Vivi added finishing touches to her swords in preparation for the next hunt.

She worked in the silent corner of Aang's tavern while Ven and Rensfig drank ale by the counter. The demons talked quietly enough that Vivi couldn't hear the specifics of the conversation, but she was fairly certain they were talking about her. The demons remained confused about what to do with her. Rensfig kept sneaking glances at her sword, as if Vivi had created some legendary artifact.

Grandpa had said Vivi was on par with the ancient dwarves. He'd even said her two-runed swords were better than their three-runed swords. Vivi never really believed him. It was hard to think of herself as a great craftsman when she woke up to porridge without jam in the morning.

Eem didn't seem to care about runesmithing in the slightest. She sat on the opposite end of the round table, munching on a fish. It was the same sardine she had refused when Ven tried to offer it. When Vivi offered the fish, she gladly took it. Eem was still skittish, swinging her legs over her seat, but food was a good distraction from the unfamiliar territory around her.

Vivi smiled and focused on her work. She wrapped Rensfig's roll of thin white obsidian around the grip of her sword three times. Runeswords required special grips that allowed ether to flow through, while also protecting the runes underneath. Sometimes runesmiths simply coated their runes with a layer of iron lacquer as protection. More cautious runesmiths added a protective handle made out of conductive material. This way, ether could pass through.

Vivi and Grandpa liked to do both, knowing that their customers probably weren't taking the best care of their runeswords. The white obsidian was sticky to hold but surprisingly durable, like impenetrable fabric. With the grip done, the sword looked like a proper runesword. The white obsidian would also offer slight protection from venerium poisoning.

Vivi was afraid to sharpen the blade. Touching the metal directly was deadly, and even the hilt conducted venom. Still, the sword was more than deadly enough to cut anything it came across even without sharpening.

We can use the katana as a primary weapon since Ven can't afford it, Vivi thought. If we start losing to tougher monsters, we'll use Abyss Destroyer.

Lucius's whiskers fanned out. Vivi could sense a boost of energy in his being every time she mentioned the name of the sword. "We're going on a hunt?"

Yes, Vivi thought. I need to earn a hundred thousand ether somehow. Killing bosses in the hidden dungeon will be difficult if what Ven said is correct. Every hidden boss is watched by gangs. But Ven said the gangs don't dare to hunt in the main dungeon. It doesn't look like the Stewards hunt there either.

Lucius's tail was wagging. Whatever primal senses he ran on were starving for another hunt. He'd been away from fighting monsters for over three days now. "We're going to defeat the main boss, then?"

I doubt we're strong enough, Vivi said. Ven said the main boss is difficult enough that the Stewards combined would struggle to defeat it. You said Uundref is a third elevation hunter. If we manage to defeat the main boss, all of Zand's Stewards and guards will come after us.

"We need an escape plan, then," Lucius said.

Something like that, Vivi said.

She finished up her sword. Eem had eaten the fish. They were ready to leave. Vivi picked Eem up to her shoulders and approached Ven.

"You're leaving, then?" Ven asked.

Vivi lowered her head. "Thanks for letting me use the smithy. And thanks for patching my raincoat. I'm still selling the katana if you want to buy it later."

Ven snorted with a subtle smile. "You're both little rats. Who wears a raincoat in a dungeon?"

Vivi gave him an awkward smile.

"Here's the antidote," Ven said. He pressed a vial against Vivi's chest. She scrambled to pick it up.

"Now, I really want to throw you back in the hub," Ven said. "And I'd like to hope that you'd stay there and out of trouble. But if I lead you to the hub, I'm guessing you're heading straight to the hidden dungeon."

Vivi thought about whether she should lie for a moment, but her hesitation already gave her answer away. "Yes," she admitted.

"Just use our entrance, then," Ven said. "This tavern leads directly to the hidden dungeon. It's a much safer entrance. And take this." He offered her a folded piece of parchment. "It's a map of the hidden dungeon. Common guard patrol areas are drawn in red. Don't show your face in the red zones at all. The black indicates areas where you have a high risk of getting caught if you hunt there. I've marked the areas that are safest to hunt in green. And grey is for areas where other gangs will most likely find you if you step in."

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Vivi placed the map and the vial into her pocket and to spatial storage from there. "Thank you," she said. "I'm ready to leave."

"Follow me," Ven said.

He led Vivi to the table they'd negotiated at. He crawled underneath the table, then pushed ether into the table from below before activating some sort of skill. The table flew into the air as if gravity had been inverted. It crashed against the ceiling and was stuck there.

"This exit is a pain in the ass to use without a gravity manipulation skill," Ven said. "The table is too wide to lift out of the alcove in one piece. The Stewards have pillaged through this place multiple times in search of contraband. They've confiscated plenty of booze bottles and ether containers, but never this exit."

With the table stuck to the ceiling, Ven pushed ether into the stone floor. A click sounded, and some sort of lock was opened. A slab lifted upwards, revealing a passageway.

"Another hidden tunnel?" Vivi asked.

"How else are you going to get into the hidden dungeon?" Ven asked. "Tunnels are the simplest way to move between levels. Rensfig made the entrances work with runes. If a member of the Hollows pushes ether into the wall, the runes will detect us and let us through. Nobody else can enter."

Ven moved into the tunnel. Vivi and Eem followed, crawling after Ven's boots. At the end of the tunnel, Ven pushed ether into another lock. He pushed the slab out of the way, revealing an entrance to the hidden dungeon.

"Show me your map," Ven said.

Vivi summoned directly to her hands. Ven had already seen spatial magic. She opened it, revealing the most convoluted map of lines and drawings Vivi had ever seen.

"We're right there," Ven said, pointing at the map as if Vivi was supposed to understand what she was looking at. "The fangling lair is that way, and the mist arachne's lair is directly down."

Vivi nodded. "Thanks."

Ven showed her a few more unmarked exits and entrances on the map that he'd been afraid to write down in case the map got into the wrong hands. After that, he gave three more warnings regarding other gangs and guard patrols. And he reminded once again that Vivi absolutely shouldn't be hunting bosses. Vivi listened, but her plan was already clear in her head regardless of what warnings Ven was about to give.

Ven ended the lecture by saying, "I guess I'm trying to tell you to not get yourself killed over some nonsense. Remember that no matter how strong you grow, we're still in a dungeon."

Vivi thanked him and told him to be careful as well before Ven disappeared back into his lair.

"Finally," Lucius said out loud, appearing from Vivi's core. "If only he knew you were hunting with a spirit of the demigods, perhaps he would be less eager to offer advice."

"Ven knows what he's talking about," Vivi said. "We've nearly died in this dungeon multiple times. We really shouldn't be ignoring his advice."

Lucius rolled his eyes. "Whatever. We have a good plan. Let's head to the main dungeon."

Not so much a plan, just a risk and a hope…

She turned toward the fangling lair, studying the map on the way there. The map was large enough that Vivi had to spread her arms to see it all. Pathways were convoluted and hard to see, and crawl spaces had been left out entirely. Even still, the piece of parchment was entirely filled with colorful markings.

The red areas were mostly reserved for the upper levels of the hidden dungeon. It seemed like the guards were reluctant to head down. The remaining map was marked almost entirely with black or grey, marking areas where Vivi shouldn't hunt. Some areas were marked with both black and grey. This included the boss rooms.

As for green areas, Ven had marked a total of five small branches deep in the dungeon with green. These areas were far from guard patrols and far from the grey areas. Just navigating to them would be a pain.

The map stopped at the entrances to the main dungeon. Each entrance was marked with red, black, and grey.

"Ven really doesn't want us to hunt here, does he?" Lucius said, frowning at the map.

"I agree that this is risky," Vivi said. "But I'm also a hundred thousand ether in debt. The skeletons in the main dungeon drop seven hundred each. That's the only place where I can earn enough ether in the time we have. Unless we want to make a deal with the demon king."

"Which we don't," Lucius said.

"We'll have to see what we can do, I guess," Vivi said.

Webs started to fill the caverns, telling Vivi that she was close. Following Ven's map was difficult. It was easier to let Eem point at the direction they needed to go.

Down in the main dungeon, however… Vivi didn't want to admit it, but Eem wouldn't be of much use. If anything, Vivi would need to protect Eem when the fiend got herself in danger. Eem was cute, but in certain scenarios, she was a liability.

Outside the fang tanker's boss room, Vivi picked Eem up and held the fiend in front of her. "Eem, you'll have to stay out for this hunt. It's too dangerous."

Eem paused, a confused look on her face.

Vivi placed Eem down behind her. "I'm going to fight in the dungeon. I'll come back in three days for collection day. You'll survive up here, right?"

Eem stood there like a betrayed puppy.

"I really can't take you," Vivi said.

"Ivwi!" Eem shouted. She ran to hug Vivi's leg.

Vivi picked her up and placed her down. "Listen, Eem—"

"Waaa!" the fiend cried. She clung to Vivi's leg and wouldn't let go.

Vivi sighed. This idiot…

"She might be safer with us," Lucius said. "The nimrods know she's your friend. They'll probably try to kidnap her to use her as a weapon against you. That's why my old wielder never had friends that were weaker than him. It's just too much of a hassle to get attached to someone."

We need to find Eem a new home, Vivi thought. She doesn't belong in Zand.

The fiend kept clinging to Vivi's leg, mumbling incoherent cries.

Vivi sighed again. "Fine," she said. "Come with us. But the moment you try to run off and get yourself killed, I'm tying you down with rope and I'll cram you into Lucius's spatial storage."

Eem nodded repeatedly.

I'll have to craft armor for this little idiot, Vivi thought. She entered the fangling lair and stepped down the stairs into the main dungeon.

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