Seed Of Speed

"From this day forth, your Shaman name is Brightmelody," Shadowbolt said with a proud smile.

Grinning, Diego placed his hand over his heart then touched his forehead as he bowed his head and said, "Thank you, Master."

"Come, let us speak somewhere more comfortable," Shadowbolt said then waved her hand.

A black glow enveloped them and, when it dissipated, the pair were now standing within Shadowbolt's study. She walked around her desk and summoned a chair for Diego to sit in from her storage space. She sat down and motioned for him to the same as she opened up a drawer then she pulled out a thick, leather-bound book.

"You'll need to start using a clone to attend classes you as I am assigning you the Intermediate level classes as your spell has demonstrated you already have a good understanding, but you should still take the Fundamentals as the different insights will help. I will still be paying for these classes, but if you wish to take something more specific, you will be required to pay for the class yourself. As I told you before, you are not to take on jobs at Commission Hall and, although you do not have a crafting profession, there is still a very reliable way for you to earn pellets.

"Like your senior-disciple sisters, you may send your clones to class while your true body explores the Catacombs with a team. You can't partner up with Dreamcaller and Dancingflames since they are Adapts, but I'm sure Moonfall would be happy to join you and show you the ropes. Your abilities as a Soul Singer will make very valuable, so you must make sure not to undersell yourself," Shadowbolt said as she wrote out a list from information in her book. She handed him the paper and said, "Here, your new schedule. Also, go to the Konto Tower and make a request for clone tokens; I've marked you for two, but I would not recommend using a clone for any martial classes you may want to take."

"Thank you, Master!" Diego said, taking the letter.

"Your Intermediate classes start tomorrow. After you get your tokens, send a clone to your Fundamentals class and the rest of your time is yours," Shadowbolt said with a polite dismissal.

"Yes, Master! Thank you again!" Diego said as he stood up.

Diego headed out of the room and made his way out of Shadowbolt's tower. Konto Tower was in the very center of the sect and was where all of the core activities of the sect happened. The Great Founder and Lead Grand Master both lived within the top of the tower while the bottom floors were dedicated to all of the administration staff that was needed to keep the sect running. The lower half of the building was manned, almost exclusively by seven red-robed adapts and their army of clones, but there were two elders in blue robes that would break up the sea of red.

Diego walked in and stepped over to what he guessed was a reception desk then asked, "Excuse me, I was sent by my Master to pick up Clone Tokens…"

"Third floor, stairs are down the hall and to the right," the adapt cut in before Diego could finish.

The adapt closed his eyes and Diego felt a strange 'void' of life coming the person. Shaking off the feeling, he followed the directions and made his way to the third floor. He was greeted by an adapt with an identical face as the one he had talked to downstairs, but there was some glaring 'wrongness' to this person that unnerved him.

::Relax, you subconsciously use your {Empathy} ability around people and you can't get a read on them because they are golem-clones. This is a specialize technique that allows a few people to handle tens of clones, carrying out different duties by greatly reducing the mental stress needed to split the mind in so many parts::

(I've been around clones before, Kat.)

::These are different because they are more golem than clone which is messing with your senses::

"Apprentice, I will need your token," the adapt said.

"Right," Diego said, trying to shake off the creepy feeling. He pulled out his jade token and held it out.

The adapt passed a hand over the token and his eyes flashed with an azure light before he took it. "Yes, Shaman Brightmelody, Ishu Telryn. Grand Master Shadowbolt's request has been approved. This way."

(I guess magic is just another form of technology,) Diego asked silently as he followed the adapt.

::While Artificial Intelligence is a good analogy for golem-intelligence, the difference in difficulty is heaven and earth::

(Then technology is another form of magic?)

::Not in your previous world, but yes, a few worlds have pushed technology to the point it can be considered a magic, but again, this is not a field I have many insights into like your bardic abilities::

The adapt lead him through the hallway and into a small workroom. The adapt set the jade token on the table then walked over to the shelves and pulled out two bracelets that he had seen Moonfall wearing before. He sat down at the table and his fingers turned into silver needles then sparks of azure started to fly as he worked on the gemstone in the middle of the two bracelets. When he was done, he scooped up the jade token as well and passed all three items to Diego.

"Once on, the bracelets will stabilize the mana for basic level clones, allowing them to exist without draining your mana, but these can only be used within sect grounds, or the enchantment will not work," the adapt said.

"I understand, thanks," Diego said, putting everything into his pocket.

He left the workshop and made his way out of the tower. Once outside, he casted [Light Clone] and a flash of white light erupted next to him then he was staring at himself. No matter how many times he used cloning spells, there was always something weird about staring at himself, but pushing those thoughts aside, he passed his clone a bracelet. Although the spell did use a minor amount of mana, with the 'Seed' as a power source, he regenerated mana fast enough to negate the loss. Still, the bracelet did its job and would be able to maintain its form without depending on his real body for additional mana as long as it was not injured. He sent his clone off for class with an evil smile on his face as a lifelong dream had finally been realized.

He pulled out his token and sent a message to Tovao: "Hey, what are you up to? I'm out of classes for the day!"

Since Tovao had to pay for his own classes, he would only take a few and take on a job at Commission Hall, so Diego knew he had the chance of catching him between his switch. Sure enough, a few minutes later Tovao reply came in.

"Meet me at Gambling Arena!"

Diego sighed, instantly guessing that his brother had been tricked out of some pellets in a fight. With a shrug, he made his way for the coliseum. As he grew closer to the arena, the more people in crimson he began to see. Typically, he spends his time around other apprentice shamans, so this group gave off an entirely different feel. Bloodthirsty, cruel, vicious, serene, joyful, drunken… Each person radiated their own aura strong enough to match Barru's and Toba's. When he found Tovao standing outside one of the entrances, he was surprised to notice something about him had changed.

"You advanced to the seventh stage?!?" Diego exclaimed.

"Heh, heh, you noticed, did you? I see you are still in the fifth stage. Falling behind?" Tovao grinned.

"Oh? Does 'big brother' need a reminder of just who is stronger?"

"A hundred pellets say I am!"

Diego chuckled as he summoned out his ki'ta, "I really wanted to try this out on someone. Thank you for volunteering!"