As the first rays of dawn broke the horizon, Diego had finished reading everything that the System decided was important. There was still a little over six hours remaining before the System would be fully operational, so he had run out of things to do.
::I recommend that the 'Host' begins the Telryn Body Cultivation Technique. This will give you a chance to familiar yourself with it and it suggest that beginners start at dawn when the sun is at weakest then slowly grows in strength::
"Explain the process to me," Diego replied.
::Sit in the lotus position and straighten your body as you slowly take in a deep breathe through your nose. When you exhale, release the air in three short bursts through your mouth before inhaling again. A warmth should slowly build up in your chest and you will need to move the energy around your body, nurturing it with the energy::
Diego did as he was told and tucked his legs under him. He straightened his back as much as he could then started the strange breathing pattern. He felt silly at first then it turned to discomfort as he could never release all of the air in his lungs. The sun continued to rise, gradually warming the sands.
Repetition took over as Diego eased into a trance when the Solar Energy began building up in his lungs. When the blood in his body picked up oxygen, a small bit of the energy would latch onto the cell to move somewhere in his body. He was mesmerized as he watched the process in an out-of-body experience. Twinkling scarlet lights of energy moved across his body to the rhythm of his heartbeat.
Despite being the first time that he had ever practiced any type of body cultivation, he managed to breakthrough the bottleneck Ishu had stuck on for the past six months. Diego's luck had been due to that ignorance as he allowed his body to control the phenomena on its own instead of forcing it to bend to his will as Ishu had always tried.
The downside of the breakthrough though was that it created an energy wave that cultivators within a thousand kilometers would feel. The longer process could continue, the more benefits the person would receive. Normally, a person would attempt a breakthrough in a specially designed, sealed chamber which would absorb the energy wave and allow them to be undisturbed for the whole process. Having a breakthrough on the outskirts of the oasis was dangerous since anyone could come and disrupt the person.
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Barru Telryn was a muscular man with a fiery temper. His skin was a vibrant orange and his long, braided hair was a sandy blonde color. He had ruled over the Jobin Oasis for the past thirty-two years after killing all fifteen of his older brothers at the age of thirteen in personal duels. He had been hailed as a genius of cultivation and was a battle junkie, always fighting head-on with no care for his own life as long as he could kill the foe in front of him.
His Days of Ascension had been some of his most cherished memories, but now that his own sons had reached theirs, they acted more like women with schemes and poisons than confronting each other like men. The only one to openly kill another in a personal duel had been Ishu, but he had slain junior of nearly seven years, so he hardly saw any honor in that and now that one had gone missing in the sands.
He could only sigh as he watched the sunrise and emptied his drink. A serving girl quickly refilled it with a blue wine when he held it out. There was a total of four serving girl, bereft of any form of clothing, seeing to his needs. There was the one holding the wine jug while another played a gentle melody on a reed flute. The last two were massaging the man's shoulders and legs.
Suddenly, he felt a burst of energy he recognized as a breakthrough, but the energy was familiar. He shattered his glass as he jumped to his feet, knocking the poor girl working on his legs tumbling back, but he did not notice as he dashed to the balcony and looked to the south. He gave a boisterous laugh as he smacked the railing and vanished from the spot.
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Barru was not the only one to feel the disturbance as over twenty figures made their way to the southern outskirts. Since Diego was in the middle of a high-class breakthrough, the System had no way of alerting him to the dangers he had exposed himself to. He was complete absorbed in the process as his body took on a metallic scarlet-gold color. A dense layer of Solar Energy had congealed onto his skin while it slowly restructured the cells, filling them with both defensive and regenerative energies.
Time had no meaning as Diego watched his body becoming stronger. It was intriguing as this was his first taste of cultivation. His whole body felt as if it was swelling with power and he felt ready to take on the world, but his reason still held out. Ishu had been at the bottleneck between the third and fourth stage of the Mortal Body, the very first bottleneck a body cultivator would experience. Although he was a little old to be consider a genius at cultivation, the sheer size of his energy wave could grant him that title. By entering the epiphany state which caused his breakthrough, Diego's energy wave was on the level of someone breaking through the bottleneck between the sixth and seventh stage.
While Diego was lost in his breakthrough, people started appearing. The first was Toba, Captain of the Clan Forces, seconded only to Barru. He had a lean body and a hooked nose that set off his piercing white-blue eyes. His skin was only slightly more orange than the brown leather armor he wore, and he carried a silver bow with a quiver full black arrows across his back. He instantly recognized the young master of the clan and, since his mother was in the same faction as himself, he could only silently curse the young man's brashness while he took a protective stance.
A pair, man and woman, were the next to arrive which made Toba frown. The man had silver hair from age, dressed in blue robes with fiery red designs embroidered, and was leaning heavily on a walking stick. The woman next to him was dressed in a similar robe, although with more muted colors, and was gently holding onto his arm to act as a secondary form of support. Both of them had red skin and similar features, showing a strong family resemblance. The pair belonged to no faction as they were the Clan's Shamans, acting independently even from Barru's order. Magic was a rare gift within the desert and no clan would be foolish enough to alienate their Shamans, thereby losing all protections spells around their oasis and the ability to heal deadly wounds or diseases.
Before Toba could confront the pair, another person landed on a nearby dune which made him let out a sigh of relief. Barru Telryn stood on the peak of a sand dune with only a loincloth and a gold necklace on his body as he stared down at his son with a fevered gaze. He knew his son was breaking through to the fourth stage but being able to achieve the Scarlet-Gold Skin represented the very peak of what the ancient texts described for the first breakthrough. Only he had achieved the Gold Skin level during his breakthrough, so his heart could not help but swell with pride as he had fathered this little monster. He only snapped out of his excitement when he felt more presences quickly approaching.
"Toba, keep the others away. No one is to disturb my son's breakthrough!" Barru said.
Toba placed an open palm over his heart as he bowed then vanished from the spot. Barru gave a long side-glance at the pair of Shamans, but never fully took his eyes off the boy.
"Peace, Patriarch. We merely felt the energy wave and came to investigate. I assure you we have no intention of disrupting his elevation," the old man said.
"Hmmm… See that it remains. Whoever dares interrupts his breakthrough will sacrifice their blood to my spear!" Barru promised.
The old man gave a polite smile to Barru then returned his gaze to the young man below, his mind turning with unknown thoughts. Barru did not like the Shamans as their methods differed so much from his own, but he did trust that they would not work against the clan without due reason which he had been careful to never give them. Now, he could only rely on Toba to keep the others at bay while he watched.