I can see it.

The flow of ether moved within Vivi's consciousness. A school of wisps swum like fish in the river of her blood, enhancing everything they passed. Vivi guided the flow calmly, as if shaping a canal within the sixth realm. Wisps could not be directly interacted with; channeling ether had more to do with manipulating the wisps' surroundings.

Vivi zoomed in on the active wisps, studying their structure. The sight confirmed what she had suspected ever since her first channeling session in Zand's dungeon. Active wisps worked much like runes. The ignited wisps burned active—specifically, one branch of each wisp burned. Whether that be a strength branch or a swiftness branch. When Lucius shaped a wisp into Vivi's body, all he really did was activate one of the wisp's branches.

In a way, Vivi could think of herself as an oversized runesword, while Lucius was like a rune. Her spirit shaped ether into a form her body could use. And Vivi's job was to ensure that the ether wouldn't be wasted. To channel ether, to turn her body into an efficient container for ether to strengthen.

"You're definitely getting better," Lucius said. "We're past the halfway mark to the first elevation. I think."

What even counts as an elevation? Vivi asked, while continuing to guide the flow of wisps. Her eyes were closed to focus. You mentioned that my core doesn't actually grow bigger?

"The elevations are closer to titles than actual evolutions, yes," Lucius said. "But elevations are official. The demigods decided upon the criteria for each elevation thousands of years ago. Examinations exist to officially confirm the progress of your core."

So the elevations are just a way to measure proficiency? Vivi asked.

"Pretty much, yes," Lucius said. "A first elevation hunter must know how to channel at least a thousand wisps within their body at once. The elevation will be officially granted if you can manage to simply control all thousand wisps in any fashion simultaneously. It's enough if you can just touch and feel them. From there, the path to the second elevation is honing down that control. The second elevation will be granted once all thousand wisps are simultaneously empowering multiple parts of the body at once."

Sounds arbitrary, Vivi thought with a smile. Or maybe it's just your explanation?

Lucius pouted at that. "This was decided by the four demigods, Vivi."

So that would be Ythar, the demon demigod… Ingfried, and…?

"Ingfried is not a demigod," Lucius said. "He's just a King. The demigod above him is Noxbryn. Although, Noxbryn has been away from the public for at least a thousand years now. Then there's Sylvina and Zenhar. I don't think anyone knows where those two are."

Vivi felt like she should have already known this information. Schools in Fellwater taught a lot about Ythar, but very little about the other three demigods. Even her knowledge of Ythar conflicted with itself. Priests forced her to frequently pray underneath Ythar's statue in the church, claiming that their god was watching Vivi's every word, yet the same priests cursed freely using Ythar's name.

I was taught that Ythar is an omnipotent and immortal god, Vivi thought. He provides strength to ether hunters. It's due to his protection that the humans can live peacefully on the surface. Praying to him is a necessity, and those who disobey his rule will be punished.

"That's quite accurate, though the last part has a caveat," Lucius said. "Ythar doesn't keep track of every human in his kingdom. He's too lazy to watch over his followers. He doesn't even keep track of what his ether hunters do. Any demigod has the power to kill those who they don't like, but it's not like demigods are actively watching every little critter in their kingdom. Nobody will be rewarded for worshiping Ythar, and nobody will be killed if they don't pray. That's simply because Ythar just isn't watching."

I see, Vivi thought. So essentially, the demigods don't concern us in any way?

"Yes, as long as they're asleep," Lucius said. "The storm season is much more threatening."

Right.

Vivi focused back to channeling. Lucius added more wisps, and Vivi played around with them. She had around five hundred wisps in her flow of channeling. That was starting to become too much. Wisps escaped, jumping out of the grouping and bouncing out of her body while they were still ignited.

Beads of sweat dripped down her forehead. The sun in Paradise was especially hot today. Vivi had started her session underneath the shade of a tree with the hood of her raincoat up. She opened her eyes and found that the tree's shadow had shifted. The sun scorched at just the right angle to pour sunlight directly at Vivi.

With her eyes open, her control within the sixth realm was distracted. Controlling the flow of wisps became difficult. More began slipping from her canal. Shaping the canal itself became difficult. Lucius's head perked up from Vivi's lost control.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Vivi let go of the wisps completely and sighed. Ether flowed within her uncontrollably before quickly flowing out, clouding the air around Vivi. Really, she was like a leaking runesword. "We'll have to practice with our eyes open with distractions next time. Channeling is useless if I forget how to do it the moment a fight starts."

Lucius floated out of Vivi's core. "That's it for today's practice, then?"

"I'm starting to lose focus," Vivi said. "And I'd like to receive some deep rest as well. There's a lot we need to do on the fifth level as well."

Lucius nodded. "Good progress. Should I cut the connection?"

Vivi was about to say yes, but caught her thoughts. There was still one thing she had to do in Paradise.

I… Vivi thought. I think I should try to see a void wisp again. If too much flows in, please cut the connection.

Lucius's expression darkened slightly. "Okay. Let's go. I'll make sure nobody is watching."

Vivi moved to the left, where the tree now offered shade. She closed her eyes and focused on her void core. Within were a total of 5981 void wisps, around a thousand of which were still inactive from the monster transformation incident. Vivi hadn't used a single void wisp in the real world after that, and she hadn't collected any more.

In Paradise, however… She had to practice. She had promised to herself not to let them loose again.

Even though the void wisps terrified her, even though the brilliant void realm always threatened to take control of her, Vivi tapped lightly into her void core, offering a tiny opening for the wisps to squeeze through.

Immediately, every wisp within wished to invade her body. Vivi closed the hole into the void core with force. She hoped one or two void wisps would flow in.

Eighteen entered. The bloodstream where live ether had flowed calmly minutes ago turned dark as a violent rush of obsessive wisps filled Vivi's sixth sense with uncontrollable sensations.

The feeling was still euphoric. As always, the void realm made Vivi feel powerful, like she could defeat any monster that tried to kill her. In low amounts, she didn't turn into a monster. Her body was merely damaged from the inside, as if she was abusing a drug.

Vivi fought back against the euphoric feelings and the instincts to fight anything around her. She instead focused inside her own body, at the void wisps. She tried to zoom in.

Despite her improved sixth sense, keeping up with the void wisps felt impossible. Each void wisp flowed like a violent gust of wind—one that was trapped in a jar, where it bounced from wall to wall uncontrollably and rampantly. Catching or guiding the void wisps was like trying to catch a fly with bare hands, if that fly could also pass through Vivi's grasp as if her hand was made of nothing at all.

Zooming in to see the void wisps was equally as hard. Vivi's best strategy so far was to simply zoom in near her chest and to wait for one of the void wisps to pass. At the speed at which they moved, a wisp frequently surged past. Vivi had caught glimpses of ethereal structures a few times, but seeing a clear picture of a void wisp's inner structure was still a far way off.

I can't think of any solutions for controlling these… Vivi thought.

"Is controlling the void wisps even necessary?" Lucius asked. "The void core works well as a last resort. We don't need to learn to use it daily."

I'm not necessarily looking to channel the void wisps, Vivi thought. I'm just hoping to study their structure. I believe we could make runes out of void wisps. Perhaps the void wisps could be studied and observed scientifically.

Lucius paused at the thought. "A runesword? Out of void ether?"

I'm not sure if that's possible, Vivi thought. I'm mostly looking to just understand the void wisps. I don't want to live in fear of them every day. If there's a way to stop them from taking control of me, or a way to transfer them out of the void core, I want to learn it.

The void wisps slowed down as their powers diminished. Vivi's eyesight slowly returned. This was her chance. She zoomed in and chased after the dimming void wisps. Following them was still difficult, as she had no control over their path, but now it was at least possible. She struggled for a few seconds, searching, waiting for wisps to pass, and ready to follow them.

There! Vivi threw her focus onto a wisp, following its trajectory. She focused her eyes and looked.

What she saw was broken structures, a mess of ethereal branches clumped together, like a crushed spider web of complicated pieces, the ends of which were burning down, disintegrating to ether. Vivi saw it clearly for a second until the wisp escaped. That was the longest she'd managed to see a void wisp so far.

That's… a problem.

"What did you see?" Lucius asked, voice excited. "Did you find any runes?"

The wisp broke, Vivi thought. It was a mess. The branches didn't make any sense. I couldn't identify anything.

"But you did see it?" Lucius asked.

Yeah, Vivi thought. I guess that confirms that void ether has its own structure. It seems to be much more complex than regular wisps.

"So…" Lucius said, holding a paw on his chin, pretending like he understood what he was talking about. "That means you'll keep trying?"

I doubt I can figure anything out with this strategy, Vivi thought. We've already tried the same thing over and over again. We need a new approach for studying void ether. What if we ask Coshi?

Lucius raised his eyebrows. "I thought you didn't want to reveal your void core to others."

I still don't, Vivi thought. More specifically, we could ask Coshi if one of her scientists has a drawing of a void wisp. An ether scientist. Ah, and while we're at it, I also want to meet someone who's knowledgeable with skills. I'd like to discuss the possibility of artificially crafting skills. I can see a skill's structure, after all. Maybe that's useful.

Lucius seemed uncertain. "I still don't know what you mean by seeing a skill, but I guess we could ask a scientist, sure."

If nobody can help us, we need to seek out research papers. Perhaps someone has already tried both of these things.

"Hmm, research papers, yes," Lucius said, nodding, though he did not sound excited. "I love translating research papers, Vivi."

For now, we have another two orders for three-runed swords to complete, Vivi thought. Take me to sleep. The final storm forecasts should arrive tomorrow.

The connection to Paradise was cut, and Vivi enjoyed the few hours of sleep her insane schedule had time for.

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