Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Now that Vahn had obtained a new [Innate] skill, his strength once again had a large increase. Though the cooldown was a bit long, Vahn believed that, as his proficiency and understanding of the skill increased, it would take less and less time. With a large smile on his face, Vahn looked towards Fafnir who had just completed its transformation.

Fafnir was now 6m long and instead of pink scales and azure blue eyes, it now had onyx black scales with purple undertones. Its eyes were a pale green, almost ghostly color, and there was a strange magic seal on its chest. Instead of being slouched over like its previous form, it now stood proudly with a pair of forelimbs as well as wings. (A/N: That means it has arms, legs, and wings~! The Wyvern only had legs and wings.)

The most notable features though were the black horns that framed its face. It had a total of four horns, two angling towards the sky while the others wrapped around and seemed to be protecting the eyes somewhat. They were incredibly fierce looking, almost as though Fafnir was wearing a helmet. Its entire body was much more angular, and some of its scales now protruded out at deadly angles. Vahn felt like it looked cool, but at the same time, he couldn't see it as anything other than an 'Evil' Dragon.

He originally had a thought to try and let it clear parts of the floor on its own when he rested at night, but there was no way a group of adventurers would be able to avoid attacking Fafnir if they saw its current form. They would think it some kind of variant and attack it ruthlessly and, since Vahn wouldn't prevent Fafnir from protecting itself, they would probably die for their efforts. There was also a chance that, if a powerful Familia showed up, Vahn would lose his first 'named' familiar and companion.

---

Vahn inspected Fafnir's new body, and it seemed to gleam with confidence as it proudly displayed its form to its master. Vahn found the scales on Fafnir's body to be far harder than the bedrock of the dungeon, which meant he was not only immune to magic but incredibly resilient to physical attacks. Af for offensive power, right now Fafnir 'communicated' to Vahn that it didn't possess any skills, not even its flame breath. However, it now had incredible physical strength and speed that caused craters wherever is struck. It also had the power of flight and didn't seem to rely on flapping its wings to do so. Using his domain, Vahn could sense there was a formless energy generating the lifting force behind the wings.

During this period, Vahn also tried using his [Prometheus] on Fafnir, but he was prevented from doing so as Fafnir was of a higher level and potential than he was. As a 'dragon', even while it was Soul Tier 1, it had insanely high parameters and natural capabilities. When Vahn had it fight against a Battle Boar, a creature even he enjoyed fighting due to its relative difficulty, Fafnir smashed the entire boar into the ground with a single powerful strike.

Vahn noticed that, even though the Battle Boar was quite strong among monsters on this floor, he only obtained 2OP when Fafnir defeated it. Due to this, Vahn was able to infer that he obtained less exilia and OP if the fight was one-sided or the monsters were much weaker. It was almost similar to how adventurers got almost no exilia from hunting weaker monsters. If Vahn wanted to make the best use of Fafnir's awesome power, he would have to venture deeper into the dungeon...

The reason Vahn wasn't willing to do so was that of the matter with the Osiris Familia, as well as the fact that he was actually weaker than Fafnir presently. If he became over-reliant on its abilities, it would stunt his future growth. It wasn't all bad though, because Vahn got to experience flying for the first time as he rode on Fafnir's back. Even though the angle was a bit odd, it seemed as if Fafnir could change the structure of its scales and created an area where Vahn could easily mount it.

If any spectators had been in the area, they would have seen a 'demonic' white tiger boy laughing loudly while riding on the back of a humongous 'evil' dragon.

---

Vahn continued traveling with Fafnir as they easily cleared every monster on the floor that had the misfortune of crossing their path. As a Level 3, and a dragon, Fafnir completely outclassed everything else on the 16th floor. When Vahn saw him fighting against a large group of Minotaurs, he was surprised with Fanfir shattered the neck of one with a casual tail swipe. And, when they tried to surround him, Fafnir used the jagged protrusions on his body and suddenly extended them like spears in an omnidirectional attack. Vahn wasn't sure he could have evaded the attack if he didn't know about it beforehand. Seeing the group of nine Minotaurs getting skewered by the attack actually made Vahn shudder slightly.

Eventually, the day was coming to a close so Vahn began his return to Rivira. He no longer had to drop down the hole to the 17th floor, as he was able to ride on Fafnir's back and descend quickly. The two made their way through the 17th floor before they came across a problem. Fafnir was far too big to fit through the areas where the dungeon became more constrained. Even Vahn, who was relatively small, had trouble navigating some of the terrain. As a 6m long, several-thousand kilogram dragon, Fafnir was barred passage further inward.

Vahn had to put Fafnir into a dormant state because he was unwilling to leave it alone in the off-chance a group capable of killing him showed up. The best part about Fafnir in its core state was that Vahn could easily store it within his Inventory. Generally speaking, biological or living creatures couldn't be placed into the storage, so it was very convenient. Staring at the large and beautiful black gemstone, Vahn was amazed that it housed an incredibly powerful dragon. He even had the urge, albeit in the back of his mind, to crush the stone in his palm...

Shaking his head of the thought, Vahn continued towards Rivira while slaying every monster on the way. Once again, this floor had far fewer enemies than the floor above so Vahn was able to progress with minimal difficulty. Even then, it still took him nearly two hours to reach the 'Wall of Grief'.

Staring at the massive wall, Vahn lost himself in his own thoughts. He could see that the shadow had grown a fair amount and had Sis recalculate the time. Instead of the 70-75 hour timeframe she initially stated, her current analysis showed that it would spawn within the next twenty hours. Vahn had been within the dungeon for fourteen hours, yet, in that time the 'window' had shrunk an additional 40 hours.

(*Just like the Juggernaut, a Monster Rex's spawn can be influenced by other adventurers. According to the compendium, the main reason many people have died to Monster Rex(s) is due to the fact they spawned at an unexpected time. The fact you've been hunting hundreds of monsters alongside Fafnir may have influenced the timer. There is also the fact that other adventurers are also within the dungeon and would also be influencing it in a similar manner.*)

Vahn thought it made sense considering the Monster Rex(s) were essentially the guardians of the dungeon. If more people are entering and causing chaos, it was understandable that it would spawn faster. The problem Vahn currently faced was being around for when it finally did spawn. As he wanted to challenge it alone, Vahn wanted to obtain Level 3 before it had spawned. Right now, mainly due to how he let Fafnir kill most things, Vahn hadn't made a lot of progress in his parameters since the morning.

Sitting against the wall, Vahn stared toward the 'Wall of Grief' and the shadow contained within. He knew that by the time the shadow had fully formed, the Goliath inside would come bursting out and begin attacking anything within its territory. Vahn decided to wait until it spawned since if he went and tried to train further, he had no way of knowing when it would break free of the wall. Though it was possible it would still be here when he finally returned, due to the fact that many adventurers passed this room to-and-from Riviria, it was highly likely it would be dead instead.

Though the odds weren't heavily in his favor, Vahn was confident he could put up a fight against the Goliath. A group of Level 2's, if they had great coordination alongside a Level 3 or higher, would be able to deal with it. It had incredible regeneration and awesome physical power, but its speed wasn't too difficult to deal with. The fact it had such a large body actually proved to be a disadvantage against well-oriented party compositions.

Since Vahn should be more than a match for a party of Level 2's and even defeat the majority of early-to-mid rank Level 3's, he felt he would be able to deal with the Goliath. Worst case scenario, he would be able to rely on Fafnir to help tie it down. The standard Goliath was only 7m tall, which wasn't much larger than the 6m Fafnir. Considering the body composition, Fafnir likely weighed a great deal more as well.

Vahn was conflicted for the same reasons he didn't want to take Fafnir down to the lower floors. It had great strength, more than an adequate amount to be reliable in a fight, but it also changed how Vahn engaged enemies. He found out that it was very easy to consider the situation while including Fafnir as a method of overcoming difficulties. If he continued to develop this mentality, he would become overly reliant on the dragon and likely suffer an unexpected setback if anything ever happened to it.

Sighing, Vahn leaned against the wall and decided to take a nap. Most people would have called him a madman for doing so, but as he had his domain, Vahn wasn't worried about getting caught off guard. As he had been doing so recently, Vahn took the time before resting to review his stats and spoils for the day. After fourteen hours of combat, he had obtained a total of 24,318OP, his largest gains yet. He now had a total of 258,559OP.

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[[Stats]]

Name: [Vahn Mason]

Age: 14

Race: Human, *sealed*

Parameter: [Danmachi: 1-4]

-Level:2(+)(2)

-Power:1001+(B760)->(B778)

-Endurance:1108+(SS1019)->(SS1025)

-Dexterity:887+(B737)->(B750)

-Agility:940+(A822)->(A828)

-Magic:1611+(SSS1114)->(SSS1198)

Total:5547+(4452)->(4579) (A/N: Vahn needs to eat more protein. Look at these puny gainz.)

Soul Strength: Tier 2 (Hero Soul)

[Karma]: 1,473

[OP]: 258,559

[Valis]: 171,630

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Vahn was somewhat dissatisfied with his growth for the day, but considering the fact he now had a loyal and cool looking dragon to accompany him, he wasn't particularly upset. One of the things he wanted to do after he left the dungeon was fly on Fafnir's back high into the sky. He knew the continent was surrounded by an ocean, and given how agile Fafnir is, Vahn figured he might be able to see it one day.

As he drifted off into sleep, Vahn dreamt about flying through the sky himself...not on Fafnir's back, but by his own power. He imagined it must be a very 'freeing' experience, and he wanted to one day accomplish the feat.

---

Several hours after Vahn had fallen asleep, a group of people was making their way towards the 'Wall of Grief'. As a group that had hunted it several times, they were well aware of its general spawn times and had even investigated it earlier in the day. It was likely to spawn within the next 10-20 hours, and they wanted to be on site to prevent anyone from poaching it.

The group consisted of eight individuals, and they had a very casual air as they made their way up the stairs. Some laughed and bantered with each other, while others were calm and composed. One of the members almost had a complacent expression, while the person next to them seemed to be enjoying the moment.

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Midnight Summer's Dream','I believe I can fly','Pokemon Master aren't known for their Personal Strength','Fafnir IMBA')