Chapter 11: Not One Ounce Of Effort

While carrying out Somnolence Meditation, Zax reached to the conclusion that he definitely made the right choice. Entering the state of Somnolence Meditation during the process of adaptation to the savagery was similar to when Zax dismantled the icy grains of the Inner Spirit formation and merged them with his soul. The difference was in the fact that the savagery already appeared in the form of energy, so there was nothing to dismantle, and also in the complexity and cohesion of the doses of savagery ... the difficulty of the icy grains was at a level in which even someone below level F could handle, the savagery, on the other hand, was a burden even Core Masters struggled with.

To support his soul, Zax figured out a way to reconstruct the bridge of soul energy in a manner that will lessen the intensity of the doses, which will make it easier for the soul to receive, and will allow more doses to pass together as his soul becomes more adapt. Though, to maintain the new structure of the bridge, Zax had to constantly stay in a meditative state.

Two days have gone by while Zax meditated.

"Whew!" Zax breathed a sigh of relief and awakened for the meditative state. "When I meditate, each progress doubles the amount of doses. It's a shame that I can't keep the new shape of the bridge at all times. Currently my soul can handle sixty four doses of savagery ... I wonder how it corresponds to my control of the body". His habit of talking to himself from his training days in the Essene Cave resurfaced.

Zax got up on his feet and stretched himself. Though he did not eat anything in the past two days, to a bodily cultivator it was not much if from the beginning his body was full and especially if he did nothing to wear it.

As for how much the savage force of the cave affected Zax after two days of the right form of meditation, well ... the desire to lash out at something and rip it apart was still there. However, now Zax's hold on it strengthened a bit. As long as nothing pushed him to defend himself at any cost, his grip could hold.

"I should check my control with the bodily maneuvers since I'm all too familiar with them than any other sort of movement". Zax decided and started to execute the six sequences.

"Tsk!" Zax finished the cycle and tutted. "Around seventy five percent of control ... Too slow and too little". The effort to move his body was the basis for his analysis of his control over it. Practicing in the bodily maneuvers felt like he forced himself to perform them in a pool of mud. "Then again..."

When it came to the bodily maneuvers Zax was more than overly perceptive. With his mind in a clearer state than two days ago, he could observe with almost ease why the output of strength and level of agility were higher while he worked out the bodily maneuver, compere to any other move or gesture of the body.

"Training the bodily maneuvers under these circumstances would be like weights training, like raising the level of difficulty. I already know all the moves and breathing sequence, all that I have left is to perfect the rhythm".

"Weights training" is a gentle way to put it. Although the pressure of the cave is more mental and the more one fights with the savagery the harder it is to bear, its effect so domineering that the body also affected by it to a degree that every cell in the body feels like it is carrying weights. Still, the results of training in such of environment are not the type that will make the body stronger; the pressure on it is but an illusion. What would improve is the technique. Instead of gaining the strength to force an action couple of times, one will gain the ability to execute flawlessly the action. For a practitioner that would seem like trading quantity for quality, but over time it is easier to find methods for strength more so than refinement.

"As of now, the bodily maneuver will exhaust me after about three cycles. Luckily the grove is abundant with fruit trees and just a few seem to fill me up. I will divide my training schedule accordingly to twenty hours of bodily maneuver and four hours of Somnolence Meditation. That way I could exchange sleep for meditation. First, though, I will have to get a sense of time".

And so another day had passed and, although not accurate to the time outside the cave, Zax managed to dedicate a small portion of his concentration to a twenty four hours cycle of time.

...

WUSH!

VISH!

PHU!

Zax's body caused all the possible wind's sounds as he practiced the bodily maneuvers. Slow, fast, deep breaths, shallow breaths ... all were executed as they should in the first three cycles and only the rhythm lagged behind.

As more days continued to pass, Zax trained the bodily maneuver not just externally, but mentally as well. In his mind it was simpler to keep up the rhythm for a while longer, but was harder to match it with the six sequences and breathing sequence. Therefore his training split to three parts, thirteen hours of physical training, seven hours of mental training and four hours of meditation.

During these demanding days, Zax found a little solace atop the fruit trees that surrounded him. There was only one type of fruit and on most trees it could be found with its apple like texture and not much of a taste, however, on a handful number of trees the same fruits grew to their ripe stage and their taste was phenomenal!

For every thousand unripe fruits, Zax managed to find one ripe fruit and savor its taste. It did not have the apple like texture beneath its peel. When the fruit was ripe its inside were filled with a sweet and burning nectar as if it was a balloon filled with wine.

Little did Zax know that the fruits were actually the rare Blood Red Grapes that made the wine the Supreme Rulers drank when they announced their pact of brotherhood and sisterhood unification. Zax, like every child in Kingdom Earth, learned about which drink the Supreme Rulers used to seal their pact, but only in writing, that is, its name.

What was so special about the Blood Red Grapes was something that Zax was in the midst of learning on his own. The Blood Red Grapes had only two stages, "Ripe" and "Unripe". The unripe form of the Blood Red Grapes that Zax ate once in a while was considered as one of the most lethal poisons in Kingdom Earth. It was not that the fruit was poisonous or with accumulation of toxins in its early stage, but the immense vitality of its early stage was what made it so dangerous.

The Blood Red Grapes sucked the vitality of its environment in order to grow. A place where constant slaughter took place like the Savage Caves was its ideal place to grow in. Much like the place where it grew, only Core Master could physically tolerate the vitality of one or two grapes. That was because the physique of Mist User in level S was equal to level C in terms of bodily cultivation. If someone below that level would eat an unripe Blood Red Grape, the vitality will agitate all three aspects of his or her, and their body would instantly combust.

Since Zax's body surpassed level C by a few phases, his constitution could handle six or seven Blood Red Grapes and afterwards, if he will not wear himself, weeks would pass before the sense of hunger will arise.

As for the ripe stage of the Blood Red Grapes, the fruit spends its vitality to reach this stage. Later, it is still better if one is at least a Mist Master before simply picking and eating\ drinking the Blood Red Grapes. Otherwise, to drink it in its exquisite form as a high class wine, there are still a few stages of external refinement before it is recommended.