Heavy! was Vivi's first thought as she lifted Grandpa's sword to throw.

A greatsword with all three power runes and no swiftness rune to counterweigh the mass runes. The sharpness rune, in turn, added even more firepower. In theory, the sword was a flow rune short of the most destructive runesword that could be created with the six main runes.

Her ascension helped her aim, to throw the sword regardless of weight. It launched from her hand, up toward the impending golem. Her throw wasn't quite as powerful as the ballistas and their moonweaver's torsion springs.

But the sword exploded from her hand with a whoosh, crashing against the golem's lower leg. The impact came, and for a moment, Vivi saw nothing.

A crash echoed across the desert, Vivi's hair flaring, as a gaping hole appeared in the golem's leg, fully see-through. Bits of stone scattered from the impact, raining like solid hail.

With the leg destroyed, the golem lost its balance. It began toppling over. Oh crap, Vivi thought.

She dashed to the right, away from the direction of impact as fast as her legs took. The Luminary's Light followed, though without ascension, he wasn't as quick.

The golem crashed onto the desert. A cloud of sand and ether shrouded the point of impact. Vivi's footing wavered from the crash, the whole level quaking.

Vivi's ascensions lost their effects. A sharp jolt shot through her head, taking her balance. She caught the fall at the last moment, managing to stay on her feet. Her vision blurred into two. She gritted her teeth.

Not as bad as last time, Vivi thought. But it's getting worse. If we used the same amount as last time, I'd be passed out.

"A teacher will be of use, I suppose…" Lucius muttered.

Coshi and Tsarvan appeared beside Vivi. The Luminary had her eyes sharply on the golem, wondering if it was still active. Wisps rose from its fallen body, but it was hard to tell if it was a beacon of collectible wisps, or just a bleeding wound. Tsarvan looked at it too, though his attention was clearly on Vivi.

"So you can ascend, at least," Tsarvan said. "How many wisps was that? An exalted skill and a rare skill?"

"It's a bit complicated," Vivi said. She held a hand over her eye, which still stung. "I'd say I had around seven thousand wisps total."

Tsarvan studied her. "There's pain, which is good. You did not seem to protect yourself in the slightest. It's a miracle you're alive."

"How do you feel, Vivi?" Coshi asked.

"Good enough," Vivi said. "I could probably do it one more time."

The two did not seem convinced. Tsarvan breathed in, which looked odd considering his bony figure. "Very well. You will be taught, young miss. You will be turned into a weapon."

"What he means," Coshi added, "is that good luck Vivi, because you'll have a whole lot of work to do."

"As long as I still have time for runesmithing, that's fine," Vivi said.

The golem looked to have died. The cloud of sand settled, and a collectible beacon rose. From there, cleanup started. Vivi picked up a few million ether from the golem as well as a rare skill, Momentum Leap, which Lucius claimed was actually a decent skill. Vivi noted that for later.

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Grandpa's sword was found half a mile from where Vivi had thrown it, poking out from deep within the sandstone much the same way the missile had during testing. The sword was delivered back to the Light. Despite his inability to throw it, Coshi still deemed him the most suitable wielder.

Vivi returned to the ballistics team. Everyone looked shaken, and one of the ballistas had broken from the quakes, but overall, the demons were smiling. Freyven walked up to her with an unusually excited tone.

"A victory if I've ever seen one," Freyven said, smirking. "The golem is dead without casualties. The new missiles are a huge success."

Vivi bit her lip. "No. They're better than what we had, but they did not kill the golem."

"Bah," Freyven said. "The wounds in its legs were as large as fatal. A few more blows, and it would have died. We had three missiles. Imagine if we had ten, or twenty, or a hundred firing all at once."

"Storm season will be long gone by the time I've crafted even fifty," Vivi said. "And nobody else can make these missiles. The design works. But it's not efficient."

Freyven tilted his head at that. Vivi eyed the ballistas, lost in thought. Grandpa's sword did more damage when I threw it. What's the point of artillery weapons if they do less damage than a thrown sword?

"The ballistas themselves need to be improved," Vivi said. "Theoretically, the missiles can be launched much quicker. With these designs, I could still see them flying through the air."

Freyven looked troubled. "Designs have been tested, of course, but nothing we've tried has beaten the moonweaver's silk torsion springs."

I could throw the missiles with almost as much force with ascension skills active, Vivi thought. "Regardless," she said, "the ballistas are not powerful enough. They're inefficient. Our artillery needs to be vastly improved."

At least until they're stronger than Grandpa's swords, Vivi thought. She was still far from reaching Grandpa's abilities as a runesmith. Vivi would need decades before she could compete.

With missiles and ballistas, however, she could have an edge. She could create a truly powerful weapon.

"What do you suppose we should focus on, then?" Freyven asked.

"For now, collect the missiles," Vivi said. "The tips, at least. Those are what require a lot of work. We will then meet later to discuss possible improvements. I might have some ideas on incorporating runes to the ballistas themselves."

"Very well," Freyven said with a bow. "I will relay the orders to Patryn and the team."

With that, Vivi stayed for a few more minutes to see if she was needed. Everything looked to be in control, so she returned home to continue work.

***

"You said you had ideas to improve the ballistas with runes," Lucius said. His tail wagged ever so slightly. Vivi hadn't expected him to be interested in this, but it seemed large explosive missiles were cool and abyssal enough by Lucius's standards. "What are we going to do?"

I'm not actually certain, Vivi thought. I just said that to get people invested. I'm hoping to gain ideas at the science lab today.

Lucius floated in her core curiously. "Interesting. You're starting to act more like a leader."

Why that?

"False promises," Lucius said with a grin. "Leaders are good at those."

Vivi sighed. This is not a false promise, Lucius. We are going to improve the ballistas. I just don't know how yet.

Still clad in her dress straight from the battlefield, the facets offering a cool breeze of cloudy weather with passersby murmuring rumors as she passed, Vivi walked alone to Shivenar's science lab. She wasn't certain whether this visit would prove to be of any use, but she had been intending to visit Civar to learn whether her drawing of the skill wisp was offering anything significant to the scientists.

The foyer quickly turned to a chaos of nervous receptionists upon her arrival. The two women excused their previous customers for a moment and rushed to Vivi. After declining tea and coffee, Vivi was led straight to Civar's workroom.

Four scientists had crammed into his room now. The place was a mess of papers, blueprints, and coffee mugs. Civar saw her dress and suspicion showed, until he spotted her face, and his eyes opened up in recognition. "Ah, Vivian!" he stuttered, quickly rolling his chair toward her. "Great to have you. I've been hoping you'd visit."

The other scientists paused their work, facing her with deep bows of respect. Vivi didn't recognize them, but they all looked competent, wearing white jackets.

Vivi returned a light bow, closer to a nod. "I've been busy. Apologies for not finishing the drawing. I doubt I'll have time to finish it before storm season ends. Has the drawing so far showed any results."

"Oh, yes it has," Civar said. He rolled his chair to one of the tables. On it was a replica of the drawing Vivi had made. It was a larger one, spanning nearly the whole table. Each one of its branches and runes was filled with markings.

"Your work has led to revelation after revelation," Civar said. "We have never seen progress like this before. Please take a look at this, and tell me what you think."

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