Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Following the unsurprising defeat of Shibisu, the rest of Team Wolf Pack won their matches with relative ease. The only other members who had any real trouble were Aleksai and Baam, largely due to their rather passives natures.

Aleksai’s skills had blossomed under the tutelage of Fenrir, but he was far more focused on resisting blows than dishing them out. As for Baam, his talent was simply monstrous, but, due to his kind and caring nature, he had no desire to harm other people.

Were it not for his nature, Baam could have easily secured the 2nd Seed among Wave Controllers for himself. He was simply too kind-hearted, a trait that was bound to cause numerous problems for Team Wolf Pack in the near and distant future.

Despite knowing this, Vahn had no desire to change Baam’s personality as, much like Khun had put it, the Tower needed people like him. The same could be said for Team Wolf Pack, so, while he was bound to struggle early on, Vahn was certain Baam would help pave the way forward for the rest of his team.

For now, Baam needed more experience. Even if these experiences included setbacks, there were numerous people who would support him. His powerful fate would also protect him, so, even if he couldn’t help feeling a little worried, Vahn believed things would work out even if he wasn’t around to protect and guide them...

After waiting for nearly two hours, Vahn, once again, found himself atop one of the five pillar-like arenas. His opponent was a sporty-looking girl with fiery-red hair, matching eyes, and bronzed skin that reminded him of Quant.

Unsurprisingly, the announcer introduced the spunky little brat as Quinn Blitz, a descendent of the Blitz Family. They were a Special Family that was famous for producing Hwayeomsa, people capable of converting Shinsu, Divine Water, into Flames. This was an exceptionally complicated process, but, seemingly at the cost of their rationality, the unique family was filled with fiery-tempered redheads who could produce flames at will.

The moment the rounds were started, a wry smile spread across Vahn’s face as the rather petite girl, another characteristic of the Blitz Family, fearlessly launched herself toward him as a flaming Baang of Shinsu coalescend in the air behind her. Then, even though she didn’t have any actual bloodlust, a somewhat crazed smile spread across her face as she screamed, "Die~!!" in an excited tone.

Though he had humored the idea of taking it easy on his opponents, Vahn knew it would be for the best if he wrapped things up quickly. With this in mind, he raised his hand in much the same way as his first match. This resulted in Quinn immediately jumping to the side, seemingly in an attempt to dodge the ’shockwave’ he had used to defeat his first opponent. At the same time, she manipulated the flaming ball of Shinsu to create a surprisingly swift whip of flames.

Unfortunately for Quinn, Vahn was still making use of his Telekinesis, and, while her willpower made her feel a little ’heavy’, it was ultimately futile. He managed to lock her in place mid-jump, smiling as her whip of flame impacted the invisible membrane produced by his Domain.

Without affording the raging redhead the opportunity to muster a counterattack, Vahn tossed her over the side with an unceremonious sweep of his hand. She screeched a number of expletives on the way down, but Vahn ignored both her swearing and the booing from the crowd as he shifted his attention to the other matches...

Though Baam was nearly eliminated in the second round due to his opponent resembling a young girl, the rest of the matches had preceded without incident. Even Aleksai managed to dominate his opponent with relative ease, seemingly becoming more determined after the close-call in the first round.

With the second round of matches out of the way, things were finally beginning to get interesting as Vahn was facing off against Baam while Ran was matched against Aleksai. The second match, in particular, was something worth watching as Aleksai was one of the few people Ran considered to be ’slightly bothersome’ on a unique scale that included: ’slightly bothersome’, ’a little bothersome’, ’bothersome’, ’very bothersome’, ’too bothersome’, and ’wants to kill’.

Ran was a rare breed of ’male tsundere’ so there was naturally no ’not bothersome’ category in his personal evaluations of the people around him. Even Phae was in the ’very bothersome’ category due to motherly treatment, something that made Ran feel awkward since his own mother hadn’t been particularly caring. As for the rest of Team Wolf Pack, the majority fell into the ’bothersome’ and ’very bothersome’ categories. The only notably exceptions were Aleksai, Laure, and Yun-Yun; essentially anyone who didn’t ’bother’ him all that often.

Since he was a little interested to see how Ran would deal with someone he had virtually no desire to fight against, Vahn could only smile wryly when Baam adopted a combat stance and said, "I’ll do my best!" with determination filling his tone.

Unfortunately for his young protege, this was neither training nor a stage where Vahn could afford to humor him. It was the venue he had prepared in order to demonstrate his skills, so, after shaking his head, Vahn adopted a serious look as he said, "This might be the last lesson I ever give you...with that in mind, pay close attention. Allow me to show you the difference that exists between us...the incomprehensibly vast gulf you’ll need to overcome if you desire the power to protect everything..."

Before Baam could ask any questions, Vahn exhaled a sigh that produced a cloud of white vapor. At the same time, an eerie stillness seemed to spread throughout the entire arena as everyone present began to feel an instinctual dread welling up from the most primal region of their hearts and minds.

After taking measures to prevent his aura from interfering with the other matches, Vahn opened his eyes to reveal blazing golden irises. Resplendent golden scales began to spread across all across his rapidly expanding body as two majestic wings erupted from his back, their breadth surpassing the diameter of the stage as Vahn, now in his Huanglong transformation, seemed to become the sole existence within the arena.

Though he felt like his body was tearing itself apart, Vahn managed to appear absolutely calm as he stared down at the trembling Baam with an apologetic glimmer in his eyes. He had actually planned to save this transformation for the finals, but, realizing it would leave a deeper impression if he used it against Baam himself, Vahn decided to teach the youth one final lesson: the difference between a mortal and a God.

Without affording his young protege any time to think, Vahn created a massive golden Baang that resembled a small sun. Then, to the horror of every spectating member of Team Wolf Pack, he fired the Baang towards the wide-eyed youth, cutting through the durable arena and piercing deep into the foundation beneath the Coliseum. When the light faded away, a tunnel that was more than 10m in diameter had formed, it’s depths impossible to determine even with bands of golden lightning illuminating the interior...

Rising with a start, Baam took several labored breaths as he looked around to discover himself beneath a familiar emerald-green canopy. He could also see the place that had served as a home and headquarters for his team, the aptly named Wolves’ Den Manor. This allowed him to quickly calm down, his breathing nearly returning to a natural rhythm until he heard a voice from behind muse, "You certainly recover quickly..."

Though he recognized the voice, Baam nearly jumped to his feet before a hand pressed down on his shoulder, keeping him seated. Then, with an apologetic smile on his face, Vahn took a seat next to the boy, asking, "Did you manage to ’absorb’ anything with that power of yours?"

Feeling a warm and comforting energy flow through his body, Baam exhaled a sigh of relief as the shadow of fear warping his expression quickly faded away. Then, after several seconds of silence, he answered, "I felt ’something’, but I don’t really know how to describe it..."

Nodding his head in understanding, Vahn lightly ruffled Baam’s hair as he said, "Don’t worry. You’ll get it...eventually..."

At this point in time, Baam’s Innate, [Primordial Sin of Gluttony], had yet to awaken. He thought a near-death experience might help the youth awaken, but, after seeing how quickly he recovered, it was pretty clear that he was more confused than anything else.

After briefly considering whether or not it was a mistake to make things ’painless’, Vahn shook his head in self-admonition before explaining, "As I explained to you previously, there are a number of people in this Tower who intend to try and use you as a weapon. Since we’ll be parting ways pretty soon, I decided to use this event to temporarily conceal your identity from them. From hereon, your identity as The 25th Baam will only be known to the members of Team Wolf Pack."

Though he didn’t fully grasp Vahn’s words, Baam still nodded his head as if he understood what the former was trying to say. This caused Vahn to chuckle in amusement, affectionately ruffling the lad’s hair a second time as he added, "With your consent, I intend to modify your apparent age, race, and physical appearance. This should allow you to climb the Tower without having to worry about your friends being targetted by fools who only see them as a means to control you. I don’t want to see a future where you become a weapon used to fulfill the dreams of others..."

Hearing the concern in Vahn’s voice, Baam managed the type of smile that only a protagonist could pull off as he replied, "I understand, Mr. Vahn. I also want to protect my frien-, no, my family. Please do what you think is necessary. I’m ready...!"

After suppressing the sudden urge to continue watching over and guiding Baam during his ascent up the Tower, Vahn ruffled the boy’s rapidly growing hair as he said, "Your appearance will actually be very important for a number of future events. With that in mind, I won’t be changing your basic features too much. I’ll simply be aging you up a bit while changing your hair and eye color. As for your race, you’ll still remain human, but you’ll have features resembling those of an ancient species of Elves."

By the time Vahn had finished speaking, Baam had ’matured’ quite a bit. His height increased from 168cm to just over 180cm, his body becoming noticeably more muscular as his hair turned a similar shade of brown to his mother. His eyes also lost their golden luster, becoming a rich hazelnut color while his ears became pointed and more angular. These made his already androgynous appearance become even more ’refined’, but, so long as he cut his hair, he would resemble a ’pretty boy’ more than a ’handsome lady’.

Preempting any questions his not-so-young protege might have, Vahn pulled out a hand mirror as he said, "You should change clothes using the [REquip] system. Though Khun might deadpan if they saw you nearly bursting out of your clothes, others might laugh."

Following Vahn’s advice, Baam quickly changed clothes before accepting the hand mirror so that he could see himself properly. Vahn wanted to mention that he could have inspected himself using the [REquip]’s interface, but, after habitually pulling out a hand mirror, he decided to stay quiet. Instead, he just smiled as Baam began to make faces at himself, seemingly struggling to reconcile that the person staring back at him was himself...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’DIE, RIAJUU! EXPLODE~!!’,’*Insert Gilgamesh firing Ea sound*’,’Vahn over here making Khun’s life more difficult xD...’)

(A/N: Today is the second year anniversary of the first chapter of EPIC. I had originally wanted to do something special by releasing a bunch of chapters, but my health hasn’t been particularly great as of late. Still, I hope everyone is still enjoying the story. If there are any issues, please let me know in the comments section or send me a message on discord. We still have a long journey ahead of us so your feedback is very important to me. Other than that, I just wanted to thank everyone who has stuck around to see the story grow into the ’epic’ is has become. Without your continued support, I never would have been able to continue writing like this. Know that, from my perspective, you guys and gals are the best part of EPIC. Thank you.)