A number of other professors had already arrived by the time that they got to the advanced track meeting. Several students were sparring or eating and the hall was filled with conversation.

Noah’s group made their way over to the table, led by Lee. She plopped herself down right beside Gero and waved to him. He didn’t even mutter a word of greeting. He just took a large chicken drumstick off his plate and handed it to her.

It looks like Gero might understand Lee more than any of the other people in the advanced track. That’s interesting. He’s not at all talkative and I’m not all that inclined to like him after he went after Alexandra, but he’s clearly quite observant.

Then again, it’s not all that hard to tell that Lee likes food. It wasn’t that crazy of a guess.

Noah’s students all sat down on the table a short distance from Lee, pinning Emily and Isabel in the center of the group to stop anyone from sitting beside them. Moxie walked over to stand behind them, a vine extending from the sleeve of her shirt to pluck a bread roll from the table and bring it back over to herself. She ripped it in half and handed one of the chunks over to Noah.

“Thanks,” he said as he took a bite out of it and scanned the room. Jakob and his students had arrived before them but had set up in the corner of the room and were in avid conversation with another professor that Noah didn’t recognize. There was no sign of Verrud yet.

I wonder if we overplayed our hand a bit too much last time. Did Verrud figure out I was onto him? Eh. I guess we’ll see soon enough.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Ulya heading over from the right side of the room. She raised the glass of wine in her hand slightly in greeting.

“I thought we were pretending not to know each other too well,” Noah said as he gave her a nod. “Is something wrong?”

“There’s nothing all that odd about coming to say hi to someone that just walked in. I was just coming to remind you of the other half of our deal,” Ulya said. “I want runes. If we’re working together, I’d like if you could invest a bit more in me now. I’m rebuilding my puppets, and if you’ve got something that can help me, I want it sooner rather than later.”

Fair enough.

“There’s a secret room in the side of the advanced track area. Go to it in about twenty minutes. I’ll spare you five minutes,” Noah said.

Ulya blinked, then inclined her head. “If you’re sure, then fine. I’ll be there. Thank you.”

You’re the one that asked me. Why are you asking if I’m sure?

Ulya headed off before Noah could ask her what she was on about. He didn’t want to draw any attention to their conversation, so he let her leave without saying anything else. Having someone in the advanced track that could feed him information when people didn’t know they were working together was too useful of a tool to waste.

“You heard that, right?” Noah asked Moxie.

She nodded. “Yeah. I’ll keep an eye out on the kids when you’re messing with her. Lee and I have it covered. It really isn’t that much of a deviation from what we were already planning.”

“True,” Noah allowed, letting his eyes drift over the room. More professors had arrived in the short time since he’d last checked, and he spotted Silvertide and Tyler speaking with the kind, portly professor from the previous meeting and his student.

If Noah recalled correctly, the man’s name was George and the girl was Fiona. She was strikingly unmemorable, but he didn’t think that as an insult. Fiona was of average height and had straight brown hair that went down to just above her shoulders.

Her clothes and features alike were plain and she carried no weapons. Noah would have looked right past her in a crowd if it hadn’t been for her eyes. They were sharp, like two diamonds glistening in milky seas.

Even from where he stood, he could see her gaze boring into Silvertide and absorbing every single word he said.

I wonder what her powers are. She’s supposedly the strongest student in the advanced track, but she’s high Rank 3 at most. Alexandra has Body Runes, which should put her toward the peak of Rank 3. I wonder which of them would win in an actual fight.

It wouldn’t be too long before he’d get a chance to find out.

Silvertide caught Noah looking in their direction and raised a hand in greeting. Noah’s cheeks reddened but he returned the gesture. George followed Silvertide’s eyes and smiled.

What are they, both part of the cool old dudes club? Not that I’m complaining. They should extend honorary membership to Tim. Arbitage could use more cool old dudes moving in conjunction.

Noah continued to scan for Verrud, but the thin man was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t sure if that was something to complain about or not. On one hand, it really did look like Jakob was keeping his distance.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

On the other, it was vastly preferrable to see both of his enemies and actually know what they were trying to do. It was a lot more nerve-wracking to try and figure out what their plans were than it was to actually deal with them.

There was only so long he could sit around with Moxie looming over his students. They were finishing their meals and it wouldn’t be long before it would be appropriate for other students to start approaching to spar with them.

Lee, of course, was still mowing through food alongside Gero. The two were currently matched plate for plate. It was hard to tell if they were trying to have some sort of eating contest or if they were both just all-consuming voids.

A small frown passed over Noah’s features as he watched Lee. Her Rune was a serious problem. All his words of support would mean nothing if they couldn’t find some way to actually repair it.

There was the option of having her balance it out with other, normal, Rank 4 Runes, but that didn’t quite seem to align with what Azel had said. He’d implied that Lee was holding herself back by not using Demon Runes.

I’m not so sure he’s an entirely reliable source, but with how closely runes are tied to Demons, it feels likely that Lee may actually need each of her runes to have some form of demonic connection.

The runes are literally her body. And, like it or not, she’s a demon. If she starts getting really high-level non-Demon Runes, they could actually start hurting her. In the end, it sounds like Azel actually cared about Lee. Considering he’s the only other demon we know, I think his advice may be the only thing we’ve got to go on.

Noah let his eyes drift over the room as he thought. It wasn’t like he could just find Demon Runes lying around for Lee to use. Right now, the most important thing they could do would be finding a way to control her existing Rank 4 and stop it from trying to overpower her personality.

That was easier said than done. He just didn’t have the understanding of demons or how their runes worked that would let him make an intelligent decision — but that didn’t mean he was out of options.

There were two people that had a chance of knowing something. The first was Father. He had a good chance of knowing something, but the idea of having to bargain with him filled Noah with distaste.

The second was Otto. Noah doubted he knew even the slightest bit about Demon Runes if Monster Runes as a concept were new to him, but Otto had been researching the runes that Noah had sold him.

If he’s figured anything out, then I might be able to use that as a springboard to try and fix Lee’s rune.

Unfortunately, when Noah glanced over to the spot that Otto had been standing in the previous meeting to see if he was there, there was no sign of the man. He did, however, lock eyes with Bird.

Bird spotted him looking at her with startling speed and immediately started to head in his direction. Noah suppressed a groan.

Oh, goddamn it. The absolute last thing I need right now is to speak with her and have someone overhear our conversation. I don’t think I’ve had a single interaction with Bird in recent times that hasn’t somehow gone wrong.

Then again, I do have a reputation to upkeep.

Bird came to a stop before Noah. She cleared her throat, then fiddled with the lapel of her jacket. Noah stared at her, waiting for the woman to say something, but she seemed to be at a loss for words.

You approached me! You can’t just walk up and say nothing!

“Is Otto here?” Noah asked awkwardly.

“Otto? No. He can’t make every meeting,” Bird said with a shake of her head. She looked over her shoulder before lowering her voice. “I came to speak with you.”

Damn it.

“You don’t have to look like you’re dealing drugs while you’re at it,” Noah grumbled. “What is it? Does Otto want another rune?”

“No, it’s not to do with that. It’s about your… fighting style.”

An image of dozens of squirming octopi flashed through Noah’s mind and it took a supreme force of will to keep from slapping a palm into his forehead.

“Ah. Yes,” Noah forced out. “My fighting style. What about it?”

“Do you use a Shield?”

Noah hid a relieved sigh and his shoulders slumped.

Oooh. Bird isn’t talking about the stupid naked bullshit I made up. She overheard that I don’t use a Shield and encourage my students to do the same when they’re training. That makes more sense.

“No. I think they’re crutches. The best way to train is by handling every fight completely naturally,” Noah said. “If you’re relying on something to protect you, then you’ll never be able to truly fight on your own. It’s better to toss the extra shit on after you’ve already figured out what you’re doing so it’s an addition rather than an integral part of your identity.”

Bird’s brow furrowed and she nodded thoughtfully. “I think I see what you’re saying. How did you even figure that out?”

“I got to test it out very extensively with a bunch of monkeys in the Scorched Acres,” Noah replied with a grimace. “It was not a pleasant experience, but I’ve learned a lot since then. My students use the same techniques and barely even need Shields.”

“Your students too?” Bird asked, her eyes going wide.

“Oh, yeah. They’ve gotten quite good at it. You’ll probably see during one of the exams at some point.”

Bird looked over her shoulder at the students, then back at Noah. “You’re serious?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I — never mind. Thanks for answering my questions,” Bird said. She massaged the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh. “I spent some time studying this technique… and I have to admit that it’s freeing.”

He gave her a knowing nod. “Don’t go spreading it around, please. Feel free to ask me if you’ve got more questions, though. I don’t mind helping out a friend of Otto’s.”

Bird coughed into a fist and looked away. “I’ll… uh, keep that in mind. Thank you for the tips.”

She started to turn and Noah raised a hand. “Oh, hold on. I’ve got a request.”

“What is it?” Bird winced but stopped to hear him out.

“Could you ask Otto if he’d be willing to share what he found about the Rune I gave him?” Noah asked. “I’m interested in the results.”

Bird’s shoulders relaxed and she nodded. “I’ll pass it along.”

“Thanks.”

She nodded and headed off, slipping into the crowd. Noah watched her leave, his brow furrowed.

I wonder what her deal was.