Noah headed out to his classroom. The shadows occasionally slithered at the edges of his vision, but it was much better than it had been in the previous days. They were almost completely gone. There had been no incidents since he’d run into Tyler and Silvertide.

Isabel and Todd were already there when Noah arrived. They sat in the front row, using the light of a small ball of fire above Todd’s finger to study the pages of a book. Both glanced up as Noah entered.

“Am I late again?” Noah asked.

“Only a few minutes.” Todd closed the book and rose with an excited grin. “Is it time to go hunting again?”

“Not today,” Noah replied.

“What? Why?” Isabel asked, taken aback. “My Runes have been filling so quickly these past few days. I might have most of them completely full by the time the test comes around.”

“First off, tell me something. Do you see the other teachers sending their students to the Scorched Acres to slaughter a bunch of tiny monkeys?”

“No,” Todd admitted. He crossed his arms. “There isn’t enough magic in the monkeys to be worth killing them so much, but how does that matter? Lesser Runes don’t take nearly as much energy to fill as Greater ones do.”

That confirmed a suspicion that had been tugging at the back of Noah’s mind for the past week. The rate that his students had improved at was indeed high – and matched up with the fast rate of growth related with weaker Runes that filled faster.

They were great for short term strength, but Noah could feel firsthand the enormous difference in strength between his Greater Ash Rune and the Lesser Wind ones. His students had only been killing the small monkeys, but they’d nearly matched his growth – which meant they were either fighting more on the side or were about to run out of potential.

“What rank are your Runes?” Noah asked.

Todd and Isabel’s eyes narrowed. A mixture of shame and anger mixed in their faces, answering Noah’s question before either of them could speak.

“Why’s it matter?” Todd crossed his arms. “That’s got nothing to do with the exam. Just because we don’t have–”

“You’ve misunderstood me. That wasn’t a rhetorical question, but you don’t need to answer. I already know. You’ve got Lesser Runes.”

“What of it?” Isabel snapped. “Not all of us get lucky enough for our parents to give us high quality ones, and forget buying them. Our best option is to combine a weaker Rank 2 Rune, try to save up money, and then suffer through the soul damage of removing something so heavily bound to us and hope that nothing is permanent. Getting Greater Rank 1 Runes is too expensive.”

“If you combine Lesser Runes, you end up with a Lesser combination. Keeping it means your potential is damaged. Removing it means there’s a chance of permanently damaging your soul and – once again – your potential because removing a rune you used energy to combine is a no-no.”

“So what? Do you think we don’t know that?” Isabel asked, pressing her hands against the desk and leaning forward. “What are we supposed to do? If I could hit Rank 2 or three, then start saving money to copy down one Greater Rune from there, I’ll be better off than most of the people I know. That glimpse of a Greater Fire Rune you gave us is more than most ever see, and it’s still nowhere near enough to really learn it. Even if it’s just Rank 1, it’s completely inaccessible to most people.”

“We can’t all get the resources of a noble house,” Todd added, looking away and failing to hide his disappointment. “Let’s just keep practicing. At least that’s something I can control.”

“Wrong,” Noah said.

They stared at him.

“What?” Todd asked.

“You’re wrong,” Noah repeated, taking the book from his belt and tossing it onto the table before Todd. “You can have the resources of a noble house.”

Todd and Isabel stared at the book in mute awe. Neither of them spoke for several seconds.

“Is this a joke?” Isabel asked.

“It would be quite a cruel one. No, it isn’t.”

“It’s not funny,” Isabel said, pushing the book toward Noah. “Don’t play like that.”

“I said it wasn’t a joke.”

“Right.” Isabel snorted. “And you don’t mind getting ripped apart by your own noble house for sharing their secrets. The Linwicks aren’t known for their kindness.”

Oops. Didn’t know about that. I suppose it makes sense, in a twisted way. If the Runes and their combinations are so valuable, the ruling class wouldn’t want them getting out easily.

“You said it yourself some time ago,” Noah said with a dry smile. “I’m not a very good Linwick.”

Isbael swallowed. With every second that passed, it became more apparent that Noah wasn’t joking.

“You’re serious?” Todd asked in little more than a whisper. “We can look through this?”

“More than look through it. I expect you to find a Rune in it and study it until you can replace one of your Lesser Runes with a Greater one.”

“But… what about the Linwicks?” Isabel asked. “If they find out, you’d be in a lot of trouble.”

“Forget that,” Todd muttered, grabbing the book and flipping through its pages until he landed upon the one housing the Rank 1 Greater Fire Rune. “I don’t need to be told twice. Thanks, Teacherman.”

“Are you going to tell them?” Noah asked Isabel, raising an eyebrow.

“No!”

“Is Todd?”

Todd grunted, not looking up from the book. He ran his fingers along the rune, his brow furrowed in concentration as he committed it to memory. He closed his eyes for a few moments, likely imagining it in his mind, then opened them again and repeated the process. “No way in all the hells, man. You’ve bought me mind and soul. I’d do a lot worse for a Greater Rune. I’ll even help hook you up with some other students if that’s still what you’re–”

“Absolutely not.” Noah pressed his lips together. If he ever got his hands on Vermil’s soul, he was going to throttle it. Noah looked back to Isabel. “Looks like it’s our secret, then. The Linwicks can’t find out if you don’t tell them.”

Isabel swallowed and, after studying Noah for a moment, nodded. Then, almost immediately afterward, she seemed to second guess herself. “Why are you doing this?”

“That’s an odd question. I’m your teacher. It’s my job to equip you as best as I can.”

“But…”

“No buts,” Noah said. “How is this any different from other students having their teachers provide them with shields?”

“It’s usually their families that pay for those.”

“Semantics.” Noah waved his hand dismissively. “Listen. You want to know why I’m doing this? It’s so you don’t just pass this test, but the ones after it as well. The way you perform reflects on me. If you need to find out my selfish motive, use that. Now, no more questions. There will be time for those later. Let’s let Todd concentrate. When he’s done, you’re up.”

Isabel looked like she wanted to argue, but she just inclined her head and sat back, studying Noah as if trying to figure out what his angle was.

Time ticked by. After having to restart several times because of mistakes, Todd finally pushed the book over to Isabel, a huge grin on his face.

Isabel leafed through the book for a few minutes, then settled on a Greater Stone Rune. She took a little less time than Todd did, but looked every bit as focused and concentrated.

By the time both of them were done, the sun had already started making its way below the horizon. Class had run over by several hours, but none of them mentioned it. Noah simply tucked his book back into its holster.

“Congratulations, both of you,” Noah said as they walked into the hall. “We’re just about done fighting the small monkeys. Once you have a new Rune to fill, we’ll be transitioning to fighting Slashers as a team.”

“Already?” Isabel asked. “Are you sure we can handle them?”

“I’ll be there for a reason.”

“That’s why you chose now to give us these,” Todd realized, looking down at the paper nestled against his chest. “You wanted us comfortable with our normal Runes but to also have something more important to fill with the energy that Slashers have.”

“Ding.”

Todd chewed his lower lip. Isabel shot him a glance and he shook his head, dismissing whatever thought that had been running through his head before it could come out of his lips. They stepped out of the building and into the evening light. Noah raised a hand, blocking the sun from his eyes.

“We’ll meet again in two days. If you can, I suggest buying a healing potion. Slashers aren’t quite as easy to fight as the small monkeys, but I’m confident you can both do it. I’ll also be watching, ready to intercede the moment it looks like something is going to go south.”

“We’ll be there,” Todd promised. He hustled off, and Noah and Isabel watched him go.

“What are you waiting for?” Noah asked.

“Nothing.” Isabel shook her head, then strode away. A smile crossed Noah’s face and he turned, heading back toward the teacher’s quarters.

Good. I’ve got absolutely no use for all the Runes in this book, so I don’t have any reason to just keep them to myself. Now I can focus on getting stronger without worrying about the kids being crippled before they ever get a chance to stretch their wings.

Tomorrow morning, at least according to Moxie, he was going to get paid. He’d return Moxie’s borrowed money to her, then go shopping for something other than clothes. In particular, he still remembered the two men rescuing him on flying swords. If he could get his hands on one of those, traveling through the Scorched Acres would be far more efficient. He was already having to walk pretty far every time he went there alone, so some form of improved transport was long overdue.

There was a lot he still wanted to do, but much of it wasn’t anything short term. For now, Noah determined that he’d focus on making sure Todd and Isabel passed the exam while getting himself as strong as possible.

Once the exam was over, he’d make a list of everything he’d only just started to scratch the surface on. Even though it was still just early evening, Noah hopped into bed and rolled over, letting sleep take him.