“We’ll need a few tools,” Vivi said, speaking quietly while strolling toward the smithy. She would have spoken in her head, but she wanted to include Eem in the conversation. “Axback had most of everything we needed. Crucibles, metals, a tuning fork. But I think he was missing ether roots.”

“Ether roots?” Lucius asked. He still spoke inside Vivi’s head. “You mean, those things that grow plants?”

“Yes, the seed-shaped roots,” Vivi said. “We need one that hasn’t sprouted yet. Preferably a metal root, but plant roots will work too, believe it or not.”

Eem’s ears were straight, focused on listening.

“Gardeners use ether roots, Vivi,” Lucius said. “You’re telling me we need to gather plant equipment to craft a sword to replace my claws?”

“We’re not replacing anything,” Vivi said. “We’re adding weapons to our arsenal. Ether roots are essential to Grandpa’s inside-carving method. The ancient dwarves would have begged their gods to reveal the method we’ve discovered. You’ll see.”

Lucius didn’t feel all too happy. Vivi ignored it. Once Lucius tried a proper runesword, Vivi doubted he would have time for complaints.

Axback’s smithy came into view. Hammers resounded from inside. Vivi breathed in, excited to meet the blacksmiths again. Allies were rare in Zand. Friends even more so. But if anyone in this mess could be called friends, it was the blacksmiths.

“Do you want to come with me?” Vivi asked Eem. “I don’t think the blacksmiths like you very much.”

Eem thought for a bit. Then she hopped off of Vivi’s back. Eem saluted.

“I see,” Vivi said. “We’ll meet again.”

“Mm, mm,” Eem said, nodding. Then she turned around, running off into the hub. Vivi watched after her. A few nimrods tried to catch her, but Eem ran past without an issue, disappearing behind a corner.

Vivi’s shoulders felt emptier without Eem sitting atop. But Vivi knew they’d meet again. For now, she had a job to do. She opened the door to the smithy and stepped in.

Immediately, hammering paused. The apprentices saw Vivi. Gloomy expressions filled the room.

“Uhm, hello,” Vivi said. “Is something wrong?”

“Vivi,” Axback said, stepping in from the back. “You have to leave.”

“What?” Vivi asked. “What happened?”

“I said I wanted no trouble,” Axback said. “No trouble at all. But that’s exactly what you’ve brought. More trouble than I’ve had all year. Get out.”

Axback tried to push Vivi away. She stepped back but didn’t leave. Her heart thumped. “What happened? I’ll leave, but please tell me what’s happening.”

“Andre’s bastards came knocking,” Axback said. “Grabbed me by the collar and asked me why you’ve visited my smithy. Apparently, there’s a bounty on your name. A hundred ether. Someone will get their entire week’s ether just by capturing you dead or alive. Everyone is looking for you.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

“And now that you’re here again,” Axback said, face red, “they’ll come back, and they’ll ask me more questions. Get out, Vivi, and bring your trouble elsewhere!”

Vivi looked down, biting her lip. No way. The blue cloaks were bullying Vivi’s allies, too. They hadn’t had enough with just her. They had to thoroughly ruin her life.

Those dirt-eating bastards. Vivi clenched her fist, suddenly angry.

“I’m sorry,” Axback said. “I know you’re not anyone bad. But we’re blacksmiths. We can’t protect you. We need to protect ourselves.”

“I need a place to smith a weapon,” Vivi said. “Do you know where I could smith alone without being questioned?”

“There are plenty of solo blacksmiths around,” Axback said. “You can bribe them with enough ether, I guess. But knowing your bounty, even that might be difficult. Junkies will try to kill you in your sleep.”

“It’s okay,” Vivi said. “Thanks for the information.”

She turned to leave when Axback asked, “What did you do? Receiving a bounty is just about the worst curse a nimrod can receive. You must have really pissed someone off.”

“I defended myself, I guess,” Vivi said. She turned to leave.

Vivi had just closed the door when a blade appeared on her neck.

She froze. The knife had arrived out of nowhere. The attack was too fast for even Lucius to react. Ether and improved senses wouldn’t have helped; whoever had attacked her was strong enough to assassinate Vivi without her knowing.

Luckily, the attacker stopped the knife on her neck. She could feel the ominous presence beside her.

“Hello again, my dear human,” Uundref said. He lowered his knife and showed his bony face.

Vivi’s heart began racing. Did they know? Why was Uundref here?

“Play it cool,” Lucius said. His voice was quiet, just as distraught as Vivi was. “I’m still hidden. I couldn’t even react. He’s here for other business.”

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“Um, hey,” Vivi said. “Have I broken a rule?”

“That is what I’m here to investigate,” Uundref said. “Rumors say you’ve obtained a skill.”

He watched Vivi for a reaction. Vivi remained frozen.

“They say you’ve grown into a strong fighter,” Uundref continued. “An impressive feat for someone fifteen thousand ether in debt. Less than one week in, and you’ve already made yourself known to everyone in the facility. A skill ether would explain the sudden growth in strength.”

“Demons are eager to start rumors,” Vivi said.

“So they are,” Uundref said. “But the rumors warrant a search. Thankfully, checking the truth behind these rumors is simple. Etherprint scanners don’t lie.” Uundref spun his fingers, and an etherprint scanner appeared on his hands.

Without waiting around, he placed the device on Vivi’s forehead. The orbs lit up.

Uundref stared at the results for an uncomfortably long time. Eventually, he let out a chuckle. “No skills, still 14950 ether in debt. You haven’t gained a single wisp of ether.”

“It’s pointless to gather wisps,” Vivi said. “Better give ether to my allies.”

“The half-fiend,” Uundref said. “Interesting allies, I must say.”

“Us fiends, we do what we must,” Vivi said.

Uundref grinned. “Amusing. You are free to go. This was a quick check-up, that is all. I will be keeping my eye on you.”

A portal appeared beneath his feet. Uundref disappeared into the hole. “Happy hunting!” he said before disappearing.

Vivi’s muscles remained frozen. She breathed in, assessing the situation. Nimrods had gathered to watch the scene. Uundref hadn’t cared about privacy to pull his stunt; he’d done it right in front of Axback’s smithy.

“Strong…” Lucius said. “He’s far stronger than I had assumed.”

Well, Vivi thought. At least we know why everyone wants us dead now. A hundred ether is a blinding price tag for the weaker nimrods.

“The nimrods are stupid,” Lucius said. “Making us an enemy is not worth a hundred ether price tag.”

Everyone still believes I’m weak, Vivi thought. By the looks of things, we still require a lot of time to grow.

“We need skills,” Lucius said. “Without skills, matching the Stewards will be impossible.”

Yes, Vivi thought. And we need weapons.

Vivi began walking. She walked to the crowd and frowned at the concave of people. The two demons in front of her stepped out of the way, letting her through.

The blue cloaks are trailing us, Vivi thought. I can feel gazes on my neck.

“They’ve been trailing us ever since we showed ourselves in the hub,” Lucius said. “But their presence is weak. I don’t think we need to worry.”

We still need to shake them off anyway, Vivi thought. I need a smithy. I’d like to work in peace without nimrods trying to assassinate me.

“What if we bring an anvil down to the dungeon?” Lucius asked.

Building a smithy down there would be perfect, Vivi thought. But sneaking a forge into the secret dungeon will be impossible. I don’t think we can rent our own smithy. Dealing with Zand’s officials will be a hassle. Not to mention, they’ll probably ask questions.

“Agreed,” Lucius said. “Plans?”

I don’t know, Vivi thought. Before anything, we’ll need an ether root. Without one, runesmithing will be impossible. Maybe there’s a shop that sells them.

“You’re telling me I’ll have to pay for gardening equipment…” Lucius said, rolling his eyes.

Gardening equipment that will help us kill the fang tanker, Vivi thought. Let’s see how expensive ether roots are around here.

For the next half an hour, Vivi looked through every shop available on the hub. Lucius was annoyed, but he helped her out, scouting the shops. The sooner they got done with this, the better.

None of the shops sold ether roots. Even the metal shops that sold ingots and blacksmithing equipment laughed at Vivi when she asked if they sold ether roots. There were no gardening shops to sell plant roots. Anything to do with ether roots was totally missing.

After checking the shops, Vivi sat down to think. This was getting difficult. Perhaps it was too early to start runesmithing? Lucius’s claws were still growing with each wisp of ether they gained. Was it worth it to send so much effort into securing a smithy, when they could have simply headed back to the dungeon to grind for ether?

“Ivwi!” a voice called from the crowd.

Vivi turned to see Eem running toward her. Three nimrods chased Eem with their weapons out. Vivi sprung to her feet.

Eem jumped into Vivi’s arms. The three attackers paused, assessing the situation.

The tallest of the men stepped forward. “Hand her over.”

“The hub isn’t a place to fight,” Vivi said with a frown. She held Eem tight. With her free hand, she unsheathed her steel sword and pointed it at the men. “Screw off.”

Eem showed her tongue at the attackers.

The tall man clearly wasn’t happy. He spat at the ground, scowling. But he didn’t continue. The demons walked off.

“This damned facility…” Vivi muttered. “Are you okay, Eem?”

“Ivwi!” Eem said. She held out her hands, offering Vivi a thick and dark egg-shaped object, the size of Vivi’s fist.

Vivi’s eyes opened wide. The surface was glossy, as if amplifying reflected light. It was the most beautiful thing she’d seen in a long time. “An adamantite root?” Vivi gushed. “You found an ether root?”

Eem grinned. Vivi grabbed the root and admired it closer. Adamantite was one of the strongest and most expensive ether roots. Grandpa had wished to buy adamantite, either a root or pure metal, for a long time. He had worked with it only once, and that was when Ellandor, their richest customer, specifically wanted an adamantite blade. Ellandor had paid for the metals.

Vivi stared at the root in awe. “Where did you get this?”

Eem chuckled mischievously. Vivi figured she wouldn’t be getting an answer.

“Thank you, Eem,” Vivi said. “I’ll pay you back for this, I promise.”

She lifted her head. “Now, let’s figure out where we can use a smithy.”

“That won’t be an issue,” a new voice said right behind Vivi’s ear.

Vivi flinched. The presence had appeared from nowhere. She couldn’t feel a gaze on her neck or a footstep approaching. The man’s breath smelled of mint.

“Vivian Runeblessed,” he said. “The Cursed Runesmith, are you?”