When Vivi woke up, she immediately reached for her sack of ether roots.

Except, the sack wasn't there. Vivi woke underneath an open sky on a flat field of tall grass. In Paradise.

She rolled her eyes, laying on her back and facing the sky. "Why are we here, Lucius?"

"Don't you remember what we talked about?" Lucius asked. "We agreed to go on a break."

"We did," Vivi said. "But I never agreed to spend rest hours here. Just focus on sleep, please. Make sure I'm fully rested and focus entirely on that."

Lucius floated right above her, frowning. "No, Vivi. I believe your head needs a full reset. You're panicking."

"I'm not."

Lucius crossed his paws. "I like working with you, Vivi, but not like that. Watching you is cruel. It's like you're trying to destroy yourself."

"I'm trying my best, Lucius. Don't make fun of me for that."

"That's not what I meant. I heard from my old wielder that when something is going wrong, it's good to take a break. It's not good to smash your head against the same problem over and over again."

Vivi didn't respond. She turned her head sideways, away from Lucius.

"You're probably right…" she admitted. "A break would help."

Yet, her hands itched to get back to the forge. The smithy was her place. To think of doing something else while the competition was ongoing felt wrong, as if she was abandoning the only thing that mattered in life. Right now, Vivi had one purpose to fulfill. To craft the sword, no matter the cost.

"We need a serious break," Lucius said. "What if we channel ether for a few hours before using tomorrow as a warm-up day?"

Vivi stared at the sky. The open cloudless, beautiful sky of Paradise.

It only reminded her of Grandpa's death. Paradise was the realm of murderers. Vivi was thankful that no humans made it to the fifth level. If she had to deal with ether hunters in real life, she would have probably exploded from the inside.

"Vivi?" Lucius asked.

"Fine," Vivi said. "Let's channel some ether. Sitting here will make me annoyed enough to forget how tired I am."

"Yes, that's the spirit!" Lucius said with a grin. "Do you remember where we left off?"

"Uh," Vivi said. "I believe I was trying to use one wisp of ether to strengthen two body parts at once."

"Yep," Lucius said. "You failed, mostly, but I think you were quite close. If we can manage to empower two body parts with one wisp of ether, that essentially doubles our power already. Although, fully utilizing that strategy is difficult."

Vivi really wasn't in the mood for this. But she understood that her mood didn't really matter. Emotions were stupid more often than they were useful. As weird as it sounded, channeling ether while asleep was probably the best thing she could do for her chances with the competition right now. She had to get over her frustrations and start with a fresh head. She agreed to practice.

Lucius was more stern with her than usual. He pointed out mistakes multiple times every minute, not giving Vivi the slightest break. She was upset by this at first. Why did he have to make this difficult when Vivi was already in a complicated mood?

But as the night continued, somehow, the intense practice turned out to be strangely relaxing. Lucius was clearly being stern on purpose to bully Vivi out of her worries. At some point, she stopped fighting back and fully embraced practice.

And she made the best progress yet. Her control over the wisps was the best yet. Her view in the ethereal realm was sharp. She could follow the active wisps, watching their structure, sometimes for seconds, noting little details.

A few minutes later, while she was focused on the ethereal realm, presences started spawning around her. The strong types of auras, as if something hostile was approaching her.

Vivi opened her eyes to see a full hunting party spawn around her.

"Not again!" Lucius cursed. "What's with this luck?"

"Oh, it's the runesmith's girl," a bald man said. He wore a red and yellow armored uniform. Not quite full plate, but the outfit was definitely more war-like compared to usual ether hunters.

The rest of his party wore the same red uniforms. Everyone was beyond maxed out. Their presences were solid. From glance alone, Vivi could tell their stances were strong. These men weren't your average hunters. They were actually good. Hunters who focused on skills and practicality instead of appearances.

"Hunters," Vivi said. "I am channeling ether in peace. Please, if you have an ounce of kindness remaining, could you leave me alone."

"Oh, don't be like that," the bald man in front of her said. "We are not here to take your life. Although…" He wrinkled his nose. "I would recommend you to take a bath."

"Why won't we take her life?" one of the men asked. "She's not allowed in Paradise. Her presence is illegal. Not to mention, she's supposedly grown stronger. Dueling her would be good practice."

"I do not wish to duel you," Vivi said. "Please leave me alone and let me channel ether in peace."

I can't make a clearer request than that…

"There's a bounty on your name," someone behind her said. "You may still have access to Paradise, but Ythar certainly would not approve of your presence here."

"I am not doing anything illegal," Vivi said.

"You being here is illegal," he said. "And it's our duty to dispose of you."

Vivi heard a sizzle, and an ethereal presence erupted behind her. The man had called forth a spirit blade.

"The abyss curse these assholes!" Lucius shouted in her head. "What luck!"

It's fine, Vivi thought. What else can we expect out of the ether hunters? Fill me with ether, please.

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She stood and called forth her full aura. If the hunters asked for a fight, a fight they would get. Vivi went into stance and called forth Abyss Destroyer. "If you'll force me, I guess I have no choice but to duel."

Behind her, another spirit blade became active. To her sides, two more. All of her enemies called forth their weapons all at once.

"Seriously?" she asked.

Vivi had the urge to let her void core loose. To drown herself in the void's ecstatic powers. With its help, she could probably kill everyone around her. These goddamned hunters. As strong as they were, they probably wouldn't survive Abyss Destroyer at full power.

She managed to stop herself. Killing hunters here achieved nothing. She'd only reveal her powers, starting more rumors. Instead, Vivi loosened her stance and asked, "You're ganging up on a lone girl? Seriously?"

As an answer, Vivi received a spirit blade to the back, piercing her heart. Another man punched her in the head, sending her sprawling on the ground. Her jaw bone cracked, body flaring in pain before her consciousness wavered, body disintegrating into ether.

***

Vivi's eyes opened surprisingly calmly.

The air was chilly, and the facets were dark, slowly brightening. Her head hurt from sleeping against her anvil. Most runesmiths around her were still asleep. Being killed in Paradise had sent her wide awake, ruining the plan of a long night of rest.

"Well…" Vivi mumbled. "I guess that counts as a break."

"Um, sorry…" Lucius said. "You probably didn't want to experience that."

Nothing new. The hunters are as pleasant as always.

She tested her jaw. The punch had hurt. The memory of the pain was still there, as if her jaw was still broken. She probably wouldn't forget that for a long time.

She moved to her sack of ether roots. Lucius watched with a saddened expression.

I would have loved a longer break as well, Vivi thought. But there's no use heading back to sleep now. I think I'm ready to start working.

"You won't go insane?" Lucius asked.

I'll get this sword done, that's what I'll do, Vivi thought. She twisted another red mithril root in the vise and picked up her tools. I'm ready. Let's go.

Lucius hesitated for a moment, studying her face. She must have looked serious enough, as he initiated the root and said, "Let's treat the first one as a warm-up."

Vivi nodded. She didn't exactly feel refreshed, but she felt strangely calm. She picked up her tools and began shaping the root.

As the process continued, however, she realized that the calmness she felt was spite. The silent type of disappointment, bordering anger. She had to succeed. Not only to fulfill Grandpa's dream, but also to prove herself.

Perhaps if she showed up in Paradise with a million wisps of ether after winning the competition, the hunters would show her some damn respect.

Her anger-fueled warm-up reached surprisingly far. Vivi was on the last branches of the second ether root, already mentally preparing for another chance to complete the last ether root, when the core stalk itself suddenly flipped an inch to the side.

Vivi blinked. She hadn't made a mistake. What had happened?

She glanced down. The vise's hold on her root slipped. The ether root itself flipped slightly sideways.

"Oh…" Vivi said. She stared at her ether root, eyes losing focus. She didn't feel much of anything except disappointment and annoyance. "What a stupid mistake. I didn't tighten the vise enough. The root just slipped…"

Lucius stayed silent in her core, watching for her reaction. Vivi shrugged. That's fine. This was just a warm-up. My hands feel good. That was a good attempt. Let's go again.

"Do you really?" Lucius asked. "You won't grow frustrated again?"

Vivi tossed the failed set of veins aside and picked up a new ether root. I'm feeling fine, Lucius. We'll get this done.

This time, she twisted the vise's rod with all her strength to make sure the root wouldn't slip again. Her concentration was good, instincts sharp enough to continue. Frewell wasn't making fun of her either; the man was focused on his own project.

If not for these stupid mistakes, Vivi thought, gritting her teeth, the sword would be done already!

She twisted the vise with all the strength her hands had. For good measure, she added some ether into her hands for extra strength. She tightened the vise as hard as she possibly could, bringing out her anger on its tightening rod, and—

Crack.

The vise jolted an inch upward from the impact. An explosion came from inside. The shell of the mithril root cracked. Liquid metal spilled from within. The corrosive silvery substance simmered on the ground. Runesmiths around her flinched wide awake from the explosion.

Vivi stared at the destruction, unblinking.

"An explosion!" Frewell called, rushing to her workstation. "Are you okay?"

Vivi grit her teeth, fighting the urge to slam her fist at her anvil. Nothing alarming had happened. She broke an ether root by twisting the vise too tight… That was all. No use getting angry about it. She just broke an ether root…

She twisted the vise's rod, trying to get the cracked ether root out. The rod spun without resistance, and nothing was moving. Huh? Vivi thought. That's weird?

She looked closer at the damages. The ether root hadn't been the only thing that cracked. The tightening rod inside the vise snapped because of the pressure. With the rod snapped, the vise was like an arm without muscles. That's what caused the explosion. The vise itself had broken.

Her mouth hung open, staring at her destroyed workstation.

An essential tool, her vise, broke from another dumb mistake.

"Miss?" Frewell asked. He sounded genuine. "Vivian? Are you hurt? Gods, someone call the medic!"

"I'm fine," Vivi said. Luckily, nothing had exploded in her direction, or toward any other workstation for that matter. She just lost a cheap vise.

And her chances of victory.

Vivi tasted blood. She bit through her lip. She slammed a fist on her broken vise, fighting back the wave of emotions that tried to escape. We lost. It's actually over. We lost.

Everyone was looking at her.

Failing all of her swords was bad enough. Breaking her tools was on a whole different level of embarrassing. Runesmiths around her were alerted of the sound. They appeared concerned at first, making sure that nobody was hurt.

When they realized that Vivi wasn't hurt, they shrugged and went back to whatever they were doing.

Only Frewell and the dwarf stayed. "Are you really okay?" Frewell asked.

"I'm fine," Vivi said. "Just... out of the competition."

"That's tough," the dwarf said. "I saw what happened. The root slipped the first time. The second time, you tightened it until it exploded. Can hardly call that your fault. Hell, I would have done the same. That was a poor quality vise, that's all."

Vivi breathed in, her fist clenched tight.

"I haven't got the faintest clue on what you tried to craft, miss," the dwarf said. "But your focus and determination were impeccable. I admit, I wanted to see your project completed, if only to see what nonsense you'd come up with."

"It's over now," Vivi said. "I screwed up."

"That was a bad explosion," Frewell said. "You should get checked out."

"I'm fine…" Vivi repeated.

Vivi tasted blood. It took serious effort to keep herself composed. She didn't know what to say or do. She sat still next to her broken vise, head jumbled with all sorts of nonsensical thoughts. The competition was over. Just like that.

"Don't beat yourself up over it," the dwarf said. "You did well. I'm sorry for my insults. Just some friendly banter."

"It's fine," Vivi said. "This is a competition. We're all rivals."

"For the competition, we're rivals. But we're all still runesmiths. We're friends. Your name is Vivian, correct?"

"Yeah…" Vivi said. "And yours?"

"Angall," the dwarf said. "From the Frogs And Sandals Smithy."

Vivi chuckled lightly. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Angall grinned wide. "Funny thing to say from someone coming from the Lost Raindrop."

For a moment, Vivi shared the smile. When she looked at her vise, however, the smile fell. She really had just lost.

I wanted to win… I gave it my all. I really did…

Lucius was gloomy as well. "A loss is unexpected. But I guess we can't do anything about it."

A wave of pressure tried to push its way out from her throat and eyes. It hurt. More than she would have wanted to admit. She fought back the outburst. She'd come to the competition on a whim to see if she could craft something. She had been prepared to leave with nothing at all. But despite that…

Now that it had all failed, it hurt. It seriously did.

It can't be over, Vivi thought. Lucius… I still want to win. We can't lose this now. We have to win.

She was so close. She just needed one attempt that didn't fall due to some nonsense. Just one run all the way to the end.

She wanted to win. So badly. To show the world just how powerful and beautiful inside-carving could be.

Suddenly, Vivi found herself on her feet. She gritted her teeth, then rushed to the canteen, where staff members were stationed. Just one more attempt. She needed one more attempt.

She gathered her will, placed all of her determination into her step, and walked up to an organizer who she'd seen assisting other runesmiths.

"My vise broke," Vivi said. "Is there any chance I could get a spare?"

Give me one more attempt! she thought. Just one more attempt, and I'll craft the best sword this city has ever seen.

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