Chapter 181: Good job

Chapter 181: Good job

“A goddess is going to try to kill us?” Lee asked in a hushed whisper.

“Possibly,” Noah said, scratching at the side of his face. “I suppose she had a chance to do that when she was in my soul and she didn’t, but she certainly isn’t happy.”

“You need to get some food for her,” Lee suggested. “When she shows up and you feed her, maybe she won’t kill the rest of us.”The initial posting of this chapter occurred via N0v3l.B11n.

“I don’t think she’d kill the rest of you. Just me.”

“Do you really think a god would notice if they killed a few extra mortals?”

Noah’s expression darkened. The memory of Renewal’s voice slamming into his soul was still ingrained into his memory. She could definitely kill all of them with little more than just a flick of her hand, and Lee was right – Renewal might not even notice if she killed a few other mortals in the process.

“I’ll keep an eye out for some god–sized snacks,” Noah said. “I think this is probably one of those problems that all I can really do is ignore it. It’s not like I’m going to be able to fight a goddess if she comes hunting for me, so I’ll just focus on other things until something new comes up that changes the situation.”

“That’s a lot of words to say that you’re going to pretend like it never happened and hope the goddess forgets you exist.”

“Yup,” Noah agreed. “I got this Rune, though. Might as well try using it. Shall we?”

“You still haven’t said exactly what it does,” Lee said, furrowing her brow. “What’s it for?”

“You,” Noah replied.

Lee blinked. “You want to attack me?”

“No,” Noah said with a laugh. “It’s not a fighting Rune. It’s for healing. This is the way I healed all the soul damage I had after the fight with the Inquisitors. I needed it for myself because of how much damage I take when I die, but it’s got the added bonus of possibly giving me a way to help you too.”

Lee’s eyes narrowed and she studied Noah intently. “You didn’t go through all this trouble and danger just to get that for me, right? It just happens to also help?”

“Yep. Exactly. Purely self-motivated,” Noah lied.

“Okay!” Lee said cheerfully. “I’m just lucky. I can’t complain about that. How does it work?”

Wow, she didn’t even doubt me for a second. Makes me feel a bit bad about lying, but she’d definitely feel terrible if she knew that I did this specifically to cure her. It’s a good thing I’m not as bad at lying as Brayden is or she totally would have figured it out.

“Just sit down. I’m going to try to push the energy into you,” Noah said. “Hopefully that’s enough.”

Lee turned to face one of the walls and flopped down, sitting cross legged with her back to Noah. He sat down behind her and put his hands on Lee’s back, closing his eyes and reaching into his soul to call on Renewal’s Rune.

He was so concentrated that he didn’t even notice how stiff Lee’s shoulders were. She’d also chosen her position well – it completely hid her face from him. Even though Noah’s eyes were closed, he might have noticed her wiping her nose with the back of her hand and blinking furiously to keep herself from letting her eyes water up too much.

Of course, Noah noticed none of that. He was too focused on his new Rune. The pearly, flowing lines of the Fragment of Renewal as it floated in his mindspace. He still wasn’t sure exactly what the Fragment part meant.

It’s not like it’s possible to have part of a Master Rune. That was really well established. You can’t split them up. So... what is this? It doesn’t seem to be implying that it’s imperfect – just incomplete. That’s a really important difference.

Noah pursed his lips, studying it intently. The rune lowered down toward him, and the pressure bearing down on Noah and his normal Runes started to ramp up. Noah gritted his teeth as the ground of his mindspace started to shake.

The new Rune was easily just as strong as Sunder. It felt like the weight of the world was bearing down on him, trying to grind him to a paste. Luckily, this wasn’t the first time he’d shouldered a massive Rune.

Noah was used to it – or at least, as used to it as he could get. He raised a hand, letting it brush against the gentle surface of the Rune. Cold rivers of energy poured into his body and he drew in a sharp gasp.

“Noah?” There was a dangerous note to Moxie’s voice, like she wasn’t sure if she should be baffled, awed, horrified, or a mixture all three. “I don’t suppose you’re going to expand on that?”

“That kind of summarized it, actually,” Noah said. “And it’s not just a normal Rune. I think it’s a Master Rune. A weird one.”

Moxie drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, pressing her hands to her cheeks and dragging them down slowly. She shifted her position, laying down beside Noah and staring up at the top of the stone tent.

“Moxie?” Noah asked. “You okay?”

“Does the goddess know you stole her rune? I’m not even going to bother asking how you managed to get your hands on it in the first place.”

“...yeah.”

“Okay.”

They were silent for several moments.

“Just okay?” Noah asked. “I was kind of expecting a more panicked response.”

“I think my panic receptors are fried,” Moxie muttered. “I’m just numb now. We’re probably all going to die.”

“If she was going to kill Noah, she probably already would have. Let’s just ignore the problem and pretend it’s not there,” Lee said, lifting her head and shamelessly stealing Noah’s strategy.

“Did you happen to find a Rune that erases memories as well?” Moxie asked. “I think I might be happier not knowing that a goddess might be trying to hunt us all down right now.”

Lee released Noah for a moment, but only for long enough for an arm and a leg to stretch out, looping around Moxie. Before Moxie could respond, Lee yanked them all together, drawing surprised grunts out of both Noah and Moxie.

“You are squeezing the life out of me,” Noah wheezed.

“It’s okay. You can heal it with your new Rune,” Lee said.

“No, I can’t. That only heals soul damage. I think.”

“Then you can die. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“What about me?” Moxie demanded, trying to wiggle free. “What’s gotten into you, Lee?”

Lee snickered. She finally released them, hopping to her feet. “I’m just so full of energy now. I’ve been feeling exhausted for so long because of that soul damage that I’ve got a bunch of time to make up on now! I’m gonna go bother the students. See ya!”

She zipped out of the tent, still laughing to herself. Noah and Moxie sat up, rubbing their arms. Lee’s grip really was merciless, and she’d definitely been holding back. Noah suspected that she might have actually broken their bones if she hadn’t been.

“I’m not sure what to say beyond good job,” Moxie said, looking out the tent in the direction Lee had gone.

Noah blinked. “What?”

“You rushed to Rank 3 to make that Rune, didn’t you? Lee was suffering, even though she was hiding it. I guess it’s her fault for taking so much soul damage, but I can’t blame her. It’s not often you get the chance to get stronger. I’m glad she’s back to normal, even if I suspect we might all be about to suffer a little bit for it.”

“Especially our food supplies,” Noah agreed. “And the students. We better go check on them before Lee does too much damage.”

They both shuddered and strode out of the tent to catch up to Lee, thoughts of their other problems temporarily pushed aside in the face of the much more immediate threat of death-by-stretching.