Return of the Runebound Professor

To all of their relief, there were no monster attacks that day. Either they just got lucky, or the other denizens of the Deadlands had seen what happened to the Paleworm and were actually smart enough to not risk trying their chances.

Whatever the reason was, as night fell, they left the dry grass and sickly smells behind, stepping out onto a plain field. It was far flatter than the area near Arbitage was, with little in the form of anything.

It was actually fairly impressive just how flat the area really was. Noah could practically see the horizon itself stretching out around them with absolutely nothing to block it. They traveled for a few hours in the cover of the night, walking by the light of the moon, before Brayden brought them to a halt and they set up camp.

That night passed quietly, and Noah spent all of it focused on his Body Imbuements once more.

The following morning, they were off. If anything, Brayden seemed to increase his pace now that they were out of the Deadlands. The rest of them struggled to keep up with the large man, forcing him to irritably slow down multiple times to let them catch him.

In that manner, several days passed. Noah wasn’t sure if there were actually any monsters of note in the flat grasslands, but he certainly didn’t spot any. He tried hunting around for them a few times at night, in between re-layering his Body Imbuements, but all of his efforts turned up nothing but grass.

He wasn’t actually sure if he liked the new area more or less than the old ones. While the travel was far easier than it had been, now he didn’t have much to train either himself or his students again.

Of course, that gave him more than enough time to perfect his Body Imbuement. By the end of that week, Noah had Pyroclastic Resonance Imbued on his lungs once more – and in a much neater fashion.

Several tests proved that, while he still used enormous amounts of magic when using the combined strength of Pyroclastic Resonance and Combustion, the magic was considerably more efficient than it had been. Better yet, the Imbuement didn’t feel nearly as shoddy as his first one had been. His lungs and the Imbued Rune had meshed as one, and he could have sworn that they felt stronger and more resilient, even though he couldn’t actually explain how he knew that.

But, with no monsters to hunt, Noah just joined Lee in her morning classes. They sparred against each other rather than monsters, not using any magic to avoid injuries. Unfortunately, that did mean that their training sessions were a mixture of stretching and getting suplexed by Lee whenever the opportunity arose.

When the end of the grasslands finally showed itself on the ninth day of travel, Noah was relieved. The dirt path became cobbled, forking and heading in multiple different directions. Thin rows of trees stretched out in the distance, all standing tall but far apart from each other.

Noah wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone, but it had been so long since he’d actually gotten a chance to do something other than stretch or spar that he was starting to get antsy.

He wasn’t the only one that looked relieved to see the end to the grasslands, though. Throughout their trip, Isabel had progressively been looking more and more tired. She’d formed small bags under her eyes and often lagged behind the others, blinking herself awake when she realized she was nearly all the way back with Edward and Allen.

Noah had been nursing his suspicions that she was probably practicing or training at some point during the night, and several times he’d headed out trying to spot her. While he found her tent empty several times, not once did he actually manage to find Isabel.

After confirming with Brayden that the area was truly devoid of any monsters of relevance, Noah didn’t press the issue. Isabel had every right to push herself to become stronger, and he wasn’t going to stand in her way. She’d talk to him about it when the time was right.

When they reached the beginning of the cobbled path and the true end of the grasslands, Moxie stopped walking at the fork. Noah paused, turning back to look at her.

“Is something wrong?”

“This is as far as Emily and I will be going,” Moxie said.

Brayden gave a small, slightly approving nod. He really hadn’t spoken to Moxie or Emily during their travel, but his distaste for her seemed to have slightly lessened throughout the course of their trip. Considering the Torrins and the Linwicks supposedly hated each other, Noah was pretty happy with any progress they made.

“Wise decision,” Brayden said. “Even if you’re not half-bad for a Torrin, it isn’t a good idea for either of you to be showing up on Linwick property. Nothing good would come of it.”

“Where are you going to go, then?” Noah asked, trying not to let his disappointment show on his face. He was well aware Moxie was probably making the right decision, even from what little he knew about the Linwicks, but losing one of his two allies – and one of the only people in this world he considered a friend – was still a bit of a letdown.

“We’ll train for the survival exam,” Moxie replied with a small grin. “Honestly, I’m pretty sure this trip was already pretty good training for that, but Emily needs to get some time out in the woods on her own. There are some in the area that’ll serve as a good practice run.”

“How are you going to get back to campus?” Todd asked. “Traveling back on your own could be pretty dangerous without Brayden to help.”

“Depends,” Moxie replied. “How long are you lot planning to stay at the Linwick estate? Just until Vermil’s name is fully cleared of this whole debacle?”

Brayden let out a snort. “As if this idiot could have managed to take out the Hellreaver at Rank 2. I don’t know what Vermil’s been feeding you about his capabilities, but you might be overestimating him.”

Huh. That wasn’t half bad, Brayden. You actually sounded somewhat believable there. You’re getting a bit better at lying.

“So it won’t take long?” Emily asked.

“Not long at all, little Torrin,” Brayden replied. “We might be there a week or two at most, but it probably won’t even be that long. Just enough to touch bases and for me to get my next mission. Then we’ll be back off, and I’ll herd you all back to Arbitage before I get it going.”

“We’ll meet you back here in two weeks, then?” Moxie offered.

Brayden shrugged. “Works for me. Don’t be late. I won’t wait.”

“I’m never late,” Moxie replied. She sent a pointed glance at Noah. “Unlike some.”

“Hey! I haven’t been late in a while,” Noah protested.

“And keep that up, especially if you’re meeting with anyone important,” Moxie said, her voice taking on a serious note. “Good luck, everyone.”

“You too. Take care,” Noah said. “Watch out for Snufflers.”

Moxie rolled her eyes. She and Emily waved goodbye, then set off down one of the winding stone roads leading off to the side. Brayden didn’t waste a moment in setting off as well, forcing everyone else to hurry to keep up with him.

“How are the monsters in this area?” Noah asked after a few minutes. “Anything we should be aware of?”

Brayden shook his head. “We’re already in Linwick territory, even if we’re at the edges of it. Everything here is pretty safe. We’d be more likely to get attacked by other mages than by monsters in this area, and nobody would be stupid enough to attack me.”

Yeah, I don’t blame them. You’re a mountain of a man. At least this means I don’t have to stop Isabel from doing whatever it is she’s been doing at night. If I can avoid addressing it while Allen or Edward might overhear, that’s probably for the best.

And, so, they continued on. Two more days passed in a blur. Noah put extra effort into Lee’s training, pushing his body as hard as he could. He couldn’t ever actually catch up with her flexibility, but reducing a little more of his clumsiness would be incredibly helpful in fights.

Noah also spent a significant amount of the time they spent walking brainstorming on his Runes. Now that he’d perfected Pyroclastic Resonance, he had to decide between forming more of the same Rank 2 Rune or getting new ones.

He came to two main conclusions over the course of the next two days. The first, and most important, was he needed something with a little more Wind in it. In addition to the significant benefits of being able to fly, vibration still depended heavily on the element it passed through. He’d be able to strengthen Pyroclastic Resonance even further when he combined it into a Rank 3 Rune if he could build something up to increase his Wind magic.

Noah also determined that furthering his Fire capabilities would be an equally worthy pursuit. While Noah wasn’t exactly sure the direction he wanted to take it yet, it was a logical continuation of his current path.

On the twelfth day of travel, the grassy landscape was finally broken up by tall, gray buildings in the distance. They stretched into the sky, scraping through the clouds and casting a long shadow over the grass before them. A huge wall surrounded them, marking off a massive city.

Holy shit. I thought this would be an encampment or a big mansion, not an entire city. Sure, it’s smaller than Arbitage, but that’s not a damn estate. Whoever named it needs to read a thesaurus.

“Ah,” Brayden said, pausing. “We’ve nearly arrived. Not bad. We’ve made pretty good time.”

“Only because you’re actively doing everything you can to run our legs into the ground,” Edward said, taking the moment to catch his breath. “Why do you walk so fast?”

“Edward,” Allen snapped. “Respect.”

“Because I have long legs. You should have considered having longer ones yourself,” Brayden replied. Then he set back off, and Noah could have sworn Brayden was walking even faster than he had been moments before.

A few hours and a lot of uncomfortable fast walking later, Brayden finally slowed his pace once more. They drew up to a massive gateway manned by two heavily armored men. Twisting, sharp lines ran along the shafts of the spears in their hands and covered their armor.

I bet they’re soldiers. They both remind me of Gavin, and his weapon had similar patterns. I’d be willing to put money on those lines being some way to disguise the runes that were Imbued onto the weapons.

“Brayden,” one of the soldiers said, tapping the butt of his spear on the ground in salute. “Welcome back. You returned faster than expected. Did something go awry?”

“Something like that. I’ve got news, and it was important enough to make a quick return. Could you note down that we’ve got some travelers passing through with me and Vermil?” Brayden gestured back to Isabel and Todd.

The guard nodded. “Names?”

“Isabel.”

“Todd.”

“Lee.”

“Thanks. I’ll deliver the news now.”

“One more thing,” Brayden said, raising his hand as the guard turned to leave.

“What is it?”

“Please find my father and let him know that Vermil is coming. Tell him it’s urgent.”

Wait, what? That’s way too fast.

“Should I settle in or something first?” Noah asked, aware of how weak his own argument was before the words even came out of his mouth.

Brayden glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “Don’t start doing this shit again, Vermil. There’s nothing to be cautious of here. You don’t have to prepare anything for this. Just relax for once, man. We’re in the Linwick Estate.”

The guard gave Brayden a salute and strode off. Noah watched him leave, a pit building in his stomach.

“Allen, I assume you can handle yourself,” Brayden said.

“I can. Thank you for the escort.” Allen strode past them, herding Edward past them and into the city.

Brayden looked down at Isabel and Todd. “The three of you, follow me. I’ll get you settled in. As for you, Vermil, we’ll have time to talk more later. You’ve got a report to give Father.”