Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

After the fiasco that was their conflict against the Perseus Community, Vahn had come to the conclusion that it was time to improve the Sage Dragon Hearth's standing. There was only so much he could do as the Leader of a 6-Digit Community, so, before things got even further out of hand, he wanted to improve their standing within the Little Garden.

Fortunately, there were well over a hundred Communities making up the Burgeoning Communities Accord. It was also possible to host a Gift Game without penalizing the participants, so, by hosting a high-brow game that promised rewards for every participant, Vahn was pretty sure he could secure their status as a 5-Digit Community.

The problems came after that.

The 1, 2, and 3-Digit Gates existed separately from the 4, 5, 6, and 7-Digit Gates. In ancient times, the Gates outside the central three were known as the mortal plane. There were Gods, Demons, and countless other creatures inhabiting it, but, by and large, the entities living in the Outer Gates were mortal.

Though it was possible to transition from a 4-Digit Gate to a 3-Digit one, the effort required was beyond comprehension. Thus, while a handful of beings possessed even greater power, the highest position anyone could hope to achieve in the Outer Gates was the position of Floor Master.

To qualify for the position of Floor Master, the only requirement was that you belonged to a 4-Digit Community. After that, you would need to either defeat the previous Floor Master in a Gift Game or be nominated as their successor.

Since most of the beings capable of holding the position of Floor Master possessed some form of immortality, defeating them in a Gift Game was the most common method of acquiring the highly coveted title. The succession method was generally only used in the North Side as the Salamandra Community had effectively ruled over the North as Royalty for generations.

With the 4-Digit Communities representing the pinnacle most people could hope to achieve, the requirements for becoming one were high. You needed ten other 5-Digit Communities to pledge loyalty to your Flag. After that, you needed an additional one-thousand sub-Communties to declare their allegiance to the Communities serving under you.

Once these two conditions were fulfilled, the last step required you to convince at least nine 4-Digit Communities to place their rankings on the line in a war-like Gift Game. One of these Communities needed to be within the top 2500 and the entire event would be presided over by the current Floor Master.

Fortunately, emerging as the ultimate victor within the Game was not necessary to improve the standing of your Community. You just needed to avoid being the first eliminated.

While these conditions sounded difficult to achieve, the hardest part was convincing the existing 4-Digit Communities to place their ranks on the line. The prestige they would lose upon their defeat was so extreme that most simply weren't willing to risk it. After all, it was within these 4-Digit Gates that the Gods ruling over the lower realms were created and destroyed.

Because the 4-Digit Gates still existed within the Little Garden's mortal plane, the Gods ruling over them comprised the various Pantheons found in the lower realms. For this reason, there were quite a few powerful deities that refused to ascend to a lower-digit Gate as they were simply too attached to their fame. They refused to give it up for the chance to gain true authority over the lower realms, as, from their perspective, it simply didn't matter.

In other words, becoming a 4-Digit Community meant competing against Gods, Deities, Demons, Dragons, and other species that had made names for themselves across innumerable realities. This included the Olympians, the Biblical Faction, the Japanese Pantheon, the Nine Realms(Norse), and thousands of other organizations with comparable power and authority...

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"The way you talk, it almost sounds like you intend to become a Floor Master..."

Looking down at the petite demoness sitting in his lap, Vahn nodded his head, saying, "Based on your prior words and actions, I can assume the political situation of the 3-Digit Gates and lower is going to be a nightmare. I want to try and fix things in the Outer Gates before I get involved with those ancient and timeless creatures."

"Hmm..."

Though she wasn't too surprised by Vahn's desire to become a Floor Master, Shiroyasha didn't want him to take up her position. He could change his appearance, sure, but it would cause a number of incongruencies in the lower realms if the subsequent Floor Master wasn't of Eastern Origin. This was the reason she had been trying to garner his interest in the North and South Sides. There, he would fit right in as the North was literally ruled by a clan of Lesser Dragons while the South was filled with unique and interesting creatures.

"Perhaps it is fate...?"

Furrowing his brows, Vahn asked, "What do you mean...?"

Amused by his reaction, a teasing smile developed across Shiroyasha's face as she explained, "Your Gift to the South has saved his life but Draco Grief is still intending to step down in the near future. At the same time, the Northern Floor Master is preparing to abdicate so that his youngest daughter can assume the position. The latter is scheduled to take place three months from now. If you time it right, you may be able to install yourself as the next Floor Master through Rite of Challenge..."

Raising his brows this time, innumerable thoughts ran through Vahn's mind as he asked, "Wasn't Salamandra part of the previous alliance with the No-Names? It seems a bit mean spirited to take away the authority of a former ally..."

Supplying one of her characteristic giggles, Shiroyasha traced her index finger across Vahn's chest as she mused, "Former being the key word. The current Leader of the Salamandra Community has always been greedy and licentious. He was so afraid of being implicated by the Alliance that ruined the No Names that he didn't even try to send support. To add insult to injury, he took advantage of the fact that most people couldn't remember who the No Names were to secretly anull the alliance. In other words, that bastard betrayed his allies just to save his own skin..."

Sharpening her nail, Shiroyasha left a thin line across Vahn's chest. Revealing such information had a price, so, while he was busy contemplating her words, she leaned forward to lap up the carmine liquid flowing from the wound.

After investigating matters on his own, Vahn knew quite a bit about the situation in the North and South. The information Shiroyasha provided just helped to provide a bit of perspective. Sure, it was a perspective through her heavily biased lens, but, having already come this far, he wasn't going to just ignore the petite demoness's input. She was basically his Loki 2.0, and, despite her mischievous nature, he knew she was acting in the interest of the Little Garden, not the Divine Realm.

"Three months is a bit of a time crunch but I should be able to manage if I go public with some of my abilities. The only question is...can my Community even challenge the Northern Floor Master...?"

Understanding Vahn's confusion, Shiroyasha licked the excess blood from her lips before looking up at him and explaining, "Under normal circumstances, you would need to relocate to the region you wished to challenge. Things are a little different in the North. You see, whenever their authority shifts from one generation to another, they hold a grand festival and art display. It's a bit of a loop hole, but the celebration includes a clause that allows anyone, be they native or foreign, to initiate a Gift Game. Since there aren't any rules prohibiting challenges against Salamandra itself, they would have no choice but to accept. You just need to prepare a chip they can't refuse."

Though he wasn't particularly fond of bullying the weak, Vahn understood this was an opportunity he couldn't afford to miss. Besides, he wasn't fond of the idea that the next Leader of Salamandra was an eleven-year-old girl. Sure, she might be remarkably powerful but there was no way such a young girl was mentally prepared to govern nearly 2.5 million Communities. He also found it hard to believe that someone described as greedy and licencious by Shiroyasha would simply abdicate their position. In other words, someone was taking action behind the scenes to install Sandora, the name of the aforementioned eleven-year-old, as Floor Master.

Resisting the temptation to have Loi-chan transform into Shiroyasha and simply reveal everything, a smile developed across Vahn's face as he answered, "Sounds simple enough. I'll just wager myself once word regarding my abilities begins to circulate. As coveted as the position of Floor Master is, I doubt the Central Network would evaluate it as being of greater value than he ability to produce a functionally unlimited number of Gifts."

Unable to contain herself, Shiroyasha began laughing loudly in response to Vahn's remark. When she was done, she had to wipe a stray tear as she said, "You're not wrong. However, even if you're supremely confident in yourself, you should keep that ability a secret. Just being a Pure-Blooded Dragon is more than enough as collateral. After all, the Royal Family of Salamandra is comprised of Lesser Dragons. They would do anything to get their hands on a Pure-Blooded Dragon."

Understanding the implication behind Shiroyasha's words, a wry smile developed across Vahn's face as he imagined Sandora pining after him like every other female Dragon he had come across...

Shaking that thought from his mind, Vahn began massaging around the base of Shiroyasha's tail as he said, "The next three months are going to be pretty busy..."

Feeling a fire spread through her abdomen, a seductive light flashed across Shiroyasha's eyes as her body swelled in size. She had been drawing his blood nearly every day for the past couple of weeks, so, despite having most of her power sealed, she could now manifest in her true form. She was still a little petite, but, compared to her previous form, her appearance was breathtaking. After all, prior to having her demonic nature sealed, she was among the top ten most beautiful Goddesses in the Divine Realm...

"Then I suppose we should make the most of the time we have left..."

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In an effort to make things easier for himself, Vahn hired the Thousand Eyes Community to help spread the word that he would be providing personalized, Gift-Quality Weapons and Armors to any Communities willing to participate in his Gift Game. To sweeten the deal even further, he mentioned there would be no cost to participate. In other words, all they had to do was sign up, and, even if they surrendered the moment the Gift Game began, they would still be rewarded.

To further incentivize the participants, the format Vahn decided upon was the Olympics. In other words, it would be a bunch of sporting events with very few pertaining to combat. The medalists of each event would be able to exchange them with the Sage Dragon's Hearth for additional, A, B, and C-Rank Gifts. With 43 events and a number of rules limiting multiple participations, the chances of each participant winning a Gift were remarkably high.

Since most high-brow Gift Games included a singular Grand Prize that Communities had to pay a steep price just for a chance to obtain, news of a Gift Game that rewarded Communities for their participation had taken the East Side by storm. Most people refused to believe it at first. After all, even annual events hosted by Floor Masters only rewarded a handful of Gifts.

The notion that a prospective 5-Digit Community could stake hundreds of Gifts in a single Gift Game sounded like utter nonsense to the vast majority of people. As a result, most people treated it as a simple rumor until a number of Communities began to come forward professing that they had, in fact, received personalized Gifts just for signing up. After that, Vahn had to ask Thousand Eyes to issue an amendment as more than 400 Communities had signed up to participate over the course of a 48 hour period...

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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'The Gods comprising the various Pantheons are petty cunts competing for popularity. Who would have thought?','Floor Master Vahn has a nice ring to it...','Vahn is well on his way to becoming the Last Embryo representing excess...')