Return of the Runebound Professor-Chapter 693: Couldn’t possibly go wrong

Noah groaned.

His body throbbed like it had been put through a trash compactor. An angry headache pounded against the insides of his skull and he was pretty sure that his insides weren’t in the right spots.

It had been a long time since he’d woken to damage this bad. Noah could barely even remember what he’d been doing the night before. All he knew was his soul was most definitely not very happy with him.

The one saving grace was that, even through all the pain, there was no fog in his mind. It was perfectly clear so he could feel every single scrap of the pain. Fortunately, that also meant that there was nothing stopping him from reaching out to the Fragment of Renewal.

And he wasted absolutely no time in doing that. Noah drew deeply on the rune, letting its gentle energy wash through his soul. He didn’t need to plunge into his mindspace to know the damage was nasty — but it didn’t last long under the Fragment of Renewal’s counterattack.

The pain receded and the tension left Noah’s shoulders. He let out a relieved breath as he felt himself return to a more normal state, though his body still felt like it had been trampled over by a herd of elephants.

Now that he could think without worrying about severe mental trauma, it struck him that he was not lying in bed. The material beneath him wasn’t exactly hard, but it was no plushy vine mattress.

What the hell did I do last night?

Noah’s eyes fluttered open.

Stalks of gray grass rose, standing perfectly still in the gray light that washed over the field surrounding him. Clouds obscured the sky completely. Not even a speck sunlight could break through their thick wall. The scene couldn’t have been drabber if it had tried to be.

Then his eyes widened.

“Shit!” Noah exclaimed. He bolted upright, his heart bucking in his chest as memories snapped back into the forefront of his mind. “Oh, no. This is bad. Really bad.”

He’d died last night — but the brain fog was already gone. That meant he’d been passed out for at least twelve hours… and he was still out in the Meadow.

Moxie is definitely going to be wondering where I am. Crap. I promised her I wouldn’t do this anymore. This is not a good look at all. Given my past history of getting kidnapped, she’s probably worried sick. Why the hell did Garina—

“Relax.”

Noah twisted to look behind himself. Garina sat on a large rock, one leg pulled up close to her chest and her chin resting on her knee. Her fingers drummed against the side of her leg as her dark gaze bore down on him.

“Why’d you keep me out here?” Noah asked. “Take me back!”

“Calm down. I told Moxie you were out training. There was more we had to discuss, and I didn’t want to leave you to your own devices. You’d probably manage to screw something up before I got a chance to warn you not to.”

Noah paused. He swung his legs around so he was facing Garina, then crossed them beneath him. “Oh. That does help. Are you telling me you’ve been sitting out here all night? Do you really have nothing better to do with twelve whole hours?”

“Yes and no.”

“What’s that meant to mean?”

“Yes, I’ve been out here all night. Yes, I have better things to do. No, it wasn’t twelve hours.”

“What are you talking about? Sure it was. It had to have been. My brain—”

“Eleven hours.” Garina shook her head. “Not twelve. I counted. Figured you’d want to know.”

Noah’s brow furrowed. He tilted his head to the side. “Wait. Are you certain? If that’s true…”

“Your magic normally comes back in twelve.” Garina nodded. “Yes. I thought this might be the case. Think about it. When you die, the connection between your mind, body, and soul is damaged. But the whole point of yesterday was to strengthen that connection.”

“You’re telling me that if I keep practicing, I’ll be able to shorten the amount of time I can’t access my powers after I die?” Noah asked, his eyes growing wide.

The previous night had already shown him things he hadn’t even thought to be possible. He hadn’t forgotten how he’d used power even though the effects of his death had still been present.

His pattern had still partially functioned. And it was more than that. He couldn’t directly access his runes after he died. That fact had still held true. But Noah had managed to discover a different path.

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While he couldn’t feel his runes after dying, his soul was still there. He could still feel it. And, by using a mixture of his pattern and soul shaping, he could create temporary channels that let the power slip from his runes of its own volition.

Even though he couldn’t quite control it, it had been enough to, just for a flicker of a second at the very end of the fight, unleash Unstable Pandemonium. The effort of doing so had basically taken every last scrap of energy that Noah had still possessed, and he had no memories after that.

I must have passed out in the process. I never could have imagined that this training would be so damn effective, though. The benefits I already got were huge. Getting a better understanding of my pattern would have been more than enough for me to consider it worth my time. But this?

Finding out that I can not only kind of access my runes and pattern after I die, but also lowering the time it takes me to get my real power back? Holy shit. I need to do this every single night.

“Get that look out of your eyes,” Garina said. “It’s not happening.”

Noah blinked. “What? But—”

“Do you have any idea how difficult it is to achieve a perfect merge like the one you did last night?” Garina asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “It takes years of pent up desire and determination to first achieve the full merge. It’s little wonder you made huge advancements… but you can’t seriously expect it to work like that every time.”

“Why not?” Noah asked. “Let’s just do it again tonight. I could make even more progress than last time.”

“You’re not going to be able to enter your Awakened state again so easily,” Garina said with a chuckle. “And even when you do, it won’t be the same as this time. Your body had never undergone a full merge, so it adapted quickly. It’ll be partially used to it the next time you Awaken.”

“Awaken means getting a full merge between your mind, body, and soul?”

“Yes. It’s an incredibly strenuous process the first time you do it. That’s what causes the huge leap in strength. It should not be as difficult in the future. And that’s a good thing. It brings you closer to a permanent state of Awakening. Where your mind, body, and soul’s natural state becomes one of complete connection.”

“Is that what you have?”

Garina let out an amused snort. “No. You need such an immense understanding of your runes and self that I’ve never heard of anyone below Rank 8 pulling it off. But I can enter my Awakened state easily.”

“I see,” Noah said with a frown. “But if I practice this, I could continue to lower the time it takes me to get my magic back after dying?”

“Probably,” Garina said. “I don’t know by how much, but it should be possible.”

Noah grinned. “Incredible. This is huge, Garina. You have no idea how much of a pain in the ass it is to be pretty much useless after you get killed.”

“I don’t,” Garina agreed. “Generally, most people don’t think about much at all after they get killed, much less how much of a pain in the ass it is. They stay dead.”

“Ah. Right. Generally not advisable,” Noah said with a knowing nod. He paused for a moment as a frown slipped across his features. “I have another question. I think I get what Awakening does, but what is it? And is there another step? I think you mentioned that there was.”

Garina’s lips twitched up in a wry smile. “Yes. Reaching an Awakened state allows you to access something that you should not normally be able to even think about until Rank 7. It’s called Rune Force.”

“And that is…?”

“Normally, it’s the sheer pressure of your runes becoming so intense that you can use it like a weapon. If your runes are powerful, it can fill your entire domain,” Garina replied. “The ability to control it is generally gated to reaching Rank 7 because of how much power the runes need to hold to get to such an intensity. But when you achieve a full merge, you can focus the pressure of your runes into a small area. You need a whole lot less power to create a very small area of Rune Force than you do to flood your domain with it.”

Noah’s eyes widened as he processed what Garina was saying. “You mean this basically gives me access to a Rank 7 ability early?”

“To a degree,” Garina allowed. “It’s more like you’re putting the weight and pressure of your soul and runes behind your attacks. You can’t cast the Rune Force out yet, but it is effective in certain situations. Incredibly so.”

She rubbed at the side of her cheek.

“So I saw,” Noah said, fighting to contain his delight. “Holy shit. That’s incredible.”

Garina grunted. She wasn’t nearly as thrilled as Noah. “Are you done with your questions?”

“No,” Noah said. “Give me a minute and I’ll come up with ten more. I can pause if you want me to.”

“A wise suggestion.” Garina let her knee slip down the rock and leaned forward so her gaze was boring directly into Noah’s. “Now it’s my turn. You remember it, don’t you? Last night. Were you aware?”

“Aware?” Noah’s brow furrowed. “What does that mean? Of course I was.”

Garina leaned back. Her face looked paler than usual, but her skin was already so white that it was hard to tell for sure.

“Shit,” she breathed. “You remember all of it? Every part of the merge? You were conscious through the whole thing?”

“Yep,” Noah said. “Why? Should I not have been?”

“Ridiculous,” Garina muttered. “That shouldn’t be possible. The Prophet said — no. It doesn’t matter. I need to look at your soul. You are abnormal beyond belief. Whatever you showed Crone, I need you to show it to me. Can you do that?”

Noah blinked. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Garina said. “Absolutely certain. I need to know what you are. You should not be able to remember any of the fight from last night. If this is something that can be replicated… I have to know. This is enormous.”

Noah scratched at his chin. “Maybe it would be better if I just talked you through it?”

“No. Show me.” Garina set her jaw. “Do you think me so feeble minded that I cannot look at your soul? I am aware it is greater than that of a normal Rank 5. But, unless you have something to hide, it is imperative that I see it so that I can properly understand how to continue teaching you.”

Noah grimaced. Garina had a good point. One couldn’t teach what they didn’t understand. Not well, at least. If doing this would let her figure out what else to help him improve at, there was no way he could turn the Apostle down.

“If you’re certain—”

“I am. My mental defenses are down. Show me.”

“Can’t say I’m happy about it, but if it’s for training purposes, I won’t say no. Just remember…” Noah drew on Unstable Pandemonium and the mind magic held within its components. Then he extended a hand to let a finger rest on Garina’s forehead. “You asked for this.”