Soft Spot

Once again, Vahn found himself in a situation where it felt like the coming day was something that was both close, yet far away at the same time. After he left Loki to look after Freya, Vahn had gone to Terra's Garden to spend some time with his daughter, Alexa. Though he could have been considered nearly thirteen days 'late', Alexa had been within the area waiting for him from the moment he stepped into the Space-Time orb. Feeling guilty, Vahn tried not to think too much about how he would tend to Lefiya and instead put his focus on the adorable little Dragon Princess before him.

Though she was obviously upset that he had been late, Alexa had started to return to the stoic existence Vahn knew her to be before he brought Fafnir and Khaos into the orb. Without any external stress factors, as Alexa didn't consider the memory fragments 'real', most of her time was spent simply increasing her knowledge and trying to become stronger. This allowed her to calm down greatly and, though she was a little clingy, that was a trait Alexa had from the very beginning. It wasn't to the point of actual clinginess, but Alexa was very fond of just being in contact with him if the opportunity presented itself.

This time around, Vahn taught Alexa how to meditate after she asked about methods to increase her strength and better control her emotions. Vahn told her about the efforts Fenrir was making to control her own compulsions, and how 'Cultivation' could allow a person to increase the strength of their Soul. At higher levels, he explained that it was even possible to become strong enough to create entire worlds, something that had caused Alexa's leafy-green eyes to glimmer with stars. Thus, unable to refuse her request, Vahn spent nearly the entire duration of his stay in the orb teaching Alexa the same [Mind of Still Water, Heart of Eternal Ice] as Fenrir.

When Terra's memory fragment sensed the convergence of ice elemental energy, she had come to investigate. Seeing Vahn and Alexa sitting in front of each other, both assuming a lotus position with a layer of frost covering their bodies, she released a subdued sigh. Presently, the laws within the Sub-Space orb were inclined towards the gathering of natural energy but, after seeing the techniques being used by her daughter, Terra's memory fragment knew she needed to make an ice domain, similar to the one Fenrir used in Eva's orb.

Without disturbing them, she flew off to an area 'very' far away from their cottage and began inscribing a large ward on the ground. Her ability to draw in ice elemental energy was severely lacking, but that didn't mean she lacked the knowledge to create an ideal place for her daughter to train. Since Vahn cared for Alexa so dealy, Terra felt it was her duty to make sure she was able to grow healthily and become strong. Though Alexa would be limited by her age, as a True Dragon's potential was tied to the development of their physical body, Terra was confident she could help her daughter reach around Level 8 before it was time for her to leave the orb. The fact that this would be purely based on Alexa's capacity as a Mage would make her a truly terrifying existence within the world...

Vahn's final moments in the orb were spent hugging Alexa, as the latter had wanted to cuddle up with him before he left. She had wanted him to promise not to be late in the future but, considering how things typically developed, Vahn didn't want to make a promise he couldn't keep. This had upset Alexa a little but, knowing that he was still being honest with her, she eventually let him off the hook in exchange for a hug that lasted nearly an hour. She just sat in his lap, tightly hugging his body while listening to the beating of his heart. As for Vahn, he held his daughter close and cracked a small smile because of how her wings were flittering about happily...

Back in the real world, Vahn experienced a small moment of confusion since Alexa's weight had suddenly been replaced by something much heavier. Even before he opened his eyes, Vahn already knew what was happening so he wasn't surprised to find that Terra had decided to use his body as her temporary roost. The amount of time he spent in the orb equated to a hundred minutes in reality, as the time dilation in the Sub-Space orb was 60:1. That meant, for the 100 hours he had spent with Alexa, Terra had probably spent the 100 minutes napping on his chest. When she noticed he had awakened, her wings, which had been loosely spread across the ground, slowly pulled back into a folded position as she raised her body, smiling down at him in the process.

Before Vahn could ask what she was thinking, Terra had already started explaining, "I know you had to go spend time with that woman. Now that you've 'reset' by going into the orb, I wanted to be here for you when you awoke...so, my Master, will you reward this little Dragon's faithfulness~?" Currently, it was a little past the time for dinner so Terra believed there was a good chance she could get her Master's favor, considering the circumstances. When she saw him smile, her wings had already started to make a rustling sound as she brought her hands up to his chest, tracing her lightly scaled fingertips across his body.

Knowing that Syr hadn't been the only one worried about his interaction with Freya, Vahn wasn't that surprised by Terra's 'concerns' about his mental state. Since he had intended to spend the evening inside the Sub-Space orb anyways, Vahn decided to take her up on the offer. He did split from his Avatar though, which caused Terra's eyes to flash, even though she didn't stop him from heading towards the orb. As for his main body, Vahn decided to pamper his faithful True Dragon until she was completely satisfied. By the time he left her Garden, leaving the elegant dragon sprawled out against her roost, Vahn felt completely refreshed, something he had made absolutely certain Terra was aware of...

---

By the time he had finished showing Terra his gratitude, Vahn had spent nearly fourteen hours within the Sub-Space orb, this time watching over Nanu as the latter attempted to refine a piece of Orichalcum. She really had improved a lot since the time she first starting forging and, after updating her Status Board, an experience Nanu had been very fond of, Vahn saw that she had reached C-Rank in her [Blacksmith] Development Ability. For someone who had only recently turned 13 years old, this was actually a 'monstrous' amount of talent. Even with his 'flame seed' increasing her growth, Vahn was surprised that she had developed so much without anyone to guide her.

At her current rate of growth, Nanu would probably become a [Mastersmith] by the time she was around twenty years old. Though this wasn't comparable to him reaching the same point at fourteen, it was still nearly a decade earlier than the previously held record. If he didn't exist, and Nanu was still able to grow as quickly as she was, Nanu would have been recognized as one of the most prodigious [Mastersmith]s of her time. Now, her accomplishments in forging would likely be accredited to him, Hephaestus, and Tsubaki, not that this was an incorrect assumption. Still, it was only because she put in the effort that she was developing so quickly, something that Vahn made sure she was aware of before giving her a reward.

Watching Nanu, who was currently wearing very light clothing, manipulate the piece of crystallized metal made Vahn feel proud to be her Master. Though her olive-brown skin glistened with sweat and was covered with soot, Nanu showed no signs of discomfort, even if a piece of slag would fly off and touch against her exposed skin. As for why she was wearing so little clothing, even though it would inevitably cause her to be burned, Vahn blamed Tsubaki. The latter had given Nanu a lot of guidance, which included the fact that it could increase your focus and accelerate your growth if you felt the heat directly and allowed each mistake you made to 'literally' leave an impression.

Whenever Tsubaki was trying to forge a masterpiece, meaning an S-Rank item, she used to wear nothing but a cloth fundoshi and a sarashi around her breasts. This was one of the reasons why her personal forge had been located in her room, as that sight would probably turn any observer into a beast, Vahn included. According to Tsubaki, this was the method she had used to develop her skills and become a prolific [Mastersmith] at such a young age. After all, every mistake she made would be remembered very clearly and, in order to avoid serious burns, she had to increase her focus to the limit and make fewer mistakes.

Vahn didn't really disagree with this method, as he actually did much the same by using his bare hands and generally removing any clothes covering his upper body. However, the only reason he had done this was because he had complete fire immunity, meaning there was no actual danger. Tsubaki and Nanu didn't have such capabilities and, though Tsubaki's resistance was actually very high, Nanu's wasn't.

To make sure she didn't have to suffer too much, Vahn had actually engraved the inside of her collar with a special formation before embedding a ruby into it. This gave the collar two abilities, 'Burn Resistance: B' and 'Natural Regeneration: F', both being very conducive to Nanu's training. As for the Chienthrope in question, she had just been happy to get an upgraded collar, especially since Vahn had put it on for her after she successfully forged a high-quality Magisteel ingot...

A loud quenching sound could be heard within the small workshop as Nanu placed the formed Orichalcum ingot into a heated chemical solution to allow the heat to diffuse slowly while keeping the properties of the crystallized metal. Vahn rose from his seated position and, even though he had already seen the quality of the metal before she quenched it, walked over to inspect it more closely. Nanu took off her protective goggles, wiping the sweat from her face with a towel as she patiently awaited her Master's valuation. She already had a very clear understanding of what to expect but still hoped against all odds that her intuition was wrong...

Vahn fought the urge to smile when he saw Nanu's ears and tail drooping pitifully and just picked up the metal to inspect it with his [Eyes of Truth]. As they were both very aware of, Nanu had failed to form a usable ingot this time around, which wasn't too surprising considering how difficult the metal was to work with. Still, though there were numerous impurities, Nanu had managed to refine around 29% of the total Orichalcum this time around. Her previous best had only been 25%, so it was clear that she had made a small step forward.

Deciding that she was deserving of a reward, even though she had 'failed', Vahn gestured Nanu over to his side and did something that would probably earn him the ire of a lot of people. After having Nanu take up her hammer and tongs, Vahn stood close behind her and began guiding her to refine an Orichalcum Ingot under his direct assistance. It was a little difficult for her, as it had been necessary to tuck her tail between her legs just to prevent it from wagging like crazy, but the final product was around 80% refined. When everything was finished, Vahn ruffled Nanu's thick matte of dark-brown hair and pointed ears, saying, "Keep working hard, Nanu. You're steadily improving and I believe you will become a capable [Mastersmith] one day."

With her tail released from its thigh-shaped prison, it began wagging at a stable 4 WPS as Nanu balled her fists in a resolute manner and said, "Yes! Leave it to me, Master! I'll never give up, no matter what!" Vahn continued petting the high-spirited Chienthrope with a supportive smile on his face, even though he knew the tensions in Nanu's body had started to increase. He knew the reason she worked so hard was to be a 'suitable' mate for him but, as he had already decided to accept her affections in the past, Vahn wasn't going to deter her at this point.

It felt a little strange, as he was essentially grooming her to become more suitable for himself, but that was just one of Nanu's quirks as a Chienthrope. Even Naaza had a similar mentality, as she worked hard to become a capable [Alchemist], so Vahn knew it was just a trait of Chienthropes in general. From his recollection, this applied to both gods and mortals, as even Anubis embodied this characteristic to the extreme. It was simply a matter of 'instinct', as Chienthropes were inclined towards having service mentalities, being very loyal to their friends, and being borderline subservient to their partners. Since he couldn't just change these qualities, Vahn decided to embrace them and, as long as he avoided 'exploiting' them directly, he didn't think it was a problem.

Before Nanu got too high strung, Vahn brought his hand away, smiling when her ears and tail immediately drooped. However, as she was prone to do, Nanu immediately bounced back and began preparing the next set of materials. Now that she had experienced making a 'passing' grade Ingot, she needed to 'literally', strike while the feeling was hot and fresh on her mind. As for Vahn, he simply moved back to his seat and watched Nanu's figure as she set about, once again hard at work to meet both his expectations as her Master and the standards she had set for herself as his future mate. Her bouncing and lively figure were very adorable, though not as refreshing as watching her transition into 'serious' mode while refining the metal...

---

After leaving Terra's Garden, Vahn made his way into the Manor while observing Nanu's simultaneously fast and normal movements at the same time. From the perspective of his main body, she was moving six times faster than normal though, from the perspective of his Avatar, she was moving at a steady and earnest pace. It was still a little difficult wrapping his head around the shared perspectives, especially with the different flows of time, but Vahn had been getting used to it. He could now 'pilot' both bodies without any great difficulty, even to the point where he could satisfy a girl in the 'real' world while focusing on other tasks within the orb. Sure, he wasn't working at 'maximum' potential, but that was very dangerous for the girls themselves...

Standing at the back entrance of the Manor, Vahn wasn't too surprised to find Syr waiting for him with a gentle smile on her face. He noticed that her expression had softened when she saw him, likely feeling greatly relieved that he hadn't been influenced by Freya. Understanding she had been very worried about him, Vahn spent a bit of time explaining things to Syr, even though he was certain she had already heard about the event through Loki. Since they had moved into a private study, cuddling up with each other during the discussion, Syr didn't seem to mind it at all. She just patiently listened to the explanation until it was over. Then, much as he had done for Terra, Vahn expressed his gratitude for his concern while 'proving' to her that Freya hadn't left nearly as much an impression on him as he had on her...

Within the orb, Vahn couldn't help but shake his head while a wry smile appeared on his face. Though it was a decision he himself had made, Vahn felt like he had been 'triggered' by his interaction with Freya earlier in the day, even though it felt like several days had passed since then. He suddenly felt like his bonds with the girls had become much stronger than before as, after comparing his feelings towards them to someone like Freya, Vahn realized they meant a lot more to him than he expected. Seeing them concerned for him touched a soft spot in his heart and, as he had the power to do so, Vahn wanted to make sure they were able to smile happily, without any worries whatsoever...at least for a short while...

(A/N: This may be the last chapter for today, as I want to write a few Fenrir's Journey before taking a rest and preparing for tomorrow's challenge. My goal is to reach 30k words tomorrow, which would be as many as 10-15 chapters if I average 2-3k words. I'll try to have one out every hour, but I imagine the release will get skewed as the day progresses xD. Please excuse any errors I might make as the Discord will let me know so I can correct them later (UwU). See you, beautiful people, tomorrow <3.)

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'How to train your Master, by Terra Evergreen','Chienthropes need to be a thing. Please, Science-sama, get to work~!','Perspective (UwU)...Just imagine Vahn watching himself have sex with Syr in slow motion, while at normal speed simultaneously xD...')

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