Storm season wasn’t over by the time Vivi was back on her feet, though it had calmed down. All twenty-seven storms had broken, their monsters scattering across the level. All that was left was cleanup, killing the remaining wandering monsters.

  So, all they had to do was kill around a billion ether worth of monsters.

  For now, Shivenar merely defended, while preparing the expedition into the desert that Coshi had planned. The ballistics team was strong enough to deal with almost any monsters if provided adequate support, but the Luminary had been quite straightforward when she said that the expedition would be delayed until Vivi was fully recovered so that she could be present with Dawnpour to fight any possible surge hazards still present.

  Vivi found it funny how quickly she’d transformed from a runesmith to be protected into the most powerful fighter of the city, but she was the wielder of the most powerful sword in the world now. That in itself would probably bring trouble when more demons, such as the exalted knights, learned that a seven-runed inside-carved sword existed, but for now, the events in Shivenar were still unknown with the rest of the world stuck dealing with a similarly harsh storm season.

  For her final days of recovery, Vivi was only forbidden from fighting or channeling more than a hundred wisps at a time, but she was free to walk around and work. She had some free time to work on whatever she wished.

  So she decided to spend her day by ignoring the hundreds of orders the Lost Raindrop had, instead heading to the foundry, but not before taking a detour through the city.

  The market square had transformed from a shopping district to a food distribution centre. Shelter and carriage parking was offered for those stuck in the city. A lot of people still grumbled and complained, unaware that a literal behemoth had nearly crushed the city not weeks ago.

  As for Vivi’s achievement defeating it—the news spread merely through rumors. She agreed with Coshi that spreading her name wasn’t smart, considering she now had an exalted knight’s ascension skill. Vivi was still known as the mythical inside-carving runesmith first and foremost, but new rumors were sprinkling in about her identity as a strong fighter.

  “You’re certainly drawing attention,” Lucius noted as Vivi strolled carelessly through public streets, wearing her new raincoat. The black and purple stood out amongst the brighter colors most Shiv people liked to wear. Even a bulky noble with a plump and annoyed face paused her palanquin ride, her face lighting up in a panic as she lowered her head to let Vivi pass.

  She moved without an entourage, which everyone from Coshi to the Runes And Rain company advised her not to do, but people were too afraid to talk to her, let alone attack her.

  Vivi felt a mischievous smile creep up as she turned to two streetside porters with a palanquin. The two well-dressed men moved out of her way, until their postures flinched straight, realizing they weren’t in the way at all.

  “How much for a ride to the foundry?” Vivi asked.

  “The Luminary’s foundry?” the taller of the two asked. His voice initially wavered, but he quickly regained the ability to talk. The palanquins did carry nobles around on a daily basis, after all. After Vivi nodded, he said, “A standard price would be ten ether.”

  Vivi gave them both five hundred, which really pushed panic to their faces. They opened the door for her, letting Vivi into the palanquin. This one had nice cushioned seats and a sunroof, of course, tall enough that Vivi could comfortably sit. The men lifted it from the handles behind and ahead. The ride began.

  Nervousness could be felt from their ethereal auras alone. The two focused entirely on walking and traffic, as if the slightest bump or inconvenience could offend Vivi. At this pace, it would be a silent ride.

  “I’m surprised everyone recognizes me,” Vivi said. “Am I famous?”

  “You look a lot like Vivian Runeblessed, miss,” the man behind her said, speaking through the small open curtains. “And considering you paid us five hundred ether for a ride, I presume you are indeed. It is an honor.”

  “It’s a nice city,” Vivi said. “I’m honored to be a part of it.”

  His nervousness was slowly waning as he snorted laughingly. “Shivenar owes you an apology for disqualifying you. You’re humble to forgive us.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “Well, I did technically cheat,” Vivi said. “What does the city think now? Are there any rumors regarding my name?”

  “Results speak far louder than any rumors,” he said. “Ain’t nobody going to turn surgestone black like yours. Fenlor’s runesmiths performed more tests with your new sword. A two-runed one. Even that destroyed surgestone without fail. Same with monsters. Inside-carving is the real deal.”

  Vivi could only smile at that. “My grandpa is the one who invented it,” she said. “Remember that. Thomas Warren’s Son.”

  “Who could have thought such a legend lived on the surface all this time,” the man said. “I hear they’re building a statue of him.”

  “Wait,” Vivi said, head snapping toward him. “Really?”

  “That one is just a rumor,” he said with a laugh.

  A statue of Grandpa? Vivi thought. She couldn’t decide whether that would be weird or awesome.

  They reached the foundry in a few minutes, and Vivi smiled as a goodbye, hoping she’d left a good impression. It would have probably been faster to walk, and taking a carriage would have caused less of an uproar on the streets.

  But for some reason, Vivi felt good today. Hiding away in a carriage would have been a waste.

  Descending down to the levelstone, the pounding down at the foundry hadn’t calmed in the slightest. Demons still bustled from workstation to workstation in the warehouse that was somehow even more cluttered today than before the behemoth’s attack. Blueprints were still on the U-shaped table with demons all around it.

  Freyven, however, was passed out on an armchair in the corner behind the table. He had earmuffs on and a floral tiara around his head. A coffee mug hung limply on his fingers from the handle. And Vivi wasn’t surprised to see him asleep when she looked to her right. Progress was visible.

  Before she could go examine it, Patryn came up to her, receiving her in. He eyed her outfit.

  Without warning, he said, “Nice coat, Vivi.”

  Words couldn’t describe the satisfaction provoked from that. “It’s a raincoat,” she said.

  Her grin spread to Patryn as well. “Glad to see you in a good mood,” he said. He clearly hadn’t rested thoroughly yet—work had continued all throughout Vivi’s recovery in the foundry—and he also looked like he had a lot of questions to ask. He said nothing, however, and spotted Vivi eyeing the enormous weapon behind him, in the middle of the room.

  “That’s the prototype for the third iteration,” Patryn said. “Still a work in progress.”

  The weapon was twice the size of the second iteration with a barrel as long as two humans, wide enough that Vivi could have probably fit her head in. The enhancement string seemed to have grown longer with more root pieces. The slingshot had been replaced with a full torsion spring, which was also larger than what the ballistas used.

  “No, it’s not ready to fire,” Patryn said. “And yes, it will probably blow up if we try to use it. Treat this one as a prototype of a prototype.”

  “Can this even be called a slingshot launcher anymore?” Vivi asked.

  “We are looking for new names,” Patryn said. Despite his warnings, he looked proud as he stood beside the creation. “We saw that the second iteration launchers didn’t kill the behemoth. Sure, there was a crack in the ground almost to levelstone where the missile had landed after piercing the behemoth, but the behemoth itself lived. More power can’t hurt.”

  “It missed the vitals,” Vivi said. “If the missile had hit the heart, it would have died.”

  Still, it had been Grandpa’s sword that ultimately defeated the behemoth. Without his help, Shivenar would have fallen.

  “This is going to be one bulky weapon, however,” Patryn said. “Aiming it will be a pain. So we’re also working on improving the first and second iteration launchers.”

  He walked deeper into the foundry, where two smaller second iteration launchers were being worked on. One of them seemed to be the same one Vivi had shot at the behemoth, now repaired, and the second one was missing a barrel, but seemed otherwise completed. Most components seemed to have been entirely revamped. Overall, the weapon looked much cleaner. Almost futuristic.

  “After hauling the weapon from the foundry to the front lines,” Patryn said, “we decided to try and make it a little more portable. Every part is now designed to be disassembled and reassembled. A proficient team can do it in under a minute. Though you’ll need at least four operators, preferably maxed out, to carry the parts.”

  He moved to a smaller table. “And here, we’ve got new designs for handheld slingshot launchers. It’s just a blueprint for now. Essentially, it’s going to be an improved version of the first iteration with the main goal being to fix the awful accuracy.”

  “You’re going to need inside-carving for the barrels, right?” Vivi asked.

  “Most likely,” Patryn said. “We haven’t yet figured out a way to not have these guns blow up without inside-carving. Freyven created blueprints for the veins he’d like to have created.”

  Vivi took a look at them. For the most part, Freyven’s ideas were plausible. He was starting to get the hang of things. There were a few inaccuracies in the way his planned veins distributed ether. Vivi fixed it, then promptly got to work.

  She shaped veins for six hours, creating two new barrels. It was mostly relaxing work now that she knew how to do it, though she failed once when crafting the handheld version when its barrel size threw her off.

  With the day’s work done, only rest remained. Vivi stretched and headed home under the dark facets. For once, she was actually excited to get back to Paradise.

  We have a lot to do and practice tonight, she thought.

  Lucius spoke right away and with swift words, as if having waited for this. “Yes, we have an exalted ascension skill to try out! We really need to keep working on the protective layer. The more we can ascend without harming your body, the stronger we’ll be. The moment the protective layer is swept away, fighting becomes dangerous.”

  Vivi agreed. Strengthening the protective layer is our main long term goal alongside runesmithing. We’ll continue practicing today. Bring me to our usual spot, Lucius. Under the same tree. Let’s test out this skill.