The next couple of days passed in a blur. For Yuriko, recovering from her injuries took the bulk of her time. The wounds on her body were relatively easy to fix, though she would have been beset with hunger from overusing Recovery. But upon Damien’s request, she took a sip of Ambrosia instead.

The several canisters of the amber liquid turned out to be worth its weight in jade, at least for her. Not only did it stave off the need to devour her body weight in food, but it aided in the recovery and strengthening of her Anima.

That injury took longer to heal though mostly because she used the cracks and fissures to increase her Anima’s power. By the end of the two days, the golden flames could reach out to twenty nine inches, two more than before the battle started. She did her meditations outside whenever she could, soaking in the rays of the Radiant Sun when it peeked out from tumultuous clouds.

The Season of Air’s weather wasn’t that bad in the swamplands. Things didn’t freeze for long, and eventually, everything turned to mud. The encampment started sporting wooden plank paths that wandered haphazardly all over the place, all of it coming from the conference tent.

As for her cousins, well…

Layla, whom she couldn’t quite call “aunt”, notwithstanding her quirks, the woman was a complete stranger who spent most of her free time with her nose in a book. A violet glow surrounded her, coming out a few inches away from her skin. It stopped the rain or the wind from touching her or her book.

A pale imitation. Damien’s voice was quite amused. Yours is the real thing. But I must say, your pretty aunt has fine control of her Animus. And a bit of her Anima. A pity that the scarring prevents her from fully utilizing it.

‘Scarring?’

When you inlay, of course.

‘Ah.’

Her Ancestor barely spoke since the battle, though that probably had more to do with the lack of Radiant energy more than anything else. She’d been sitting outside for so long and she barely managed her daily dose of Radiant Body Tempering.

‘What was that with Fri’Avgi?’

Ah, you’ve unlocked some of her power, haven’t you? As you noticed, unless you completely master her, Fri’Avgi will inevitably eat up more of your Animus than she should. She can’t help it.

‘Why?’

Reinforcing the bond when the other half is too weak leads to wastage. Keep her mostly inside your Anima. That’s where she gives you the most help.

‘I noticed.’

Surprisingly, yes. His tone dripped with cheer.

Yuriko felt his presence recede from her mind and she continued with her practise.

Now that things were relatively quiet, she reflected on the battle. She’d been in three…no, four battles now. The first in Shillogu Woods more than a year ago, the second against the Wyldlings in the tunnels under Rumiga City, and the third against the barbarians of the north. Oh, there was that battle in the Zarek Mountains too.

Each time she fought, her blood sang. She felt it within, though it was dampened when she fought against humankind. The latest one, her battle against the Vizugmonians, saw her burn through whatever reluctance she’s had before. Instead, she relished the challenge.

There was a stark difference between fighting a spar and fighting with her life on the line.

She should have been frightened. She should have shied away from it. But other than the initial reaction her body had when she first killed a barbarian youth, she moved past it. Sure, her emotions and thoughts were still affected, but ultimately, it had been as easy to put aside. Like dropping her backpack before a fight. She merely had to unlatch the straps and it fell off her back, allowing her to fight without hindrance.

There was danger in that too, she thought.

Just like she’d have to return for her pack once the battle was over, her emotions would come back with a vengeance once everything was over. There was the danger of forgetting to pick up her pack, too, should she need to flee the battle.

Was it the same with her emotions? Would she simply forget one time after too long a battle that killing wasn’t something so easy to decide to do?

Her thoughts spun in a circle and she had to bring herself out of it. Her Animus had stopped the Recovery Pattern, of her physique and her Anima, and she was now completely fine. Ready to fight should the need arise.

Her reserves of Radiant energy were abysmally low, but there was little she could do about it now. Maybe when she completed the tempering. But who knew how many more steps she needed to accomplish to be able to produce her own Radiant energy?

With a small gesture, she materialised Fri’Avgi on her lap, ignoring the gasps of surprise from the nearby reptilians and the sudden keen interest of her cousins. The artefact greatsword trembled in happiness upon her touch. Yuriko smiled as she channelled her Animus inside, tracing the runic lines that spread all across the gold alloy.

Originally, she had lit up three lines on the blade itself but now she could see a couple more lines that were gleaming with invested Animus. The first of the new ones ran a spiral around the central red gem before splitting in two and ending at the tip of the crossguard. The other line went up the blade all the way to the tip.

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“The Sunshards and the fourth dance.”

The lines at the centre were for the shard. She knew that if she ran Animus and Radiant energy into those lines, she would produce the miniature sunblades.

She closed her eyes and tried to replicate the feel of how Fri’Avgi produced the sunshards. It was close to how she made the sunblade, she was sure! But the way it happened was she just fed the Radiant energy into the artefact, the shards appeared then she felt her Will tether into them. She would need to observe how the sword made the shards if she had any hope of copying it. As for why she wanted to do so? Well, aside from the fact that she’d probably spend less resources if she made it herself, Damien also said that the artefact only improved on skills she already had.

What if she mastered the sunshard creation? If aided by Fri’Avgi would she be able to create twice as many? Plus, revealing the artefact everytime she wanted to use the technique was cumbersome.

How far was the range of the shard too? Was it a replacement for her Plasma Caster? Unlikely. At least, not as it was. She rubbed her hands in anticipation. What could she do with this new toy?

“That’s your Anima Telum?” Riley came close and sat on his heels, looking at Fri’Avgi with keen interest. “How do you carry that around? It must weigh a MiJin!”

“Not really,” Yuriko said slowly. “Fri’Avgi barely weighs anything when I carry her. Ah, but Maru--I mean, my elder brother, could barely carry her. Not without using Boost, anyway.”

“I see. Your elder brother is a Knight?”

“High Journeyman, last I saw him.”

“Do you mind?” he asked, pointing at the sword.

“Oh, go ahead.”

Yuriko stood up and laid Fri’Avgi flat on the ground. Riley nodded and touched the weapon, then after a moment, took hold of the hilt and tried to lift. He grunted in surprise when it didn’t budge. Instead, his boots sunk into the damp ground ever so slightly.

HIs eyes glowed with Animus as he activated a technique, then he managed to lift Fri’Avgi a couple of inches off the ground before the hilt slipped out of his fingers.

“Huh, it suddenly got heavier when I put more Animus into Boost.”

“You’ve got it inlaid?”

“No, that's why I had to brace myself.” Riley shrugged. “Aidan’s got the entire set inlaid though.”

He rubbed a finger over his lip and grinned. “I wonder when we’re leaving.”

Layla looked up from her book and said, “In a couple more days.”

“You said that two days ago,” Riley said accusingly.

“Yuriko doesn’t want to leave without Lucenti reinforcements. But I don’t want to wait too long either. We can wait for a couple more days, then we go.”

“Alright.”

Over the next couple of days, Yuriko hung out with Riley and Aidan. Layla spent most of that time reading and muttering to herself, though they always spent meal times together.

Yuriko couldn’t help it. The other Davars acted much like her brothers and Da did, at home. They joked and ribbed each other. And there was a not so subtle rivalry between them. Riley, it turned out, utilised the Davar Heritage to create powerful short-ranged attacks that can punch through whatever defences his target had.

His Plasma Caster had been modified to accept more Animus while forming a bolt, nearly ten lumens worth, or three times the usual amount. In exchange, it could melt through a dozen inches of steel. She imagined his plasma bolts would be able to easily penetrate that Sorcerer’s protective leaves. Or maybe he could shoot through the palisade.

Aidan, on the other hand, was somewhat like her. He had trained in ranged techniques as a child but was disappointed after his Atavism Ritual unlocked the Siofra Heritage instead.

“Fire manipulation,” Aidan said with a grin, “or rather, plasma.”

He pointed his Plasma Lancet at the ground and pulled the trigger. Instead of superheated plasma shooting the dirt, a globule of the stuff popped out of the lancet and started to spiral around him. He shot a few more times until he had an even dozen balls spinning along. Then, with a gesture, he combined the bolts over his hand and smashed his palm into a stone.

The plasma ball melded into the stone which turned red hot for a moment before it melted into a greyish sludge. He shook his hand, and Yuriko couldn’t help but notice his palm was red and had steam rising out of it.

“It’s why I inlaid Strengthen Physique. My range is low and I’d hurt myself otherwise.” He smirked at Riley, “Sparky here won’t be able to harm me at all as long as I see him coming. I can take control of his bolts before they could harm me.”

“Yeah, yeah. Rub it in, won’t you? You won’t always see me coming,” Riley grumbled.

“Haha!” Aidan guffawed. When he stopped laughing, he turned to Yuriko and asked, “What about you, cousin?”

“Huh?”

“What’s your Facet? You said you didn’t get the Davar Heritage, right? Is it a sword-fighting Heritage?”

“Well, no, it’s a bit more complicated than that,” Yuriko said before she explained about the Golden Silhouette.

“Sounds troublesome.” Riley shook his head. “How did you even make it to Knight with a Heritage like that? You said it’s not a modern Heritage or a complete one, yes?”

“Uhm,” Yuriko glanced around. The nearest Lucentian was nearly a dozen paces away, but she lowered her voice anyway, “I didn’t want to let them know, but I’m not a Knight.”

“What?!” all three of them exclaimed, prompting everyone in the vicinity to glance at them with fear and trepidation.

Layla shook her head and shrugged at the passersby. The two young men glared at both Yuriko and the Lucentians.

“I’m not a Knight,” Yuriko repeated, “I’m only a Journeyman at best. I came to this plane while still an Apprentice. I advanced during the first half of the Season of Earth. I haven’t even hit Sollus for Journeyman yet.”

“But how?” Layla gasped. “Notwithstanding being able to survive the Chaos Sea, though I suppose Fri’Avgi’s the culprit. How did you match up against the beastmen Elders?”

“We may scoff at their primitive abilities,” Aidan murmured, “but their power is real. Within a narrow scope of view. And how were you able to create a Protective Field strong enough to repel physical attacks?”

Yuriko opened her mouth to tell them about Damien and the way she trained her Anima directly, but before she could get a word out, a powerful instinct made her snap her lips shut.

Don’t. Damien said quietly. You’ll only put them in danger.

‘Why?’

But her Ancestor didn’t respond. And her Radiant energy reserves had dwindled to nothing. He had spent it all to shut her mouth.

The other three stared at her expectantly. Layla had even whipped out a notebook and had created an Animus pen. She shaped one to hold with her fingers instead of having them protrude from her fingernails.

“Er, I don’t really know.” Yuriko said lamely, all the wind gone from her sails.

Layla gave her a sidelong glance, and from her expression, it was clear she knew Yuriko was lying. For that matter, the other two looked like they knew it too. But none of them spoke a word about it.

“I see. Well, those are your secrets.” Layla said as she put away her notebook.

Yuriko returned to her tent to avoid the awkward silence.

That night, Otlaca invited them for a farewell dinner. Yuriko tried to enjoy the meal. The cooking was just as good as before. When a server placed a wine glass beside her though, Layla took it.

“You’re too young to drink this,” she said in no uncertain terms.

Not that Yuriko liked wine anyway. At least, not the bitter kind. Ah, but this one had a fruity and sweet scent. Yuriko clicked her tongue and just drank water with her meal.