Thirty-Six

"I've already identified which runes in your holopad we knew about and transferred them over to your grimoire. The rest will be up to you. I doubt that you'll be much interested in trying to figure them out, but we can raid some of the rune libraries on the World-Ship's when we finish this up," Benny said after a moment of silence between them. It was an effective way of changing the topic.

Kon opened the book and saw that each page had a rune on it that took up half the page, below it in tight, legible writing, was a description of the rune. Kon read them over, all seven of them, a half dozen times before saying anything.

"What is this combination here? Near the bottom?" Kon asked.

"Where magecraft has its advantage over Knights and their embedded runes is in flexibility. I can cast a half dozen runes at various strength or intent to create hundreds of results. You have a common flame rune there, or at least its a combustion rune that gives a flame result. Grab a little F-Grade core, drain it and think on the rune and you'll get a flame. Scale up and so forth. From what you told me, Alice had one similar that she used to light fires or fight."

"Yeah," Kon confirmed when Benny waited a moment before continuing.

"Now, what happens when you combine it with a force, airflow, and mass rune?" Benny asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I don't know," Kon admitted, though his brain was going a million miles an hour to figure out what would happen.

"You blow up. Spectacularly. Monsters weren't the only killer of mages in the early days. Finding which runes could be combined with each other somewhat safely was a dangerous hobby. So we wrote down our recipe lists for which can be used quasi-safely," Benny said.

"Recipes? Not spells?" Kon asked.

"They were trying to be taken seriously and no self-respecting government official was going to listen to people who trades in spells. Recipes was a more palatable terminology."

"Ok. But it's been like, millenia. We can change it to spells now. No government officials around," Kon said.

"Boyo. There's always a government official. But seeing as it's only the two of us, if you want to call them spells, go on ahead," Benny said, waving his hand in a circular motion to keep the conversation rolling. Kon grinned and read over the spells so far written in the book.

"Now, remember, don't go and be using these before you get to at least the next step in your body cultivation. You're tough right now, but drawing raw power through your body isn't fun. It's like being constantly electrocuted. Actually, might need to train you on drawing power without having your runes filter it. Something else to add to the list of things to do. Now, we should get back to the ship before your friend decides something is wrong and starts searching for us." Benny rose up, dusting his pants off before heading out of the rift, Kon hot on his heels.

"How are we getting out of here?" Kon asked as he looked at the tall ravine walls that rose up and above him. Benny didn't say anything, just leaping up and smashing his armored fingers through the stone and began to climb. Kon sighed as he tucked his book into the back of his belt and followed after him.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The climb didn't take long, both of them were strong and nimble that even the nearly sheer ravine walls were hardly a challenge. The sun had disappeared by the time they arrived at the top of the plains. Kon spat a curse and a mouthful of sand as the wind whipped toward him. He hunched down and into the wind, heading back toward the cliffside for another climb.

"Careful, boyo," Benny said, grabbing his arm and jerking him back just in time to avoid a mouthful of fangs as one of the sand serpents lunged at him. Kon responded instinctively, bringing his foot around in a crushing blow that pulped the animals head between his heel and the stone.

"Thanks. They're just regular animals? Not rift beasts or mutated creatures?" Kon asked. He hadn't felt the creature's presence as he walked, no sign at all that something was waiting for him.

"Regular animal will kill you just as fast as a rift monster," Benny chided him as they made it to the cliff. They repeated their feat, making it to the top in only a fraction of the time it would have taken him before his recent advancements. Getting back into the Puca was the work of moments, sealing the ship against the constant blowing winds was a welcome relief.

The sight of Diur covered in splattered food with a deep scowl on her face was enough to start both Benny and him into a fit of cackling as she came down upon them like a thunderstorm. Her features had darkened to a royal blue making her pale opal markings ever more striking as she glared at them.

"What have you done to the food processor? It spat this upon me like a..a…ahhh," Diur ended her sentence in a growl as she lost her train of thought. Kon kept laughing until he saw she was glaring at him and not Benny.

"It wasn't me. Look at him," Kon said, stabbing a finger at Benny.

"Not even my apprentice for an hour and already betraying me," Benny said, clucking his tongue in disapproval. Diur's anger instantly fled as she perked up, looking between the two of them before smiling widely.

"You have formalized your apprenticeship. Wonderful! It is good to have a senior, but better to have a master to train you. This is cause for celebration!" Diur said excitedly, already forgetting about her state of disarray.

"Alcohol!" Diur and Benny said together. They locked eyes and smiled wider before turning as one to look at Kon. He felt a shiver run down his back as they stared at him with malicious humor.

"I'm not one to partake," Kon began but they wrapped their arms around him, sandwiching him between them as they headed for the galley. They slammed him down into the sofa in their common room and Benny made an old, dust covered bottle appear in one hand.

"Distilled from potatoes and aged for a few centuries. I only open this to celebrate a new Squire. Which I haven't had one of those in a while. Last one turned out funny," Benny said, wrinkling his nose as he pulled three dented tin cups from the same space and placed them in front of them.

"Diur, from what I recall, Ulmna can get drunk just as easily as humans," Benny said as he poured an alarming amount of the clear liquid into her cup before repeating it with Kon, and finally himself. Benny snatched up his cup and lifted it in the air between all three of them.

"A toast. A new beginning!" All three of them clinked their cups together and Kon fought back a gag as the icy-fire scorched his throat. Benny sighed and smacked his lips before refilling their cups. Diur lifted her cult this time to signal her intent.

"To our fallen," Diur said and all three slammed down the liquid. Kon coughed as his head swam a bit, but the drink wasn't as bad this time. Benny refilled their cups and looked at Kon, waiting for him.

"To our home, wherever it may be," Kon said. Benny smiled even wider before all three of them drank. This third round went down with ease and Kon sighed in appreciation. Then the night began to blur, the internal crushing pressure that had been mounting dissolving under the weight of the drink as the room filled with laughter and loud voices.

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