Forty-Three

"That's a whole lot of people," Kon said as they walked off the ship. Him and Diur were side by side, looking over the packed crowds in the large spaceport, thousands of beings shouting in native tongues, overlapping in a way that confused his translator. He caught snatches of conversations as they walked by, but nothing that stuck with him as they stepped off the Puca. Benny grunted behind them, prodding them to move faster.

He'd abandoned his normal suit of armor to adopt a weathered breastplate, changed the shape of his face slightly and dyed his hair a pearlescent white that nearly shone. Kon didn't think he looked that different than he normally did, but Benny insisted it was more than enough. Instead of his normal assortment of weapons, the old man just carried a polearm over his shoulder, twisting this way and that, not minding the sharp blade that threatened to cut people if they didn't move fast enough.

Diur had kept her blade on her hip, but she'd secreted a few other weapons on her person in her voluminous robes. Kon had decided on a simple chest protector that was good at diffusing energy weapons, his mace on one hip, and a pair of armored gauntlets on the other.

He got a few looks at the gauntlets as he walked, but he ignored them as they pushed through the crowds. The spaceport was a series of wide courtyards, large enough to comfortably hold a single ship. Control had managed to squeeze two to three ships into each landing pad, overcrowding the area. Aside from the locking mechanisms on the ships themselves there was no security infrastructure to prevent theft of vandalism.

Looking over the lines of the lounging around rough looking characters, Kon decided they had gone the old school way of protecting their ships. He was proven right just moments later when a trio of aliens sauntered toward them. They wore loose robes like Diur's, but were walking arsenals of weapons as they planted themselves in front of them.

"Hey, friend," the leader said, his voice a deep growl. Kon quickly went through the extensive databases that Benny made him memorize of different species and quickly identified them. Their leader was a green scaled Salamun, about five and a half feet in height, two arms, two legs, and a thick tail that was able to regrow. The two behind him were Teno, the same species that had acted as mercenary guards for Diur's family. Their crimson skin with black tattooing and thick brows gave them a barbaric appearance that was reinforced by the dozens of weapons between the two of them.

"What's the scam?" Benny asked, his voice low and whispery, malice apparent enough that all three of the thugs stiffened and looked him over. The Salamun straighted as his claws flexed by the holstered pistol shoved into his waist band. It took a moment as he stared at them, long teeth showing from lipless mouth before hissing softly.

"An E-Grade core a day to watch the ship. Make sure nothing untoward happens to it," the Salamun finally said. Benny laughed and the tension between them thickened. Kon let his hand drift closer to the handle of his mace.

"Before we even get to the actual tournament grounds."

"Two peak F-Grades and if there's a scratch on her, I remove the offenders limb and yours," Benny countered. The Salamun tensed for a moment and then they broke into a quick barter that saw them paying two peak F-Grade and one mid F-Grade a day to watch the ship. They finished their haggling and Benny pulled three cores out of a bag on his hip, but Kon had a feeling that the bag was empty, the old man using his space rune to pull from the secured safe on the Puca.

The trio of thugs broke away, several other lounging Teno rising from the walls of the courtyard to come and flop down around the front of the Puca. Benny gently pushed them and Kon took the lead, using his larger body to break through the crowds of robe wearing cultivators that flocked around the landing zone.

Leaving the courtyard he was immediately accosted by a thousand smells and even more chaos. Stalls rose up all around them, fires burning as monsters were roasted over flames, weapon merchants hawked their wares while large guards stood ominously behind them. Clothes, technology, monster cores, rift treasures, natural treasures, arrays, all of it and more being sold by a thousand screaming aliens as they fought and bartered in equal measure.

"It's mostly trash down here. We'll find better once we get toward the more regulated areas," Benny whispered. Kon was busy staring at a giant beast and the thick slabs of meat that was being carved off of it, frying fast on a hot skillet with a dozen herbs and spices sprinkled on it.

"That can't be sanitary. Still want to eat it though." He hadn't eaten monster flesh since Crucible, most of his meals coming from Benny's protein dense cubes.

"Boyo, I can hear your stomach rumbling," Benny said with a snort.

"Not me," Kon said. He was salivating but his stomach wasn't rumbling. Both of them turned to look at Diur who stared straight faced ahead, not making any indication that it was her.

"Grab a bowl for all of us," Benny said, sliding an F-Grade core into his hand. Kon resisted the temptation of draining the orb. He'd slowly burned through the excess energy in his body that fueled his runes, leaving only his body filled with strength. Benny had insisted it would be easier for him to blend in if he wasn't projecting the strength of a peak E-Grade cultivator.

Kon pushed through the crowd to arrive next to the large steak the four armed, gray alien was busy chopping into pieces. Beady eyes looked at him and a wide mouth grinned showing dull, wide teeth.

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"Three please," Kon said, not knowing exactly what it was the alien was making, just that it smelled delicious.

"Two F-Grades," the creature rumbled back. Kon licked his lips and felt the single orb he had and remembered the bartering that Benny had just done.

"One mid F-Grade," Kon countered.

"Done." The alien smiled wider and reached below his station, fires leaping suddenly as the smell of searing meat filled the air. A third arm grabbed a trio of eggs the size of Kon's fists. Each of them were slate gray with black speckling on them. With a crack, all three eggs broke, golden yolks sliding out to land amongst the chopped meat.

His final arm grabbed a clay bowl from a stack next to his cooking area, dunking the bowl into a tall pot and emerging with a red grain in it, aromatic steam rising from the bowl as he set the bowl down next to the meat and egg combo and quickly repeating his actions three times. Meat and eggs were piled on top with a white sauce drizzled over the top of it, threw spoons into the bowl then the alien held a hand out for payment. The entire process had taken only a moment.

Kon paid him and quickly balanced all three bowls as he walked back to Benny and Diur. He passed the bowls out and tried to hold back the moan of pleasure as he ate the food. As soon as he took a bite the spike of energy in body was quickly burned away by his processing runes and Kon bit back a curse as he tried to manage the sudden surge of energy while still eating.

The beast was tasty but weak and within a moment he'd suppressed the energy, letting it slowly be absorbed by his body rather than fueling his runes. That trick had been the culmination of weeks of practice, managing to draw energy from his body to his runes had been easy enough, but doing it in reverse had been a bit more of a challenge.

"Good work. Don't think anyone noticed," Benny complimented him as he ate slowly. They kept pushing through the bazaar, only stopping on occasion to look at something special. One of the vendors was selling monsters, small and mewling but Kon could already feel the energy stirring inside of them.

"Is it common to have monsters as pets?" Kon asked as they walked away.

"Yes. Not directly from the rift, those are too aggressive, but after a few generations of breeding they can be tamed enough to act as guard animals. Some sects take it further, breeding and taming the monsters until they can become true sect guardians," Diur supplied, coming up from her bowl to quickly brief him before diving back in.

"She can say that protein cube is good enough, but she's a damned liar." Kon kept that to himself as he ate.

"Let's get out of here. Pickings are slimmer than normal," Benny said and Kon had to bite back a pang of disappointment. It might seem small and petty to the ancient warrior, but to Kon, this was the biggest most metropolitan thing he'd ever witnessed. He kept it to himself as they left the bazaar.

Free of the constraints of the bazaar the world opened up, the claustrophobic feel of the dozens of tents and awnings giving way to the wide open blue sky. Buildings had been erected, but they were poorly worked wooden creations, not meant to survive more than a few years at best. In the distance a six story stone building rose up, dominating the horizon and the sprawling quasi-city around it. Cheers could be heard even from a few kilometers away, loud screams and cheers mingling with equal measure.

"Guess that's the tournament grounds," Kon said.

"That is for the main events. There's more underground, a series of natural caverns that run under this entire area. More secure, but lacking in easy escape methods. That's where the more established markets will be and the lower level tournament fights," Benny said.

"Thought you hadn't been here before?" Kon asked.

"Scanned the planet as we were arriving. They have some defensive measures up, but not enough to block the Puca's sensors," Benny explained.

"It is a common enough strategy. Hide and secure your goods beneath ground with some dedicated guards while having the upper echelon be topside. If someone manages to steal they have to somehow get out of the caverns then face the rest of the sect waiting for them," Diur said.

"So we need to find a way to head down?" Kon asked.

"Down below we'll find the merchant arms of these ingrates. That's where the bookies will be. Diur you have your list of ingredients?" Benny asked as they walked through wide lanes. There had been a basic grid structure to the sprawling makeshift city, leaving long wide lanes to walk through. Cultivators strolled around without a care in the world, the rough groups that had dominated the spaceport and around the bazaar disappearing.

Swords, spears, axes, halberds, and other more esoteric weapons replaced the laser and ballistic weaponry that had been more common just a few hundred meters back. It was like walking back in time, an ancient holo drama for all intents and purposes.

"Is this standard?" Kon asked.

"Basically. More dust and dirt here than when you go to more established areas. General populace if fairly weak, only one to two people of not that I can feel so far. Make that one," Benny said with a shake of his head.

"What is the peak here?" Diur asked, finally asking her own question.

"There's a weak B-Grade here. We'll try to stay under their gaze," Benny said. They crossed back and forth across the city, always heading toward the stone coliseum that the city was centered around.

"There," Diur said, spotting a small building with an open roof. Looking directly at it Kon saw the stairs that led downward into the caverns that Benny had spotted. Kon was glad that they were leaving the upper grounds, which were fairly boring. Aside from the walking around cultivators, there was nothing of interest. All the buildings were closely uniform in size and shape with almost no effort given to the grounds around them.

The staircase was wide, allowing three to four people to walk side by side, the wood still green and not cured. Fresh resin scented the air as they headed down, the heat of the surface fading away quickly as light vanished. As soon as the natural light of the star had been defeated in its entirety, glass lanterns appeared with bright blue light that gave the entire underground structure an eerie look.

Sounds started to reach them, violent, lustful, drunken cries of excitement. Metal striking metal and a roar of a crowd, the scents of fresh cut wood and damp earth replaced by the odor of too many people crammed in too tight a space.

"You ready to fight, boyo?" Benny asked as they left the stairwell and entered the first cavern. The ceiling was cloaked in shadows, columns of rock rising up to break up the space as small pits had been dug, hundreds crowding around them, shouting encouragement and jeering in equal measure.

"Yeah, I think I can handle it," Kon said, a smile starting to spread across his face as excitement burned his heart.

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