Chapter 284 B4 Chapter 40 - Marathon of Runesmithing

Vivi returned to the Lost Raindrop, her home, and was happy to find all of her tools and items where she’d left them. Her food cabinet had thankfully been emptied, and the space was kept clean.

Were they trying to turn my home into a museum or something… Vivi thought. Probably not. Someone must have still been hopeful that Vivi was alive, or maybe they just didn’t know what to do with Vivi’s home with nobody to pass it down to.

No Paradise tonight, please, Vivi thought. We’ll channel ether tomorrow.

She collapsed to bed and was out almost immediately.

***

The first morning of long runesmithing marathons was usually the slowest. Vivi and Grandpa tended to sit with their cups of tea for an extended breakfast, preparing themselves for the mindspace required for something as intricate and tedious as shaping veins for tens of hours straight.

If Grandpa was here, Vivi would have done the same thing, idly listening to his lectures. Grandpa’s morning rambles tended to be useless, mostly consisting of the importance of setting goals. Every time, he was sure that the week’s work would include the piece that finally made them famous.

Vivi rarely agreed, but looking back, that dream was what made Grandpa the most hardworking person Vivi had heard about. He seldom worked for less than ten hours a day, and he kept that up for over forty years, all without shaping a drop of ether.

Really, his morning lectures could be summed up in one sentence. A strong goal or a dream is necessary for one to place their absolute hardest into work.

Is this project fueled by dreams, Grandpa? Vivi thought to herself. Do threats qualify?

If she failed to complete the project, a god could die, Vivi’s friends would remain captured, the surface would probably fall to storms, and at the end of it, Vivi would get cut down by hunters who’d channeled ether for longer than Grandpa had practiced runesmithing.

She was definitely motivated enough to spend the next week stuck in her smithy. Vivi picked up an adamantite root and tightened it between the jaws of her vise. Let’s start with the shoulder piece again, she thought.

Except, practice didn’t take over. Vivi wasn’t shaping a runesword—something she’d done thousands of times. She’d crafted armor only once, and that was only a one-runed armor piece. This time, Vivi needed parts made with two or three runes.

The first fifteen minutes were wasted—or spent, depending on how she looked at it—on figuring out how she’d fit three runes in the shoulder piece of plate armor. Loops would be essential, but the difficulty wouldn’t come from utilizing space this time. More difficult would be to find the route that evenly distributed ether inside shapes Vivi hadn’t worked with before.

The theory wasn’t any more complex with armor than it was with swords. Vivi just lacked experience. She eventually felt ready with a plan for every branch she wanted to create.

Lucius, initiate the root. Medium tempo.

He took a comfortable position over her forge, where he had a clear view of her work. As always, Lucius’s only job was to offer a steady flow of ether to her root, a job which he was exceptionally good at. If he focused, that was. He’d probably lose interest after the first few days of creating pieces of plate armor.

“I’ll allow myself one failure per piece,” Vivi said. “Let’s get this done.”

***

One failure per piece turned out to be a rather optimistic estimation.

She shaped, forged, and tested the first shoulder piece, pushing ether through its three runes, half expecting it to shatter to pieces.

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It didn’t. The enirium she’d forged held strong, glowing a beautiful white. She then copied the same design for the second shoulder piece, and that worked as well. Creating a three-runed shoulder piece was easier than a three-runed sword after Vivi figured out the proper design, with two of the roots intertwined like a coiled tree, occasionally separating to pass a loop of the third.

The same could not be said for the remaining parts of the arm, especially the gauntlets, where the nightmare started. For these gauntlets, Vivi wanted her fingers to retain the ability to move. Not only was forging the shapes for fingers a total pain—Vivi had to borrow a book from an expert on how to get it done—she also had to somehow ether roots inside each finger.

Fitting three runes turned out to be way too difficult. Vivi had to settle with just two, with small branches at that. Luckily, since the pieces of her armor were separated, not every piece had to include the same runes. It was entirely possible to have three-runed shoulder guards and only two-runed gauntlets.

Separated pieces also meant failures were less punishing. If Vivi’s gauntlets shattered to pieces, which they did, and multiple times, she didn’t need to remake the shoulder pieces. Thank the lords for that, even though remaking the gauntlets over and over again was already one of the most frustrating experiences she’d ever lived through.

The easier parts, like the cuisses or even the breastplate, were labor intensive and intricate, but not necessarily precise. The harder parts were the opposite, tedious and unforgivingly precise. Namely, the greaves. These godforsaken armored boots gave her some of her worst experiences at the forge of her life, and she suddenly had new respect for blacksmiths who had to work daily on these awful things.

It was no surprise that Lucius’s favorite part of each day was the night, when Vivi headed to Paradise to burn ether and to practice using her ascension skill. She spent four hours every night after the first maximizing the amount of ether she could safely cram into her body. Progress plateaued at just over ten thousand wisps, as her protective layer grew increasingly difficult to strengthen. Vivi did, however, improve her hold on the protective layer. Distractions were less likely to cause her to lose grip, and she could reliably swing with her sword and think while subconsciously keeping the protective layer up.

Against fifth elevation hunters, she’d probably be forced to just burn ether to the maximum with her void core flared, but whatever, this was decent progress.

“Should we head to the island and duel someone?” Lucius asked as he floated around in the rain. “We’ll beat anyone.”

No, we definitely should not, Vivi thought, while still burning ether and keeping her protective layer up. It’s already unlikely any of the humans will listen to what we have to say. Dueling them would make our reputation even worse.

Lucius completed floating one more ring around her, then floated upright in front of her. “Since when have you started caring about your reputation with the hunters?”

I don’t, Vivi thought. But we’re about to go back to Surchester. I’d like to face the least amount of resistance from the hunters as possible.

He studied her face. “You intend to force your way in, then?”

I’m still thinking about the best approach, she thought. If the hunters would just nicely agree with me that Ythar needs to be woken up, teamwork would be the best option. But for that to happen, I need to convince enough hunting companies to side with me. But if instead…

Lucius tilted his head.

If the hunters don’t agree, we’re suddenly going to face a lot more opposition, Vivi thought. They might just start defending Ythar’s palace. If we just show up unannounced, we’ll only have to sneak past whoever is in charge of keeping the palace in order. So that would be the Songwinds, right?

Lucius’s pupils grew sharper at the mention of the Songwinds. “Yes…” he said. “They should not be an issue to pass through. Convincing them about our plans… will be impossible.”

Everything alright? Vivi asked.

He flinched upright. “Of course. I am just thinking.”

Vivi studied him for a bit. Something about mentioning the Songwinds got him thinking.

From what little Vivi knew, the Songwinds were either the most respected or the laziest hunting company. They rarely sought out large raids, and instead, their most important task was to keep Ythar’s palace safe, and only the palace. They hardly left Surchester at all. Still, Vivi’s knowledge came mostly from rumors in Fellwater.

If you think entering without permission is the best option, I’m inclined to agree, Vivi thought.

She did seriously consider building alliances. She knew she was strong now. The strength of her runeswords was proven to the point that only the most ignorant hunters could still pretend they wielded the strongest weapons.

But the last time Vivi tried to form an alliance with the hunters, Veronica Lifeweaver died not days later, and all of their plans broke to pieces. The news of that had most definitely spread.

Uniting the hunters to wake a god up would be too much of a hassle. Vivi would have an easier time just continuing to be the criminal she’d always been.

She finished the day’s practice session in Paradise and moved to the fifth day of runesmithing in a row.