For the next two weeks, the Hollow Phantoms locked the hidden dungeon. Members were forbidden from entering. Everyone had their own duties in Aang’s union. Ostensibly, everyone lived their lives as nimrods, while secretly preparing for the next cycle.

  The Hollows called this the end cycle—the period of time after the squadron bosses were killed and left respawning for the Stewards. Leaving the dungeon alone was important to ensure that every tunnel and cavern respawned properly. Sometimes merely stepping into a room and alerting monsters could intervene with the brewing process. Aang wanted the hidden dungeon to appear as natural as possible when the Stewards eventually hunted the bosses.

  Without the hidden dungeon, Vivi’s life became far less chaotic. Days passed swiftly by the breeze of her schedule. She had something to do during every hour of her day.

  She woke up straight to Rohan’s fundamentals lectures, spending at least four hours every day practicing stances and basic sword swings. Scabbard practice lasted for a day and a half, thankfully stopping there, but Rohan’s lectures continued with the absolute basics.

  After sword practice, Alisa joined Vivi in her sleeping quarters to study the map of the underground, and to channel ether.

  “Channeling ether is a fancy term that wielders use,” Alisa had said on the first day of practice. “In practical terms, our goal is to utilize the powers of each wisp of ether to the maximum. Only so many wisps can fit into our muscles at once. The wisps that do fit must be used with care, lest their effects are inefficient.”

  Alisa leaned against the wall. “You and your spirit have been strengthening yourselves hastily, letting wisps get exhausted while barely utilizing a tenth of their full power. As a result, not only will your endurance in a fight suffer, the upper limit of your strength is greatly lower compared to someone who channels their ether with care and proficiency.”

  Alisa’s teachings made sense—enough so that even Lucius listened without growing bored. Her explanations weren’t long, and the tasks Vivi had to follow were simple. She was offered one simple rudimentary exercise to repeat until she got it right.

  That exercise included a single wisp of ether. Vivi was supposed to channel one wisp into her body, keeping it active for an hour. Not just active; Alisa instructed Vivi to use that wisp to empower every part of her body, starting from her heart and chest, moving into her fingers.

  The task was utterly impossible. During Vivi’s first few attempts, she couldn’t keep the wisp active for more than a few minutes. The wisp strengthened her chest and heart, exhausting itself before Vivi could even think about moving it to her fingers. Up until now, Lucius had simply filled her whole body with fractional wisps of ether, pushing more as wisps exhausted themselves.

  The difficulty made the exercise more enticing. Lucius and Vivi had to work together like a team of construction workers. Lucius was the support holding the ladder: he shaped wisps from his core, sending them to Vivi’s body. Vivi was the painter at the top of the ladder: her job was to control that ether inside her body, wielding it to the best of her ability. Problem was, Vivi could barely understand how wisps flowed within her. Up until now, Lucius had been in charge of both jobs.

  She continued practicing. A large chunk of Vivi’s days were spent sitting around in her bedchambers with her eyes closed, feeling wisps of ether flowing through her body. She had always felt each wisp flowing within her, powering her muscles, but she never knew how to interact with those wisps. Trying to touch the wisps was like trying to twist a river by splashing the moving water with her hands.

  The secret, it turned out, was not to interact with ether directly. Instead, Vivi was supposed to build a path for the wisps to take. She couldn’t grab a wisp with her consciousness, tossing it to a different part of her body. But she could guide the wisp through her body, flowing it across different muscles, as if building a new canal for a river.

  Vivi required two days to get this far. The wisp became exhausted seconds after Vivi tried to flow it anywhere at all, but Alisa claimed she was making good progress.

  During the last few hours of her second day, a distraction appeared. Eem. The fiend snuck into the bedchambers to practice with Vivi. Eem closed her eyes and tried channeling wisps of her own. Focused and serious, Eem looked cute more than anything. The fiend was a long way off from becoming a fighter, but Vivi was happy to see Eem trying her best.

  Channeling ether took another five hours of her schedule. Sword and channeling practice combined, Vivi’s schedule was almost filled already.

  She was left with five to six hours for everything else—to study the map and spend free time, as well as to perform mundane daily tasks such as eating. She was mostly free to do as she pleased for her last five hours.

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  Both of her teachers had held a speech about the importance of rest and leisure time. Knights and ether wielders were apparently prone to falling insane if they spent too much time practicing. It was important to not forget the life around which they were practicing.

  This was the one order Vivi struggled to follow—free time. She had never understood the appeal behind leisure. Doing nothing was not relaxing like others often claimed. Leisure itself was stressful. Even on the surface, most of her hours went into projects. If Vivi didn’t have runesmithing—if Grandpa was out of ether roots, for example—she practiced drawing or alchemy. How was Vivi ever supposed to clear her debt if she spent her hours doing nothing?

  There was one leisure that Vivi appreciated, however. The Union’s bathhouse. She visited it every day, submerging deep into the dungeon’s hot springs. Alisa and Eem were often there as well, sometimes Lydi and Feni. The alchemists always looked tired, while Eem and Alisa never seemed to run out of energy.

  Vivi watched from the side as Alisa threw a ball for Eem. The fiend dove after it. Eem popped out from underneath, tackling the ball into the air with her head.

  Alisa laughed. “Your horns will pop the ball, Eem. Be careful.”

  Eem wasn’t listening. She repeated the same trick three times in a row before the ball eventually made it back to Alisa. The assassin threw the ball again with a smile on her face.

  Vivi submerged deeper, nose barely above water. She wanted to talk to Alisa about channeling, and she wanted to ask for progress regarding the smithy Aang had promised to build. However, she wasn’t allowed to discuss those matters in the bathhouse. Members of the Union had free access. Four women were chatting on the other end of the hot spring.

  Suddenly, water splashed in front of Vivi. Eem’s figure appeared from below water, ball in hand. Eem gushed out in excitement, holding the ball for Vivi to throw.

  Vivi smiled at Eem and threw the ball. Eem splashed water on Vivi’s face as she dove after the ball.

  Vivi sighed, but her mouth quickly dipped back below water. There was a lot she needed to do. She almost wanted to ask Lucius to provide her another wisp of ether to keep practicing.

  “Vivi,” Alisa said. “You look stressed out.”

  Vivi flinched. She still couldn’t sense Alisa coming. The woman appeared next to her.

  “You’ve been practicing well,” Alisa said. “I haven’t seen you slacking once. Rohan has only good things to say about your progress. But you’re overworking yourself.”

  “I’m not,” Vivi said. “I feel like I haven’t worked enough. I used to regularly smith for twenty hours straight on the surface. Here, I’ve only practiced for ten hours. I could easily practice more. I don’t understand why you don’t let me.”

  Alisa leaned on the wall next to Vivi. They both watched as Eem played with the ball.

  “The feeling of not working enough is a symptom of overworking, Vivi,” Alisa said. “The amount of hours you spend practicing is not what decides whether you’ve overworked yourself or not. The hours spent not practicing are more important. Do you feel satisfied after you’ve spent hours training? Or do you feel as if you’ve failed, and that you need to work harder?”

  “I’m fifteen thousand ether in debt,” Vivi said. “I need to work hard. I will die if that debt isn’t paid.”

  “Fifteen thousand is a small sum in the long run,” Alisa said. “You’re already valuable enough for Aang to assist you with your debt. You have no reason to stress yourself over ether.”

  Vivi looked down. “And what about everything else?” She spoke quietly so that nobody around them could hear. She wasn’t allowed to speak of these matters here, but the bathhouse was busy enough that nobody would overhear. “The Stewards? Next cycle?” And what about defeating Serena? I still don’t know how to swing a sword properly…

  “You’ve grown more than you think, Vivi,” Lucius said. “Our reserves are higher now. That alone is enough to make us stronger than Serena. Add that with our practice, and we’re powerful. It just feels like you’re failing because there is always more to learn.”

  Alisa merely sighed. “We are a team, Vivi.”

  Vivi blinked. “Yes?”

  “The gang takes care of each other. If there is something you struggle at, you won’t be left alone. If there’s a monster you can’t defeat, Aang will slash it in half. You offer more value to the team than you think. Aang has high expectations of your work in a smithy, but even outside smithing, the ability to hide ether makes you incredibly powerful.”

  Vivi breathed in. Aang’s union had treated her better than Fellwater ever had. Nobody bullied her here. She wasn’t looked down on when she walked on the streets, and she wasn’t told her occupation was useless and outdated. It was the opposite. Aang had put aside his own projects to build a smithy for Vivi. She was excited for the smithy to be done.

  Something about the good treatment made Vivi nervous. As if the demons could see through Vivi any moment, deeming her a cursed child just like everyone else.

  Eem popped up from the water with her ball again. Alisa laughed, patting the fiend in the head.

  “Ivwi,” Eem said, holding the ball for Vivi.

  Vivi raised her eyebrows. Eem wanted her to throw the ball? She took the ball and threw it.

  “I’ll let you practice channeling before heading to sleep if you wish,” Alisa said. “Just make sure you do sleep.”

  “I’ve already been practicing before bed,” Vivi said. “Sorry.”

  Alisa looked at her. Then she sighed, smiling to herself. “You little imp. I admit, your practice has paid off. You’re learning fast. Aang is finishing up the smithy for the next cycle.”

  “Yes,” Vivi said.

  “The Stewards will be clearing the dungeon within the upcoming days,” Alisa said. “The moment it happens, your schedule will switch. Next cycle is planned to be the most eventful cycle in years. We’re planning on earning at least one skill.”

  Alisa stretched, standing up. “For now, there’s collection day to worry about. Rohan will take you and Eem there tomorrow. We’ll pay with transfer orbs, the stud ones. Then you’ll get back to practice. The end cycle will pass in a flash. Afterward, be prepared for the Hollows to turn your life back to insanity.”

  ***

  Alisa was right. The end cycle passed fast. Before Vivi could even notice, the Stewards gathered up in Zand, clearing the hidden dungeon and all its monsters.

  The next cycle began.