Chapter 84 - Three Runes

A thousand and five hundred ether.

That was how much the materials of Vivi’s current project would have cost on the surface. The price was enough to single-handedly bankrupt their whole business. A tenth of Vivi’s debts could have been cleared if she just sold the roots and metals. Down on the fourth level, the roots were more common, and they probably sold for less, but rare roots were still difficult to come by.

The number stayed in Vivi’s head as she shaped the dark mithril root. She was on the sixth branch, forming the loops, one on each side of the blade. As planned, the branches extended far to the edges, taking a lot of space to spread the strength rune as far as possible. So far, all had gone well. Vivi was nervous, but she was also determined. The smithy was starting to get hot from the crucible furnace. With heat came focus.

In Zand, the price of materials was irrelevant. The sword had one goal. To help Vivi defeat the main boss of the dungeon. Failing could mean letting her friends down. That outcome was far worse than losing a few rare ether roots.

I’m crafting a secondary weapon, Vivi reminded herself. The sword’s primary purpose was to be thrown. Vivi could also call it to her left hand if she saw an opportunity for a quick swing. The swiftness rune, distributed by a locium root, would allow Vivi to swing the sword in a flash before enemies could see it coming. And it wasn’t like the sword would be weak—dark mithril was one of the best ether roots for strength runes.

Lucius wasn’t listening to Vivi’s thoughts. He had his eyes closed, focused entirely on keeping the root active. At the same time, he had to control the temperature of the crucible furnace. After the vein-shaping was done, Vivi still had to carve the runes and smith the blade into a shortsword. She couldn’t rush any steps, but she had to be efficient. She didn’t want to make the others wait.

Vivi completed the tenth branch and realized she only had two more remaining. She was sweating already. That was a bad sign. But a break was close. Just two more branches

She shaped the loops, cauterized the main stalk, finishing the second ether root without incidents. She sighed, then collapsed on her back.

“Two out of three,” Lucius said. He floated above her with a grin. “Perfect so far.”

“It’s not perfect,” Vivi said. She’d made the thickness of the sixth branch ever so slightly too thin. Luckily, she realized her error and made the seventh branch on the opposite side thin as well. This way, the veins weren’t asymmetrical. The thin branches would simply distribute slightly less ether to the specific part of the sword. But it’s good enough. This should hold. We did well considering the circumstances.”

“Good enough is good enough,” Lucius said. “Now for the hard part.”

“Yes…” Vivi said. She got up and began carving the holes for the third root. She would have lied if she said she wasn’t nervous. She definitely wanted a longer break. To lie down for a little longer. But in a bizarre way, she was also excited. She was a spirit wielder now. And she knew, after the sword was done, she could actually slay some monsters with her hard work.

Vivi drank a mug of water and sat beside the vise. She placed the last root, the adamantite root, on the vise, and prepared to start the process.

“Go?” Lucius asked.

Vivi had her eyes closed, thinking back to her days on the surface. Grandpa had given her all kinds of mind exercises to calm her nerves. “Imagine you’re alone on an island,” he’d said. “Nobody will bother you. Nobody will see you fail. It’s just you and your tools. That’s how a runesmiths operates. We’re like the stubborn weed growing from cracks in Fellwater’s cobblestone paths. No matter how many times we’re cut down, we always grow right back.”

Vivi never found much use out of this particular teaching. The only thing that helped her calm down was the vision in her head. She had a sword she wanted to see crafted. And she was the only one who could make that vision come to life.

“Go,” Vivi said, opening her eyes.

The adamantite root cracked open, shining brighter than the lamps in the room. Vivi’s apron glowed by its light. She didn’t blink as she waited for the stalk to grow through the holes she’d created.

A few minutes later, the stalks arrived. The shaping began.

Immediately, Vivi realized just how little space she had to work with. For the strength runes to reach the sharp edges of the blade, she’d pushed the dark mithril root to the very edges. She’d only left tiny loops for the last root, as well as tiny slots for branches to spread.

The loops were all the space she technically needed. Vivi got to work, guiding the adamantite stalks. The start was fairly simple. Guiding the stalks through the first loops was tight, but it wasn’t impossible. With practice, Vivi knew what to do.

When the time to shape the first branches came, Vivi’s limits were truly tested. The level of precision required was beyond half or even a quarter inch. The worst branches had to be precise by an eight, sometimes even a sixteenth of an inch. Any contact at all with the dark mithril branches would cauterize growth. Any asymmetry would cause the sword to snap.

It quickly became clear this was the hardest job Vivi had ever performed. Far harder than her first three-runed sword. That one had been tough, but Vivi had created a far more lenient obstacle course for the third rune to take. She had no time nor energy for outside thoughts. The world around her disappeared. Her hand turned into a tool to complete her goal: to ensure that the adamantite stalks traversed safely and soundly to the very tip of the veins. She passed the first three loops, then the first five, in a state of absolute concentration.

Vivi wasn’t just crafting a sword that technically passed as a three-runed sword. She was truly working on the limits to create the best three-runed sword she could imagine.

By the sixth loop, Vivi began to notice the heat. Sweat droplets ran down her forehead. Her throat was dry, but there was no time to grab water.

She started to get nervous again. Only a few more loops remained. The hard parts would be all done. She hadn’t made any catastrophic mistakes so far. If she succeeded, this would be the best sword she’d ever crafted. Expensive ether roots, crazy techniques, the most precise veins she’d ever worked with…

No, Vivi couldn’t think about that. This was just another sword… Just another weapon to defeat some clumsy skeletons…

She passed the seventh loop, then the eight. Her heart thumped out of her throat. She took a breath, staying focused. Just two more loops. Just a few more branches. Just—

The branch twisted slightly underneath her crochet hook. Vivi’s heart skipped a beat, as if the whole world had collapsed.

It was a slight error. A miniscule deviation, an eighth of an inch off the intended path.

No, Vivi thought. It’s not over!

She moved her crochet hook to the other side of the veins. The tenth branch. She angled her crochet hook slightly wrong, repeating the mistake she’d done on the other end of the opposite end. Now the ninth and tenth branch were both off path by an eighth of an inch. Symmetry was kept.

The deviation was large enough compared to the rest of the branches that it would affect ether’s distribution, possibly causing weak spots within the metal. Vivi had to improvise.

She picked up her obsidian rune carving knife and pressed it into the side of the branch. This prompted the branch to swerve into two. Vivi guided the separated part upward to cover the eighth inch she’d deviated from. Then, she immediately cauterized both ends of the branch. She repeated the procedure on the opposite side.

Her entire body was filled with pressure, as if her skin was about to burn off. Holy hell. Had she fixed it? Was the sword a ruin?

Vivi didn’t know. She didn’t have time to check. The tip of the stalk was still growing, and she had to guide it to its destination. Her hands struggled to stay still as she guided the stalks to the tip of the sword.

The ether root lost its light. Its growth stopped. Lucius opened his eyes, confused. “It ran out! It’s not working! Vivi, it’s not working!”

Lucius saw her expression and fell silent. Vivi stared at her work, taking heavy breaths.

She’d done it. The branches were all completed. The stalks reached the tip of her sword. The ether root was totally spent, having ran out of material. Just in time for it all to be finished.

The pressure in Vivi’s body released all at once. She collapsed on her back. Something flowed down her cheeks, and Vivi wasn’t sure if it was sweat or tears. Her hands shook even harder now that she didn’t need to hold them still.

It was done. Three sets of veins interwoven together.

She let out a puff of air. She chuckled, then burst into a laugh. A rush of warm relief flowed through her. “It’s done. Lucius, it’s done!”

Author note:

Life has been a total mess of stress and nonsense on my part for the last few months. With the way the world is today, I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I hope this chapter was as satisfying to read as it was to write! Never give up.