Return of the Runebound Professor

Jalen set off shortly after his conversation with Noah, leaving him with a promise to get him access to the auction he wanted. Noah wasn’t too concerned about waiting — in a place like Arbitage, where every single noble family had representatives, there were bound to be constant auctions. Too many people had money to sling around and egos to pad.

Unless Noah was incredibly lucky, he was pretty sure that it would take at least a day or two before there was an auction that suited his needs. He wasn’t going to just settle for random common runes, and he couldn’t afford to go around selling his own runes unless there were people wealthy enough to actually afford them.

The thought of selling Demon Runes did prick Noah’s spine with distaste. He knew what the noble houses would do with those runes, and it probably wasn’t going to be pretty. They tested runes by forcing their lower-ranked members to take them on.

If a human took on a demon rune — well, he still wasn’t sure exactly what would happen, but it would probably start to warp them as they grew stronger, just like how it did to demons. The rate at which it corrupted someone would be reduced since humans weren’t as susceptible to their runes as demons were, which was the only saving grace.

Noah highly doubted that anyone would be making it to Rank 5 with a Demon Rune that didn’t fit their combination. If he were a kinder man, he would have considered it for longer. But, with the way things were going, the noble houses were his enemies. He would not be showing them mercy or compassion.

He couldn’t afford to.

Not when the price could end up being the lives of his students.

“Professor?”

Noah blinked. It took him a moment to realize that someone was speaking to him. He’d been standing near the edge of the clearing a few feet away from the other professors, quietly observing all his students mingling and getting to know each other while he brooded under the shade of a large, ashy tree that had been cracked down the center.

Alexandra had somehow arrived at his side. His distraction had been so great that she’d managed to completely slip past his senses and domain. Leaves crunched beneath him as he shifted his weight and smiled.

“Yeah?”

“You looked… troubled.”

“I’m planning some minor war crimes,” Noah said. “Not too happy about it, but such is life. We all have to do a little war crime now and then.”

Alexandra blinked. “War crime?”

Oh, God. No Geneva convention here. That’s… incredibly disturbing to think about, actually. Especially given what Runes are capable of. At least it means I’m not going to be breaking any laws by selling a bunch of poisoned runes to the nobles.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s a grown-up thing,” Noah said. “You’ll learn when you’re older.”

Alexandra squinted at him. “I’m… not that much younger than you, Professor.”

Noah chuckled and ruffled her hair. “Right. Don’t mind my blabbering. Was there something you wanted?”

She scrunched her nose and ducked away from Noah’s hand, though it did take her a moment longer to do it than someone who could move at her speed would have needed. “I… wanted to speak to you. Alone.”

“There isn’t really anyone here right now. Nobody’s paying attention. Sometimes, the best place to hide is in plain sight. Leaving might actually draw more attention — but if this is something really private, we can put some distance between us and the others.”

“No, it’s probably fine. You’re right. It’s just…” Alexandra trailed off and hesitated for a second before continuing, her shoulders slumping as she kicked a dry stick by her feet. “I’m at my limit, Professor.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve done everything I can to get stronger. And I have been improving. Especially with your Formation training. It’s done a lot for me, but I feel the others catching up. They’re all getting so strong, but I’ll forever be a Rank 3. The gap closes every day, no matter how hard I try. I’ve done everything I can, even Bird’s weird techniques. I almost considered actually trying to fight naked—”

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“Please don’t.”

“—but I decided against it. I’m not that desperate yet,” Alexandra continued, the corner of her lip twitching up for an instant. It fell flat again a moment later and she shifted her gaze to the tree behind Noah. “I think I’m running out of options. Even Formations and patterns can only take me so far. When the others hit Rank 4, I’ll still be the same Alexandra. I’ll still be a Rank 3 that relies on her Body Runes to keep up… up until I can’t keep up anymore.”

That’s right. I never got a chance to fix Alexandra’s runes before I got pulled into the Damned Plains. She’s more than earned enough trust for me to show her Sunder — to tell her the truth about who I am.

“I see,” Noah said. “Well—”

“No,” Alexandra said with a firm shake of her head. “I don’t know if you do. I’m stuck like this, Professor. And I can tell the others see it too. They keep hedging around the topic of getting stronger when I’m around. I want you to tell them to stop tiptoeing around me. It won’t do anything if I’m the one to say it, but I know my lot in life. I dealt my own cards. I hate people acting like I’m some sick, injured fool that needs to be coddled. I know what my future holds, but I don’t want to have to deal with it before it’s already arrived.”

She came to me, not to ask for a solution, but to ask me to make the others stop feeling bad for her?

Oh, Alexandra. I don’t think they were feeling bad for you at all. They just didn’t want to talk about what I can do before I returned — or hell, if I returned. They didn’t have a way to know for certain. Giving her hope would have been cruel.

Noah put a hand on Alexandra’s shoulder and gave her a small smile. “I understand what you’re asking.”

“So you’ll do it?”

“Nope.”

Alexandra blinked.

“What? Why?”

“Because there’s only one person who can see fate, and it isn’t you. Relax your mind and brace yourself. I’m going to show you something.”

Noah only waited long enough for Alexandra to nod her understanding. He then glanced over at Moxie, catching her eye and jerking his chin to the girl beside him. Understanding flickered in her eyes and she gave him a thumbs-up.

Then Noah activated Empty Proliferation.

Alexandra drew in a sharp breath.

The world fell away.

***

Noah stood upon a rocky plateau, a gentle wind blowing through his hair. It howled as it slipped through rocks, jagged like teeth, that rose up in a circle around the plateau around him. The sky stretched out in all directions around him, wispy white clouds curling past his feet and moisture prickling against his skin.

Alexandra’s soul was the peak of a massive mountain.

It took him a moment to figure out where her runes were. Carved within the rocks jutting up along the platforms edges were dim runic patterns, so weak that their glow was little more than a flicker from a candle held before the sun.

Noah’s eyes went wide.

Six out of seven of Alexandra’s Runes were imbued completely into her soul. They were so deeply meshed with her body that he could barely even make out what their patterns were meant to be.

It’s almost like a demon.

“Bad, isn’t it?” Alexandra asked, walking up to join Noah with a weak smile. “I didn’t know you could do this.”

“Picked it up in the Damned Plains, along with a few other party tricks,” Noah said absently. He studied Alexandra’s soul intently for several long moments. “I didn’t realize so many of your runes were Body Runes. I thought it was just a few.”

“Do you think you can get a body as resilient as mine with just one or two Body Runes?”

“Never tried using them before, so I can’t say. That’s fine. You’re strong, and you aren’t a demon. This will be painful, but you’ll survive.”

“I — what?”

Noah turned to fully face Alexandra. Her runes could wait for a moment longer. It was well past time that he brought her fully into the fold.

“I have something I’d like to share with you.”

“A technique from the Damned Plains to get past my runes?” A hint of hope entered Alexandra’s voice.

“Not exactly. More like a little information about me. Information that could get all of us killed in very brutal ways. One of the greatest secrets I have.”

“Why would you want to tell me something like that?” Alexandra asked in horror. “You don’t need—”

“I do, actually. It’s something that I’ve already told Isabel, Todd, and Emily. It’s something that I’d like to tell you as well, if you’ll let me. It’s been killing them to keep this from you, but if you let me tell you why, I think it’ll make sense.”

A frown pulled across Alexandra’s lips. Then, slowly, she inclined her head. “If you think it’s that important that I know, then that’s fine.”

“Lovely. I’ll keep things brief, then.” Noah clasped his hands behind his back. “I’m not Professor Vermil.”

There was a long pause.

Then Alexandra blinked, taken aback.

“What?”

“Vermil is dead,” Noah said. “You never met him. He died months ago, and I’m the one that killed him. I took his body from him when I arrived in this world. My real name is Noah Vines, I’m thousands upon thousands of years old, and I can fix your runes. All of them.”

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