“Anima manifests in three ways—Summon, Projection, and Enhancement. The Osai had access to all three as soon as they were old enough to spark their channels. Technically, the strongest blood among them had access to the heavens and back if they were dumb enough to try and harness it before they were ready. Regardless, I did away with that wishy-washy instant gratification, split it all into ranks, and designed what eventually became the backbone of the Ascension. I gave all of it value. Cha-ching.”
- The Unabridged Interview of Veldraken Juinper, ARCborn
❄
The Frostfire never came. Instead, cold permeated Mori’s fists like a second layer of skin. She felt the burn it put on her Anima slowly begin to encroach up her forearm.
Her fist collided with the practice bot.
Its head reeled back, the cold from Mori's punch transferring onto its metallic chin. The bot didn’t counter, its head staying locked in place.
Mori examined her fist, the translucent layer of cold shimmering across her skin, consuming Anima in her veins, albeit slowly.
Then she looked at the bot’s face. It’s head slowly began moving back into place. What in the Aether was this? Why hadn’t the frostfire appeared like it did before?
Prime sighed from behind her. “I thought this would be the case.”
Mori turned. “Thought what would be the case?“
Prime splayed her hand. Three hologram figures projected out onto the deck. One thrust out a palm with an outline around it—like Mori’s cold. A second shot out a beam of energy—like Mori’s frostfire, and the third held a spear in its grip. “Are you aware of the three types of Anima manifestation?”
Mori scratched her chin, forgetting her hand was still shimmering with cold, and transferring it onto her face. “I mean, I’ve seen Favored in Holo-recordings.” Specifically four recordings. Old ones. Two decades old probably. Many times. “I knew some of the names, but the commentary didn’t always clarify things, so me and the twins sort of made up our own terminology as we went. And my dad—” she swallowed, shoving down the surge of emotion. She’d sort it out later. “He would never talk about his time as a Favored.”
Prime crossed her arms. “I see… well, consider this Manifestation 101. There are three types—Summon, Projection, and Enhancement. You unlock one of these manifestations with each Foundation rank—Initiate, Acolyte, and Proven. Which manifestation you unlock and when has a sizable influence on sponsorships, roster rankings, getting into a Foundation School, and then ultimately getting offered a contract for an Ascension Team. Often it can make or break whether or not you make it onto a team at all.”
Mori examined her hand again. Frostfire seemed to clearly be her Projection, and since she hadn’t manifested a Summon of any kind yet… “I started with Enhancement?”
Prime nodded.
Mori pulled up her holo status window, and peered down the list to find updates.
Anima burn: 5%
Advancement: No perimeters met.
Manifestation(s):
Mori was surprised to see her Enhancement even had a name. It seemed right. “And starting with an Enhancement is?...”
“Abnormal and suboptimal. Many Favored consider it to be a sign of weak foundation—a candidate with the bare minimum .05 Osai blood to receive Favor from the ARCborn.”
“But, both my parents were Osai.”
“Correct, but given the nature of your Inhibitors, we had an inkling it would start you with the manifestation that burns the least amount of anima—Enhancement.”
Mori lowered her hand, letting the Enhancement dissipate. She couldn’t use treasure pills to stretch and grow her Anima reserves, had to cycle her Anima manually, and to top it all off, she apparently had the worst starter Manifestation of the three.
Her inhibitors were really starting to live up to their name.
“It’s a 50/50 split that most Favored will start out with a Projection or Summon,” said Prime. “It’s flashier, catches more eyes, and most importantly, it gets more ticket sales for Foundation School matches. Enhancement is the icing on the cake. Most Favored usually get it when they advance to Proven. It ties the Projection and Summon together, but alone…”
“You’re saying my manifestation is useless?”
Prime shook their head, pointed to the practice bot. “Not useless.”
The bot’s head was still peeled back. Mori’s cold lining its flat face began to dissipate, and the bot’s neck straightened. “Enhancement allows you to imbue your surroundings with Anima, which depending on the nature of the Manifestation, can have a multitude of different effects. I would venture to guess yours is of a freezing nature.”
On the holo-V recording, the Favored Mori watched often had manifestations with differing natures, though she didn’t know the name for them at the time. Their different natures allowed them an ample tool kit to counteract different opponents and obstacles. “But… my Frostfire is also of a freezing nature, but more, well, explosive.”
“Correct,” Prime said. “This is the reality of being a full-blooded Osai. The Osai sects followed strict, elemental paths. The more pure one’s nature was, the more vast their potential was considered to be. It wasn’t until the ARCborn flipped that on its head with nanite refiners that Favored began developing paths your ancestors never could have imagined.”
“So, I can just assume the entire system is stacked against me at this point?”
“That was its original purpose.”
Mori sucked in a breath through gritted teeth. Let it out. There was no point wasting time dwelling on it. “Alright, so at my current rank, I can punch, but cold? Got it.”
Prime raised a finger. “Technically, Enhancement can be applied from any part of the body. You can kick—but cold—as well.”
Mori took in the other two manifestations on the holo-screen. She didn’t need to have seen more than one arena holo-recording to understand the deficit she was in. “I’m also outmatched in terms of reach and pure power in almost every scenario.”
Prime nodded. “More or less, but there are ways around it.”
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Mori perked up. “For example?”
“Quite simple, really.” Prime punched in inputs to the training deck controls on her holo, and two more practice bots materialized from nanites off the floor. “By getting good.”
The training bots hands bloomed with green, fluctuating energy—Projections.
Mori took a step back.
“Strikers will be your biggest weakness as a melee-focused Brawler. Depending on their Projection and Summon range, they can hit you from anywhere in any given arena, so we’ll start here and move down the list—Guardian, Weaver, Brawler. Then we’ll increase the variety of enemy types as you improve.”
After being murdered over thirty times that morning, Mori slicked her fists with cold Enhancement and fell into the defensive stance she had learned from her mother’s scroll, anima slowly burning. She anticipated Prime not giving her a chance to prepare.
Prime let out a truncated chuckle. “Good. You’re already learning.”
Bars of green energy lanced across the training deck at her.
❄
Sweat sluiced Mori’s face, dripping into her right eye as she charged the Striker bots again. Her breaths ran ragged, her cycling barely keeping her Anima burning, and often sputtering out. It was difficult as Aether to keep her cycling going while trying to dodge and reorient in the moment. Dying and reanimating did nothing to rejuvenate her stamina or her Anima, either, her legs like ice blocks beneath her, her channels stiff with the use of her Enhancement. It felt like overexerting a muscle, but to the extreme.
This time around, she managed to dodge the first wave of energy blasts.
Five, six, seven steps before the next asymmetrical beams of energy tore through her right thigh and stomach. Scorching electricity pulsed through her. She passed out before she hit the interlocking tiles, coming to in jerks and phantom pangs.
Seven steps.
Her best so far was nine, and that wasn’t even halfway to closing the distance to the Striker practice bots. So far her Enhancement proved to be absolutely useless.
In her first attempt, she tried batting away the green energy blasts with Enhanced forearms, having them severed and eating the Projections with her face. It offered zero protection.
In her second and third, she slicked her feet with Chill Touch for extra friction to pivot and dodge, but it only glued her to the floor, making her an easy target. She tried to apply less or more of the Enhancement, but to little success.
“Let’s call it for today,” Prime said, letting the practice bots dematerialize in an unspooling of nanites.
Mori’s eyes widened. She collapsed twice before getting a solid, trembling forearm underneath her. “One more. I can close the distance. I’ll figure out a way”
“In two more runs, your Anima will be fully burned. You won’t be able to move, let alone manifest. You need time to recover.”
Mori cursed at the icy-blue veins crawling up both her arms, feeling the used up Anima extending down her legs, into her torso and up neck. On her holo status, it read:
Anima burn: 91%
Advancement: No parameters met.
There had to be a way she could keep going. She remembered the first time she encountered the veins, firing off a Projection without knowing how to cycle yet. She had gotten rid of the burn, hadn’t she? By absorbing the treasure ore. “Why can’t I take treasure pills?”
Prime crossed her arms. “Because at your current state, your baseline is somewhere at peak Acolyte. The inhibitors are suppressing your Anima in order to allow you to control it before moving on. Giving you treasure pills will only stress the nanites. Could cause them to break and rupture your Vessel all over again. Procuring those nanites and getting you into the Ascension was expensive and tedious. We won’t be able to pull it off a second time. With rest, your Anima will refresh.”
“And other Favored?”
Prime shook her head. “Using treasure pills for recovery is frowned upon and not best practice. It is also a waste. You get maximum benefit when your Anima is fresh and unburned.”
Mori sighed. At least she was on equal standing there.
“While ruthless determination is something I value highly," Prime said, "you are missing something.”
After catching her breath, and the phantom pain of dying dwindled, Mori stood up. “Missing what?”
Prime began walking towards the hatch. “Your cycling technique. With multiple things splitting your attention, getting one of them close to muscle memory will be crucial.”
Mori nodded. It made sense. It felt like she was juggling four things at once, continually dropping all of it. “How?”
Prime shrugged. “The Osai used to consider it a sort of meditation. Even with your Anima burned for the day, you could still practice it. But get some food and rest first, and we will meet back here in 0900 hours. Adin will show you to your quarters.”
Thinking about meditating and cycling pained Mori, the idea of sitting still, agonizing. Just walking off the interlocked tiles of the training deck made her wince. Every moment away felt like a waste, like death, where more people across the galaxy continued to suffer, where the ARCborn continued breathing after what their Enforcers had done to her village, her father. She needed to get stronger. Faster.
She guessed it meant she’d have to suck it up and figure out a cycling technique. And with no Osai left to teach her, she was sure she’d have her work cut out for her