Return of the Runebound Professor-Chapter 670 & Announcement!

“Remember not to spend so much effort trying to focus that you end up not focusing at all,” Noah said with a chuckle. “There’s a reason people meditate to get in touch with their inner selves. If you’re frothing at the mouth trying to do something, you’re going to end up spending more energy trying to do it than you will actually doing it — if that makes sense?”

Lee looked up at him from where she sat cross-legged on the ashy dirt of the Scorched Acres. She’d cleared away a small clearing to avoid staining her clothes too badly while they practiced, but it really hadn’t been all that effective.

Her nose scrunched.

“No. It doesn’t make sense. Why does trying too hard at something make it harder? It should get easier.”

“Everything takes energy,” Noah said, throwing his thoughts far back to the few and far in between philosophical discussions he’d had on Earth. There were a few seminars that all the teachers had been forced to go through. Noah wasn’t sure if they’d been much use, but the speakers had certainly sounded like they knew what they were talking about. “But if you focus too much of your energy on the idea of doing something, then you aren’t actually spending as much as you can actually doing it.”

Lee stared at him for a second. “I preferred when my problems were edible.”

“Here. Maybe an example would work,” Noah said, rubbing his chin. “Think about food for a—”

“Done. Already doing it.”

Noah sighed. “Give me a moment, would you? Think about food. When you eat, do you really spend a lot of time thinking about chewing and swallowing and all the other things that go into it?”

Lee tilted her head to the side, then shook it a moment later. “No. It just happens.”

“Right. Because you’ve practiced a ton. It’s instinct,” Noah said, more than well aware this analogy was far from perfect. “But if you were to really focus on every bite you took, to the point where you wanted to know exactly where your jaw was at every point, what would happen?”

“I guess I’d probably eat slower.”

Noah nodded. “Right. Patterns are the same. You can’t be so attentive to the tiny things to the point where you lose track of the big one. Look at both the forest and the trees. It’s fine if you don’t see the leaves. The small details are what you’ve already practiced when you’re using your pattern without magic. So when you use magic, trust yourself to keep those bits up and focus on the pattern as a whole instead.”

“I think I see what you’re saying,” Lee said with a nod. “That’s weird, but I get it. Maybe that’s what I’ve been…”

Lee trailed off. Her nostrils twitched. She rose to her feet, brushing the back of her pants off as her brow knitted in concentration for a moment. Then her lips thinned. “We aren’t alone. I smell someone coming.”

A second after the words had left her mouth, the very edges of Noah’s domain prickled. There was something in the burned woods behind them. He didn’t even waste attention trying to get a good feeling of it. The form was nothing more than a blur — but Lee’s senses were considerably better than his. She’d only noticed the intruder’s presence a little bit before he had, which meant they were moving fast.

Noah spun toward the approaching blur. He drank deeply from Unstable Pandemonium, readying the magic within himself by the time he’d finished the motion. He might not have been about to start blasting magic around blindly… but it never hurt to be prepared.

The figure slammed to a halt at the edge of the treeline, emerging from within the darkened trunks. They wore a hooded robe, but Noah recognized them almost instantly as a demon. There weren’t many other humanoid beings that had horns poking up against their hood.

Actually, I’m a bit impressed that their hood is still over their head after moving so fast. How did they manage that? Do the horns hold it in place, or do they have it tied down somewhere?

“You noticed me coming,” the demon said in a haughty tone in a voice that sounded rather female. It was always a bit difficult to tell with them. Generally, Noah was more interested in the proximity of their claws than if they had tits or not. The demoness pulled her hood back, revealing a hungry, sharp-toothed smile. Her expression was laden with scorn. “It seems the False Prophet is not without skill.”

“The hell are you?” Noah asked. It took a force of will to keep himself from pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn’t recognize her, but there was a chance she was friends with one of the demons he did know — or perhaps this was the first of the demons to respond to the muster call he’d put out back in the auction. “We’re kind of doing something right now, but if you want to talk, I’d suggest trying adjusting your attitude.”

“Arrogant. The False Prophet seeks to order one of the Truthseekers? You are vile scum. A heretic of the worst order. One who seeks to herd the lambs away from the light of the True Herald. It will my great honor to witness you be eviscerated.”

Noah sighed.

Lovely. Another insane demon. What is it with them and being off their rockers? I guess I was too optimistic. I really can’t be bothered with this right now. I guess I’ll just —

“You smell bad,” Lee said. Her nose scrunched in distaste. “Like fungus and old socks.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Saliva dripped from the demoness’ lips as her mouth split into a drooling grin. “I will enjoy feasting on your flesh, lamb. The Herald has guided us all to good meals. You, and all of the False Herald’s other disciples, will be cleansed from this world. By this time, the others have already been quashed. The honor falls on me to ensure that you join—”

Other disciples?

Noah’s face went flat.

The top half of the demoness’ body evaporated with a quiet pop. Her legs swayed for a moment, coils of thick smoke sputtering up from them before they pitched back and fell to the scorched forest ground with a thump.

Noah looked down at his hand. He hadn’t even realized he’d extended it. Coils of sickly red energy slithered across his curled fingers before sinking back within the skin as if they were a child hiding from a furious parent.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

The air between him and the dead demoness shimmered with hazy energy in a zigzagging path, following the streak of jagged magic that had just ripped through the air. Magic that he had cast — and barely even realized it.

“They’re after the students,” Noah said, his voice icy. “How fast can you get back to Arbitage? We can’t wait for the Transport Cannon to reactivate. It’ll take too long.”

“Faster than you,” Lee replied, lowering her stance. “That demon didn’t seem very strong, though. If that’s what the others are up against… they’ll be fine. I doubt they’d send their weakest person after you. Relax. They aren’t helpless.”

“I — oh.” Noah blew out a sharp breath and shook his head. “Right. You’re right. We need to get back, though. It seemed like they knew at least something about us. I don’t know how, and I don’t want to find that out the hard way.”

Lee nodded. “Yeah. “I’ll go—"

She froze. Noah didn’t need to ask why. His domain picked up on it an instant later. Two more forms, blurring through the forest in their direction from the same way that the newly dead demoness had come.

Sticks crunched as a pair of demons emerged from the dark forest. Both of them wore similar cloaks to the dead one. One was about three feet taller than the other and had broad shoulders that bulged against their robes, threating to tear through them.

“More of you idiots?” Noah asked, power coursing into his hand again. “Maybe this is for the best. I’ve got some questions… and I accidentally killed the last one of you too quickly.”

“You are as powerful as our reports said,” the smaller of the two demons said, pulling their hood back to reveal another female demon. Hair like golden wheat hung around her shoulders and her eyes shimmered with faint yellow light. A pair of pointed fangs emerged from beneath her upper lip like those of a vampire. She stepped over the smoldering corpse of her comrade without so much as a second glance. “But we had to be certain, False Herald.”

“Do you have any idea how many cult-adjacent demons I’ve dealt with in recent times?” Noah asked. “Because it’s too many. I’m going to ask you how much you think I give a shit about your cult jargon, and I’m going to give you one guess as to the answer before I kill you and interrogate your partner.”

“Do not confuse us for the Truthseeker prospective you killed. She has served her purpose,” the golden-haired demon said with a lilting laugh. “I am Dawn, an inner-circle Truthseeker and follower of the True Herald. There is no comparing me to the likes of—”

There was a wet crunch. Fragments of bone and innards splattered across the ground before Dawn. A massive black axe erupted straight from the center of her chest like a blooming flower. It hurtled through the air in a rain of gore before slamming home in Lee’s hands.

“Oh!” Lee exclaimed. “My axe is back!”

Dawn’s lips worked, disbelief filling her eyes even as the light in them sputtered.

“But… how? I… didn’t… feel it.”

Then Dawn pitched back, landing on top of her fellow demon’s corpse.

“Well,” Noah said. “That was just embarrassing.”

He didn’t let onto the surprise that bit at his own chest. There had been no sign of Lee’s axe. None at all. He hadn’t seen it. Hadn’t felt it. It had just… appeared without so much as a prickle against his domain.

Now, unfortunately, was not the time to press her about it.

The final demon blew out a heavy sigh. They reached up to their hood and pulled it back, revealing rather plain features for a demon. His face was square, with a rough jawline and the beginnings of stubble running along his gray skin. A ring of horns curled up around the top of his large head like a crown. The ridges of his brows jutted out over his forehead in a permanent scowl, but the demon’s lips were pulled up in the faintest smile.

“I was not expecting Dawn to die so easily. I had hoped she would give me a better look at your abilities before falling,” he said in a gravely tone. “I imagine you must be most disappointed, False Herald. How unfortunate it is for this to be our first meeting. My name is Og.”

“I’m sensing a pattern here,” Noah said. “You show up, shit talk, and then die in an embarrassing way. Tell me what the hell it is you want with me and my students before I skip to the last part.”

“To test them, False Herald. Your role is one of great importance. It cannot be afforded to any fool that musters a scrap of Chaos.”

Noah’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”

“A knife cannot grow sharp on its own. It must grind against the whetstone. You, False Herald, are the Whetstone. You and your children. That is your role. The Herald must be pushed to sharpen. I am simply ensuring that your whetstone is sturdy enough to serve as anything more than a chopping block.”

“Of all the excuses I’ve ever heard someone give me for trying to murder either me or my students, this might be one of the worst,” Noah said, anger flaring within him. “You think you can pass this off as some sort of test?”

“Yes,” Og replied. “It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance, False Herald. I have seen many potential whetstones… but the chaos in you is strong. It will do nicely. You will seek the Herald out. He is dulling and in need of you.”

“I don’t think you’re getting much out of this guy,” Lee said. “He’s got rocks in his head.”

Noah had to agree.

An arc of jagged red magic erupted from his palm and carved through the air.

Og’s lips twisted into a smile and he lifted his arm. The magic slammed into his hand, sending him skidding a step back — but instead of driving into the demons’ body, it remained at his palm. One by one, his fingers curled around the ruddy red light until they had snuffed it entirely from existence.

“Base form Chaos Magic, is it? Uninspired. Nothing creative, but a good foundation. You are strong… and by the time you arrive, you will be stronger. The Herald will grow greatly from killing you. Bring your army. You will not pose a suitable threat without it. Not with magic like this.”

Og waved his hand down. Ripples of red light squirmed in its wake like worms crawling through the air. They stretched out to form into a portal within moments. The large demon stepped through it, vanishing without another word.

Then the Scorched Acres were silent once again.