Vivi woke up with a groggy head on a soft bed.
The stone ceiling was low and triangular. The walls were closed in, as if Vivi slept in a closet. The room was filled up by a small nightstand and a potion rack with wheels. Two yellow potions were on it. Judging from the bitter taste in Vivi’s mouth, a few potions had probably made it to her mouth as well.
She sighed and hugged her sheets—made of silk fit for nobles—and focused on her headache. Her body felt sick and exhausted,...
2025-07-03 15:09:39 +0000 UTC
View Post
The black-masked figure hesitated at the doorway.
Vivi hit her hammer one last time, then picked up her sword. The blade was still red-hot. She walked calmly to the tub of water and quenched the blade. The veins of her right hand were glowing a subtle blue. She was feeling light-headed. She’d need a venerium antidote quickly
“It’s her!” the black mask called in a distorted voice. “The human!”
“What?” someone behind him shouted. “Catch her!”
The blac...
2025-07-03 15:09:10 +0000 UTC
View Post
Vivi bathed in the feeling of relief for a few minutes longer, lying on the ground. The job was done. She’d completed the most complicated set of veins of her career yet. Looking at her project, Vivi couldn’t believe she’d come up with such an insane design. Getting the dark mithril branches to extend from the core to the edges of the blade turned out to be far more difficult than she’d imagined.
Lucius was flying around the room with full energy. “We did it! Without one mista...
2025-07-03 15:08:42 +0000 UTC
View Post
Lucius initiated the root. This time, he approached with a lot more caution. Vivi felt his concentration. He had never paid so much attention to runesmithing.
The locium root still grew fast, but its growth wasn’t erratic. Lucius controlled it with all his focus, making sure the stalk grew at a steady pace.
The core root won’t need loops, Vivi decided. A swiftness rune doesn’t need to extend to the edges. Just strengthening the core of the blade will be...
2025-07-03 15:08:10 +0000 UTC
View Post
Eem flailed her legs like a total idiot. The armored man held Eem from her collar. His visor was down, hiding his face, but he held Eem the same way Grandpa once held their neighbor’s cat that he’d found in the trash: with an awkward smile, afraid that Mr. Han or his wife might come yelling at him for mistreating their cute little garbage-paw.
“Eem, what are you doing here?” Vivi asked.
“Ivwi,” Eem said. She had a serious look on her face. She was squeezing her arms ti...
2025-07-03 15:07:32 +0000 UTC
View Post
Andre’s spirit blade swung down at Vivi like an avalanche of pure power, its oppressive aura inducing utter panic. Vivi hadn’t intended to fight full-out, but Andre’s initial attacks forced her to defend with everything she had. Lucius pushed hundreds upon hundreds of ether to her feet to stop her from being sent flying. Vivi gritted her teeth as she haphazardly blocked Andre’s blows. The air around her was like a thick fog; Andre emitted so much ether that she struggled to see the hu...
2025-07-03 15:07:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Vivi paused. Someone wanted to talk to her in Paradise? An ether hunter, of course. Nobody else could enter. “Is it Andre or Serena?”
“I’m not certain,” Lucius said. “I just know that someone sent us a request to talk. They’re present right now.”
Vivi sat down to think.
“Should we go?” Lucius asked. “I’ll take you there if you wish.”
“They’ll be gone by the time it takes me to fall asleep,” Vivi said.
“I can make you pass out by ...
2025-07-03 15:06:24 +0000 UTC
View Post
The final loop.
Vivi’s hands were starting to get irritated. She’d been runesmithing for over fifteen hours straight now. She was further now than her previous attempt. The progress now was promising.
The stalks of the second ether root reached the tip of where the blade would be. There, Vivi cauterized each stalk. Their shapes were good, and the twenty-five branches Vivi had shaped so far were immaculate.
One last branch remained to be shaped. Vivi guided its growth wit...
2025-07-03 15:05:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Vivi quenched the blade in water and wiped her forehead with a towel. She placed the sword down and examined her work.
The veins shone inside the red katana, lighting the smithy in a subtle scarlet glow. Vivi had used red hardsteel, an alloy of ordinary steel. It was made by combining a large amount of steel with a small amount of adamantite. This gave the steel a reddish color while strengthening it by a significant amount.
The sword was solid, but nothing about it was impressive...
2025-07-03 15:04:24 +0000 UTC
View Post
Vivi was rusty. She immediately noticed sluggishness in her movements. Her hands didn’t flow with the root’s stalk like they used to. Holding a crochet hook felt awkward. The last time she’d worked with one was on the surface back in Grandpa’s smithy.
On the surface, Vivi had carved her first three-runed sword just hours before being sent to the underground. The project had taken her attempt after attempt, wasting countless ether roots on failed sets of veins. Three-runed swords...
2025-07-03 15:03:40 +0000 UTC
View Post
Half an hour of absolute silence later, Ven and the dwarf came back. Ven had a large bowl of some sort of soup in one hand, and a black tree branch on the other. The dwarf carried a small brown sack. He placed it down in front of Vivi. Behind them, the armored man carried a portable emberstone crucible furnace with a large crucible inside. He placed it down in the corner of the smithy—the only spot they still had space left.
“That’s all the ether roots we could find,” the dwarf ...
2025-07-03 15:03:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
“What do you mean it shattered to pieces?” Andre asked with a frown on his face.
“I don’t fucking know,” Einord said. “Look.”
Einord’s little smithy was a total mess, even more so than usual. A broken crucible sat in the corner along with ten used ether roots. Finding those ether roots in Zand had been a pain, requiring serious searching. Eventually, Andre had managed to buy them from a cloaked demon for a serious price of a hundred ether each.
Einor...
2025-07-03 15:02:32 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Bringing her to the smithy will be a problem,” Ven said. “She’s not a member.”
“Blindfold her so she doesn’t know the location,” the dwarf said. “Lock her in the smithy. We’ll bring food and provide her with everything she needs. She’ll be let out once the deal is done.”
“You want to treat her like a prisoner?” Ven asked.
“That’s fine by me,” Vivi said. “I just need a smithy to work in. I won’t take long.”
“If we bring you in,...
2025-07-03 15:00:09 +0000 UTC
View Post
Ven looked at Vivi as if she’d claimed herself to be some sort of god. He didn’t seem to believe her claim, but the offer was insane enough that he appeared surprised regardless.
“You’re selling the best sword in Zand for ten thousand ether,” Ven said. “And you’d be the one making it?”
“Yes,” Vivi said. “It won’t take long. I’ll have a two-runed sword completed in a week at most. Some metals take longer to work on than others.”
Ven snorted and let...
2025-07-03 14:59:36 +0000 UTC
View Post
A silver fountain sprinkled clear water in the middle of the open town-like area. The cavern was the largest one Vivi had seen in the dungeon—around a fourth of the size of the hub. The Union’s grounds were far more colorful. Brick paths had been paved into the otherwise stale ground, and establishments almost resembled buildings. There were wooden shacks and stall-like structures used for storage. Ether-powered lamps lit the pathways with clear lighting.
There must have been a hund...
2025-07-03 14:58:25 +0000 UTC
View Post
“What a weirdo,” Lucius said. “Is there nobody sane in this facility?”
Vivi watched Ven’s figure disappear into the public dungeon. He held himself like some prince, walking slowly and with confidence. None of the nimrods were a threat to him. His posture radiated authority to his surroundings. Ven was strong and influential, and he knew it.
He wanted us to lay low… Vivi thought. What did he even mean? He wants us to do nothing for a week...
2025-07-03 14:56:26 +0000 UTC
View Post
Eem snarled. Vivi kept her claws active. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“There’s no time to explain,” Ven said. “They’re planning an ambush for you. You know who I’m talking about. They’re not thrilled to see you alive. We need to go.”
“You’re one of them,” Vivi said. “How can I trust you?”
Ven glanced around himself. He gritted his teeth. “We’re too late.”
Vivi heard the footsteps half a second later. Figures appeared from both ends...
2025-07-03 14:55:45 +0000 UTC
View Post
To hide her skill from etherprint scanners without skipping collection day, Vivi could only think of one risky solution. She took Eem behind the shadowed storehouse and said, “Wait here, okay?”
Eem tilted her head.
“I’m going to give you my skill,” Vivi said. “I need you to keep it safe for me. Don’t activate it, and don’t get yourself caught. I will be back in fifteen minutes. Then you’ll give it back to me. Okay?”
Eem thought about it for a minute. She ...
2025-07-03 14:54:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
“A surge?” Vivi asked. “Inside the facility?”
“It’s forecasted to hit the fountain directly,” Aruid said. “The Stewards are crafting a boss monster. That’s all I know.”
Construction workers began stacking skulls atop the fountain and all across its perimeter. Some skulls were tossed into the water. The skulls were tied together with rope, presumably to connect the hosts together to spawn one boss instead of a horde of lesser skeletons.
“Looks like t...
2025-07-03 14:53:29 +0000 UTC
View Post
Vivi stood by the stairway with her claws ready. If the skeletons still chased, a narrow stairway was her best bet at cutting them down. Eem was focused, staying in stance, as if intending to fight as well.
They held the position for a minute. No skeletons came.
“Looks like this is as far as the skeletons come,” Lucius said. “We’re out of their area.”
“We escaped…” Vivi said. “I can’t believe it.”
Lucius laughed. “You sprung all the traps. A hun...
2025-07-03 14:52:51 +0000 UTC
View Post
Vivi woke up six hours later with her body somewhat healed.
Lucius’s dimmed out wisps hadn’t recovered. He was forced to keep healing her while she slept. Ether was a great tool to speed up healing processes. A single night of sleep was often enough for a warrior to recover after combat, so long as the wounds weren’t too catastrophic. Healing skills worked even faster. Rare skills and above could heal broken bones in minutes.
Vivi did feel slightly groggy. According to Luciu...
2025-07-03 14:47:55 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Digging holes?” Lucius asked. “What, do you think I’m some animal?”
You would think a spirit of the demigods would know how to dig. If you turn into a shield, I can use it to scoop dirt.
Lucius looked at her as if she’d insulted his lineage. He sighed. “Vivi, just ask me to turn into a shovel.”
You can do that?
“I’m a spirit,” Lucius said. “I can do a lot of things with enough ether.”<...
2025-07-03 14:44:13 +0000 UTC
View Post
The skeleton collapsed into a small mound of bones. Most of its weight disintegrated to ether. The rib cage broke apart into little bits. As always, the host bones were rather insignificant in comparison to the reanimated monster. Blue wisps of ether rose from the bones, as if a campfire was burning. The sizzle of collectible ether was far louder than with any other basic monster Vivi had killed.
Lucius grinned wide. “Wow,” he said. “That worked. I think you might be smart, Vivi. ...
2025-07-03 14:43:16 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Lucius?” Vivi asked, shocked by what she was witnessing. “I can see it.”
“Huh?” Lucius asked, lifting his head. “See what?”
“The skill!” Vivi said. “It’s… Beautiful.”
“Vivi, what are you talking about?”
Vivi wasn’t certain on how to explain the view. She was deep in her consciousness, having tried to interact with her skill wisp for hours now, trying to tickle the skill in weird angles. Her attempts didn’t gain much progres...
2025-07-03 14:42:48 +0000 UTC
View Post
Vivi took off her boots and stepped into the water. She got ten feet from shore before her raincoat started to submerge. Vivi stopped there and held her javelin.
“Do I really have to do this?” Lucius asked. He floated above the water level, shining bright and outputting a tasty feeling of ether into the water below. Fish were already gathering under him. A lot of the fish were too small to aim for. The biggest was the size of Vivi’s hand.
With her skill active and a slight a...
2025-07-03 14:42:10 +0000 UTC
View Post
The skeleton patrolled to the end of the brick path, turned around and disappeared into the arched doorway.
Then it arrived back precisely a minute and twenty-six seconds later.
Vivi studied its patrol path. She’d watched for five cycles now, looking for any irregularities or signs of life in its decisions. So far, the skeleton’s patrol was systematic. The skeleton followed some weird, but consistent, set of rules, as if it was some sort of mindless defender set in place by a ...
2025-07-03 14:41:39 +0000 UTC
View Post
Vivi sat with her legs crossed, holding the ether root in her left hand. She felt like a total goblin. She didn’t have any safety equipment, no smithing apron, not even gloves to protect her hands.
Eem sat by the side, occasionally glancing at the arched gateway to watch the skeleton pass on its patrol. She was still shaken and didn’t smile like she usually did, but she would probably recover. Eem was alive. That was most important. Vivi hoped Eem would be back to her usual nonsensi...
2025-07-03 14:41:02 +0000 UTC
View Post
The giant swordfish jumped out of the water, diving spear-first at Eem. Its mouth was massive with an underbite of serrated teeth. Its upper jaw was a spear-like sword, over three feet long and shining with ether.
Vivi summoned her runesword, quickly filled it with ether, and threw. In the water, her toss didn’t have much leverage, but Eem was about to get hit. Vivi only had one chance.
The runesword pierced the falling swordfish’s forehead right between the eyes. The blow pus...
2025-07-03 14:40:12 +0000 UTC
View Post
The cramped undecorated hallway resembled a catacomb. Vivi’s hair scraped against the ceiling if she stood straight. The ground was cold and undecorated, and the space was narrow enough that a larger man would have had to squeeze their shoulders or move sideways. Weapon holsters had been carved into the wall.
There were two black masked figures. To her left was the man that spotted her awake. To her right was a shining black blade, coated with a misty aura of ether. An asmite runeswor...
2025-07-03 14:39:30 +0000 UTC
View Post
“What did you do to Eem?” Vivi blurted out, heart racing. “The fiend. She’s harmless. You don’t need to hurt her!”
“I tossed her into a river,” the old man said with a distorted laugh. “Some lucky nimrod can pick up her bounty from wherever she ends up.”
Vivi’s mouth was dry. They tossed Eem into a river?
“That little thiefling won’t be our problem any longer,” the old man said. “You, human, you’re the interesting one. Let us get negotiations ...
2025-07-03 14:38:39 +0000 UTC
View Post
