Return of the Runebound Professor

Chapter 15: Cheating deals

The training grounds were a long, uncomfortably silent trip across campus. Luckily, Noah didn’t spot anyone that recognized him on the way over, but that didn’t stop him from keeping his head as low as possible.

With all the enemies that Vermil had made, the last thing Noah needed was to get into a pissing contest with some powerful mage that would inevitably challenge him to a duel and end up sparking off an increasingly annoying series of events.

Okay, that might be a bit far, but I read a lot of fantasy books back on earth. Besides, if they’ve got a sparring area, it’s not unrealistic for people to posture and show off by using it.

“Here it is,” Isabel said, coming to a stop before a wide sandy amphitheater. Two rows of seats ringed the large area, which was sectioned off into fifty or sixty smaller squares. Almost all of the seats were empty, aside from a few students lounging around and eating.

The walls of the amphitheater had ladders all along them, allowing easy access to the training arenas below. Many of them were already in use. Noah prepared to duck as one student hurled a ball of flame at another and missed, but the spell struck an invisible barrier at the edge of their arena and dispersed with a ripple.

Noah suppressed the temptation to ask questions. He followed Todd and Isabel down the ladders and onto the sand, where the two of them walked up to a sectioned off bench at the edge of the entire arena.

A large pile of metal tokens shaped like shields and roughly the size of Noah’s palm sat in a large pile that threatened to tip over at the slightest wind. Both students grabbed a badge and affixed it to their lapel. Ripples of blue energy washed over their bodies, fading away as soon as quickly as they had come.

Noah mirrored their motion. The energy tingled as it raced across his skin. He shuddered, then poked himself in the arm. A tiny ripple of force interfered with the motion, stopping his finger from making contact with his skin.

A deep fwoomp erupted from the arena where the two students had been fighting. One of them slammed against the invisible wall and grunted as the air was knocked from his lungs. His body lit up with a brilliant orange hue and the shield token pinned to his chest started to let out a high-pitched whine.

“Gods damn it,” the boy cursed, slapping the shield. The whine receded along with the glow, and his sparring partner helped him to his feet with a snicker.

“Well?” Isabel demanded.

Noah dragged his gaze away from the other two students and cleared his throat. “Well what? I told you to show me what you were capable of, didn’t I?”

“You want us to spar you?” There was a note of eagerness in Isabel’s voice that gave Noah immediate pause before he answered. Part of him was tempted to say yes, as the shield badges clearly interfered with damage and protected the wearer, but Isabel was far too excited.

Actually, aren’t they probably stronger than me right now? We’re around the same age, and Vermil had a bunch of shitty Runes. I still have no clue what Todd and Isabel have, and they probably have combat experience on top of that. I’m going to lose all their respect if Isbael ends up cleaning the floor with my face.

“Not today, I’m afraid. Maybe you can work your way up to that. No, you’ll be sparring each other.”

“Figures,” Todd muttered.

“What was that?” Noah’s features sharpened and he looked down the bridge of his nose at Todd, who glanced away to avoid meeting his gaze.

“Nothing.”

“Then get to it,” Noah said, stepping back to give them more room. The fighting rings were each about ten by ten feet, but he had no idea what kind of magic either of his students used.

Isabel and Todd moved to stand on either end of the arena. Todd lowered into a fighting stance and held his hands out to his sides. He raised them into the air, clawing his fingers as though pulling them through the water.

Ripples of energy followed the motion, and two orbs of flame sputtered to life in Todd’s palms. They raced to cover his hands, turning into flaming gauntlets.

Wait, how did he just generate fire? I was under the impression Runes needed something to work with. You can’t just make it from nothing, right?

Noah studied Todd intensely. When he looked closer, he realized that Todd had an obsidian bracelet on each of his wrists that had previously been hidden by his clothes. The fire Todd was creating seemed to originate from them in incredibly thin streams before reaching his hands.

That’s interesting. He’s got something that generates the fire for him. Maybe a basic flint and steel that’s somehow activated by his Runes? Interesting. That’s clever.

Unimpressed, Isabel gently placed her hand against her chest. Blue light lit beneath Isabel’s fingertips and she wrapped her hand around a translucent hilt and pulled a long, slender sword free from within her chest. She flicked it to the side, then stood with her side to Todd, looking down her blade at him in a duelist’s stance.

Isabel raised her free hand, beckoning Todd on. He didn’t budge. They stared at each other for several seconds. The difference in the two students was striking. Todd was like a predator, tense and ready to pounce the moment he spotted a flicker of weakness. Noah could practically read his intentions like an open book, but that did nothing to make the smoldering fire licking up his forearms any less intimidating.

On the other side of the field, Isabel was the exact opposite. She stood with calm confidence, her sword unwavering and unreadable. Isabel was closer to a statue that barely even acknowledged her opponent’s existence.

He watched them, transfixed. If someone had offered a bet, Noah would have put money on Todd being the one to break the stillness. He would have lost. Isabel finally broke their standoff, lunging forward and thrusting her blade for Todd’s chest.

Todd roared. He batted the blade to the side and swung his fist at Isabel’s jaw. She leaned back, vaulting into a cartwheel and catching Todd in the chin with her foot. He pushed through the blow and dove at Isabel.

His flaming hands narrowly missed her as she twisted to the side and flicked her sword at his side. Fire erupted around Todd in a small sphere, slamming into the sword and throwing it back. Instead of trying to hold onto it, Isabel released the weapon.

It flipped through the air and vanished. Isabel stepped forward and thrust her empty hand toward Todd’s back. Midway through the strike, her blade rematerialized in her grip. Todd desperately contorted his body and managed to get his left hand in the path of the strike.

Fire bloomed from his palm and Isabel staggered back as their magic collided with a clean, humming note. Todd slammed his fist into the ground and a ripple of fire erupted from the impact zone, roaring toward Isabel.

Her blue armor rippled, indicating the spell had struck her, and a faint yellow glow covered her body. Isabel pressed her lips together in fury. Her sword snapped out like a striking snake.

Todd moved to block it, but her sword abruptly vanished. Her hand passed by Todd’s harmlessly and she spun it around just as the blade reformed. It scored across Todd’s side. He swore as his badge lit a faint orange and let out a warning hum.

Isabel didn’t wait for it to finish. She flicked her hand again and slammed the sword back down into the side of his neck. His body lit with a brilliant red light and a warning hum rang through the arena.

“Damn it.” Todd slumped to the ground, letting the flames covering his fists sputter out. “I hate your magic.”

That wasn’t nearly as bad as I though it would be from how they talked. Isabel’s more than fast enough to fight the Slashers, and with how oily their fur was, I bet Todd’s fire would set them off like torches. What’s the problem here?

“If you were better at using yours, maybe you’d be able to take more than a few hits before going down. Isn’t that fire supposed to fully cover your body like armor?”

“My Runes aren’t strong enough to power that. And look who’s talking, you don’t even use magic. That’s literally just a sword.”

“No it isn’t.”

“Yes it is.”

Noah cleared his throat. They both looked to him, glaring.

“Good enough for you?” Isabel asked as Todd pushed himself back up to his feet and pulled his badge off with a disgusted sigh.

“Yes. I’m not really sure what the issue is,” Noah admitted. “From how you spoke in class, I thought that you’d be completely incompetent, but you seem more than strong enough to fight the Slashers. What’s the problem here?”

“Are you insane?” Isabel demanded, dismissing her sword and throwing her hands up into the air in exasperation. “You think this was enough to fight a Slasher? You realize we can’t keep the shield badges, right? They don’t work outside the arena.”

“And? As long as you don’t get hit, it should be fine. Depending on how much control Todd has over his magic, he could throw a fireball and set the monster on fire. Then you can finish it off.”

“You seem to be forgetting the part where they fight back.” Todd crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned against the invisible wall of the arena, sending out a small ripple of magic where his shoulder touched it. “Neither of us will survive an attack from a Slasher. Sure, we might get lucky and kill one, but I don’t want to bet my life on a test that I’ve got a fifty-fifty chance of surviving.”

Right. Dying. Forgot about that bit.

Noah pursed his lips and fell silent, thinking. Isabel must have taken that as admitting defeat, because she pulled her own shield badge off and tossed it onto the table with the others.

“Look, you’ve got good intentions, but Todd is right. I’m not going to die for this.”

“What if I could prove that we could beat the Slashers normally?” Noah asked. “I believe you’ve promised me a month.”

“You still think it can be done?” Isabel raised an eyebrow. “I’m not convinced you’ve ever seen a Slasher. They’re fast. Faster than me.”

“And they don’t have magic,” Noah pointed out. He paused for a moment, then tilted his head slightly to the left. “Right?”

“Is that a trick question?” Todd asked.

Noah didn’t reply. He just mirrored Isabel’s expression, raising his eyebrow and giving them a small smile. Todd rolled his eyes.

“They don’t have magic. They’re not the Hellreaver. Not even this cursed school would send second year students after a Great Monster.”

Noah clapped his hands together. Isabel and Todd both started, then glared at him.

“Then you’ve got the advantage. Here’s the deal. For the next five days, I want you and Isabel to practice as hard as you can against each other. Do everything you can to get stronger.”

“Like we aren’t already doing that already,” Todd muttered. “Thanks for the sage advice.”

“Meanwhile, I am going to go prepare a lesson plan,” Noah continued, completely ignoring Todd’s complaints. “You’ll have two days to rest after your five of practice. Then I’m going to take us all on a quick trip to the Scorched Acres, and we’re going to train against the monsters there.”

Todd added his shield plate to the pile and squinted at Noah. “You’re serious? Your solution to us not wanting to get killed is to… go get us killed earlier?”

“I’m a professor. Don’t you think I can handle myself?”

“No,” Todd and Isabel said at the same time.

“Bah. I’ll bring the head of one of them back with me as proof, then. How’s that?”

The two students exchanged a glance, momentarily at a loss for words. Noah beckoned encouragingly. Finally, Isabel sighed and gave him a curt nod.

“Fine, but we hide and don’t press any further if things look bad. I’m not dying for you to prove a point.”

“Deal.” Noah extended a hand. Isabel stared at it, wrinkling her upper lip in distaste. Noah wiggled the hand. Sighing, Isabel reached out and took it. They shook and Noah turned to Todd. He did the same, muttering in annoyance under his breath.

“Happy?” Isabel asked.

“Not yet, but we’re getting there. Enjoy your week. Don’t skip out on practice, and you know where to find me if you need advice.”

“What kind of advice could we possibly get from you?” Todd asked. “The only thing you’ve really done is ask us questions that you don’t even know the answer to yourself.”

Noah shrugged in response. He raised his hand in farewell and strode away from the arena, leaving Todd and Isabel staring at his back in befuddlement. All things considered, he was pretty pleased with how the day had gone. Now he just had to make sure he could actually uphold his promise – but first, the discussion about the Hellreaver had gotten his attention.

The monster also had a Master Rune, just like what he suspected Sunder was. If he could find more information on it, even just a little, maybe it would help answer some more questions about his own magic.

Noah was loathe to spend any more time in the library than he needed, though. After all the years of waiting in line, every part of him longed to do literally anything else now that he had the beginnings of a baseline for what he could do.

Instead of giving in, Noah trudged over to the library and found a librarian, conveying his request to a librarian. Unfortunately – or somewhat fortunately, according to Noah’s heart rather than his brain – the only informational book about the Hellreaver Ape had been checked out.

With that in mind, Noah set off toward the transport cannon. There was no good reason to wait any longer if the library wasn’t going to be of any immediate help, and he was secretly glad for it.

No library meant more things to do and less standing around.

He had some more monkeys to hunt.

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