“Chuck, I know you are looking forward to building the motorbikes, and I understand that some changes are needed to make them work, but there’s no reason to change the designs just for convenience’s sake. Just wait for the new engine you ordered to arrive and follow the blueprints as close as possible.”

“What? Since when you become a traditionalist?”

Chuck was in a teasing mode this morning and Cody roll his eyes his eyes as he replied. “How can I be a traditionalism when there’s no tradition to follow? When they see a motorbike, some people probably think you invented it instead of it being an ancient vehicle from a past age.”

“Yes, about that. You remember what we said?” All humour went from his voice as Chuck got serious. Cody gave his father a nod.

“Yeah. Keep my mouth shut about the vision, say the motorbikes are junks we got from the junkyard, and that we spent months restoring them based on pictures and information we got from the Cultivation Net. I know the story.”

Cody and his parents knew that it was a matter of time before people ask about the motorbikes and none of them wanted to tell the public about Cody’s vision. Strange powers tend to gain unwanted attention from people of power, and Cody had no desire to be kidnapped and tortured for information of his vision.

“Glad you were listening. Make sure you keep to the story, and come back home straight after school today, I want to know everything you feel while on the bike, and we will be having a celebration.”

Cody smiled and got on the chopper. He liked the idea of a celebration, but Chuck stopped him before he starts the motorbike.

“Aren’t you going to ask what we are celebrating?”

“You mean outside the motorbikes, your love of building, the joy of riding, my advancement…did I miss anything?” Cody laughed as he lists out the changes that had occurred over just one weekend.

“In fact, you did.” Chuck said before releasing the Essence within him.

Cody felt the raw power coming from his father immediately. It was thick, powerful, oppressive, and higher than anything he had felt from Chuck before. Cody’s eyes widened as he realized what that meant.

“Adept-One,” Cody’s voice came out in a whisper. “How? How did, how could you rank up? You were nowhere close.”

“The motorbikes,” Chuck replied without missing a beat. “I’d built three of them over one weekend. They are vehicles no cultivator had seen for over two thousand years, and not only did I build them, I also modified them for the modern age. I did not just follow the blueprints; I had used my knowledge and skills to change them. The work did my cultivation a world of good. A lot of good!”

The Novice rank may be considered the true start of a cultivator’s journey, but that was just the foundation. It was the rank a cultivator needs to reach in order to reach the Adept rank, the rank where only skilled cultivators would reach. It was the rank that means the cultivator had reached competency, that the cultivator who had found a Path for his life and had worked hard to cultivate on that said Path. It was the level most cultivators wished to reach. Being an Adept means not only are you a cultivator, but you are a good and competent one.

Words escaped Cody as he looked at his father in shock. Cody stood and gave his father a big hug. Chuck returned the favor. Neither of them was huggers, but this was huge news.

Chuck gave Cody a rueful smile as they released the hug. He reached into a pocket. “It seems you are not the only one who had a fortuitous encounter, son.” Chuck took out an item from his pocket and hand it over to Cody. “Ride safe.”

Cody took the item from Chuck in a daze. It was a pair of sunglasses. The biker Cody saw in his vision was wearing a pair but like most families, Cody’s did not have one. Cultivators do not need glasses. With cultivation, their eyes were better than humans and glasses were practically extinct in the modern world.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The only exception being the fashion industry.

Glasses are considered fashionable items, and some cultivators still wear them for aesthetic reasons. Never one for fashion, Cody do not understand the appeal, but he was glad for it. It made buying a pair easy.

“How do I look?” Cody put on the sunglasses and asked.

“Like you are about to get into some trouble?”

Father and son laughed. Cody told his parents about how he felt when he went on his first ride, and how the taste of freedom had improved his cultivation. Through speed and freedom, Cody had managed to gain a level. Though Nancy was less than happy about what he did, his parents were astonished at the accidental discovery of a new Cultivation Method. And in cultivation, if something works, you keep doing it till you find something better.

Cody put his hand on the starting orb and started the bike. The purr of the engine sounded like a symphony to him.

“Remember to tell people this motorbike was the King of the Road back in the day.”’

“Really? You are still going on about that? I told you no one is going to believe that.” Cody looked at Chuck in mock disbelief.

“Well, it's a good line. Some early marketing never hurts and besides, they can’t prove we are wrong, can they?” Chuck laughed as he touched the front of the bike like he was caressing the vehicle. “See the dials here? It tells you the speed, so be careful. I don’t want you getting pulled over for speeding.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Try? There’s no-”

Cody did not hear the rest as he shot out of the barn. The wind blew in his face as he turned onto the streets of Slamptown. As he rode past, Cody saw several people along the streets looking at him with smiles and raised eyebrows. Cody knew the townsfolk were curious. Several people had come over to the house after his first ride and Chuck and Nancy had showed the chopper to several of their friends. His parents claimed it couldn’t be helped. There was no way to keep things secret after Cody’s public display of the motorbike.

Cody was sure the fact that they wanted to show-off had nothing to do with it.

However, no one had seen the motorbikes in action since his ride. Chuck and Nancy told everyone they were still in the testing phase, and since the townsfolk knew about Cody’s fall from the chopper, no one thought anything about the lie. It made sense to them that the Harder family would need to test the vehicles further after seeing him returning home injured that day. This also mean no one wanted to ride the chopper.

That’s a good thing because the chopper was the only working motorbike they had at first, and it was his. No one but Cody was going to ride it. Luckily, no one knew of Cody’s advancement. If the townsfolk did, the townsfolk would not take ‘No’ for an answer.

Chuck intends to build more motorbikes and sell them to the public. As long as it was not the chopper, Cody wasn’t against that idea.

Cody passed the outskirts and saw the guard of the town. It was the guard with the oversized gloves. The sound of the engine told the guard Cody was coming and the guard raised a hand in greeting. Cody gave him a nod as he passed. Cody was now on the open road.

That only mean one thing.

Cody pushed his Essence into the motorbike and the chopper responded. It sped up and the wind blew in his face. Cody smiled and enjoyed the moment.

After travelling a good distance from the town, Cody decided to check on his Essence. Cody could feel that it was no longer full, but the depletion was minimal. In fact, Cody was willing to bet that the gains of the ride were outweighing the depletion of his Essence.

Sensing the amount of Essence still within his body, Cody understood the reason for his advancement. As Cody rode, a large volume of air was rushing by, so there were more Essence for his nose to pick up. Cody was also more exposed to the elements and felt everything in the air. The sun, the grass, the trees, the dirt on the road, the despair of the town; for better or worse, Cody could feel everything.

All the Essence he was taking in was stimulating his senses, and the more stimulation he felt, the faster the Essence within his body will travel. With the amount of Essence coursing through Cody’s body, his meridians have to work overtime to accommodate the increased stimulation. Working as hard as they were, Cody’s body begin to response and more of his meridians open up.

That was how he managed to advance to Mortal-Two.

Stimulation was one of the three Methods of Cultivation, and by accident, Cody had found a new cultivation system for it. A loop of going fast, taking in the Essence in the air, and pouring the Essence into the motorbike. That in turn cause the motorbike to go faster.

Chuck and Nancy have doubts about the system working at higher cultivation levels, because there is a limit on how fast a motorbike could go, but Cody had proved that the process works perfectly at the mortal rank at least. Cody had to resist the urge to laugh.

Inventing a cultivation system was a thrill like no other. The Cultivation League might even name the system after him. No, since he was the one who invented it, he should be the one who name it.

Maybe I can name it after the family!