Let's lose some limbs

Nameless moved, rapidly jumping from branch to branch in the giant forest. 

He had become used to the Keiya form making his speed even more impressive, his burly yet flexible body was as fast as ever.

Moving through the twisted branches, doing flips while grabbing branches with his tail, thinking of what branch to aim at and how to do intricate maneuvers to pick up speed and chase Yugo's will.

Yugo's will flew in front of him at high speed, keeping just enough distance so it could be seen yet encouraging Nameless to increase his speed to follow it.

It flew in random directions at times, fooling Nameless and forcing him to change directions, Nameless could neither ask nor complain as he had no time to do so.

Throughout the journey, Yugo's will only left Nameless enough time to recover, no more than an hour and only when he was really exhausted.

Although Yugo's will didn't speak, he understood that Yugo was training his stamina, endurance and adaptability to a new environment.

"Hah, Hah, Hah, wait! I need some rest." Nameless heavily breathed, his giant lungs expanded and shrunk trying to absorb as much air as possible.

Whenever Nameless felt tired, he felt his body becoming heavy and slow, moving such a big body not only needed energy but also deep breaths.

The more Nameless moved, the more his speed shrunk until he was forced to stop.

"Well done." Yugo's will spoke as it approached him.

"We've been going on for nine hours now, why is my body becoming so heavy and slow? There is also a resistance whenever I try to push my speed further."

Nameless was already very fast, his movements through the forest were fluid, at his fastest, he was as fast as a cheetah in his previous life.

"It seems you have finally realised the limitations of the Keiya form." Yugo's will spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"The Keiya form is very burly yet fast, its giant lungs supply enough breath and qi to keep the body going, however after a long period of exertion, their body becomes slower and heavier till it they can no longer move, needing a long period of rest."

"I see, is there no way to overcome this? This is a huge limitation, how can they survive in such a harsh environment?"

"That's why they have breathing techniques, they increase the intake of air and energy in the lungs while also slowing down the metabolism to discard any excess waste of energy without hindering movements."

"How do I do this?"

"You really think you will learn a technique in a few hours? if you are not willing to put in atleast months of training, don't even dream about it."

"I see, so I have no choice it seems."

"You really are slow, aren't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Look at your back."

Nameless turned to his back but nothing seemed abnormal, his back was very wide and burly, his skin was green-blackish and worked as concealment, his tail looked like a large tentacle that swayed back and forth.

He moved his hand touching his back before he felt two holes on his back in the lower part of his ribcage, they had a rhombus shape.

"Wait? What are these?"

"They are exhaust channels."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you can exhale through them."

"So you mean?!"

"That's right, when you move, you don't need to exhale from your mouth, the mouth in the Keiya tribe is only used to inhale while the back holes are used to exhale. So you can run while only inhaling without stopping, getting more air and energy as well as allowing a faster yet consistent rate of energy. This, of course, is far from learning breathing techniques but it should do for now."

"I see, how long do we have left before reaching our destination?" Nameless wondered, they had been traveling for nine hours, parts of the forest were devastated or straight up laid bare, he thought beast cores would be much more abundant if they followed such trails yet Yugo always took the route opposite to them.

"We'll be moving through the night, you'll sleep in the morning of the next day and then we'll move through the night again, you'll be hunting beast cores."

"Wait, I will be hunting beast cores?!"

"Why not?"

"Isn't the forest filled with beast cores? Why should I risk my life to get them?"

"Kid, there is no free lunch in this world, you should earn the beast cores, you are still very weak, only experience can create strength and what better way to get experience than to fight to the death."

"To the death?!" Nameless tensed, he didn't know if Yugo was exaggerating or if he was plotting something.

"Don't worry, I will protect you but go ahead and lose some limbs, I have Animas that can regrow them."

Nameless tensed but he nonetheless agreed.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, when you lose a limb, you aren't just losing the flesh and bones but also cutting off the meridians that run through them. Reconstructing the flesh, bone, blood vessel and nervous system is easy."

He continued : "Meridians however cannot be reconstructed aritificially, atleast not by most mortal cultivators and its always better to let it naturally happen, the meridians have to stretch themselves and expand to fill the limb, moving their way in like a tentacle to fill the limbs and supply Qi to it. Aged meridians however lose this ability and the more your meridians stretch to recover limbs, the weaker this ability becomes. This should be no concern to you as your body is special but do be careful not to lose too many limbs too frequently."

"Should you be the one talking when you are the one throwing me in this mess to begin with?!" Nameless felt angry at his advice.

"Hehe, go lose some limbs kid, that's the only way you can learn not to lose them in the future."

Nameless gritted his teeth before sighing, however from this sigh emerged a wide smile as he spoke :

"Then what are you waiting for, let's go lose some limbs!"