Chapter 305: Challenge

“Damned Plains, that was awesome!” Todd exclaimed, his stone armor dropping away as he strode up to examine the dead Fluffant. “You carved it right in two!”

Alexandra shifted, wiping some of the Fluffant’s blood from her face and arms. “All I did was kill it.”

No, that was definitely pretty awesome. How’d she just stand there while it charged at her? That’s a lot of force to bear. Even if her blade was perfectly sharp, the halves of the Fluffant were still moving quickly and should have hit her. She pushed through them without budging. I didn’t see Alexandra use a Shield or anything to reinforce herself, though.

“What kind of Runes let you do that?” Isabel asked, joining Todd. “Or was that just pure swordplay? I never knew you could do something like that.”

“It wasn’t just swordplay,” Alexandra said. “It was–”

“Body Runes.” Todd interrupted, looking up at Alexandra with a sparkle in his eyes. “You use Body Runes, don’t you?”

Alexandra blinked. “You know them?”

“Know them? They’re badass!” Todd exclaimed. “Body Runes are awesome! I mean, they’re a huge risk, but they’re incredible!”

Noah nudged Moxie and lowered his voice. “The hell is a Body Rune?”

“It’s slang for when you completely Imbue yourself with a Rune to the point where it’s part of you,” Moxie replied in the same tone. “Basically, you’ve got no energy left to pull from the Rune because all of it has been Imbued in your Body. It goes a very long way at making you resilient, but at a steep cost.”

“That doesn’t seem ideal. So you basically can’t use magic, but you’re super infused with it?”

“Pretty much.” Moxie nodded. “It’s not very common for that exact reason. Some soldiers will have a single Body Rune, but most of the time it’s better to leave at least something to work with. You can’t remove Body Runes. As the name suggests, they get completely meshed with your body and they aren’t even in your soul anymore – though they still take up a spot.”

Hardcore. You’ve got to be really committed to do that, then. And they also hard cap your growth. Can’t advance past your current Rank if you’ve got a Body Rune. That’s dark.

“How’d you know I used a Body Rune?” Alexandra asked, studying Todd as if seeing him for the first time.

“Your body was hotter than it should have been, but I didn’t see you using any magic. After that it was just a good guess. I used to know someone that used Body Runes as well, so I’m a little familiar with them.”

“It was definitely an impressive kill,” Noah said. “I’m surprised you were worried about a Shield if that’s how you fight.”

“I didn’t know what we’d be fighting, and I’d rather be safe than sorry. I was only able to cut the Fluffant in half because I redirected most of the force. If it had a way to block my attack instead of charging right into it, I would have gotten crushed.”

I wonder what kind of Rune she uses to do that. Oddly enough, I remember her sword catching fire while we were fighting. I suppose that probably doesn’t have anything to do with her Body Rune, so either it’s an artifact or she was just using a different Rune for that.

“Hey, Alexandra also called it a Fluffant,” Lee said. “That’s a majority. They’re renamed.”

Emily and James rolled their eyes in unison.

I wonder if Emily learned that from Moxie and then taught James, or if they’re both just cut from the same cloth.

“What’s next?” Alexandra asked. “Is this all we’re going to do today?”

“Of course not,” Noah said, tapping his chin in thought. “I just wanted a general understanding of where everyone stood after the summer. It also gave me some time to see how things stood among all of you.”

“What’s that meant to mean?” Todd asked. “Don’t tell me we’re getting even more training about how to work with others. You’re the one that said we had to do this solo!”

“Not that, though it’s far from off the table.” Noah leaned in to whisper into Moxie’s ear. “Hey, I’ve got a stupid idea.”

“What is it?”

“You’re going to give someone the Master Rune, aren’t you?” Lee asked, somehow picking up their words.

“Yeah,” Noah said with a grin. “We could always keep and sell it, but I think it might be better if we actually put it to use.”

“How so?” Moxie asked. “I’m not against giving it away, but I thought we were going to wait for something.”

“Oh, we are.” Noah turned away from her and back to the students. “Right. First – Alexandra, do you mind if I ask what rank your Runes are?”

“Three,” Alexandra said. The other students all stared at her in shock, and she blinked. “Is something wrong?”

“You’re as strong as Vermil,” Todd said with a bark of laughter. “That brings back memories.”

“No, I’m not.” Alexandra squinted at Noah. “Not even close. We fought once, and he wiped the floor with me while he wasn’t even trying to kill me.”

“That was extenuating circumstances.” Noah shook his head. “Never mind that. I was just curious as to how far along you were. It should be fine either way.”

“Are we competing for something?” Emily asked, squinting at Noah.

“Yes.” Moxie held a hand out. The stone beneath her swirled up, racing to cover her body and encase her in a layer of armor. “This.”

“An Earth Rune?” Todd asked.

“An Earth Master Rune,” Moxie corrected. “We got it while adventuring right before we got back to Arbitage. “One that I’d say fits several of your fighting styles. It lets you call the earth to you and form armor – I’d imagine it does more too, but I haven’t really experimented with it much yet.”

Todd and Isabel exchanged a shocked glance and Alexandra’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head. “You’re just… giving it away? A Master Rune?”

“Well, not every Master Rune is that powerful. They’re just rare. And I’m not just giving it away. You’ll be earning it.”

“That makes them expensive,” James said, staring in disbelief. “Even a relatively useless Master Rune is going to be a few thousand gold. What’s it a reward for?”

“Winning the most,” Noah said. “In addition to normal classes, we’ll be sparring whenever we have time. Every fight will be different. Some will be against me, and some will be against your fellow students. We’ll keep track of who claims the most victories and, when the exercise is over, I’ll give them the Master Rune.”

“That does put Alexandra at a pretty huge advantage,” Isabel said with a frown.

“She’s never fought with or against any of you,” Noah said. “In terms of power, Alexandra is considerably more powerful. But there are a few things to keep in mind. First – you know each other. She doesn’t. Second, I never said you’d all be fighting on your own.”

“We’ll be in teams,” Isabel realized.

“Sometimes, yes. And the objective of the training exercise isn’t always going to be a direct victory.”

Todd started to grin. “That sounds fun. So it’s basically a bunch of games?”

“That’s one way to look at it,” Noah said.

“Am I allowed to participate as well?” James asked. “You aren’t technically my official teacher.”

“Feel free,” Noah said. “More competition is better. It’ll push everyone to improve.”

“I’m still not sure how we’re supposed to compete with a Rank 3, but sure.” Emily crossed her arms. “When do we start?”

“Now.” Noah glanced over to Lee. “You feeling up to help out?”

Lee tilted her head to the side. “Me? Yeah. I’m just a bit hungry.”

“As expected, then. How do you feel about playing a game?”

A mischievous spark lit in her eyes. “What kind?”

“Tag,” Noah replied. “For the next few hours, everyone other than Moxie and I are going to be hunting you. Their goal will be to land a hand on you – and your job will be to avoid them. For now, you can’t fight back. You can only run.”

“Sounds fun. I’m in.”

“Great. The first to catch Lee gets a point. Everyone else loses.” Noah clapped his hands together and grinned. “Good luck.”

The dirt beneath Lee erupted as she burst into motion, flashing toward the sheer rock face behind them and bounding into the air. She slammed into it, pausing for only an instant before racing straight up the wall and disappearing from view in seconds.

“You’re kidding me,” Emily said. “We’ll never catch her. She’s too fast.”

Noah shrugged. “That’s your problem. Do what you want – we’ll be in the Windscorned Plateau for the rest of the day, and you all lose if you don’t catch her by the time we get pulled back.”

Emily opened her mouth, but she paused as Alexandra sprinted away from the group, following in Lee’s footsteps. She jumped onto the rock face and started to climb it – not moving nearly as fast as Lee had, but still at a respectable pace.

Kind of what I expected. She’s strong, and I doubt she’s had anyone look out for her in recent memory if she was in with Gentil’s lot. You’re never going to catch Lee working on your own, though.

Todd and Isabel turned to each other.

“Do you want the Rune?” Todd asked.

“Yeah, but I think you do too,” Isabel replied. “We can’t both have it, but don’t let me catch you going easy on me. Good luck.”

“You too.” Todd bent his legs and his armor reformed over his body. An explosion set off beneath his feet and he was off, racing in pursuit of the other two.

James shimmered and vanished from view as he used his light magic to turn himself invisible. Emily and Isabel both took off as well, racing to catch up with everyone else. Noah watched them leave, his arms crossed.

“Should we be worried about them running into monsters?” Moxie asked.

“Nah. Lee will keep an eye on them, and we just saw that all of ‘em can easily handle the Fluffants. I’m confident they’ll be fine – and a little pressure is still needed to improve. But, just to be safe, we should probably follow after them. I don’t want someone slipping up and getting killed.”

He drew his flying sword and tossed it to the ground. Moxie stepped onto it and Noah got on behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Before he could send magic into the blade, Moxie leaned back and turned to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“That was a pretty clever way to motivate them. You’re planning to make them realize they can’t do this on their own – but since Isabel and Todd are in direct competition, they can’t work together on this one. That means they’ll have to form different partnerships if they want to win.”

“Thanks,” Noah said, giving her a gentle squeeze. “And now I’m going to need to figure out more interesting lesson plans if I get a kiss for the good ones.”

Moxie snorted. “Don’t get used to it.”

Chuckling, Noah sent magic into the sword. It hummed to life and they shot off the ground in hot pursuit of Lee and the students.

“Do you think any of them actually have a chance to catch Lee?” Moxie called over the wind as it whistled past their faces.

“Probably not as things are, but that’s the interesting part.” Noah squinted down at the line of kids racing across the plateau below them. “Either they adapt and find a new way to approach this – or they fail. Either way, it’ll help expose where they’re all weak. And, more importantly, it’ll be fun to watch.”