Traveling together

As morning came, Momo was starting to pack up the camp. They still had another few days travel to get to the Skull Sect, which was pretty much the highest ranking power around that wouldn't take one look at her Dove Manifestation and decide she didn't have the Potential to be worth taking in. But she would have to prove herself to them, which might be harder than she wanted to admit.

It seemed that Cifer had a busy night, since when she woke up he'd broken through. She didn't have the heart to wake him when Oji had left to the east and the Grand Elder had gone to the south. Even if he did want to thank them again, Momo knew they had already taken it to heart. They expected great things of Cifer after all. Meanwhile she almost felt like Grand Elder Keomi was looking down on her somehow. It was just her woman's intuition, but it was still there and was constantly bothering her.

Since Cifer wasn't awake yet, Momo picked up her mace and began to work on the first Technique of the Majestic Mace. It had yet another name that made her want to roll her eyes at it, being dubbed the Skull Smasher. The gist of it was to shroud her Mace in dense Essence to add tremendous weight to the strike at the moment of impact.

Done correctly, it would nearly double the force of the attack as it crashed into the enemy. Done improperly the increased weight of the mace would both slow the attack and completely ruin the balance of the strike, resulting in either a miss or an easily blocked strike. Momo had been trying for almost an hour and had emptied her reserves of Essence, but had only pulled it off properly a single time.

Pausing for a rest, she looked towards the only tent that hadn't been taken down yet. She couldn't help wondering just how much longer he was planning to sleep. Momo had been awake with the dawn and had breakfast with the others before pulling down the camp and practicing her Technique for the past hour as part of her Cultivation. Sighing she decided it really was past time she woke him and walked over to his tent.

"Come on lazy bones. Time to get up and get moving, I've had time to pack everything and even cultivate a little and your still snoozing." Momo grumbled as she grudgingly shook him awake. "We'll never get there if we never get started, and there really isn't any time like the present."

Seeing that her young friend was coming to, Momo walked back outside and got herself ready to travel. She didn't mind spending a lot of the trip cultivating or taking their time, but the woods were not the friendliest of places and the two that could easily handle any Origination Beasts, namely Oji and Grand Elder Keomi, had already left. If even one of the Bottom tier Origination Beasts appeared, with her in her present condition, it wouldn't be good.

Of course, their luck couldn't be that bad right?

A quick look around the camp was enough to put her mind to ease again. Momo reminded herself that she couldn't push to that level of exhaustion anymore. Since she'd given Cifer the Pearls that she normally would use to restore her energy, all she had left were a couple dozen Striped Blue Pearls she was saving to try to push her Mercy past the breakthrough. She felt foolish for having left herself and him so vulnerable and meditated to pull Essence from the Essence Sea through her Origination to restore her energy while he packed up his own tent. It was far slower, but a Cultivator could always do so.

Soon enough she was being shaken herself by Cifer, who had his tent rolled over his shoulder with his pack at his side and weapon in his hand. She giggled when she saw the scythe. "Is that really the best you could find before leaving? The balance must be dreadful."

He was always willing to banter with her at least, which would keep Momo distracted from the realities of their current trip through the woods. "At least my weapon doesn't take a giant to wield and has a sharp edge to cut up any villains with." Cifer responded.

They steadily moved through the forest, not running into any trouble all day as they continued to point out the problems with each other's choice in weapon and argued which was better for a thousand reasons. Momo was truly enjoying herself, and shared what Oji had talked to her about when he helped her to make her breakthrough in War. Cifer responded by having her read the Foreword and then scrolled through the manual until he found the Cultivation method that he'd noticed earlier and thought was a perfect fit for Momo.

When she was finished with the Foreword, Momo was in tears and was deeply moved by the sheer emotion and care that Cifer's parents had put into taking care of their son even when they couldn't keep him with them. She expressed surprise, attempting to reject the gift when Cifer tried to hand the manual back to her. "I can't take something they prepared for you Cifer. It's one thing to try to read about how they care for you, but I already did too much when I got so absorbed into the insights that they left for you!"

Cifer nods. Then hands her another note. "This is something they left so I could find them someday. Once every decade they'll be at these coordinates where these stars can be seen in the sky. Will you help me find them?"

Momo felt insulted that he had to ask. "Of course I'll help you find them! Nobody should have to be separated from his parents the way your were. If I can do anything to help you know that I will!" She was angry and sullen at the insinuation that she might not have done so.

Cifer smiled at her. "Then use the Cultivation method they left. You can tell it's superior to anything else you've ever seen, right? It's impossible to even understand without the insights from the Foreword, and the one I've picked out for you is perfect for your needs. It's the best one in the Manual they wrote for efficiency and speed of Cultivation, which are your eternally pressing troubles. If you're going to help me look for them, than you need to be strong enough to come with me at that time."

Grumbling at how he'd maneuvered her into a corner constructed with her own words and the obvious realities, Momo began to look over the Cultivation method he pointed out. It focused itself on lifting the Limits placed on the Essences one Cultivated. This while making great use of the Empowerment that would give strength to the Essence, allowing it to grow swiftly behind those same Limits. According to the Manual, if Momo was able to practice this method to it's full extent she'd break her Limit each time she raised a Stage and the Empowerment would make her momentum in growth shocking.

As she was studying the method the sun had started to set, and Cifer had set up camp for them. He suggested that they might Cultivate a little bit separately before turning in since they both wanted to be as strong as possible when they made it to the Skull Sect. Momo agreed and began practicing the Limit Break method on her own end of the camp.