Seed Of Speed

Taking on the mantle of Core Disciple was a great honor, but also a source of great pain. He might have escaped it if he had entered at the adapt rank for his Soul-Singer abilities, but his display of martial talent, combined with his magical talent had made the Grand Masters' eyes burn with expectation once they confirmed he could also wield his Soul-Singer powers. They literally spared no expense to bring out every bit of potential from his Mortal Body.

Diego met privately with Swordflash after his meeting with the Grand Masters where he was asked to give a current report of his current strength with body cultivation and weapon mastery. When he had revealed he was ready to break through to the seventh stage, he was forbidden until after he had undergone his first baptism which would be his source of torment in the coming months. A person could only undergo a single baptism for each stage. Swordflash was a strict, no nonsense master, so he scheduled Diego's first baptism for the next day.

Grand Master Petaltear, the sect's leading alchemist, personally created the baptism water, using precious herbs that could rival the entire wealth of twenty clans just like the Telryns. The large, utaneri-metal cauldron was filled to the brim with an angry red liquid, but that did not stop Swordflash from dropping Diego inside and sealing the top. Thanks to his chi, Diego could easily hold his breath for ten minutes, but that was under normal conditions. The red baptismal waters made his skin itch like thousands of ants were crawling underneath his flesh and then, to make matters worse, Petaltear heated the cauldron with a green flame, matching the water start to boil. He felt like he was cooked alive while the water change from red to black as the impurities in his body were forced out. When the cauldron was finally tipped over, Diego crawled out of a brackish, stinking, clay-like substance, but his body felt lighter, yet stronger than before.

After emerging from his first baptism, Swordflash had him cultivate to check the state of his body and prepare for his breakthrough. The effects of the baptism had actually increased the amount of experience he needed to level up to the next stage, putting it out of his reach for now. After he reported his condition to his master, he was given a vial of 'Yang Chi Gathering Pills' and told to take them until he began to feel bloated. The moment he took the first pill, the received an alert.

::You have ingested the Yang Chi Gathering Pill. 25 experience points awarded::

He continued to pop the honey, cinnamon flavored pills until he had gained the four hundred experience points to level up then began his meditations. Unnoticed by Diego, Swordflash's eyebrow was twitching as he watched his newest disciple eat chi pills like they were candies. Most apprentices would be able to swallow two or three before they would be forced to meditate and disperse the medicinal effects, but Diego had swallowed sixteen and his chi never flared as if his body could instantly dissolve the energy. Of course, there was no way he would that Diego's body contained the Seed of Speed which multiplied his metabolism, so his body truly could disperse the energy from the pill instantly.

The process of stepping from the sixth to the seventh stage was similar to stepping from the third to the fourth and required a significant amount of energy which would allow his body to undergo another evolution, changing his [Scarlet-Gold Skin]. Instead of using Solar Energy from the sun as he had done before, Swordflash channeled his own chi into Diego, so that he would have a higher chance of succeeding in reaching the peak state. If you could see through Diego's skin, you would see his muscles taking on the same metallic, scarlet-gold color as his skin when using his defensive skill. When the breakthrough was done, his [Scarlet-Gold Skin] had evolved into [Partial Scarlet-Gold Body], multiplying the defense provided by three.

Swordflash took the chance after Diego's breakthrough to test his limit on taking chi pills and had him keep taking them until he reached the point that he could not continue. Much to his, and the other Grand Masters, surprise, Diego finished the entire vial for six hundred more experience points without any discomfort. Although Petaltear was more than willing to gift him another vial of pills in only to see how far he could go, Swordflash restricted him to only taking ten a day, so that he could train Diego's body properly, but that still put his eventual level up to the eight stage two weeks away.

Those two weeks though, were like hell for him since, aside from sleeping, he was training directly under Swordflash, who had a very straightforward training method. From dawn to dusk, he sparred against the Grand Master, albeit 'sparring' was just a polite way to say he was beaten black and blue by the cold-hearted man. The thin, wooden rod wielded by Swordflash haunted Diego's nightmares as it had broken nearly every bone in his body at least once. It did not matter how Diego tried to defend or counterattack since even his [Speed Sight] was unable to keep track of his master's movements as he ingrained the essence of fighting into the very marrow of Diego's bones.

Before he moved up to the eighth stage of the Mortal Body, he once again underwent another baptism. The torture of medicinal effects of the water was even worse than the first time as it sought to burrow deep within his body and fix all of the partially healed broken bones and ripped muscles from the heavy training regiment, but the results were even stronger than before. His scarlet skin had become unblemished like a piece of polished jade yet was soft to the touch. His sandy blonde hair had become the color of pure gold and no longer curled wildly like his father's.

He remained within the eighth stage for little over a month while Swordflash's training only strengthen with time. Even after his third baptism and rank up to the ninth stage, Diego still trained solely with Swordflash while only his clones that attended classes were able to interact with the outside world. He had not even returned to his own dorm room or gone to the dining hall during this time, eating and sleeping within Swordflash's manor.

Under the constant abuse, Diego became disillusioned to his true strength. Swordflash had intentionally isolated Diego from the other students, so that he would have no means to gauge his increase in strength, but there was no way to remove the power of the System from Diego. His {Spear-Craft} had broken through the advance level and into the "One-With-The Spear" level while he had also developed the {Martial-craft} ability and ranked it up to the second level. Although he had not learned any new skills, or received any extra skill points, all of his skills had leveled up at least once, while most had jumped two or three levels. Even his [Speed Clone] and [Speed Sight] abilities had increased through the constant use of the two abilities which pushed his {Essence of Speed} near the breaking point to the third level.

Diego reached the peak of the ninth stage of the Mortal Body in just over three and a half months from the sixth stage, not just breaking the sect's record, but destroying it as the former record of a year. After four baptisms, his body seemed like it was cast from scarlet metal and exuded power even when he completely retracted his aura. It was only now that he was at the same level as Quicksand that Swordflash brought him back to the Gambling Arena to a large, private arena to spar against Quicksand once again.