Chronicles of the Exalted Sun Child

It took the better part of three hours by the time they circled back to the same spot where they entered the biome. Yuriko left most of the fighting to her companions while she cleaned up the rear. Invisible Edge was a handy weapon that she continued to hone. She'd discovered a couple of esoteric uses, but she knew, down to her Radiant bones, that she was barely scratching the surface.

Bladeless Sword was but the first iteration of something far more dangerous and all encompassing. It was the ability to cut anything without using a physical, metal blade. Counterintuitive, she knew, to what a sword was, but she thought it was ambitious. And if Truths were what she made of it, then she would envision whatever she needed or wanted.

But just thinking of the end goal wasn't enough to actually make it there. That would be nothing but dreams. Laying down the foundations of Truth meant she would have to envision and logically construct every little step of the way. She's taken a couple of steps down the line that was Bladeless Sword, but if she wanted to merge it with Radiant Flying Sword, she would have to be careful not to step away from that concept.

Hmmm, but wasn't she ignoring Radiant Flying Sword for Bladeless Sword? Come to think of it, she hadn't done much with the former other than increase the amount of swords she could produce and control at once. But then again, Radiant Flying Sword was derived from Radiance, and was an instrument of applying it rather than a stand-alone thing. So if she successfully merged both sword Ennoias, would she be able to freely apply Radiance to the result? An invisible, nearly undetectable Radiant attack?

That made her shiver with both excitement and a little bit of fear. She was sure Damien could already do that, but since he was such a showoff, he didn't.

His shards connected to others were another point of worry that she dwelt on every now and then. She was pretty sure that it was what he tried to warn her of before his divine shard ran out. Other Damiens with hosts that may not be as weak as she had been…unscrupulous, or even destructive? Damien was known as a Conqueror, and his primary Ennoia was Conquest…so it was likely that the one in Irvalla was a conqueror. That Desire spoke of the Richmond Confederacy is ascendant there…probably their Tyrant? Decades had passed, but that region had a low level of Chaos, practically non-existent. But that had only been true until she broke the container holding Damien's shards.

For that matter, were those the only shards in existence? The world was huge. Bigger than she expected, considering the Chaos Sea, or the Shattered Realm, was just a small part of it. And yet it would have taken her a century to reach Rumiga from Bresia, if not for the unpredictability of Chaos Storms. If she wasn't sure that going to find another storm was chancy at best, if she dove straight into one again, it was just as likely to send her to another distant shore as return her to the Eternal Empire.

At the rate they were travelling, it would take another twelve hours to reach the lava pool, unless they hurried instead of killing every granite lizard they could. The goal of the trip was to earn credits, and the way the lizards were grouped, it was easy to kill enough of them at once to get a shard or two. They were attacked every five minutes or so, though they hadn't encountered a swarm again after the first. She wondered if the intervals were from time or distance, and she was tempted to direct the team to find out. However, she promised Heron before they started the delve that she would allow the others to lead rather than taking point. It had taken only a couple of hours to cross the previous nine biomes, so they had more than enough time to push to the portal by the end of the day.

She hummed a tune, one she liked listening to in Astoria, while they walked. The battles were constant, and their pace was good. Another hour passed while they fought, slew, and looted the monsters, when something changed.

"An expedition," Carina said, pointing ahead and above. Yuriko looked up and saw a caravan of Camper Trucks trundling down from one of the intake roads. She counted a dozen vehicles, though these ones weren't the models that her companions had looked at. Instead of purely for transport and mobile domiciles, these ones looked to be combat-capable, and had different usages. The ones in the middle had turrets on the sides and the roof. She wasn't sure what manner of munitions it used, but they were as likely plasma shooters as slug throwers.

The convoy simply pressed on along the road. She didn't see any lookouts, but she supposed they were using technology to both detect and keep themselves safe. There were bursts of flame from attacking lizards, as well as a brief flare when the Armoured Camper Trucks ran them over. Yuriko snorted in amusement. The expedition didn't even bother to shoot the things. It looked like they weren't completely senseless, however, since somebody at the back picked up the loot.

Yuriko's Anima perception was wide enough to cover the entirety of the convoy, but the trucks had some sort of shielding that repelled her senses. Not quite like Ossifrum and Chronian Gear, since those felt slippery, as if her fingers were trying to grab hold of seamless glass. These felt more like something actively pushing her Anima away, similar to an opposing Ancient. She was sure it wasn't another Ancient, however, since the resistance felt stagnant. It was simply a pushback, with no attempt at wrangling her probes away, or trying to slip through to gain counterintelligence.

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She, Heron, and Gwendith practised gaining intelligence through perception as well as denying the same advantage to their possible foes. It was part of their daily training routine, though only for a few minutes a day. It started even before they encountered the Conclave of Conquest's Ancients on the resource planet, though they only took it seriously by then.

An Ancient's intentions could be read through the Anima if one was savvy enough to interpret properly. It was by no means like reading a book and more like deciphering codes, but broad strokes could be read easily enough to matter in combat. More importantly, the practice allowed Yuriko to easily identify Ancients from Mystics, even if they looked similar at the beginning. Well, the latter was more a proto form of Ancient than anything else, and the difference was really a matter of possessing a proper Anima and Physique refinement technique.

So the barriers protecting the trucks from perception guarded not just against hers, but also against Mystics and probably, other Ancients. There was little doubt that there was more of her discipline in Shangria's orbital rings than anywhere else in the Eternal Tower's first floor. She was somewhat eager to encounter them, come to think of it, if only to learn more about the varied Conclaves and for the challenge.

Either way, the convoy moved faster than her own team could walk. Come to think of it, perhaps they should have gotten their own transports. Nothing like a Camper Truck, but more in line with motorcycles or all-terrain vehicles? No, that might not work, considering that they were moving across rugged terrain. The advantage of the Camper Trucks was that they were also multi-terrain vehicles and rated to function at least to the fiftieth layer. Beyond that, it was a toss-up on whether the Camper Trucks would be beneficial in a given biome or detrimental, which would necessitate a detour.

For her group, since they would only bring one Camper Truck, she could just as easily carry it with her Animakinesis as drive over the inclement terrain.

Ahh…this was boring. Yuriko's hundred-plus strands of consciousness were going off on different tangents. Most were devoted to Radiant Flying Swords and Bladeless Sword, but she was starting to believe that she needed another Sword Ennoia to bridge the gap between the two. Flying Sword and Bladeless Sword were just too diametrically opposed. Well, not direct opposites, but far enough away that it was hard to link up. But what kind of Truth did she need?

An Elementally focused sword? Hmmm…no, probably not. She might have to engineer an Ennoia that was focused on accepting opposites, or harmony, cooperation, or something similar. Unfortunately, she didn't have an intuitive understanding of something like that. Radiance was too domineering. Well… perhaps Luminescence?

How, though? That was something she had no clue how to even access. Bathe in the Moonlight? She knew for a fact, according to Damien, that her aptitude for Radiance was incredibly high. Higher than the old pervert's, if she could believe his claim. That was why she could immediately absorb and refine Radiant energy five years ago. Trying to do the same with Luminescence would be an exercise in futility…

No, her other aptitude was swordsmanship. Ironic, considering how long she resisted it back in the day. She'd been all for marksmanship to emulate Da. Well, now her range when fighting was roughly one and a half longstrides, accounting for transforming the shape of her Anima. Back then, her marksmanship could only reach about a couple of hundred paces effectively. Her Da's marksmanship allowed him to snipe someone from a league away, and by now, he probably had a longer range. Considering she was at the Knight-Commander level, which meant he could infuse his Intent into his plasma bolts, he potentially had an unlimited range. That was also true for anyone who can use Manifestation, though.

An hour later, the convoy entered her range from behind. She had nearly six hundred paces, and she was still gaining reach at a pace per day. She needed another year to reach her limits, and if she was not ready to ascend by then, her Anima would probably begin compacting to increase density. That would probably be a minimal increase, as if she progressed at the same rate, it might take a thousand days to double her Anima density. Unless she used Anaflexio, anyway.

She was still reluctant to do that, however. Wyllan Caina and his Circle of the Conclave of Conquest gave her that secret. It was clear that they used it, too, but she wondered if it was really necessary for her. Her Anima reach grew naturally, and from her understanding, Anaflexio was used when an Ancient reached their natural limits.

She honestly didn't know what to make of it, and she was still in a tizzy over it. She thought all Ancients were like her. She had a relatively easy time growing stronger, and she thought others were the same. But no, Ancients were called that because they were functionally immortal. They could grow stronger over time, but the rate at which they could do so depended on the individual.

Anaflexio might make her stronger when she pushes her limits, but doing so could also slow down her natural growth. As far as she could tell, following her nature advanced her growth faster than burning her Anima could do. And since Wyllan warned her that using Anaflexio before she reached that limit was essentially a loss, she hadn't even tried it. But what about the other members of her group? Her Squires and her Handmaidens? The way they were bonded meant that their advancement was locked a step below her own, but they still needed to reach the minimum requirements before they could advance. What were Gwendith's and Heron's limits? What were Scarlett's, Kyra's and William's?

She was forced out of her thoughts when the convoy approached, and with little indication that it would stop.