Return of the Runebound Professor-Chapter 685: Just the way we like it

Chapter 685: Just the way we like it

Noah’s eyes snapped open. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

The world felt… different.

In some ways, the sensation was similar to what had happened when he’d first awakened his domain upon reaching Rank 4. Everything suddenly felt foreign and new to him. But, at the same time, it was practically the complete opposite.

Instead of the world around Noah suddenly coming to life and making itself known to his senses, it was his own body that he finally felt truly aware of. He could feel the blood pulsing through his veins and was far too aware of the way his organs sat in his stomach. He could feel the cloth of his clothes grating against his skin. He could even taste his own tongue.

It was not a pleasant experience in the slightest.

Noah’s features twisted in distaste as a shudder wracked his body. “What the hell is this?”

“It’ll pass,” Garina said, suddenly appearing to loom over him like the shadow of death itself. Her dark gaze bore into his skull like a razor-sharp blade.

Noah raised a hand into the air and flexed his fingers. The amount of information pouring into his mind was too much. Nobody needed to know this much about their own body. There were some things that happened autonomously for a reason.

It was like the dark side of the coin that had been the Fragment of Self. While the Fragment had given him the control, it really hadn’t shoved so much information into his head. It just… worked.

But now he was seeing the backend. All the nitty gritty detail that went into the — frankly disgusting — body that he inhabited. Never before had Noah been so acutely aware of just how long it had been since he had last taken a shower… especially since they’d just been training.

“I’m gross,” Noah said with a shudder. “Is this what you can smell? All the time? I hate it.”

“Fortunately, my nose is not situated nearly close enough to your body for me to pick up on as much as you fear,” Garina said, but the cutting sarcasm in her voice didn’t sting as much as it tended to. It seemed that she was distracted by something. “Once a few seconds pass, the sensations should become more palatable.”

Garina was right. The strange sensations invading Noah’s brain like a foreign army slowly faded until he was only dimly aware of them. He wouldn’t have gone so far as to say things were comfortable again, but at least he wasn’t under active attack.

“I want a shower,” Moxie declared.

Noah glanced over in her direction, and only then did it strike him that he wasn’t the first of the group to awake. He wasn’t even close to it. Moxie sat beside Lee, both of their noses scrunched and features twisted in the exact same grimace.

“I taste myself,” Lee said. “I don’t like it. I don’t want to eat Lee. I want to eat food. I’m not food.”

“Consider finding a fish somewhere,” Garina muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. She looked like she was about to say something else, but the words never made it from her lips. She just shook her head. “Ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous? Why?” Noah rose to his feet. His body seemed… fluid. The Fragment of Self had long since upgraded his physical abilities to the point where he could match the speed of some demons, but now it felt like the rough edges had all been smoothed out.

None of his sudden movements were surprising or so violent that they threatened to throw him off balance. The ridiculous amount of information pouring into his brain about every single part of his body was somehow all getting processed and utilized.

This… actually feels incredible. Once I get cleaned off and make sure to never get so much as a speck of dirt upon myself again, I might have to write Garina a written thank-you card. Maybe I’ll just add her to my fruit basket list.

“Blegh. What in the Damned Plains happened? Did someone let an animal do its business in my mouth?” Isabel asked as her eyes fluttered open.

“It passes,” Noah said. “Mostly.”

“Did we do it?” Todd asked from beside Isabel. The students around them squirmed and shifted. One by one, they were each coming to — and the vast majority of them weren’t all that happy about it.

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The sentiment seemed to be even more prominent amongst the demons. Sticky scraped at her tongue like something had gotten stuck to it, only worsening her predicament in the process as she got ash from her fingers all over herself. Vrith and Violet were both doing their absolute best to contain their displeasure, and even Aylin seemed like he was one slight push from losing his control and gagging.

“Ridiculous,” Garina muttered again.

“In a good way?” Todd asked. “Like, we’re cool ridiculous? Or is it a ‘I can’t believe these idiots managed to mess this up’ ridiculous?”

Noah was pretty sure it was the former. Garina looked pretty damn unsettled. Powerful mages didn’t get unsettled by people weaker than them screwing up. As a matter of fact, they tended to expect everyone else to mess up.

He sent for his domain and cast it out like a net. His senses washed out over the clearing. It only took him an instant to realize that something had indeed changed. Quite a few somethings.

He’d once been able to completely sense every single one of the people around him. But now, the vast majority of them were nothing more than muddled patches. And, beyond that, Lee, Moxie, and James didn’t even exist to Noah’s senses.

“Give me some time,” Garina said, striding over to crouch beside Yulin. The pale-skinned Apostle pressed a single finger against the girl’s forehead and concentrated for a moment. Then she rose back to her feet and shook her head. “Ridiculous.”

“Thanks,” Todd said, evidently deciding that Garina was, in fact, complementing him.

Lee sniffed the air. “It’s not as bad now. But I don’t want to eat you anymore, Moxie.”

“That’s probably good,” Moxie said. Then she frowned. “Wait. You wanted to eat me?”

“Tasty.”

“I swear I woke up a few times at night to something nibbling on my fingers,” Moxie muttered. She thrust an accusatory finger in Lee’s direction. “You said it wasn’t you!”

“It’s okay. You’re safe now. I don’t want to eat gross things. Noah, you’re going to need to take a lot more showers if you want me to eat your corpses. About fifty more a day. Also, can you carry some seasonings around? Garlic, hot sauce, maybe some pickles? Actually, what about a whole cauldron? Carry broth too. I could make—”

“Would you stop?” Garina snapped, spinning to Lee. “Do you even have the slightest idea of what you’ve done?”

Lee stared at her. Then she cocked her head to the side. “No? I got hungry in my soul and tried to eat my way out of it. It worked. Now everything tastes… tastier. Not tasty. Just more taste. You know what I mean.”

“Forget the taste for a moment!” Garina exclaimed. She threw her hands up into the air. “You shaped your souls! All of you! Every single one other than this girl here, and that’s evidently because she hasn’t been with your group for long enough! Do you have any idea how few people can manage soul shaping before someone makes them aware of their souls?”

“I’m going to take it from your response that it isn’t many,” Noah said, scratching at the side of his neck. “Did we do something wrong?”

“At this point, I’ve got half a mind to turn you into the Prophet myself,” Garina grumbled. “You’re freaks. All of you. This is not normal. What did you teach them, Noah? I could accept a few students being genius prodigies. I can accept you shaping your soul easier than most. But this… did you lie? Did all of you already know how to shape your souls?”

“Why would we lie?” Sticky asked. She rubbed at her nose.

“It was my first time,” Aylin said.

“I’m not actually sure what I did,” Violet said with a frown. “But it is the first time I have done it.”

The others all nodded in agreement.

“Shit,” Garina said. Her gaze returned to Noah. “How are you feeling? Brain working again? Feeling the effects of your soul changing forms?”

“I’m certainly feeling something,” Noah said. “What exactly does this do?”

“Right now? The only real benefit is pulling your soul into yourself and containing it so it can’t be easily detected by another mage’s domain,” Garina said. “In the future, controlling the shape of your soul lends itself to… other abilities. No point skipping ahead, though. I’d say I’ve done my part in the lesson. You’ve all been out for some time.”

Noah could have said that himself. A crick in his back told him his body wasn’t too pleased with the heap it had been lying in. He briefly considered killing himself to get rid of it — after all, his magic still wasn’t back — but eventually decided against it.

A thoughtful look crossed over Isabel’s features as she examined her hands. “I think I can see how this could come in handy. A strong mage would never even see us coming if we snuck up on them. We could kill them before they even realized what was happening.”

“That’s what your mind jumps to?” Garina arched an eyebrow, then squinted at Noah. “Are you trying to build an army?”

“No,” Noah said.

“Yes,” Yoru said at the exact same time.

The two of them glanced at each other.

“Right,” Garina said. Then she pointed at Noah. “I’m leaving. I need to find Revin and see how much damage he’s caused since I’ve been gone. We will meet again soon. Expect me. And I would suggest you allow your souls to return to their natural shape with some haste.”

“Why?” Moxie asked. “Is changing them for long periods of time dangerous?”

“No,” Garina replied. “But it might put a few questions into the minds of the small horde of Inquisitors headed this way. Questions that I don’t suspect you want to answer.”

Then Garina was gone, a streak of black disappearing into the sky with such speed that she was gone by the time anyone had registered she’d moved. They had slightly bigger problems to deal with at the moment.

There are Inquisitors headed here? Now? While I have no magic?

Noah glanced around. He was surrounded by as many demons as humans.

Of course they find me now, of all times.

This might get messy.