Matizu Writes

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 su...

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 compan...

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...

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, i...

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 f...

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, c...

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 Wolves

Triswyn and four wolves led Aang and Vivi through the double doors. The four wolves walked in a square for...

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 chap...

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. I...

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 ...

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...

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 pain in every part of her body. Her insides were just as bad. Throat squeezed shut and...

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 f...

Chapter 101 - Void Ether

Upon activation, the purple skill wisp disappeared from Vivi’s core. It didn’t dim out like Thorn Sword or 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 explosio...

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 port...

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 straggle...

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 an...

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 aro...

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...

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...

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...

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 wit...

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, creat...

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 he...

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 fra...

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,” Luci...

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 t...

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 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...

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 strengt...