Yuriko didn’t know how much time she spent meditating. She had focused her efforts on trying to figure out how to convert Radiant energy back into Animus, or even ambient Chaos. Most of the Radiant energy she used actually came from her Essence core, which regenerated to its full capacity within a minute. As for how much her reserves were, she was embarrassed to realise that she didn’t know.

Her Radiant reserves, which were located near her Animus core, in the Ennoia lattice actually, as well as her hair, were never truly filled. Much of the generated Radiant energy was swept into her Anima and her body, to use for Radiant Body Refinement. As for that one, it was at seventy-five percent completion, just fifteen percent left to reach the threshold ninety, at which point, she was supposed to switch to Radiant Anima Refinement. Both processes were to infuse Radiant energy into her physique, which would allow her to store vastly more motes of it, as well as to allow her to reach the Transformation Stage, which, according to Damien’s recovered memories, also involved allowing her to transform into a Radiant energy being when she needed to.

She paused as she dwelt on those memories. What did it mean to turn into an energy being? She assumed that transformation would allow anyone with an Ennoia to transform? Into a creature of whatever it was held together by Will? She pursed her lips. That would probably mean being immune to plain physical attacks, but then, her Anima and the Field technique pretty much does that. And how long would the transformation last?

Shaking her head, she refocused on what she was doing now rather than on something that had yet to pass. Although she figured the level of refinement, body and Anima, would probably have a huge effect on Transformation, considering what Damien didn’t want her to advance when she barely reached the threshold…

Focus.

How did she draw Radiant energy from ambient Chaos? There was an ample supply right here, in the aftermath of battle, where every droplet of consumed Animus and special energies eventually denatured into it. However, the ambient Chaos was already beginning to disperse, and since the surrounding areas were at such a low density, it created a negative pressure that the denser motes wanted to fill.

She cocked her head sideways. Now why did she express that thought that way? More memories seeping through? Or perhaps it was the influence of whatever books she managed to read from the Karcellians?

Radiant energy burned out quickly unless there's a sufficient number of them compressed into a group. Afterwards, all that was left were embers.

Yuriko frowned. Did the embers eventually turn back to ambient Chaos? She ignited a single mote of ambient Chaos into Radiant energy, watched it flare with power, then dim as the fuel letting it burn ran out. The ember, a sooty mote of dust, drifted away. She captured it with her Anima, of course, careful to keep it from absorbing more Radiant energy or even Animus. When nothing happened to the ember after a few minutes, she ignited a few dozen more motes of ambient Chaos. Each mote was subtly different from each other and if she focused her perception, she could actually magnify her vision, allowing her to see the shape of a single mote. Each one had unique tells and shapes, though they generally kept to the same shape, which was a twelve to twenty-sided polygonal sphere. She burned all of them into embers and slapped them all into the same space.

Some of the embers clung together and slowly formed the same spheroid, but it was only when there were thousands of samples that the embers finally clumped together and a strange reaction occurred. The burnt-out ember, which looked like a misshapen cuboid, ignited and formed an ambient Chaos mote. It looked a little different from a mote from outside the chamber, and Yuriko suspected that once she let it out of her Anima and her perception, she’d be hard-pressed to find and isolate the same mote again. Ambient Chaos motes were always in flux too, and they changed shape, pattern, and tells, every so often. The same happened to the reconstituted ember.

But the process of Radiant energy burning out, and then the remnants turning back into ambient Chaos took too long to be useful. There must be a trick to convert still-burning Radiant energy into Animus.

She observed a lumen of Animus and a mote of Radiant energy. The latter came from her Essence core, which made it different from Radiant energy she converted from ambient Chaos or those found naturally in a beam of sunlight. In simple terms, the one from her core contained a marker for her Will. So did the Animus, for that matter.

Perhaps with that kind of common ground, it was the key? Was it that simple?

She had never actually converted her Animus into Radiant energy, now that she thought about it. She didn’t need to because of the Essence core, and before that, she absorbed Radiant energy through her skin and hair naturally.

So she focused on the Animus lumen and Willed it to turn it Radiant energy. The lumen seemed to quiver, pulse, and then, completely ignited into Radiant energy. It stayed within her control for a few moments, but just like converted ambient Chaos, it soon burned out.

Now, why was it that the Radiant energy created by her core lasted so long?

She turned her perception inward, comparing extant Radiant energy with those she created out of ambient Chaos before she frowned in annoyance at how simple things were. Her core created Radiant energy in clumps that kept them stable. The smallest amount of motes needed was three, but there were clumps that had five, seven, eleven, thirteen, and seventeen. Altogether, they weren’t all that big, so if she hadn’t taken the time and effort to look, she wouldn’t have found out at all.

So. Three motes minimum. The Animus to Radiant energy conversion seemed to be on a one-to-one basis, so she gathered three Animus lumens and ignited them into Radiant.

So many of the things she could do with Animus and Radiant energy were instinctive, that it was only now that she really saw how things worked. It was both enlightening and stupid since the answers to the questions she had been pondering were right there within. To be fair, she had focused more on control and weaving the past few Seasons, and on expanding her Anima.

The three lumens ignited, then clumped together. The resulting Radiant energy burned bright and flared out after a minute. When she transformed seventeen motes, the resulting Radiant energy mote lasted several minutes but had much lower power as a tradeoff.

So then, how would she change Radiant back into Animus?

The ones she converted from her Animus…she took hold of the seventeen-clump one and Willed it to change back. Since her instincts had been key to her progress before, she didn’t think about the process and just…well, did it. She believed it was possible, and…

With a silent pop, the seventeen-clump of Radiant energy changed back into Animus. But there were only thirteen lumens left. Still…

“I did it!” she cheered and opened her eyes, only to realise that Gwendith and Heron were staring up at her from beyond her perception range. And since she still had Enhanced Sight lingering, she clearly saw both of them rolling their eyes. “Ehehehe.”

Well, now that she knew it was possible, she could work out the details and figure out the limitations. Hmmm, her anger had slipped away, she realised.

She alighted from her midair meditative pose and reached out to hug both her friends. “Thanks for coming,” she said, knowing that they knew that an enemy of the Remnant’s calibre would have been enough to kill them, but they still came anyway.

“I’m glad you’re fine,” Gwendith said, though her fingers brushed against Yuriko’s side. She flinched at Gwendith’s touch, but the pain was gone. Actually, so was the wound.

“Let’s go home,” Heron said lightly, though his face was flushed. He squirmed when he got pulled into the embrace, but stopped protesting after a moment. “There’s something else that happened, and hopefully, it’ll lead to the end of the highland campaign.”

“Oh, tell me about it,” Yuriko smiled.

_________

About a week after her battle with the Remnant, Yuriko found herself, and her friends, back in Lindorn. They had been given rooms in an inn near the city centre, and Yuriko had an appointment with the First Archon. Well, that and negotiations with the remaining daemon apes were ongoing. A representative has been sent up north, and the offers and terms were discussed in parliament. Yuriko attended one of their sessions and wound up nodding off.

Still, the Karcellian Archons had been part of the procedure, along with lords and ladies of the land. Yuriko wasn’t really sure how the Karcellian government was run. She knew they were called a Commonwealth, and that representation of the commons was part of the thing, but they still had a royal family and nobles? But was it common folk running things?

Anyway, Casper Nichols protested vehemently of the truce, stating that the daemons would just bide their time. But in the middle of the floor was a chunk of ore nearly a pace thick, and from her preliminary examination, it contained enough jade and reactive malachite to fund an army.

The jade wasn’t Imperial, however, which meant that Yuriko wasn’t all that interested in it. They had enough cartridges for their needs anyway, and truthfully, other than storing aspected Animus, she didn’t know what else Imperial Jade was used for. After a week she’d discovered the quirks of Animus-Radiant conversion, though it was far from thorough. Just that Animus to Radiant, which she didn’t really need to do, allowed a one-lumen to one-mote conversion, while the reverse was an odd exchange. Anything less than a three-mote clump didn’t convert back to Animus, at least she couldn’t manage it in time before the Radiant energy burned out, even if the mote was marked with her Will. On the other hand, three motes of Radiant energy reverted back to a single lumen.

Seventeen motes reverted to thirteen. Thirteen reverted back to eleven. Eleven reverted back to seven. Seven to five. Five to three.

Given all of that, thirteen to eleven seemed the best she could manage, except finding one within her body was practically impossible. The only thirteen-mote clump she got her hands on was when she made it herself. Three-mote clumps were the most common, followed by seventeen. And the speed at which she could convert Radiant to Animus was the same, and it always required her Will and Intent. She could only do it within her Anima reach, too.

As for creating an Animus construct and setting it to convert to Radiant at her command, she was stymied. She felt she could do it, she knew she had the knowledge for it, but she just couldn’t quite make it right. Perhaps it would only be possible once she was skilled enough in Animus constructs to create objects that were real. And she hadn’t focused on making Animus constructs at all.

Her thoughts were disturbed when Casper’s secretary called out to her.

“Ma’am, the First Archon is ready for you.”

Yuriko nodded. “Thank you.” She was accompanied by Heron, Gwendith, and Sheamus for the meeting.

The First Archon was alone in his office and when he caught sight of her, his expression ran the gamut from angry, sad, annoyed, irritated, relieved, and finally, happy.

“You and yours are leaving?” he asked her as soon as they were seated.

Yuriko raised an eyebrow, then slowly nodded.

“Good! The Dauntless will depart in a week’s time. It will dock on Norrinth’s west coast. From there, you can make your way back to Confederate territory. And I wish you good luck!” Casper jumped up, reached for her hand and shook it when she reflexively extended it. “Now, I’m sure you have many things to do to prepare for your trip. So I won’t keep you! Thank you for everything you’ve done!”

He then practically shooed them out of his office without giving them a chance to say anything else. Once they were out of the building, Yuriko and Gwendith exchanged glances.

What just happened?

Oh well.