Chapter 183: Prudence
After briefly exploring the Abyss's Maw and earning himself some bonus attributes, Vahn teleported back to the Frozen Abyss to inspect the stone platform where he had undergone the Trial of Gleipnir. Instead, he found a large spiral staircase in its place, leading down to pitch blackness.
"I guess this means I only get one shot at each Trial..." muttered Vahn, his expression thoughtful as he scanned the area for any sign of the colossal wolf. Unfortunately, there were none, just ice, snow, and mountains as far as the eye could see. All he knew for certain was that she was Lupheria's mother, suggesting she was a very real being. But when he had previously asked the voracious but adorable wolf girl about her Mama, all she could recall was that she was big, beautiful, and strong.
With neither hide nor hair of the giant wolf to be found, Vahn decided to bring his exploration of the Corridor for that day to a close. He had only been at it for a little over six hours, but since he wanted to complete his scouring of the Frozen Abyss before moving on and potentially forgetting about the Draugr entirely, he wanted to reset his mental state so he didn't feel too tempted to delve into the Abyssal Maw just yet...
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After reappearing in his room back on the 1st Floor, Vahn took a moment to see what everyone else was up to before retrieving a sleek, blue-and-white VR headset from the nightstand beside his bed. Its lights were on due to him allowing it to continue running since Jack-O's awakening, so after making himself comfortable, he secured it over his eyes, causing his body to promptly vanish in bluish-white light. What followed was a brief sensation of falling and a streaking of rainbow-hued lights that eventually contracted like rubberbands to form the setting of a charming, red-roofed cottage in the middle of a forest.
Approaching the cottage's front door, Vahn entered without knocking or announcing himself. Ordinarily, he would be greeted by the sight of a very beautiful, scantily-clad, broad-hipped girl with inordinately long blue hair fixed into long twin tails by yellow ribbons, standing idly with a completely blank expression. Instead, he found the girl, sporting distinctive black and white angel wings and a long, black, salamander-like tail ornamented with a yellow ribbon, seated facing Jack-O on the living room floor.
"Oh, Vahn. Welcome back~" hummed Jack-O, adopting a broad, bright-eyed smile that compelled Vahn to adopt one of his own before asking, "Did something change since I was away? Since this is Training Mode and we didn't adjust any settings, our blue-haired friend here should still be in her idle pose."
"Well, it gets lonely here with no one to talk to, so I've been talking to her while you're not around..." explained Jack-O, briefly adopting a slight pout and narrowed eyes before regaining a slight smile and revealing, "Today, I found her sitting where she normally idles, and when I approached to ask if she was okay, she looked right at me."
"Mmm...that's unexpected..." muttered Vahn, his expression thoughtful and his mouth briefly scrunching. NPCs within Training Mode didn't have any of their core or combat logic loaded unless the settings were altered, so he didn't anticipate the blue-haired girl, Dizzy, gaining awareness. The only reason she was there was to allow Jack-O to remain in Training Mode instead of being trapped in what she called stasis, a state where she was fully conscious but unable to see, hear, or feel anything.