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. ...

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 defens...

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 rum...

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 thi...

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...

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 onwar...

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 do...

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 get...

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. ...

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. M...

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...

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 ...

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 alre...

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.

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 shou...

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. Surg...

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 h...

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....

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 a...

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. ...

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 a...

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 flash...

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.

In...

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 u...

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...

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...