บท 1657: Eager
While her Master was busy being tormented by a young prodigy, Fenrir was busy leaving a trail of proverbial breadcrumbs on the mainland of Tempe Terra. Her Master had prepared an island-wide formation to conceal their base, so, unless they had an extreme level of mastery of Space, locating even a trace of the island was exceptionally difficult.
Anticipating the arrival of Ala Rubra, Fenrir had been tasked with killing a few powerful monsters in order to leave traces of her presence. To most, the sites of her battles would just seem like a scuffle between powerful beasts, but, with several members standing near the absolute pinnacle of power within Mundus Magicus, Ala Rubra should be able to ascertain the truth.
With this in mind, Fenrir was dashing through the sky in her wolf transformation, her paws leaving visible imprints on Space as she created footholds within the void.
Fenrir was actually quite fond of running through the sky, but, with a mission to focus on, her eyes reflected an absolute state of focus as she followed subtle traces of powerful magical auras with her nose. Her nose was so sensitive that she could even detect trace amounts of Arika's and Theo's aura from several thousand kilometers away, so, when it came to tracking down powerful magical beasts, there was no hiding from her senses.
Perhaps sensing its approaching doom, a massive chicken with a reptilian tail, dragon-like horns, and peculiar spiral eyes released a thunderous caw in response to Fenrir's approach. It stood more than 20m in height, and, though it looked like an overgrown chicken to most, the true nature of the beast was the offspring between a cockatrice and an earth dragon. This allowed it to run rampant in the region surrounding Tempe, as, due to the presence of the Great Spirit of Earth, there was a vast quantity of earth elemental energy to nourish its growth and empower its attacks.
Undaunted by the physical shockwave that passed over her body like a gentle breeze, Fenrir's aura began to erupt from her body with tremendous force. Though she was already a giant wolf, an even larger and more majestic version of her current form manifested behind her, and, before it even had the chance to pop out an egg in surprise, the hybrid creature's eyes widened as it felt a toothy maw close around its neck.
With her [Apex Predator], Fenrir was able to drastically reduce the power of other 'monsters', and, if their determination was lacking, she could even cause their minds to collapse, stalling their thought process in its tracks. This was what spelled the end for the hybrid, as, from its perspective, all it saw was a one-hundred-meter tall wolf staring down at it from the Heavens. In reality, Fenrir had used a variation of Shundo to instantly close the distance, her jaws closing around its neck like tofu before she proceeded to take several large chunks out of its head and body.
Feeling her power increasing by a marginal amount, a tingling sensation spread through Fenrir's body that caused her to shiver like a dog shaking off water. She didn't like devouring fire and earth elemental energy, as, despite having no real flavor, the moments preceding its conversion into pure magical energy always made her stomach feel weird. As for the blood, bone, and other viscera, she had no reaction at all, and, if it didn't unnerve those close to her Master, Fenrir wouldn't hesitate to devour all her prey.
Choosing to leave around seventy percent of the hybrid's body untouched, Fenrir took a few steps back before circling around and releasing a sonorous humming sound from her throat. If there had been any witnesses to the event, they would have been completely shocked, as, rather than a wolf's growl, it sounded like the voice of a woman performing a vocal exercise.
After warming up her throat for a few seconds, as she didn't like to strain her voice unless it was for her Master's sake, Fenrir plopped her butt on the ground before raising her head to release a rather sonorous howl. This sound seemed to echo for hundreds of kilometers, but, more notably, the area surrounding Fenrir experienced a rather drastic change. Her howl had released a pale blue pulse of energy, and, as the note was carried by the wind, ice began to build up in the surroundings, glazing several hundred meters in a layer of magical permafrost.
In order to conserve her energy, Fenrir elected to manipulate the ice and water elemental energy in the atmosphere instead of using her own. This was another indicator that someone had reached the level of an Archmage, as, rather than squander their own reserves, they relied on the energy within the environment to dominate their foes. This was how someone like Eva, who had the reserves of a talented academy graduate, became known as the 'most powerful mage in the world'. She had such an extreme mastery over her elemental affinities, that, unless she was in a sticky situation, she never had to rely on her own magical energy to cast spells.
With her surroundings adequately frozen, a state that would persist upwards of two weeks, Fenrir gave herself a nod of approval before raising her nose slightly and sniffing the air. She had already defeated more than a dozen 'territorial kings', monsters who had established themselves within a known hunting grounds, but, ever the overachiever, Fenrir was determined to continue thinning the native monster population until sunrise...
---
Unaware of the fact that his most faithful companion was going more than a little overboard, Vahn reclined against the headboard of his bed with a casual smile on his face. Sitting in his lap, or, more accurately, laying against his body, an adorable little girl wearing koala-themed animal pajamas was flipping through the pages of a shoujo battle manga. This was was the compromise she had agreed to in order to be able to continue lying against his body, and, though it was far from the most ideal outcome, Vahn couldn't deny he had a weakness against 'animal jammies'. The fact they were hand made by him, turning them into an A-Rank magical artifact, only exacerbated the matter, as, due to his propensity to overdo things, Vahn had given them a peculiar squishy and soft quality.
Fortunately, once she got into a story, Asuna stopped paying attention to virtually everything else. As a result, Vahn was able to relax comfortably, his hands loosely stacked atop her abdomen as the majority of his focus was split between his other vessels. He was trying to see if he could control the Little Garden externally, and, though he was unable to enter it, for the time being, that didn't stop him from testing its capabilities.
After spending so much time with Da Vinci, Vahn's natural curiosity had been fully converted into a contemplative nature powered by intrigue. New things always excited him, and, though he relied on Da Vinci to help him figure out various things, he couldn't help but attempt to analyze and reverse engineer everything he got his hands on. This was especially true for anything related to Space and Time, as, despite his status as a God in both categories, Vahn was often left surprised by the myriad number of ways in which the two Laws could manifest.
From what he could ascertain, the Little Garden wasn't all that different from a Space-Time Orb, but, rather than transport just the spirit, it readily accommodated physical objects. If not for his ability to manifest solid objects in both spiritual and virtual space, Vahn, like many others, would have argued that this was impossible. The amount of energy it took to transform a spiritual object into a physical one, and vice versa, was truly phenomenal, and, without meeting certain conditions, the stability of such objects was questionable, at best.
Vahn was very curious about how the Little Garden was able to freely accommodate this transition, but, compared to the tiny blue sphere's most notable trait, this was negligible. After all, it required a considerable amount of energy, often drawing from the planet itself, to maintain a Sub-Space Orb without compromising its interior structure. Since the Little Garden functioned like a Sub-Space Orb with the properties of a Space-Time Orb, it should take a tremendous amount of energy to sustain itself. Instead, Vahn felt virtually no drain, and, rather than pulling from the environment, the Little Garden seemed to be able to sustain itself using the energy produced within its interior...
Creating a Sub-Space Orb that was powered by its own output was the penultimate dream of any Mage dabbling in Spatial Laws, and, even though he was a God, Vahn had no idea how to pull off such a feat. He could probably manage it while he was inside of the orb, but, the moment he came out, it was bound to collapse almost instantaneously. There needed to be an exterior stabilizing element to ensure the integrity of the interior space, or, like a compromised pressure container, it would literally explode or collapse depending on numerous variables.
Since it was capable of doing something he, as a God of Space, Time, and Creation was unable to emulate, Vahn was 'very' interested in the Little Garden's structure. If he could understand how it functioned, it would be possible to create copies that could be used for a variety of purposes. He could even create versions with different biomes, as, despite the overwhelming vitality contained within the current garden, it wasn't exactly suitable for cultivating all types of flora and fauna.
Unfortunately, at least for the time being, Vahn was unable to influence the Little Garden from the outside, and, after dropping in his Realm to conduct a field test, he was able to confirm that it was 'linked' to the current Record. He was able to manifest it within the Realm, but, the moment he tried to put an object inside, it turned to dust in an instant. The only exceptions to this were objects that had been purchased form the system shop, but, as that had always been the case, Vahn wasn't too surprised.
Fortunately, during the brief five days spent within the Realm, Vahn had been able to test a number of things within the Little Garden. The most important discovery was the realization that, while there was no way to move objects from the Realm into the Little Garden, he could still exercise his power as an Overseer within its confines. As a result, he was able to freely modify the interior, and, though his powers as a Creator were limited, he was able to purchase various seeds and plant life to fill the Little Garden to the brim with life. He also adjusted the flow of time to grow more powerful as you moved towards the edges of the garden, making the interior island flow at a rate of ten times while the exterior ring was a whopping 700x.
The fact he could freely alter the structure of the Little Garden using his power as an Overseer had practically turned Vahn into a giddy child for the duration of his stay. He had even planted a total of thirty-nine World Trees within, their 'cores' serving as the anchors that supported the drastic change in Space-Time that existed between the interior island and external ring. World Trees were easily the most powerful stabilizer Vahn had ever come across, and, though it was more than a little excessive to use them to power a formation, the fact they only cost him 195 million of his twenty-three billion OP made it seem reasonable.
Vahn had stockpiled an extreme amount of OP, and, though he wasn't earning much in the present, he was certain there were be opportunities to stockpile even more in the future. He wanted to have at least thirty-billion by the time he entered the next Record. This might seem a little ridiculous, but, with the next Record potentially serving as the foundation for his own, Vahn wanted to make ensure he was adequately prepared. Even then, he couldn't be sure this was enough, as, if he modified the search parameters, there was literally an infinite number of items that greatly exceeded thirty-billion in cost. Fortunately, having anticipated his Origin Points running out at some point, Vahn had been stockpiling gacha coupons and upgrade stones in preparation. Since the gacha items and rarity was scaled to the level of the Record, there was a chance he would get monstrously powerful items with just a few gacha rolls, so, while he wasn't exactly in a rush, Vahn was already looking forward to his journey through the next Record...
(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'All are Prey before the Huntress' Mighty Maw','Vahn over here playing Minecraft with creative mode turned on...','The God of Whales')
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