Return of the Runebound Professor Chapter 926: Grim Realization

Vivian didn’t wait for Noah to finish emerging from his Mindspace. He was still holding his badge. And that meant she could get things moving. The moment she was back in her room, she looked over her shoulder to the patch of shadows lurking behind her.

“Re-activate the badge. Send him back to his room,” Vivian said.

Maria didn’t have to be told twice. Noah vanished in a swirl of magic, even as his eyes were starting to open. He didn’t even get a chance to utter a word.

Vivian stared at the spot where he’d been for a moment. Then her lips thinned. Her heart was still pounding far faster than it had any right to in her chest. Had she still been fully mortal, she suspected there would have been droplets of sweat beading up on the back of her neck.

She’d kept her composure well. Even managed to crack a joke or two. It had been a while since she’d done that. In all fairness, it had been a while since she’d been speaking to anyone who would actually appreciate it.

Noah had caught her off guard.

Badly.

The Rank 5 didn’t even seem to realize just how dangerous he was. It wasn’t even just because of the Beyond. Vivian had only seen a fleeting glimpse of the Line he’d somehow imprinted into his soul, but it had been enough to drive a spike into her mind. And that had just been a glimpse.

If he figured out how to properly weaponize that power — if he used it intentionally…

It could have done damage. Real damage. To .

And that wasn’t even to address the other Runes he had in him. Three immensely powerful Master Runes, each one more than enough to carve a blindingly bright future entirely on its own. Noah had all three. More than that… he was a genius.

She hadn’t mentioned it, of course. It wouldn’t have done her any favors. But Noah’s runes were flawless. She hadn’t felt a single problem in any of them. Having a few Runes at that quality was rare enough. It wasn’t like he had the backing of a Faction.

Getting such combinations was difficult, even in Obsidia. It was practically impossible without immense amounts of funding and skill. But Noah had done it in Arbalest. Without any of their knowledge. Without any of their resources. That was more than any mage that had ever emerged from Arbalest had ever managed — and by a very significant margin.

That wasn’t practically impossible at all.

It just straight up impossible.

He was a peerless genius.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the size of his soul was just ludicrous. A Rank 5 had absolutely no right to be that strong. Even though it was nowhere near enough to overpower Vivian yet, things would change when he got stronger. And if he did manage to make it to Rank 8…

It was a good thing she’d managed to keep her cool. If Noah had realized just how much he’d actually affected her, there was a good chance that their conversation would have gone considerably worse. She just hadn’t been prepared. The next time would be different. There was no way she could let this slip through her fingers.

“We’re done here,” Vivian said, glancing back at Maria. “Good job. Thank you for the help.”

“Is that all?” Maria asked. Shadows twisted up from the ground and wove themselves into a rough, humanoid form. Maria’s features appeared in the darkness as a frown crossed her lips. “Why did you send him away? Were we really done?”

“I was done,” Vivian said. “Yes. I got what I needed. Some things require patience.”

Maria shrugged. “So long as you have the leverage we need. Don’t forget what’s at stake here.”

“This is city,” Vivian said, her words growing clipped. “I know more than most. There’s nothing more for you to concern yourself with regard to that man. I’ve dealt with it.”

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Maria inclined her head. “As you say. Did you discover his connection with Sievan?”

Vivian hesitated.

“No,” she said. “There were more important tasks at hand. I didn’t get the chance. It doesn’t really matter in the end. We will have more than enough time to commune in the future. We will be pretending that he is my disciple. And he will also be assisting us with our little Truthseeker problem.”

“You told him?” Maria asked. Surprise lit behind her dark, murky eyes. “Why would you tell—”

“Because I saw it advantageous to,” Vivian replied. “That will be all, Maria. I have my duties. You have yours. And the tournament still continues. We have other places to be.”

Then Vivian was gone.

The shadows that made up Maria stood in silence, alone in Vivian’s room.

Her lips pulled down in a scowl.

Then she too was gone, and the room was silent.

***

Noah stumbled as his feet abruptly hit the wrong stone. He’d been midway through waking back up in Vivian’s room when it seemed she’d decided their little talk was done. He was back in the room with Brayden, Fist, and Lee.

“Spider!” Lee exclaimed from beside the table before he could utter a word. Then her eyes went wide. Her nose twitched. She was definitely trying to break past Aqua Terra’s anti-domain magic, but her sense of smell clearly wasn’t working right.

“It’s… a long story,” Noah said.

“A long story?” Fist asked in disbelief, spinning as she realized that he had returned. “You walked through a wall!”

“I walked past it, technically,” Noah replied. He blinked several times.

“That’s Grim,” Lee said. She pointed at the book on Noah’s back. “You found Moxie?”

Noah grinned. “Yeah. I did.”

“You did?” Brayden asked. His face lit up and he clapped Noah on the shoulder. “Good man! Well done! How is she?”

“Doing well,” Noah replied. His smile faltered slightly. “Though we didn’t have nearly as long to speak as I would have liked.”

“I can imagine,” Fist said. She sent a nervous glance over Noah’s shoulder. “The Prophet’s men are in pursuit, aren’t they?”

“What? No.” Noah shook his head. “Nothing like that.”

“You managed to get to Moxie and escape without getting noticed?” Brayden asked. “Seriously?”

Noah paused. Then he coughed. “It went well enough. Nothing more to say, really.”

Brayden sent him a doubtful look. Then he shrugged and gave Noah one last pat on the shoulder. “Well, good enough for me. I don’t know what the hell just happened or how you did it. But you’re back. And Moxie made it! That’s fantastic. And that’s really all that matters, isn’t it?”

Noah grinned and nodded. “So it is. But you’ll all have to excuse me for a little. I don’t want to waste time. Now that I’ve got my grimoire back…”

“You’re going to try to rank up?” Lee asked. She walked up to Noah and sniffed the air again. Then she frowned. “I can’t smell Moxie. I hate this.”

Noah ruffled her hair. “Yeah. I’m going to see what I can do. And don’t worry about Aqua Terra’s anti-magic. I know it sucks, Lee. Just bear with it a bit longer. Don’t worry. I think we’ll be wrapped up with the tournament soon enough.”

“Optimistic, are we?” Fist asked.

“No,” Noah replied. “Just determined.”

He didn’t have the faintest idea what runes Grim had in him at this point. It had been so long since he’d last been able to read through the book.

“Good luck,” Brayden said. “I know you’re strong. Just don’t push yourself too hard. Nobody’s strong enough to stand up under pressure forever. You’ve got to take a break to breathe every once and a while.”

“I know,” Noah said. “Trust me. I’d like nothing more than that. But a break can wait until after we’ve finished here. I’m not pausing so close to the finish line. Best of luck to anyone if they get called down there… but I doubt you’ll need it.”

“I might,” Fist muttered. She glanced from Brayden to Lee. “Are both of you like him? You about to start popping through walls?”

Noah headed for his room. He left Brayden and Lee to try and answer that question. It had just been too damn long since he’d had a chance to hold his grimoire, and he couldn’t put this off any longer. Not when he’d been waiting for it all this time.

He slung the book off his back and sat down, cross legged, on the ground. Noah then flipped the massive grimoire open, letting his eyes drift shut and sinking back into his Mindspace.

Darkness bloomed to meet him.

“Alright, Grim,” Noah said. “You’ve been awful silent. More than I’d thought. Don’t tell me Moxie managed to beat some manners into you.”

A cold bark of laughter echoed through Noah’s Mindspace. He felt Grim’s presence brush across his mind.

“Yeah,” Noah said. “I’ve figured that much. She’s definitely dangerous. But there’s more than a little use to having a Rank 8 somewhat loosely allied with us. It’ll be good to have some guidance on what the Beyond is capable of beyond some cryptic messages.”

Noah let out a snort of laughter. “Hell no. I’m not going to do a single thing she wants me to. I mean, I’ll say that I will. And I want knowledge of how the Beyond works. I’m not trying to corrupt myself. But I’m not going to let her control me. We just need to get stronger. There isn’t a whole lot I can do against a Rank 8 as I am now.”

A cold laugh echoed through the depths of Noah’s soul. A shimmer of excitement danced through his mind, but it wasn’t his own.

“Depends,” Noah said. “Did you eat every good rune in you? Or do you have something nice for me to work with?”

“I could, but you’d probably eat those too,” Noah said with a chuckle. “Stop whinging and tell me what you’ve got to work with, Grim. I plan to be Rank 6 before the next round of the tournament.”