Seed Of Speed

Four arrows wrapped in a golden light shot through the dark cave with perfect accuracy, pinning two upir bats against the cave wall by their wings. Their terrible screeches meant they were clearly alive and struggling, but the arrows pinning their wings would occasionally release a burst of electricity, stunning the creatures over and over.

"This isn't even fair at this point," Stormblade grumbled as he walked over to one of the bats.

"Tell me about it… I still don't know when he found the time to improve his archery to this level. Ishu was terrible back in the oasis," Tovao agreed, approaching the other bat.

"I can let them attack you both, if you prefer," Diego said as he knocked another two arrows.

They both plunged a specially created dagger into the bats that would drain and store their blood within a storage pocket built into the hilt of the daggers. Once the bats were dead, if they were lucky, they both would harvest the shadow cores from the beasts' heads and add them to the ever-growing collection then repeat the process all over again, but not every bat had a core.

It had been over a year since Diego, Rainshower, and Tovao had joined the sect and all three had had their personal strength soar because of it. Although Tovao was not as important to the sect as Diego, Diego always made sure to help his brother whenever he could. By now, even Tovao had stepped into the Demi-Body cultivation stage, using the sect's {Molten Star Core} manual, not the strongest, but the resources to advance it were manageable, and a copy had already been given their clan due to Diego's gift of his own manual to the sect.

Tovao had finally been able to catch back up to Diego's cultivation since Diego had been stuck at the Second Stage of the Demi-Body because of the sheer volume of crystals and cores he needed. Since the elemental gems supplied to him by the sect were inferior quality than what he could create, he had to purchase the raw crystals harvested, just like those his clan had mined before.

A grade-one elemental gem, created by the sect, would require ten lower-grade crystals, at least ten centimeters long, to combine into one gem. While Diego used the same number, Katalina's method prevented too much of the raw mana from escaping in the process. Grade-one gems were not a big deal if he used the sect's, but from grade-two and up, the differences were apparent. Not only would Diego's gem be larger, but the purity of the gem would still be transparent while the sect's gem would slowly grow cloudier with the higher grade they made the gem.

Just to step into the Second Stage, Diego had needed nine hundred low-grade Thunder crystals, five hundred low-grade Fire crystals, and forty shadow-beast cores which was an increase of ten times the amount he had needed to enter the First Stage. To advance to the Third Stage, the requirements again multiplied by ten. While the sect could help him procure the low-grade crystals, collecting the four hundred shadow-beast cores was left to his own methods which was why he was in the Black Cave, hunting upir bats with his two closest friends as he did once a week, every week.

When he wasn't hunting or relaxing with Rainshower, he would be training with his master, Swordflash, or some of the other Core Disciples. Hawkeye had proven to be a good teacher when Diego had approached him about archery. Before, the bats had been a nightmare, ambushing them when they could then escape through the honeycomb of branching tunnels, but thanks to his arrows, bat hunting had become more of a chore than a challenge for the trio.

Diego's strength had finally been recognized by all the sect's masters and elders which had given him a fair amount of freedom with the walls. Although he still did not spend much time in the Gambling Arena, his name was still well-known by the disciples because of his bi-monthly concerts which was slowly increasing the sect's strength as a whole. The ten masters were already making their way through the desert villages, and while no other Soul-Singers had been found as of yet, no one was concerned that it was a waste of time.

"Catch Ishu," Tovao said as he tossed him a blackish-purple crystal that was the size of a palm.

The [Speed Clone] with an empty hand taught the core and tucked it away into his storage space within his token. Although he had gathered over three hundred cores, Diego wasn't in a rush to advance his cultivation anymore. Due to the tyrannical nature of his cultivation method, he could easily match those on at Third Stage of the Demi-Body without relying on the unique power granted to him by the black hell flames and golden heavenly lightning. Once he did use that power, even Swordflash would have to take him seriously with Diego's constantly growing mastery of his spear-craft, but aside from that, he had learned another mastery do to his preferred, unique method of combat.

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Unassigned Mastery Points: 38

{Spear-craft} - Level 4 (Flying Spear-Intent) - 493/10000

- Proficiency with spear and spear techniques

{Music Memory} – Level Maxed

- Upon mastery, allows perfect recollection of any known song

{Essence of Speed} – Level 2 – 29/10000

- Proficiency harnessing the power of the Seed of Speed, increasing host's overall speed

{Cloning Tactics} - Level 3 1277/5000

- Proficiency with cloning spells and combat related to multiple bodies, reducing the strain on both body and mind

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Although his [Speed Clones] would benefit from {Cloning Tactics}, it was Diego's constant use of magical clones that finally gave him this mastery. He did not notice much of a difference when he first unlocked it, but after dropping all of his Mastery Points that he earned through the Hidden Quest to level it up to level two, he finally noticed the change, at least for his mana usage.

A {Thunder Clone}, which was his strongest magic clone due to his affinities, would normally cost fifty units of mana, but after advancing {Cloning Tactics} to level two, it now only costed forty-eight. Although the one percent difference was not much, Katalina had informed him that the mastery could be raised to the seventh level which would grant him a thirty-two percent reduction of cost. It may not seem like mush still, but when you counted it over ten or a hundred clones, the savings became ridiculous. While he still could not feel the benefit to his mind, Katalina assured him repeatedly that managing all of his clones would become easier and easier as he put points into the mastery.

"Come on, we've gathered enough for today. Let's get back while there is still some daylight outside this place," Diego said after collecting twelves cores.

"Day light, my a.s.s, you just want to get back for when Rainshower is done at Healing Hall," Tovao snickered.

"And? Just because I'm not as hopelessly lonely as you two means I should suffer as well," Diego laughed.

"Remember the days when Brother Brightmelody would spend his time with us, his brothers, before he fell into the clutches of the fairer s.e.x?" Stormblade said with an exaggerated sigh.

"Bros before hoes, is a much better way to say that, baldy… and besides, I've known Rainshower longer than you," Diego laughed.

"'Bros before hoes', huh?" Stormblade pondered as he rubbed his chin.

"You call Rainshower a whore though, I'll break your little brother," Diego warned, pointing his spear at Stormblade's waist.

Stormblade dramatically covered his lower half while Tovao was laughing so hard tears had formed in his eyes. The trio made their way back to the world outside of the Catacombs where Rainshower was already waiting for them. Obviously, she was there for Diego, but she considered Tovao and Stormblade to be her friends as well, so the four chatted for a bit until the couple split off.

Diego and Rainshower had gotten to the point where they would spend most of their time off together which also meant Jalu would be sitting on his head. By now, the small white fox had grown its third tail which gave it power over Thunder, no doubt because of Diego's influence and his constant supply of high quality Thunder-gems. When her third tail appeared, it caused a small stir amongst the elders and masters because the believed snow fox was, in fact, a seven-tailed elemental fox.

Of course, Diego already knew that, but it sent waves through the sect's leadership because, upon reaching a.d.u.l.thood, Jalu would have the strength to fight a seven-point Magic Crest holder. This was the same as having another Grand Master in the sect, so the sect took it upon themselves to help rear the little fox properly.

After leaving the building where the Void Passage to the Catacombs was held, Diego took Rainshower out to an empty section of beach where they could eat dinner together, as usual. Jalu would sometimes take the chance to run around, and if she was lucky, she could chase a few crabs or other critters along the shore.

The couple sat on a blanket and watched the light reflecting in the water as the sun set. Diego had his arm wrapped around her waist while she rested her head on his shoulder with a contented smile on her face.

"It's times like these I wish would never end," Rainshower said softly.

Diego pulled her a little closer as he replied, "Me too."