Return of the Runebound Professor

Noah waited until all of his students had settled down and found seats in the grass around him before he spoke again. He didn’t want them to miss anything important by accident. Formations weren’t a technique that allowed for mistakes. The slightest misstep would be the end. Pop. No more student — and he couldn’t sit around protecting them with his domain forever.

“Formations are, at least as far as I’ve observed thus far, the most powerful usage of a pattern in a single spell,” Noah said as he summoned his violin to his hand. “Their purpose is to form a temporary holding cell to allow runic energy to gather within it. That is not to be confused with putting magic into your actual pattern. The purpose of a formation is to create the framework that holds runes. One that lets them interact with each other and build in power before exploding forth with a very powerful effect… assuming you do it right. Patterns go into Formations, but Formations do not go into patterns. I know it’s a bit confusing, but I’ll get deeper into that in a moment. Now, Formations are traditionally made with drawn patterns on the ground, but there’s another fairly common method that Formation Masters use.”

“Music,” Todd said.

Noah nodded. “Music. Which is why the idiots in this empire banned it from public spaces. Music should be a thing to be enjoyed, but I suppose I can understand a bit of fear when the guy playing a love song might accidentally blow himself and the city block around him into the next world. And that’s what I want to impress on you.”

“Don’t play love songs?” Alexandra asked.

“Don’t fuck with Formations. They are extraordinarily powerful — and they will kill you. If you let your guard down for a fraction of an instant. If you suddenly see someone pretty walk by out of the corner of your eye. If you so much as sneeze at the wrong time. It does not matter. Formations are not forgiving. There’s no second chance. You’re just dead.”

Well… that isn’t strictly true. You can definitely save a failing formation. I’ve done it more than a few times. But that requires the ability to adjust the Formation entirely on the fly, which isn’t something that any of the students are capable of yet. And, even if they were, I don’t want them even having a flicker of a thought in the back of their minds that they don’t have to be completely focused.

“I take it that’s why you were so worried about us being able to hold our patterns no matter what?” Isabel guessed.

“It is. Well, that and your pattern can kill you as well once you’ve got magic in it. A pattern with magic is basically the first step into a Formation,” Noah explained. He dismissed his violin with a thought and crossed his hands behind his back. “You can think of a Formation as guidelines for runic power. You’re basically forming a path for the energy to flow through. If that path has any weaknesses or holes… boom.”

“Possibly. I couldn’t answer that with complete confidence. I just don’t have enough understanding of imbuing,” Noah admitted. “But don’t think of Formations as imbuements with a bit of extra power tacked on. That will mislead you. They may have similarities, but they are not the same. Formations let you harness the power of multiple different runes at once — and a lot of it.”@@novelbin@@

“Can you show us one?” Yulin asked. Even though she didn’t even have a pattern of her own yet, she didn’t bother to hide the interest behind her eyes. This was magic that she’d likely never gotten a good chance to lay eyes on.

“Yeah! You showed the demons, didn’t you?” Todd asked.

“That was just a song,” Noah replied with a small smile. “And I’ll be honest with you. I just ranked up. I don’t have a Formation I can use safely around you. The chances of it exploding are a little too high.”

“Even you have to worry about that?” Yulin blinked in surprise.

“Yes,” Noah said. “This is not something you master and then forget. If you plan to use Formations in your fighting style, then you need to be ready to constantly treat them as deadly weapons. They can kill you just as easily as they can your opponents, and that will never change. Does everyone understand?”

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He received a round of solemn nods. Despite the precautions Noah was taking, he wasn’t too worried that any of his students would take this lightly. They’d all been practicing with patterns for long enough to know the risks involved in this kind of magic. None of them were stupid… but it didn’t hurt to make sure they were abundantly aware of the risks involved.

“Good,” Noah said. “Then we will begin. I actually learned everything here in reverse. I managed to get a Formation working before I got any real understanding of what a pattern is. You’re doing it the right way around. The first part of a Formation you need to learn is how to make the guidelines for the magic. You’ll have to figure out how to use your pattern to do that. It won’t be the same for everyone. Needless to say, you will not be attempting to fill the guidelines with any energy beyond what is required to build them.”

“So we’re just making the housing of the Formation?” Todd asked.

Noah nodded. “Yes, exactly. And let me say again — you will not be drawing your Runes into the formation. You’ll need to have the runes you’re working with in mind when you work, though. That’s the hard part. The difference between a Formation and a pattern is that a Formation has a specific intent. It mixes power from runes in a very specific way. So you need to prepare for that by creating the guidelines to do something specific.”

“What in particular?” Isabel asked.

Noah shook his head. “Can’t answer that because there isn’t an answer. Your Formation is going to be unique to you. You need to think on what you’re trying to accomplish with the Formation you’re creating. Remember that each Formation is basically like a recipe for baking bread. You have to put the exact same ingredients into it each time. And each time, so long as you do it right, you’ll get the same result. I’d suggest starting by trying to combine the powers of two runes — in theory. That means you’d be making guidelines that you think would let you do that.”

“But we wouldn’t actually be putting the runes in,” Lee finished. “We’re just doing everything as if we were, but we stop before the last step.”

“Exactly. I know that’s a bit convoluted, so does anyone have any questions before we begin?” Noah asked. “I do not want any confusion here. Your task is to use magic to power your patterns and shape them into guidelines that will, in theory, let you house a combination of runes. You will not be putting the actual runes into the Formation. Clear? I want a direct answer from everyone before we start.”

“Makes sense to me,” Isabel said.

“Me too,” Todd said.

“I understand,” Emily added.

“I got it too,” Lee said. “I might just stick to patterns for now, though. I’m still working on mine.”

“That’s perfectly fine. If anyone feels unprepared to continue, then it’s much better to focus on the fundamentals,” Noah said with an approving nod.

James grunted in agreement.

Noah squinted at him. “Words, James. This isn’t something you can halfass.”

“Yeah, I got you. You know, maybe…” James glanced in Emily’s direction and hesitated, his words dying on his lips. Her eyes narrowed and he cleared his throat. “Yup. Nevermind. I’m good. Ready to go.” ṝ𝘢NổΒĚʂ

Noah suppressed a laugh. He was pretty sure James had been about to say he didn’t want to do Formations yet even though he’d clearly mastered his pattern — and entirely because he was lazy.

It seemed Emily’s mere presence had stopped that in its tracks.

I wonder if I can even blame him for being lazy. If that’s his pattern, wouldn’t he technically be practicing it by doing nothing? Ugh. That’s one paradoxical pain in the ass.

“Great,” Noah said. He summoned his violin and its bow back to his hands. “Then I will demonstrate what I do with music when creating guidelines. Even though none of you actually use my pattern, try to see if you can spot similarities and things you can use for your own purposes. Remember that we’re doing the same fundamental thing, just from a different angle.”

Nobody spoke this time. They all stared at Noah intently as he placed the bow against the strings of his violin and started to play, letting power slip through the magical artifact and fill the notes rising into the air.

Noah constructed the beginning parts of his Formation, laying them over one another like bricks for a building. It was tempting to let himself sink into the music like he did when he was making a full Formation, but he resisted the urge, not wanting to make a complete Formation by accident.

He continued building the guidelines until the song had finished. Noah held the final note before slowly allowing the power to fade away. Only once the last vestiges of power had vanished did he let his bow lower.

“As you can see, there was power in the song,” Noah said. “But no discreet runes. Does that give you all at least an idea of where they can start?”

Everyone other than Yulin nodded. Noah could see thoughts flashing behind their eyes already. He repressed a smile. Something told him it wouldn’t be too long before his students had this next step of mastering Formations under their belts.

“Then get to it,” Noah said. “I’ll keep a watch over things and have my domain at the ready. Let’s see what you lot can do.”