The Group was gathered outside, now equipped in their adventuring gear. Green was even fully awake and prepared to go. Gareth glanced around and seeing that everyone was prepared to leave headed off towards the city outskirts.
It was still quite early in the morning and the streets were relatively sparse on people. You could always see at least one that wasn't part of your group, but the street wasn't full of people like it was when Kat was first taken to Gareth's house.
As they approached the edge of town their destination became clearer. Gareth had angled the party slightly towards a rather large building that sprawled out even further than his estate in the city. It looked like some sort of cross between warehouse and barn. The building did have walls, but they were closer to support pillars for the roof. Behind the building you could make out a fence, that seemed to stretch endlessly behind it, presumably where animals could be kept when not in the barn itself, but none could be seen at the moment.
When the party had come within 50m of the building Gareth yelled out, his voice booming and presumably amplified by some magic, "Is the stablemaster in!"
"Of course I am brat" another voice returned.
Walking towards them was a figure wrapped in thick leather garments that looked unsuited for combat, but well suited for working with heavy machinery. Their face was covered by cloth wrapping leaving only a set of eyes peaking out. Their boots came up to around their knees and they had their pants tucked into them. The only strange thing about their attire was that they had no hat. Their hair was very thick and seemed to by tied back tight leaving the impression they were wearing a bandanna.
It wasn't until the figure started getting closer that Kat realised they were actually quite short, extremely so in fact. Whoever this stablemaster was size was not one of the graces that had obtained.
"So brat, I take it you want to head to the tournament grounds?" said a voice, that to Kat's surprise sounded quite feminine. The shouting had obfuscated this at first but chances were the stablemaster was a woman.
"Of course we don't want to be late after all" said Gareth and the lady nodded.
"Hi Granny" said Green in an innocent voice. The figure stumbled a bit like they'd been punched in the stomach.
"Now Greeny, I think I've told you I ain't that old" said Granny(?)
"But, your nice and sweet, and an old lady?" said Green oblivious to the distress she was causing.
Granny(?) searched Green's face for any trace of mockery and found none. This information though came with mixed feelings, should she be happy Green wasn't trying to be rude? Or sad that she genuinely believed what she was saying.
Sighing Granny(?) sent out a series of complicated whistles that only Green and Kat seemed to be able to hear. After a brief silence five horses came trotting out of the building towards the group. These five all looked identical, with sleek brown coats and steady gaits. Each horse walked past, nodded slightly to Granny(?) and took its place beside one of the group members.
Everyone immediately jumped up into the saddle with perfect riding posture and got ready to leave… except Kat, who had never even seen a real horse before let alone knew how to ride them. Glancing around nervously Kat said "You know, I can just fly behind you guys, I don't need a horse" *It's more like I can't ride a horse but what's the difference really.*
"Are you fast enough to keep pace?" asked Nixilei
"Of course she wouldn't be, I bet she just can't ride" sneered Kress
*System? Can I keep up?*
How could D.E.M.O.N.S know. User Kat has not bothered to test User Kat's abilities. D.E.M.O.N.S does not possess the ability to see the future. User Kat should refrain from asking these questions in the future, as User Kat has in the past. D.E.M.O.N.S does not hold the answer.
*Ok fair point, but do you know what the average flight speed for a demon is?*
--__--
*Look, ok, fair point.*
"I should be fine Kress, thank you for your concern" said Kat as she started flapping her wings and hovering beside the party. Though Kat could have sworn the horse assigned to her was mocking her as she did so.
"Well, if that's what you have decided. Stablemaster we'll be off" said Gareth as he set off waving behind him.
"Yeah, bye Granny" snickered Kress. As he did so a look passed between Granny(?) and the horse Kress was riding on. This movement was noticed by the girls, but they didn't say anything, whatever punishment was about to befall Kress was his to bear alone.
And so the group set off at a decent pace, the horses cantering along the rode heading out deeper into the fields. Kat was pleased to find that her bluff of flying along actually payed off. It was a little taxing to keep pace with the horses, but as long as they weren't riding for days Kat felt like she could keep up with them.
Of course, keeping up with Kress was even easier. His horse had decided that a light trot was more its pace and kept firmly to the back of the pack.
*This is actually really comfortable.* Thought Kat as she beat her wings to keep up with the group. *I enjoy a nice jog but there is something so much more satisfying about flying instead. I really need to properly test my abilities. I feel so free like this, even though it isn't exactly a breakneck speed, and I could probably keep up if I was running, if only barely, this just feels right.*
Kat spent most of her time hovering around Green and Nixilei, it was interesting to watch their various methods of observing the surroundings. Green let her gaze wonder, from point of interest to point of interest, taking in the scenery at her own pace, and yet as Kat observed longer she noticed that slight sounds would cause Green to focus on that direction with shocking speed and accuracy, and yet it still seemed as if her gaze was wandering.
Nixilei on the other hand looked like a scanner. She was taking in absolutely everything in the environment, additional noises or noteworthy plants were just more things to observe to her. Her eyes shifted across the scenery evenly, in an almost repeating pattern, with it being mixed up just enough to not become routine.
After around half an hour at their pace Kress had finally had enough
"Stupid dam horse, what the hell are you even trained for. Keep up with the rest" said Kress.
His horse however clearly wasn't listening, as it didn't so much as twitch at Kress' complaints.
"Whatever do you mean Kress, your horse is traveling at exactly the same speed" said Nixilei raising her voice so that Kress could hear her speak from 100m away.
"It's not the same and you damned well know it. Why else would I be so far away from you all" said Kress
"Perhaps you're smelly" offered Green. Gareth bit his mouth shut but air puffed through the openings. Luckily for him though the sound of hooves covered for him.
Kress scowled and went to kick his horse in the side however just as he was about to bring his heel down the horse whipped its head around and took a bite out of his hand.
"By the Great Earth Mother's tits that hurts" screamed Kress "I should have you whipped for this, or perhaps hunted by a pack of grey wolves. Damned beast"
"Now now Kress, violence is unbecoming of you" said Nixilei
"Oh like you're one to talk. Why don't you do something useful for a change and heal me?" said Kress
"Oh, but I wouldn't want you to use that hand to attack a poor defenceless animal. The weight on my conscience would be too much to bear" said Nixilei deadpan.
"You are a healer. You heal things, I need to be in top shape to compete you know" tried Kress
"Ah, but we only needed four competent members to pass this round, and we have Kat now. Sure we can't sub you out, but if you loose all the contest you participate in then that would be just as expected" said Nixilei
"Now listen here you" started Kress "Enough" finished Gareth. "I know you think this is funny Nixilei, and Kress, you are being ridiculous attacking a horse like that. But he is correct, heal him"
Nixilei just shrugged and lit up a spell circle shooting of a beam of green light towards Kress' hand. The red marks that covered it slowly disappeared, though the little bit of blood remained.
"See was that so hard?" asked Kress
"I said enough" finished Gareth.
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Below is the Author's note because apparently it was too long for mobile
Vongrak's TL:DR
Powerstone bounties
750 - Mini chap Q&A With Kat
1500 - Bonus chapter
2500 - Bonus Chapter
3000 - Mini Chapt Q&A With Sylvie
4000 - Two Bonus Chapters
50,000 - Mini Chapter Q&A With Checkov
Discord https://discord.gg/YzGgDHC
Powerstone bounties extended cut
So, I'm starting to do weekly bounties for powerstones. The mini chapters will be released on Sunday after collecting reader questions. So this week it will be Kat's assuming you meet the criteria, then next week will be Sylvie's if you meet the number. All questions submitted to my discord will be accepted and used, and I will also try to add any from webnovel as well.
Bonus chapters will be released on Sundays just to make scheduling chapters easier for me. If you all really want them earlier we can work talk about that.
I'll put out new bounties each weeek but I won't be explaining them every time. Also I think these numbers are prettry reasonable. I regularly surpass 2k readers in a day so even if everyone just put it a stone on one day you'd get most of the rewards, and you all have 3.
Further information can be found on discord.. Hopefully you are all having a good day.