Under the guidance of Terra, though he had all of the resources Eva had given him at his disposal, Vahn was currently finishing the final touches of a large ritual spell formation. Now that he had gathered enough resources, and had watched Terra create a smaller Sub-Space orb, Vahn was trying his hand at making one of the primary orbs that would be used by everyone in the Manor. In order to make a Sub-Space orb function properly, you needed a decent affinity with both Space and Time while also having an understanding of the world around you. This included knowing the arrangement of the stars, various celestial bodies, the position of the earth, and the location of leylines and other natural formations. Any mistakes would cause instabilities within the orb which, if set up properly, could be powered almost indefinitely without the need for much maintenance.
The 'core' of the ritual formation, which would bee the orb itself, was made of a crystallized form of mana almost entirely prised of Space and Time elemental energies. Depending on the structure of the formation itself, you needed to find a proper balance between the two energies and, so that it wouldn't be unstable, you also needed to introduce various other regulating forces into the orb. Vahn was fortunate that the structure of his elemental energy itself was entirely prised of source energy, making it incredibly versatile with every other form of elemental laws. This made the orbs he created far more stable than anything even Eva would have been able to make, even though his understanding of their structure was far removed from her hundreds of years of study.
When the orb itself was pleted, Vahn had managed to give it a time-dilation ratio of 6:1 while also ensuring the space inside was stable enough to allow people to stay as long as they wanted. This was another benefit of his source energy, as there was no strain on the body of whoever entered inside the orbs he created. Generally speaking, the reason why people weren't able to stay in any orb for an extended period of time was a result of the subtle differences in the laws between the orb and reality. Prolonged exposure would cause the body's internal energy to destabilize slightly, which is why a cooldown was necessary to counterbalance the effects. However, this didn't apply to the orbs created by Vahn since the source energy prising the orb was perfectly adaptive to every other law, making it almost a perfect emulation of reality with the only difference being those made intentionally.
For his orb, Vahn had used a spatial pression formation in the basic structure of the orb that radiated outwards towards the periphery of the orb. This would, in theory, make the space along the outskirts of the orb's space denser, not necessarily increasing the gravity, but making it more difficult to move and channel your body's internal energy. Increasing gravity itself was a very terrible idea since, unless your body was adapted and attuned to gravitational laws, the molecules of your body itself would bee unstable under the strain of increased gravity. It wasn't a simple matter of 'resisting' and 'adapting' to the change in gravity, as you couldn't really 'strengthen' the structure of each individual cell within your body. After all, no matter how strong your muscles were, if your blood couldn't hold its shape under the gravity, you would die. This was why gravity magic was such a terrifying ability, as it was almost impossible to resist regardless of a creature's size or strength.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Vahn released a satisfied sigh as he asked, "So, is everything else ready?" Terra, standing amongst the group of onlookers, nodded her head with a smile, explaining, "Yes, I've arranged the location of all the necessary materials and changed the flow of the earth's mana within my territory so the orb will remain stable unless there is catastrophic damage done to the area around the Manor." Terra's Innates allowed her to have almost plete control over the natural energies within her dominion, the exact same kind of energy that was used to stabilize and maintain the orbs.
With a contented smile on his face, Vahn said, "Thank you, Terra, you've been a big help. Now we just have to activate the orb and we'll essentially be able to press six days worth of time for every day in the real world..." It was strange to think about but also somewhat exciting to know they would have a lot more time for things like training, the production of items, and just general recreation. Though the space within the orb was limited, unlike the seemingly 'infinite' Time-Space orbs, it was still a very beneficial training tool. Now, by the time Bell arrived in Orario, the girls would have been training in Eva's magic system for more than eight years, assuming they lived exclusively within the orb. This would give them plenty of time to reach a peak that most people in the world couldn't contend with while also having the benefit of counteracting his own 'thoughtless' actions...
Now that his time with the girls had approached a year, Vahn was very aware that his influence on them had been more than anticipated. Without exception, everyone that had been the recipient of his [Hands of Nirvana], [Petting], and now [Grooming] had been irreversibly affected by his influence. It was almost like their aging had stopped for the majority of them while people like Milan had actually started to look younger. Vahn had always expected this might be the case but, after noticing that Ais, Tione, Tina, and Shizune almost hadn't changed at all, he had started to worry a little. Girls like Ais and Tione should have 'developed' a lot more in this time frame but, as it stood, neither was near the full potential they had reached in the source material.
Even Tione, known for having large b.r.e.a.s.ts that she often flaunted to tease her sister, had relatively modest b.r.e.a.s.ts that had actually 'shrunk' slightly after they entered into a relationship. Ais still had an almost 'dangerous' appearance and, though she was a very beautiful girl, she still looked much younger than she should at this point in time. Of course, as pointed out previously, the biggest problems were Tina and Shizune, both young girls at an age where their body should be developing quickly. Shizune had originally had a very mature and borderline seductive appearance when he first met her but now, even though more than ten months had passed, she hadn't changed much at all. Tina had grown a few centimeters taller but, considering that both her mother and father had been tall for Cat People, it was very obvious her growth had also been stunted.
Shaking his head to clear any negative thoughts, Vahn placed both palms on the orb and slowly began the activation process. The issue of the girls' development could be addressed with the orb and it wasn't as if any of them had actually plained about the retention of their youth. Thus, Vahn began linking together the energies contained within the orb, fusing them to the larger ritual formation that Terra had established. Since Terra's body shared the same basic energy structure as his, being prised of source energy, there was a seamless integration between the two energies. After a few minutes had passed, the once cloudy orb had bee pletely transparent as a vivid expanse of 'nothing' appeared within. The only thing that existed was a flat white plane without any other features at all, something that would need to be added later once they created a residence within.
In total, the creation of the orb had taken him five days, almost making the short few minutes it took to activate it seem anticlimactic. Even so, after being instigated by Haruhime, the girls that had been watching him clapped. Vahn felt slightly embarrassed but kept a smile on his face as he asked, "So, shall we go inside?" With most of the girls nodding their heads, Vahn placed his own palm on the orb, vanishing in a flash of light from the perspective of everyone watching. To those that had very good eyesight, they would be able to see an ant-sized version of Vahn now located at the center of the orb. Following after him, most of the girls that had gathered around placed their palms on the orb, the only exceptions being the goddesses. As a special exception, even Ina, Vana, and Erika had been given permission to enter, though only because Vahn would be bringing them back out shortly thereafter.
After entering the orb, Vahn felt strangely fortable, a stark contrast to how he felt whenever he immersed his consciousness into one of the Space-Time orbs. Since this was his physical body, and the surroundings were fundamentally prised of source energy, Vahn felt like all his senses were sharper while the air contained within the orb was very refreshing, even if it was a bit cool to the touch. The temperature inside was around 20 degrees, a little colder than would be fortable for 'normal' people. However, as none of the people that would be entering matched such a classification, Vahn expected it wouldn't be a problem. If necessary, they could just make sure the residence they built had proper insulation and central heating.
A little over three minutes passed in silence before the others began to appear around him, each popping up in a flash of light every few seconds. The first to appear was, unsurprisingly, Tiona, while the last group to enter happened to be Eina, holding the hands of Ina and Vana while Erika appeared almost immediately thereafter. Everyone began looking around the vast empty space while Vahn explained, "Staying near the center is the safest place and, while it may not necessarily be dangerous, wandering outwards would make it feel like a great pressure is pressing down on your body. I'll try to put down some markers later on so, for the time being, try not to wander beyond a 5km radius. When you want to exit, you can either will it with your mind or say this phrase..."
Vahn held up a piece of paper that had the word 'Effugium' written on it, meaning escape. They picked a suitable word that would have almost never been used on accident, making it unlikely anyone would mistakenly speak the word. Tiona, however, didn't seem to realize this as she questioningly asked, "Effu-gi-um~?
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