Return of the Runebound Professor

Noah practiced throughout the rest of the night, all the way up until just before it would be around time for his watch. He was faster than he had been in the Scorched Acres, though he had to take more frequent breaks to recover the energy in his Wind Rune as it was no longer full.

Easily two or three dozen of the moles fell to Noah’s hand under the dull moonlight. He liberated them of their teeth – he wasn’t sure what else on them would be worth much, and the idea of carrying a bag of eyeballs or other organs around just didn’t sit right. They’d all be mush by the time he got them to the Linwick estate.

When the morning started to approach once again, Noah was so confident in his abilities to handle the moles. He’d spent the majority of his time sitting around and goading the monsters into attacking, trying to determine just how dangerous they were.

To Noah’s delight, he suspected there was likely a Great Monster somewhere in the area. The moles, while definitely not quite as one-minded as the monkeys, definitely acted the same. They wouldn’t show up until he started messing with one of the bushes, after which they would arrive and attempt to protect it.

A small part of Noah almost felt bad for what he was doing. The moles weren’t aggressive, and they had no interest in him the moment he left the bushes alone. Unfortunately, they gave fairly good energy and Noah wasn’t about to risk trying to use his training method if there was any chance the monsters would act irrationally.

Besides, he was only killing them. There were worse things in life.

Noah made his way back to the camp in the very, very early hours of the morning. As he crested a hill in the direction of the camp, his stride slowed as he spotted Lee at its bottom, stuffing the remains of a monster into her mouth.

She glanced up at him, then waggled her fingers in greeting and swallowed. Letting out a loud burp, Lee skipped up to him.

“Good meal tonight. Thanks,” Lee said.

“Have you been following me this entire time?”

“Yup. Watching you toast that bird was fun. The feathers didn’t taste too great, though.”

Noah opened his mouth, then shook his head. “You’re telling me that the monkeys did taste good?”

“Better than the bird. It was too boney.”

“Well, thank you. I suppose that’ll save me from explaining what I was doing if anyone sees a corpse of a monster lying around, though I didn’t think I’d get any real questions about it anyway. It’s not like these ones are protected.”

Lee arched an eyebrow. “What, couldn’t find any Great Monsters to kill?”

Noah cleared his throat. “Look, that wasn’t my fault. It started things.”

“Did it?”

“Depends if you count monkey attacks as part of its own will. If you do, then yes.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night. When you aren’t hunting monsters, that is.”

Noah shook his head and chuckled. “Let’s get back to camp before someone starts wondering where we went.”

“You’re the leader,” Lee said with a shrug. “Do you think Todd and Isabel can handle fighting the brown tubes?”

“The moles?” Noah asked. “I think they should have no trouble with it, but I’ll probably have to enlist your help to make sure nothing goes wrong. Now that I combined my Runes, I don’t have a great way to act defensively with my Ash. I think the strategy to fighting the moles is straight forward, though. We’ll start slow and see how things go.”

Lee nodded, and they made the rest of the trip back to the camp in silence. The pillar of smoke rising up from the campfire had doubled in intensity. Someone must have restarted the fire at some point throughout the night.

When they drew near, Lee gestured for Noah to step closer to her. She pressed a hand to his shoulder and a ripple of dark energy washed over both of them.

Noah glanced down at his hands, surprised to find that he could barely make them out even though he knew exactly where they were. He only knew Lee’s location because he could still feel her hand.

They crept into the camp, keeping as far from Allen, who was on watch, as possible. Lee dropped Noah off at his tent, then broke contact with him. His body rippled and swam back into view.

Damn. That camouflage is powerful. No wonder Lee’s able to sneak around the way she does.

Noah didn’t think he had all that much time left before Allen would come ‘wake’ him up for his watch, but after the whole debacle with the Hellreaver, he was reluctant to waste even a single moment.

Getting energy from killing monsters was great, but nothing truly replaced sleeping. He leaned against the side of the hut and closed his eyes, letting himself slip into oblivion.

Allen woke Noah up some time later for his watch by rapping on the side of the hut and glaring at Noah until he rose. Without a word, the Rank 4 mage swept back into his own lodgings.

The night passed silently, even if it was a bit chilly. Noah scanned the air for more traces of the dark birds, trying to see if there was any way to pick them up. At first, he had absolutely no success. But, as the sun started to creep its way up from the horizon, he caught flickers of shadow flitting through the sky.

None of them ever tried coming near the camp, and Noah suspected that the campfire was the likely culprit. Even the faintest amount of light was enough to turn the birds’ near invisibility into a mere cloak.

As Noah sat there, watching the sky, Moxie slipped out of her stone cone. She let her gaze roam over the camp before walking over to join Noah.

“Anything?” Moxie asked.

“Nothing too interesting. Boring night,” Noah said.

“Yeah. Likewise.”

They both fell silent for a few seconds.

“I’ve got a question,” Noah said, breaking the silence.

“What is it?” Moxie asked, glancing at him.

“When you had that whole… thing with Lee. Why didn’t you think I was also one?”

Moxie blinked, then shook her head with a chuckle. “Oh. I did, for a moment. Then I realized that you were way too incompetent. If I was going to believe literally anything I’ve read about de – ah, Lee’s kind, then you wouldn’t fit the bill at all. Too many stupid questions – and asking me for money, then actually returning it? Impossible. It was pretty obvious that you weren’t one.”

“Somehow, that feels like more of an insult than a compliment,” Noah muttered.

Moxie grinned and shrugged. “Take it how you want.”

“Change of subject, then. Do you happen to have a book on the locale?” Noah asked. “Or at least some information on the monsters here?”

“I didn’t bring one with me, but I did scan through one some time ago. I’ve taken this path before,” Moxie replied. “There are a few monsters in the area. Snufflers, Darkwings, and Root Fiends. I suppose there are also the plants, but I don’t know if you can classify those as monsters.”

Snufflers are the moles, Darkwings are the birds. Didn’t run into any of the last ones, though.

“What about Great Monsters?” Noah asked.

Moxie shrugged. “It’s possible. A lot of Great Monsters are pretty good at hiding. They’re often intelligent enough to understand that others want their rune – both human and monster. Only the most powerful wander around without any concern.”

“What about–”

“The Hellreaver was put there by the Linwicks on purpose. It was basically bred to use the Master Rune,” Moxie said with a chuckle. “It was basically a spoiled brat with a Master Rune, just there to provide a good exam location for Arbitage.”

It was also a sadistic bastard. No, I’m not biased.

“Ah,” Noah said. He sat down near the fire, stretching according to some of Lee’s lesson plans. He hadn’t been the absolute best at keeping up with things over the past few weeks, but he was getting better – and he could feel his body getting slightly more limber as well. “How long do you think it’ll be before Allen or Edward blows a gasket?”

“A gasket?” Moxie frowned.

“Whoops, ignore that. Nonsense words because I’m tired.” Noah arched his back and something popped. He let out a content sigh. “Until they get mad is what I meant.”

Moxie shrugged. “Who knows. Allen hates your guts, but he’s pretty well known for being a measured individual. I doubt he’ll actually attack you directly. Edward is a different concern. You do realize they’re almost certain to leave a complaint when you get to the Linwick estate, right?”

“I figured. Nothing I can do about that. I wasn’t going to let either of them push my students around. I’ll stand by everything I did.”

Moxie glanced to the side. “At least you actually do what you say.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Never mind,” Moxie said, shaking her head. “I’m going to go for a run around the camp to get warmed up. Are you planning to teach that lesson you promised today?”

“Yeah. In a few minutes I’ll go around and get the students.”

“Good. I’ll be done by the time they’re awake, then.”

Moxie jogged off. Noah watched her leave, then turned to get Isabel and Todd – nearly walking straight into Lee as she materialized beside him. Noah bit back a curse.

“God, Lee. Can’t you make a little noise?”

“No. It’s more fun this way,” Lee replied. She glanced over Noah’s shoulder at Moxie. “Did she seem to be acting a little odd to you?”

“A bit,” Noah said with a slight nod. “Is she still uncomfortable about… you know?”

Lee shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve been trying to give her a little room to think. That’s what you’re supposed to do when you make someone mad, right?”

“I am not the person to ask for relationship advice,” Noah said. “Life is too short to worry about it. Just do what makes you happy and doesn’t screw over too many people. Now, I’m going to go get Todd and Isabel. Do you want to wake Emily up?”

“Sure,” Lee replied.

They split off, heading to the appropriate stone tents. Before Noah could even reach his, Todd stepped out, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He stretched his arms over his head and yawned, then rolled his neck.

“Sup, Teacherman.”

Noah rolled his eyes. “You look very relaxed. Sleep well?”

“Like a baby. I can’t say dirt is my favorite mattress, but I’ve slept on worse. I saw you talking with Lee. Does that mean we have a class?”

“Indeed we do. And, speaking of Lee – she’s taught you Imbuement, right?”

“Yeah. Apparently, I’ve been doing some Body Imbuement without even realizing it. Makes sense in a roundabout sort of way.” Todd chuckled.

“Really? Why?”

Todd’s smile faded. “Maybe later, prof. It doesn’t really matter anyway. Just some stuff from the past.”

“Sure. I’ve got something for the present anyway.” Noah pulled his grimoire out and flipped to the back, where there were still a few open pages. He tapped it with one finger. “Think you can Imbue this?”

Todd blinked, then grinned. “Ah. Yeah, I can do that. Give me a moment.”

He took the book from Noah and headed into his tent. At the same time, Isabel walked out of it. Her eyes flicked down to the book, then over to Noah.

“Good morning, Professor. Are we going to get to hunt again today?”

“Yeah, we are,” Noah said. “Eager?”

“It’s been a bit since I got to put more energy into my Runes, so yes. I’d also like to get some materials from them. I’ve heard the Linwick estate is pretty big, so there’s probably a nice market there. Some spending money would be useful.” The tone in Isabel’s voice and the way her gaze had followed Todd when he’d walked into the tent with Noah’s grimoire made it very clear that she didn’t mean she wanted money to spend on trinkets.

Already looking to get your hands on some new Runes, eh? Good. Keep that drive up, Isabel.

“Then we’ll make sure you can get some good practice in this morning. I’ll save the proper explanation for when everyone is back,” Noah said, rubbing his hands together. “We just have to wait for–”

Todd strode out of the tent, a smug grin on his face, and held the grimoire out to Noah. He took it, flipping to the rune in surprise. Todd couldn’t have taken more than ten or twenty seconds to get it Imbued.

“That was fast,” Noah said.

“He’s a natural at it,” Isabel said, rolling her eyes. “Don’t give him too many compliments or his head will inflate.”

“You’re just mad that I’m better than you at something for once.” Todd snickered.

Isabel glared at him. “I am not.”

“Sure sounds like you are.”

Isabel let out a huff. “Professor, when can we get to the training? I want to wipe that smirk off Todd’s face.”

“Once Emily and Moxie get back,” Noah replied. “Maybe start with some stretching. I’m still doing that myself.”

None of them were about to argue with that, so they all walked over to an open space in the grass and continued stretching while they waited for Moxie and Lee to show up with Emily.