The innkeeper brought over Yuriko and Krystal's afternoon tea set the next minute, balancing a tray carrying the pot, the tiered cake stand, and their place settings over his shoulder.
"This is our famous Sunset Mellow Tea," Barnaby said gaily. "A mix of Zarek Mountain tea and kaf roots plus plum flower blossoms grown right here in the inn. Please enjoy it with our delectable tea sandwiches, scones, and tarts."
He bowed with a flourish, somehow keeping everything balanced, then he placed the plates, forks, and teaspoons in front of the girls.
Yuriko stared at the fruit tarts and felt her mouth water. She didn't enjoy lunch at all, and she fervently hoped her tummy wouldn't rumble right now.
"Enjoy the tea!" With a final flourishing bow, the innkeeper left.
Yuriko reached for the pot to pour.
"You should wait for a couple more minutes," Spellweaver interrupted just before her hand touched the handle."The tea needs to steep that much longer to bring out the fullness of its flavour. Barnaby is quite the tea sommelier."
"Oh." Yuriko nodded and took a couple of sandwiches at the bottom of the tiered cake platter. Krystal took the rest.
"Now, is there anything else you'd like to clarify?" Spellweaver's eyes glanced at Armsmaster while he wasn't looking. He sipped some of his tea and grimaced.
"Well, yes," Krystal said. "I'm, well, I'm a bit lost."
"Oh?" Byrne leaned over the table with his elbow. His right arm, the stump, swung towards his face as if he wanted to scratch an itch but halfway into the motion, he froze and clicked his tongue.
"I'm about halfway into completing my Facet advancement," Krystal admitted, "but I'm somewhat hesitant to complete it."
"Why?"
"Our instructors said that when advancing Facets, we could either follow the path or branch out into something else. I felt so useless during the battles in the Shillogu Woods."
"You weren't useless!" Yuriko hurriedly piped in and grabbed her friend's arm. "Without your help, I would have died to that Hunter back then!"
"I could have done more," Krystal said quietly. "And, well, in class now, I'm faced with how limited I am. Without a good team, I'm dead. I'd like to be a bit more self-sufficient."
"Hrmm." Armsmaster Byrne eyed her thoughtfully. "Your role is as a Scout, isn't it? What's your secondary?"
"I…I haven't decided yet."
"Precision attacks would suit a Scout's repertoire. Ranged or melee?"
"Either way, I suppose."
"Melee with a bit of ranged capability then. You should inlay Empowered Strike then, and advance it to include attacks with a Plasma Lancet or Caster. Alternatively, you can try to incorporate something a bit more specialized into your Facet."
"What would you recommend, sir?"
"I can't give you an answer, since it would be mine. You need to find your own way, otherwise, you'll never reach your full potential. That said, think about what you want to accomplish. Most students of the academies take what's expected of them, never thinking of what comes after. Don't just follow foolishly. I suggest you spar more often with Miss Davar here."
Krystal shuddered. "Oh, Ancestors, no."
Yuriko grinned. "Why not? I could use more exercise."
"Hoh hoh hoh! That's the spirit! What about you, Yuriko? Do you have any questions about your progression? You haven't progressed to Apprentice, have you?"
"Not yet, sir." Yuriko shrugged. "I've been trying to inlay more of my Facet but nothing's working as I hoped."
"If you're having trouble, remember that your Heritage is your guide. By following it, you can easily reach up to Journeyman, but remember, becoming a Knight requires more than just blindly following."
"If only it were that easy." Yuriko grabbed the teapot and served Krystal and herself tea. It gave off an enticing aroma; fruity yet it had a deep-bodied scent. The kaf reminded her of her Da, too. She took a hurried sip, feeling the heat nearly scald her tongue but the burst of flavour more than made up for it. "My Heritage didn't come with instructions on how to progress."
"Ah, yes, I remember your file. Hmmm, Eilis?"
Click.
Spellweaver returned her teacup on the saucer with a loud clunk. "Who is your adviser? He or she should be the one to answer this."
"Uh, Master Kiyo Alfein."
"Who's that? I don't recognise the name."
"She said she transferred from the main campuses from Realmheart. Also," Yuriko continued, "I'm supposed to meet her tomorrow."
"For you Animus Resonance meditation technique?"
"I think so."
"Hmmm, well, I won't comment on that. As for your Anima Strength, correct me if I'm wrong but your Animus reserve is more than enough to push you to Journeyman, right?"
"I have a hundred and fifteen lumens."
"Yes, more than enough. Then the best way to advance should be hidden in your Heritage. Don't rush, Yuriko; correcting an erroneous inlay is far more trouble than it's worth."
"But…"
"Trust me on this," Spellweaver continued, her eyes boring into Yuriko's. "You don't want to rush your inlays. The answer is always in your Heritage. You just need to be patient and look for it."
"Alright." Yuriko sighed. It was just so hard to be patient now. Though logically, there was no way for her to advance quickly, she couldn't shake the desire for it. "There's one last thing." She looked at Armsmaster Byrne. "Training and Recovery no longer seems to work. I'm not getting stronger."
"Ah, you've hit the limits of your body." Armsmaster nodded knowingly. "Don't worry, when you advance to Apprentice, you'll push through those limits. Focus on finding your way there instead. While it's possible to persist, extreme forms of training might mean you'd have to sacrifice something. Your bone and muscle structure makes you more suited to a balanced approach between strength, agility, and flexibility. Once you've reached your training cap, there's no way to increase any aspect of that without lowering another. You don't want to have bulging muscles now do you? You'd slow down. On the other hand, too much focus on speed and flexibility would mean losing too much muscle mass. You're still a growing kid, keep yourself balanced for now."
"So it all boils down to Anima Strength?"
"Yes."
"Thank you, Armsmaster Byrne, Spellweaver Merill, for your advice and your time."
"No worries, we did promise your father." Spellweaver grinned. "Well, then, enough of such sordid things. Tell me of your days in the City?"
"Well, there's a lot of people…" Yuriko began, while Krystal piped in now and then. The tea sandwiches, scones, and tarts were delicious, and so was the tea, even unsweetened. Yuriko added a dollop of honey for her second cup though, since there was a bitter aftertaste. They spent an hour or so chatting and afterwards, they said their goodbyes.
Armsmaster Byrne pulled Yuriko aside as they were walking out of the parlour.
"You've mentioned before that your Facet allows your Ancestor to show you Animus techniques. Perhaps one of them is the key to advancing your Anima Strength. You may already have the answer, you may not have realized it."
Yuriko nodded thoughtfully and said her thanks.
"So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" Krystal asked as they walked to the waiting shed.
"How about a spar? If you're serious about changing the focus of your Facet, you should work on it now."
"Ugh. Fine."
They spent the rest of the afternoon sparring with wooden swords though Yuriko spent most of their training time making sure that Krystal's sword techniques were solid. The other girl had started using a different set of movements when they began and if she had to put a finger on it, it was a bit more aggressive than she expected.
Krystal's style before was mostly defensive in nature, mostly warding off attacks while putting some distance. She'd use a Lancet for covering fire or finishing blows mostly. Krystal's Facet wasn't directly combative, though its applications made her a great scout, which was why she entered Agaza in the first place.
Now, she mostly used thrusts aimed at Yuriko's vitals. They were largely ineffective owing to Yuriko's speed and skill more than anything else. By the end of it all, Krystal was groaning with exhaustion.
"Again tomorrow?" Yuriko asked.
"Sure."
The next day was a rather lazy one for Yuriko. Mindful of what Armsmaster Byrne and Spellweaver Merill said, she didn't linger too much over her physical training and instead, holed up in her room, pulled out a notebook and listed down the techniques that the Golden Silhouette had shown her.
"Golden Silhouette Techniques:
First Sword Dance.
Second Sword Dance.
Third Sword Dance.
Recovery (GS version)
Boost (GS version)
Strengthen Physique (GS version)"
Just six techniques? Yuriko scrunched her brows and muttered to herself. Oh!
"Post-training meditation."
Yeah, that was one of the first ones, though she barely used it in favour of Recovery. Hmmm. Come to think of it, she didn't use that one after the first time. How did it go again?
'Ah! Let's summon the Golden Silhouette and find out!'
That said, her Facet consumed about a third of her current reserve and showed her all the variations she'd listed. The meditation technique transitioned into Recovery, and both sent Animus into her muscles and bones. Was it a variant of Strengthen Physique? No, it felt different. The circulation pattern was distinct from each other. And besides, after using Strengthen Physique once, she couldn't get it to function properly again. Maybe it only worked once? The boost it gave her physique was rather drastic.
So what did the post…er, PTM do, then?
She tried it out as soon as she was released from the dreamscape. Her Animus strands were sluggish when she tried the pattern, and whatever was supposed to meld into her flesh wouldn't do so.
"Ah, I have to perform the dances first." She muttered.
Shrugging to herself, she did it right there in her room. Once, twice, thrice, for each sword dance. Afterwards, she immediately assumed a seated meditation pose and did the PTM.
Seven strands, the most she could control easily, circulated around her body. She felt heat flood into her muscles while cold air seeped into her lungs. She exhaled heavily and her breath created a cloudy vapour that sank to the floor before dispersing. She felt numb where three of the seven strands passed while another three gave her pins and needles. The last strand, bouncing between her heart and head, seemed to carry her pulse with it. It was an odd, surreal feeling, as though she were simultaneously outside of her body, yet she felt every movement, every drop of sweat, and the bitter tang of the cold. She could even feel the tomcat padded behind her, his tail flicking against the small of her back.
A timeless moment, an eternal instant.
She inhaled and the feeling disappeared. Blinking in confusion, she envisioned her Anima and looked at her core. The flames of her reserve had shrunk. She was left with but a third of her reserve. Her body suddenly felt sore, as though it was the first day she'd started her harsh training and she'd pushed herself beyond endurance.
With a muted groan, she started Recovery only to be brought up short by a jolt of pain that seemed to come from her mind. It spread like fire through the rest of her body but burned out before a second passed.
"What the?"
Experimentally, she attempted to activate Recovery again. This time it activated properly. The odd heat from within her disappeared with the soreness but she was left far more lethargic than before.
They cancel each other out. Pick one or the other.
Yuriko froze. It was the voice again!
"Fri'Avgi?" she called out softly but the silence of her mind was the only answer. "Calm. Must stay calm." Yuriko whispered to herself, despite her heart pounding furiously in her bosom. "They said it could be Fri'Avgi, even if she's not with me right now."
She sat there for quite a while until she jolted out of her stunned state by the growling of her tummy. With a sigh, she took a quick shower. Bathing had always made her feel better no matter what she was feeling. The near scalding water against her skin was soothing. And, come to think of it, ever since she succeeded in using Strengthen Physique once, she could tolerate heat much more easily. So she'd turned up the heat by channelling more Animus into the collector studs in the bathroom.
She also had an appointment with Master Alfein in a couple of hours. Hopefully, she'd give her a better idea how she might be able to progress with her Anima Strength.