Return of the Runebound Professor

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 Janice'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.”