Chapter 1641 Overwhelming

Following a tense standoff that lasted several minutes, Vahn found himself being escorted through the excessively large Senate building by a stone-faced Senator Ricardos. There were also a number of armored magical knights in the surrounding, but, as if they had the presence of air, Vahn ignored them completely as he probed the more secure regions of the building with his intent.

During his stroll through the city, Vahn noticed there was a complex underground network beneath the surface of the city. This was rather common even back on Earth, but, with magical materials and advanced building techniques, several hundred years ahead of 'modern' standards, the complexity of Megalomesembria's underground was simply ridiculous.

Generally speaking, even a simple skyscraper would require an exceptionally stable foundation. This was especially true for buildings over a certain height, and, depending on the conditions of the soil and sub-surface material, some foundations could be nearly half as deep as the buildings were tall.

As an example, the foundation for the Megalomesembrian Senate Building extended nearly three-kilometers deep, but, rather than use a stable raft or solid supports, it was structured to be part of the vast underground network that seemed to span the entire city. This network extended nearly thirteen kilometers beneath the surface in some regions, and, from what Vahn could sense, most of the subsurface city was actually ancient ruins.

It wasn't difficult to imagine a country like Megalomesembria establishing itself atop the ruins of an ancient civilization, but, even after purchasing thousands of historical records related to the Magical World, Vahn had never heard of the ruins located beneath the city. Even Fairy Xuan hadn't informed him of their existence, almost as if they were completely separate from the rest of the world despite the fact he could clearly sense them...

Deciding he would investigate the subterranean ruins later, Vahn entrusted the matter of analyzing the ruins to Sis. He had other matters to focus on right now, but, due to the nature of his domain, it would be easy to go back and 'explore' the ruins from memory alone. There was no need to explore them directly unless they found something of potential import or intrigue...

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While Vahn had been deliberately making his way through the city, Asuna and Fenrir had remained in their original position. In their surroundings, a palatial structure spanning several hundred meters had gradually taken shape, its structure formed from pure ice elemental energy.

One of the things that distinguished a competent Mage from the general rabble was their ability to affect their surroundings and modify the environment to guarantee themselves greater advantages. This had been true even in the Record of Danmachi, but, after training for nearly a hundred years in the Nasuverse, Fenrir reached a point where her [Aterna Clacies] and [Nihil] were capable of rivaling an EX-Rank [Territory Creation] skill.

Though it took a considerable amount of energy, Fenrir was able to create elaborate architectural structures formed from little more than Ice, Water, Darkness, and Yin Elemental Energies. This was where her sobriquet 'Queen of the Frozen Abyss' came from, as, for a variety of reasons, Fenrir had focused her efforts on developing massive palatial structures. She even had a personal Sub-Space Orb that was filled with more than a thousand different castles, some of which could even rival the Ivory Castle in both scale and beauty.

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Though she hadn't dropped her guard, Fenrir decided to conserve her energy by laying down in the center of her newly constructed castle. She kept a larger version of the [Pristine Jade Ice Bed] in her collar-turned-interspatial-artifact, so, whenever she had the opportunity, Fenrir would pull it out for the purpose of replenishing her reserves and helping to calm her mind.

If a 'normal' person were to come into contact with the [Pristine Jade Ice Bed], they would instantly freeze as yin-ice toxins invaded their body. Fenrir, however, was completely immune to this effect, and, even if her core temperature inverted, falling into the negatives, she was able to move around without any discomfort.

Asuna lacked Fenrir's constitution, but, with a thin membrane of invisible Ki covering her body, she was able to lay within Fenrir's thick coat of fur, completely disregarding the sub-zero temperatures. Instead, she was focused on the inordinately beautiful gemstone in her hands with a curious and slightly mischievous glimmer in her eyes.

Though he had explained it to her several times, Asuna was very curious regarding Vahn's ability to change form. She had yet to grasp the true nature of the Ego and Intent, so, when Vahn turned into something like 'pure water', Asuna couldn't help but wonder how he was able to move and perceive his surroundings without something physical to process the information. He could even 'feel' things without any nerves whatsoever, a mysterious phenomenon that caused various thoughts to dance across Asuna's mind as she fiddled with the rainbow-hued gemstone...

Unfortunately, with Vahn currently occupied with more important matters, Asuna couldn't conduct any of the experiments that tempted her reasoning. She didn't want to make things too difficult for Vahn, so, even though her mind had been wandering with increasing frequency ever since everyone else left, Asuna was always in control of her actions.

After considering her options for several minutes, Asuna brought t