The surge hit a small mound of mushrooms. Crimson wisps of ether shot from the ground, reaching all the way to the sky before bouncing back to the ground.

The wisps searched for something to reanimate. There were no host bones, and the mushrooms atop the hill were still alive. Even the soil itself was filled with worms, housing quite a bit of life.

But the redsoil was still the most dead thing in the surge-zone. The wisps flowed into the ground, and the mound bulged further out from the ground. Worms were pushed out by force, shooting out of the rising mound and splattering on the ground. The mushrooms stayed on the monster's head. The blob-like mound gained deep black eyes. It turned to Vivi's direction. It grew arms with three thick fingers.

Then the mound began moving, wisps of red ether rising from its head.

"What the hell is that?" Vivi asked, watching as the mound slid in her direction. It didn't move with feet. The mound just inched toward her like some force of nature. It wasn't the most disgusting thing Vivi had seen, but its deep black eyes still gave her a creepy feeling.

"A failed boss monster," Lucius said. "The surge had nothing to reanimate. So it reanimated whatever it could. In this case, it spawned a dirt mound."

"Fantastic…" Vivi said. She watched as the boss moved closer. "How do we kill it?"

"We probably can't," Lucius said. "Dirt mounds are tanks in their purest form. Those arms might cause damage, but really, the boss is just a pathetic moving mound. It can't chase any faster than that."

"Hmm," Vivi said. She summoned Abyss Destroyer. "There are mushrooms on its head. It pushed out the worms in the soil. If we kill it, maybe we can collect the mushrooms?"

Lucius felt creeped out by the thought. "Really, Vivi? You'd fight a boss monster just for a few mushroom roots? This thing has zero chance of dropping skills!"

"I'll kill it," Vivi said.

She filled her body with void wisps. The world as she knew it became dark, and a new existence of ethereal signals filled her senses. She dashed for the mound.

The blight was oddly beautiful in the void realm. Ugliness was replaced by ether. Even in the void realm, it had a red tint to it. Everything around her was a threat. The void realm warned Vivi of all the little dangers, from the redsoil to the tree leaves.

The biggest presence was, of course, the boss. The mound raised its hand and slammed a fist down at Vivi. She jumped to the side, flipping mid-air, landing on top of the monster's arm. In the void realm, the flip didn't feel odd at all. Vivi just moved how she wanted to. She pushed ether into her boots to protect them from whatever venom the boss's arm contained.

Then she slashed at the mound with Abyss Destroyer.

Her sword cut through. The sword itself did nothing; cutting dirt was useless. Venerium, however, left its mark. A void-like purple was left behind into the monster's ethereal presence.

The void slowly spread. The monster's aura became agitated. It knew it had been poisoned. And it had no cure for venerium's rot.

The blight might have been a poisonous rotten mess, but Vivi's venom was far more potent.

She weaved around the mound, hitting it all around. She spread venerium's rot, weaving past the boss's weak attempts to kill her, until the mound's surface was entirely covered in venerium's void-like rot. The effects slowly spread to the monster's core.

It felt good. Vivi couldn't see a thing; she couldn't smell or hear. But somehow, she felt far more alive. She was nimble as an assassin, as powerful as the most dangerous of ether hunters, and her awareness was near-impeccable. The void ether could almost make her forget the awful squeezing in her heart.

Almost.

The boss died, and Vivi's void ether was slowly running out. She'd spent around fifty wisps for the boss fight. She fought to stop more from invading her body. If she used them all now, she wouldn't have any for actual emergencies. Cutting the void ether's flow was a struggle. Void wisps wished to pillage her body against her will. With enough force, Vivi locked the door, wasting only a few more wisps after the fight was over.

Her senses returned with a headache. Vivi was back in the disgusting crimson blight, surrounded by nonsense that tried to kill her. Back in the world where ether hunters shunned her, demons tried to kill her, and Grandpa was dead.

"Vivi?" Lucius asked. "Hello? Vivi?"

"Ah, um, yes," Vivi said, shaking her head back to reality. The whiplash from exiting the void realm was there, but it was manageable. "I'm fine," she said.

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She glanced at the boss she'd killed. The reanimated soil had turned back to regular soil. Except, instead of red, it was now tinted purple, filled with venerium's rot instead of the corrupted red. The mushrooms poked out.

A small beacon of ether rose from the top. The boss dropped over a hundred ether, and thirty void wisps.

After collecting it, Lucius was back to maxed out. They could start working on clearing Vivi's debts again. She had a few thousand wisps of debt before her soul was fully in the positives. Hunting in the blight wasn't nearly as fast as in Zand's dungeon, but Vivi doubted she would die from her debt. She only needed to gain a few dozen wisps every day.

"Are you sure you're fine?" Lucius asked.

Vivi shrugged. She held a hand over her head. "It just hurts a bit. My head feels normal."

Lucius looked as if he didn't believe her. "Tell me immediately if you feel off."

"I will," Vivi said. "More importantly, look at the mound."

Lucius tilted his head at the mound. "It turned purple?"

"Yes. Venerium seems to overwhelm the blight's corruption. Our sword is like a cheat for killing monsters here. But it also looks like venerium can change the type of corruption."

"Uh, sure?" Lucius said. "Does that help us?"

"I have an idea," Vivi said. She moved to the river. The corrupted water flowed at a steady pace. The current wouldn't eat her if she fell in, but she would probably die from whatever problems touching the water would cause.

She summoned the cookpot she'd bought from the innkeeper and filled it with red water. Then she summoned Abyss Destroyer and tipped the venerium blade into the cookpot.

The corrupted water changed color, slowly turning purple.

Vivi let out a slight smile. As she had hoped, venerium overruled the redsoil's corruption. "It's now poisoned by venerium."

"I don't think that's drinkable, Vivi," Lucius said.

"No, but this is a lot better than before." Vivi glanced at her stupid cat. "Venerium water isn't good, but I know for certain that venerium can be distilled out of water."

"Oh," Lucius said. "That's great! How will we do that?"

Vivi thought about it. Grandpa had taught her how to distill water. His method didn't require much. A cookpot, a lid, some ice, and a bowl. Vivi could heat the cookpot with strife runes easily. But she was still missing three out of four ingredients needed.

She kept thinking. "Lucius… Could you turn into a weird shape for me, please?"

"Huh?" Lucius asked. "What kind of shape?"

"Turn into a bowl. A fully solid bowl that can contain water, please."

Lucius looked at her weird.

"This is really important," Vivi said.

"Fine," Lucius said. He switched his shape into a bowl.

"Slightly smaller," Vivi said. "So that you can fit into this cookpot."

Vivi felt Lucius's emotions turn sideways, but he made the bowl smaller.

"Good, that will work," Vivi said. "Now add a pole upward from the middle of the bowl. Think of yourself as an upside-down umbrella."

Lucius only grew more weirded out. He did as asked. A pole grew from the middle of the bowl directly upward. "Like this?"

"Yes, that's perfect," Vivi said. "Now, at the end of the pole, add a wide plate. Make the plate at the top really cold. Like freezing cold."

"Vivi, what in the depths are you hoping this will achieve?" Lucius asked. "I'm a spirit of the demigods; not some machine!"

"You're doing great, Lucius," Vivi said. "Keep the shape as practice. You'll need to stay like that for at least thirty minutes."

If Lucius still had a mouth, Vivi knew it would have been wide open. But he did as asked. He added a plate to the top of Vivi's weird contraption. Poking him, every part felt solid. The top wasn't quite as cold as Vivi would have liked, but it would work.

While Lucius was practicing staying in form, Vivi carved the strife rune to the cookpot. She tested that it worked. The pot quickly became hot to touch. The venerium water began boiling.

Vivi nodded. She was ready for the next part. Though, Lucius probably wouldn't like what Vivi had planned.

She picked Lucius up from the cold upper plate. She placed him into the cookpot of venerium water so that the bowl floated on top of the venerium.

"Vivi, what are you doing to me!" Lucius shouted. "Vivi!"

"Close the lid for me, please," Vivi said. "The bowl should float in the venerium water. Absolutely do not let any venerium water inside the bowl, okay? Stay afloat at all times."

"Yes, I'm floating!" Lucius shouted.

"Good, now make the upper plate snug to the pot," Vivi said. "Tighten it as if it were a lid. And make sure the upper plate stays cold."

Lucius was absolutely terrified, but he did as asked. "Okay? What now? Can I get out?"

"Now we can start distilling water," Vivi said. Pushed ether through the strife runes. Quickly, the venerium water started to boil.

"Vivi, what the hell are you doing to me!" Lucius shouted in her head. "Are you trying to boil me alive!"

Can you survive the heat? Vivi asked.

"It hurts!" Lucius said.

Use ether, Vivi said. Just keep yourself alive. This will work. You should be able to resist the heat.

Lucius exhausted a lot of wisps to keep himself alive. But the contraption worked, and Lucius stayed alive.

The theory behind the distillation was quite simple. As the water in the cookpot boiled, it turned to steam and rose upward. The steam would hit the cold lid at the top, where it would liquify back to water. The floating bowl would catch some of the water as it fell down. Venerium's poison would be left at the bottom of the cookpot, as it couldn't turn to steam.

After fifteen minutes of boiling the water, she lifted Lucius out of the cookpot and found his bowl full of distilled, hopefully clean water.

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