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Chapter 48: Escape
Vivi flinched awake.The room was dimly lit by a lone candle. The low ceiling was uneven and burrow-like. A greyed-out carpet covered the floor. The wooden door had a boot-sized gap at the bottom. The room was cramped and the air was musty. With Zand’s standards, however, the place was surprisingly inviting.Vivi tried to move her arms. Her wrists were tied behind her back with cold metal. Same wi...
Interlude 1 - Storm Forecast
The surge was supposed to hit on the sixteenth hour. Three minutes ago. As usual, the forecast was slightly off.Scanners had sensed ether welling within the area three days prior. From there, the news of an oncoming surge spread, and defense duty was placed into auction. The hunting company that paid the most gained the rights to deal with the surge as they wished.Any minute now… Essi thought. S...
Chapter 47: Never Special
Lucius, are you alive…? Vivi asked. Her thoughts were calm considering the situation. The world seemed to move slowly. Nothing around her was clear.The crawling skeleton smashed its wings at the columns. The ground underneath rumbled, and bits of stone fell from the ceiling. The column didn’t fall in one hit, but Vivi wasn’t confident her cover would hold. The skeleton raised its wing for an...
Chapter 46: Wraith Skeleton
Vivi looked up and met the gaping eyeholes of the boss monster.The boss was a giant skeleton. Its bones were glued to the ceiling. Or rather, they were a part of the ceiling, embedded into the stone. The skeleton had a large skull and a thick rib cage. It had no legs or a pelvis. Rather, its spine was extended like a lizard’s tail. Its arms were wing-like and made of sharp, sword-like bones.The ...
Chapter 45: Ravening
The hardwood planks continued down, dead kerosene lamps lining the path. The planks below her creaked under her steps. Few weeds attempted to grow from the stone ground. None flourished. The creepy tunnel resembled the free dungeon with its subtle yet constant hostility in the air.In the free dungeon, the hostile air came from nimrods watching Vivi. Most demons didn’t care to hide their stares. ...
The Ethersmith Relaunching Today!
I have finally finished book 2, as well as the rewrite of book 1! Here's the new cover.Chapters will start dropping after the Royal Road page is up (currently pending, can take up to 48 hours...). Patreon will receive chapters from 45 onward. If you wish to re-read the start of the book, chapters 1-45 will be up on Royal Road after the RR page is approved by mods.Re-write patch notes:Chapters ...
The Last 6 Chapters
Author note:Warning, these chapters end on a bit of a cliffhanger, and they're not edited. But I was reminded to drop them, so here they are.Chapter 5 - The WolvesTriswyn and four wolves led Aang and Vivi through the double doors. The four wolves walked in a square formation around Aang and Vivi, blocking their escape. Triwsyn led the group at the front.Technically, the wolves didn’t have th...
Rewriting & Hiatus Announcement — Please Unsubscribe!
I'll make this short. The Ethersmith will go on hiatus. Royal Road paused today, and Patreon will be following suit after 6 more chapters.I took the book into a direction I hate, and if I continue with daily releases, the story won't be getting any better. I feel like I'm posting junk chapters every day. Vivi has been completing everything in easy mode ever since chapter 45.The daily c...
Chapter 106 - No Longer Nimrods
A puddle of blood was forming under the body. His eyes were lifeless, but his skin still retained color. A sword or a spear had pierced his heart. He had died less than an hour ago.The victim was a dwarf, wearing an awfully familiar tunic. Vivi froze, realizing she recognized this dwarf. It was Aruid. One of the apprentices from Axback’s smithy.“Vile.” Aang’s forehead was wrinkled. “But ...
Chapter 105 - The New Zand (Part Two)
The Union’s hub was a lot more crowded than usual. A gloomy bunch resided within. Demons of all sorts were spread across the stone. Some had groundsheets underneath, but most simply lay or sat on the stone next to their weapons and belongings. Most looked bored, or dissatisfied, as if about to snap at any moment.A select few were working. Blacksmiths were smithing steel blades, offering them to ...
Chapter 104 - The New Zand (Part One)
The next time Vivi woke up, she felt a lot better. The crushing pressure all over her body had calmed down. Her head was clogged, but mostly normal. Her hands were tired and heavy to lift, but she could move them without pain. And most importantly, there was no active ether strengthening her from the inside.Vivi was determined right away. She was no longer sick. However long she’d rested, it was...
Chapter 103 - Pain
It felt as if a thousand steel plates were stacked on top of her, crushing her against a hard surface. Her limbs were strapped down and nailed. Her head pounded, panicked from the absurd amount of painin every part of her body. Her insides were just as bad. Throat squeezed shut and dry as a desert, stomach about to explode from the inside.“Ah, you’re awake!” an enthusiastic voice said beside...
Chapter 102 - Book 1 Epilogue
Vivi was passed out for what felt like an eternity. She didn’t think she’d ever wake up. The exhaustion, the fighting… She had abused ether far beyond what human bodies could withstand.Her earlier runesmithing spree some days ago already left her groggy, when she abused ether for a few hours to finish a sword. Back then, she spent a some loose hundred wisps, and she didn’t take any blows o...
Chapter 101 - Void Ether
Upon activation, the purple skill wisp disappeared from Vivi’s core. It didn’t dim out like Thorn Swordor other skills. Death Sense broke apart completely. Her second skill slot was freed, as if nothing had ever been there.Vivi was prepared for the skill to cast explosions. But nothing seemed to happen. Vivi’s sword didn’t gain a coating, and nothing crumbled to bits around her. She didn...
Chapter 100 - The Steward
Vivi's danger senses flared. Uundref’s spectral portal appeared beneath her. The Steward was trying to kidnap her!She tried to jump out, but her footing was already lost. She was falling into the portal. She grabbed onto the edge and shouted for help. She managed to hold on, but the portal's pressure made it hard to hold on. Her body was being ripped apart, pulled with extreme force from...
Chapter 99 - Overwhelmed
Hundreds of reanimated monsters filled hub. Death rabbits destroyed buildings, crushing stalls to bits. Merchandise and rubble were scattered everywhere from the destruction. Ether sticks were walking around, lazily attacking anything nearby. Surge hounds chased nimrods in packs, killing stragglers. Clawed spiders pillaged anything that was left behind.Screams sounded from all around. Nimrods ran,...
Chapter 98 - Chaos
Aang carried Lydi on his shoulders back the way they came. Vivi followed with a steady step. She stood only with the power of ether. Without it, her muscles would have collapsed.With the boss cleared, the main dungeon had transformed. The hellish castle transformed back into an ordinary ancient castle. The lava became water, and the ethereal magma turned to daylight gems. All monsters, including t...
Chapter 97 - Defiance
Vivi waited for death to come.The Death Tyrant’s minions inched toward her. The scarlet claws had killed everything in her immediate surroundings, but the remaining skeletons were walking toward her. The air was filled with flying skulls. Some were flying toward her, but most floated around aimlessly, covering the ceiling.Soon, she would be mauled alive. Aang and Lydi were nowhere to be seen. Th...
Chapter 96 - Scarlet Claws
Author note:There were some formatting issues with the last chapter. Should be fixed now. Sorry about that. Patreon's text editor has been a pain in the ass to work with after their latest update screwed up importing chapters.As an apology, here's an extra chapter, since that's what you guysare here for lol.Vivi’s jump landed on the Death Tyrant’s rib. Each rib was as large as a hu...
Chapter 95 - Death Tyrant
The Death Tyrant examined its playing field. The upper half of the giant skeleton’s body poked out from the hole in the ground. Its upper body was over forty feet tall, towering over Vivi. Each one of its fingers was the size of her greatsword. The weight of its limbs would be enough to crush a building.And that was without taking ether into account. As Lucius found his way back to Vivi’s core...
Chapter 94 - Lies
Something splashed on Ven’s face.The room was dark. Twisted and blurry figures stood over him. What was going on? It wasn’t like Ven to fall asleep where he shouldn’t. His core was full of ether. This wasn’t good. He’d be caught as a breaker. He tried to lift his hands. His limbs were weak, and his hands wouldn’t move.Another bucket of ice-cold water splashed on his face, jolting Ven a...
Chapter 93 - Open The Seal
Vivi ran out of ether. Two balls of concentrated ether shot directly at her.Everything around her became harder to see. Objects and enemies moved faster. The grouping of skeletons in the middle of the room looked like a blurry mess of flashes of light. She couldn’t make out Aang from within the fray. Without ether empowering her, Vivi lost her senses. She was back to a lost child—a useless paw...
Chapter 92 - Ambush
Alisa concealed her aura.She focused exceptionally hard, making sure not one wisp escaped from her hold into the outside world. Hundreds of active wisps strengthened her body, each one attempting to ooze out to create a large aura.Inside her core sat a grouping of black ether, created by reversing the effect of active wisps. Black ether didn’t push ether outward. Rather, the wisps ate power from...
Chapter 91 - Skeleton King
“Lucius!” Vivi shouted. The spirit’s red translucent figure was dragged from the tail deeper into the castle. He flailed with his claws, but the captor didn’t seem to take damage. It was a jester of sorts, colorful hat jingling as it ran upstairs.Thoughts raced in Vivi’s head all at once. The portcullis wasn’t opening, and it was too tough to break through. The jester was too nimble to...
Chapter 90 - Hell Castle (Part Two)
Enemies surrounded Vivi. Archers to the right. A rigor-runed skeleton to the left. An assassin directly ahead. She felt hostile ether behind her as well.Lucius panicked within her, shouting orders. Vivi didn’t hear them. She didn’t have time for hesitations. Stopping for a fraction of a second would have led to her death. Attempting to defend would have led to her death. She couldn’t block f...
Chapter 89 - Hell Castle (Part One)
How deep are we now?Vivi asked in her head. The glow between bricks had turned yellow, slowly growing hotter as they descended. The world’s levels, I mean. We must be near the eighth or ninth level, right?“We’re probably still above the eight,” Lucius said. “The main dungeon moves mostly laterally. Still, I’m surprised by the size of this descent. This is already the second largest dun...
Chapter 88 - Calamity
The next room down had archers.The hall was long. At the far end, castle towers were integrated into the wall, spanning from the ground all the way to the ceiling. Arrows shot from the holes in the tower. To reach the towers, attackers had to cross a stone bridge, narrow enough that only two could stand side-by-side. Spikes awaited in the moat below.Spectral arrows shot forth before the group coul...
Chapter 87 - The First Level
Vivi stepped into the main dungeon.A low-hanging spectral chandelier welcomed her to a broad chamber filled with caskets and coffins. Stone bricks were arranged in patterns on the well-maintained floor. An ice-blue glow radiated faintly from between each brick. The glow was brightest in the middle of the floor, growing weaker as it traveled to the edges and up the walls.The glow was bright, but th...
Chapter 86 - Goodbyes
The moment Vivi exited the lair, stepping down to the hidden dungeon, Aang grabbed her hand and pulled her to the shadowed corner of the cavern. She stayed silent and listened.Two pairs of calm but steady footsteps approached from the upper tunnel. A deep man's voice spoke. “The Stewards been complaining about the lack of skill drops for years now.” He sounded amused. “This whole time, t...
Chapter 85 - Abyss Destroyer
Vivi bathed in the feeling of relief for a few minutes longer, lying on the ground. The vein-shaping was done. She’d completed the most complicated set of veins of her career yet. Looking at her project, Vivi couldn’t believe she’d come up with such an insane design. Getting the strengthrunes to extend all the way to the edges turned out to be far more difficult than she imagined.Lucius was ...
