Reisen Riou examined the items. Aside from soul shards like fine sand and fragments like golden beans, there was no soul.
"The soul's here," Raiden Ei said, pulling a Thunder Elixir from the valley between two peaks.
"?" A fourth-dimensional stash, huh?
The elixir dissipated, revealing a purple seed.
"Sister's sleeping inside. Her soul's very weak," Ei said, gesturing. She knew Reisen couldn't sense Makoto's state. Even she only grasped it after forming a mystical link with the seed.
"Got it. 'Revival,' open the Soul-Nurturing Chamber," Reisen ordered.
The Soul-Nurturing Chamber, like the Sky-Veiling System, was derived from Tsurumi's ancient tech, refined for use.
Calling it an improvement might be a stretch, but the tweaks made it easier to wield.
Using Tsurumi's tech, Reisen crafted quirky gadgets. The Soul-Nurturing Chamber stabilized and gently strengthened souls without side effects, though slowly. It was ideal for healing soul wounds.
Reisen used it to mend his clone's soul damage, with great results.
"Mist?" Ei frowned as they entered the chamber.
"Yeah, Tsurumi's civilization was obsessed with mist. Lots of their tech involves it," Reisen nodded. "And not just that—soul tech ties to Gloomshroom. It's toxic, but its spores mildly stimulate souls."
"That's likely how Tsurumi developed their soul tech."
"Hm, Sister's soul is starting to heal slowly," Ei nodded, relieved, releasing Makoto's soul from the seed.
"Let it heal and get to work. Inazuma needs you," Reisen said, eyeing Makoto's soul. "If we both vanish too long, it'll be chaos."
"…Got it," Ei said after a pause, but added, "Reisen, don't do anything weird to Sister's soul."
"? …! Do I look like that guy?"
Well, maybe…
Reisen shooed Ei out to handle duties, then started repairs.
"Back when I saw Big Sis Makoto, she had this commanding aura. Now, just a soul, it's gone. Is it losing her Gnosis?" Reisen mused.
He examined the golden-bean-like soul fragments.
Frowning, he noted that healthy souls naturally merge fragments to heal. Manual merging meant one of three things: the main soul was too weak to attract fragments, an external force severed their link, or both.
Clearly, Makoto's soul was both—weak and cursed, blocking recovery.
Luckily, the curse targeted her body and Archon powers. Makoto must've swiftly hidden her soul in the seed, sparing it the curse's full brunt.
It was salvageable.
Reisen prepared a soul solution, using it to merge fragments with the main soul. This sped up fusion without stressing the soul.
Fragments melded one by one, improving Makoto's soul rapidly, but she stayed unconscious.
Reisen used the fine shards to patch minor soul cracks, but even using all shards only fixed some gaps.
Souls were fragile. Unlike physical cuts or bruises, soul damage was literal shattering.
Shattered souls clung to their source, barely holding together.
Only the soul itself could heal such wounds. Physical nurturing was a drop in the bucket.
Thankfully, Reisen's Tsurumi tech excelled at soul nurturing, outpacing physical methods.
He worked for three years straight to do all he could.
Ei visited the Serenitea Pot daily, checking in.
Her soul knowledge was less than Reisen's, but her similarity to Makoto let her stimulate Makoto's soul toward recovery.
Still, Makoto's heavy damage kept her unconscious. Her soul's peak fluctuations were high, showing active subconsciousness—a healthy, lively soul.
If fluctuations were low, it meant a dormant soul, like a "dead heart" in Reisen's past life.
High peaks meant normal subconscious activity, a vibrant soul.
…
While Reisen toiled on Makoto's soul, the Abyss invasion swept Teyvat, just beginning.
Inazuma, despite preparations, took heavy losses. Noble houses suffered greatly, even the Okuzumeshu. Most casualties came from Beast Realm Hounds.
Special armor was sent to the front, but the hounds weren't mindless.
They were cunning, bypassing armored generals and Vision-wielders to target regular soldiers, samurai, and shrine maidens.
They especially hunted shrine maidens, likely knowing the Grand Sacred Sakura Purification could suppress them.
But they didn't know it was already prepared and underway.
Their intel was off, or their orders vague, so they hit field shrine maidens.
While no senior shrine maidens were among them, these key talents stayed in main camps, only deployed for special missions.