Lucius initiated the root. This time, he approached with a lot more caution. Vivi felt his concentration. He had never paid so much attention to runesmithing.

The locium root still grew fast, but its growth wasn't erratic. Lucius controlled it with all his focus, making sure the stalk grew at a steady pace.

The core root won't need loops, Vivi decided. A swiftness rune doesn't need to extend to the edges. Just strengthening the core of the blade will be enough. The branches can be left short.

The stalk grew nicely straight. Suddenly, controlling its growth felt a lot easier. Vivi knew what she had to do. She wasn't reacting to sudden movements anymore. She felt like she was in control of the process. She trusted Lucius to keep its growth stable. So far, he had controlled it perfectly.

She continued shaping the branches, guiding the root straight. The locium root still required constant attention and concentration. Vivi wavered on both.

But she did have years upon years of practice. She shaped the branches, forgetting her worries as habit took control. Slowly, concentration began to overpower the nervousness that clouded her head.

Twenty minutes later, Vivi finished the last branch. She cauterized the main stalk.

Glancing at Lucius, the spirit had closed his eyes. He stayed focused, until sensing that the root wasn't taking in any more ether. He opened his eyes and saw their work.

Lucius grinned. "We did it."

Vivi smiled. They'd completed the first ether root. Why did that feel like such an accomplishment? The hard parts are still coming, Lucius. Let's not celebrate yet. We still have two more to shape.

She twisted the dark mithril root between the jaws of her vise without hesitation. She knew what she wanted to craft, and her hands were warmed up. Let's get this over with, she thought. Initiate the root.

Dark mithril, it turned out, was a lot simpler to shape than locium. The root behaved similarly to a white obsidian root, though the dark mithril was far more stubborn. Its branches picked a direction and they stuck with it. The main stalk grew perfectly straight without Vivi even touching it. Though, this made forming loops require a lot more strength.

By the sixth branch, Vivi was fully engrossed in work. She formed the loops, one on each side of the blade. The branches extended far to the edges, taking a lot of space to spread the strength rune as far as possible.

So far, all had gone well. Eem stayed silent, watching Vivi's work curiously. Vivi was nervous, but she was also determined.

Lucius, heat the forge.

"Do we need it already?"

No, this place is just cold. Vivi thought. Heat helps me focus.

"You're sweating, Vivi."

Just do it.

Lucius gave her a look but pushed ether into the emberstones in the forge. The cover was left open to let heat escape into the smithy. Slowly, the place heated up. With heat came focus.

Vivi completed the tenth branch and realized she only had two more remaining. The branches she'd created extended almost to the edges of the sword, where Vivi imagined the blade would end up. The strength rune had to extend far. But Vivi also needed to leave room for the last ether root.

She feared she might have failed with the latter goal. The more space Vivi took for the strength runes, the harder it would be to weave the last ether root through.

Vivi ignored her worries. She shaped the last loops, cauterized the main stalk, finishing the second ether root without incidents. She sighed, then collapsed on her back.

"Two out of three," Lucius said. He floated above her with a grin. "Perfect so far."

"It's not perfect," Vivi said. She'd made the thickness of the sixth branch ever so slightly too thin. Luckily, she realized her error and made the seventh branch on the opposite side thin as well. This way, the veins kept their symmetry. The thin branches would simply distribute slightly less ether to the specific part of the sword. But it was good enough.

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"This will hold," Vivi said. "We did well considering the circumstances."

"Good enough is good enough," Lucius said. "Now for the hard part."

"Yes…" Vivi said. She got up and began carving the holes for the third root. She would have lied if she said she wasn't nervous. She was afraid to continue at all. But in a bizarre way, she was also excited. She was a spirit wielder now. And she knew, after the sword was done, she could actually slay some monsters with her hard work.

Vivi drank a mug of water and sat beside the vise. She placed the last root, the red mithril root, on the vise, and prepared to start the process.

"Go?" Lucius asked.

Vivi had her eyes closed, thinking back to her days on the surface. Grandpa had given her all kinds of mind exercises to calm her nerves. "Imagine you're alone on an island," he'd said. "Nobody will bother you. Nobody will see you fail. It's just you and your tools. That's how a runesmith operates. We're like the stubborn weeds growing from cracks in Fellwater's cobblestone paths. No matter how many times we're cut down, we always grow right back."

Vivi never found much use out of Grandpa's mind techniques. The only thing that helped her calm down was the vision in her head. She had a sword she wanted to see crafted. And she was the only one who could make that vision come to life.

"Go," Vivi said, opening her eyes.

The red mithril root cracked open, shining brighter than the lamps in the room. Vivi's apron glowed by its light. She didn't blink as she waited for the stalk to grow through the holes she'd created.

A few minutes later, the stalks arrived. The shaping began.

Immediately, Vivi realized just how little space she had to work with. For the strength runes to reach the sharp edges of the blade, she'd pushed the dark mithril root to the very edges. She'd only left tiny loops for the last root, as well as tiny slots for branches to spread.

The loops were all the space she technically needed. Vivi got to work, guiding the mithril stalks. The start was fairly simple. Guiding the stalks through the first loops was tight, but it wasn't impossible. With practice, Vivi knew what to do.

When the time to shape the first branches came, Vivi's limits were truly tested. The level of precision required was beyond half or even a quarter inch. The worst branches had to be precise by an eighth—sometimes even a sixteenth—of an inch. Any contact with the dark mithril branches would cauterize growth. Any asymmetry would cause the sword to snap.

It quickly became clear this was the hardest job Vivi had ever performed. Far harder than her first three-runed sword. That one had been tough, but Vivi had created a far more lenient obstacle course for the third rune to take. She had no time nor energy for outside thoughts. The world around her disappeared. Her hands turned into a tool to complete her goal: to ensure that the mithril stalks traversed safely to the very tip of the veins. She passed the first three loops, then the first five, in a state of absolute concentration.

Vivi wasn't just crafting a sword that technically passed as a three-runed sword. She was truly working on the limits to create the best three-runed sword she could imagine.

By the sixth loop, Vivi started to regret planning such an insane sword. Her body started to get hot. Sweat droplets ran down her forehead. Her throat was dry, but there was no time to grab water. Heat helped her focus, letting her hands move swiftly. But a hot smithy also wore her out faster.

She started to get nervous again. Only a few more loops remained. The hard parts would be all done. She hadn't made any catastrophic mistakes so far. If she succeeded, this would be the best sword she'd ever crafted. Expensive ether roots, crazy techniques, the most precise veins she'd ever worked with…

No, Vivi couldn't think about that. This was just another sword… Just another weapon to defeat some clumsy skeletons…

She passed the eleventh loop, then the twelfth. Her heart thumped out of her throat. She took a breath, staying focused. Just two more loops. Just a few more branches. Just—

The branch twisted slightly underneath her crochet hook. Vivi's heart skipped a beat, as if the whole world had collapsed.

It was a slight error. A miniscule deviation, an eighth of an inch off the intended path.

No, Vivi thought. It's not over!

She moved her crochet hook to the other side of the veins. The fourteenth branch. She angled her crochet hook slightly wrong, repeating the mistake she'd done on the other end of the opposite end. Now the thirteenth and fourteenth branches were both off path by an eighth of an inch. Symmetry was kept.

The deviation was large enough compared to the rest of the branches that it would affect ether's distribution, possibly causing weak spots within the metal. Vivi had to improvise.

She picked up her obsidian carving knife and pressed it into the side of the branch. This prompted the branch to swerve into two. Vivi guided the separated part upward to cover the eighth inch she'd deviated from. Then, she immediately cauterized both ends of the branch. She repeated the procedure on the opposite side.

Her entire body was filled with pressure, as if her skin was about to burn off. Holy hell. Had she fixed it? Was the sword a ruin?

Vivi didn't know. She didn't have time to check. The tip of the stalk was still growing, and she had to guide it to its destination. Her hands struggled to stay still as she guided the stalks to the tip of the sword.

The ether root lost its light. Its growth stopped. Lucius opened his eyes, confused. "It ran out! It's not working! Vivi, it's not working!"

Lucius saw her expression and fell silent. Vivi stared at her work, taking heavy breaths.

She'd done it. The branches were all completed. The stalks reached the tip of her sword. The ether root was totally spent, having run out of material. Just in time for it all to be finished.

The pressure in Vivi's body released all at once. She collapsed on her back. Something flowed down her cheeks, and Vivi wasn't sure if it was sweat or tears. Her hands shook even harder now that she didn't need to hold them still.

It was done. Three sets of veins interwoven together.

She let out a puff of air. She chuckled, then burst into a laugh. A rush of warm relief flowed through her. "It's done. Lucius, it's done!"

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