"If you don't mind my asking, Vahn, what are your plans now that you're here...?" asked Carla, her long, white-furred tail swishing slowly behind her as she sat across from Vahn at a rectangular dining table, flanked by Ghislaine and Fran. Her expression was a casual, narrow-eyed mask of curiosity, but beneath the table, she discreetly rubbed his right foot with her own after slipping off her flats.
'She's become bolder...' noted Vahn, outwardly sporting a relaxed smile as he affirmed, "I'm going to be training, of course. As for what that entails, I intend to split my time between physical conditioning, meditation, forging, and sparring."
"Forging? As in, you plan to make stuff...?" asked Bonney, seated to Vahn's right with a nearly six-centimeter-thick, deep-dish, cheese and mushroom pizza.
"That's right," Vahn confirmed, nodding. Then, producing a simple dagger purchased from his Shop, he explained, "By now, you're aware that I have the power to convert a currency called Origin Points into virtually anything that can be imagined. However, quality items, especially those that utilize rare materials or have powerful enchantments, are absurdly expensive. By forging and enchanting items directly, I only need to cover the cost of the materials."
"If you need help with enchantments, I might be of assistance," chimed Wendy, perking up to Vahn's left before adopting a slightly embarrassed smile as she conceded, "Though, admittedly, the enchantments I use are temporary or require a constant supply of Magic Power. I'm not sure how effective they would be for producing items on the level of those found in the Tower Shop or Corridor..."
"Well, you're more than welcome to join me and find out together. I'll be learning from scratch, so I expect I'll be experimenting a lot," said Vahn, causing Wendy's eyes to narrow in satisfaction as he caressed her head with his left hand.
"Then we might as well learn to forge together," contended Bonney, her brows furrowing as she bumped Vahn with her left shoulder and asked, "Or were you hoping you and Wendy would have some alone time? She's even younger than me, you know..."
"If you want to learn or forge alongside me, I won't stop you," responded Vahn, caressing Bonney's head in concert with Wendy's as he added, "But I intend to take it seriously. Forging requires immense patience, and if you lose focus at any point in the process, the result could be unusable. If you can push past that without losing your cool, I'm certain you could become a great Blacksmith..."
Preempting Bonney's response, Vahn removed his hands from her and Wendy's heads and swept his gaze over Fran, Carla, and Ghislaine before smiling as he affirmed, "As for learning as a group, hammering metal for hours on end isn't suitable for everyone. Focusing on training and what interests you is more efficient and fulfilling than splitting your priorities to meet the expectations of others."
"Very well said..." affirmed Carla, running her foot along the interior of Vahn's right calf as she stated, "As one would expect from the Dragon God who presides over innumerable fates."
"What did you have in mind for training...?" injected Ghislaine, drawing Vahn's gaze as she took a bite of the ribs she was working on, causing a drop of sauce to fall onto her left breast and nearly slip into her chasm-like cleavage, bound in a stylish, strapless black brassiere with rose trim. Before it could, she lowered her head and extended her inordinately long tongue, covered in fine, hook-like papillae, and licked it up.
Contrasting everyone else at the table, who was staring at Ghislaine's breasts as if they owed them money, Vahn's gaze didn't deviate from her eyes as he offered a curt nod and answered, "Mostly kata and free weight training under intense pressure. You're welcome to join me, but you would need to wear compressive clothing. Loose-fitting clothes like what you're currently wearing would fall off immediately unless you protected yourself with Fighting Spirit."
"Would my training naked be an issue...?" asked Ghislaine, her expression and tone flat as she stated, "I don't like restrictive clothing. It causes me to overheat, and sweat builds in troublesome places."
"It wouldn't be setting the best example for others," stated Vahn. "More to the point, the ASB(Artificial Slime Biosuit)s prepared for the Maid Battalion are anti-chafing, self-repairing, and temperature regulating."
"If you're endorsing them, I'll try one..." conceded Ghislaine. She wasn't too comfortable with the idea of covering herself in a creature known to dissolve flesh back in her world, but she knew others wore them without issue. As for setting an example for others, she had always thought Vahn and the Dragon's Pavilion were oddly conscientious, but they were better than the Nobles of the Asura Kingdom.
"Good," stated Bonney, brows furrowed as she asserted, "Because no one wants to see your balloon flapping about in the wind or sagging past your stomach under intense gravity and pressure."
"Hmm? My breasts are very firm, though...?" responded Ghislaine, tilting her head to the side in confusion. Her bust was substantial at 113cm, but due to her intensive training since childhood, her butt was harder than a rock and her breasts, while soft, barely swayed, even if she moved about quickly.
"Just keep your damn clothes on unless you're getting into the bath or changing..." said Bonney, her tone firm and expression annoyed as she gazed at Ghislaine's voluminous, healthy brown breasts. She was well on her way to becoming voluptuous, but Ghislaine's 198cm height, hourglass figure, and sculpted physique made Bonney wonder if she should follow a similar training regimen.
"Ah...I understand..." muttered Ghislaine, realizing only then that Bonney was speaking out of jealousy. She felt this was insensible, as she had no intention of competing for Vahn's attention, but experience had taught her that pointing that out would only make the other woman angrier. Instead, in response to Vahn's previous invitation, she met his gaze and affirmed, "As far as us training together, I would like to spar with you at least once. Beyond that, I'm not sure you can learn much from training with me. I only really know how to move my body and swing a sword. You can fly, destroy mountains, and who knows what else..."
"You're selling yourself too short," countered Vahn, shaking his head and smiling as he asserted, "But even if moving your body and swinging your sword were all you knew, you were able to become one of the strongest in your world as a result of your efforts. Now, with just a bit more, there's no reason you can't learn to do everything you just ascribed to me."
"Are you saying you can teach us to fly without needing to become Devils or whatever...?" asked Bonney, her curiosity piqued.
"It's something you can imagine, right?" asked Vahn, meeting Bonney's gaze and asserting, "That means it's possible."
"Could you teach Kakashi as well...?" asked Fran, her obsidian-black eyes focused on Vahn, glistening with poised excitement.
"Of course," affirmed Vahn, his smile gaining a hint of playfulness as he added, "Though he might enjoy it more if you taught him yourself. That's something for the two of you to discuss."
"Mmn..." responded Fran, nodding and adopting a slightly embarrassed smile. Afterward, Vahn detailed the different types of flight he was aware of, as not every method suited everyone equally. In Ghislaine's and Fran's cases, he believed they would benefit from learning to create footholds in the air like a Shinigami, allowing them to generate the necessary leverage to perform their sword techniques. Carla and Wendy could already fly, but their Flight Magic depended heavily on the presence of compatible magic particles in the air. Learning to fly utilizing mental or physical energies like Psychokinesis or Touki would ensure they were never in a situation where they were forcibly grounded. As for Bonney, her Toshi Toshi no Mi could even actualize a future where she was a Saiyan, so Vahn offered to teach her Ki-based flight and, against his better judgment, how to discharge Ki blasts...
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After finishing their meal, Vahn accompanied Bonney's group to a large clearing containing a nearly three-hundred-meter-tall, sixty-meter-wide tree with a spiraling trunk, a broad canopy, and an assortment of wooden structures constructed at varying heights. It wasn't the most practical or structurally sound-looking setup, nor was it particularly secret, but it was precisely what one might expect from a base constructed primarily by and for a group of superpowered or magically inclined adolescents.
clackclackclackclack
"That's the alarm we sound to let everyone in Utopia know a group of friendlies is returning," explained Bonney, restlessly tensing and relaxing her legs and holding the sides of Vahn's head as he allowed her to ride his shoulders.
brrrrrrrrrrrwoooooooooooooooh
"And that's the horn reserved to inform everyone you're here..." appended Carla, sporting a slightly narrow-eyed, disapproving expression as she felt Bonney was taking advantage of Vahn's composed forbearance to behave like a spoiled brat.
Following the long, reverberating hum, a tiny white figure descended from the giant tree's, Utopia's, canopy. As Vahn locked onto it, his vision surged forward and became distorted at the edges as he focused on the figure of Faputa gliding rapidly through the air in her ghastly ghost form.
"Is that the moth girl...?" asked Bonney, narrowing her eyes as she also noticed Faputa's approaching figure, but couldn't make it out clearly due to her largely ordinary eyesight.
"You think Faputa is a moth?" asked Vahn, leaning his head back slightly. He could vaguely see how someone might reach Bonney's conclusion, but he always viewed Faputa and other Narehate as hybrids between rabbits, fennec foxes, and birds.
"Maybe not in a literal sense, but she's unmistakably a flittery pest..." muttered Bonney, linking her fingers together over Vahn's forehead, crossing her ankles, and resting her breasts atop his head. She knew Faputa would be aiming for the position on his shoulders, so she was making it clear the position was hers.
Just as Bonney thought, Faputa had been aiming for Vahn's face when she leaped down from her nest and flew over. She knew they would be fine even if she crashed into him at maximum velocity, but with Bonney in the way, she had to change her target, slamming head-first into his lower abdomen with her trio of gem-like horns indenting the fabric of his black, grey, and gold-patterned yukata.
"Well, hello to you too..." hummed Vahn, grabbing the sides of Faputa's face and fluffing her inordinately large ears as she regained her bearings and gazed up at him or, more accurately, Bonney with visible frustration.
"What? Other people can ride his shoulders, too..." asserted Bonney, her brows creasing as she began, "Just because you look and behave like an anim—" before promptly ending her sentence. After all, if riding on Vahn's shoulders was behaving like an animal, that would leave her open to being called one herself.
"Grrrrr..."
Though she was happy to see Vahn, and his thumbs felt very comfortable caressing the interior of her ears, Faputa was outraged by Bonney, once again, comparing her to a beast. She was the Princess of the Narehate and considerably older than the pink-haired orphan-turned-Princess-turned-Pirate, so while Bonney wasn't her subject, she expected a certain degree of courtesy.
"Let's all try to get along..." said Vahn, his voice soft and coaxing as he activated his S-Rank Petting and gently squished Faputa's cheeks with the meat of his thumbs while tracing the latter across the furrowed ridge of her brows. He knew Bonney was at fault, but chastizing her in front of her Party would cause her to become panicked and defensive.
"Very well, sosu..." responded Faputa, still angry but choosing to be the bigger person. Had Vahn not been present, she and Bonney would have likely fought to the death for the seventeenth time. But since she didn't want him to see her in what Riko had anointed her God-Slaying Warrior Princess Transformation, she met Bonney's gaze with narrowed, enmity-filled eyes before spreading her two sets of arms, meeting Vahn's gaze, and entreating, "But Faputa wishes to be carried by the fatherly person..." with the most pitiable look she could manage.
'This two-faced pretender...!' barked Bonney, internally. Fortunately for everyone present, Vahn hadn't eased on his training with the Hana Hana no Mi, so after spreading pale golden flower petals through the area, he produced five clones of himself before transforming them into oversized, pale-furred wolves wreathed in warm golden flames. It was more than a little disorienting, as he shared senses and had to control each manually, but it was nothing his D-Rank Split Processing couldn't handle...
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