TWELVE

Power rippled out through the room, the constant pressure of rift energy in condensed form. It was stronger than when he had stood before any rift treasure before, a constant swell that pressed against him in an intoxicating swirl of power. A giddiness overrode him as he stared over the racks of weapons, most of which he couldn't identify.

"The issue with weapons at the higher tiers is that conventional mass produced weapons don't have the impact to hurt anyone who gets into C-Grade with enough regularity to ensure its success. Still good to have, but for killing cultivators or others who are imbued with rift energy, one needs to fight fire with fire," Bob started with his spiel, puffing up as he walked in front of the weapons.

"These treasure-alloy weapons help with that endeavor. Unfortunately, creating a modern weapon based off this technology is still a ways away. Any type of light or plasma is just out unless you're willing to lug around a small mountain of beast cores to fuel it. Cheapest, easiest, and more importantly, reliable method is ancient." Bob came to a stop and waved a thick hand over the line of dangling swords, each of them different lengths and styles with runes etched down their length.

"Don't let this bastard fill your head with nonsense. A creative amount of your own power with precision weaponry will have you clearing C-Grades reliably," Benny countered as he leaned over a line of knives.

"Not all of us have a your centuries of experience to draw upon," Bob countered with a roll of his eyes.

"Bob doesn't know how old Benny really is." Kon had been curious if the armorer had known with how casual and confident he was around Benny, the closest anyone had come to treating Benny as an equal that Kon had met so far. That Lero Ran and some of the head Inquisitor's trusted comrades knew was a given, but not fat outside of that.

"Kon, over here. I forged this," Ignacio was off to the side, away from the flashy, well built and powerful weapons. In the corner of the room was where the quality fell off. It wasn't that they were poorly made, but the materials were obviously not the same grade as the power levels felt vastly different.

"Grandfather works with C-Grade treasures for the most part, though he has bragged of making a B-Grade shield. I have just graduated to D-Grade and this was the first weapon I built for sale," Ignacio said, pride evident as he pointed to a triangular knife on the pedestal.

Kon leaned over and inspected it, trying not to dampen his new friend's enthusiasm by making a poor remark. If it wasn't for Benny gifting him Conclusion and walking through a master armorer's shop, he'd have been more impressed, but now staring down at the blade he felt rather let down.

It was matte black with a thin channel down the middle of it. A pair of silver runes were etched on the flat of the blade inside of the channel. The handle was made of polished bone, the metal perfectly blending with the blade to form a bubble of a crossguard, melded metal and bone. The butt of the hilt was capped with a chunk of metal that had a single rune etched on it in delicate script.

"Is that silence and absorb?" Kon asked as he stared at the two runes along the blade. The longer he stared at the pommel of the blade, the more he couldn't understand the rune on the butt of the knife. It kept growing more and more harder to understand.

"That's correct. Not the full rune of course. Silence was crafted with the intention of not making noise as the blade is used. It won't create a bubble of silence around you or stop others from making sound, but it won't make a noise as it's used. The absorb will drag bits of energy from those it's used on to strengthen itself, helping keep the blade sharp and keeps it from breaking. That last one is obfuscate and it's set in a piece of raw rift ore. It can be charged slowly over time or have energy poured into it to use the rune," Ignacio said proudly.

"Nowhere near as powerful as Conclusion, but still not bad at all." Kon kept staring at the blade, growing irritated when he couldn't push through the obfuscate rune and clearly decipher.

"How much can it absorb? Would it be able to grow into C-Grade?" Kon asked. Ignacio gave a single bark of laughter, grabbing his mouth and looking horrified that he had made such a faux pas.

"My apologies, that was rude. No, the materials are too limited and the rune work too basic. Grandfather could possibly create something that complex, but I can't. Not yet," Ignacio said.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Don't worry about it. If I got upset everytime someone mocked me for not knowing something, I wouldn't have time to be anything other than upset," Kon said, offering the other boy a rueful smile.

"He's a colonist hick, don't mind his questions," Alice said from where she was hefting a shield that looked to be made of crystal. The light refracted inside of it in a dazzling display that was beautiful to look upon.

"Grab the knife. My treat for my dishonor to you," Ignacio offered, bowing his head and seeming very serious about it. Kon instantly wanted to refuse, that the boy's quick laugh was nothing more than a minor irritation.

"Saying no might be more insulting than taking it. Always can use another knife, though."

"Thank you. And again, I wasn't insulted," Kon said, but he was picking the blade up while Ignacio found a gray leather sheath that looked vaguely reptilian.

"Worry not. Once you have fully invested your rune, I will build you something special and allow you to pay me for the honor of forging it," Ignacio said and there was a quick, fleeting, smile on his face as he said it.

"Why do I feel like I got played?" Kon muttered as he strapped his new knife to his hip.

"Kon, come look at what Benny is buying me!" Alice summoned him and Ignacio followed along as they stared at the muscular woman as she hefted a shield that had to weigh over sixty kilos around like it was feather light.

"That won't shatter the moment someone hits it?" Kon said, not bothering to hide his skepticism.

"Of course it will! But it's alive Kon! Kind of. It's very weird, but there is something alive inside of it."

"You can just use Regrowth on it then?" Kon asked. Benny was leaning back, watching them with the same look on his face as he did when he was testing their knowledge of their false identities.

"Yes. Here, feel it out," Alice said, sliding her arm out of the bracers, offering it to him. Kon grabbed it and nearly stumbled as the weight pulled at him and he quickly reassessed the weight to be closer to eighty kilos.

The weight was solid and he could feel the power of it slapping against him and he had to estimate it was close to the peak of D-Grade. It wasn't the unbearable weight of C-Grade energy or the world drowning B-Grade he'd seen, but it felt uncomfortable against him, a strength that would break him if he dared to draw too much in.

The interior of the shield had a series of nooks carved out, hollows that could hold something the size of a child's fist, but Kon didn't have any idea what it was that could be for. Other than that and the materials used to build the shield, Kon couldn't see anything of note that made the shield special.

"I don't get it," Kon finally admitted.

"That's because you've never seen me truly fight. Resonance, Momentum, Regrowth. I got a bunch of fragments, but those are my three big ones. Most of the time I use Resonance to find people based on our own runes. I can track a Knight down across an entire planet if they're alive and using their runes. Momentum is big, but often used to make yourself move in specific directions at speeds not advisable. Regrowth you've experienced yourself."

"Alright, I got that. So you plan to use the shield to tank attacks, use Regrowth on it and Momentum to throw yourself at opponents?" Kon asked.

"Resonance is key here. When I become comfortable with the shield, understand it, I can resonate with it. The deeper the connection and more power I put into it, the more the shield and I become one." She paused and waited and Kon could feel the challenge in her silence. She might not be his main mentor now, but she still occasionally threw her own challenges at him.

"If the shield is her and she's the shield, then could she use Momentum to propel parts of the shield forward? Regrowth to rebuild it in an instant, but what's the point? It'd just be like a shotgun of crystal shards. Unless I'm missing something about rift treasure weapons then it'd just be a spray of shrapnel. How fast can Momentum get them moving though?"

"You Resonate with the shield, it breaks, you use Momentum to fling pieces at distant enemies while Regrowth rebuilds it," Kon said slowly, trying to read her expression for a hint.

"Not bad. What about the holes on the inside?" Alice said. Kon looked them over again and couldn't make heads or tails of that one.

"Explosives. I can Resonate with more than one thing at a time," Alice said with a horrifying smile.

"That is impressive for someone so young," Benny said, looking mildly impressed.

"You put some type of explosive inside the shield, the protected interior, and then you spray shards of crystal at people and turn the flung crystal into explosive daggers?" Kon asked, raising an eyebrow at her thought process.

"YES!" Alice crowed with a wide smile as she slapped his arm with enough force to numb it.

"There's a few out there that are stable enough. I don't have to worry too much, but by turning the crystal into explosive and fueled by this powerful treasure," Alice said with the same manic smile. Bob started to look a bit worried as he glanced around his shop while Benny just shook his head in exasperation.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.