Yuriko’s first instinct was to fight. Anything that attacked her should be met with lethal force!

She had dropped into a combat stance her Animus circulated in the sword dance, and from her index and middle fingers, a golden blade extended to its maximum length of nine and a half inches even as her Anima flared to its full extent.

But even as the beasts came closer, her mind stuttered. There were hundreds of them. Each beast was bigger than her and outweighed her thrice over. All it would take was a single mistake on her part and she would never see home again.

She stepped back, her Anima contracting to form a protective shell. Behind her was the forest. If she ascended to the arboreal highway, she could avoid the majority of the beasts.

What are you doing? Fight, girl!

“There’s too many!” she hissed.

Foolish! Use their numbers against them. Use their large bodies to your advantage! How can you walk your deviant path if you shy away from every challenge?

“What do you mean deviant path?” she yelped indignantly.

Exactly that. Now stop waffling about and fight!

“Urg!”

Less than a moment passed during their conversation and Yuriko’s foot had only started to step back. As soon as her heel touched the dirt, she bent her knees then propelled herself to the biggest crazed beast.

Raargh!

The creature, an ursine creature with a horn on its snout that was as long as Fri’Avgi, lowered its head and pointed the horn at her. It started to glow red, and a beam of heated air blasted at Yuriko. But she had started to dodge even before the beam fired. It passed over her shoulder, then she was close to the creature. She swiped the blade at its neck, the golden Animus carved a jagged smile even as she slipped under its belly.

She left it with a parting stab though she wasn’t sure if her blade reached deep enough to hit any of its vitals. She darted over to the side, keeping low while she struck at a large flightless bird that had a maw filled with jagged teeth, and legs with scythe-like spurs. Those legs kicked at her points aimed at her nearly bare torso.

Her Animus blade struck at the claw, shattering on impact, but much of the impetus of the bird’s attack was lost. The blade reformed on Yuriko’s fingers as the shattered strands were contained within her flared Anima. It was just in time to sever a leg.

She followed it up with a kick to the other leg, the force of her blow snapped the knee and caused it to collapse. Yuriko had already jumped out of the way.

She was in the midst of the stampede, though her relatively smaller frame meant that only two or three of the crazed beasts were able to get at her. But whatever malaise they were under made it so that the beasts didn’t consider each other as allies.

In fact, the horde consisted of predators and prey. There were snake-wolves and bears with bony protrusions along their shoulders and backs, much like the bony bear. There were elk whose antlers glowed and sparked with yellow light. There were wild boars with hundreds of quills on their backs. There were large lizards, nearly bipedal with how they stood, maws dripping with saliva and maybe venom.

Those were the beasts she could see. Chaos, there was even another of those river lizards that tried to eat her at the river!

Those that couldn’t come close enough to hit her shot globules of acidic spit that melted the grass or the hides of unfortunate beasts that got in the way. Some shot orbs of heated plasma, while others breathed clouds of freezing air.

Her sword dance warned her of each threat. She danced around them or used her blade to break apart the projectile. Any that managed to touch her flared Anima were oddly weakened. In fact, any of the beasts that looked at her, golden Anima in a burning banner, seemed to hesitate just enough that any of their blows were a tad too slow.

Still, there were dozens of Animus backed projectiles from the beasts. She cut some apart, others she dodged. She ducked behind a beast and allowed it to take the blows meant for her, even as she stabbed and carved its body with her blade.

Her animus blade cut through tough hide, muscles, sinew, and bone with equal ease. Only when the opponent guarded themselves with Animus did they offer resistance. However, Yuriko’s eyes were acute enough to notice a build-up, thus, she avoided using her blade to attack there. Animus against Animus, there was little doubt that hers would overpower and penetrate the others’ but her reserves would be consumed in the process.

She fought for what felt like hours, but only minutes had passed. She vaulted over a bear, landing easily on its back. The grass had been trampled from hundreds of paces around her, but her perch gave her a better view of her surroundings. It made her a bigger target too, and in an instant, dozens of bolts flew her way. She dropped to the other side, dodging a kick from a giant flightless bird and countering with a disembowelling blow.

Aside from the beasts around her, the rest of the horde had moved on. Still, there were dozens left.

She fought and killed, even as Damien chuckled within her mind. She spun between the beasts, striking every now and then. But a few minutes later, she focused on letting them hurt each other instead. They had no regard for others and their indiscriminate attacks had led to a fight more often than not. When they were all embroiled in a melee, she slipped back into the tree line.

Well, go grab food.

“No, no time!” Yuriko replied.

More beasts were exiting the forest and if she tried to drag a carcass back with her, she’d no doubt get attacked. She climbed up to the branches and made her way back.

Er, well, she got lost a few times and with her having spent the entire night awake, her eyes had a hard time staying open. Yuriko yawned into her fist and looked for a place to take a quick nap. She carved an alarm runescript pattern on a tree trunk and settled down.

So, what did we learn?

“Huh? Wanna sleep.”

No, no, best time to digest any insights you gained.

“Sleep.”

Well, once you’ve forged your body twice, your physique is strong enough that nothing without Animus backing will penetrate your skin. Of course, there are techniques to make your skin even tougher, and your body can become far more resilient. Ah, your current Body Forging Technique will only work until Actualization, or rather, you can only do the forging three times before you need to do something else. Don’t worry though, I’ve got the techniques you can use until you become an Ascendant. Heh. We’ll get you to that point as soon as we can…

“Zzzzzz…”

Aaand, she’s out like a light. Huh.

“Shush, Damien. Need sleep,” Yuriko mumbled.

Hmph.

Maybe an hour later, she jolted awake with the alarm blaring in her mind.

“Huh?”

A hawk had landed further along the branch and was giving her an odd look. Yuriko stared at it muzzily. It was about the size of Hunter Kitty Cat and it flew away a moment after she woke. Rubbing the sleep off her eyes, she grumbled and got to her feet. She should return.

“I wonder what happened to bony bear.” She’d lost sight of him as soon as they entered the grassland. He wasn’t one of the beasts who attacked though.

“Damien?” But whatever resource he used to speak to her must have run out for the day since only silence greeted her. Well, it took the rest of the day before she managed to find her way back to the treehouse. She should really bring her backpack along so even if she were to get lost, the only thing she would have to do was to build a new shelter.

Anyway, she bathed in the stream, washing the caked blood and offal on her skin. Her brassiere was worth the Sovereigns she paid for. The material was comfortable, breathable, and self-adjusting. It also didn’t stain easily or absorb any odours. Quite unlike her other clothing. She’d had to discard her panties after she bled through them. The stains didn’t wash out and it felt incredibly icky to wear it because of that. Well, she had a few more pairs in her backpack. She had more changes of panties and socks there than anything else. The absence of soap was getting to her though.

The days passed and bony bear didn’t return. She went inside his cave home and found it mostly empty. Inside were a few bones he hadn’t discarded, including one that was longer than she was tall. It was filled with teeth marks and looked well-loved.

There were no animals or large beasts around. The snares she set in front of the burrows remained untouched. She heard no howls, roars, or calls at night. If not for the ants, the bees, and wasps, she would have thought that nothing was left but plant life. There were still fish in the river though.

At one point, she returned to the cove. Most of the coconut trees were still barren, but a couple had small fruits. She thought they were unripe so she left them alone. She stared out into the sea. Somewhere beyond was the Veil.

Actualisation, or better yet, Transformation stage before you attempt to wander the Primordial Chaos.

Yuriko nodded. She assumed that Transformation stage’s equivalent was Knight-Captain. The level that Da had attained.

“You think there’s another way out of here?”

Possibly? I can’t be sure.

But Yuriko thought his words hid something else. His response whenever she asked about the plane had been vague. Or he diverted the topic. Still, now that there were fewer dangers around, she was able to activate her Facet.

Damien was there, in the dreamscape, along with the Golden Silhouette, the shadow that mirrored Yuriko’s body and demonstrated techniques for her. Damien nodded at the silhouette then faded away.

The shadow started by flaring her Anima. The golden flames matched Yuriko’s. Then she gestured with her hand, and an Animus blade popped out. She gestured with the other and a matching blade came out. Then the silhouette contracted her Anima, making it thicker and more gaseous.

If Yuriko did that, the blades would have dissipated. Except for the shadow, they didn’t. Instead, the Anima flames wrapped around the blades, matching it in dimension such that the Anima and Animus occupied precisely the same space.

Yuriko’s jaw dropped. So it was possible to shape her Anima rather than just contract or release it?

The Golden Silhouette smiled, then the Animus Yuriko had poured into her Facet ran out. She woke up back in the treehouse.

“It couldn’t be that easy, right?”

Well, it wasn’t. It felt as if she needed to look right and left at the same time. It should be possible, except she had to find the trick of it. Well, first things first. She needed to practice with just her Anima.

Intent played an important role. She had to want it to move in a certain way, otherwise, it stuck to what it naturally wanted to do, which was to spread out as far as it was able. When she wanted it to contract, she just had to rein it in, much like holding her breath. It was instinct. But shaping it was much like shaping her own exhalations. She’d seen some of the adults back in Faron’s Crossing smoking a pipe. Some of them just blew out a cloud, while others could form rings.

There was one talented attendant who could blow circles and shoot arrow-shaped smoke at them. Yuriko imagined manipulating her Anima would be like that. With her Animus, it was easy. Animus was created to be manipulated and used. Anima was just there.

Come to think of it, there were no adults she knew of who could expand their Anima just like she did. Maybe they even thought that when her Anima came out, that it was probably the Field technique.

Armsmaster Byrne didn’t really expound on Field. She supposed it was natural. She had only been a Novice then, and even as an Apprentice, she shouldn’t even enter the Tidelands.

She focused on her hands, willing her Anima to gather there rather than spread out. It quivered and shifted, making the flames thicker there. It was slight though. She closed her eyes and focused her senses on her Anima, though really, her Anima was her seat of consciousness. It was like looking at herself.

But what was the bit that spilt out of her body then? Was it still part of her seat of consciousness? That couldn’t be right. If it were, wouldn’t that make her more vulnerable? If things hit her Anima, shouldn’t it hurt her?

But the flames around her body were not vulnerable points. It actually blunted anything that entered it, making any blow softer.

Well, her musings didn’t much, but she practised every day with manipulating her Anima, along with the rest of her repertoire. Animus manipulation, distilling Chaos, sword dance training, and a bit of physical training, just to maintain her current skill. Foraging was much easier now that she knew where every fruit-bearing tree was located. There were no berry bushes at all though. A shame. Now was the Season of Earth, and lavan berries!

Oh, how she missed those.

Hmm, though she didn’t really miss the classes in Sharom. She dreaded her return, in a sense. She’d have to catch up on so many lessons that she might not graduate on time. Well, she was in a strange plane now, and part of the reason she wanted to join Vagaris was to travel beyond Rumiga.

Days passed, and her Anima grew stronger. The Chaos pollution slowly diminished, but it was still there. A tiny fraction of what was there in the beginning. She could probably summon Fri’Avgi now without endangering herself, but there was no need to risk it.

Finally, on the 20th Day of Earth, her Anima reached the threshold. Ten inches from her skin. She had reached Journeyman in Anima strength. But it didn’t come with a struggle or a grand vision. No fanfare at all, actually. One moment she was an Apprentice, the next, she was a Journeyman. Or Second Stage Growth, as Damien would say.

Oh.

Today was when she turned fourteen years old too.

Ah, she wanted a parfait.