Chapter 310:

Chapter 310:

The rest of their time from the Mind Meld potion ran its time out and Noah woke back in Isabel and Todd’s room. He sat up, pushing his grimoire to the side and blinking to adjust to the new environment.

“So? What did Vermil do?” Emily asked before Isabel had even finished sitting up herself.

Isabel didn’t even reply. She just shook her head, still in partial disbelief about everything that had happened. Her reaction was enough for Todd to grab the next Mind Meld potion without a second of hesitation.

“Let’s do it. Can we do it now?” Todd asked eagerly. “I almost never see Isabel that speechless.”

“Hey! I wanted to go next!”

Todd shot Emily a smug look, then glanced at Noah. “So?”

“Go ahead,” Noah said with a chuckle. He tapped tapped his hand on the top of his grimoire. If he recalled correctly, Todd’s Rank 2 Rune was a little more complex than just a true Stone Rune, so there would probably be some Rune-replacement involved in repairing it. Fortunately it was just a Rank 2, and he’d gotten more than a few assorted Runes over the vacation that would hopefully be of use.

Todd tipped half the potion back into his mouth and handed it over. Noah drank the other half, keeping his hand on the grimoire as he leaned back against the wall and let himself fall into the familiar buzz of the Mind Meld potion’s effects.

He didn’t have to wait long. Magic enveloped him and the world vanished in a swirl of darkness. When vision returned to Noah, he was standing on a craggy, barren landscape. Wisps of steam curled up around his body and heat bore down on him, just hot enough to be a step beyond uncomfortable.

Todd stood directly before Noah, his fingers tapping his thigh in impatience. “I just want to let you know I’ve got really high hopes, so I’m gonna be disappointed if you don’t basically shatter my worldview.”

“Lucky me,” Noah said dryly. He turned in a circle. Todd had been busy – he had several Runes in his mindspace.

There was a filled Heat Rune, two Water Runes, an Ice Rune, and a Fire Rune – all at Rank 1. Noah also spotted Todd’s Shattering Blows Rune floating away from the others. Its center was made up of small, short strokes, all surrounded by longer and smoother ones at the edges. “Bring that Rune over.”L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

Todd blinked but did as in structed, calling the Rune to hover beside them. The pressure coming off it was definitely weaker than a perfect Rune, but Todd had mentioned that it hadn’t been perfect before.

“I know it’s not the best Rune, but I did what I could with what I had to work with,” Todd said, looking to the Rune with a small frown. “I think it turned out decent.”

“You did a good job,” Noah said. “This doesn’t look like it was an easy Rune to make. Your intent would have had to be really good, and that’s not accounting for the proper combinations either. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Yeah. Thanks. What did we come here to talk about, though? I’m going to die of impatience if you don’t tell me.”

“That.” Noah nodded to the Rune. “We’re going to be fixing it.”

“What?”

“You know, I’m pretty sure Isabel said the exact same thing.” Noah grinned and shook his head. “Maybe I’m a narcissist, but I’m never going to get tired of that reaction. Here’s the deal – I can cut your Rune apart back into its Rank 1 components, and I’ve got a grimoire with a bunch of Runes for you to use if you need them at your side. We have thirty minutes to fix your Rune until it’s perfect.”

“You’re screwing with me.” Todd took a step back and he lost some of his concentration, allowing the Shattering Blows Rune to move back to its normal resting spot.

“Nope. Moxie and I also discovered that perfect Runes aren’t always actually perfect. A Rune needs to exert equal amounts of pressure no matter how you use it. From what I can tell, the general public doesn’t know that, and I don’t think noble families do either.”

Todd’s eyes bored into Noah. For one of the first times since Noah had met Todd, the boy was speechless.

“Damned Plains,” Todd breathed. “You’re not screwing with me at all. No wonder Isabel looked like that.”

To Noah’s surprise, the Rune was fuller than he’d expected it to be. It should have been fairly empty, but for some reason, it was well over halfway full.

I never filled that Rune. Why does it have energy?

Todd didn’t notice Noah’s confusion. He stared intently at Shattering Blows, his brow furrowed and lips pressed thin.

Did the grimoire somehow fill this? Where would the energy come – oh, shit. It put in some of the power that it took from the Runes it ate, didn’t it? Maybe as a peace offering? Either way, that’s actually incredibly handy. I can have it chew up useless Runes and distribute their energy for me without even lifting a finger.

“I’m ready,” Todd said, breaking Noah’s thoughts. “So you just chop this up and I take the energy, fill up the Fire Rune, and then re-combine everything? And we keep doing that until it works?”

“Exactly.”

“Let’s do it.”

Noah’s veins turned jet black. He stepped forward and pressed his hand against Shattering Blows, letting Sunder’s power surge forth.

Then Todd got to work.

***

Things did not go anywhere near as smooth as they had for Isabel, but that was to be expected. There were a lot more moving pieces that went into Todd’s Steam Rune, and that made it a lot easier to mess up.

Fortunately for Todd, he had quite a few tries to get things right. It took six separate re-combining attempts and more than a little cursing as he tried to figure out what was wrong with his intent, but in the end – and just a few minutes before the Mind Meld potion’s effects wore off, Todd finally had a Steam Rune whose pressure remained perfectly constant.

Letting out a relieved sigh, Todd flopped to the ground and released his Runes. Energy still crackled throughout his mindspace, but the job was done.

“How are we supposed to be able to figure this out on the first try? Your magic is completely unfair,” Todd said as he let out an exhausted sigh. “Thanks, Teacherman. We need to make sure nobody ever finds out you can do this, or I don’t think we’ll see you again.”

Noah snorted. “That would be nice, yes. Make sure not to talk about this once we leave your mindspace, but if you ever combine a Rune and need to modify it, let me know. I told Isabel the same thing, but my plan is for all of you to have exclusively perfect Runes.”

“And you don’t want payment for this?”

Noah glared at Todd. “Your payment is to absolutely destroy any exams you take this year.”

“I think I can do that,” Todd said with a weary grin. It fell away as his features turned serious and he sat up, locking eyes with Noah. “And thank you. Not just for this. Isabel and I never had a teacher that actually cared this much about us. I won’t let you down.”

“You don’t have to worry about letting me down,” Noah said. “Just put in your all and don’t do anything too stupid.”

“How stupid we talking?”

“If you have to ask, then it’s probably too stupid.”

They both laughed, and a familiar tingle prickled Noah’s spine. Todd noticed it too and gave him a short nod.

“Times up, huh?”

Noah barely had time to nod before his soul was wrenched from Todd’s mind and sent flying back into his own body in the room outside.