TEN

Bob's forge looked more like an architect's room than what Kon had imagined. Blueprints, schematics, and hand drawn runes littered desks while along the back corner of the wall in vacuum tubes floated nearly a score of rift treasures. Each of the vacuum tubes were covered in perfectly etched runes with powerful cores powering them.

Bob it turned out was an elderly man who resembled the forgeworker that Kon had pictured. A massively broad man with snow white hair, a beard that hung down to his slightly round stomach, and fingers the size of sausages. Each of those wide fingers were covered in soot and callouses.

A twin set of goggles of Ignacio's hung around his neck and he looked up from his standing desk with periwinkle blue eyes that were filled with mirth as he saw Benny. Bright white teeth flashed as Bob turned around the corner of his desk and marched toward Benny, arms outstretched in a hug.

Benny groaned in mock protest but wrapped the man up in a return hug, plenty of backslapping occurring as the two of them laughed at each other. Ignacio turned to look at Kon, a look of long standing suffering on his face.

"Uncle Raymond said they are always like this," Ignacio explained as the two old men had devolved into a series of only half serious insults, neither of them looking back at the two of them.

"You're Bob's apprentice?" Kon asked as it looked like Benny and Bob weren't stopping their ribaldling any time soon.

"Yes, since I was about eight. I have a good memory and a knack for the type of building that's needed. How long have you been with Benny?" Ignacio asked.

"Half a year or so. He picked me up from a failed Chapterhouse," Kon said. Ignacio gently nudged him and then pointed toward a small desk in the corner and lead Kon to it. Unlike the majority of the room being filled with hardly contained chaos, it was neatly organized, with papers in holders or in drawers. The glass top of it was one of the ones that could be worked on directly, applying schematics that would give a visualization.

"I often start the preliminary work for my grandfather now. Would you like to start?" Ignacio offered. Kon felt a lurch in his chest as excitement started to flood through him, he was finally getting to the point where the reality of having a full suit was setting in.

"Yeah, let's get to it," Kon said, rubbing his hands and leaning forward.

"Alright. I have a scanner that'll give me measurements, which we'll do in a second. Now, what do you know of Knight armor?" Ignacio asked as he started to click on buttons on his desk.

"It's made of rift treasures and can help amplify you."

"That's all you know?" Ignacio asked, sounding shocked as he looked over toward Benny in disbelief before looking back.

"Been a little busy," Kon defended himself as he looked around the room and the wealth of information that was just out there. With a bit of time he could start going through it and he knew he'd quickly figure out much of what had been kept obscured to him.

"It happens. I guess." Ignacio didn't sound like he believed himself as he said that.

"He doesn't sound condescending at least. Just surprised."

"Armor is two parts. Inner and outer. The inner suit is form fitted, tight, and can be used by itself. It's similar to an EVA suit but more heavily armored. It is combat capable," Ignacio was sure to reassure him before going to the second part of his speech.

"The outer suit is what most people would consider a Knight's armor. It's a power armor suit that can hold you within itself, often giving the appearance of being larger than you really are. As you grow in power and outstrip the suit, that one will have to be replaced. The inner suit will not have the power of the exo suit, but will likely not require replacement unless you really stretch the bounds of power," Ignacio said.

"Personal inner suit, more changeable exo suit. Got it," Kon repeated. Ignacio stared at him for a moment, blinking a few times before continuing on.

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"We will need to know how you are building yourself and your runes, how you fight, and personalize the suit to the fullest of our ability to amplify you."

"You need to know my runes?" Kon asked, a sense of unease entering his voice.

"I am an armorer. Your secrets are sacrosanct to us. And we are protected by every single Order, none would dare intrude upon our spaces," Ignacio said, sounding mildly insulted that Kon would even begin to question his integrity.

"No offense meant, just didn't think we'd be doing something like this," Kon said, shifting uneasily in his chair as he looked over to Benny and Bob. They were leaning over something on Bob's desk, talking quietly to each other, but Kon wasn't fooled. Both of them were watching carefully, their senses far beyond mundane.

"Most Chapterhouses have a limited rune library so designing their armor is fairly simple. Building is different, but a basic design template can be easily manipulated to personalize for any slight differences. You obviously have a different level of access than most and from what I overheard, there will be specific challenges as well to it," Ignacio sounded eager about those challenges.

"Body cultivation," Kon admitted.

"The suits require energy to function. There's a massive strain on the energy in a Knight to power the suit, often supplemented by outside power sources, such as cores." Ignacio paused and looked to the back of the room where the tubes of floating rift treasures were.

"I got that. But body cultivation is basically shoving energy into a person, making them for all intents and purposes a well of power," Kon said, Ignacio nodding along with him.

"Which means that you will, hypothetically, be able to power a suit to the full physical potential. Right now we have to throttle them, keep them from being too powerful otherwise the suits will drain the Knights too quickly. You're ability to double dip though, that'll be able to give us something special," Ignacio said, warming to the idea, energy boiling off of him as he leaned forward.

"I haven't finished my primary rune yet to cap my layer." That gave Ignacio pause, he shot a look to his grandfather who still hadn't moved.

"I feel like I am being tested here," Ignacio finally said, drumming his fingers on the desk. He didn't say it as if he was upset about it, on the contrary the test seemed to bring more life to him.

"I'll have the rune finished in a week and implant done soon enough," Kon said.

"When that's done we can do more accurate measurements, but for now I can begin the physical process needed. Write down which runes you have and their intents along with the body cultivation. I don't know how long it will take us to figure out the proper way to build your armor, but until the main rune is implanted we can't go beyond the early stage work."

Ignacio shoved a holo toward him and Kon grabbed it and quickly started to jot down his notes when Benny didn't move to stop him. Now that Kon started to work, Bob and Benny broke away from their talk to come over to them.

"Bob, this is my apprentice Kon," Benny said, waving at Kon.

"You poor bastard, stuck with this useless reprobate," Bob's rumbling, deep voice was pleasurable to the ear as he stuck his meaty paw out for a handshake that even with his advances in strength, Kon could feel the power that could turn bones to dust in the man's grip.

"Benny's been good for me," Kon defended instantly, a flash of anger going through him. He knew Bob was just joking around but he wasn't going to let the slander go. A flash of satisfaction went through Benny's eyes but he quickly buried it as Bob chortled.

"Bit of fire here, Benny. I like it," Bob pulled his hand back, letting it rest by his side as he looked down and read the holopad upside down with ease.

"Full bruiser. Benny, what are you doing with him?" Bob said.

"Started down the path before I could get to him. He likes to fight up close, got him a nice mace too."

"You? Got someone a mace?" Bob said, bushy eyebrows rising up to bury themselves in his hairline.

"Yes, I got him a mace. The boy insists on fighting close up and he's got the power and strength to do it." Bob waited a respectful moment before bursting out into laughter so hard that tears streamed down his face. Ignacio looked up from his own preliminary work of designing the armor.

"He gets like this," Ignacio said. Kon shrugged as Benny waited long moments for the laughing fit to subside.

"Ohh, that's funny. You should hear him when he gets a few drinks in him. Talking about the brain dead muscleheads who would rather punch things than use their brains," Bob explained.

"He does that without drinking," Kon said, which set Bob off again. The man trembled with joy as he shoved Benny with an elbow.

"Cantankerous with his old age. Now, I have suits to make. Where is the other one, the regular knight," Bob said.

"She found a distraction," Benny said.

"More of a distraction than armor? Must be a strange knight that she's not here salivating over a fresh suit," Bob said, rubbing a hand over his chin and beard.

"She's been running around without armor for a while and has had training that is…unconventional. Have no doubt that she'll be here soon enough and bothering you," Benny said. Kon suppressed his own chuckle at that. Alice's naked greed she'd shown had been enough to ensure she'd be here soon enough.

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