The sun was high and the sky was clear and cloudless as Heian and Narae stepped into the center of the courtyard. Heian couldn’t feel the warmth of the sun, but she could imagine it. She had vague memories of physical sensation which her mothers had shared with her, and she’d briefly shared Jia’s body as Lee Hei in the past.

Beyond that, however, Heian didn’t actually have much concept of touch as a sensation. She enjoyed hugging her friends, or being pet while in her cat form, but that was more a matter of feeling the emotions. When she curled up by the fire to nap in Yoshika’s soul realm, it was the concept of comfort, not the actual warmth that attracted her.

Soon, perhaps, that would change. Though the skies were clear, she felt as though she could sense some kind of divine pressure. As though the heavens themselves could sense what she was about to attempt, and were looking down on her with stern disapproval.

Or maybe that was just Seong Min.

“Miss Heian, is there a reason you’ve joined Lee Narae?”

Before Heian could answer, Narae stepped up and held her head high.

“Heian is going to assist me in proving my thesis. I won’t be able to do it without her.”

Seong Min furrowed her brows in concern.

“You realize that outside assistance is forbidden, yes?”

“It will make sense once I get into it. I only ask you to reserve judgment until I’ve finished. If I’ve broken a rule, then you can just fail me then.”

“Very well. What is the subject of your thesis?”

Narae put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest triumphantly.

“The spiritual self-embodiment of ephemeral beings through the creation of artificial soul cores!”

Seong Min blinked.

“That’s quite a mouthful. I’m sure I must be mistaken, but when you say ‘spiritual self-embodiment’ do you literally mean crafting a self-sustaining physical form for a spirit?”

“That’s right. Most spirits seek out vessels to contain their essence. Whether it’s Yamato’s kami enshrined in special temples or bound to shikigami, natural spirits inhabiting plants and rocks, or even spirits like Heian—who bond with a living person and dwell within their soul—they always try to find something that anchors them to physical reality. I’ll let her explain.”

Narae gestured to Heian, and she bowed.

“We spirits can only sense the physical world through our vessels. Without them, we would be stuck wandering aimlessly within the spirit realm and gradually fade away, forgotten.”

“So why not create their own bodies? After all, elementals are made of essence, but they can interact with the physical world just fine through their elemental cores. I think everyone here already knows the answer—they can’t. A plant, a rock, a temple, a sword, or even another person can all house a spirit without any trouble, but when a spirit tries to take on a physical form of their own, something happens.”

Seong Min nodded sagely.

“Tribulation. The heavens strike them down. No spirit has ever survived the process.”

“Right! And not for lack of trying, either. There have been cases of spirits trying to take possession of their hosts, only to be blasted into ash. Even attempts to produce artificial bodies for them to inhabit have been met with failure.”

“And you propose to have found a solution?”

Narae nodded confidently.

“I do. Elementals maintain a physical presence through their cores, and it's the creation of a beast core that imbues fiends with a mind and soul. My theory is that by creating a specialized ‘soul core,’ spirits can give themselves a physical presence without suffering annihilation—or at least shelter themselves enough to survive tribulation.”

The princess frowned.

“Do you have any evidence to support this claim?”

“Not directly, but I think there is enough circumstantial evidence to give me the confidence to try.”

“Such as?”

Narae knelt down and began drawing a formation in chalk as she spoke.

“First, beasts and elementals suffer tribulations just like we do, but unlike spirits they naturally form cores as part of their growth cycle. They have a much higher rate of survival than humans do. The common aspects here are that humans and spirits don’t have cores, while beasts and elementals do.”

“But humans can survive tribulation, while spirits invariably fail.”

“I think that’s because humans already have protection for our souls—our bodies and minds. Tribulation lightning isn’t like regular lightning at all. Everyone here has experienced it before—even Heian—so you know what I mean.”

Seong Min pursed her lips.

“That’s true. It has a way of burning away at one’s aura, even when completely blocked by wards.”

Narae chuckled.

“Not just your aura, either. For spiritual cultivators, it invades their meridians and strikes at their dantian, and while there’s not a whole lot of data to go by, I can testify that the ki in a martial artist’s body is also a target.”

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“Hm. I can certainly see how that would render a spirit uniquely vulnerable.”

After putting the finishing touches on her formation, Narae stood up and dusted herself off.

“My second big piece of evidence is that it should be very easy to construct a soul core under the right conditions. Almost too easy. I think that this is why spirits are normally quite quick to ascend, and probably why the divine seal suppresses them specifically—according to the testimony of Jianmo, who originally came from the divine realm.”

“You speak as though you’ve already done it. What are the right conditions, then, and why is it so easy?”

She gestured at her formation.

“This is just a basic mana collector with a balancing formation. It’s one of the first formations I was taught how to make, and it wasn’t until much later that I learned about a very simple principle that makes it work.”

“You’re talking about elemental dilution.”

“Exactly! Or more specifically, the idea that mana, essence, or whatever we want to call it, can’t be diluted. The mana collected in this formation is balanced, but if I add extra Fire mana to it, only one of two things can happen—either it remains balanced, or it all turns into Fire essence.”

One of the magi cleared his throat.

“Apologies, but this is rather basic theory. Is it really necessary to waste our time reviewing it?”

“It is. Learning the proper ways to balance or convert mana from one element to another is an important part of mana theory, but we rarely consider conversion to an esoteric element, and never conversion of crystallized mana.”

Seong Min shook her head.

“Mana crystals can’t be converted directly. The essence must be extracted, altered, then recrystallized in its new form.”

Narae gave her an impish grin.

“Yes it can! And that’s the key to everything! The problem is that crystallized mana is already rigid and inflexible in its nature, and strongly resistant to change—it’s literally crystallized. But we’re taught early on that neutral mana is the most receptive to change. It’s more efficient, for example, to balance out Warmth with Mud and then add a bit of Magma, rather than just overwhelming Warmth essence with enough Earth that it turns into Magma.”

The princess stroked her chin thoughtfully.

“I think I see what you’re saying. With a neutral mana crystal and a being of pure essence, it could in theory be possible to directly convert the essence. But unfortunately, I don’t see how you’re going to test that theory without...”

She trailed off as Narae produced a neutral mana crystal from within her robes. Seong Min narrowed her eyes.

“How do you have that?”

“My sister makes them. Don’t ask me how, because I can’t answer. Literally can’t—she hasn’t told us how she does it.”

Seong Min looked askance at Eui, who just smiled and winked. Her mouth formed a thin line as she returned her attention to Narae and Heian.

“I see. And now I understand why she was so insistent on the Sky Hall as a venue. You intend to give us a demonstration, do you?”

Narae grinned.

“We’ve already tested the basic concept with some smaller crystals. With your permission, I’d like to have Heian be the first to demonstrate my theory in practice.”

“Why would I ever give you that permission? I expressly told you that under no circumstances were you to disrupt the Sky Hall’s formations, and calling down heavenly lightning is the very definition of disruptive.”

“You’re all magi. You’re scholars and academics. Even if you don’t believe in my theory, you want to know whether it will work as badly as I do. Almost as badly as Heian does.”

The princess grimaced.

“What makes you think nobody has ever tried this method before you? Neutral crystals are rare and expensive to produce, but they are not entirely unique.”

Narae’s gaze was confident and unwavering.

“Because nobody has ever succeeded before.”

“Tsk. The absolute hubris. You take after your sister in the very worst ways.”

Eui chuckled.

“I’m right here, you know. If anything happens to the Sky Hall, Jiaguo will compensate you for the expense of any repairs.”

Seong Eunae stepped forward as well.

“It’s been prepared for my breakthrough, and I say we allow it.”

Her cousin pinched the bridge of her nose and bit her lip.

“Ugh, I really shouldn’t allow this. On your head be it, then. Go on and try to make history, girls.”

Narae pumped her fist enthusiastically.

“Thank you! Um, I know you said there’s no outside assistance allowed, but since this is supposed to be about proving my theory, would it be alright if I had Aunt Eui draw the core formation? I don’t want to mess this up with my friend’s life on the line.”

Seong Min sighed and waved a hand dismissively.

“Very well. I’d hate to be held responsible for the death of Empress Yoshika’s daughter.”

Heian could barely contain her excitement. It was finally time! Eui came up to the center of the hall, though Heian could tell that her mother was giving the moment her full attention. Yoshika flagrantly ignored Seong Min’s earlier request about temporary materials, etching the formation directly into the stone floor and inlaying it with the finest spiritual jade she’d been able to procure.

Once she was finished, Narae went to place the neutral crystal in the center of the formation, but Yoshika stopped her.

“Not that one...”

She held out a hand, and Heian felt an overwhelming pulse of power as Yoshika withdrew a mana crystal so dense that its presence alone had a palpable aura. It must have been quite difficult to draw that out of her soul realm.

“We’ve been working on this one for quite a while, as part of a separate experiment. I think this will be a much better use for it.”

Heian knew what it was. Yoshika had been attempting to create a divine crystal by just crystallizing as much essence as they possibly could into a single mana stone. She looked up at her mother with wide-eyed wonder.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. Only the best for my little girl.”

Yoshika kissed her on the forehead and placed the stone delicately in the center of the formation.

“Whenever you’re ready.”

Heian stepped up. She didn’t need to breathe, but she took a steadying breath anyway. Would she need to breathe after this? Probably not, but she was so excited to finally experience the physical world first hand, rather than through Yoshika.

In theory, the process was simple. All she had to do was infuse the stone with some of her essence. After that, it would naturally convert itself into more Shadowflame—more of herself. The formation was to help her focus her power into the crystal so that she could completely possess it. Once that was finished, it would be up to her to create a body for herself.

Technically, the stone itself would be her body—a soul core that housed her essential essence. That wasn’t enough for Heian, though. She was no elemental like Iseul, content to live her life as a sentient rock.

Already Heian was envisioning what she would look like. Narae and Haeun had grown up ahead of her, into beautiful young women, while she still had the appearance of a teenager. Originally, Heian had taken on the appearance of a child because that was how her mother had seen her. She didn’t understand its significance at all, simply taking on the image that Yoshika had imposed on her. Heian was grateful to Yoshika for giving her a starting point, but it was time to grow up and become an adult—not in her mother’s image, but in her own.

She sat cross-legged in the center of the formation, placed her hand on the stone, and began.