Bab 1721: Changes
With everyone falling into the groove of their Positions, life within Evankhell's Resort became rather routine. Though there were a few noteworthy incidents, such as Rachel apologizing to Baam, Anak showing up outside of Phae's door in the middle of the night, and Endorsi trading in her heels for a pair of sneakers, everything else was just 'business as usual' up until the final week of class.
As could be expected, the final week was far more important than the three preceding it. Not only would there be a Final Exam at the end of the week, but, in order to make sure everyone was able to fulfill the responsibilities of their Position, joint training sessions had become the norm. After all, it didn't really matter how talented you were if you couldn't actually work together in a team.
Unfortunately, due to having completed the Special Tests, Vahn, Phae, and Gandr were required to sit back and watch the joint training sessions from within the Administration Command Center. This was to prevent them from effectively 'carrying' each of the teams through the Tests, so, while all the other Regulars were hard at work, the Imperial Trio were seated alongside Rak and Ghost, the only other candidates to have passed their Special Tests.
Fortunately, watching the tests from a birds-eye view allowed Vahn to get a better grasp of which Regulars would be useful for his future plans. The Administration had also prepared a large quantity of food and drink for them to enjoy, so, while it was pretty boring to just sit around all day, it wasn't all bad. The only person greatly affected by the turn of events was Gandr, who, in accordance with his character, was lying upside down with his head and ears dangling off the sofa, an exceptionally bored expression on his face.
Seeing Gandr's ears twitching convincingly, even without his willing it to, Vahn had a thoughtful expression on his face that was mirrored by Phae. The only difference was, his features gave off an impression of solemnity while hers vaguely resembled a concerned mother wondering about the future of her child. This was, of course, the impression that Vahn was going for, but, whenever he was around his fairer and younger counterparts, he couldn't shake the feeling they were gradually becoming completely different people.
Sharing her Lord's thoughts, for obvious reasons, Phae offered a polite smile as she habitually combed back her bangs. This was a reaction so deeply ingrained into her character that, even without putting any conscious thought into it, Vahn would perform the action through her as if it was completely natural. There had even been instances where he was completely caught off guard by her responses, irrespective of the fact he was the one controlling them...
At this point, Vahn was pretty sure that Phae and Gandr were becoming 'unique' existences, entities intrinsically linked to him but with their own, separate, Egos. This was actually something he tried to accomplish during his training, but, likely as a result of being inside his Realm, his efforts had been limited by his own omnipotence. As for why he wanted to accomplish any kind of separation at all, Vahn was intending to use the Memory Fragment he had saved from his time in Danmachi to create an Avatar for himself after linking the Records. He also wanted to give Sis a chance to 'pilot' a vessel of her own, one which she would be able to manage without having to separate from him.
If he were being honest, Vahn was pretty excited by the growing 'independence' of Phae and Gandr; he just hadn't expected it to happen so soon after entering the Record. After all, he had spent years developing Phae's and Gandr's characters without achieving any noteworthy results. Now, after less than a month in the 'final' Record, he was already on the verge of a breakthrough. There was even a chance their autonomy was the result of his Mind Innate beginning to awaken, something Vahn had been anticipating for decades...
Restraining the urge to sigh, Vahn offered a curt nod in response to Phae handing him a cup of tea, yet another action he seemed to perform 'instinctually' through her. As for Gandr, he had relocated to where Rak and Ghost were engaged in an unscheduled eating contest. They each had a large pile of chocolate bars in front of them, quite literally shoving the sugary sweets into their maws without even bothering to remove the wrappers.
As could be expected, neither of the massive men were a match for Gandr, as, despite his small size, he could, quite literally, eat an infinite amount of food. Every excess calorie he consumed became a meager amount of energy that was stored within the complex seal imprinted upon his back. There was no limit to the amount of energy that could be stored within the seal, but, upon activation, it would immediately consume every last drop in order to drastically increased Gandr's parameters for a short period of time.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that, while weaker than both Vahn and Phae, Gandr had the highest combat potential between them. He not only wielded Laev-tan but, thanks to the restraints that had been placed on his body, [Chainbreaker] allowed him to demonstrate remarkable speed and power, even eclipsing that of Vahn. The only downside was that [Chainbreaker] was directly influenced by the state of a person's mind, so, in order to benefit from the powerful ability, Gandr was prone to bouts of frustration and anger.
Back within the Realm, Gandr's seal didn't really seem to influence him that much since he could always remove it, quite literally, with a single thought. Now, however, his power was greatly limited, and, unless he put in an extreme amount of effort, it was impossible to remove the seal without the 'key'. The best he could do was activate it, burning away all the stored energy in order to mitigate the strain placed upon his body by the seal.
Since it was meant to emulate Fenrir's Innate, the most potent effect of the 'Vanargandr Seal' was placing a literal strain on the user. The seal would feel heavier depending on the amount of energy stored within, and, though this had absolutely no effect on physical weight, it placed a tremendous burden on the mind and spirit. This could actually be used to strengthen both, but, similar to how Fenrir would grow increasingly frustrated the more her power outgrew her ability to control, Gandr would suffer very similar effects. As for why this had no effect on Vahn and Phae, they largely offset it with some liberal usage of the [Will of the Emperor]...
---
While Vahn and co were idling about within the Control Room, the rest of the 'surviving' Regulars, those who had yet to be eliminated due to serious injury or death, were participating in a Capture the Flag style competition. This involved diving the Regulars into four teams with 6-8 people, each defending a fortress located amidst heavily forested or extremely rocky terrain.
As was the case in most Capture the Flag competition, the penultimate goal of the game was to secure the enemy team's flag while simultaneously protecting your own. You earned points based on the total number of flags your team was able to capture, the caveat being that you would lose all of your points the moment your flag fell into the hands of another team.
In a vain attempt to ensure things were fair, Endorsi, Anak, Laure, and Khun had all been placed in charge of separate teams. To further balance things, Endorsi and Anak were both part of teams that only had six members. They were forced to choose between protecting their flag or venturing into enemy territory to try and eliminate as many other Regulars as possible. After all, every Regular they took out of the battle was one less person they needed to worry about.
Unfortunately for the two Princesses, their propensity towards violence made it easy for others to predict their actions. They ended up getting baited into a trap and pitted against each other after some careful wordplay by Khun. Around the same time, members of both his and Laure's teams performed a raid on the Princesses' Fortresses, securing the flags and ultimately winning the game without any real suspense. Later on, Baam asked Khun what he had said to get the two Princesses to fight against each other despite knowing it was a trap. As for the answer, he produced a rather peculiar cookie from his Inventory, one loosely resembling a certain onyx-haired Vanargandr...
---
With classes having wrapped up for the day, Gandr had gathered within Baam's room alongside Khun, Shibisu, Hatsu, Laure, Chunhwa, Aleksai, and Rak. They had decided to have something like a 'boys only' sleepover while most of the girls had all gathered together within Phae's room to learn advanced hair care and beauty treatments. It was a well-known fact at this point that the changes in Rachel's appearance were thanks to Phae, so, as could be expected, she instantly became the center of attention among girls who were concerned about their appearance.
As someone extremely knowledgeable regarding the care and development of women, Phae had quickly become the big sister that everyone looked up to within the relatively small group of girls. Even Endorsi looked up to her quite a bit, probing Phae's brain for advice on everything from men to fashion. This led to a few rather 'pointed' questions being thrown Phae's way, but, with several years of practice preparing for these exact types of questions, she was able to avoid embarrassing herself, often flipping the table entirely to put Endorsi on the spot.
In the beginning, Endorsi didn't truly respect Phae due to her rather inflated sense of self-worth. It was only after the latter completely destroyed both her and Anak in an arm-wrestling contest that she accepted Phae as the de facto leader of the girls' group. From that moment on, she, alongside many of the other female Regulars, congregated in Phae's room after hours. They even spent a few nights within the confines of the room, a trend that had started when several people noticed Anak emerging from the motherly woman's room early in the morning.
Though it wasn't every night, Anak had made a habit of sleeping in Phae's room whenever she had a particularly hard day. The latter always had cookies and other snacks waiting for her, and, though she had trouble expressing herself, Phae always seemed to understand what was on her mind. This caused Anak to develop a bit of a dependence on the woman, but, considering she had spent more than three-hundred-years stuck in a suspended mentality, any change was a step forward. The fact Anak's body had started to subtly develop was the biggest indicator of this, even if these changes were largely due to her rivalry with Endorsi and her growing awareness of Gandr...
Even if it was more competitiveness and curiosity than anything else, it was clear to most that Anak treated Gandr differently than everyone else. She hardly talked to other people, and, the few times she did speak, it was often to say something condescending or abrasive. In Gandr's case, however, she was usually very quiet, and, at times, even appeared shy and demure. She also sat next to him during meal times, and, though she never thanked him for the compliments, she would sometimes smile whenever he commented on the changes in her hair and clothes.
From Gandr's point of view, Anak was like a little sister to him, and, as far as he could tell, at least for the time being, she viewed him in a similar light. The fact they were always competing against each other was the best example of this. They would often race through the hallways, and, when it came time for training, their spars would quickly devolve into rather brutal slugfests. After all, Anak had a very similar style to Gandr's when they were fighting unarmed so the latter had been training her in the basics of the Heavenly White Tiger Style.
Though it wasn't completely necessary, possessing a tail greatly aided in the execution of several techniques common within Baihu's patented style. Anak's, in particular, allowed her to nearly bend forward at ninety degrees without falling over. This, combined with the fact she was only 154cm in height, gave her an exceptionally low center of gravity. As a result, she was able to slip into the gaps created by foes much larger than herself, gaps easily exploited by the phenomenal strength stored within her petite frame.
With strength being the most important thing within Anak's mind, second only to her revenge, she always put an inordinate amount of effort into her training. This was the reason she didn't want to 'waste time' fighting against foes weaker than herself, but, after some careful guidance, Anak was slowly beginning to accept that others not only had their own desires, they also had a right to grow stronger. Her selfishness would only be a detriment in her pursuit of revenge, so, while she would show considerable dissatisfaction at times, she at least made an effort to advise others during their group training sessions. She had even helped Shibisu in his physical training, albeit by sitting on his back as he struggled to do even ten pushups with the addition of 140kgs weighing him down...
(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'It's only a matter of time before Sis appears (O w O)...','Phae is da wae...','That is one thiccc cucumber...')
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