Return of the Runebound Professor

Noah leapt into the air, sailing over the mutated Bleater as it dashed beneath him. Its hooves slammed into the dirt, leaving behind smoldering impressions on the ground as it passed. Twisting his body, Noah launched the orb of churning wind he’d formed at the creature’s back.

It missed, striking the ground and digging a furrow through it. The Bleater was so fast that Noah’s magic couldn’t keep up with it. Letting out a braying laugh, the monster turned back to face Noah and charged once again, aiming its horn for his chest.

Noah leapt again. Using Focal Quake was tempting, but something told him that the Bleater was incredibly unlikely to lose its footing. The monster had incredible balance for how long its legs were.

Must have some balancing springs in there somewhere.

Wind whipped past Noah as the monster passed beneath him harmlessly once more. It was fast, but Noah had fought other fast monsters before. And, more importantly, many of them seemed to have a very similar weakness.

Noah gathered static energy, then pulled his fingers apart, an arc of lightning forming between them. It leapt from his hand as the Bleater began to turn.

The spell struck the monster in the side, knocking it from its feet and splitting the air with a loud crack. Smoke rose up from the Bleater’s body as it tumbled across the ground, limbs flailing around it.

The things that run really fast in a straight line tend to be pretty bad at turning.

Noah pulled water from the air, gathering it in a blade before himself and sending it scything out. The Bleater leapt to its feet, lunging out of the way, but its speed was reserved for charging, not getting its ungainly body off the ground.

Water carved across the monster’s hind legs, severing them in a single slice. It screamed in pain and lunged at Noah, trying to impale him through the chest – but it met a wall of violent air instead.

The magic jerked its head to the side and Noah thrust a hand forward, sending a spinning drill of water straight into its neck. It carved through the Bleater and burst out the other side of its body, the spray painted red. The Bleater’s furious cry turned into a choking sputter.

Noah combusted some of the grass at his feet, drawing the smoke that rose up into a sharp blade. He flicked it forward, and the Bleater’s cries were abruptly silenced. The monster crumpled, its head severed from its body.

Only when energy trickled into Noah’s body did he allow himself to relax. The variant Bleater hadn’t been the strongest monster he’d fought against by any means, even though it was definitely stronger than the other Bleaters.

But, even as easily as it had gone down, the Bleater had given him a significant amount of energy for his Runes.

I guess Variants might not always be deadly, but they’re still much better to hunt than the normal monsters. And damn, I’m getting kind of good at this.

Noah walked up to the Bleater’s head and picked it up. He severed the horn with a slice of water, studying it in the moonlight. Rivers of faint red energy ran within it, pulsating faintly. A grin stretched across Noah’s face.

Ooh, this is going to be expensive. I can feel it in my bones. Kind of looks like a unicorn horn. Maybe I can sell it for more if nobody figures out that it’s actually from an ugly ass goat.

Noah slipped the horn into his travel bag. He scanned the area around him with his tremorsense to make sure nothing was in the immediate area, then took an instant to glance inside his mindspace.

What he found made his smile grow even larger. The energy from the variant Bleater had been the last push he needed. Every single one of his Rank 2 Runes had been filled. He did still have two duplicate Runes, but for the time being, he was confident he had enough to push up to the next Rank.

Noah drew his flying sword and tossed it to the ground, mounting it. He took to the skies, zipping away back toward camp. It was tempting to Rank up then and there, but the chance of something running him through while his eyes were closed was just too high.

About damn time I get around to doing this. I can’t wait to flex on Moxie and Lee.

Oh, and fix their Runes and heal them up too. But flexing first.

***

Contessa bent over, bracing her hands against her knees. Sweat dripped from her brow and her stomach rumbled in hunger. The sands of the Red Barren were like shining suns to her eyes, threatening to blind her with their bright color.

She raised a waterskin to her lips, tipping it back. Nothing came out. Contessa swore under her breath and shoved the skin back into her bag. It had been over a week since she’d started tracking Moxie’s steps.

The trail Moxie had left behind was so poor that Contessa could barely follow it. She’d never been the best tracker, and she’d lost the trail more times than she could count. By some stroke of mercy, she’d stumbled across a professor on Arbitage’s campus during her search that had actually run into Moxie while she’d been training.

The man was a creep, but he’d directed her toward the Red Barrens. That had gotten Contessa close enough for the small, Imbued bracelet on her wrist to start guiding her once more, but she was starting to wonder if it was just taking her in circles.

“I hate this job. It used to be so much better,” Contessa complained to herself as she trudged through the sand, desperately hoping that the tug she felt at her wrist was the bracelet picking up on Moxie’s and not her imagination. “Goddamn bastard interfering with everything and–”

Contessa’s throat prickled. She stiffened, jerking upright as she suddenly felt her Runes tremble.

“Who’s there?” Contessa called, spinning to look around the red desert as her heart started to race. She yelped as she suddenly found herself standing nose to nose with a young woman with long, silver hair. She couldn’t have been any older than seventeen. Contessa stumbled, falling flack onto her ass.

“That’s hardly a reaction fitting of a Torrin representative,” the woman said, pursing her full lips in a disappointed pout. Her face was heart shaped and – though Contessa would never say it to her face – beautiful.

“Who are you?” Contessa asked, scrambling to her feet and trying to keep the exhaustion from showing on her face. “Are you from the family?”

“What do you think? Do you see silver hair like this often?”

Contessa let out a relieved sigh. “Thank the gods. This assignment is torture. I don’t know where in the Damned Plains Moxie has gone off to.”

“That is, unfortunately, the reason I’m here,” the woman said with a weary sigh. “I’m supposed to be training right now, you know. Mom assigned me a job because you couldn’t do yours.”

Contessa’s brow furrowed. She’d thought knew everyone in the Torrin family’s main branch, but she didn’t recognize whoever this woman was. “I don’t think I recognize you. Who are you?”

“That’s to be expected. My name is Bria. Mom tried to make sure I kept things low. I’m not really interested in doing any of the boring stuff that the main branch typically does,” the girl said with a yawn. “Look, you’re taking way too long with this. You were supposed to report back already.”

“I’m working on it,” Contessa said, a flicker of anger passing through her eyes. She restrained it. Bria’s silver hair was more than enough to give her pause. As much as Contessa enjoyed claiming that she was part of the Torrin main branch, she was well aware that she was technically only just working for them.

The only true members of the main branch had silver hair – and the inverse went as well. Anyone without silver hair wasn’t part of the main branch. Whoever Bria was, she was highly ranked.

“Well, you aren’t working very well. I’m here to supervise,” Bria said. She rolled her eyes in annoyance. “I’m supposed to be training for that stupid survival exam right now, though. Maybe you’ve done me a favor. I was so bored.”

“You’re a student?” Contessa asked, blinking in surprise.

Bria smirked. She touched a hand to her hair and it flickered, turning pitch black. “Thought the only one the Torrins sent was Emily, didn’t you? I told you, I’m staying under wraps.”

“I see,” Contessa said, not seeing at all.

“I was told that Moxie is traveling with some people that aren’t part of the Torrin family,” Bria said. Something in her gaze shifted, turning predatory as a smile pulled at the corners of her lips. “That true?”

Yeah. She’s traveling with a goddamn demon.

“Yes,” Contessa said, swallowing heavily. “Just another professor and his students.”

“A Linwick, right?”

Contessa nodded.

Bria’s grin grew wider. “Now that sounds interesting. I’ve been dying to have a little fun. Mom told me that the Linwick was pretty unimportant in his family, and that his students were both Blacklisted. Is that also correct?”

Is she asking this just to test me?

“I believe it is.”

“Then nobody should care if anything happens to them.” Bria took a water skin from a travel bag at her side and drank from it, letting the water spill down her chin and drip onto the sand below. She ignored Contessa’s longing gaze and tossed the skin back into her bag. “Come on then, old lady. Take me to them.”

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