Seed Of Speed

Tovao, Peyni, and Jastrab were all in a dazed state as Diego finished his song. They only managed to recover when Diego turned around and saw Rainshower flying over to them. She landed gently behind him as she stared at him in amazement.

"What is wrong, senior-apprentice sister?" Diego asked.

"You… you… how did you learn to do that?" she breathed.

Diego gave a nervous chuckled as he scratched the back of his head and replied, "I'm not too sure myself."

"You mean you don't know?" she exclaimed.

Diego shook his head, playing dumb.

"You have the talent of a Soul Singer! Your music can reach the hearts of your listeners, calming them while meditating, re-energizing them in battle, and weakening your foes! There are only records of them in the Konto Sect, my father has just told me about them. When you were playing just now, I managed to raise from the fifth to the sixth stage of the Mortal Body!" Rainshower said excitedly.

"Really? That's amazing! Congratulations," Diego laughed in reply as his fear of being exposed eased.

"No, mine is just a minor matter. Congratulation to you, junior-apprentice brother. As a Soul Singer, the Konto Sect will spare no effort in rising you through the path of cultivation! Who knows, maybe I will have to call you senior-apprentice brother when we go to the sect," Rainshower laughed as well.

"Hey, what's this about you going into the Konto Sect?" Tovao asked.

"I have to. The first Patriarch signed an agreement with the Konto Sect to always provide us a shaman to help us survive the desert, but anyone with mana must join the sect. I'll likely have to remain there for five or ten years before I can return," Diego replied as he had known of this for a long time now.

"But you are the next Patriarch!" he blurted out.

"Exactly, why do you think I was so determined to overthrow Patriarch Krutii's rule? I knew I was going to have to leave and I did not want the clan to fall while I was gone. It was a ridiculous rule in the first place that only served to weaken us!"

Tovao nodded his head as Juni and another five men walked up. Diego placed the ki'ta down where it had been then turned back to the others.

"I'm going to go back and meditate…" Diego said in a slightly dazed voice.

"Ishu?" Peyni asked, reaching out.

"Let him go… he is understanding something," Rainshower spoke out, stopping Peyni from grabbing Diego's shoulder.

Diego could pretend it well enough as Rainshower had several magical breakthroughs after sparring against him. She had never had the chance to truly wield her magic against another person, so when she gained new insights, she would often drift away in the middle of combat to meditate. He wandered back to his tent and sat down on his bedroll, closing his eyes.

(Alright, I'm away from everyone, explain.) Diego said silently in his mind.

::You are a Bard which is quite a rare ability. Much like Rainshower described, you can help boost someone's cultivation rate or their abilities in combat while also being able to cause a negative effect in your enemies, but there is more, of course. Hypnosis, illusions, attacks made of pure sound striking both body and soul… With your natural ability in the Path of the Bard, if you had been given a 'Seed of Soul, Mind, or Heart', you would easily reach the point of transcendence in just a few years::

(So, can you help me with Bard abilities?)

::Unfortunately, only a little bit. My sole focus has always been magic and, although I can provide you with spear techniques, that is because I have recorded another's skill. Bards will only share their techniques through practice and not something they write down. It will be up to you to develop those skills, but I can recorded what you create and I might be able to analyze your magic then help develop ways for you to ingrate more magic into your songs::

(Then did I create a new skill or spell before when I was playing?)

::No, but you did brush upon one of the basic skills: [Soothing Melody]. If you had continued playing, you likely would have::

(Damn, and I gave the guitar back. Well, did I get any type of page for the profession?)

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Profession: Bard (Soul Singer)

{Singing} – Level 1 – 2/10

- Ability to keep vocal tone, later levels improve pitch and vocal range

{Ki'ta} – Level 1 – 3/10

- Skill with the Ki'ta, later levels improve technique

{Harmonizing Technique} – 1/25

- Combining two or more instruments, boosting power of the melody, later levels improve the effect

{Tranquil Heart} – Level 1 – 1/25

- Soothing melody that calms the heart, easing bottlenecks in cultivation, later levels improve the effect

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Diego looked over the window of text as he rubbed his chin. Part of him was tempted to start singing a song and see if he could watch the points increase, but he should be meditating or asleep like most of the camp. He sighed and dismissed the window as he laid back.

::Check your mastery page. Since I can only record your Bard abilities, I gave you something that will help you once you invest those points into it::

(Alright, Mastery page!)

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Unassigned Mastery Points: 70

{Spear-craft} - Level 2 (Advanced) - 16/100

- Proficiency with spear and spear techniques

{Music Memory} – Level 1 – 0/50

- Upon mastery, allows perfect recollection of any known song

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(Damn, did you have to take all of those points right back?) Diego asked with a sigh.

::Well, perfectly singing or playing the song will increase the efficiency of your power and, as long as you've heard the song once, I can pull it out of your memory for you. Lyrics, guitar cords, bass cords, drum lines… you'll know everything. I have to take some power if I'm going to do this for you. It will be of huge help to you unless you can write your own songs::

(Point taken. Fine, the fifty points is all it needs, right?)

::Yes::

(Then go ahead and invest the points. So, is there a way for me to actually play multiple instruments or will I just get a lot of extra information?)

::Many, from telekinesis to enchanted instruments, but what would fit best with your Seed would be [Speed Clones]. It is one of the most important abilities of the holders of a 'Seed of Speed' and one of the strongest cloning abilities as they have the true body's strength, but it limitation is they must all be within a certain range of each other::

(Ha, I can be my own boy band… So, why haven't I gotten this skill yet?)

::Because without a way to hid it, you will only get yourself killed::

(Fair enough, the duels caused enough of a stir and now this… I'm probably only alive because this is such a forsaken place that they don't even have the knowledge needed for me to be exposed.)

::You are still within the range of a lucky encounter, but your foundation is lacking which makes you more of an anomaly. Once you get to this sect, they are bound to have multiple cloning spells which you can use to mask your [Speed Clones] as long as they don't get into direct conflict::

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Mission Acquired!

- Learn five cloning spells of different elements.

- Requirements: Record a minimum of five scrolls about cloning magic and cast each spell.

- Reward: [Speed Clone] skill and 50 skill points

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Diego chuckled as he dismissed the mission alert. (So, these cloning spells versus the [Speed Clone] skill, what are the real differences?)

::For one, cloning spells require mana to keep them going while the speed clones are formed through the power of your Seed which is near limitless to you in your current state. Normal cloning spells are used to confuse enemies or act as foci in more complex spells. They typically can only cast one or two spells before they exhaust their internal mana::

(So, what you are saying is that I can learn some of these spells and use them to hide the speed clone.)

::Not just that, high-class Bards normally use cloning spells to increase the power of their music, but there is a limit to how much power any spell clone. Your speed clones will have the same power as your true body and should be able to multiple the effect many times more than spell clones could::

(So, I just need to figure out how to harness the battle potential of a Bard now.)