Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Following the Lighthouse to Gandr's last reported location, Khun had a frown on his face as he saw neither hide nor hair of the mischievous young Vanargandr. The only thing that indicated someone had been in the area at all was an eerily artistic blood spatter.

Noticing the eerie crescent, Baam couldn't help but fear the worse, but, before he could express his concerns, Endorsi beat him to it, saying, "That brat must have gone to investigate the Fortress Turtle up close. Seriously, that kid doesn't know the meaning of the word restraint..."

Having reached the same conclusion himself, Khun nodded his head in agreement, patting Baam's shoulder as he said, "Let's make camp away from the shoreline. Don't worry about Gandr. That boy can-"

Interrupting Khun's remark, a plume of water erupted from the edge of the lake, promptly followed by a lithe and athletic figure landing a few meters away from the group. This was obviously Gandr, who, after sensing the arrival of the Hunting Party, promptly returned to the shore with more than a dozen different types of Shinheuh in his Inventory.

After shaking the water free from his hair and fur, Gandr adopted his usual smile as he stared back at the quintet and asked, "Are you guys hungry? I might not be as good as Phae, but I'm confident in my skills as a chef."

As everyone was still a little surprised by Gandr's scanty appearance, Rak was the first to respond, smacking his chest with a hard thump as he said, "Nonsense! Leave it to me, Fluffy Black Turtle! I will show you how to properly grill fishies!"

With Rak's thunderous tone breaking them free from their spell, Endorsi ceased gawking at Gandr's dew-covered frame, her expression turning sour as she kicked the large Crocodilian in the leg and shouted, "As if! Your version of cooking probably involves skewering fish over an open flame! Gandr is a lot more reliable than you, gator-brains...!"

Though he was a lot larger than Endorsi, Rak was forced to take a few steps back, reeling from the force of the kick. This gave him the urge to hunt the ghost-eyed woman, but, having come to understand the Tower wasn't his former hunting grounds, he held himself back, snorting as he asked, "Do you even know how to cook, Ghost-Pepper Turtle...?"

Rather than take offense to Rak's remark, Endorsi just crossed her arms, a confident smile on her face as she retorted, "Ha! I've been learning how to cook from Ms. Phae. Besides, even if I didn't know how to cook, it wouldn't matter. There are plenty of people willing to cook for me. Isn't that right, Gan-chan~?"

Turning her head to the side, Endorsi was expecting Gandr to immediately take her side, but, rather than paying attention to her squabble with Rak, he was standing next to Anak, asking about her tail and other injuries. This caused her brow to twitch noticeably, eliciting an uproarious laugh from Rak while Baam and Khun just prepared a make-shift camp off to the side...

---

After helping Anak to properly treat her wounds, Gandr prepared food for the entire group, skillfully cleaning and preparing the Shinheuh with more appetizing appearances. The others had offered to help, but, after seeing how skilled he was, they quickly realized they would just be in the way. As a result, Gandr was able to demonstrate his skills as a hibachi chef, cooking food using a large metal plate and smiling every time someone paid him a compliment.

Since this was their first time eating Gandr's food, even Anak and Rak had expressions of pleasant surprise on their face, tails wagging happily as they ate several large portions. As for Endorsi, she appeared to suffer some kind of mental damage, falling silent for several minutes before a look of determination appeared on her face as she said, "Gandr! Become my personal chef!"

Without any hesitation whatsoever, Gandr's expression became mock-serious as he immediately replied, "I refuse!" in a curt tone. Then, without having to pay attention to what his hands were doing, he skillfully flipped more than a dozen similarly sized pieces of fish before using a small basting brush to cover them in a light glaze. This caused a savory aroma to immediately permeate their surroundings, but, thanks to Khun's Lighthouses generating a thin spherical barrier, the smell was unable to travel more than a few meters.

Like a spoiled child who had just been denied their favorite dessert, Endorsi glared back at Gandr for several seconds before adopting a 'serious' expression on her face, raising the hem of her skirt ever-so-slightly as she said, "Come on. Don't you want to be the personal chef of a Princess? Once you get a bit older, I can make it worth you while~?"

With the exception of Baam, everyone gathered around the hibachi plate understood the not-so-hidden meaning containing within Endorsi's words. Gandr, however, just responded with a deadpan expression as he plainly remarked, "Maybe I'll consider it once you mature..."

Though he was talking about her personality, Endorsi misconstrued Gandr's words to imply that she was lacking in feminine charm. This caused her ghostly-eyes to glow slightly, her expression turning dark as she silently reminded herself, "He is just a brat...don't let his words get to you..."

While Endorsi was mumbling to herself, Gandr slid a heated plate filled with several strips of sashimi and a few glazed vegetables towards her. This wasn't enough to restore her mood, but, after taking a few bites of the inordinately delicious food, a satisfied smile spread across her face as she chimed, "You're going to be my personal chef one day. I have already made up my mind~."

Selectively ignoring Endorsi's words, Gandr slid another serving of fried rice towards Anak before turning to Baam and asking, "Are you already finished eating?"

Returning a smile in response to Gandr's question, Baam explained, "I'm still not used to eating a lot of food. It was very delicious though. Thank you very much, Mr. Gandr!"

Though he found it strange that the Primordial Sin of Gluttony had the smallest appetite among the members of Team Wolf Pack, Gandr chose to pay it no mind. There were more outlandish things in the Records, so, considering Baam's Innate had yet to awaken, there was no sense in fussing over it.

Since everyone else had nearly had their fill, Gandr took the opportunity to prepare a large quantity of food for himself. He ended up preparing several tens of kilograms of food, devouring nearly his entire body weight in sashimi as everyone, excluding Rak and Anak, promptly lost their appetites...

---

Deciding to return on foot, Vahn was unhurriedly moving through the Town of Beginning's streets, passively mapping his surroundings while staring at his right hand. There, mist-like energy could be seen swirling in his palm, it's color reminiscent of gentle rays of sunshine peering through clouds in the wake of a storm.

Though he had always assumed that a Tier 6 Record would allow for greater mastery over the Laws, Vahn never expected to awaken a skill related to Petting the moment Marble resigned herself to her fate. She ended up offering no resistance to his touch, and, after a few seconds had passed, a subtle light began to radiate from her body as the system informed him that he had obtained the [Taming] and [Subjugation] Skills.

[Taming] and [Breeding] were the Skills most commonly associated with the Position of Anima, the exceptionally rare ability that allowed people to control and rear Shinheuh. [Subjugation], however, was an order of magnitude more frightening, as, rather than allow the user to exercise control over Shinheuh, it had the effect of 'forcibly subjugating all living creatures'. Vahn even suspected it was the precursor to an Innate, one he wasn't quite sure he wanted to possess.

Fortunately, even if [Subjugation] would be 'extremely useful' under certain circumstances, it wasn't like Vahn was forced to use it. Rather, even if it activated passively, the Skill would only take effect if he accepted the affected as his Subordinate, Retainer, or Believer. This made the Skill relatively safe to use, and, so long as he used it without malicious intentions, Vahn knew it would be very effective for grooming and spurring the growth of various different creatures...

While thinking about the feasibility of literally subjugating Floor Guardians, Vahn was more than a little surprised when a green-skinned man suddenly intercepted his path, shouting, "There you are! I've been looking everywhere trying to find another member of our Team! Show me the way to our Inn this instant, you trash...!"

Since he was nowhere near the location of the Inn, Vahn had never expected to encounter Parakewl during his aimless wandering. He couldn't help but wonder if the man had some kind of Innate that allowed him to track down and annoy people as, despite being referred to as a town, the Town of Beginnings was a loose circle with a diameter nearing 80km. This meant there were more than 5000 square kilometers for the man to explore, yet, in spite of this, he somehow managed to find the one person most annoyed by his presence...

For a brief moment, Vahn was tempted to test his newly acquired [Subjugation] on the annoying green-skinned man. Unfortunately, his sense of responsibility wouldn't allow him to abandon one of his Subordinates, so, after suppressing the urge, he simply teleported away. If Parakewl was able to continue finding him throughout the duration of their stay on the 3rd Floor, he might reconsider the man's position within Team Wolf Pack, but, for the time being, he had absolutely no interest in a man who went around calling people trash and screaming about revolution.

Seeing the target of his ire spontaneously disappear, Parakewl began to stamp the ground in place, his mouth opening to unnatural proportions as he screamed, "You trash! How dare you ignore the great me!? Aren't we supposed to be on the same Team!? Where is your sense of camaraderie...!?"

Having teleported several hundred meters away from Parakewl's location, Vahn was unable to hear the man's abrasive outburst. Then, after a few more precautionary teleportations, he took a seat in a large found plaza, exhaling a tired sigh as he looked towards the sunless sky above. Since they were currently indoors, there were no natural lights within the Tower. Rather, before the Workshop spent thousands of years installing artificial lighting on each of the Floors, emulating the day-night cycle, it had been a place of perpetual darkness and gloom.

Closing his eyes, Vahn imagined what it must have been like for the pioneers who had climbed the Tower prior to the establishment of the Jahad Empire. It must have been a terrifying ordeal, but, as the prize was having all of their wishes granted, he could imagine countless people willingly taking up the challenge. They had likely spent millennia, if not even longer, just trying to tame the Tower and its inhabitants, slowly emerging as the 'Native Species' that were largely wiped out during the formation of the increasingly notorious Empire.

Inhaling a deep breath, Vahn exhaled yet another sigh as he opened his eyes, lazily observing the countless Regulars who were doing their best to try and realize their dreams. There were more than three-hundred-thousand residents in the Town of Beginnings even though it was only the 3rd Floor. This number would skyrocket into the millions whenever you reached one of the bottleneck Floors, yet, compared to the approximated 120 billion people present within this Tower, even this number was considered small.

Had this been his Empire, Vahn would have done everything in his power to allow the residents of the Tower the opportunity to achieve their dreams. After all, many of them spent hundreds of years proactively trying to climb the Tower, yet, because of a broken system, they were forced to stop on certain floors just to avoid being killed in various power struggles. It, honestly, made him feel a little suffocated, not because his own path was limited, but because he could 'feel' the desperation of the Regulars wanting to climb...people he could help with a simple wave of his hand...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Rather than 'hungry', Endorsi seems kind of thirsty xD...','Don't worry, Gandr. Baam's appetite is steadily growing...','A power that could change everything...')

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