Return of the Runebound Professor

Noah slowed his fall with a powerful gust of wind, trying to keep himself from turning into a pancake the moment he reached the ground. A group of vines rose up, curling into a disk beneath him. Noah slammed into them, knocking all the air from his lungs. He groaned at the force of the impact, but it was better than having every bone in his body turned to mush. The vines dropped him into Moxie’s arms.

She set him on the ground, keeping a hand on his shoulder to steady him. He appreciated the gesture as his entire body felt like had been wrung dry from the amount of magic he’d just burned through.

“Thanks,” Noah said, brushing some of the soot off his clothes and staring up at the growing pyre before them. Once its regenerative properties had gotten overwhelmed, the creature had gone up like a pile of hay. “Do you think it–”

A shudder rocked Noah’s body as energy poured into him. It filled his Greater Wind Rune instantly and flooded into his Rank 2 Rune, giving it at least twenty percent more of its capacity before sputtering out.

Noah drew a sharp breath and clutched his chest.

“Are you okay?” Moxie asked worriedly.

“Yeah. Just – just a lot of energy,” Noah managed, staring at the Root Fiend in awe.

What a rush. No wonder people go after powerful monsters like this. It wasn’t even a Great Monster and it gave me this much energy.

Noah shook his head and looked toward the other Root Fiend. His heart skipped a beat. It stood tall, its eyes blank and empty. Sprouting from the center of its chest was a huge golden blade, still smoking with energy. The roots around the wound had peeled back in a desperate attempt to avoid the burning energy, but it was to no avail.

The magic sputtered out, and the purple Shield running along the ground slithered away as it returned back to Brayden.

Gavin and Jess both sprinted up to the group, slowing as they saw that the other Root Fiend was dead and everyone else was still alive. Gavin’s eyes caught on the smoking remains of the Root Fiend and he let out a slow whistle.

“Who did that?”

“He did,” Jess said, bracing her hands against her knees and taking a few short gasps of air before pointing at Noah. “I saw him jump off the Root Fiend’s head like a suicidal maniac a moment before it blew up.”

“Damned Plains,” Emily breathed, staring at Noah with undisguised shock. “How did you do that?”

“Lots of smoke and an enclosed space,” Noah replied. “Explosions cause expansion, so I realized that if I pumped it full of enough gas and then lit it up… boom. Anti-smoking advertisement.”

Everyone stared at Noah.

“Did he get hit on the head?” Gavin asked.

“Vermil is always like this,” Moxie replied, but even she looked impressed.

Brayden studied Noah, his expression unreadable. Beside him, Allen and Edward both stared in disbelief. Noah couldn’t help a tiny smirk from flickering across his lips.

“You… who are you?” Allen finally managed. “You aren’t a Rank 2.”

“Sure I am,” Noah replied. “As I said, it was just an application of some basic physics – if you can even call it that. Basic logic, maybe? Nothing that anyone else couldn’t figure out. I just happened to have the proper skillset to capitalize on it.”

Allen stared at Noah down the bridge of his nose, as if trying to mesh the man standing before him with the one that had clocked him in the chin during the exam in the Scorched Acres. Noah could practically see the gears turning in the older professor’s head.

“Are you playing at some sort of game?” Edward asked. “Why do you act so incompetent when you can do… that?”

Edward gestured vaguely at the smoldering remains of the monster behind them.

“I don’t know about him, but I’d do it just to see that look on your face,” Todd said with a smirk. “When are you going to show us how to do that, Teacherman? You’ve been holding out.”

Gavin’s gaze crawled across Noah so closely that he suppressed a shudder. It felt like the soldier was trying to dissect him with just his gaze.

“Have you had any soldier training?” Jess asked. “You fight like one. I was watching.”

Noah shrugged, slightly uncomfortable with all the attention he’d gained. “Not intentionally.”

“Well, if you ever give up on being a professor, you might want to consider a career change,” Jess said with a small laugh. “We could use someone with that kind of creative thinking.”

“Back off,” Brayden said playfully, slapping Noah on the shoulder with a huge hand and nearly swatting him into the ground. “He’s a Linwick. One of ours.”

“You’re kidding. Seriously?” Gavin asked, blinking in surprise.

“Not main branch,” Brayden admitted. “But neither am I.”

“Ah. Makes more sense. I was wondering when the noble families started sending their own into the meat grinder,” Gavin said, an edge of bitterness in his voice even as he chuckled. “Either way, we’d be happy to have someone like you. Vermil, was it?”

Noah nodded. “Yes. And thanks for handling the other two monsters. It would have been really bad for all of us if we had to fight all three at once.”

“Well, they probably only attacked because we were here in the first place,” Jess admitted. “I’m glad nobody was injured, though. Truth be told, we’re probably in all of your debt. Our duty was to keep citizens out of the fight, and we got you wrapped up in it.”

“All’s well that ends well,” Brayden said with a shrug. “It was a good exercise. I haven’t had to properly use my Shield in a while.”

“Then we’ll be off and not hold you any longer,” Gavin said. “If there’s anything we can do for you, ask around for us. I’ve got to go get a team to help me clean this mess up.”

Gavin pressed a hand to his armor. It flickered with golden energy and disassembled, forming into a long board on the ground by his feet. Jess stepped onto it, holding onto his shoulders.

After a farewell nod, the board flared with energy. It launched forward, taking to the sky and bringing the two soldiers with it. Todd watched them leave, longing in his eyes. Isabel nudged him and Todd shook his head, tearing his gaze away.

Allen continued to stare at Noah, as if he couldn’t comprehend what had just happened.

“What?” Noah asked. “Did you really think I was that incompetent?”

“Do you really want me to answer that question?” Allen asked.

Noah laughed, much to his annoyance. “No, I’d rather you didn’t.”

“You’re really a Rank 2?”

“Yes. Why would I lie about that? I only recently ranked up.”

Allen grunted. “Who trained you?”

“Who trained you?”

Allen pursed his lips. “Very well. Brayden, we should continue. It is possible that this fight could have caught the attention of more monsters.”

Brayden nodded. “I was about to suggest the same. Let’s get moving. No point wasting good time.”

And with that, they were off once more. Noah could practically feel the gazes of Allen and Edward burning into the back of his neck as they walked, but the two remained at the back of the party, back to their silent, sullen selves.

Lee, who Noah had lost track of during the last few minutes, re-emerged beside him and Moxie. Moxie gave her a small nod, which she returned. Noah wasn’t sure what it was about, but at least it looked like they were getting along.

“You never really answered me,” Emily said, increasing her stride to walk beside Noah. “How did you do that?”

“I already said. A lot of smoke. It’s really unhealthy for you, you know. Especially when it explodes.”

“Not the magic,” Emily said. “You’re a Rank 2, but you charged that thing without a second thought. Didn’t you hear Brayden say that it was a threat to even Rank 3s? You could have died, but I didn’t even see you blink.”

Ah. That’s because death doesn’t matter. You should try it sometime. The first few years aren’t all that bad. It’s the waiting that really sucks.

“Fear is a tool,” Lee said, answering for Noah. “It lets you know when you need to run. Some enemies can’t be defeated. But at the same time, too much of it holds you back. Understanding your abilities will let you determine when you should flee and when you shouldn’t.”

“So he just understands what he can do very well?”

“Something like that,” Noah said. “A lot of training in the field builds confidence and experience. I also knew I had some good backup. I wouldn’t have ran at that thing like an idiot if Moxie and Allen hadn’t been backing me up, or if I hadn’t known that Brayden had you all protected.”

Well, I would have if I was alone, that wasn’t really the question.

“Magus Moxie and Allen aren’t trained to fight, though,” Emily said.

Noah repressed a laugh.

Sounds like somebody hasn’t seen Moxie when she’s mad. Or when she’s trying to convince me she’s an ally.

“They looked pretty effective to me,” Noah said dryly.

“That’s different. You’re professors. Of course they’re very talented at magic, that’s their job. But they aren’t soldiers. Their job is research and studying, not fighting.”

Moxie’s eyes flicked away and something passed across her face. Her face was back to normal so quickly that Noah barely even noticed it.

Was that… shame? Embarrassment? Odd.

“You did see Allen, right?” Noah asked, sending a glance over his shoulder. “Not to compliment the guy – his head is big enough as it is – but he was skating circles around the Root Fiend. That doesn’t look like something all that easy to accomplish.”

Emily cleared her throat. “Allen is the head of the trick skating club on campus. He’s shown me a few tricks.”

Noah nearly missed a step. “What?”

“He’s the skating instructor,” Emily repeated. “A really good one. I’ve been in his after school class for about a year now. He does a lot of tricks like that. It’s part of the show.”

“Huh. Well, that’s not something I would have guessed. I guess we all have to have hobbies,” Noah said.

“Exactly,” Emily said. “Which is why I want to know what yours is. How’d you fight like that?”

“It’s because all he does is fight,” Todd said, walking up beside Emily. “He has no other hobbies. He’s a soldier in a professor’s clothes. The Teacherman.”

Todd put extra emphasis on the last word, making Noah’s nickname sound like an off-brand superhero from a failing franchise.

How did he even come up with that?

“Please don’t spread that around,” Noah said with a defeated sigh. “But Todd is right. I’m afraid my knowledge in all areas other than punching things really hard and making them blow up is sorely lacking. I trained Todd and Isabel for it by having them fight monsters over and over, remember? That translates. It doesn’t help them do much other than kill monsters, though. I’m lucky Moxie has partnered with me, to be honest. I’m going to be needing her expertise for literally every part of this other than killing.”

“Killing monsters is all that matters,” Todd said. “Kill monster, get energy. Upgrade Runes. Kill bigger monster. Easy.”

“You’re an idiot,” Emily said, snorting with laughter. “He’s right. You really do need a proper teacher if you think that’s all there is to Runes.”

Todd and Emily glared at each other.

Ah, lovely. All is back to being as it should.

As they continued walking, Noah couldn’t help but notice that the rest of the group had fallen silent, all seemingly lost in their own thoughts. Lee seemed to be watching Isabel, who was continuing to send glances over her shoulder at the remains of the Root Fiends receding behind them.

Moxie just looked straight up sick, though she was fairly good at hiding it, and Brayden seemed… pensive, for lack of a better word. Noah repressed a sigh. Something was clearly up with everyone, but he had no idea what it was.

I’ll have to pull Moxie aside soon. I also need to figure out what a domain is. Allen seemed to treat it like it was important. Tonight should be good. The more I learn, the more I realize I have absolutely no idea just how deep all of this goes.