Seed Of Speed

The group of five was lead into a private room by an elder where they began emptying out the contents of their tokens. The group had only been in the Catacombs for a little more than an hour, with a good chunk of time being used to travel to and from the courtyard, yet their returns were impressive. Each person made a small mountain of bones from their stash, all taller than themselves, much to the surprise of the elder, and they only retrieved the bones of the normal skeletons first.

"Excuse me, core disciple, may I have a word?" the elder asked after noticing the emerald placed in the center of Diego's token, marking his rank.

"Of course, elder," Diego replied with a slight bow.

"You are aware of the limit placed on core disciple for using the Catacombs?"

"No, actually, neither of my masters had mentioned anything to me."

"Please forgive what I am about to say then. Sect rules state that core disciples can only earn five thousand pellets in a week's time through the Catacombs. It is clear from what I see so far that your individual totals will breach that amount."

"Oh… Can my team members get the left overs?" Diego asked.

"I can allow it this time, but in the future, the rule will extent to cover them as well since they can easily give your 'true' share."

::Just keep the golem's body. It's value is much greater than your restricted reward::

"I understand elder, and thank you for making an exception this time," Diego said with a more formal bow this time.

Since he had already discussed with his teammates about wanting to keep the golem's body, there was no need to bring it up, especially after getting capped at such a low amount. Diego could not fault the sect as they had already invested a small fortune's worth of pills into him. He only needed pellets to buy spells, skills, and items, so was not in a desperate need for pellets.

After giving Diego the bad news, the elder went about his duty, collecting all of the skeletal remains and pricing them. The total number of complete skeletons managed to break the two-hundred mark, netting everyone seven thousand pellets except for Diego who was stuck at five thousand. He split his remaining amount among the group and, despite the elder mentioning a work around, Diego refused the others offer to repay him later. Just when the elder thought he was done, the oversized remains of the four skeletal knights appeared, armor included.

"Nether-steel?!? How did apprentices reach the Knightly Grounds?!?" the elder asked, shocked.

"We didn't," Stormblade explained. "We moved to a courtyard where we drew most of these rattlers to us then killed them. Before we could collect everything, these knights rose out of their tombs!"

"And you were able to defeat them?"

Rainshower showed him her token that was now marked with a gold band on the outside edge and said, "I am a member of Healing Hall and can use Holy Water spells to bless everyone."

No one bothered to explain further about Diego's spell that made short work of the knights since it was clearly a unique spell and would therefore have rude for them to speak of it.

"Oh, I understand then," the elder said with a nod then began examining the remains. After spending a few minutes checking over each of the knights and the armor pieces, he stored them all away and announced, "The total amount of pellets awarded for these knights and their armor is four thousand four hundred."

"Split it evenly, just like the rest," Stormblade said as he was still officially the leader of the group as the only registered 'attacker' shaman.

"As you request. May I see your tokens again?" the elder asked.

The other four held out their token and the elder waved his black token across theirs, willing the transfer.

"Is there anything else?" the elder asked this time after being surprised before.

The others all looked to Diego since he was carrying the gargoyle statue, but he shook his head and said, "I have my own uses for what I have left."

"As you wish," the elder said with a nod then turned and left the room.

"Hells! What a waste! With that Song-Spell of yours, money never would have been a problem again!" Stormblade complained after the elder left.

"I know, right?!? I finally would have been able to get a Demi-Body Cultivation Manual for our clan," Tovao agreed.

"Just be thankful you're not a shaman like me. Except for freaks like those two, it takes years of practice and countless resources before you can solidify your core and move into the adapt level. With my issues, I still have another five years of building, at my current rate, before I will be ready to ask for a Crest and condense my core," Stormblade added.

"Power cannot be suddenly gained, it is only through continuous effort can we hope to grow," Kang said.

"I don't want power, I want riches! My foundation is solid enough," Stormblade w.h.i.n.ed while the others chuckled.

"Then fight me without your magic."

"Oh, would you look at the time? I have a lesson my master wanted me to attend," Stormblade said quickly, again making the rest laugh.

"Brother… my glaive," Tovao said, sounding more heartbroken than ever before in Diego's, or even Ishu, entire life.

Diego sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder then said, "I'll buy you a new one. I only have about seven thousand pellets, but if the one you want cost more and you can help me pay the difference, I'll pay you back."

"Really?" he asked, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

Diego chuckled and nodded, "Yeah, let me handle something first and we can go over to the Exchange."

"Thanks, brother!" Tovao said, giving Diego a big hug, nearly spinning him around.

Diego's face deadpanned while the others laughed at him. Finally, Tovao released him and Diego immediately thumped him on the head.

"We are grown men and brothers, act like it," Diego said as he straightened his robes.

"Come on, Tovao. I've got an adept friend who is a weaponsmith who can cut us a deal. Brother Brightmelody can catch up with us… after he is done with his 'something'," Stormblade said, teasing Diego with the last part of his sentence.

Although Tovao did not understand what Stormblade was implying, he did understand the offer to get a better deal on his new weapon. His former glaive had been six thousand pellets and had taken months' worth of saving since he had been raiding the Catacombs with a much weaker team that only managed to earn a few hundred pellets after all the expenses while Diego had been in his private training. Between his classes and his mandatory duels within the Gambling Arena, it was hard to build a lot of savings, especially with his hopes of an easy ride gone with the limit on core disciple's earnings.

Stormblade led Tovao out with Kang following behind the other two after a simple goodbye, leaving Diego and Rainshower alone in the room.

"Thank you for helping me hide the fact about the knights," Diego said after a moment of silence.

"It was simpler than revealing it," she replied with a light smile.

"I was wondering if you would like to accompany me into the city? We've been in the sect for over four months and I don't know about you, but I haven't left this whole time. My martial master has given me the rest of the week off and I might as well enjoy it," Diego suggested.

"I have an afternoon rotation in Healing Hall, but I am free tomorrow."

"Then it's date," he said with a smile.

Her face took on a healthy blush with his choice of words, but it was his goal. His sister's message had warned him about trusting the people of this world too much, but Katalina always told him that the lines between this group and that group were easy to blur. Compared to the world he knew, he had yet to see any great injustices, and while that may be due to his limited knowledge of this world, he did not want to keep denying his feelings.

Tovao may not have been 'his' brother, but overtime, Diego considered him just as much his own family as Emily. And Rainshower… He had long ago been enchanted by this red-skinned bombshell through her diligence, patience, and kindness that she had shown during their practices with her father. And now, after her baptism, her beauty had taken on an ethereal quality. There was no more pretending, so he might as well make his move.

"How about we meet at nine by the main gate? We can explore the Veymu, do some shopping in the Great Bazaar, and maybe get lunch at one of the places we pass," Diego offered.

She smiled, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear, and agreed, saying quietly, "I'd like that."