THIRTY-TWO
“Benny told on you,” Alice whispered as they stood next to the Puca, waiting as the rest of their new cadets finished stripping and cleaning their gear. She had healed them of their various wounds and Benny had brought out canteens of water and that gelatinous protein cube that had been met with a mix of revulsion and horror. After they had calmed down and recovered from their healing they’d all eaten it though.
“He followed me?” Kon asked, not really surprised that the old man had kept an eye on him.
“Of course he did. This is your first command and you just finished implanting your first full rune. You sitting on the sidelines all day wasn’t going to happen. Surprised you had that much discipline actually. I was using mine the moment it finished settling,” Alice said as she sipped from a canteen.
“My rune is a bit more destructive than yours,” Kon countered, which got him a snort from Alice that turned into a cough and muttered curses as water went through her nose.
“Damnit, that’s funny,” Alice said as she turned and spat the leftover water to the ground.
“What?” Kon asked, actually perplexed. She had a rune of Regrowth while his rune crushed things. He’d nearly collapsed that rift on his own head with ease.
“You’ve seen the finalized version of my rune, where I’ve honed my intent for years. The first time I used Regrowth though? Kon, everything that wasn’t non-organic began to grow. Desks became a copse of trees, fabric shirts began to sprout, hair and nails exploded in length. The amount of bacteria in a ship’s air ducts that gets sterilized that got a shot of life? Nearly poisoned half the ship,” Alice said, laughing as she wiped at her eye, a single tear there.
“Alright, that’s pretty bad. I could have crushed a section of the Oasis and vented it to space if I didn’t have control. Little different,” Kon said, a tad defensively. Alice shrugged.
“Dead is dead, kid. Doesn’t matter if it's a bacterial infection that bloomed in the ship's nutrition tubes or if you vented the ship by accidentally condensing a few pieces of plate armor,” Alice said.
“You’re not wrong about that,” Kon admitted.
“Benny said you had a good showing. Ripped out a monster core from its beating heart, which I will admit, haven’t done that before,” Alice said. There was something in her voice that made Kon think that statement wouldn’t be true for long.
“Beto got a bit rebellious and I needed something to show that I can be in charge. I’m not you, I don’t have the experience or the age, nor am I Benny, who’s…” Kon trailed off as Alice nodded along before a frown creased her face.
“What do you mean age? I’m hardly older than you!” Alice hit him with her elbow and Kon thought something might have snapped, at the very least bent.
“You know what I mean,” Kon snarled back at her, though there was no real heat in his voice. There was no way he was going to say what he really thought of her, of the way he held her in esteem for the sacrifices she’d made or the way she had stood firm even when death came calling to protect him. He’d just call her old and she’d understand.
“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Alice grumbled, but Regrowth made a brief appearance and the pain in his ribs disappeared in an instant.
“I felt like a fraud. I didn’t have the merit or experience to lead them. Mathis is for sure older than me and a couple of the others are too. Why should they follow me? At least, that’s what I asked myself,” Kon explained to her. Both of them had kept their voices down, not allowing the cadets to hear them.
“So you ripped a monster’s beating heart out to show them you’re a badass?” Alice said, raising an eyebrow at him.
“I showed them that I’m strong. That our methodology has worked and if they follow my footsteps they can be strong too. I even cast a basic formula without suffering any type of backlash,” Kon said.
“That magic shit is tricky. Would like to fight Alexandros in the ring again with my full gear. Issue is if I did hit him, I don’t think he’d be getting back up,” Alice said. Her loss to the mage lord was the only time Kon could think of something stopping her long enough to constitute a win.
“What he was doing was far beyond me. I just used a pair of runes to create a flamethrower. Made a good impression,” Kon said with a one shoulder shrug.
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“Feats like that are a good way to get people’s attention. But leadership is more than just being the strongest. In fields like ours you need the respect of course, but you must show that you are worth following besides the strength of arms. Show them you care but that you can also accomplish the mission. And get them paid,” Alice threw the last part in after a second.
“Is that what really matters?” Kon asked.
“Yes. You’re currently being driven by moral reasons, which I understand. These cadets don’t give two shits about the Ulmna. To get them to risk life and limb you need to show that you can either increase their personal strength and growth, which we’re about to start, or you fill their pockets with loot.”
“Sounds mercenary when you say it like that,” Kon said, mouth twisting a bit in distaste.
“Not all of us have adoptive ancients loaded with so much money their bank account just says “yes” instead of showing numbers. Money keeps them fed, armored, and in wine and partners. Or if they have less carnal pursuits, books, research, art, or whatever their vice is. That kid Ignacio is already staring at that anchor you dragged out. You promise him a constant supply of anchors for him to work on and you’ll have a lifelong armorer by your side,” Alice explained.
“And the others?” Kon asked. Ignacio was easy enough to figure out that even he’d managed to find the young man’s driving desire.
“The former dragons have divided loyalty, but we know that. They could be looking to get back to the dragon, or they might actually stay with us. Hard to tell, but without our actual knowledge and contracts, they’ll be behind the curve. The moment we bust out the real secrets we’ll lock them into so many binding contracts they can’t sneeze without violating something. The mages are hard. Alexandra worships her ancestor and is looking to get closer to him. Beto and Loras are at the end of the road. Their master has put them here and they can’t back out without losing everything. Finding a way to motivate them beyond fear will be work for you to do,” Alice summarized and Kon blinked at her owlishly.
“I sometimes forget you were a commander,” Kon admitted.
“Are you subtly trying to say you think I’m dumb?” Alice teased. Kon flushed and shook his head as she laughed at him.
“No, it’s just that when I think about you I think of you as a warrior first. That was our dynamic. But you were a leader with Titan’s Resolve and you’ll be a leader again here,” Kon said. Alice shrugged, her muscular shoulders nearly reaching her ears with the motion.
“I can do both, but I prefer small teams. I’ve been trying to find Leo and the rest of my squad, but the paperwork is a nightmare. Lero Ran has sent me a few messages and we think we know where they took a contract. They went into business themselves, sold all their earnings to buy out their contracts and bought a piece of shit freighter to run around in. Last anyone saw them was three months ago,” Alice said.
“I’m sure they’ll pop up. What runes are we looking to get them started on?” Kon asked, changing the subject as the group of cadets finished eating and started getting restless.
“Think push the same way you did. Couple of support runes to help them process energy, but the rest to fortify their bodies. If they’ll be able to use mage work then they don’t need self-defense runes in the long run. A sturdier body is always welcome,” Alice said.
“I can still feel those first runes working. Constantly repairing muscle or repairing my bones. Which feels very weird seeing as I have a metallic treasure that molded to them,” Kon told her.
“We’re going to need to re-unite with the cultivators before we try to figure out different body cultivation paths. That and gather resources to do it. No need to strain Benny’s resources when the kids need blooding anyways. Spend a few days here and we’ll collect up the E-grade anchors and whatever we can find while they gather cores and implant fragments.”
“There’s something nice about being out here. Simpler,” Kon said and Alice laughed at him.
“Apreciate it while you can. It’s only going to get more complex. Have you thought about your next network?” Alice seemed to be interested and Kon waggled a hand.
“Thinking about doubling down on the energy gathering and processing with body reinforcement. Still don’t know if I can go through the next set of body cultivation methods, but trying to strengthen myself can’t hurt,” Kon said. He’d been thinking on it for a while, trying to see what he should do now that he found himself at an impasse.
“Let your rune settle and we can always consult with the Alchemist about it. We really need to find a better elder though, all the blob knows how to do is make the potions, not how they work.”
“Don’t go and call it a blob. They’re the only thing that is making this all possible,” Kon said. Without the Alchemist they’d be stuck with basic body purification rituals or the crude methods of alchemy that the Hthior clan had access to.
“Alright, I won’t call it a blob if you go and give the instruction on how to properly channel monster cores to build up a processing node,” Alice said.
“I see what you’re doing and thank you,” Kon said as he walked over to the group of cadets as they all started to stretch out and relax. Each of them had managed to accumulate a decent sized pile of F-grade cores around them, hardly more than bloody specks of energy.
With a thought he could reach out and drain them all and hardly feel a shift in his reserves now. He could still remember the rush of power when he’d first gathered energy like that a year ago.
“Alright, gather around. You’ll be building out your first rune fragment today,” Kon began as every eye turned and locked on to him.