Return of the Runebound Professor
Chapter 340: Experiments

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Noah played for an hour, until Moxie’s eyes had closed and she had retreated deep into her mindspace to completely focus on her pattern. Only after Noah was completely certain that she no longer heard anything he was playing did he allow himself to stop.

He sat down on the floor in front of the bed, leaning back and crossing his arms behind his head. The ground wasn’t particularly comfortable but he didn’t want to distract Moxie by lying down beside her while she was working.

There was still some time until night fell, so he focused on repairing some much-needed Body Imbuements. Now that Natural Disaster had far more elements of vibration within it, re-making his tremorsense Runes in his feet and ears wasn’t a daunting task.

He worked through the day, slowly putting layer by layer of the Imbuements down and keeping his Intent as honed as a razor. Noah was pretty sure he could have worked far faster, and he had done so in the past, but he didn’t want to need to go back and re-do anything again.

These Imbuements were going to last all the way until he reached Rank 5, so they were going to have to be the absolute best work he could do. Hours slipped by and the sun dipped below the horizon, casting the room in shadows.

It took Noah a little time to notice that the day had left. When he was focused on something, time just seemed to slip through his fingers like grains of fine sand. He stood, shaking off the stiffness that came with lying on the ground.

Moxie had slumped against the wall, her chest rising and falling in gentle breaths. Noah suppressed a laugh. She’d fallen asleep. He gently scooped her into his arms and laid her down in the bed, taking care to make sure he didn’t wake her on accident.

Pulling the covers over her, Noah paused to make sure she was still asleep. It was tempting to get into bed with her, but he wasn’t anywhere near done for the night. Noah turned and slipped out of the room, heading for the garden.

A calm night greeted him. Stars twinkled overhead, the faint light of the moon illuminating the ground in greys. Many of the flowers in the garden had closed themselves from the night, and the world felt muted and silent.

Noah made his way through the tall, twisting hedges until he was deep into their protective walls. It wasn’t like the garden was a perfect hideaway, but he was pretty sure that barely anyone else visited it – and it was pretty late, so the number that might have visited was even lower.

It’s too bad my Imbuements aren’t quite finished yet. They’d be pretty useful here, but this is fine. As long as I’m hidden away, I should be able to hear if anyone is coming and react in time.

He sat down in a small nook made by a thorny rosebush with flowers the size of his head, pausing for a moment to smell the faint honey scent emanating off them before he summoned his violin and got back to work.

Patterns make up Formations and Runes alike. Right now, there’s nothing special about the actual patterns. I don’t think that the type of pattern I use is relevant, but that should also mean that if there actually was something special about the pattern, it should hypothetically still work.

So, if I was to make a musical Formation with some form of magical music instead of normal music, that would still work. That would just give me an even more effective Formation, right?

Of course, the alternative was that Noah would blow himself up. Considering the likelihood of that was considerably larger than zero, he’d elected to save this particular idea until he was away from the others and couldn’t kill anyone other than a few bugs.

There were a variety of ways he could have tried to get magic into a song to test his theory. In fact, he wasn’t confident his song didn’t already have magic. After all, the violin itself was laden with it. There was always a chance that the notes it played had more power than just mere notes.

But hey – a little extra power never hurt anybody.

Noah studied the violin. A small marking near the base of the strings caught his attention and he frowned, leaning in closer to get a better look at it – only to find that there wasn’t just one. There were seven small white scratches, each one directly below a string.

Wait. Those aren’t scratches.

They were little circles, connected by flowing lines so thin that he could barely make them out. The design was so small that it was easy to miss, but Noah had inspected every single part of the violin.

It definitely hadn’t been there before, but there was no way this was some form of accident. There was a very clear design to the lines, which meant they were intentional.

“Seven circles. Seven parts to a Rune,” Noah mused. “Is this what I think it is? Are you reading my thoughts?

The violin didn’t respond, which Noah was thankful for. He was more than aware that the violin had a will of its own, but having sapience was a little more concerning. But, no matter what it was, the temptation was too strong to resist any longer.

Noah drew on Natural Disaster, taking the faintest sliver of energy from it and letting it travel into the violin. He felt a faint tugging sensation at his fingertip, but nothing changed. There was definitely something there, but he was missing it.

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Chewing his lower lip, Noah tried again. This time, instead of taking energy in general, he focused purely on the elements from Thunderstorm. Another trace of energy slipped out of his fingertip.

The violin hummed. Thin lines flickered to life within the circle beneath the first string. Noah had to squint, but he could just barely make out the shape of the Thunderstorm Rune within the circle.

A grin split his lips. Noah summoned the bow of the violin and played a soft note on the string connected to Thunderstorm. Faint energy crackled, tiny arcs of lightning rising up and coiling around the bow as he pulled it.

The shape in the circle faded away and the power went with it, but Noah’s smile only grew bigger.

Oh, yeah. I think I’m going to like this.

Noah drew on more energy and sent it back into the violin. Thunderstorm re-appeared in the violin’s wood. He increased the power he was drawing, releasing the thunder elements and trying to transition to Cyclone.

A surprising wall of resistance met his efforts. Noah’s brow furrowed and he pulled more power, driving a metaphorical shoulder into the force pressing against him. Slowly, he felt his hand tingle as energy slipped out and entered the violin.

The second circle in the row lit, taking on the Cyclone Rune’s shape. Noah went to try to fill a third, but this time, the wall had turned into an impenetrable fortress. No matter how he tried to approach or get around it, the violin firmly resisted his attempts.

“Two strings it is,” Noah said, not discouraged in the slightest. He pulled the bow across the strings once more, letting just a little music slip out. The violin still repressed its sound so it couldn’t travel far, but he wanted just enough to hear what he was doing.

Energy thrummed in the strings as he played, waiting for direction that Noah was more than willing to give. His bow started to move faster. Wind swirled around his hands and whipped at his hair as sparks of electricity danced from every note he played.

Noah continued to pour energy from Natural Disaster into his violin. While he couldn’t fill it past two Runes yet, he could replenish the Runes that were already there with no difficulty – so long as he still had energy to use, at least.

The violin drank his magic hungrily, going through it far faster than he normally would have himself. But, in turn, the intensity of the power pouring off the instrument was intense. It was amplifying his magic.

How, exactly, Noah wasn’t sure. There was only one way to find out. Noah wasn’t sure exactly what guided his movements. Perhaps it was instinct, or perhaps it just felt right. As he swept his bow across the violin, he flicked his hand.

Responding to his will, the power swirling around him leapt forth. A bolt of lightning and a blade of wind leapt from the violin in unison, twisting around each other as they arced out and struck the ground with a loud crack. It blackened the dirt where it struck, setting a small pile of leaves on fire.

Noah cursed and ran over to stomp it out, but he couldn’t wipe the grin from his face as he realized exactly what the violin was offering him. He could combine his magic, of course. That was nothing new.

What was new was the way he had simultaneously cast two different spells. Mages could only cast one kind of magic at a time, and they had to release their energy and re-draw on their Runes if they wanted to swap.

The violin was letting him use them both at the same time, so long as he could maintain a pattern that let him control them. Noah couldn’t keep himself from laughing.

Patterns really are everything, but this violin is incredible. I’m sure I could replicate this with something else, but it wouldn’t compare. Moxie really did get me the greatest gift I’ve ever gotten. I hope her cloak is half as useful. We still haven’t figured out exactly what it does.

Noah made to start playing again, but paused before his bow could meet the strings. He wasn’t certain, but it almost sounded like the leaves had crunched somewhere near him. Dismissing his violin with a thought, Noah brushed his hands off on his jacket and tilted his head to listen.

A faint crunch broke the still night, followed by two more. Noah lowered his stance, not quite preparing to fight but still making sure he could move quickly if he needed to. People generally didn’t wander around at night aimlessly.

I don’t count, of course. I’m different and unique.

A silver leg stepped into view, followed by the travel clothes of a soldier. A salt and pepper beard just barely failed to hide the faint grin present on Silvertide’s face as he stepped into view.

“Vermil,” Silvertide said, coming to a stop and resting his hands on the top of his cane. “It’s a nice night, is it not? I was hoping we might run into each other again.”

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