harm you. You're more likely to injure yourself with your normal movements than to sustain any serious injuries, regardless of if you fall from a thousand meters, or one-hundred-thousand meters. Even if you can't break that speed on your own, as long as your Endurance is high enough there is absolutely no danger involved. Just land on your feet like if you were jumping from a few stories on a tall building. It is fundamentally the same impact force regardless of any extra height..."

As everyone was processing his words, Vahn smiled and continued, "The only real threats would be the potential internal damage to organs and the displacement of fluids in the body from the impact, but that is all mitigated by the laws that govern high-speed movements when you have high Agility and your body's natural ability to mitigate shockwaves with High Endurance. Especially for the physical fighters, you should be very aware of how your body is able to disperse shockwaves from punches strong enough to shatter boulders, right?" Vahn had turned his gaze to the baffled Tione who was having trouble processing everything she had just heard. Hearing Vahn addressing her, Tione thought about his words for a moment before nodding her head and saying, "Yeah, I know what you're saying...I just never really thought about it like that before..."

Vahn smiled wider and said, "I have already tested this personally and was able to safely land even though I jumped from a height far above the height of Babel Tower. It took several minutes for me to reach the ground and, since I was able to disperse the shockwave, I didn't even leave a crack on the ground below. As long as you don't panic, you'll notice that you are actually falling a lot slower than your maximum movement speed. Why should you be afraid of moving slowly just because you're high up?" Hearing the way Vahn explained it, Tione couldn't help but feel she was worrying about nothing. She had fallen from a cliff when she was a child and had broken her leg so, ever since that incident, she had been afraid of heights and avoided tall places whenever she could. Now that Vahn explained it clearly, it started to seem like her fears were almost ridiculous...

Riveria had been lost in thought as she processed Vahn's words and understood that he was likely correct. It had never been something anyone else 'tested' before in the past, so such concepts like 'terminal velocity' didn't exist in any scholarly publications. It was simply accepted that, if you fall from a great height, you would likely die. The longer you fell, the greater the speed you would reach but, according to Vahn's words, there was actually a 'maximum speed' to attain...it was a very interesting concept and Riveria could tell from Vahn's honest expression and confident smile that he was certain about what he claimed. She had no reason to believe he hadn't 'tested' it himself in the past and she was starting to look forward to testing the veracity of his claims.

After ten minutes, the group reached a height of around 400km and the air had thinned a lot while the cold had started to creep through the protective bubble around Fafnir's back. Vahn had brought them to a stop and pushed against the chill with his domain and explained in an excited manner, "From this height, we can literally fall for nearly an hour and a half without any problems whatsoever..." Vahn noticed that the majority wasn't even paying attention to him anymore as they were all overlooking the world below with unveiled intrigue on their faces. He showed a happy smile as his expression turned gentle and he spoke in a tone that resonated with most of the girls in the group, "It's truly beautiful, isn't it...I wanted to share this experience with everyone..."

With the change in his tone, everyone turned their attention to Vahn and saw his expression as he overlooked the world alongside them. Ais had been next to him the entire time and said in a quiet voice, "I never imagined such a sight... it's beautiful..." Her impression was shared by the entire group, especially Riveria and Ryuu. Elves were somewhat 'prideful' by nature and had a strong connection with their home forests and the planet itself. However, seeing the world from above like this, showed them how 'small' the concept of a single forest was in the grand scale of things. From their current point, they could see the majority of the continent of Eden below them, including their home forests to the west.

For several breathtaking minutes, everyone just stood in silence as they looked down at the world below from a perspective that was incomprehensible by most people in present societies. Only the gods were privy to such a view and now they all knew how truly small the massive world beneath them was. Fenrir was the only one who didn't seem to care, but she remained silent since she didn't want to 'bother' everyone else. She just held onto Vahn's right arm tightly and enjoyed the moment they were together without paying attention to much else. Vahn, however, had been paying attention to everyone and was happy to see their captivated expressions. After letting them take in the moment for a while longer, Vahn said in a calm voice, "It's time...who is willing to take the first step with me...?"

Hearing Vahn's words, a nervous atmosphere spread over everyone present until Tiona shouted 'confidently', "I'll do it~! Even if it's actually super scary, I know things will be okay as long as we're together!" Though Vahn was already holding hands with Ais and Fenrir, Tiona jumped over and clung to his body with a happy smile on her face even though Vahn could feel her body shaking from the tensions. Ais, from his left, also said in a surprisingly calm tone, "I believe in Vahn...I am not afraid." Fenrir, perhaps caught up by the momentum, shouted loudly, "Fenrir will be with Vahn forever! Fenrir isn't afraid of anything!" Vahn laughed, clearly pleased at the girls' reactions before turning toward the other, somewhat hesitant girls, and saying, "Riveria, if you're worried about it, you can use your barrier magic to protect everyone. I'll be going ahead, so if the rest of you can't muster up the courage, feel free to return to the surface with Fafnir. You'll actually arrive much faster than we do, so wait for us down below..."

Though she should have been happy to have a 'way out', Tione felt annoyed by Vahn's words and walked over to the four-person huddle before pinching Tiona's side with her fingers. Tiona screamed but didn't let go of Vahn's neck as she stared at Tione and said, "What are you trying to pull!? That really hurts you know~!?" Tione frowned and shouted in a flustered tone, "Can you just let go of him for one moment you dumb gorilla girl!?" Tiona looked like she was about to refuse but, seeing the frustrated expression on Tione's face, she decided to relent for the moment and released Vahn's neck. Tione released a relieved sigh before shooting Tiona a grateful look as she stepped forward and unhesitatingly kissed Vahn.

Vahn was surprised by Tione's sudden intimacy, but he was even more surprised when she held the sides of his face, looked into his eyes, and said, "Vahn, I know you might not have the same feelings for me as you do Tiona, but know that I'm not going to back down...I...I love you too!" Without waiting for his response, Tione let go of his face before jumping back with enough force to break free of the bubble surrounding Fafnir. Before she started her descent, she looked back at the group and said, "If it's for love, why should I have any fear at all!?" Not two seconds later, Tione began to rapidly descend and turned into a small dot shortly after as the majority of people stared down with fear, shock, and a powerful trepidation.

Without waiting any longer, Vahn released a hearty laugh as he picked up Fenrir in his arms and leaped off Fafnir's back as he shouted while doing a front flip, "Baaaanzaaaai~!" Fenrir, perhaps emulating him, waved happily at the group on the back of Fafnir and shouted, "Banzai, banzai~!" Not willing to be 'left behind', Ais shot off Fafnir's back like a bullet and followed after them before Tiona jumped off a few seconds later with a playful laughter ringing through the air. As for the rest of the group, they all stared down with hesitant expressions since, even though they believed in Vahn, it was still difficult to overcome the instinctual fear of falling a great distance.

After around twenty seconds passed, Ryuu nodded her head to the remaining group and said in a 'confident' tone, "I will follow Vahn...I already made my decision. Hesitating this long is shameful..." Without any further words, Ryuu leaped over the side and shot down head-first in order to try and close the distance with the previous group. The only two left on Fafnir's back was Riveria and Aki and the two girls looked at each other for a few moments until Aki eventually released a sigh and said, "Banzai~?" With an awkward laughter, she jumped off Fafnir's back as a strange 'nyaaahahahahahaaaaaaa' type scream sounded from below. Riveria followed Aki's descent with her eyes for a few moments before holding up her hand and saying, "Assemble, breath of the land - my name is Alf." A green barrier covered her body before she released a sigh and leaped off Fafnir's back before saying, "Return to the surface and wait for us...banzai..."

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Sneaky Vahn...? Exposed!','Small world...','Lemmings~! Banzai!')

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CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Einlion Einlion

Level 1 Vahn: https://imgur.com/a/zFOLFrT

Courtesy of https://www.deviantart.com/robusta-mania

Chapter 373: Fall

---Tione PoV---

Not long after she jumped off Fafnir's back, Tione had spun through the air several times before stabilizing her body with her arms and legs spread wide in a free-falling posture. The waistcloth that had been tied around her hips had been caught by the wind and torn from her body and she cursed Vahn within her mind for not thinking about everyone's clothing. She did notice, however, after she fell for about twenty seconds she had stopped accelerating entirely. If anything, Tione felt like she was falling 'slowly' and the only way she could go faster was the change her posture to cut through the wind. She realized that Vahn's words had been true and, just based on her current speed, there wasn't any danger at all. This realization was a very liberating thing for Tione since she had a great fear of heights in the past.

After flipping over her body, Tione was falling towards the continent and staring upwards toward the sky as if she was looking for the others. Though the air was frigid, it didn't affect her much and it actually felt very pleasant against her skin. However, she had a strange desire for 'warmth' and wished she had pulled Vahn along with her when she took the 'leap of faith'. Her confession just before her jump had been a pretty big step forward for her since it was the point where she officially decided to give up on Finn. Even though they didn't spend too much time together, Vahn showed her far more care than Finn had ever shown. She was always his 'subordinate' and, other than the time they spent at the Twilight Manor and on expeditions, they didn't really do anything intimate at all. Now that she had overcome her fear of heights, she suddenly felt like it was much easier to overcome the other things that burdened her heart in the past...

---Godhand PoV---

Though he had only leaped down a few seconds after Tione, the actual distance between them was several hundred meters. Vahn had been slightly concerned about her, so he was trying to close the distance to make sure she hadn't passed out or something. Though she would still survive the fall, Vahn didn't want her to have a bad experience since he wanted to do this type of thing more often in the future. As for Fenrir, she was clinging to his body like a koala while doing her best not to dig her claws into his back. She wasn't afraid at all, especially since Vahn was holding onto her, but it was still 'strange' to be falling upside down toward the planet. Her instincts were screaming at her that, if she fell to the ground at this rate, she would definitely die. However, Fenrir had long stopped listening to her instincts and placed all of her trust in Vahn since she knew that he would always protect her, just like she would protect him...

Because they had been falling head-first towards the ground, Vahn saw a red speckle with his enhanced vision and recognized it to be Tione since his eyes literally zoomed in on her after he spotted her. She had turned face up and was falling toward the ground with her eyes closed, but Vahn could tell she was still awake by her body posture and stable aura. Tione looked to be at peace with the current situation and Vahn smiled knowing she had been able to overcome her fear. Since she was in a neutral posture, it wasn't too long before he was able to close the distance to her before realizing how 'difficult' it was to approach someone else in freefall.

Vahn overshot her by a large margin and passed by Tione like a bullet as he started laughing out loud which caused her to startle as she flipped over her body to stare at him with an incredulous look on her face. Because of the wind surrounding them, they couldn't actually speak to each other, but bits of Vahn's laughter carried through the air since he was lower than she was. He did his best to try and control his descent as Tione angled her body to slowly close the distance between them. Because they were both high levels, the control of their bodies was very high and it wasn't too long before they had closed the gap and stabilized by reaching out to each other.

When she grabbed his right hand, Tione had a big smile on her face as she tried to shout out words that couldn't bridge the short distance between them due to the wind whizzing by. Vahn shook his head with a smile and mouthed a few words of his own which allowed her to understand he couldn't hear her at all. With a somewhat 'frustrated' look on her face, Tione pulled Vahn closer to her and grabbed onto his body with Fenrir in between them as she shouted as loudly as she could in his ear, "I SAID I LOVE YOU, YOU IDIOOOOOOOT~!"

Because of the zero distance between her mouth and his ear, Vahn's eardrum rattled and his winced in pain before laughing at her confession. Before she misunderstood his response, Vahn leaned forward and tried to say something as her long hair whipped up into his face and smacked him in the eye. She had little metal ties on the ends of her braided sideburns and Vahn took one directly to the eye which made him wince as a bit of moisture built up at the edge of his closed eyelids.

Tione had an apologetic expression on her face but Vahn just shook his head before leaning forward quickly and giving her a kiss as the three of them rapidly fell towards the ground. Vahn was constantly being barraged by Tione's hair, but he just kept his eyes closed and accepted the 'assault' as he held Tione in his arms until he detected another group of presences closing in on them. When he pulled his face away from her's, Vahn saw the enamored blush and the fervent expression on her face before he shook his head and pushed away from her with a wink as he pointed upwards. Following his finger, Tione saw a flash of brown skin wearing nothing but a small white top and bottoms that she recognized as her own twin sister. Tiona had also lost her waistcloth and, perhaps due to the 'aerodynamic' nature of her body, she was quickly closing the distance like a Vahn-seeking missile.

Vahn could tell that she was approaching too quickly so he reached out his hand and simply 'chanted', "Raging winds, hear my call, slow Tiona's descent for me~!" Since the only thing that mattered when casting magic was your 'image' and the 'intention' behind your chant, it was actually possible to cast any kind of magic you 'believed' would work. Vahn 'genuinely' wanted to slow Tiona down and knew the most reliable method would be to increase the wind resistance of her body. Since she was within the range of his domain, he could perfectly track her trajectory and hit her with a light green bullet that shot out of his palm and slowed her bullet-like descent to a crawl right before she collided with him with open arms.

Though he only heard bits and pieces of it, Vahn could tell from Tiona's expression and the reverberations passing between their bodies that she was laughing jubilantly. She had probably seen him kissing Tione, so Tiona grabbed the sides of his face and started kissing him passionately as the spun around chaotically through the air without regard for their current situation. Vahn was enjoying the stimulus since he hadn't expected their freefall to suddenly turn into a make-out session and it made everything far more 'exciting'. Most 'fighters' were omnidirectional experts so, even though they were spinning about randomly, Vahn was able to keep his orientation without getting nauseous at all. He just spent a short while twining his tongue with the overeager Tiona before reaching his hand out and repeating, "Raging winds, hear my call, slow Ais's descent for me~!"

Ais had jumped down right after Tiona, so she wasn't far behind her and quickly closed the distance with the obvious intention of catching up with Vahn. Vahn's spell had no effect on her, however, as it broke against a green barrier that appeared around Ais's body. Though his eyes widened for a moment, Vahn calmed down quickly when Ais naturally decelerated to match their pace. With his [Eyes of Truth], Vahn could tell that Ais was manipulating the wind around her very skillfully and was even shielding herself from the wind resistance battering everyone else. With Ais's inclusion, their group became a strange three-way hug with Fenrir stuck between everyone else with a somewhat frustrated expression as she shouted loudly, "Don't squish Fenrir!"

Because Ais's wind barrier had wrapped around everyone else, they all heard Fenrir's shout and Vahn began to laugh as he said, "Let's just enjoy the fall, for now, I'll make sure to invite the two of you to my room later~." Vahn sent the girls a wink before pressing lightly against them and breaking free of Ais's barrier. Understanding the meaning behind his words, Tiona stopped controlling her fall and began to flip around acrobatically while laughing about. Vahn knew that, if they were on the ground, her actions would look closer to a happy dance and he found her falling figure to be rather beautiful since her skin-tight clothing didn't leave much to the imagination.

Ais also seemed somewhat happy, but her expression was also 'serious' as she began to accelerate downwards at a faster pace than the rest of the group. Vahn felt like she wanted to land 'first', probably because of her competitive nature that liked to turn arbitrary things into a competition. Her actions weren't missed by Tione and Tiona, but neither girl had magic to help them against the wind and quickly gave up thoughts of trying to win against Ais in a race toward the ground. They just enjoyed the fall until Vahn sent them a signal and decelerated his body which made him shoot high above them. He hadn't actually 'gone up', but they were falling much faster than he was and it was a strange sight to see.

---Ryuu PoV---

Ryuu, unknowingly, was going through much the same experience as Tione had when she made her earlier leap. After resolving herself to jump off Fafnir, she felt a little afraid at first but, after falling for a few seconds, she noticed that her speed had stopped increasing. If she pushed her limits, Ryuu was actually capable of 'running' faster than she was currently falling. Her fears vanished shortly after this realization and she began trying to experiment with controlling her descent. However, similar to Tione and Tiona, Ryuu quickly lost a bit of her clothing when she turned her feet toward the ground. She had been wearing casual clothes for the outing, which included a light blue skirt that got caught in the fierce winds and torn from her waist.

Her blouse also tried to ride up her body, but she managed to keep it down with her hands before flipping upside down with an embarrassed blush on her face. Though Vahn had profound insights at times, he also had a bad track record when it came to paying attention to the smaller details. Even if he didn't want to spoil the 'surprise', he should have told the girls to wear tighter clothing so they wouldn't lose the garments as they fell. Now, instead of 'enjoying' the fall, Ryuu had her thighs clenched together tightly to make sure her vanilla colored silk panties didn't get torn off her body as well...

---Aki PoV---

After mustering up what little courage she had, Aki leaped off of Fafnir's back and screamed in the manner characteristic of Cat Persons for about thirty seconds until she realized that she wasn't actually falling that fast. If not for the fact that her blouse was starting to peel down her stomach, she would have enjoyed the cool air passing through her long black hair and whizzing by her ears. Even when she wasn't adventuring, she always wore a similar black blouse that hugged around her chest without having any shoulder support at all.

There was a strip of leather-like material about two wide that acted to create friction between her blouse and skin to prevent it from falling even during intense maneuvers. It wasn't, however, resistant to constant wind pressure and, since she had been falling head first, the wind had coincidentally been catching the small gap in her cleavage which caused her blouse to expand from the intruding air and slowly inch its way further down her body. The only thing she could do was hold it with her hands to keep it from descending further since, when she tried flipping right side up, the air had caught in her skirt and the cold sensation against her thin black spats sent a chill up her spine.

The posture she decided upon was falling with her back toward the ground as she fixed her blouse as best she could before tightening the belts around her waist. After arranging her clothing better, she spun around and fell in a neutral position that caused her descent to slow, but also prevented the wind from trying to peel her clothing off her body. She had a wry smile as she imagined Vahn 'scheming' to have the girls lose their clothes, even though she knew it wasn't his nature to do such a thing. Aki wondered if any of the other girls had trouble and tried remembering what everyone was wearing. She knew, undoubtedly, that Tione and Tiona had probably lost their sashes and nearly burst out laughing after remembering that Ryuu had the 'misfortune' of wearing a skirt today. Her smile froze, however, when she recalled that Riveria was wearing her usual robe that went all the way down to her knees...

---Riveria PoV---

Riveria had the most inhibitions about jumping and she immediately regretted her actions soon after since, like all the other girls, she was completely 'unprepared' for the raging winds. Her typical attire consisted of a creamy beige cloak, which was now long lost, a light green sash, which she was desperately holding on to, and a green military-style robe known as the 'Elf Kings Holy Robe'. She also had on a pair of sleek looking black trousers and long brown boots, but that was a minor reprieve as she 'desperately' tried to rebutton her robe that had been torn open by the winds. If there were any onlookers, they would have gotten a clear view of her somewhat pale skin, that had turned lighter from the cold, and the lime-green lace brassier concealed her modest breasts.

She 'cursed' Vahn for his oversight, but also knew it was her fault for not properly considering the matter as well. Even when they first started their magic discussions, Vahn had a tendency to overlook things and had even gone into a 'Mind Down' state from his own overconfidence. He spent a lot of time thinking about things, but this also meant he was easily caught off guard when unexpected situations occurred. Because he was what could be considered an 'omnidirectional' fighter, Vahn wore clothing that hugged the body easily during intense movements. Riveria, however, wore somewhat loose robes and a cloak since she was a caster and didn't move around a lot during fights. The only thing she was grateful for at the moment was the fact that she always wore pants under her clothing instead of a skirt...

---Godhand PoV---

After slowing his descent, Vahn controlled his body with his target being Ryuu who he had detected above his current position. She was falling head-first toward the ground, so the distance between them was rapidly shrinking and Vahn was surprised when he noticed that she wasn't wearing her skirt anymore. Given the 'blaming' look he could see in her sky-blue eyes, Vahn knew he had made a mistake and suddenly recalled that both Tiona and Tione were also missing their waistcloths. After resolving himself for the lecture that would likely follow, Vahn altered his trajectory to try and match Ryuu's descent as they slowly closed the distance between each other. Because of his spatial awareness, which was nearly flawless due to his domain, Vahn was becoming adept at being able to control his body through the air.

With a bit of careful maneuvering, Vahn managed to reach Ryuu before grabbed her outstretched hand and pulling her closer to his body. She tried to say something, but Vahn couldn't hear her and just leaned forward and decided to push his luck by saying, "Vanilla really suits you, Ryuu..." as he gently pinched her slightly exposed butt. The 'blaming' look in her eyes turned slightly sharper but Ryuu wasn't able to hide the blush on her cheeks as she mimicked his actions and pulled close to his ear and said, "Vahn...I'm going to make you pay for this..." Vahn blinked rapidly a few times because he didn't know exactly what someone like Ryuu would do to make him 'pay'. Deciding to try and avoid the potential trouble, Vahn made an effort to appease Ryuu and pulled out a pair of dark blue spats from his inventory.

Without explaining what he was trying to do, Vahn pulled Ryuu 'up' towards the ground as he traced down her body slowly. Ryuu didn't understand what he was trying to do and grabbed his hair to prevent him from going any further 'down' since she thought he was going to tease her. Vahn realized from the fluctuations in Ryuu's aura what she was 'afraid' of, but her actions just urged him onwards as he began stroking the back of her exposed thighs with his palm while using [Hands of Nirvana] to 'shock' her a little. Her grip on his hair tightened, but Vahn didn't mind the pain much and continued to pull 'up' on her body until he could get the spats around one of her legs.

Ryuu felt the foreign cloth on her leg and realized what Vahn was trying to do so she released a sigh and helped him. After she got both of her legs into the fabric, Vahn 'shimmed' up her body as Ryuu pulled his tunic before pulling up his body from the shoulders. Vahn managed to get the thin, skin-tight, fabric around Ryuu's butt and recover a bit of her modesty before sneaking in a kiss and pinching her butt again before 'escaping'. Ryuu sent him a 'glare' but, after a few seconds past, mouthed the words, 'Thank you, Vahn.' as she slowly fell further away from him. Vahn waved at her with a casual smile on his face and said, "Ryuu, you're so adorable..." He knew she couldn't hear him, but his words seemed to have been conveyed as she turned her face away with a blush and accelerated toward the ground.

Vahn's next 'target' was Aki, who was surprisingly higher up than he had expected. Unlike the other girls, with the exception of Ais, Aki was still wearing all of her clothing but she still gave Vahn a subtle 'glare' with a smile on her face. After a bit of careful maneuvering, Vahn managed to close the distance with her in a similar manner as the previous girls. When he grabbed her, Vahn leaned forward and asked, "Are you enjoying the fall?" Aki held onto his shoulder while patting Fenrir's head and said, "It's very exhilarating, but you should have thought about everyone's clothing~! My blouse keeps trying to escape and my skirt isn't exactly suitable for this type of activity!"

Though she was wearing a skirt, Aki also had on a pair of moderately thick black shorts with white bands around them. There wasn't any 'danger' of her being exposed, but Vahn could understand how annoying it was to have her skirt flapping around and threatening to make her blouse ride up her body. Because there weren't any shoulder straps, Aki faced a problem no matter how she oriented herself and the solution she had found was to simply fall flat instead of angling her body up or down. Vahn thought about it for a moment before reaching out and placing her skirt into his inventory. He also started to place items like her belts and pouches into his inventory, just so they weren't lost later on.

Aki was surprised by Vahn's actions at first but realized it was probably 'better' than trying to prevent the clothing from being torn off. He also pulled out a different blouse that would be able to hug her shoulders and helped her shimmy into it with a great deal of effort before removing her old blouse by storing it away in an instant. The blouse he had given her was something that hugged the body tightly, so Aki was able to cut through the air smoothly now that she was just wearing the tight blouse in conjunction with her form-fitting shorts. Vahn then hugged her body close and spoke into her ears as he said, "You look cute in outfits like this, it really brings out your lithe figure! I'm gonna head up and see how Riveria is doing, so I'll see you in a bit~!"

Vahn's current mindset was 'might as well press my luck' so, before he separated from Aki, he gave her a quick kiss and a firm squeeze of her toned butt. She squirmed a bit from his touch and startled when, right before he pushed away from her, he grabbed her tail playfully and ran his hand along its length. Aki released a mewling cry and tried to grab him before he could get away, but Vahn changed his posture and immediately shot up away from Aki. Though she tried to reorient her body to slow her descent to match his, Vahn was always higher up since he generated more wind resistance and also had Fenrir attached to his body. She frowned for a short moment before sticking out her tongue playfully and heading downwards so Vahn could go 'help' Riveria.

It took Vahn nearly a full minute before he finally detected Riveria and understood she had probably jumped long after everyone else. When he got closer, Vahn saw her state and began to panic after noticing she was 'clutching' onto her sash and 'glaring' at him with a cold expression on her face. For a brief moment, Vahn considered descending and dealing with her later, but he eventually decided to try and help her if she was willing to accept his assistance. He knew that she would likely be angrier if she was embarrassed in front of the other girls so Vahn mustered up his resolve and slowly navigated toward her.

Unlike the previous instances, Vahn didn't reach out for her since she didn't extend her hands due to her current predicament. Vahn tried asking if she needed his assistance, but she didn't seem to be able to understand what he was trying to say as she mouthed the words, 'I can't hear you.' Thinking she might be able to hear him if he was underneath her, Vahn fell lower and changed his trajectory to try and match her descent. This turned out to be a mistake though as, the moment he entered the same path as Riveria, his body created a windshield that allowed her to descend faster and she collided into his body with an impact. Both of them were completely okay by the collision, but they still spun around in the air for a while 'hugging' each other to regain their orientation.

Fenrir seemed to be especially frustrated by the situation since Vahn could feel her claws digging into his back a little as she wiggled her body around in between him and Riveria. Vahn quickly controlled their orientation and managed to recover before trying to create a bit of distance between them since he could feel Riveria's breasts nearly pressing into him as she stared into his face with a stern expression. Instead of separating, however, Riveria grabbed Vahn's arms before leaning forward and saying, "Help me fix my robe, and never speak of this to anyone. You also owe me a new cloak..." Vahn nodded his head before leaning forward and whispering into Riveria's long ears, "Sorry, Riveria, I should have thought about this type of thing beforehand. I'll personally make you a cloak that is much better than your previous one..."

Riveria nodded her head and her expression became less serious as she patiently allowed Vahn to try and close up her robe. Vahn, however, was very distracted since it was difficult to fight against the tearing wind while trying to button up the robe. He was using his body as a shield, but Riveria's robe was simply too long and was trailing behind her body and exacerbating the situation. It didn't help that he was slightly distracted by her lime-green brassier and the light blush that was slowly appearing on her face as he continued to 'stare' at her chest while touching her body. Her affection wasn't changing at all, but Vahn was aware that Riveria's aura was turning slightly chaotic from their close proximity to each other.

After failing to button the robe for nearly five minutes, Vahn gave up continuing to use the same method when a gust of wind caught some of the buttons he had already closed and tore them open again. Fortunately, the robe itself was of an incredible quality and they weren't ripped off by the sudden tearing force. Though it was awkward to approach the slightly blushing Riveria, Vahn still pulled closer to her and spoke into her ear, "I'm going to try something...if anything goes wrong, please protect Fenrir." Riveria wasn't sure what he was going to do, but she knew it would probably be something 'ridiculous' and had a few misgivings about agreeing to his request. However, she decided it was better than maintaining their current state since her embarrassment had grown to near intolerable levels.

With Riveria's acknowledgment, Vahn focused his mind and compressed his domain to around 10m instead of the usual 455m. As the density increased through compression, Vahn's ability to manipulate the energy within his domain increased alongside it. He hadn't really had any use for this beforehand, but now that he had a greater understanding of magic, Vahn knew he would be able to make use of the elemental energies within his domain if he conveyed his intent properly. His goal was to manipulate the wind elements in the air and create a bubble to protect them from the chaotic wind flow, just like how Ais had been doing earlier. It was actually much easier than he expected since the density of his domain was already acting somewhat like a shield and had slowed their descent by a fair amount.

After nearly a minute had passed, the air around their bodies had turned completely stagnant and Vahn could feel the air outside pressing against the semi-solid boundaries of his domain as it bore the brunt of the wind pressure. It was almost like he had created a physical barrier against a wind cannon, and it was very taxing on his mind to keep the domain stable as he quickly helped arrange Riveria's robe using his dexterous fingers. Riveria had been somewhat distracted by the phenomenon around Vahn but was stirred awake when he started closing up her robe with strangely practiced motions. For a moment, Riveria thought about helping him, or even doing it herself, but she just let him do as he pleased as she tried to make sense of what was going on within his domain.

Once he had helped button up all sixteen buttons, Vahn released a relieved sigh before slowly releasing his control of the wind elemental energy in his domain. He knew releasing it all at once would cause a large amount of turbulence, so he eased them back into the fall instead. Riveria noticed the change and leaned forward as she said, "You were able to isolate the wind elements within the area of your aura. That is an incredible feat, Vahn, I'd like to discuss it more in the future. Elemental control is something that is generally only possible for spirits, so I think it could be the key to future breakthroughs..."

Vahn nodded his head lazily before pulling out a [Senzu Bean] to recover his diminishing stamina. He then did his best to down a mana recovery potion but discovered it was very awkward to drink things in free fall. Even though he had put the lip of the bottle in his mouth, a small amount got caught by the wind and ended up flying toward Riveria's face and coincidentally hitting her lips. Vahn furrowed his brows slightly before swallowing, both saliva and the mana potion, as Riveria licked off the slight moisture with her red tongue. Her affection increased by one point, up to 80(Trust) and Vahn felt Riveria's aura fluctuate slightly, even though she didn't say anything.

To prevent her from having any other wardrobe malfunctions, Vahn and Rivera descended together for more than an hour until the ground was fast approaching in their sights. Vahn had his back to the earth and Riveria was the one to tell him, "We'll probably touch down in around a minute..." Vahn nodded his head and contracted his domain again and seized control over the wind elemental energy, not to slow their descent, but to allow Riveria to separate from his body and land without her robe getting torn open again. The hour-long fall, where they shared a few awkward conversations, had given Vahn enough time to recover his energy and regain some clarity with the assistance of [Will of the Emperor]. Riveria's affection had increased by an additional point, but Vahn was more concerned with their landing for the time being.

The wind around them stopped battering against their clothes and Vahn gently separated from Riveria as they fell 'weightlessly' in the bubble he had created. Vahn quickly transformed into his Xuánwǔ and hugged Fenrir, who had actually fallen asleep from boredom, before orienting his feet toward the ground. Around fifteen seconds later, Vahn collided with the grassy terrain and planted his feet firmly against the ground as time seemed to stop for a brief moment before a large crater emerged around his feet. Since he could redirect the shockwave up through his body while holding Fenrir, Vahn had 'countered' it and sent the entire wave into the ground around him.

Riveria landed nearby and appeared to 'gently' touch the ground as a wave of energy passed up through her legs and dissipated. The only sign that she had landed from her long descent was a slight indentation in the undersoil beneath the grass. She walked over and inspected the crater around Vahn before asking, "You redirected the shockwave into the ground?" Vahn nodded his head as he transformed back into a human and set the now awake Fenrir on the ground. She yawned in an adorable manner before rubbing her sleepy eyes with her paws and asking, "Is it over? Fenrir was having a nice nap, fuuuu~" Vahn laughed at her reaction and began affectionately rubbing her head as he and Riveria waited for the others to come to them.

They were the last three to land, but it didn't mean everyone landed near each other. Because of the influence of winds, their trajectories could easily be off by several kilometers unless the group had stayed together. Fortunately, everyone wasn't too far apart from each other and were able to reunite quickly after Fafnir showed up and acted as a massive landmark by hovering in the sky overhead. A 17-meter long black dragon was quite the contrast against the bluish-white backdrop of the sky overhead. Once they were all together, Vahn got to share a happy embrace with the jubilant Tiona, earned a kiss from the 'victorious' Ais, experienced some awkwardness with the blushing Tione, received some false ire from Ryuu, teased the coy Aki with her own skirt, and then, once everything had calmed down, he got a long lecture from the entire group about proper preparations before going on outings as he consoled himself by brushing the happy Fenrir's hair...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Wardrobe Malfunctions','Happenstance','Reunion : Lessons Learned')

If you'd like to support me as a writer so I can write even more stories in the future, please follow the Patreon link below (O,...,O)~! Stay beautiful <3. Since it was requested, I also added a Paypal link if that is preferable~!)

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=14397149

paypal.me/Einlion

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CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Einlion Einlion

Level 1 Vahn: https://imgur.com/a/zFOLFrT

Courtesy of https://www.deviantart.com/robusta-mania

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