Seed Of Speed

Diego awoke from his meditation with his [Speed Clones] long gone, just like the Life Energy that had filled the chamber. He stretched his body as he stood up, making the familiar cracks and pops that accompanied the advancement of strength. He took in a deep breath and cycled his chi by the [Wings of the Silver-Wind].

Four silver, translucent bird-wings apart behind Diego's back, creating an 'X'. He could sense that he managed to reach the Seventh Stage, but he just smiled as he clenched his fist.

(Invest all of my unused experience points and advance me to the Peak of the Mortal Body,) Diego said silently.

It was as if his body was submerged in a hot spring, starting from his dantian then spreading out to the rest of his body. When the feeling faded away, Diego cycled his cultivation again and found a third set of silver wings, placed between the first two sets.

::[Six Silver-Wind Wings] skill learned. 5 mastery points awarded::

"Show me the skill," Diego said.

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[Six Silver-Wind Wings] - Level Maxed

- Evasion skill that uses chi to boost the speed of the caster based on the number of manifested wings by 5% per wing

- 1 chi per wing per minute

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"So, this will give me a thirty percent speed boost?" Diego asked.

::Yes, but that boost is set off your base speed which has increased because of the method you used versus the [Scarlet-Gold Sun Body]. Overall, your current speed, with the boost from the wings, should be able to match your pervious speed while you were at your former Demi-Body level, albeit without the boost from the lightning::

"And I will be able to still use the [Nine Hells Thunder Body]?"

::Yes, although you will not receive a boost to your affinities again since you have used the method before::

"Should I switch my Demi-Body manual then?"

::No. While boosting your other elemental affinities will give you some aid, it is not that important as most of yours are decent, so they won't cause you too much difficulties. The [Nine Hells Thunder Body] is best suited for you based, not just off of your affinities, but the unique powers that come with it and how they can combine with your Bardic power::

"Alright… well, I've kept them waiting for long enough. Time to head up and return to reality," Diego said with a light smile then left the small chamber.

Now that he could feel the subtle flow of chi throughout his body, it felt like a part of him had returned. He could feel the familiar power pulsing through his veins which give him back some of lost confidence.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he found Celita and Rozama talking quietly while Zedava slept curled up on a plush mat of moss and leaves over to the side. They both looked at him with a bit of surprise but, considering that he had advanced from a true mortal to the Peak of the Mortal Body in a week, he could understand. In fact, if he ever showed this level of progress to his masters, they probably would have died of fright.

"Well, you certainly live up to the miracle-maker of a God Seed holder," Rozama said with an exasperated chuckle.

"Human have it so easy," Celita commented with a snort.

"Not all humans are like our friend here, or we would have already been overrun by them," Rozama remarked.

"Thank you for the gift of the Life Energy, it helped me greatly," Diego said with a slight bow.

"I can tell it has. We will go into detail after Celita tests your new strength, but I am sure you will be able to help us out judging by your current aura. For now though, there is a little one who has been missing you," Rozama said gently.

Diego chuckled and nodded his head. He walked over to Zedava and sat down next to her before softly stroking her head. "Wake up, sleepy head."

Zedava stretched as she tried to nuzzle further into her mat, but then the realization of who had spoken visibly reached her. She suddenly sat up and blinked her eyes a few times before she threw her arms around Diego neck.

"I missed you, Diegoooo," Zedava said happily.

"I missed you too, Zedava," he replied, patting the monkey-girl's back. "As I said before, I'll make it up to you for being away. What do you want to do first?"

"Hehe, I already have a long list!" Zedava chuckled mischievously.

Only sparing Rozama a quick goodbye, Diego was dragged off to play with the rambunctious little girl. Then, for the next ten plus hours, she had him take her all around the village, swimming with the other kids in the lake below, flying around with the harpies, and more. She had been slowing down throughout the day, but by the time they finally called it a day, Diego ended up carrying a sleeping Zedava back to her tree hollow with his ever-present shadow, Celita.

"So, where are we heading tonight?" Diego asked as they rode the silver branch back down.

"Deep in the jungle where more than just ogres appear. You can handle one of them at a time, but let's see how you handle the trolls," Celita said with an evil grin.

"Alright," Diego chuckled, excited for the chance to fight. "Can you tell me anything about what Rozama wants me to do?"

"Yeah, it's not a secret. She wants to send you on rescue missions with me into the other worlds that the Zivot Tree connects. Our tree is special because the 'Heart' of the tree has yet to be consumed by a Daemora, and for whatever reason, the ones on this world have not been too interested in consuming ours. Without the natural Life Energy that the tree provides, beastmen cannot reproduce, so we would be traveling to the other worlds to guide the beastmen back to our world where they have a chance. I haven't been able to go since Wutina was killed, so she wants the chance to save people."

"Who was Wutina?"

"Another village guardian like me. She was a Silverback Ursa Bear, very strong defense and high attack power, but her limited speed was why I escaped, and she did not," Celita said with a sigh.

"What happened? You don't really seem like the type that runs into trouble."

"There are things more dangerous than Daemora. They, at least, respect the order of the world, but what claimed Wutina's life was a creature from the Fractured World known as Duxaeow which consumed her as well as a twentieth of the entire landmass of the world."

"Holy shit, how is that possible?"

::A full grown Duxaeow can devour entire stars in the next plane. The one they faced was, no doubt, a newborn::

"You got me, kid. We wandered onto the wrong mountain and it came alive. We retreated, but we were just too slow. I would have died as well if she had not thrown me nearly out of the vortex the creature created."

Diego sighed and said, "I'm sorry for the loss of your comrade."

"It was over three hundred years ago, so I've made my peace with it. There are still plenty of other worlds less dangerous than the Fracture World for us to explore," Celita said without much change in her voice.

"Well, helping you guys out is the least I can do after taking care of me for the past few months. If I had been anywhere else, I doubt they would have been so peaceful."

"It's good you can appreciate that," Celita chuckled, "but let's put that to the test."