Return of the Runebound Professor

As soon as Noah and Lee stepped out of the room, the door slammed shut behind them. Lee’s body rippled and she shrank back down, returning to her normal appearance. She pulled at her torn clothes and frowned. Luckily, Noah wasn’t all that much larger than she was, but they’d still ripped slightly at the seams.

“What is happening?” Brayden demanded, looking from Noah to Lee. “I feel like I’m having visions. Are you Lee? Is Lee–”

“Lee is Lee, especially when others are concerned,” Noah said, cutting Brayden off.

How am I supposed to tell you that your brother is dead? I can’t keep this act up forever. Eventually, I’m going to slip up and you might genuinely be the only person in existence that would even care.

“Then…” Brayden gestured vaguely in their direction. “An illusion? Shapeshifting of some sort?”

“You tell me. Not many have this many puzzle pieces,” Noah said. “You know why I was at Arbitage and what we were working toward.”

Brayden slowly closed his mouth, looking at Lee with a growing frown. He glanced back to Noah. “It’s her, isn’t it? She’s the… you know.”

The demon? Not the one you’re thinking of.

“Not my place to say,” Noah said with a shrug. “Ask Father if you really want to know, but Lee’s on my side.”

“Does it matter?” Lee asked. “Nothing has changed.”

“No, I suppose it hasn’t,” Brayden said, scratching his chin. “You sure you can’t just say what’s going on? I’m so confused.”

“Maybe after everything has settled down,” Noah suggested. “Until then, Father said you’d take us back to our lodgings. I’m pretty exhausted after that talk, so I’d love to settle in for the rest of the day.”

Brayden blinked, then nodded. He gestured for them to follow after him as he headed up the stairs. “Of course. Sorry, I forgot how things can be. I haven’t spoken much to Father as of late, but I know what you mean. Follow me. There should still be a room in the mansion for you.”

“Actually, I’ll be staying with Lee, Todd, and Isabel,” Noah said. “I’ve still got my teaching duties to uphold, you know.”

“Right. It’s so easy to slip back into role as an enforcer for the Linwicks that I forget you’ve got your own roles now,” Brayden said with a chuckle. They headed out of the mansion and set off along the street, passing by a group of armored guards. “So how long will you be staying?”

“Not sure yet,” Noah replied. “I’m still just planning on two weeks, but we’ve still got some time until the survival exam. We’re going to have to get a little outside practice in before then, and I don’t want to be away from Arbitage for too long. I just want to make sure–”

“Everything is good with Father.” Brayden nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know how much free time I’m going to have while I’m here, but maybe you can loosen up now that your guard doesn’t have to be quite so high.”

Noah just cocked an eyebrow. Brayden rolled his eyes.

“Fine, fine. Keep the stick up your ass. Just make sure you get a little rest. If you don’t, Father is going to bleed you dry.”

Brayden’s words sounded like they came from experience, and Noah didn’t doubt him for a second. The three of them arrived at the house that Noah had just slipped out of a few minutes before.

“Here we are,” Brayden said. “Lee’s in the top room. Isabel and Todd are on the lower floor. There are some extra rooms, so you can take your pick. I’ll try to carve some time out for dinner, but I’ve got no idea what Father’s plans are. He’s going to want to give me my orders for my next task, and I do still have to figure out a coverup for the Hellreaver. Maybe we’ll just get a replacement monster sent over and brush over the whole thing. Not sure if Arbitage will take that as an answer, though.”

Brayden trailed off, rubbing his chin. He blinked and shook his head, suddenly remembering that Noah and Lee were still standing there.

“No need to wait on me,” Brayden said, shaking his head. He raised his hand in farewell and strode off down the street, turning a corner and vanishing from sight – though Noah could still hear Brayden’s heavy steps for a few seconds after losing sight of him.

“How did I do?” Lee asked, walking up to the door. “I tried to avoid saying too much.”

“Perfectly,” Noah replied as they walked inside. He bit back a frown as a thought struck him.

Just how extensive is Father’s paranoia going to be? Is it possible he’s got some form of listening devices in our rooms? How freely can any of us even talk? I’ll have to make sure to use words that don’t actually bring any suspicion on the off chance that he can hear me.

“Your true form was definitely intimidating. We’ll have to get you some new clothes, though.”

Lee nodded. “I’m sure the old guy will pay for it. He smells like money. What do we do in the meantime, though? More practice?”

“Among other things,” Noah said with a nod. He glanced around the expensive interior of the house. There was a closed door across from them and a stairwell to their left that led up to the top floor where Lee’s room was. Across from the stairwell was a large dining room and a kitchen. Presumably, Isabel and Todd’s room was the one beyond the door.

The absolute best defense I have is when I’m talking to someone that I would logically hide my demonic nature from. As long as I’m around Isabel and Todd, I can act normally. Even if Father can overhear me, it won’t matter.

“What other things? Are we going to check out the new city? If you are, I’ll have to determine if sitting around and doing nothing is more interesting than seeing new stuff.”

“Not today,” Noah replied. “We’ve been traveling a lot and it’ll be nice to take a page out of your book and just do nothing for a little.”

And that’ll give me time to recover from dying and get my magic back.

“Great!” Lee said, darting up the stairs. Noah followed after her at a considerably slower pace. Even though his headache was far better than the normal ones, it was still a far cry from comfortable. At least it was bearable.

The second floor of the house had several rooms scattered along the hall, and Noah didn’t particularly care which one got. After a detour into Lee’s room to raid her closet and reclaim his belongings, he took the room across from her and flopped into the posh bed, not even bothering to take his clothes off.

Noah crossed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes, letting himself sink into his thoughts. If Father held his word, he’d be sending someone that night for Noah to ply with questions and not have to worry about setting off any alarms.

That wouldn’t do him much good if he couldn’t actually figure out what questions to ask, and that was exactly what he planned to prepare over the course of the next few hours.

***

A knock broke Noah out of his thoughts. It took a second one for him to roll out of bed. He blinked, squinting out the window into the setting sunlight. Somehow, hours had slipped away.

Noah approached his door and opened it. A woman – probably about twenty five, if he had to guess – with long black hair and wide, circular glasses stood before him, a large book clutched to her chest.

She swallowed heavily when Noah’s gaze fell on her.

“I – Father sent me here,” she said, speaking so softly that Noah could barely hear her. “Is now a bad time?”

“No, no. I just got a little distracted,” Noah replied. He sent a glance over his shoulder. “Is there somewhere we should move to? I’m afraid I haven’t had much chance to look around the house yet, but there seems to only be one chair in my room.”

“Maybe the dining hall?” she offered meekly.

“Works for me,” Noah said. “Lead the way – ah, what’s your name?”

“I – I’m sorry. I should have introduced myself. My name is Janice.”

“Pleasure, Janice,” Noah said. Janice was in front of him, so he couldn’t see her face, but she was absolutely horrible about hiding her emotion and body language – and it was clear that the woman was terrified. “And how much do you know about my situation with Father?”

“Only that Father told me I am to follow any orders you give me, no matter what they are,” Janice replied. They arrived at the table and she pulled a chair out, sitting down. Noah took a spot across from her.

Anything? Trying to see if the demon actually likes eating humans, Father?

“That was very kind of him,” Noah said. “What’s your relationship with Father, Janice?”

“I’m just part of the Linwick family. One of the offshoot branches,” Janice said, adjusting her grip on the book clutched to her chest. “I’m not actually his daughter. Most people aren’t. Everyone just calls him Father. It’s his title.”

“I see,” Noah said. “Well, how much time do I have?”

“He did not specify a time.”

“Lovely,” Noah said. “I’ll try to keep this shorter for your sake, then.”

No promises, though.

“Thank you.” Janice shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked around the kitchen, as if she were expecting someone to suddenly pop out and attack her.

“I’ll start with the easier stuff, then,” Noah said. “Where do the Linwicks stand in relation to the other noble families?”

“We’re considered one of the top ten families within the empire,” Janice replied. “There isn’t a specific rating that would say one family is guaranteed to be stronger than the other. The Linwicks have an extensive network of information and connection to many other noble families that make us powerful politically, even if our fighting force is weaker than some other families.”

“And where do we stand with respect to the Torrins?”

“Politically superior,” Janice replied diplomatically. “We have far more allies, but their mages are often considered to be considerably more capable. Many of them straddle the line between soldier and mage, but they don’t dare a direct attack on us because of our connections.”

“What about other noble families? Anyone that would have a grudge against us?”

“It’s possible. There are a lot of groups that don’t like the Linwicks, but we don’t have any more enemies than any other family. The Torrins would be the most likely suspects for anyone that would try to do anything to us, though they haven’t made a move in quite some time.”

So if there was someone that tried to kill Vermil purely for political reasons, there’s a chance it might have been the Torrins – though there’s clearly some internal strife in the Linwick family.

“What about inside the family?” Noah asked. “There are people that don’t like Father, right?”

Janice swallowed. She seemed to be doing a lot of that. “Yes.”

“Who?” Noah asked.

“There are a lot,” Janice admitted. “He is an outer branch member of the family, but he’s a powerful one with a lot of support. I would be sitting here for a long time listing people off you wanted all of them.”

Hm. If there isn’t someone specific that really hates Father, then it’s probably more likely that the people that poisoned Vermil were going after him directly. The message seemed personalized, so even if the eventual goal was to get at Father, the target was still Vermil.

Well, that’s fine. There are quite a few more things I need answered. This might take a while.

Noah had a lot of questions. Unfortunately, the list of questions he was willing to let be reported back to Father was considerably shorter than he would have liked. He pried Janice about the Torrins for a little longer, but she didn’t know any specifics about the family beyond their strained relations with the Linwicks.

He was tempted to press more about basic Runes to make sure he really understood them, but the questions would be too odd, even for a demon. Luckily, there was something that even Lee hadn’t known much about, which meant it was likely safe territory.

“Tell me about Master Runes,” Noah said. “And not just the basic information that everyone has. I want to know details. Why are they the way they are? How come there’s only one of each? We can start with those.”

“Nobody knows exactly why Master Runes are completely unique,” Janice replied, a tiny amount of confidence starting to trickle into her voice, bringing it a few inches closer to actually being audible. “There are a lot of theories, though. The leading one is that they are aspects of the universe made manifest.”

Why does that make them completely unique? And how come they function so differently to normal Runes when you Imbue them?

Noah frowned and elected not to say anything in response. None of the questions he could ask sounded particularly intelligent, and people tended to keep talking if you kept silent. Janice shifted uncomfortably.

“We aren’t sure why Master Runes are unique, so I can’t properly answer that question, but the manifest aspect theory lends credence to why they always exist. You can’t destroy part of the universe.”

Seems like a slightly weak argument, but I can bite for now. I honestly care a lot more about why they can’t be Imbued the same way normal Runes can. When I tried to Imbue Combustion, it wouldn’t work unless I used the whole thing.

“Does that have something to do with why you can’t Imbue parts of them?” Noah asked.

Janice nodded. “Yes. Master Runes cannot be split apart. They don’t grow weaker or stronger – though their users are often unable to harness the Master Rune’s true strength due to their own limitations. Master Runes are perfect constants. You cannot change or modify them.”

Okay, I’m actually starting to see the universe bit then. If they’re always the same, they’re basically like laws. Not sure why or how they’d get into a Rune in the first place, but that’s a bit too philosophical for a discussion where I need practical answers.

“That unchangeable aspect makes them difficult to Imbue, right?” Noah asked, choosing his words carefully.

If other people haven’t figured out you can Imbue a Master Rune in your soul and keep control over it, then I’m not going to be the one that gives it away. It seems like a conclusion someone probably would have come to already, but Janice needs to confirm that for me.

“It does,” Janice said with a nod. “There is only a single manner in which a Master Rune can be Imbued, and it involves binding it to your soul. This is what all Great Monsters have done. This sort of Imbuement provides a series of significant benefits that are not immediately apparent, but the drawbacks are extensive.”

And that answers that.

“Expand on that?”

“Well, Imbuing a Rune on your soul is very strenuous,” Janice said. She was talking confidently now, and at a tone that was just as loud as Noah’s. The more she spoke about Runes, the more outgoing she seemed to become. “Overdrawing its powers would inflict soul damage. The Imbuement itself could also inflict soul damage if it was done improperly – and that’s assuming your soul is large enough to hold the Master Rune in the first place. Typically, only Rank 3 mages have souls large enough to handle bearing a Master Rune.”

“Oh? What about the Great Monsters? Ones such as the Hellreaver – that wasn’t a Rank 3 monster, was it?”

“It is a Rank 2,” Janice said with a nod. “A fascinating specimen.”

Sounds like someone hasn’t gotten the memo yet. Whoops.

“There is variance in every human and monster’s soul,” Janice continued, setting her book down on the table. “Some people are born with larger souls. Some are born with weaker ones. Combining runes increases the pressure pushing on the seams of your soul and makes it stronger, but it’s a multiplicative effect. If you have a large soul, you’ll recover from soul damage faster and be able to handle more of any runes you Imbue in it. There are ways to expand the soul, of course. I’m researching several of them right now.”

“How long would it normally take someone to recover from soul damage?” Noah asked, managing to squeeze a sentence into Janet’s excited speech.

She paused for a moment. “An average person would take about a month to heal from a small cut to their soul.”

Holy shit. If I’m picturing a cut as a small chunk of my soul getting ripped out, then I heal at least four or five times faster than average.

“Have you figured out what sets the size of a soul during your research?” Noah asked, leaning forward eagerly.

“A variety of factors. The location you’re born in seems to have some effect on it. The children of highly ranked people also seem to have considerably larger souls – we believe this is because the pressure they’ve been exposed to forces their own soul to adapt in its formative stages. The soul that a child is born with is what sets their path off, though we can do a lot to change and improve it.”

Now I’m really curious. Is my soul considerably larger than it should be because of the whole demon-tainted Waters of Life? Or is it because I swallowed Vermil’s soul – or Sunder itself? Damn. I can’t ask literally any of these questions, but this information is already fantastic.

“Fascinating,” Noah said. He drummed his fingers on the table. “Let’s pull back to the Master Runes, then. What were those main benefits, assuming you properly bound a Master Rune to your soul?”

“Access and functionality,” Janice replied immediately. “Imbuing a Rune is the absolute fastest way to access its power, and burning it into your soul is no exception. Normally, you have to take a moment to call the energy of your Runes from within you and channel it. Imbuing the Rune into your soul makes that transition seamless.”

That must be why soldiers are better at fighting monsters. They’ve got a bunch of Imbued weapons and armor, and a split second matters a lot when fighting really powerful creatures. But even so, I’m pretty sure I can call on my Runes pretty quickly. Surely that’s a point of diminishing return.

“The biggest benefit isn’t the ability to use it faster, though,” Janet said before Noah could ask anything else. “It’s the ability to use it simultaneously. Normally, you can only control a single Rune at a time. However, Imbuements are different. They’re essentially pre-prepared. Normally, that limits their function. However, Runes Imbued on the soul can still respond to your desires. That’s what makes Master Runes so effective. It’s the ability to use them in conjunction with your other Runes.”

I – well, shit. I think I stumbled across that with my whole dragon-breathing thing and didn’t even realize. That… explains a lot, actually, especially about the Hellreaver and how it stopped me from using my magic. If it also had Wind Runes, I bet it was literally just overpowering my own Wind Runes and then stopping me from breathing with Combustion at the same time. Two different abilities, not one.

“And how many Master Runes could someone have at once?” Noah asked. “Is there a limit?”

“I suppose that would depend on the size of their soul,” Janice said, scratching her chin in thought. “I’ve heard of people with three, but never more than that. It’s not really beneficial to stack up too many Master Runes. Everyone is always hunting after them and once you reach Higher Ranks, it’s unlikely that you’ll both find and be able to keep a lot of Master Runes that can actually help you.”

“Makes sense,” Noah said. He thought for a moment, reshuffling his questions to figure out what angle he should take next. Asking about Master Runes wouldn’t be too strange, but hyperfixating on them probably would be.

Noah spent the next few minutes asking Janice a variety of questions about the Linwicks, tossing in a few random ones about the world as a whole. He’d already gathered a good amount of information about both, but he wanted to make sure that his line of questioning would be in line with something like a demon’s interests.

It wasn’t too hard, considering Noah was pretty sure he knew a good bit less than what a demon normally would have. Janice’s voice grew noticeably quieter the farther the conversation drew from Runes.

Noah tested it, asking a few more general Rune-related questions just to see her visibly perk up. He repressed a laugh. At least she knew what she liked. As they spoke, another thought struck Noah.

Before, he’d had to be careful about offering Runes to Todd and Isabel because there was a chance that the Linwicks would have found out. But now, circumstances were different. He didn’t have any reason to tiptoe around the subject, and he planned to take full advantage of it.

“Did Father say if you could share any actual Runes with me?” Noah asked.

Janice’s expression dimmed and she nodded. “Yes. He was very strict on what I’m allowed to offer. No matter what you say or provide me with, I cannot give you anything more than what is in this book.”

She pushed the book she’d been carrying over to Noah. He blinked as he picked it up. It was pretty heavy – a lot heavier than he’d expected it to be. Noah flipped it open, thumbing through the pages. There were dozens of Runes within it, and all of them were Greater Runes.

“What’s the cost?” Noah asked. “Or was this included with the information?”

“You can’t keep the book, but you are permitted to learn two Runes from it.”

Noah flipped back and forth through it. All the Runes were only Rank 1, and while he was working on figuring out what the next Runes he’d be Combining would be, he still wasn’t sure on the exact Runes he’d need.

On top of that, Noah couldn’t help but notice that the Runes in the book overlapped perfectly with the ones in his grimoire.

Wonder if that’s just the standard book they hand out or if he’s reminding me that he already has suspicions about the Runes I use?

“Is there a time limit?”

“He’ll be taking the book back tonight.”

Figures. That’s pretty clever. He’s trying to bait me into taking Runes that are relevant to my abilities because that would show him what some of my powers are. Lee said you can bind a demon if you know each of its Runes, and taking Rank 1 Runes from this would be a dead giveaway – especially if I was actually a demon.

“Did he say what I could do with them?” Noah asked, looking back up at Janice.

Janice frowned and shook her head. “No. They were gifts, to do with as you please. I do not believe he directly addressed what you were permitted to use your own Runes for.”

“And I don’t suppose he’s included any combinations I can have?”

Janice swallowed. “No, he hasn’t.”

She looks terrified. Does she expect me to rip her head off because she didn’t give me what I want?

Actually, that might be exactly what she expects. Maybe Father told her I was a demon… but what would he have gained from that? He doesn’t strike me as someone who does things arbitrarily.

Noah shrugged. “Fine with me. I don’t need them.”

“The Runes?”

“The combinations,” Noah replied, a grin crossing his lips. “But, as a matter of fact, I won’t be needing those Runes myself either. Since they’re mine to do with as I please – Isabel, Todd! Please come out here.”

Janice flinched as Noah raised his voice, then looked over her shoulder as the door to their room opened and the two students poked their heads out.

“Is everything okay?” Isabel asked, watching Janice warily.

“More than,” Noah replied. He tapped the book with a finger. “The two of you have just been gifted the opportunity to each learn a Rune from this book by Father himself.”

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