Seed Of Speed

With his impressive introduction and the reveal of his Soul Singer abilities, Diego and Moonfall had their pick of all the groups present within the common room. Since he was still new and did not know a lot of people, he let Moonfall pick their group which ended up being led by a bright, orange-skinned apprentice that completely lacked hair… but he had no idea if that was by choice or birth.

Stormblade was actually a legend among the apprentices as his personal strength could rival most adapts, but his poor mana reserves kept him regulated to the apprentice level because he could not cast a spell with more than three rings in its Sigil. Despite his weakness, he continuously pushed his custom-crafted spells to the extreme and combined them with his chi techniques, earning him the recognition of the entire sect's apprentices as the strongest. What impressed Diego and raised his opinion of Stormblade greatly was when he gave the other mage with their group a parting gift of a thousand pellets for having to break their prior deal, showing far more magnanimity than Magmafist had.

The two martial apprentices also in their group were known as Kibal and Korto, the Hammer and Flail Brothers. They had only been members of the sect for a year, but the two brothers immaculate teamwork created a reputation within the Catacombs. No matter how surrounded their team got, they were known to be able to break out of any encirclement.

"Brightmelody, my friend, may I ask what abilities you have with your Soul Singer powers?" Stormblade asked with a relaxed smile.

"On the combat side, my strongest skill is my custom spell, {Bright Melody of the Hero}. It isolates enemies through illusions and blasts them with fierce winds while boosting my allies' energy regeneration, but it takes a lot of my mana to use it, so I should only use it in an emergency situation. Otherwise, I have a few songs that can boost our regeneration and even slowly heal minor wounds, but both rely on increasing the person's natural recovery rate. I've got a few more, but I doubt they would be as helpful at this point in their development," Diego replied honestly.

Stormblade's and the martial brothers' eyes lit up when Diego said he could help regenerate their expanded energy, even Moonfall's eyes went wide in surprise as she had only felt the effects of his {Tranquil Heart} songs. Normally, most students would have to rely on their personal reserves which was constantly drained by the nature of the miasma that existed throughout the pocket world. The stronger ones, like the three, would use pills to help negate some of the effects, but they would be forced to limit their usage, or they could easily bankrupt themselves.

Stormblade laughed after a moment and placed a hand on Diego's shoulder as he said, "Brother Brightmelody, whenever you want to come to the Catacombs, just give me a call and I will make us a group."

Diego chuckled at the sudden elevation to 'brother', but he realized this could be a chance to help his brother as well and asked, "If I wanted to bring my brother, who is a martial apprentice, would that be alright?"

"I wouldn't care if you brought a healer who can't fight at all with us as long as you are serious about helping regenerate energy. That is the biggest problem in the Catacombs, not the undead."

"I'm not quite sure on how much it helps, but my senior-apprentice sister in my clan was able to maintain her domain spell for three times the amount of time that it would normally last," Diego said confidently. "I may have to trouble Brother Stormblade to travel with her as well if she does not the means to earn her own pellets."

"Although domains are unique from person to person, that much of a boost should cancel out the effects of the miasma and still benefit us," Moonfall added.

Stormblade laughed again, louder this time, and said, "I hope you have plenty of room within your storage space, we are going to be earning a lot today!"

Stormblade nodded to the brothers and weapons appeared in all three of their hands. Stormblade carried a silver longsword that was covered in a black sheath decorated with dark gray clouds and a bolt of violet lightning running down the entire sleeve. Kibal hand a pair of small, black-metal hammers that came to a rough point on one side and Korto was holding a greenish, bronze ball that was the size of a melon in his hand while a black chain danged below with only a small handle at the end. Moonfall also used the moment to summon her own weapon out of her storage space, a blue-wood, gem-topped staff that was taller than herself. Although it did not look like it could be used in a fight with how thin it was, it radiated freezing energy.

Seeing everyone else with their own weapons, Diego could only look down at his own simple ki'ta and shrug. He was not expected to fight and, with this being his first trip inside the Catacombs, he decided that he would just enjoy the exploration.

"Let's move," Stormblade said in a serious tone, switching from his light-hearted personality to match the cold blade that now hung at his side.

The group of five made their way over to one of the teleportation gates next to the elders. Stormblade pulled out a solid white jade token and showed it to the elder watching by the gate, who simply nodded before blankly staring ahead again. He was the first to cross into azure mist and was swallowed by it with just three steps. The two brothers followed in next and Moonfall stopped after she took a step in to look back at Diego.

"Come on, junior-disciple brother!" Moonfall said with a big smile on her face.

Diego nodded and followed after her. The azure mist was surprisingly warm as he walked through it and, by his third step, all he could see was a familiar azure void that reminded him of his mental plane. Although he tried to stop and look around, it was as if he no longer had control of his body as his legs kept moving him forward.

As the azure mist began to dissipate, Diego found himself walking into something that looked like a horror movie. Walls towering ten meters in the air surrounded them made from yellowed-white stone with a row of skull the same color at every meter mark. The night sky was open overhead, but there was not a single star to be seen, only a pale-gold full moon that lit up the world around them was the only proof that it was, in fact, sky above them. A dark purple, nearly black fog poured into the open space they found themselves in, and it was only the azure mist that kept the fog from engulfing their area.

::Ah, this is a qabriston. A realm of death where bodies are deposed of to be reborn through the power of a Lich King. They are quite common, sadly, as the poor souls trapped within are forever bound to the vile magic, never to be free again::

(It's dangerous then?)

::Well, of course there are some dangers, or your sect would not use this as a proving ground, but there is no more inherent danger to you than anyone else within your group. The undead creatures will hunt you, and your team, down by sensing the life you contain, so no visual illusion will work against them without learning how to incorporate vitality into your magic::

(Alright, that limits my spell, but the other parts will work right?)

::Of course::

"There is not much difference between the four paths, so you guys pick," Stormblade offered.

"Go ahead, junior-disciple brother," Moonfall added.

Diego shrugged and pointed to the path ahead of them. As soon as they left the zone of azure mist, everyone began to feel the drain from the miasma, so as they walked, Diego began to strum his guitar as he played Rob Zombie's "Dragula".

"Dead I am the one, exterminating son

Slipping through the trees, strangling the breeze

Dead I am the sky, watching angels cry

While they slowly turn, conquering the worm

Dig through the ditches

And burn through the witches

I slam in the back of my

Dragula!

Dig through the ditches

And burn through the witches

I slam in the back of my

Dragula!..."