The Ethersmith [Runesmithing Progression Fantasy]

A day passed in work, continuing the drawing of Thorn Sword and throwing in a few failed four-runed attempts, until the storm break took Vivi out of her daily routine. Lucas welcomed her at the front door. "Evening, Vivi."

Evening? she thought. It's that late already?

"Has something happened?" she asked.

"The storm is about to break," Lucas said. "We are the last to depart."

Oh, right, Vivi thought, realizing that she'd totally lost track of time. She'd just been on her way to finish the drawing of Thorn Sword.

Still, witnessing the storm was more than worth giving up her routine for. Vivi had to see for herself what kind of monsters the defence team was working with, and what monsters gave them the most trouble. From there, she could craft something that countered the toughest monsters.

But we have so much work to do… Vivi thought. Civar is waiting for us. We're slacking.

"Vivi…" Lucius said. "You're panicking. You need a break."

What? How am I panicking?

"I don't know what happened," Lucius said. "But you've been acting skittish ever since your Grandpa woke up. It's like you're trying to create a miracle out of nowhere. You're acting the same way as you did on the third day of the competition."

That's not true, Vivi argued.

"You need a break," Lucius said. "Watching a storm cause destruction would be a perfect break for you. It has been a while since we fought real monsters. We should join."

Vivi bit her lip, annoyed. She didn't know if Lucius was right. Her head was a total mess. Well, I was intending on watching the storm. It's not like seeing it will be useless.

She nodded. "Do we depart now?"

"We will run there," Lucas said. "The storm will break fifty miles from here."

"Run?" Vivi asked. "We're running there?"

Lucas looked amused by her reaction. "Of course. Ether-powered legs are far faster than any horses. Fifty miles should take us an hour, less if we sprint. Additionally, Coshi has instructed you to disguise yourself as her dear friend Elizabeth. Iszul might show up at the storm break. He will recognize you in your raincoat. Lortel is ready to get you dressed."

Ah, great, Vivi thought. I'm running fifty miles across a desert in a dress, disguised so that I don't get killed by a crazy knight, to watch a deadly storm, and we're calling it a break.

Lucius's laugh could have been called a cackle. "Sounds relaxing to me."

Vivi rolled her eyes.

Getting dressed took just under fifteen minutes. Lortel added a quick layer of makeup to highlight key features, as Vivi would be sweating and running regardless. Apparently, Lucius said, hunters applied full makeup only whenever the day's events didn't require fighting and extensive movement. For surge jobs, swordmaidens either wore a more casual outfit, like Coshi, or they wore their dress without accessories. With Vivi's dress, chains and most pins were removed to let her move more freely.

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The dress still didn't look bad by any means, and its fabric didn't hinder movement. It was designed to be used in fights. Vivi met up with Lucas. They exited the city through a northern side-exit near the middle levels.

Outside the walls, Lucas stretched his legs and his arm, smiled at Vivi, and said, "Try to keep up."

His figure bolted into a run, as if a cannonball had been shot. Vivi flinched, watching in astonishment for a moment, until she realized she'd be left behind if she didn't start running right about now. She gritted her teeth, pushed ether into her legs, making use of her channeling practice so far, and ran as fast as she could.

Lucas slowed down to match Vivi's pace. She caught up to him in twenty seconds. Stomps resounded with his steps. Sand particles tried to fling to the air. His aura pushed them back to the ground before dust clouds could erupt, as if a strong force pulled the sand particles back to the ground.

Vivi couldn't replicate that. Sand clouds definitely flung to the air behind her. She would have liked to study how Lucas made the effect, but she was too busy looking ahead and trying not to trip on her own feet. This wasn't her first time running with ether-powered legs, but it would be her first marathon. Moving at such speeds, she already felt strain in her lungs and muscles.

Lucas slowed down to a steady jog—one that moved only at twice the speed of a gallop. The small path beneath their feet blurred past. Distant landscapes crept closer, slowly, but to see distant mountains moving at all was a testament to their speed.

"This should be roughly fifty miles an hour," Lucas said without the slightest strain in his voice, as if he was on a simple morning jog. "If we can keep this up, we'll be there in an hour."

I can keep this up for five minutes if we're lucky! Vivi thought. She didn't respond to Lucas, focusing entirely on her sixth sense, channeling her ether. She concentrated the most ether to her lower body and her lungs, but a light amount coated every other muscle for them to keep up.

Immediately, the task turned out far more difficult than any channeling exercise Vivi had tried. Not only did she have to precisely control multiple streams of ether in different parts of her body—which was difficult by itself—she also had to focus on running and keeping an eye on her surroundings. She wasn't nearly good enough at channeling to control ether while running.

"Run in front of me, please," Vivi said. "I will follow."

Lucas did so, positioning himself directly ahead of Vivi. She took a breath, focused deeply on the sixth sense, and closed her eyes.

She could feel Lucas's presence ahead of her. Through the stomping of his footsteps, she could map out the ground. Focusing on his presence was still slightly distracting, but this was far simpler than having her eyes open. More of her focus could be spared into keeping ether contained in her legs.

Quickly, the run turned into a trance-like flow. Rivers of ether flowed within her legs, up, then back down, until eventually, the wisps dimmed out, dispersing into the air around them. Heat dispersed from her body alongside the dimmed wisps, cooling her from the facets and helping her sweat less. She replaced dim wisps with fresh ones, and the cycle continued all over again.

It sounded simple. To an experienced hunter like Lucas, it was simple. But to Vivi, who barely knew what she was doing, and whose spirit mentor barely knew any more, her concentration was tested to its absolute limit. It was as if she was vein-shaping again, performing precise actions for an hour straight with no time for breaks, and no room for errors.

And just like with vein-shaping, Vivi fell into her own world, where nothing but the task at hand existed. Her body, filled with ether, and her legs, tossing her forward at speeds no horse could match, was all she focused on.

Vivi did make errors, which caused her to stumble on her feet, though she managed to recover, and Lucas slowed down to help her catch up. Near the middle of the run, she was starting to get the hang of things, channeling ether precisely.

That concentration turned to exhaustion toward the end. Her lungs worked overtime, her muscles beneath the coating of ether started to burn. She kept going, forcing her legs to move. She didn't think of herself as running anymore; she was merely throwing her legs forward with force, like a machine on an endless journey.

Until, suddenly, Lucas's presence paused on the spot.

Vivi flinched, uncertain what had happened. The thought of stopping didn't cross her mind; she crashed into him, and her run came to a stop.

Lucas didn't flinch, as if having expected this to happen. Vivi stumbled a few steps back, held a hand on her head where she'd hit Lucas, and opened her eyes. It took ten seconds of squinting and some ether to her eyesight to see properly.

"We have arrived," Lucas said.

Vivi eyed her surroundings, finding herself in the most bizarre war camp she had seen.