The mass rune accepted Vivi’s ether. The adamantite root didn’t grow heavier, as Vivi had expected. The mass rune was incomplete, and thus it wouldn’t show its effects.

But Vivi doubted it actually did nothing. Her ether had passed through its branches. The rune’s branches did something. They just didn’t ignite the rune.

Her heart thumped as her wisps made it through the first root, from the mass rune to the shockwave rune. The process wasn’t fast, but Vivi saw wisps flowing from the tip of the first root into the core of the second rune. The shockwave rune slowly filled up, and ether entered the second root.

Suddenly, the second root became heavy. So heavy that Vivi’s hand lost its balance, separating the two roots.

As her hand lowered by the heightened weight of the root, a light gush of air extruded from the root, hitting Vivi’s floor.

Her mouth hung open, gaping at the effects. Her heart raced. She glanced at Lucius.

“It works! Lucius, it works!” She swung lightly again, and a shockwave gushed out from the heavy root. “It’s enhanced by both mass and shockwave!

Lucius floated beside the root with a judging expression. His emotions stayed calm. “It doesn’t look very powerful.”

“It’s an experiment, Lucius,” Vivi said with an overjoyed chuckle. “And it’s a success! It’s just as I thought—wrapping up the rune, connecting it back to its core, is what ignites the rune. If you just don’t ignite, it can be shaped further!”

She crammed the experiment into spatial storage with hasty movements. She gulped one quick mug of water and tightened her boots, then ran out the door. Lucius flew to catch up and entered her core.

“Where are we going now?” he asked.

The science lab!

Vivi thought. Civar must see this. If he has already finished the rune combination to enhance speed, we can get to work on the ballistas.

The facets had darkened enough that the evening could be called night. Vivi wasn’t certain what time it was. During storm season, the clock could say whatever it wanted; Vivi would sleep only when she absolutely had to. A few construction workers were still present, inspecting the close-to-finished building behind the scaffolds.

Coshi wants to evacuate you, you know, Vivi thought. She buried the thought right away. Evacuations wouldn’t be happening. They would defend the city. She knew they could.

As Vivi was about to exit her home street, three people turned the corner. Vivi paused a step before bumping into them.

“Vivi?” one of them said, leaning back. It was Patryn, standing next to Freyven, and accompanied by a guardsman with a runesword.

“Oh, good timing!” Vivi said. “Are you here for the ballistas?”

“It’s a bit late.” Patryn rubbed the back of his head. “But we thought you’d be awake. You wanted to discuss improvements to the ballistas.”

“Yes!” Vivi said. “I came up with something very interesting. A new technology. We need to get to work immediately. Follow me!”

Without waiting, she continued her ether-fueled trot.

“Where?” Patryn shouted after her, realizing he wouldn’t be able to keep up with Vivi.

“The science lab!” Vivi called over her shoulder. “Tell them you need to meet Civar and I! See you there!”

The two shared baffled glances. When they jogged after her, Vivi was already crossing the next street, heading into a dirty alley of the Lowmoor district.

She made it to the science lab in five minutes. A guardsman was stationed before its closed doors, lounging and yawning. The lights inside the entrance hall seemed to still be on. Vivi was glad to see the scientists working overtime as well.

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The guardsman spotted her and fixed his posture. Seeing her dress, he quickly bowed. “Vivian Runeblessed, is it?”

Vivi nodded, still grinning and out of breath. Not from exhaustion, but from excitement. “Is Civar still here?”

“He is,” the guard said. He picked keys from his pockets and led Vivi inside.

The guard didn’t speak much. He walked behind Vivi like a bodyguard, or some sentry watching over her, rather than a guide. Lucius grinned within Vivi’s core as he studied the man. “He’s as stiff as a scared rat. You make him nervous.”

It’s common sense to be afraid of rich people, I guess, Vivi thought. Nevermind that, we have work to do.

She walked perhaps a little faster than what safety rules within a lab would have allowed as she burst through the door into Civar’s lab. “I figured it out!” she announced.

Scientists turned to her. Civar lifted his head from his blueprint. He had lumps under his eyes. It took him a moment to register what she’d said. “You figured out what?” he asked.

“Continuous runes!” Vivi said with a wide grin. She summoned the new experiment, holding the two roots together, and pushed ether through the mass rune. “It works, Civar!” she gushed. She demonstrated both runes working with a slight swing. “It’s heavy, and it shoots a shockwave!”

Civar rolled closer and focused on the stalk of the root. “You’re serious?” he asked. “You invented… rune combinations?”

“These aren’t just combinations,” Vivi said. “They’re continuous runes! We can craft a spree of runes, just like skill wisps do. We could create great runes with this!”

The lab fell silent. Civar stared at her contraption. Then he looked up at her. “Vivi, I’m not ready for this kind of teasing.”

“It works, Civar, I’m not joking,” Vivi said, lowering her volume. “It really works. My method with the ether roots is a bit clumsy, but I’ve confirmed it works. Rune continuity has been invented.”

The implications behind her words seemed too heavy for the room to handle. Everyone stood frozen in disbelief, unsure how to react, as if Vivi had told them the world was about to end.

“Holy shit,” Civar eventually said.

“Do you have the combination I asked for?” Vivi asked. “The one that enhances the speed of an object?”

“Ah, um, yes, I was just finalizing that,” Civar said. He rolled his chair to the table and picked up a piece of paper. “This is the final combination I came up with. It involved a total of seventeen runes. The core components are the wind elements, the multiple flow runes, and what’s called a push sub-element. It works in theory, though it obviously hasn’t been tested.”

“We can test it now,” Vivi said. “Someone bring me fifteen ether roots!”

The scientists looked at each other, still locked in disbelief.

“You heard her!” Civar said. “Bring her fifteen ether roots!”

The scientists rushed to action, while Vivi studied Civar’s string of runes. The logic behind it seemed quite simple. It started with a wind element—a sub-element of the shockwave rune, which essentially granted the shockwave its mobile properties, giving it speed—followed by a flow rune to immediately boost the effectiveness of the wind

elements. From there it moved to the push elements and a vigor sub-element. Vivi honestly wasn’t sure how the push element worked, but it was a sub-element of the mass rune.

“The wind elements amplify speed, and the push element is what dictates the direction,” Civar said. “In theory, it will give a little kick to whatever is being launched. Both runes are amplified with flow runes, after which they move to the vigor element, which hopefully offers stability to the flight instead of just speed. We then add more wind elements and more flow runes. Ah, and we use six flow runes and six wind elements since that’s the amount the skill wisp used. I’m merely copying it. I don’t know if this is optimal.”

“This could work,” Vivi said. “Let’s test it.”

The doors opened. Vivi turned her head to see Freyven and Patryn at the doors, escorted in by the same guard. The guard bowed and said, “These two claim they have business here.”

“Yes, thank you!” Vivi said. “Come in, please.”

Freyven and Patryn entered slowly, steps mildly nervous. They eyed their surroundings for a moment before facing Civar. They lowered their heads.

“Ah, Freyven Carlman, no?” Civar asked. “And you are…?”

“Patryn Ohnle,” he said. “You must be Civar Seinfield?”

“You know each other?” Vivi asked.

“We’ve shaken hands at events,” Freyven said. “I am honored to have met such a great scientist.”

“Likewise, for the head of the ballista makers,” Civar said with a light bow, though he did not stand from his chair.

Awkward silence followed, until Patryn spoke. “So, if I may ask, what precisely have we arrived here for?”

“Patryn, Frewell, explain our goal to Civar, please,” Vivi said. “And Civar, relay our research. We will work together to create a powerful weapon with continuous runes.”

“A weapon?” Civar asked. “This technology was invented today. It’s certainly not researched enough, or safe enough, to create weapons. Testing will require time.”

The mention of time made Vivi recall the earlier talk with Coshi. “There is no time. A working prototype needs to be completed in days, not weeks.”

Behind her, the scientists delivered a large sack of ether roots. Vivi held it from the bottom atop both her arms with her head over the sack. “I’ll test whether your string of runes works. If it does, we can incorporate it into a real design. Let’s get to work.”