Yuriko’s Anima greedily absorbed the Radiant energy that the Earthen Bear exploded with. Its Elemental Core had been completely devoured and converted to Radiance, and since the beast had no capability with the Primordial Element, it lost complete control of all its energies and failed to keep it contained. That resulted in the incredible self-detonation, as well as the flood of Radiance. 

Fluffington!

Yuriko sighed in relief when she realised that she had instinctively protected the injured puppy with her Animakinesis. The deluge of blood, gore, and Radiant energy was kept away from the vulnerable wolf, and at the same time, absorbed the shockwave that flattened the hills and the wheat field. Yuriko could feel her Anima crack, regenerate, and expand, as she absorbed the Radiant energy as well as the suddenly eager ambient Elemental energies. Her Anima reach expanded by a good ten paces, from her initial inspection, though it was accompanied by an odd ache. It wasn’t of the body, she was sure, and it didn’t take long to realise that it was her Anima and her Radiant Core that felt strained. Fri’Avgi, still materialised, fed her a steady dribble of distilled Chaos.

‘Where is this place, master?’ Fri’Avgi yawned, ‘It feels…nostalgic.’

‘We’re in an Elemental Conflux,’ Yuriko replied mentally, ‘within a place called Bresia, off the edge of the Chaos Sea.’

‘How long was I asleep?’ Fri’Avgi groused.

‘I’m not sure,’ Yuriko responded with an amused smirk. 

‘Well, I still need a nap,’ Fri’Avgi replied. ‘Ah, feed me! Chaos or Radiant energy! Or whatever heterogeneous mix you wish to get rid of, I’m not that picky.’

The artefact greatsword prodded Yuriko’s Anima and she let the plucky spirit back inside. She settled down with a sigh, right next to the formation holding Damien’s memories. A large part of the excess Radiant energy Yuriko produced went into feeding Fri’Avgi, though it would take some time before the artefact could give out as powerful an attack as the one before. Yuriko should not have wasted it, but she didn’t want her new puppy to suffer. 

She carefully cradled Fluffington with her kinesis and brought him closer. She seeped her Anima perception into his body, momentarily stopped by his Anima, but he let her in after a moment. 

Broken hind leg. Shattered hips. Broken spine. Bruised muscles, internal bleeding. At least his lungs and heart weren’t injured, but at the rate he was going, he’d be dead in a while, or if he lived, crippled. It was a good thing that he had bonded with her. But then again, he would not have been in this predicament if he hadn’t. Instead, he would probably have been dead sooner—if he weren’t so cute and fluffy, she’d have killed him. 

Pursing her lips, Yuriko briefly considered her options. She had the healing ointment and potion, as well as the healing cube. But she wasn’t sure if they were potent enough to stitch back broken bones. Shattered bones, too. Recovery as a technique needed Animus and the wolf puppy had none. What he had was an active Anima and from how he allowed Yuriko’s Anima inside him, she could probably imprint a self-healing technique. And she could hold his bones back together with her kinesis. Well, self-healing first. 

Before that though, she slathered the healing ointment on his open wounds, fed him the potion, and pulled him close to her body. For now, as long as the internal bleeding stopped, he should be fine for a few hours. He’d live and she needed to help the students avoid death. While he was her familiar, her duty also meant keeping her students safe. Part of that had been discharged simply by eliminating the biggest threat, but that other humongous beast was still there. 

She looked to the eastern valley wall and found the giant bull clashing with a few Magi. She saw other elemental beasts rampaging in the wheat field. A few students fought them and were holding on for now, but she feared that wouldn’t last long. How much time did she take to defeat the Elemental Bear? Two minutes? Then a couple more diagnosing Fluffington. Four minutes. Ten minutes since the beasts appeared. 

She surveyed the area around her. There weren’t any students who had gone near the western hillside, which saved her the trouble of herding them back. She saw a few groups already close to the entrance, and some stragglers. She flew towards the closest bunch and realised that it was Sofia, Juliette, and a couple of wolfkin boys. All four were covered in blood.

“Professor Davar,” Juliette said drily, “nice of you to check in on us.” She gestured towards the corpse of a smaller bull. One of the wolfkin boys was sawing its chest open and fishing around for the beast core. The other was helping him, but both turned to look at Yuriko when Juliette spoke. Both stared for a long moment until Sofia growled.

“For goddess’ sake, yes, she’s beautiful. Yes, she’s so gorgeous you’d like to stare at her forever. But we’re still in an emergency so get to it!”

Yuriko chuckled as the boys reddened, then said, “Allow me.” Her Anima perception easily found the errant beast core, and with a kinetic twist, she ripped it from the body and handed it over to the beastkin boy cutting into it. “I’ll carry the four of you.” She said, then added, “Weren’t you a group of six?”

“The other two ran when we told them to,” Juliette said mildly. 

“I see.”

Yuriko wrapped everyone up with her kinesis and they flew towards the east. They ran into the other two members of the group, but they seemed to be making good time. Yuriko dropped off the other four near the entrance then zoomed off towards the north. She saw a few students fighting a bull and it looked like they were losing. She sent a sunblade ahead, bisected the creature, then moved on to the next set. 

The big bull was still fighting the combined might of the department heads, and a few of the other professors were heading off to rescue the other students. Yuriko kept at it, until half an hour later, the big bull fell, and none of the smaller ones were left. Of course, by this time the ironscale wolves were picking at the carcasses. 

She and Fluffington, who was still unconscious but his wounds had scabbed over, crossed the pass and arrived in the first valley, only to be met with the sight of an enormous carcass. An elemental goat that was the same size as the bull and bear lay across the field, its body ripped in twain and its flesh charred to a crisp. The base camp was overcrowded with students and faculty, and there was a steady stream heading outside the conflux. Aside from the professors who fought the bull, the second valley was devoid of people. 

Yuriko arrived at base camp and headed to her quarters. There she found Ryoko calmly waiting for her return. 

“Young mistress, welcome back.” The tawny-haired woman smiled. 

“Fluffington is gravely injured,” Yuriko said, “but I’m not sure if the healer has time for him. I will attend to him for now.” 

“Understood, mistress. I will make sure you are not disturbed.” 

“Thank you, Ryoko.” 

Her handmaiden bowed low, “I live to serve you.” 

Rolling her eyes when she saw the glint of amusement in the other woman, she patted Ryoko’s shoulder and entered her simple quarters. She lay Fluffington down next to her bedroll and gently shook him awake. 

“Follow my lead,” Yuriko said as she also sent her Intent through the bond between them.

She created runescript lines with her Anima and took the healing cube out of her hip satchel. The cube was not renewable but she had studied the runescript patterns within. She hadn’t completely deciphered it, but she was able to memorise, and lock in, the pattern. She would need Animus and distilled Chaos to engrave a new cube, so keeping this one preserved wasn’t necessary. 

She etched the Recovery pattern into Fluffington’s aura, then pulled back. She watched the puppy expectantly and repeated the process until he tried to copy her work. The runescript was flawed but she corrected his mistakes until he got it right. Then, while he activated the runescript, and drew elemental energies from the atmosphere, she used her kinesis to stitch his bones together. The shattered bits of his hips were the most problematic, but she recovered every last shard she could find, and fit it all together like a puzzle. There were some missing pieces, and for those, she created a framework with her Animus. 

She was hesitant to give him distilled Chaos to aid in Recovery since he was not acclimated to it. Feeling it may do more harm than good, she had to be content with using the eclectic mix of elemental energies she could get. She didn’t use Radiant as that would probably kill him. Although…was there a tiny bit of it within him? No, probably not. 

Slowly, the bones rebuilt themselves. It was a fragile framework and was likely to shatter if he put any weight on it or even moved it around. She constructed a half-body cast out of her Animus as well as Earth elemental energy, and that was that. All he needed to do was rest and recover. She gave him some ration bars which he reluctantly chewed up. 

“Stay still and rest,” Yuriko commanded. “I’ll check you again later.”

Fluffington lay his head down on his paws and closed his eyes. Yuriko leaned over and kissed his forehead, and he twitched his ears in response. 

The skies were dark by the time she left her room. She found Ryoko cooking by a campfire, pan-grilling several chops of meat. The aroma was wonderful and she spotted a bottle of sweet red wine on the table as well as a glass. 

“Dinner’s in a few minutes, mistress.” 

“Don’t rush good food,” Yuriko said. 

“Of course not, mistress,” Ryoko said in a tone that told her to teach her Da how to shoot. 

Settling on the chair, Yuriko popped the cork off the bottle and poured herself a glass. The evening air was nice and cool, but every now and then, a hot breeze made her hair flutter. She stared up at the sky, contemplating the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of twinkling lights that had replaced the Chaos flows of home. They were beautiful in their own way, but at least the flows had multiple hues instead of the off-white these stars seemed to have. They all looked so tiny, and even when she used Enhanced Sight, they never grew any bigger or more detailed.

Ryoko presented a meal of pan-seared chops and a mash of something sweet. Yuriko gestured for her to sit across, and the two of them enjoyed their repast. 

The next day found her back in the valleys watching over the students as they went about their exams. It was the sixth years’ turn now, as well as the straggler fifth years. Nothing much happened this time around, and after another couple of days, the examinations were over. 

The students were more than ready to pack up and leave, though some of the staffers were going to stay and keep harvesting the gold. Yuriko gave the ingot she made to one of the artificers in exchange for actual gold coins. She overheard the need for the gold derived from the wheat to be purified and refined. She didn’t want to do that herself, since it was apparently a laborious process. Well, that and her Radiant energy just consumed the gold and turned it into more Radiance. 

She was ready to go back home. She missed talking with Gwendith and Heron, and she missed her bathtub. Fluffington had recovered quickly and was more than capable of hobbling around. She checked his bones and found them to be healing well. Another week and he’d be back in tip-top shape. 

At least the trimester was over and she could spend the next Season exploring. 

Well, there was one more event before the trimester ended. An academic year-end celebration. It would be held almost as soon as they returned to Nirlith, and she was supposed to be a chaperone. 

Huh, she was as young as the students were, so she didn’t know how she could act like that. Well, one more duty left, and she should try to enjoy it.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep