Seed Of Speed

Diego woke up with a start in the pitch-black room, drenched in sweat. It had been almost six months since Diego had faced off against the Daemora, but the memory still haunted his dreams. He could still smell the stink of the pile of corpses that had once been his clan and hear the Daemora's dark laughter. Part of him hated himself for leaving Rainshower behind, but rubbing his stomach, he knew she had made her choice. Even if she had been manipulated, she had still willing to kill him which made her vulnerable to the Daemora's power.

"You ever sleep peacefully?" Celita asked from the darkness.

"Not anymore," Diego sighed as he casted {Dark Sight} on himself.

"Heads up," Celita said as she tossed him a gourd.

Diego caught the gourd and pulled the stopper off before downing the bitter, yet alcoholic drink. Most of the beastmen did not drink alcohol or smoke, like Celita, but there was about fifteen Hylidains, frog-men, that lived down over the lake who liked to make a strange, mushroom fermented, alcoholic drink. It definitely took an acquired taste to enjoy it, but with nothing else to take off the edge of his nightmares, Diego had learned to make do.

After spending more than five months together, Celita's and Diego's had evolved to the point where they were no longer trying to set off the other, and just enjoyed taunting and teasing each other out of amusement. Although she rarely let him wander the village alone, it was more from her own boredom rather than concern he would do something to harm anyone or anything.

"Today's the big day, right?" Celita asked as Diego walked over and sat down near her.

"Yeah, I just have a few more hours and my dantian should be fully healed."

"Rozama offered you a spot in the Zivot Tree for you to rebuild your cultivation. I ȧssure you that it will be worth the rare chance," Celita said.

"Keep Zedava busy while I'm gone then," Diego replied as he pulled out a strip of jerky from his storage space.

"It was my job long before you came around," she retorted.

Diego just chuckled and ate his food. Although he had amassed a small fortune of experience points which he could use to speed his cultivation, he would have to completely rebuild his foundation from the ground up. If he could power through the lower levels of Mortal Body with his own effort, he would be able to save those points for the later levels.

After finishing his breakfast and then a quick bath, Celita led him to the silver tree that was the heart of the entire jungle. Zedava was waiting for him in Rozama's hollow, with the Grand Mother of the village watching over her with a content smile. Upon noticing the pair, Zedava ran up and jumped at Diego, completely trusting him to catch her which he did, of course.

The curious, little monkey-girl had firmly planted herself in his heart as a little sister, nearly as close as Emily was to him. She was a rambunctious, ball of energy most of the time, but she had a heart of gold. She would often drag him around the village to help out her people when they were not playing with the other children.

In fact, the beastman village as a whole had made a deep impression on him. They were selfless to a level that he did not think human could ever emulate. No one took more than what they needed for themselves and their family. Everyone pitched in around village, whether it was making clothes for people, hunting or growing everyone's food, or defending the people from the dangers of the jungle. There was no type of social rankings as everyone was treated like equals except for those like Rozama, Celita, and Zedava who had earned everyone's respect through their actions.

"Welcome, Diego," Rozama said with her usual gentle smile.

"Good morning, Rozama," Diego replied.

"Do you really have to go away for a while, big brother?" Zedava asked with an adorable pout.

"I'll still be around, little 'un. I just need to meditate for a week while I recover some of my strength."

"Still..." she pouted.

"I promise I will make it up to you when I'm done."

"Zedava, you promised," Rozama gently chided.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Zedava said as she wiggled out of Diego's arms.

"Everything is prepared, Diego. Head through the tunnel and descend to the bottom chamber where a portion of Life Energy has been prepared for you. Feel free to continue to meditate after you finish that energy because the tree will purify any outside energy you draw in," Rozama said, motioning towards a hole in the floor.

"Thank you for the gift," Diego replied with a bow.

"I may have some tasks for you, depending on your strength."

"Of course," Diego said with a nod.

Diego patted Zedava's head before he walked passed and head down the stairs Rozama had pointed to. There was a slight glow to the air when he reached the bottom and every breath made him feel giddy with energy. He found the chamber completely empty except for a plush mat of green moss covering the ground. His body blurred for a moment as five [Speed Clones] formed. One was placed on music duty with the keyboard while the other five Diego sat down in a circle.

He took in a deep breath and said, "Activate [Wings of the Silver Wind] manual."

Thanks to his year of practice with chi, Diego had no difficulty drawing in the Life Energy and directing it through his body as explained through the manual. Although he would lose his [Scarlet-Gold Body] by abandoning his former cultivation method, he could fake it by using his chi in a similar way, it would just be weaker. The new method would give him a pair of silver-chi wings for each of the three major bottlenecks that would multiple his speed for each set, and by the time he reached the Ninth Stage of the Mortal Body, he would be able to fly solely through the use of his chi.

The Life Energy of the Zivot Tree was far purer than any other form of energy that Diego had contact with before, so he broke through the first few levels with just a dozen of rotations of his new method. Whether it was the different energy or the new method, he could feel the difference between his old meditations and this one. When he would rotate the [Scarlet-Gold Sun Body], there was a certain sluggishness to the energy as it moved through his body, but the [Wings of the Silver Wind] method seemed to allow the energy to flow through his body like a roaring river. Each time it finished a cycle, he could feel all of the muscles in his body tingle with new found energy that made him want to burst out of the room and race around at full speed.

The moment he broke through the Third Stage of the Mortal Body, a pair of silver, translucent bird wings form at the back of every version of him, even the one playing music as the clone was in a partial trance like the others. But the changes did not stop there as, with the natural glow of the Life Energy in the chamber, five spinning vortexes formed around the five mediating Diegos, signifying his increase of cultivating speed. This was the true difference between having a manual that suited the cultivator because the method would only get stronger the more it was practiced. Although he would still be in the Mortal Body stage at the end of his closed door meditation, he would be on par with most Demi-Body cultivators.