Thirty-Five

"Yes." The word was so easy to say, it came instantly and without hesitation as Kon stared up at the leathery old man who had hope filled eyes that gleamed with fire. Benny smiled widely as he nodded before turning to look into the distance, across the barren windswept grounds.

"Then there is much that you need to know. These last few weeks I've been paying attention to you, more than you probably think. You are truly ignorant, but you seek to learn and that is all I can ask for," Benny said as they headed deeper into the badlands.

"Thanks?" Kon said. He was keeping his eyes on the ground, looking for more of the snake-like creatures that Benny had shown him were around.

"You'd be surprised by how many lack curiosity. Lack the drive to expand their minds. So many of our Orders have grown stagnant, perfectly content to sit upon their knowledge and not quest further, to explore beyond the realms. Its a disgrace to those who died searching for a way to survive. Generations who bent their entire beings into knowing just a bit more," Benny said, anger clouded his voice as he stopped. He stomped his foot down and the cracked earth split further apart as a ripple rolled forth across the ground.

Kon swayed as the narrow ravine in front of them opened wider and wider as a cloud of dust rose up and above the plains. Benny grabbed his bicep, fingers like iron bands, and pulled him down. Kon didn't have time to scream as they fell, slowing at the last second to land lightly on the ground.

The walls of the ravine rose above them while in front of them a shimmering portal sat, the energy of the rift warping the stone walls into something soft and gelatin-like. Benny dragged him into the rift, moving fast enough that Kon didn't have time to say anything.

"All the monsters are dead," Benny declared as they stepped into the rift. A surge of power washed away in a tidal wave and Kon froze as the rift grew still. Bodies began to fall, slamming into the ground all around them. They weren't large, no bigger than his palm, but each of their corpses let loose a dribble of foul liquid that scorched Kon's nostrils as he smelled it.

"F-Grade. Can't use anything in here besides the treasure. Even then, best to use it as a bartering piece," Benny grumbled under his breath. He turned to look down at Kon and sighed as his the frantic energy slowly calmed down as he sat down, sticking his legs out in front of him.

"It's hard to spy into rifts, even little ones like this," Benny explained.

"You think Diur would spy on us?" Kon asked in disbelief.

"Paranoia will keep you alive, boyo. Remember that. We're leaving the shallows and starting to wade into murky waters. Better safe than sorry," Benny said, waving his hand as if dismissing all of his doubts with the single hand.

"Now, we have to get down to it. We'll stay here for a while, harvest the rifts, gather cores, all that good stuff you're so apt at. Then we'll come here for your mage training, here," Benny broke off as he reached his hand into empty space and pulled out a book. A real, paper and hardback book.

"How do you do that? Just pull stuff out of thin air?" Kon asked, even as he greedily grabbed the book. There was a certain heft to it that felt comfortable in his hands.

"Space rune. Nearly the extent of what I can use while I'm like this," Benny said. For once the old man didn't try to change the topic or move away from a conversation. Kon met his eyes and Benny nodded.

"You are my apprentice. Full honesty will be required of both of us. If you ask something that I don't feel like answering, I'll just say I don't feel like answering, no more games."

"How strong are you?" Kon blurted.

"That's an interesting question. At my peak?" Benny pursed his lips as his eyes glazed over, lost in thought for a second.

"It's hard to say. The grading scale is a rough estimate at best. But when I was truly at my peak I could rival the few A-Grades I met."

"That's…that's…" Kon trailed off, shocked into silence for a second time.

"Someone I used to be. Age catches us all eventually and I used many tricks to stay ahead of the reaper. I abused my body when I was young, mage craft is not easy on you, even if you are careful. Now I'm lucky if I can exert the power of a peak D-Grade without suffering the blowback. And it'll only get worse the longer I stay sealed," Benny said.

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"Sealed?"

"It's how I stay alive when my time is over. Now, it's time to tell you my runes, runes that you'll eventually inherit from me. Truth, you already know it. That's the key to keeping me alive and its power is constantly leaking out and around me. I couldn't manage to fully grasp it again if it wasn't for it already being there." Benny paused and pulled a canteen off his belt and took a swallow while Kon waited breathlessly.

"It's strange speaking of secrets like this. Things I kept so closely guarded that even my former Squires don't know about it." Benny sucked in a breath and continued.

"Space lets me grab things from their sealed vault on the Puca. you should have seen me when I was in my prime, boyo. I could do things that would raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Now, all I can do is cheap parlor tricks. I have other full-runes, four full webs of them, each with five layers. Twenty full-runes."

"How many?" Kon stammered.

"Twenty of the bastards. Each of them at least a D-Grade treasure that I hand carved and filled with my own knowledge of the aspect."

"Does the grade of the treasure matter?" Kon asked. Benny threw a pebble at him, bouncing it off his forehead.

"Of course it matters. Over time your own growth and collection of power will help it advance, but at some point the runes won't be able to fully contain the power you push through them. Then you'll need to change them out, which is excruciating and can kill you if you're not careful," Benny said.

"Is this common knowledge amongst the Orders or Chapterhouses?" Kon asked, mind reeling from the flow of information.

"No. I can count on my fingers how many Knights have managed to get into B-Grade territory. And only two others have made it as far as I have."

"Are they still alive? Who are they?"

"I can't answer that. I swore oaths to conceal their positions or even if they're alive or dead. The greatest threat to humanity at this point is the peak existence cultivators. Those like Daniur or greater. They are the only ones left who can truly threaten us. Aside from ourselves," Benny said the last part off-handedly.

"And their existence is a deterrent to the others. If they don't know who they are, or where they are, or even if they're alive, none of them will attack us," Kon said.

"Correct. Enough know about my predicament that I am no longer an effective deterrent to the old ones, but I can be to anyone else. So, I do my part while searching for the path back home. A path I think you can help me find," Benny said. Kon blinked owlishly and then started pacing back and forth, trying to burn off the energy coursing through him.

"Why me?"

"You'll be the first person alive who will be able to do the magecraft necessary to pierce through the realities and find our way home. That was the secret to how we left our solar system. There was no lanes for us to find, nor did we have the technology to enter or exit them anyways. We used magecraft. Our greatest mages fueled by every harvested core we could find ripped open a pathway to somewhere else. Over and over we used rift energy and the runes we discovered until we found the creators of the Oasis. By then, most of the mages were nothing more than burnt out husks, our stockpile of cores spent, and centuries of knowledge and experience dead. You though, boyo, you could have the potential to do it without dying," Benny said.

"I need the steel body though. To inundate my body with rift energy to the point that I can successfully channel it through me rather than using runes to hold the power," Kon said, mind swirling as he began to think and figure out what was going on.

"Exactly. I had my suspicions when I read the summaries of the mission and then even more when I intercepted Daniur's request to Lero Ran and then I decided I would investigate myself," Benny said. With those words all the mysteries around the old man's appearance finally crumbled down.

"What if I'd told you no to being your apprentice?" Kon asked. Benny frowned and shrugged.

"I'd continue to train you and use you like a lab experiment. When I was sure the results could be duplicated, I'd find a series of young cadets and begin my own training with them to create this new version of Knights. Those who could connect the three branches of power. Cultivation, runes, and channeling. Then I'd use them to find our way home," Benny said.

"You wouldn't kill me for figuring out your secrets and leave me on some deserted, barren moon?" Kon asked, giving Benny a hard look. He just laughed and shook his head in amusement.

"If I wanted to kill you I wouldn't need the pageantry. I could simply tell you that you're dead and you'd die. Until you can rival my strength, there is no defense against Truth."

"That's terrifying." Kon swallowed and then squatted, wrapping his arms around his knees as he looked at the leaning back Knight.

"Even this is a show. Lowering himself so he's less intimidating. The relaxed posture, all of it's a way to keep me calm and compliant."

"It is, boyo. I am terrifying. Don't mistake me for some kindly old man. I am the terror of humanity. I have been her sword for centuries and it is work I am damn good at. That is who you are apprenticed to."

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