Chronicles of the Exalted Sun Child

Book 16-14.3: Internal Pressures

Yuriko’s perception aura spread across the biome. It was supposed to be a couple of longstrides across, and it was an irregular shape, according to the map. It was mostly flat and covered with wild grass as tall as her waist. The horned bunnies’ burrows were concealed under them, and while they weren’t that aggressive. If someone came close enough, they would attack without warning. Considering that the grass was taller than they were, spotting the bunnies would be difficult. Well, if she didn’t use her perceptive aura anyway. Her reach was over five hundred paces and she covered half of the biome’s width. Unfortunately, she still had trouble fine tuning her senses, and was prone to overstimulation now, so Yuriko couldn’t go through the entire region with a fine-toothed comb. She focused on a sliver and swept it around, much like the way radar worked. A single three hundred and sixty degree sweep took several seconds, and at the end of the first one, she couldn’t help but frown. 

She…couldn’t sense anything. Not the grass, or the dirt, and certainly no bunnies. It was the same kind of void in her perception that ‘Chronian Gear affected, and it wouldn’t have mattered much if it was limited to creatures, but the entire landscape? 

She used her Animakinesis to check if she could use the ground as leverage and…she couldn’t. Her kinesis slipped off as if it was wet glass. She tightened her control and balance, and it was only then that she managed to levitate a couple of inches off the ground. She shook her head and hooked onto the canvas of reality instead, and heaved a sigh of relief when that worked. Not too well, but it did. She only had to adjust her balance a bit. Probably. 

Instead of relying on her Anima perception, she sharpened her senses with Animus instead. She could still feel people, though because they had been delayed in exiting the lobby, the other hunters who came with them were long gone. She spotted several game trails leading to the four compass directions, but couldn’t make them out through her perception. She clicked her tongue in annoyance, and Carina glanced at her curiously. 

“Anything wrong?” Carina asked. 

“Hmm, just some complications.” Yuriko waved the concern away. But it seemed that Shangria would be more difficult than she expected, though she wondered why Wyllan didn’t tell her about this. Perhaps he didn’t know…

She froze, or perhaps the density of Anima mattered more than she expected. 

She hummed in thought as she contracted her perception until it was just a tenth of its normal reach. Then she thickened it instead of keeping it relatively dispersed, much like how she created Anima armour. That meant it wouldn’t be discreet, so she paused and only did that around the area of her feet. Twenty times density was the threshold, and suddenly, she could sense the ground, the grass, and the bunny about to charge over in a murderous lunge. 

“Woo-woof!” Fluffington barked as he leapt off her backpack and intercepted the charging bunny. He was still in his pupper form as he slammed his shoulder on the bunny’s chest, having ducked under the twelve inch long horn. Fluffers had condensed his body to be that small, and his mass had been the same. He was using the same trick Yuriko did to support her own weight on more fragile surfaces, mainly by expanding his footpads using Anima to better distribute it. 

So it came as no surprise when it was the bunny who was bounced away rather than the pupper who was at least a fifth of its size. 

The horned bunny rolled over itself as it landed on the grass, and was back on its feet a moment later. It was just about to lunge when it froze, trembling in fright. Fluffington had resumed his original size, and he’d actually grown bigger than Yuriko expected, considering he’d spent the last Season as a tiny puppy. His shoulder was now higher than her head, and he was nearly four paces long from nose to tail. 

He lifted his head proudly and smirked, then he slowly, dramatically, strode towards the cowering bunny, waited for a long moment to see if the poor creature could shake off its fear, then reached down with a paw and crushed its head. He observed the corpse for a long moment, before it disintegrated into dust, leaving nothing but a tiny fragment of its horn behind. 

“So they really don’t leave anything behind,” Yuriko murmured. 

“Except for a fragment, if you’re lucky.” Carina agreed. “You know, you are lucky, that’s your first kill and already got a horn frag, heh.” 

“What’s it worth?” Yuriko asked as she picked it up with her kinesis. 

“Are you a Mystic?” Carina asked after a short pause. 

“Ancient.” 

“Ah, so Mystic.” 

Yuriko gave the other girl a side eye. Carina just shrugged.

“That’s the same family isn’t it, just Ancients are the higher level. That’s Animakinesis, right? You didn’t cast spells and the Elemental energy around us didn’t move.” 

“Huh, well, I guess, you’re right.” Yuriko shrugged. 

“You’re a long way from the Mystic Convention’s territory. Your ship’s not allowed there?”work.” 

“Hmm, I see.” Yuriko prodded the door frame. “This leads to the next biome, you said. How do we reach the second layer?” 

“Ten days travel, across a hundred different biomes. Shangria…limits access to ten biomes a day on the first layer, one less every layer below the first.”

“Do you mean…”

“It would take a hundred days on the ninth layer to reach the Bore, yes. Well, probably, as it's not been confirmed.” Carina shrugged. “Biomes grow bigger the deeper we go. Anyway, shall we enter? We can cross up to five biomes if you want to make it back to the rings today.” 

“I don’t mind, but are all the creatures that weak?”

“I mean, they’re of similar power,” Carina admitted. “Different methods, though, but if you’re looking for a real challenge, then you won’t find it so close to the orbital elevator.” 

“A pity,” Yuriko agreed, still, she could feel her Anima slowly expanding as she took in new sights. Even if it wasn’t much of a challenge, as long as she learned something new, or realised something she hadn’t before, her reach continued to grow quickly. At this rate, it would take just a bit more than a year and a Season for her to reach the peak of Transformation.

She touched the door and it swung open without a sound. It revealed a vista similar to the biome they were in, but her Anima perception could not cross the threshold. “Fluffers! Come on!” 

“Woof!” 

Sir Blue was already hovering above Carina’s shoulder. Yuriko preceded everyone else, followed by Fluffington, who’d returned to his puppy form since he wouldn’t get through easily otherwise. 

As soon as she stepped through, she noticed a couple of groups several hundred paces away. No, she noticed two groups fighting each other, all while a few of them were engaged against a golden ferret that was even larger and longer than Fluffington. 

Thankfully, the terrain was still relatively flat, and the grass was much lower here, so when Carina walked through, she saw what was happening and bit out a curse. 

“Of all the bad luck, a golden ferret!” 

“Why?”

“Those jackdaws won’t let anyone who isn’t affiliated with their group loose until they finish that thing off and secure the drop.” Even as she spoke, Yuriko saw a group from both sides of the conflict spot the two of them. A moment later, two people, one from each side, started jogging towards the door. 

“So what do you want to do?” Yuriko asked, unconcerned. 

“We either wait, go back to the starter region, or make a break for it.” 

“You don’t want the ferret? That must be valuable.” 

“It is. A heartgem could fetch ten thousand creds, and the ferret can be tamed. A golden variant is strong even for a first-layer beast.” 

Before Yuriko could answer, the two representatives arrived within shouting distance. One of them was glaring at the other, while the second one gave Yuriko and Carina an appraising look. 

“Leave,” the man said, and the other nodded. 

Yuriko snorted, then shook her head. “I don’t think so.”