Chapter 272 B4 Chapter 28 - Oversights

The good thing was that Liaf hadn’t caught Vivi faking anything. He just didn’t know what an enhancement string was. And thus, he also wouldn’t know that Vivi was not making one.

“It would make sense you haven’t heard of it,” Vivi said, “considering I’m the one who invented it less than a month ago.”

“So the rumors claim,” Liaf said curtly. “What does it do?”

“The simplest explanation is that it’s a method of creating great runes,” Vivi said. “An enhancement string allows multiple runes to take effect at once, and that’s achieved with ether roots linked in a sequence.”

Liaf didn’t look convinced. “To me your project looks like a single ether root carved into a mess.”

“It will be cut into pieces, and the runes are yet to be carved, of course.” Vivi sighed. The slight nervousness she felt was easily feigned as annoyance. “It’s unfinished.”

Liaf didn’t have any immediate rebukes. He glanced at the barrel, then back at Vivi, and asked, “And what is this project supposed to accomplish?”

Vivi batted an eye at Shilman. “Have you not told him?”

“We are aiming to launch a missile past the clouds, into outer space,” Shilman said in a perfectly flat tone.

Liaf blinked, raising his eyebrows. “I see… I’m afraid I don’t think that’s possible.”

“With all due respect,” Vivi said, “Liaf is an outside-carving runesmith. He hasn’t mastered inside-carving, let alone the enhancement strings. Asking him whether the idea will work is entirely useless. And I would appreciate it if you would not barge in unannounced. Vein-shaping requires concentration. Failures will cost ether, and more importantly, time. I’m already struggling to stay on schedule.” She wore an assertive face. “You already have proof that the enhancement strings are real. You visited Shivenar.”

Shilman didn’t look happy to be talked back to, but he also didn’t have arguments. “Well. Liaf Nevermoore. The best runesmith of Norfolm. What is your assessment?”

“I think,” Liaf said with a bow, “that this girl is crafting something beyond my understanding, sir. I won’t be of much help.”

“Thank you for your honesty,” Shilman said. “Vivian, my men will check up on you tomorrow morning. I expect great work from you.”

Vivi lowered her head as well. “I will not disappoint.”

The two exited the room. Vivi watched the door close cautiously, before collapsing to sit on her anvil. What a job…

Shilman’s aura left the building, now far enough that Vivi couldn’t sense him. She stretched, and continued working on her armor.

***

Shilman showed up for another checkup two days later, demanding to see the finished enhancement string in action.

“Of course!” Vivi said with a smile, eager to show him all the “progress” she’d made. She picked up the enhancement string of fourteen pieces of ether roots on her table. “As mentioned, the ether root has been cut into pieces, creating a combination of runes.”

Unlike her previous showcase, this enhancement string was perfectly operational and ready to be put into use—a showcase that she claimed took her two full days to put together.

Good thing she’d already had her fully operational slingshot launcher in spatial storage. Vivi took the enhancement string from that and left it on the table some hours ago in preparation for this checkup. In the meantime, she worked on her armor.

“This creation is supposed to simulate great runes?” Shilman asked.

“Each rune shapes ether in the order of the enhancement string,” Vivi said. “This one greatly amplifies the momentum of a projectile.”

The archmage seemed to be following. Lying about this probably wasn’t a good idea, especially since Shilman had resources to head to Shivenar, where the scientists could unknowingly bust Vivi. The enhancement string wasn’t a private concept.

“I would like to see a demonstration,” Shilman said.

“It won’t be safe in the smithy,” Vivi said. “But yes, it’s ready to be tested. Let me grab a missile.”

She walked to the shelf of ingots, placed her hand there, as if to pretend she was picking something up, except she summoned an outside-carved missile from spatial storage. If Shilman didn’t know how spatial storage worked, it was best to keep it a secret. Or if he did know how it worked, Vivi thought she shouldn’t reveal anything that was in there.

“Do you have a warehouse to test it in?” Vivi asked. “Outside, it might stray off. Here, it might bounce and break parts.”

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“You may shoot it directly at me, right now,” Shilman said.

Vivi raised her eyebrows. “You’re serious?”

Ether escaped from his aura and formed a shield in front of him. He forced thousands into it, until the shield began leaking. In the end, at least ten thousand wisps must have been concentrated in the thin glass-like shield, much more than what Shield Of Nature could hold.

“I will gauge the strength of your projectile,” Shilman said. “Worry not, you will never pierce this shield.”

That shield wasn’t even close to levelstone in terms of strength. Shilman stood behind it, telling Vivi to shoot him.

Is this a test? Vivi thought.

Lucius watched the situation from the side, thinking. “Let’s shoot him dead right now.”

Vivi was inclined to agree. This opportunity was too good to pass up. If Shilman was overconfident, he’d die and that would be it. If he had a trick to test Vivi…

It was worth the risk. Go full force, she thought.

That meant she’d need to reveal spatial storage to him. She summoned her slingshot launcher, “This is my old design,” Vivi said. “It’s not nearly strong enough to shoot anything to the sky. But it’s a proof of concept. I’ll need a few more weeks to finish your version.”

Shilman grinned, not one bit concerned about Vivi revealing that she’d already had a slingshot launcher with her. “Shoot it at full force,” he said.

Vivi summoned an inside-carved missile, armed the launcher, and applied the enhancement string. This time, she didn’t hammer the missile to ascend it further. Just an inside-carved missile would be enough to pierce Shilman’s shield.

“Here it comes,” Vivi said. She aimed directly at his chest. After a short hesitation, she fired.

Her ears blew up as Shilman’s shield shattered like glass, the missile piercing not only that but the wall behind the shield. The crush runes hit the building, blowing the smithy’s wall into stone dust.

With her ears ringing, she didn’t realize the roof was collapsing on her until a slab of stone was about to land on her head. She filled herself with ether, dropped her slingshot launcher to spatial storage, and raised her hands. With a maxed out aura, her stance barely kept her standing under the rubble.

She pushed the slab off of her and avoided breathing, surrounded by clouds of stone dust. The entire smithy was a ruin. The forge was shattered to pieces under rubble, with metal ingots scattered around her on the ground.

Is he dead? she asked.

She couldn’t see any blood. The shield had for sure been destroyed. There was no way Shilman would have had the reaction time to dodge. If he had truly been standing behind it without illusions, he was dead.

“You knew it would have killed me,” a man’s voice said next to her.

Vivi flinched and flared her aura, immediately activating her void core. Her world went dark.

There he was, a few paces away from her, entirely unscathed. Vivi felt a chill and prepared to summon Dawnpour. This was it. She’d ruined it.

He wrote with his finger once again. “Stop.”

Vivi paused.

Shilman’s aura didn’t seem hostile. If anything, he seemed ecstatic. His aura pulsed with his heartbeat. “Call it off.”

I can’t beat him, Vivi thought. She just wouldn’t be strong enough, not without armor. Even with the armor completed, Vivi wasn’t certain. This had been a huge mistake.

Last time, Shilman hadn’t killed her. Maybe he wouldn’t now either. She felt like calling off void ether was her only option.

She forced the core shut. Eyesight returned, and she was faced with Shilman’s brimming, mad grin as he examined the destruction. The rubble extended into the next hallway with adjacent rooms destroyed as well. No sky was revealed above the roof. It seemed the smithy had been built in a cave. The only remaining light came from the still-simmering emberstones.

“Amazing,” he said. “This destruction, this power, the enhancement string is the real deal.”

His grin turned to Vivi. A cold chill ran through her spine.

“It is good to know where we stand,” Shilman said. “You’ve created the weapon I demanded of you. You’ve put your all into work. But when given an option, you will kill me. You work for me, yet you prefer to see me dead.”

Vivi lowered her head. “I apologize. You’ve caught me.”

“You aren’t the only subordinate who wants me dead,” Shilman said. “Remember, you cannot kill me. You will be rewarded. And you will complete this project.”

He still thinks I’m creating the weapon, Vivi thought. The most important lie was still intact. If she didn’t die now, the plan could continue.

“I want to live a simple life,” Vivi said. “I never wanted to be involved in this. I apologize for trying to escape by killing you. I won’t try it again. I understand that the best way out is to help you.”

Shilman kept grinning. “Smart girl. You are the best type of ally to have around, Vivian.”

“I require two more days to complete the finalized launcher, sir,” Vivi said.

“I will arrange a new smithy for you,” Shilman said. “You will continue work today. Now, do not resist.”

Shilman once again zapped Vivi’s core unconscious for an unknown amount of time.

***

The time asleep felt like a few minutes to her. She still remembered the details of the previous conversation as if it had just happened.

The new smithy she woke up in was close to identical to the one she’d worked in previously, to the point Vivi thought she’d gone back in time for a second. But the table was a different shade of wood, and the door was on the opposite side.

“Two days,” Shilman said. “I will return for the final time then. This room is still warded. You are still tracked. Do not attempt anything stupid.”

She lowered her head. “It will be done in two days.”

Shilman seemed satisfied enough. Water and dried bread with jerky had already been left on the table. If all went well, she could be done with this in two days.

“I expect great results, Vivian,” Shilman said. “Soon, we will meet.”

He closed the door, leaving her in the smithy. She stared at the door and waited for his aura to go away.

She let out a long sigh and collapsed to sit on the anvil, holding a hand on her forehead. “What a mess…”

Lucius added ether to the emberstones, already knowing she’d want the place heated up. “He had a nice trick. I think he used an illusion behind the wall. His figure looked hazy through the shield. He could have very well projected that with ether, while concealing his real aura.”

“And we fell for it like total idiots,” Vivi said.

Her armor was almost complete. She had the breastplate and arms entirely done. The greaves and helmet would be an issue, but she was fairly sure she could complete them in two days.

Her worry was, “Will we even beat him with armor?”

“That earlier trick didn’t display any strength,” Lucius said. “Void ether would have caught him immediately.”

Vivi bit her lip. “True enough… He’s not invincible. He knows tricks, but he’s not very smart.”

“We’ll do this,” Lucius said, looking confident. “We’ll kill him, rescue your friends, and hire teleporters to Shivenar.”

Vivi smiled at his expression. “They’re also your friends, Lucius.”

She stood, stretched, and started work on the helmet.