47 The first encounter

"You sure come here a lot," Tim drawled as Noah stepped out of the lift and raised his hand in greeting.

"It's faster than flying myself. Safer too." Noah said.

"Not arguing with that. I guess it's not my place to ask, but I've never seen a professor spend as much time in the Scorched Acres as you do. Is there something going on?"

Noah walked up to the turret and leaned against the wall, looking back at Tim. "Not really. Just training. There are a lot of monsters there, you know."

"I'd reckon so. Just… that's a whole lot of training."

"Is that not the point?"

Tim tugged on his beard and frowned. "Yeah, I guess it is. Just makes me wonder why the other professors rarely use my services. I'd have thought that at least one more would be doing what you are."

Noah shrugged. "I'm sure we've all got our own methods and strategies. As long as we get results, right?"

It was Tim's turn to shrug. "Suppose so. Same as always?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you could lower the time I'm out? Maybe… twelve hours, if that's possible? I just want to test some things out and it probably won't take an entire day."

"Sure, I could do that for you." Tim replied. "Twelve hours it is. All ready?"

"Thanks." Noah climbed inside the turret. It shuddered as Tim adjusted his target.

"Have a safe trip!" Tim called.

Noah didn't get a chance to respond. Energy erupted and the cannon fired, blasting him into a world of swirling blue. Noah was so used to the sensation that he barely even noticed any discomfort. He just enjoyed the twisting shades of blue as they whipped past him.

And then, before he knew it, Noah was in the Scorched Acres. He blinked, somewhat surprised to find the world in more than one color again, then shook his head. Pulling his flying sword from its spot in his belt, he tossed it onto the ground and stepped on.

It jerked forward, nearly ramming Noah into a tree before he adjusted its direction at the last second and directed himself into the sky. He burst past the blackened canopy and righted himself, squinting as wind whipped past his face.

The forest passed quickly beneath him. Noah flew for several minutes, making sure he would be deep enough into the trees so that he wouldn't mistakenly run into someone else that might have visited from Arbitage at an inopportune time, then shot back down to make a rough landing on the dirt, tripping over his own feet as the sword jerked to a halt and nearly face planting into a tree.

Noah managed to catch himself at the last second, using a small blast of wind to halt his momentum. He let out a slow breath, shaking his head and picking his sword back up. The part of the forest he'd landed in looked identical to just about every other part of it, but it seemed empty.

It was warm, bordering on hot. Noah adjusted his suit, unbuttoning the front. He tilted his head to the side and listened intently for a few seconds. All that greeted him was silence. A monkey howled far in the distance, barely audible over the wind.

Nothing imminent, then. That obviously doesn't mean much, since they aren't always making noise, but at least there aren't any monsters fighting each other near me.

Noah focused on his Vibration Rune. Its power gathered, waiting for command. Noah paused a moment, just enjoying the feeling of energy pumping through his veins and pulsing at his fingertips.

"What's the best way to go about this?" Noah murmured to himself. "It vibrates monsters and people well enough. I guess the next step is the ground?"

He went to kneel, then paused. If he could cast magic through his hands, there was no logical reason he couldn't do it through any other part of his body. Noah straightened back up and pictured the ground trembling.

Energy poured out of his leg and through his shoe, seeping into the ground beneath his feet. Noah swore as his shoes suddenly shuddered with such intensity that he lost his footing.

"Goddamn it," Noah muttered. He shifted, and the dirt pressed against the soles of his feet. He sighed and knelt, pulling a shoe off. The seams had been ripped to shreds and the bottom had split in half. The other had suffered a similar fate.

Guess that's a pretty good case for using my hands instead of my feet. Noted. I've gone this far, though. Might as well keep at it.

Noah pulled both shoes off and tossed them to the side, adding his socks to the pile before digging his feet into the dry, brittle ground. He gathered his magic once more, then repeated the command.

The earth rumbled beneath Noah. He wobbled in place as the ground shook for just a second before going still once more.

That was lackluster. Must be because I'm not being specific enough. Ground is a pretty wide, after all. If I'm trying to shake an entire tectonic plate, I'm probably not going to have much luck. Maybe just the dirt in a ten foot radius around me.

Noah started to draw on his Vibration Rune. He wasn't sure exactly how much magic to use, but he didn't want to overshoot things and end up either wasting the energy or calling too much attention to himself.

As he prepared to release it, Noah's eyes caught a flicker at the edges of the trees. Had he not spent so much time in the forest these last few weeks, he would have missed it completely. Instead, Noah recognized the telltale glint of a Chucker's bulbous eyes in the distance.

And, if he could see it, it could probably see him. Noah swore, dropping to the ground instinctively. A rock screamed past his head, smashing through the trunk of the tree behind him and sending splinters of wood flying everywhere.

Noah drew sharply on his Vibration Rune, taking in far more than he had the first time, and unleashed the magic on the ground. Dry, packed dirt cracked and trees groaned as a forest floor between Noah and the Chucker came alive.

It tore itself up in an instant, like an explosion had been set off beneath the ground. The Chucker screamed for an instant before it was caught in the blast and vanished behind a line of debris