131 Imbuements II

Night couldn't come soon enough. When they set up camp and headed to bed, Noah didn't waste a second. He hadn't completely finished Imbuing the Rune, as he wanted to put more energy into it, but the beginnings were there.

The moment Moxie and Brayden switched watches, Noah slipped out of the camp. He left all his belongings behind in the stone tent Isabel set up, then waited several hills away. From previous nights, he knew it would be a few hours before Lee showed up – so he took that time to continue working on the Imbuement.

He used more energy than he probably should have, and his lungs felt raw and overcooked after a few hours. Lee had implied it was best to do the process over a few days, not just one.

Patience has never been my strong suit. This is tolerable, so there's no reason to go any slower. This is just the first half of my plan.

Noah kept at his Imbuement, continuously reinforcing his lungs with the Pyroclastic Resonance Rune over the course of the night. He was so focused on his task that he barely noticed Lee's arrival until she tapped him on the back of his head.

"What are you doing?"

Noah jerked his head up. He coughed, letting a tiny stream of smoke out of his mouth, then cleared his throat. "Body Imbuement. I couldn't figure out what effect I wanted to Imbue Got a bit distracted. After sitting around for a while, I suddenly had an idea."

Lee arched an eyebrow. "I'm surprised it took you this long. I was expecting you to have fully Imbued something the day I told you about it. For a moment, I thought you'd actually gotten a bit better at waiting for things."

"Perish the thought," Noah said. "I used up all my caution waiting this long. I've got a great idea and I didn't want to wait around before testing it. Moxie confirmed that Imbuements can be removed pretty easily, so I doubt they'll stick around after death."

"I suppose they wouldn't. What's your idea, then?"

"Not yet. I'll jinx it if I say it out loud," Noah said. "You know a bit about Master Runes, right? I'm trying to Imbue Combustion, but it won't work. Do you have any idea why?"

Lee chewed her lower lip in thought. "Maybe it's because their power is unique? There can only be one of any Master rune at a time, so if you're trying to Imbue it on something, you'd technically be splitting it."

Noah blinked. "That's an interesting thought. Maybe I have to Imbue the entire thing at once. I've been trying to do just a bit of it."

"That seems dangerous. Would you even still be able to control it if you Imbue the whole thing?"

"That's a good point. I need to find a way to–" Noah cut off midway through his sentence. He tilted his head to the side. "Huh."

"What?" Lee asked.

"Why do you think the Hellreaver always had a fire around it?" Noah asked. "That's the Rune's active ability, so it should have been something it would have to intentionally do. But it was doing it while it was asleep. How? And more importantly, why?"

"I… I'm not sure," Lee admitted. "That's a good point. What are you thinking? You think Imbuing the Rune completely will let you somehow use its powers?"

"I know the spot you Imbue it is what matters." Noah chewed his lower lip. "What if you Imbue your soul? The Runes are already there, and it's a real thing that we can tangibly see. Why wouldn't we be able to Imbue that?"

Lee's mouth worked. "I have no idea. I never thought of that. You think that's what the Hellreaver did?"

"Only one way to find out," Noah replied. "Keep watch over my body, please."

Then he closed his eyes and slipped into his mental space.

Darkness bloomed all around him, and his Runes shimmered to life. His soul was largely undamaged, as it had been a good bit of time since he'd taken a lot of serious death. If there was ever a time to fiddle around with his soul, now felt like it.

Still, Noah paused. His body was arguably the safest thing to mess with. When he died, his soul was what stuck around. If his suspicion was wrong, there was a chance of damaging himself permanently.

I can't think what else the Hellreaver possibly could have Imbued, though. It had the Rune constantly going off. The only way that would happen is if it was an Imbuement, and it would have lost control of the Rune if it had Imbued it on its body. This is the only possibility.

I'm confident that I'm correct. The logic adds up. I just need to have the exact right intent when I imbue this, or I'm going to end up with my own ring of fire following me around. If I limit the amount of Combustion's power I'm drawing and leave the rest in my soul, then I should be able to regulate it.

Noah steeled his thoughts. As if sensing his intentions, the Runes shifted around him. Combustion lowered, floating down toward his outstretched hand. Noah looked around, then settled at a spot near his feet.

It was as good as any other. All of it was his Soul, after all. He extended a mental tendril, calling on Combustion's power, and started to gather it.

Master Runes were all or nothing. There wouldn't be any layering involved. More importantly, Noah didn't even have to run all of the Rune's power through his body – he was pretty sure that would end up burning him alive.

All I have to do is move it. It's already in my Soul, after all. If I can just permanently combine the two, I shouldn't even need to handle all the strength at once. Then, as long as my intent is to keep the power I draw from it limited, I should be able to handle it.

Noah took a deep breath. Then he pulled at Combustion's power, directing it into his soul. The Master Rune resisted at first, but Noah wasn't trying to draw it into his real body. He was just moving it.

Go into my lungs and leave through my breath unless otherwise directed. Let the me use my breath to control your powers. Keep the amount of energy that passively flows out so low that it doesn't actually have enough to combust. I don't need to set myself on fire randomly. Only have enough flowing to establish access to the reservoir, and leave the rest in the soul.

The Rune stretched out like a piece of taffy, reaching out toward the spot in his mindspace that he was directing it toward. Redoubling his focus on his goal, Noah pulled harder.

A loud twang echoed through his mind. The Rune sprung, shooting from its spot in the sky and into the ground, condensing into a smaller version of itself that was roughly the size of Noah's body.

Instantly, a wave of heat rolled over him. Noah tensed, then opened his eyes. He let out a slow breath, grimacing as a very, very uncomfortably hot breath washed out of his mouth. It was just a few steps below scalding – but it was bearable.

He'd done it.