A short while before Jalen arrived, while Noah was still within the confines of his mindspace, he stared at the final Rank 3 Rune before him.

Thunderstorm had been, surprisingly, one of the easiest Runes to make. Perhaps it was his affinity toward noise, or maybe it was just because he’d been thinking about it a lot, but it ended up coming together on his first attempt.

Before making it, Noah had finally Sundered his original Natural Disaster. It felt odd to destroy the Rune that had been with him for so long, but it no longer had a place in what he needed. Still, Noah couldn’t help himself from breaking it down all the way to its Rank 1 components to get a Rank 1 Vibration Rune to fit into his new Thunderstorm Rune. Once the surgery was done, Noah deposited the rest of the Rune’s pieces into his grimoire and moved on to the penultimate step of his ascension to Rank 4.

The pieces of the Stormprince Elemental’s Rune hadn’t been great, but the majority of the issue was in a horribly made Rank 3 Shattered Lightning Flash Rune. After Noah had discarded the faulty Rune into his grimoire, it had been a relatively simple matter to take apart a few of the other Rank 3 Runes, finding and making the Rank 2 Vibration Runes and Lightning Runes that he needed for Thunderstorm.

Noah didn’t want to think about the amount of energy he wasted in the making and filling of the final Rune, but he was on a roll and didn’t plan on stopping. The last dregs of energy swirled into Thunderstorm, filling it completely. It floated back, joining the seven other Runes swirling in Noah’s mindspace.

Sandstorm

Tsunami

Cyclone

Earthquake

Volcano

Blizzard

Thunderstorm

Pressure rolled off them, bearing down on Noah from every direction. It wasn’t an uncomfortable feeling. It felt like he was wrapped up tightly in a safe blanket of his own power.

Far above, Sunder, the Fragment of Renewal, and Combustion awaited him. Their power was still on a completely different level. While Combustion was only a little stronger than his new Rank 3 Runes, the other two Master Runes were like immense mountains that threatened to crush him beneath their weight.

Noah drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Every single one of his Rank 3 Runes was full. They were ready.

He was ready.

Moxie said that reaching Rank 4 was a bottleneck. I’d imagine a large portion of that is going to be because imperfect Runes only get more imperfect when they get combined together. But everything in my soul is flawless.

At the very least, that should help. I guess there’s only one way to find out for sure, though. And hey – if it doesn’t work, I can always Sunder it and try again. There’s no end of the road for my Runes. There are only temporary inconveniences. No matter how badly I screw up, I can just rip everything apart and try again.

Noah raised his hands, calling all seven of his Rank 3 Runes to float before him. It almost felt sacrilegious to combine Runes that he’d literally never used in a fight, but he’d used their powers.

Instead of knowing exactly all the things they could do, Noah knew all the things that they lacked in. He knew the drawbacks of his magic and all the mistakes and misinterpretations he’d made about Runes.

And, as far as he was concerned, nobody truly learned by doing everything right. Failure was the essence of improvement. Every single mistake had reinforced his understanding. It had changed and improved his intent.

The Runes shuddered as they drew close. Energy crackled at their edges, hissing and popping as Noah begun to bring them closer and closer together. The hair on his arms stood on end and his back prickled.

Noah’s lips peeled back in a mixture of concentration and excitement as he pushed the Runes even closer together. His intent was as clear as a cloudless day and as razor-sharp as a blade.

Static electricity gathered around Noah’s head and his hair rose of its own volition. His mindspace trembled beneath his feet, the cracks of white light blurring as he pushed even harder to bring the Runes together.

The trembling intensified into a full-on earthquake. Magic pounded – not just around Noah, but within him as well. His veins felt like molten rock was pumping through them and jagged blades drove into his heart.

Noah was used to pain, though. His intent didn’t falter. A wordless roar escaped his lips as he pushed even harder. Compared to the infinite nothingness of the Line that was oblivion, pain was nothing.

Pressure continued to build around Noah. For a moment, Noah thought it would never stop. He felt Sunder and the Fragment of Renewal activate – for once, pushing back against the other Runes in his favor instead of other way around.

A loud snap tore through Noah’s mindspace. There was an instant of silence as all the pressure that had been building up abruptly vanished, sucked up into the epicenter of his soul. Noah used that moment to throw himself to the ground, putting his hands over his head and squeezing his eyes shut.

The world exploded like a bomb had gone off. A wall of pressure slammed into him, tearing past his body and spreading out through his mindspace. It was followed by a roar of energy that flooded everywhere, pouring into every part of Noah’s body.

Rivers of ice swirled through Noah, but he couldn’t even draw in a breath of surprise. The shock of the power was so intense that he couldn’t move. Mercifully, the feeling only lasted for a few moments before control returned to him.

Every single part of Noah’s body tingled. He pressed his trembling hands against the dark ground, pushing himself back and rising to his feet. His skin felt different. His body felt different – or perhaps it was the world around him that was off.

Just as Noah had once been able to tell exactly where his finger was, he could feel the Runic energy rolling off his body and filling his mindspace. It was another part of him, just like an extra limb. A lot of extra limbs.

And, as Noah finally looked up, he laid eyes upon his newly formed Rank 4 Rune. Quiet power surrounded it. The lines that made it up were straight and plain, entirely devoid of fanciful design. There was no energy racing along its edges, nor did it look impressive in any way. It was probably the plainest Rune that Noah had ever seen.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

And yet, the regal force that enveloped it left him absolutely no question as to what stood before him. A Rank 4 Rune, perfectly formed at ten percent full, met his gaze and stood proud.

Noah didn’t let himself celebrate yet. He extended his senses to the Rune, drawing on its power. It flowed easily and naturally. Rubbing his thumb and pointer finger together, Noah used the tiny amount of friction to summon a crackle of lightning. It arced to life effortlessly.

He ran Natural Disaster through several more tests, calling on its power in a variety of different ways to test out each of the forms of energy within it. Each one responded without hesitation or restraint, and the pressure rolling off the Rune remained constant.

It was Flawless. All the work and modifications that had gone into making everything that had come before Natural Disaster had finally paid off. Finally, Noah allowed himself to start laughing.

“I did it! A flawless Rank 4 Rune!” Noah’s laughter intensified, rolling out through his mindspace and disappearing into the darkness around him. All the excess power from the combination filled him with temporary strength and confidence, only intensifying his delight.

Noah rubbed his hands together and drawing in a deep breath to gather himself. Luckily, there wasn’t anyone that could see him cackling like a madman. He let the breath out slowly, then cleared his throat, keeping the delight bottled up in his chest.

It was time to show Lee and Moxie what he’d done.

With a thought, Noah pulled himself out of his Mindspace and returned to the real world. His eyes cracked open, excess energy still pouring out of him, and froze in place. There were people in their room that shouldn’t have been there.

Karina laid on the ground, desperately trying to push herself upright. Moxie and Lee were both locked in place, their faces deadly serious as they looked at the man that stood before them, energy washing off his body in waves. If it hadn’t been for all the extra magic from his combination surrounding him, Noah suspected he would have been trembling with exertion.

The look on the man’s face was the casual arrogance that only came with immense delusion or power – and Noah got the sinking feeling that it was the latter. The man’s eyes were firmly locked on his, and he met them without backing down.

He snapped his grimoire shut and rose to his feet as his features tightened in anger. “Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in our damn room?”

“You must be Magus Vermil,” the man said, his eyes flicking from Noah to the grimoire at his side.

This guy knows who I am? Who the hell –

Noah paused mid-thought as he caught another glimpse of Karina’s face. It wasn’t exactly terror in the way that one would regard a random assailant. It was a mixture of fear and resignation, as if nothing she did mattered, and her life was out of her hands. Noah’s stomach dropped.

“Magus Jalen?”

“Indeed. I almost got offended,” Jalen said, his eyes narrowing just enough for Noah to notice it. “If we’ve been playing for this long and you didn’t even know who I was, I’d think that I wasn’t even an opponent of note to you.”

“Well, I was under the impression you were unwilling to meet me in Arbitage. You can’t blame me for being surprised,” Noah said, recovering his verbal footing. Jalen was talking, which meant he wanted something. There were a whole lot of somethings that Noah could imagine Jalen wanted, but the first step was figuring out exactly which one it was.

“I am not some child to be summoned at your beck and call. People come to me,” Jalen said. “Anyone with half a brain does, at least. A little fear is never remiss when dealing with someone far superior. So, I can say with complete honestly that I was quite surprised when you sent me a letter demanding my appearance and had a cat shit on my desk. Surprised enough to show up. So here I am, Magus Vermil – just as you demanded.”

What the hell did Karina write in that letter?

“I think the exact meaning of my words may have been warped in translation,” Noah said, clearing his throat. “But now that you’re here – could you stop sending assassins after me? It’s kind of annoying.”

“Annoying?” Jalen let out a bark of laughter. “I’ll tell you what was annoying. Finding enough idiots that were actually incompetent enough to waste on something like this. The Linwicks have surprisingly few people that absolutely nobody cares about. Everyone has at least one connection that makes disappearing them somewhat bothersome.”

A ripple of power rolled out from Jalen. Everyone in the room stumbled and fell to the ground as the magic slammed them down, but as it hit the supercharged energy still surrounding Noah, it dissipated harmlessly.

Jalen’s brow twitched, and Noah did his best to keep a straight face. He was certain Jalen wasn’t using anywhere near his full power, but he hadn’t even flinched. That had to be at least somewhat surprising.

At least, I think it should be. I don’t know how much a Rank 4 can normally stand up to a Rank 6, but I’d imagine the odds would be pretty stacked against me.

“Let’s cut through the bullshit,” Jalen said. “Where are the Records of the Deceased, Vermil? I want to know what you did with it.”

Yeah, that’s not happening. That book is never seeing the light of day again.

“I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.” Noah’s voice was perfectly smooth and collected, trained by months of practicing his bullshitting skills at Arbitage. “If you mean the book I saw in the catacombs – I didn’t take it with me. It started screaming and I left it in the collapsed cave.”

I can’t even try to deny that I was in the catacombs. My grimoire is literally on my lap. But… add in a little truth in the lie, and boom. It feels a lot more reasonable.

Jalen’s eyes bored into Noah’s. “You… left it? Do you think I’m an idiot?”

I certainly hope you are.

“Of course not, Magus Jalen,” Noah said. “But I’m not dumb enough to lug such a massive book with me when it was clearly a trap.”

Jalen looked down at the grimoire, which was easily twice as large as the Records of the Deceased had been. He looked back up to Noah. The two of them stared at each other, straight-faced.

“You’re awful cocky for a Rank – wait. Rank 4?” Jalen’s brow furrowed. “Why do you have a domain? You shouldn’t be a Rank 4.”

Whoops. Talk about bad timing.

“I just reached it recently and haven’t had a chance to report my advancement yet,” Noah said.

“You’re registered as a Rank 2 with Arbitage as of just a short while ago. I’ve looked into you.” Jalen’s eyes narrowed into slits and he took a step forward, causing both Moxie and Lee to get pressed even further back by the pressure rolling off him. “And – bullshit. You didn’t just hit Rank 4. The amount of energy your domain has is indicative of at least four or five Runes. How does a Rank 2 go all the way up to halfway through Rank 4 that quickly?”

My flawless Rune is that much stronger? Or is he feeling all the extra power that came off my combination? Maybe a mix of the two.

It wasn’t the time to celebrate how successful his combination had been, though. Jalen’s eyes promised trouble, and the situation was rapidly deteriorating.

“I reported my advancement to the Office, but I don’t think they recorded it. The secretary was eating. I’ve just gotten a few lucky breaks as of late.”

Jalen didn’t look like he was buying it. The power coming off him intensified even further, pushing against Noah’s newly made domain. He started to feel the world press down on his shoulders as the gravity increased, but Noah held firm.

He’d met people like Jalen before. Men that only respected power, and all else was a sign of weakness. Doing anything even remotely subservient would only make things worse for him. All he had to do was match Jalen’s energy and divert questions until an opportunity presented itself.

And, of course, that was when a tiny white paw stepped out of thin air above Jalen. It was followed by the rest of a cat, which promptly did what Noah could only describe as a flying, drive-by hairball.

Mascot hacked a ball of unidentified matter up straight onto the top of Jalen’s head, then disappeared in another puff of smoke. The room stared in mute horror as the ball rolled off Jalen’s head and thudded to the floor.

Jalen’s eye twitched.

He snapped his fingers, and Noah felt the true power of a Rank 6 for the first time. Evergreen had been nothing in comparison to the immense might that Jalen wielded. All of them were slammed to the ground, only spared from getting squashed by Jalen’s restraint. A wave of purple energy ripped out from his hand, moving so quickly that Noah only managed to pick up a flash of light before it swallowed him and the world vanished in spinning lights.