Return of the Runebound Professor-Chapter 861: Pondering

Noah, Lee, and Brayden followed their badges for around ten more minutes before it became abundantly clear where it was they were heading. The sounds of avid conversation marked their destination well before they could even see it. But, after turning a few more corners of Aqua Terra’s winding streets, they stepped out into a large square.

Rivers of floating water crisscrossed through the air overhead, sending glimmering patterns dancing across the ground below and illuminating a multi-story marble building in the center of the square. Lines of people stretched out the doors of the house, and it only took a single glance at them to verify they were adventurers. Many of them even held black badges in their hands, making the arrow Noah’s badge pointing at the large house somewhat redundant.

The three of them made their way over to the back of the line as Noah mentally braced himself. He was getting flashbacks to a certain location in Arbalest. Out of all the innocent lives that had been lost because of Father’s machinations, there was a specific food-scarfing office attendant that Noah suspected the world wouldn’t miss at all.

I thought I left the goddamn bureaucracy behind me. I don’t want to wait around in line all day. I have better shit to do.

“You look ill,” Brayden observed. “Everything okay?”

“It’s fine,” Noah said with a laugh and a shake of his head. He’d already pulled his mask back over his head. From here on out, he had no plans of letting anyone he didn’t already know see his real face. “I just have a thing with lines. Particularly long, annoying ones.”

“We could make it shorter,” Lee offered.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Noah replied dryly. Even with the city scrambling his ability to detect domains, he wasn’t keen on running around and trying to murder his fellow competitors before the tournament even started. That just felt like it was in bad taste.

And, to his surprise, the line was already moving. Despite its length, they’d taken several steps toward the marble building already.

“It’s not too slow,” Brayden observed. “I figure we won’t be waiting too long. That’s good. There’s so much shit I want to ask, but I can’t do it here. I think I’m going to split open if I have to wait too much longer.”

Noah chuckled. “Yeah. Me too, man. It’s been too damn long. And some of what I have to share… well, it definitely can’t be done in line.”

Fortunately for all of them, the previous movement in the line hadn’t been an anomaly. They found themselves marching forward at a surprisingly steady pace. It only took around thirty minutes for them to step through the opened doors of the large marble building.

There, the line split off into several branches. The interior of the building was lined with desks manned by dozens of clerks. Each desk had a large glass orb placed upon it, held in place by some odd metal contraption completely covered with runes.

Several clerks milled about the front of the line, splitting people off and sending them to desks seemingly at random. It was only a few more minutes before Noah found himself standing before one of them. Before he could even say anything, the man thrust his finger at a desk off to the right.

“A5,” the man said sharply. “Hustle!”

Noah strode off in the direction he’d indicated. It wasn’t hard to figure out why things had been moving so fast now. By the time he realized that he was alone, and that Brayden and Lee had been sent to different desks, he’d already arrived at his destination.

“Badge,” the female clerk at the desk said, adjusting her glasses and holding a hand out expectantly. Her tone made it absolutely clear that any delays would not be accepted.

Noah could appreciate that. He pulled his badge out from the sheathe he’d stuffed it into and plopped it down on her palm. The clerk didn’t even blink at his strange method of storage. She simply held the badge for a moment, then nodded to the large glass orb on the table beside her.

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It wasn’t hard to guess what she was telling him to do.

Noah put his hand on the orb.

Nothing happened.

“Now what?” Noah asked. “Do I just sit here and ponder?”

The clerk’s brow furrowed, but she kept her professionalism. “Draw on your Runes. The extractor will sense your magical energy. Do not attempt to resist it. We will need to gauge the max level of your Runes. Restricting your power via soul shaping is strictly prohibited. We will know. Do not attempt it.”

“Extractor?” Noah asked. “Hold on. Is it—”

“No,” the clerk replied tersely. “It will not hurt, injure, or otherwise steal any significant portion of your strength. Their only purpose of this item is to emulate a magical spell to determine your strength. It is no more dangerous than if you had drawn on your runes normally. Now please — use it. We are on a schedule.”

Noah shrugged, then drew faintly on his runes. It probably wasn’t a good idea to antagonize the clerk that was just trying to do her job. That would have been a pretty lame way to get kicked out of the tournament. As power from Unraveling Disruption flowed through him, he felt a faint suction against his palm.

His magical energy peeled away from him, flowing out from his body and into the glass. A shimmer of gold and red spun through the depths of the orb. The force shifted in pressure and intensity, and Noah found his other runes shuddering in response.

To his surprise, Unraveling Disruption released itself from his grasp. Astral Ruin took its place. It was followed by Concentrated Singularity, World Tremor, and Volcanic Cataclysm. Each of his runes seemingly activated themselves at the guidance of the orb.

More colors shimmered through the glass before it finished drawing on him — and Noah couldn’t help but notice that not one of his Master Runes had been so much as touched. It seemed that the orb had no way to sense them. He supposed that made sense. It was only here to gauge his Rank.

Master Runes were only as powerful as the runes that could oppose their strength, so there was no reason to check for them, if checking for them was even possible.

“Rank 5,” the clerk reported. She glanced at Noah. “You haven’t ranked up since you got the badge.”

“Was I meant to?”

“Some people try to trick the system,” the clerk replied with a small shrug. She handed Noah’s badge back to him. “You’re registered. Ranks 5-6. If you Rank up before or during the tournament, don’t worry about reporting it. It won’t matter. However, you are not allowed to reach Rank 7. If you do, immediately report to a tournament official. Do not step into the ring at Rank 7. The penalty for breaking this rule is immediate death.”

Holy shit. They aren’t screwing around with keeping things fair, are they?

“Noted,” Noah said. “What about the other rules?”

“The tournament’s rules will be announced again during the opening ceremony. That is not what we are here for. Just ensure you do not reach Rank 7 at any point during the tournament’s duration,” the clerk said. “What name will you register under? Please be aware that your name will be announced should you make it sufficiently far in the tournament.”

Well, that’s convenient. I suppose they really don’t care if anyone goes by a secret identity. It’s not like Obsidia has some kind of ID system in place.

“Spider, please,” Noah said.

“Just Spider? Or Spider, please? The full phrase?”

“Spider,” Noah said. “Just Spider. Does that actually—”

“Yes,” the clerk said. “It comes up. Better to be safe than wrong. That will be all. You’ve been registered as Spider, Rank 5. Please ensure to arrive at least 2 hours before the tournament begins in order to be sorted into your starting group.”

“Thank you,” Noah said. “Is there anything else I need to be aware of? Or is this it?”

“Your registration is complete,” the clerk confirmed with a sharp nod. “You may make your way out of the hall and do as you see fit until the beginning of the tournament. Please enjoy your time in Aqua Terra.”

Then she turned back to the line. It was clear their conversation had come to its end. Noah headed for the exit without dallying, striding out from the hall before turning to wait for Lee and Brayden to finish up their own registrations. Waiting at the exit was far easier than trying to spot them in the huge crowd behind him.

And Noah didn’t have to wait long. Lee and Brayden joined him just a short while later.

“That was convenient,” Brayden said. “Quite—”

Noah grabbed him by the arm and started off toward the side streets.

“What’s going on?” Brayden asked, glancing between Noah and Lee. “Did something happen?”

“No,” Noah replied, not even risking a glance back at the milling crowd behind them. “I’m just getting out of here as fast as possible. I’ve been plagued by side quests ever since I set foot in Obsidia. I don’t want to get waylaid before we get a chance to catch up.”

“Seriously?” Brayden asked, fighting back a laugh.

“No, it’s bad,” Lee confirmed. “We’ve killed like twenty people already.”

“Since arriving in Obsidia?”

“No,” Lee said. “Since arriving here.”

Brayden’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Lee’s grouping me in with her,” Noah grumbled. “I did not kill anywhere near that many people. I just got a few.”

Brayden choked down a cough. “Right. You two might be cursed. Let’s get out of here, then. I don’t want to risk things getting delayed until the tournament by some freak twist of fate. I’m sure you’ve got a lot to fill me in on.”

A small smile pulled at the corner’s of Noah’s lips behind his mask.

“You have no idea.”