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 a...
2025-07-03 15:09:39 +0000 UTC View PostThe 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 ...
2025-07-03 15:09:10 +0000 UTC View PostVivi 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, ...
2025-07-03 15:08:42 +0000 UTC View PostLucius 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,...
2025-07-03 15:08:10 +0000 UTC View PostEem 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...
2025-07-03 15:07:32 +0000 UTC View PostAndre’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 h...
2025-07-03 15:07:01 +0000 UTC View PostVivi 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 ...
2025-07-03 15:06:24 +0000 UTC View PostThe 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 w...
2025-07-03 15:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostVivi 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 s...
2025-07-03 15:04:24 +0000 UTC View PostVivi 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 ...
2025-07-03 15:03:40 +0000 UTC View PostHalf 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 sac...
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...
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...
2025-07-03 15:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostVen 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...
2025-07-03 14:59:36 +0000 UTC View PostA 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...
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 princ...
2025-07-03 14:56:26 +0000 UTC View PostEem 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 a...
2025-07-03 14:55:45 +0000 UTC View PostTo 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?”...
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.” 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...
2025-07-03 14:52:51 +0000 UTC View PostVivi 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 ...
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,...
2025-07-03 14:44:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe 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 comp...
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...
2025-07-03 14:42:48 +0000 UTC View PostVivi 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 thi...
2025-07-03 14:42:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe 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 st...
2025-07-03 14:41:39 +0000 UTC View PostVivi 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 hand...
2025-07-03 14:41:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe 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 shi...
2025-07-03 14:40:12 +0000 UTC View PostThe 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 la...
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 distort...
2025-07-03 14:38:39 +0000 UTC View Post