"Welcome to the Lost Raindrop!" Vivi said. She bowed. This could have very well been her first actual customer. Lucius hid within her to let her do the talking. "Shivenar's first inside-carving runesmithing store."

The demon scanned the store judgingly. Beneath his scars, his face looked young. Perhaps eighteen or nineteen. His outfit wasn't particularly rich, but he was close to maxed out, and he did have a runesword in his scabbard. A broken one, but a runesword nonetheless.

"An actual runesmithing store in the Lowmoor district," he said, sounding amused. "Not what I expected to see when passing by."

"We opened today," Vivi said. "You're our first customer."

The demon snorted. "I'm just looking, Miss. Already got a sword right here." He tapped a hand on his scabbard.

Vivi took a closer look at the sword's hilt. The sword had mass and sharpness runes—a classic heavyweight rune combination for monster slaying. The mass runes enhanced swings with insane power, and sharpness ensured that said power slashed through the opponent instead of breaking the wielder's arms.

But this particular runesword was broken. Many of the runes had been scraped from wear and tear, making them inoperational. Only a few actually sucked in ether. The runes didn't seem to be protected with lacquer.

"Yes, I know the sword is technically inefficient," the demon said. "But it works. The seller quoted five hundred ether just to patch up a few runes. Hardly worth the time and price."

"Could I see the sword?" Vivi asked.

The demon unsheathed his blade, if only out of amusement. Right away, Vivi noted that the sword was not good. It was a green mithril longsword with two runes worth of outside-carved veins. The veins ran across the blade in odd zig-zag patterns. The runesmith definitely wasn't a professional. The conductive paste in the veins was cracking and tearing off.

"How much did you buy this for?" Vivi asked.

"Two thousand five hundred ether," the demon said. "A decent price for a two-runed sword. It has served me well so far."

"That's a scam," Vivi said. "Five hundred to fix it is even more so. This sword is built to break. The runes aren't protected in the slightest."

"I deduced as much," the demon said. "If your runesmiths can fix it for less, I'll hear the price."

"I could carve new runes into the hilt," Vivi said. "And applying some paste barely takes a few seconds."

He blinked. "You? Do you mean, you can carve runes?"

"With fifteen years of experience," Vivi said. "I wouldn't repair that one, however. That sword, even in its best form, is not something you can fight monsters with. The base sword also seems far too small for your stance."

The demon's brows were furrowed now. He eyed Vivi as if she had claimed to be some sort of miraculous fortune teller.

How much ether do you think he has? Vivi asked.

"I think he has around four thousand ether," Lucius said. "He's definitely a hunter. Not an insanely strong one, but an established fighter nonetheless."

Four thousand, huh? Vivi thought. She smiled, then said, "I believe I can offer you a far better deal than whoever sold you that sword. What's your name, sir?"

"Arganth," he said, still frowning.

"Arganth. For a start, you should try this sword."

"I believe I mentioned I'm just looking."

"A test swing is free," Vivi said. She placed her two-runed steel greatsword into Arganth's hands before he had a chance to decline. It was the fourth sword she crafted yesterday. A messy piece of work, but it happened to have the same rune combination as Argarnth's previous sword.

"A base sword?" Arganth asked, eyeing the blade's steel surface. He saw the runes on the hilt, though their presence seemed to confuse him more than anything.

"That one is a fully functional runesword," Vivi said. "An inside-carved runesword. Forged, carved, and shaped all by me in this workstation." She opened the curtain, revealing her smithy behind the store. "Try running ether through its runes."

Arganth looked contemplative, until he sighed. "Fine. But only because a pretty woman asked me nicely."

He flowed some ether through the runes. The steel sword didn't change appearance much. The iron veins took a few seconds to fill up, until the effects finally kicked in.

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Arganth flinched. He froze on the spot. His eyes opened wide at first. Then sharp as he glanced down at the blade.

Vivi grinned. Grandpa had said that when showcasing swords to customers, it was always best to showcase swords with either swiftness or mass swords. Weight-altering effects were the most noticeable to inexperienced wielders.

Arganth, however, was an experienced hunter. He knew how runeswords felt in his hands. The first contact was even more potent.

The steel glowed, but only slightly. To the eye, the sword looked rather ordinary. Inside-carved swords just didn't look as good as their outside-carved variants. At least with basic swords like this one. Once the store grew in size, Vivi planned on buying crystal mithril and more see-through metals to better showcase inside-carved veins.

"That one is not my best work," Vivi admitted. "And it's not the prettiest sword you'll find. But if your goal is to defeat bosses and earn ether, that one is much better than anything this city will offer."

"How?" Arganth asked. "It doesn't even have veins?"

"It's inside-carved," Vivi said. "The veins are inside the metal."

Arganth moved the sword around nervously. He went into stance and took a light test swing at the air. His expression was a mix of concern and awe.

"No, this can't be real," he said. "The sword feels amazing. But it must be a trick."

"I can prove its strength right now," Vivi said. She held out her hand, and Arganth offered the sword back to her. Then Vivi said, "Would you go into stance and block with your old sword, please?"

Arganth's head didn't seem to be working properly. It took him ten seconds to unsheathe his sword as Vivi had asked.

"I'll take a swing at your sword," Vivi said. "If it snaps in half, you're going to buy this sword for two thousand and five hundred ether."

"That's an expensive decision to make, miss," Arganth said.

"If my sword fails to snap yours in half, I'll pay you two thousand and five hundred instead," Vivi said with a grin. "Is this a deal?"

Arganth considered it, staring at her. "The depths of the bloody abyss," he eventually said. "You're serious? You claim your sword will snap mine in half?"

"Of course," Vivi said.

"No skills, no tricks," Arganth said. "Just that sword filled with ether?"

Vivi nodded.

Arganth muttered more curses underneath his breath. He pushed ether through the runes and went into stance. Ether began leaking through the outside veins immediately. "Let's do it. If my sword snaps, I'll buy that fucking sword. You'll get one swing."

Vivi took a breath. She filled her sword with ether and went into stance. The sword lit up in her consciousness. Vivi could feel the veins inside—the messy veins she'd crafted while utterly tired and rusty. The sword was embarrassingly bad for her standards.

She swung at Arganth's sword.

The sharpness runes of her sword ate into the poorly carved veins of Arganth's outside-carved sword. Vivi felt resistance in her hands. Then the feeling became light as Vivi's sword passed through. A cling resounded, followed by the sound of metal cluttering against the ground.

The cut wasn't clean. The green mithril of Arganth's sword had cracked before parts of it shattered to bits. The cut itself was sharp and prickly, not smooth like Vivi had hoped. But the sword was in two pieces, one laying on the floor.

Arganth blinked. He remained in stance for a good three seconds longer, staring at his snapped blade. "Seriously?"

"Two thousand five hundred ether," Vivi said, grinning. "And this sword is yours."

"You seriously crafted that? You? A little girl?"

"A little runesmith," she corrected. "The name is Vivi."

"Bloody abyss…" Arganth muttered. He collapsed down on Vivi's chair with his hands rubbing his forehead, still holding onto his snapped sword.

Vivi stood by the side, waiting for his answer. Lucius watched as well, speaking in her head. "Quite a show for just a few thousand ether."

It might be a small amount to you, Vivi thought. But for Arganth, it's more than half of his reserves.

"Two thousand five hundred is still ridiculously cheap for that sword," Lucius said. "Arganth's previous one was reasonably priced, and ours snapped it in half without issues."

Vivi shrugged at the thought. It's just a steel sword we crafted while half-asleep. It's trash, Lucius.

And it still sold for more profit than any of Grandpa's swords on the surface.

Arganth, after a minute of contemplating, began transferring ether. Wisps flowed through the air. He transferred slowly and with uncertainty, but eventually, two thousand five hundred made it to Vivi's core.

"Pleasure doing business!" Vivi said with a grin. "Here's your sword. Feel free to bring it to any blacksmith for sharpening if necessary. The runes will stay good so long as you don't damage them in combat. Happy hunting!"

"Yeah…" Arganth said. He took the sword with a haunted expression on his face. He eyed it for a short while, then turned toward the doors. "Thanks…"

"Thank you!" Vivi said. "Please refer the store to your friends! The Lost Raindrop of the Lowmoor district!"

"Yes, thank you," Arganth said again. On his way out, he muttered under his breath, "A steel sword… I bought a fucking steel sword…"

He closed the door hesitantly, as if he'd been possessed.

The store became silent again. Lucius flew from Vivi's core. He chuckled. Then he burst into a full laugh.

Vivi smiled. "I feel bad. I can't believe that sword sold for two thousand five hundred ether."

"Imagine what actual good products will sell for," Lucius said.

Vivi stretched. "I think I'm ready to craft one of those. A crystal mithril sword with the veins glowing inside should look a lot prettier than our current gallery. We'll sleep, and tomorrow, I'll try to craft something actually worth selling."

***

For the upcoming days, a routine quickly took control of Vivi's life. She smithed swords, sold swords, carved runes, practiced with vine roots.

Lucius also pushed her back to channeling ether. Every night, she woke up in Paradise to finally make use of the time spent asleep. Now that the blight's monsters didn't try to kill her every night, she was free to spend each night however she wished.

Her channeling saw progress, but not brilliantly so. Vivi still didn't know what she was doing. And honestly, elevating her core wasn't her main goal right now. She practiced mostly to keep Lucius from complaining. But despite her lack of enthusiasm, she was still happy when, three days into practice, she finally managed to move an active wisp within her body, as Lucius had instructed.

Progress was slow, but it was progress. Sure, Vivi could have probably been more keen on solving the secrets behind void ether, or she could have been mastering swordsmanship with a mentor, but what was the need to rush, when for once in her life, Vivi actually didn't hate the purpose she had in her community.

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