Return of the Runebound Professor

Noah didn’t let any shock show on his features. He raised the cup of tea to his lips, blocking out as much of his face as possible as his mind raced. He’d only repaired one of Tim’s runes. The change shouldn’t have been significant enough for anyone to notice.

He hadn’t even thought Tim knew anyone all that powerful, much less Jalen. The Linwick family head was the last person Noah would have expected to give a shit about Tim.

How goddamn sensitive is he if he could tell the difference between a Rank 1 and a Rank 2 Rune for someone he barely spends any time with?

Noah had the cup of tea to his lips for so long that he ended up completely draining it. He kept his face straight as he lowered the cup back down to the table. Half of his attention was directed to keeping every part of his posture and body perfectly calm. If his heart so much as started racing, Jalen would probably be able to notice.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like the Rank 6 mage. While Noah wouldn’t have exactly called Jalen trustworthy, he was very straightforward. That did not mean he was willing to share the secrets of how Sunder worked with him.

What the hell do I tell him? I don’t think Tim would have spilled the beans. Maybe I can claim I got some form of really powerful soul healing potion? How would I excuse wasting something like that on anyone other than myself or Moxie?

“Your silence is telling,” Jalen said with a chuckle. He took another sip from his tea and leaned forward, eyes boring into Noah’s head. “No need to look like a deer in the torchlight, Vermil. You really shouldn’t be shocked. After all, you literally showed me how it was done.”

Noah blinked. “I’m not so sure I follow.”

I most certainly did not.

“Come on now, Vermil.” Jalen shook his head and tapped a finger on the table. A smug smile stretched across his lips as his tone grew increasingly confident. “During that class I observed. You were literally teaching your students steps to learning Formations, and that makes you a Formation Master. You’ve found the intricacies of how Runes work and discovered a way to work them out of the soul without shattering it.”

Noah stared at Jalen. He sounded quite satisfied at his discovery of Noah’s secret, even though he was completely wrong about it. There was no need to point that out, though. Noah’s attention went from trying to keep the stress from showing on his features to trying to hold back relief.

He’s really damn perceptive, but nobody would ever be able to so much as take a guess at the existence of Sunder. I was hoping to keep the extent I get Formations under wraps, but it looks like that was too much to ask for when he literally swung by a class. It looks like Tim also kept his mouth shut. Good man. He didn’t say anything, even though he’s friends with Jalen.

I can work with this.

Noah held his hands up and let out a defeated sigh. “Okay. You got me. I was really hoping it wasn’t that obvious.”

“It wouldn’t be to most. You’ve done a very good job of appearing to be completely incompetent,” Jalen said with a smirk. “My kind of man. Managed to hide yourself from the family for all these years… though I don’t blame you. They’ve turned into a hive of villains and scum.”

Isn’t it literally your job to keep that from happening?

Jalen caught the look on Noah’s face. His smile slipped away and he let out a huff. “I know what you’re thinking, Vermil. But let me ask you something. Let’s say you stumbled into the responsibility of taking care of a group of rats. All of the rats hate you, and they do their best to fling themselves into every pot of boiling water they find. When you try to stop them, they bite your fingers. What do you do?”

“Build a cage?” Noah guessed, pretty sure he was missing the point but more than happy to let the conversation steer away from his abilities for as long as possible. It would certainly wrap back to them soon enough, but the more time he had to try and figure out some answers, the better.

“If only I could, but no. The rats don’t like being caged and find ways out.” Jalen shook his head, then sent a pointed glance at the empty cup before him. Tim picked up the tea kettle and filled it once more. Jalen nodded in appreciation and took a sip of scalding tea before continuing. “You have to choose between trying to herd them or let them do what they want.”

“I’d probably do my best to herd them if I was responsible for their wellbeing, I guess.”

“And that’s what I did. For years, I tried to keep them on track. Actually did for a few periods of time as well, but in the end, it’s impossible. Not without ruling over them like a lord. So I stepped back. Did less. Cared less. It made things easier, Vermil. There just wasn’t anything to keep my attention on anymore.” Jalen finished his tea in one swig, then waved the cup like a wand. His eyes locked with Noah’s and the corner of his lip quirked up. “Until you. I’ve had a few blips that caught my eye, but nothing in the way of true strength. No insult meant, Tim. You aren’t strong.”

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“None taken,” Tim said with an easygoing smile. He took another sip of tea. Between the three of them, he seemed to be the least concerned. Noah supposed that made sense, as he was the one that knew them both the best.

“I’m honored,” Noah said. “I do my best.”

“I’d say you do a whole lot more than your best. You’ve accomplished something that every single noble family in the entire kingdom is doing their best to figure out.” Jalen let out a bark of laughter. He rose to his feet and crossed his hands behind his back, starting to pace around the room. “How is it that a Rank 4 managed to work out what our combined forces couldn’t?”

“Technically not combined,” Noah pointed out. “Nobody works together.”

“Fair point,” Jalen admitted. He came to a stop beside Noah and shook his head. “But the question remains. You’ve unearthed some degree of understanding with regard to runes. I want to hear you admit it with your own words.”

“I have,” Noah said after a second of hesitation. If Jalen pushed any deeper, he wasn’t quite sure how he’d expand the lie. He had figured out a lot about how runes worked, but that wouldn’t do anything to help remove them from anyone’s soul without Sunder. Not yet, at least. Before he could open his mouth to say anything else, Jalen snapped his fingers.

“No!” Jalen barked. “Not another word.”

“I — wait, what?”

“I don’t want to hear how you did it,” Jalen said. His eyes gleamed with excitement and he let out a delighted cackle. “That would spoil the fun completely. I just want to know it’s possible. There’s something about runes we don’t know, and it’s simple enough that a Rank 4 can discover it. This is hilarious. If you say a single blasted word about how this is done to anyone other than your students, I’m ripping your head off. That includes me.”

Noah stared at Jalen as he practically pranced around the room, muttering to himself with a massive grin plastered across his face. He looked like a spring deer that had been just set loose into a field of the freshest grass. Noah couldn’t help himself. He started to laugh.

I should have known Jalen would be like this. He doesn’t give a shit about getting stronger for the reasons that the rest of us do. He’s already powerful. All he wants now is to find something interesting to do, and I’ve confirmed that there’s more to discover that he doesn’t know. That bit isn’t even really a lie. There’s a lot to runes that people don’t seem to understand.

Tim wordlessly poured Noah another cup of tea, then refilled Jalen’s cup as well. Jalen paused his prancing for just long enough to grab his cup and drain it.

“Thanks,” Noah said as he took a drink of his own tea. “While Jalen is distracted, how have you been?”

“Well enough, I’d say. I feel better than ever,” Tim said. “I’m a little disappointed about the transport cannon, but I’ll be back to running it today. It’ll just be much more restricted than it used to be due to the limits it’ll now have.”

“How much more?” Noah asked. “I was hoping to use it to send me out to fight some monsters.”

“For you? I’ll make an exception as long as you aren’t trying to go too far. Are you hunting for runes?”

“No. Energy, mostly.”

“Ah. There’s an area with some Rank 3s in it if that would work? I could send you there for a few hours after our meeting with Jalen is over.”

“That would be perfect,” Noah said with a grin. “Thanks, Tim.”

And I can fix up more of your runes before I head out. I just can’t do that while Jalen is here. It would be asking for a bit too much trouble, even if everything was done inside your soul with a Mind Meld potion.

Jalen finally came to a stop at his chair again. He slapped his palms down on the table and leaned over it. “Why are you not excited, Vermil? This is groundbreaking.”

“Because I’m the one that discovered it?”

“Ah, right.” Jalen pursed his lips. “So you did. I forgot.”

He sat back in his chair and pressed the tips of his fingers against each other. Then Jalen pursed his lips and fell silent. Several seconds passed as Noah and Tim watched him.

“So—” Noah started.

“Okay, you win,” Jalen said irritably. “Give me a little hint.”

Noah blinked. “What?”

“I want a hint. Where do I start?”

“Er… I suppose—”

“Wait! I changed my mind!” Jalen held his hands up and jumped back to his feet, muttering under his breath. “That’ll run the fun. No, Jalen. No trading something interesting for a blip of momentary satisfaction. That was how you lost your first wife.”

You know, sometimes it’s easy to forget Jalen is batshit insane. Thank god this guy is kind of on my side.

Jalen ground to a halt and turned back to Noah. “Okay. I’ve figured it out.”

“You have?”

And what exactly is it you’ve figured out? There’s no way he actually worked out how runes work just by striding around the room for a few seconds.

“Yes. I have discovered that I have absolutely no idea as to how you’ve figured this out. Could you at least tell me if it’s something that can be discovered on its own, or did someone tell you how it worked?”

“It was me,” Noah said, holding back a laugh. “I don’t have a teacher.”

“I see. Very good. Very good.” Jalen nodded slowly. “Then it is possible. I have much to consider. I know I called you here, but with my suspicions confirmed, I can hold myself back no longer. There is too much to do.”

With that, Jalen vanished. Noah and Tim stared at where he’d been standing. Tim opened his mouth — and Jalen popped back into existence.

“I’ll be back in a few days for our darts match,” Jalen said, thrusting a finger in Noah’s direction. “Prepare yourself to lose.”

Then he vanished once more. Noah waited for a second to see if he’d return, but it looked like the enigmatic man had left for good this time. There wasn’t a single thing he could think of saying with regard to what had just happened, so he took the next best option and decided to ignore it entirely. He slowly turned to Tim, then cleared his throat.

“Care for a trip to the transport cannon?”

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