Chapter 1198: Book 18-8.1: Truthseeking

The rush of power was nearly overwhelming, and it was all Yuriko could do to keep it within her Anima. She converted some of the unleashed Ambrosia into Radiance reflexively, and stopped only when she realised that turning some into Animus, or really, Chaos, would be better for her purposes. She’d consumed two-thirds of the droplet by the time it occurred to her to try and convert it into Swordlight instead. Well, it failed. Apparently, unlimited potential didn’t mean she could skip steps. Huh. 

Her greater self didn’t need to try that since Animus was readily available. Either way, the energy didn’t go to waste even if the spillover was light, bright and powerful enough to melt glass…oops.

Anywho…

Sunblades were modelled after sideblades, which had a circular guard instead of a crossguard. Or rather, the circular shape could shift to a crossguard at need, but the more common use was to be able to attach the sideblade to a Plasma Caster to make a spear. Her greater self had stuck with the shape from sheer inertia. Well, the design was surprisingly apt for creating a satellite sword. 

Sword Seal at the centre, taking the place of the circular guard. Radiant forged Animus as the blade and tang, inserted through the Sword Seal. Swordlight was woven into strands as the handle, as well as the outer layer of the blade. 

With Ambrosia, it took but moments to complete the Satellite Sword, the process well documented in her synchronised memories. It had taken her greater self most of the day to figure out a new direction for her Truth, and from there, the way to consolidate the three methods of progression into a coherent whole. 

To progress the Ennoia of Yuriko’s Sword into a Colligia, she’d have to forge and contain a thousand Satellite Swords, but that really wasn’t her concern right now. Each sword would probably take a day of focus to make, then quite a bit of time to fit them into orbit around a Radiant core. The problem was that she, as in the 2nd-incarnation, didn’t have a Radiant core and had no plans of making one in the near future. She had a Sword Seal core that she could use as the focal point of the Satellite Sword’s orbit, and she supposed that she’d have to expand it to be able to hold more swords. Right now, it has three and a half layers, which should hold at most three Satellite Swords…hopefully. 

The sword spun freely in front of her, the same size as a sunblade. She willed it to shrink, to compress, and took it within her Anima. It followed a path to her Seal core and easily created an orbital path. She willed it out of her Anima, and it responded as eagerly as her own hand did. She kept it tiny, about the size of her pinky’s fingernail, and allowed it to fly around the apartment. It responded as easily as a Radiant Flying Sword did, even if she didn’t have her aura spread out. She suspected it would remain that way until she exceeded her perception’s reach, then it would either return to her on its own if it went past, or it wouldn’t be able to get out of reach in the first place. 

Her mind swam with the possibilities. The sword held Radiance and didn’t allow the plane to siphon it away. It held a core of her Willpower naturally, which was a pleasant surprise. Her reserves were spread out across all of her bodies, and since she was practically cut off from her greater self, her Willpower reserves only replenished during synchronisation. At most, she had a tenth of her full self’s reserves, but if it was drained to nothing, she suspected that her incarnation would be undone. Or…perhaps she would fall unconscious until synchronisation. She didn’t really want to test what would happen either way. 

The Satellite Sword held a measure of her Willpower spawned from the ignition of the Ambrosia. It was a full one percent of the whole, which meant a tenth of what she could hold. She wondered if it would replenish if she drew some out… 

Well, it didn’t. A pity, but then again, that would have been too easy, wouldn’t it? Anyway, it meant that she’d have to be cautious of how many Satellite Swords she made between synchronisations, at least, not without the aid of Ambrosia. She could forge another sword now…

Heavy footsteps, as well as rapid ones, charged down the hallway. Someone rattled the door, and this apartment being one without internal divisions, Yuriko knew that once it opened, she would be exposed to whoever was outside. She briefly debated whether to face them openly, but decided it was ultimately pointless to do so. She was in the wrong here, a trespasser, and she didn’t wish to hurt the relatively innocent. 

Thankfully, she always kept most of her things in the backpack, and she had the habit of putting away her bedding as soon as she woke up. She withdrew the sword back into her body, then leapt out the window. 

The glass had already solidified, so she shattered the remnants with her passing. She was only half a dozen storeys from the street, and the window opened out into an alley. A dirty, stinky alley, she might add, considering the bags of open trash across the way. The bags were torn open by strays in search of food, and the potholed asphalt held fetid puddles teeming with bugs. 

She landed with barely a sound and was through towards the main road in a couple of seconds. Once there, she hesitated a moment after glancing at the tenement building’s entrance. The property management office was on the ground floor, and it wouldn’t be much of an imposition to head there and drop a bundle of Weyrmarks. She did damage the apartment unit after all, and she was rather thankful that the burst of light didn’t ignite anything inside. Or perhaps it was only the material that wasn’t inside her perception range that got burned? She had kept her aura contained, after all. Hmmm, how much would it cost to replace those windows anyway? 

Well, she couldn’t afford to be overly generous, but she didn’t want to just leave. She walked casually back into the lobby, turned towards one of the hallways, pulled out a fifty-Weyrmark bill, a couple of twenties, and a ten, rolled them up, then slid them through the mail slot on the property management’s door. She knew there was someone inside from her perception aura, but it would take them a few seconds to notice something coming through—if they actually noticed at all—and a few more seconds to open the door if they thought to check the hallway. She’d kept her head tilted down and away from the security camera, though she actually wasn’t sure if it worked, then she followed the hallway until it led to a side door that opened to the same alley she jumped down to. Heh. 

She sidled out and walked back to the main street, ignored the shouts that came from above, and faded into the crowded pavement. Or at least, she imagined she did so.

Her options had expanded, and while she was likely to accept her brother’s benefactors’ offer, she also wanted to check if the land route would be faster and less complicated. 

She knew about the crisis in the north, of course. Who didn’t? And her family had a personal stake in it, too, since her father died combating the walking corpses there. So she was well disposed to go up there and see if she could cut a bloody swathe across the landscape. The trouble was that it was at least five hundred longstrides to the affected zone, and another five hundred to reach the natural boundary between Westenland and Nurevia, the unimaginably named Nurev Mountains. It spanned from the inner ocean to the outer ocean, with heights reaching up to a dozen or more longstrides at places. The lowest points were at least a couple of longstrides above sea level, and the nearest one was almost directly north of Rakkisgrad. It also happened to be the exclusion zone where anyone who entered had better be part of the military or possess special passports; otherwise, they would be shot on sight. 

Since she couldn’t fly, and taking public transportation was impossible, she could either walk, run, or…

Her gaze landed on a young man riding a bicycle down the road. 

Cycling could allow her to cross thirty or forty longstrides an hour, and it would take her less than a day to reach the danger zones. If she acquired a folding bicycle, she could stuff it back in her backpack once hiking turned out to be the better option…or she could purposely enchant a gym bag to contain a more robust bike. A folding one was mainly used in city transportation after all. She’d need a rugged trail bike if she wanted to maintain any kind of speed through the wilderness. 

Ah, how much does a trail bike cost anyway? Probably more than what she had… so she’d have to sell the gold ring and necklace then. Probably underpriced if she used a pawn shop. Granted, she could probably buy a bike there as well. But she needed to use a more legit shop than the one she used to sell her stolen… er, looted guns at. Probably best to head towards the city centre, though the added risk of getting recognised would be troubling. Oh well, if they start hostilities, then their stuff becomes potential loot. 

With a decisive huff, she pulled her hood over her head and strolled in a north-ish direction. A couple of hours later, she found a likely place. Silver Coin Pawn Shop occupied a detached, two-storey building with a large, half-full parking lot with fancy-looking automobiles. She walked through the front door, nodded amiably to the security guard, who squinted at her, then pointed at the store regulations which forbade head coverings. She shrugged and pushed the hood off her head, and casually watched to see if the man would recognise her and grow hostile. 

She saw the corner of his eye twitch, but he didn’t reach for his sidearm, nor did he go for an alarm button. So she strolled right inside and towards the counter. 

“Hey! How can I help you?” a chubby man behind a countertop called out, his tone upbeat and jolly. 

“Looking to sell, and buy.” 

“What’re you looking for?” he asked easily. 

Yuriko smiled. “A trail bike.” 

“Hmmm? Do you mean a mountain bike or a motorcycle built for off-road conditions?” 

“Ah, the mountain bike,” Yuriko answered. 

“Well, we only have a single one on hand in the shop…thousand marks.”

Yuriko raised an eyebrow. “Let me see it first.” 

“Sure thing!” He gestured towards the other end of the public area, “Meet me over there!” He trundled around the clerk’s area while Yuriko walked a straight line. She let him arrive first, and he gallantly opened the door for her. “Through here.” 

The storage area was filled with electronics, knick-knacks, and assorted rubbish. The other end had multiple bikes, though most were utility bikes rather than what she needed. The bike the chubby man mentioned was leaning against the wall and was evidently quite well used. Yuriko pursed her lips as she took in the wear and tear. It might not survive the journey if she pushed too hard, that was for sure. Especially if she infused it with her Anima or Radiance. Still, a thousand marks was too much. 

“Three hundred,” she said flatly. 

“Hey now, that’s too little!” he chuckled, then gave a counteroffer. “Nine.” 

Yuriko fixed him with a flat stare, and his levity ceased for a moment. “Three hundred. But I’m here to sell this ring,” she retrieved it from her pocket. “I’ll trade this for the bike and a gym bag.” 

The man blinked, then chuckled. “Alrighty then, you’ve got a deal.”