Vivi spent the next six hours clearing the first level of the dungeon.

Progress slowed down after she switched to her two-runed katana. The sword was strong, but it wasn't a total cheat of utter destruction like Abyss Destroyer. The katana couldn't snap the skeletons' swords, and it couldn't kill the heavier skeletons in one hit.

But the katana didn't poison Vivi with extended use, and it was still a two-runed sword. The blade was more than sharp enough to kill the skeletons if Vivi landed a vital hit.

With the katana, Vivi was forced to fight each skeleton fairly. She had to strategically fight them one-on-one, and she had to make sure not to fall into traps while she dueled them.

The easiest opponents were still the mace skeletons. Vivi was more than fast enough to avoid their clumsy attacks. Her katana could kill in one blow as long as she avoided their thick shoulders. With the mace skeletons' slow speed, she could easily decide where to aim.

Every other type of skeleton gave Vivi trouble. The sword skeletons had good stances and their swings carried serious power if she allowed them to hit at the right angle. Their technique with the sword was much better than Vivi's. They knew when to parry, when to block, and they knew how to press their advantage whenever they got her on the defensive.

Luckily, Shadow Swipe totally confused the skeletons' perceptions. By weaving the skill between its two modes, Vivi was able to trick the skeletons into defending before hiding her sword and launching a sneak attack.

The assassin skeletons gave her by far the most trouble. Their speed made them difficult to see, let alone keep up with. They could avoid attacks seemingly faster than Vivi could swing. If she tried to chase, they'd avoid her and counterattack. If she tried to run, they would chase and stab her in the back. If she tried to defend, they'd throw daggers from the shadows that Vivi couldn't react to.

Lucius's shield was strong enough to block their daggers, though he dimmed out over three hundred wisps with each blow he had to block. And blocking didn't mean winning. Vivi was locked into a fight with an assassin skeleton for over three minutes, struggling for her life.

The eventual winning strategy wasn't Vivi's proudest idea. She abandoned her sword entirely and slashed with Lucius's claws all around her—blindly and like a maniac, hitting everything around her. She used Shadow Swipe negatively on the claws, hiding their aura, similarly to how she'd fought the Reapers' ambush.

It worked. Her wild slashes clouded the whole room with ether, her skin glowing like a hot ether root. After ten seconds of swinging the claws all around her, she managed to land a hit. This killed the assassin in one blow due to its lacking defense.

The fight dimmed out over two thousand wisps, and the kill awarded them with seven hundred back.

Vivi was out of breath. They'd killed over twenty-five skeletons now, lowering Vivi's debts all the way to 83,724. The pace at which she cleared the dungeon wasn't fast, but it was steady. She'd rested for a few minutes in between each fight to make sure she was fully recovered.

But even still… "Why do I feel so tired?" Vivi asked. "We've been earning more ether than we've dimmed out. Shouldn't that improve our endurance?"

"It has improved endurance," Lucius said. "You've been fighting for six hours, Vivi. Your muscles are starting to give up beneath all the ether. And our coating of ether is getting weaker too. Ether has weird effects if you abuse it too much."

"Are you suggesting we should rest?" Vivi asked.

"That's probably a good idea. The next room is that hall with the big skeleton. The one with the boulder hands."

Vivi was surprised. "Aren't you going to push me to fight harder?" she asked. "You were excited about clearing the first level today."

"Eh, whatever," Lucius said. "It's not worth it to abuse ether. We did that a lot with my old wielder and it left him with lasting problems. He could barely even walk without ether empowering his muscles."

Vivi lifted her eyebrows.

"The important thing is that we grow and keep hunting," Lucius said. "We need to remember that dungeons like these are usually reserved for large hunting groups with third elevation hunters. It's amazing that we're hunting here at all."

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"Whoever created the dungeon made the skeletons stupid," Vivi said. "That's the only reason we stand a chance."

"I'm not complaining," Lucius said. "Let's head to sleep. We can make use of the time we spent resting."

"We can start channeling ether," Vivi said.

"Yes," Lucius said. "You're far from other hunters when it comes to elevating your core. You haven't even started channeling. You've never even transferred ether. It's going to be tough to get you to the first elevation. But we're finally maxed out. It's about time we get started."

And I still need to practice runesmithing to catch up to Grandpa… Vivi thought. "This is going to take a while, isn't it? We have a lot of work to do."

"If we keep our core at level zero, we'll never become strong," Lucius said. "We'll struggle against second elevation idiots forever."

"I know," Vivi said. She stretched, feeling the full extent of her exhausted muscles, and turned back to the shore. Before heading to sleep, she wanted to check up on Eem. The fiend had followed her into the dungeon for the first thirty minutes, but she eventually grew bored after Vivi told her to stay back for the umpteenth time. Eem had sulked when she left for the shoreline.

Hopefully she isn't too unhappy.

Entering the shore, Vivi expected to be greeted with dissatisfaction from Eem. She had left the fiend alone, after all. Instead, she saw Eem further up, near the water, kneeling by the sand. Vivi walked over, wondering what the fiend was doing. Eem was focused; she didn't even see Vivi coming.

"Eem?" Vivi asked. She picked Eem up. "The sharks will eat you if you're too close to the water. What are you doing?" She sniffed the fiend's hair. Eem smelled like metal. Her fingers were turning grey.

"Ivwi!" Eem said with a grin on her face. She pointed at a hole she'd been digging in the sand.

Beneath the sand, something rough but shiny formed the ground. Vivi knelt down to observe it more carefully. The ore clearly had impurities, but colorful spots were visible within. "You found a metal?" Vivi asked.

Eem jumped up and down, excited. "Emmwiumm!" she said. "Emiwiuumm!"

"Emiwium?" Vivi asked. "You mean, enirium?"

Eem nodded three times. "Emiwium!" she said while pointing at the metal.

Vivi gave the fiend a smile, uncertain on how to react. "Eem, where have you heard of enirium?"

"What's… enrum?" Lucius asked.

Enirium. It's a mythical metal, Vivi thought. As in, it probably doesn't exist. Legends say that enirium is the strongest metal, while also conducting the most ether. It's supposedly the absolute perfect metal for runeswords. It's a heavenly pale white by appearance, but it's also known to change colors. Or so the legends say, at least. The only time you see it on the market is when scammers try to sell painted white obsidian as enirium.

"Oooh," Lucius said, tail wagging. "Did Eem find it?"

I doubt it, Vivi thought. I'm not sure what metal she found. I'm not a miner. But it looks like a rare metal nonetheless. It might be adamantite. We would need someone to mine and process it.

"Good job, Eem," Vivi said with a grin. She patted the fiend in the head. "How did you find this?"

"Miweww," Eem said, mimicking a pickaxe swing. She jumped up and down.

"A treasure hunter is what you are," Vivi said. "Can you smell metals underground or something?"

She tried to lift Eem, but the little fiend ran off. Vivi sighed but decided to play with Eem for a little bit. She chased, poking Eem in the cheek whenever she caught her.

By the latter half of the playtime, Vivi's muscles were getting tired to the point she needed ether just to keep up. She was hungry as well.

Vivi stopped the chase and moved into the lake. She caught a large fish for Eem to munch on and a few smaller ones for herself. She cleaned them and ate them cold before lying down underneath a small sapling.

With her body utterly exhausted, she fell asleep in seconds even without Lucius's help.

*

Vivi woke up to the sound of rainfall.

It was a light drizzle, far from the downpours Vivi was used to. But she could still feel water droplets tapping against her face. The earth wasn't muddy yet, but a pleasant scent of petrichor filled the air.

Vivi opened her eyes and sprung up to sit. "It's raining!"

Light rain clouds floated in Paradise. The air was still clear with light clouds, and the sun shone weakly, but there was rain. Vivi grinned wide and held out her arms. "It's really raining!"

Lucius floated beside her with a dissatisfied expression. "Well, that's annoying."

"It's raining, Lucius!" Vivi repeated. "Can you believe it!"

"Rain will get in the way of training," Lucius said.

Vivi watched the sky in awe. She almost wanted to cry.

"What?" Lucius asked. "Why do you look like that? This is awful weather for practice."

"This is amazing weather by Fellwater's standards," Vivi said. "The clouds are light. We won't see a downpour."

"Do you know what rain in Paradise means?" Lucius asked.

"What?"

"It means that a funeral is being held," Lucius said. "One of the hunters has died. A more influential hunter. A rainfall wouldn't be arranged for some newbie."

"Oh," Vivi said. Her smile fell for a second.

She looked at the clouds, letting rain droplets flow down her face and neck. "If Andre dies, do you think we'll get more rain?"

Lucius blinked at her. "Really? Some rain is what gets you excited to kill him?"

"That was a joke," Vivi said. "But the rain is pleasant."

"You're a weirdo, Vivi," Lucius said.

"You're even more of a weirdo for choosing me."

Lucius rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Let's get to practice."

He flew upright and crossed his paws, as if he was some genius mentor. "First lesson. When channeling ether, we require full concentration. You can't be distracted by silly things like rain."

Vivi put up the hood of her raincoat. "Done."

"And the second lesson…" Lucius put his paw on his cheek, thinking, and said, "Well, I don't know. Let's just start channeling."

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