Volume 1 Chapter 19 (1/2)
Before everyone went to sleep, Vahn went into greater detail about the [Pactio], cla.s.sifying the armor as a 'raiment' for the time being. As they had already noticed, activating their cards greatly increased the physical parameters of the girls, though the full extent was currently unknown. The most important thing was that, though it wasn't as reliable as their aegis armor they usually wore, the raiment provided them a great deal of protection against physical attacks and even enhanced their natural regeneration, meaning they would automatically recover from minor wounds. When the contract was activated, they were borderline 'immune' to damage as long as Vahn had enough energy to provide for them.
They would need to study the efficacy and conversion ratios later, but it was a major boon knowing they had a form of temporary invulnerability during emergency situations. Since Vahn could also summon them to his side, it meant most of the girls wouldn't be endangered ever again because they could telepathically communicate with him to escape. There was a good chance the Dungeon would interfere with this transference, but that was something that could be tested at a later date. Just knowing it worked, with a remarkably small cost, already fundamentally changed the way they could fight and reposition. If Vahn could learn how to teleport around like Eva and Terra, he could move great distances and then just call the girls to his side in an instant...
Though everyone wanted to give their new cards a try, Vahn brought a stop to that and told them to keep it a secret for the time being unless they were in a dangerous situation. They could pa.s.s it off as an item like Tiona's wand, but Vahn wanted them to keep their true capabilities a secret since it was always better to have an element of surprise when facing enemies. He did, however, have each of them promise to use the card if they had even an inkling that the fight would be dangerous. Vahn never wanted to come across a situation where one of them sustained grievous injuries just because they were trying to respect his decision to keep secrets. He also briefed them about all of the people with less than 'clean' auras within the Expedition so they wouldn't do something silly like falling for some scheme. If there was ever any doubt, they could now just communicate telepathically with Vahn for an update on the situation and should 'never' trust the words of those they aren't close to.
Vahn knew he was being a little over-protective of the girls but he was also on the precipice of becoming 'unstoppable' within the record of Danmachi. Though there would certainly be things that could defeat him, Vahn would be unkillable by most means and could always gain an advantage in the end. He wanted to help the girls get to a point where he wouldn't have to worry about them in this life while also preparing them for the 'evolution' of the record in the future. There would undoubtedly be forces in the world that would rise up against them, especially when the record became a higher tier, and Vahn wanted to avoid tragedy this time around. He harbored no illusions that he could protect everyone, knowing full well he would have to accept losses over the course of eternity, but Vahn wanted to do his best to try...after all, they were the first family he truly knew and Vahn cared deeply for each and every one of them.
After everyone calmed down, the rest of the evening was relatively peaceful, coming to an end with Fenrir snuggling up with him while Ais and Lefiya took the spots at his sides. Lefiya had become a lot more 'bold' these days and didn't seem to mind using his shoulder a pillow now, even though she had to deal with teasing from Tione and Tiona. The latter of the two twins ended up snuggling up to Lefiya's back and using her as a hug pillow while Tione, Mikoto, and Haruhime all laid in a line at the flanks. Tione tried to get away with hugging Ais but was denied by the taciturn girl because it was too stuffy and Tione had bad sleeping habits. This caused a fair amount of giggling to occur, causing Tione to flush a great deal as she slept with her back to Ais instead...
As usual, Vahn entered the orb at the proper time and spent a few hours celebrating his reunion with Terra and Eva before he moved on to his training once again. Eva was drilling him very hard, forcing him to fight against her while she would generally barrage him with spells. She knew it was more important for Vahn to learn how to fight against powerful Mages since he would always have time to work on the 'theory' part of things later. Though the dangers of [Magia Erebea] would likely be circ.u.mvented by the nature of his existence, she didn't want him to be a pushover since it would embarra.s.s them both.
Terra usually watched at the side while Vahn and Eva were fighting, painting or reading books depending on her mood. a.s.sociating with Eva for several years gave her many of the same hobbies and she had already become a very powerful Mage in her own right. Though not nearly as strong as Eva, who had the cla.s.sification of an SSS-Rank 'Calamity', Terra was now at the S-Rank, which is what Vahn would be at once he learned [Magia Erebea]. Her Status Board now showed more errors than actual stats and, though her Level hadn't increased over 10, it was very obvious she was breaking the limits of the Falna. The biggest change, however, was the fact that her Soul Tier had increased from 2 and reached the same Tier as Vahn himself, making her a Lord Soul.
Eva watched as Vahn dodged another barrage of ice spears before disappearing from sight and intercepting his vector. She had been teaching him how to use [Koku Shundo] more skillfully and had been 'punis.h.i.+ng' him for how long it took to create his anchor points. Once again, she landed right where he exited his technique before smacking him with enough force to send Vahn cras.h.i.+ng into the ground. Since his body was wrapped in a golden aura, as a result of using [Molodia Bellax], Vahn didn't take much damage at all, even though the crater he created was nearly 20m in diameter. Standing up, Vahn rolled his shoulder, wincing with a smile on his face before using [Koku Shundo] to evade Eva's tireless a.s.sault.
Because of the way Vahn fought, Eva had been drilling him on speed and perception, making sure he would never be caught unawares by attacks. He had a big advantage over other people with his domain so she wanted to make sure he was using it properly instead of letting it go to waste. Currently, he used it more for detection than anything else, which made Eva a little annoyed since it meant he was more reactive than 'proactive'. A 'true' Mage, at least in her opinion, was something that could remain relatively untouchable and simply outmaneuvered their opponents, overwhelming them with unstoppable magical might. Vahn wasn't a 'true' Mage, as he was closer to a Magic-Knight, but Eva still wanted him to be a pa.s.sable Mage by the standards of those at the peak. After all, though she had taught Terra and Fenrir, Vahn was her first disciple and she couldn't tolerate him being looked down on by others...
For nearly seven hours straight, Vahn continued dodging 'most' of Eva's attacks and was starting to get the hang of what Eva 'seamless transitioning' into and out of each [Koku Shundo]. He had a habit of thinking about where he wanted to move instead of 'knowing' where he wanted to move, meaning his time between movements caused small gaps. Since the technique also made an 'anchor' where he intended to move, skilled Mages could sense the subtle fluctuations and intercept him if they were fast enough. This was why Eva wanted him to be able to make seamless transitions to where he wanted to move so he wouldn't end up getting caught in traps. Though it was very painful to get knocked around by her, Vahn knew it was necessary since it made him far more battle-hardened while ' incentivizing' him to improve faster.
Seeing Vahn's [Koku Shundo] improve so rapidly made Eva smile because she knew he really did have a lot of talent for physical enhancement and movement skills. It took most Mages several months to even get to the point where they can use [Melodia Bellax], yet Vahn had been able to do it after a few days. Now, he could already sustain the aura for nearly ten minutes and had reached a stable 18x increase in most of his physical parameters while his agility was around 24x. Since she knew Terra was already reaching the pinnacle of existences in the world Vahn came from, Eva had a good idea of where he needed to be to become 'unstoppable'. [Magia Erebea] would already put him near the peak, but Eva knew things were never that clear cut and there were plenty of ways a capable Mage could work around 'immortality'...
Just as Vahn's [Melodia Bellax] was about to end, Eva smiled slightly before creating a ma.s.sive 'spear' out of lightning. It was nearly 30m long and comprised almost entirely of lightning elemental energy, throwing it towards Vahn at 107,925,284km/h, around 1/10th the speed of light. This wasn't the first time Eva had tossed one of her spears at him so Vahn did his best to try and evade it, erecting a wall of earth in front of him to obscure her vision before trying to use [Shundo] to move at the same moment her body twitched. Unfortunately, as had been the case every other time, Vahn felt a powerful impact against his body as all of his muscles and nerves clenched up. Electricity danced around his skin, frying parts of his body before he fell to the ground, smoke emerging from some of the cracks before they were replaced with a vermillion light a few seconds later.
Eva landed next to the charred body of Vahn, watching how rapidly he healed with the pa.s.sive influence of his Zhūquè form. Though she forbade Vahn from using the forms actively, there wasn't too much he could do to stop their pa.s.sive activation. Since she knew very well how much his body could take, Eva made sure never to push him to the limits and only dealt enough damage to cause his Zhūquè form to begin activating. As it had a 'ridiculous' consumption rate of magic power, Eva knew it wouldn't be that dangerous since his body didn't have enough energy to complete the transformation. This meant he would get the enhanced regeneration to recover his wounds without actually turning into what she called a 'fiery chicken boy'...
Terra appeared next to them shortly after, leaning down to lift up her Master's body as she, for what felt like the tenth time, fed him a potion concocted using her Nectar. She quickly learned that her talent in forging was lacking so instead decided to learn chemistry and alchemy with Eva, converting her Master's former workshop into her own personal lab.