Two days ago...
Leaping over hundreds of metres with every jump was Root, en route to meet with Zhya. Suddenly, he crashed into the ground and formed a crater, dragging himself for over a hundred metres to form a deep trench. Only then did he arrive at a halt.
"Urgh!" Root clenched his head and grunted in pain, his eyes glowing in shades of brown and gold, "W-What is happening to me?"
"AARGH!" He slammed his fists into the ground and caused a soil tsunami. The searing headache only continued to grow worse as a ringing sound alarmed in his ears nonstop.
Thump! Thump!
He was enveloped by pangs of guilt, anger, and pain, unsure of himself, whether it be his identity, purpose, or even his state of being.
He lifted his head as Perfect Biome Domination was cranked to its extreme. Strangely, as if brought triggered by an instinctive purpose, he used all the energy in his being to create two more Tangible Natures of Perfect Biome Domination.
Zinger World—Perfect Biome Domination x3!
For a short instance, barely perceivable was a stream of brown treading from him to meander across Sumatra. It seemed to have a destination as Root flickered away to approach the closest Quip Tower.
"You!" He landed before a Quip Zinger, grabbed it, and brought it back to the spot where he had caused a large, dragged-out crater. He then pointed in the direction the brown stream had meandered off to and asked, "Does something of value or importance exist in this direction?"
"This direction...?" The Quip Zinger managed to gather his bearings by now. He observed the pointed direction and nodded promptly after, "That’s where the Brimgan Empire is situated."
"I see, thank you." Root patted the Quip Zinger and vanished, causing deep craters as he cranked all his physical strength. ’It’s as if I’m forgetting something...something extremely precious to me...and I’m being called towards it.’
At the same time, in the Brimgan Empire, Ruvva rushed through the Brimgan Palace and burst open a set of doors to head into a room. There, she saw an individual seated on the bed, someone who had been in an unconscious state all along, as a vegetable.
Dancing next to the individual, writhing in all forms of agony, were fist-sized golden miniatures, the appearances of which were strikingly similar. ’That’s Brandal Brimgan’s appearance.’
’Then, those are...!’ Her eyes widened as she gasped, ’How are they here? I thought Yahard Tusk destroyed them all during the Third Major Disaster.’
Minor Treasure—Orakha’s Checkpoint!
The eyes of the seated individual were murky, unconscious, and dazed. But strangely enough, the moment Ruvva entered the room, the seated individual subtly shifted his face in her direction.
"Ah..." Echoed a voice from the individual, as if uttered by a crowd. The lips curled, retracted, and twirled, as if showing a variety of emotions all at the same time. The facial muscles danced like worms squirmed underneath.
Slowly, the individual’s right hand stretched forward and grabbed the closest Orakha’s Checkpoint. The moment they made contact, the Minor Treasure fused into his rib, and spontaneously in response, the individual screamed, releasing a sound that was a mixture of a scream, a laugh, a cry, etc.
Jet-black serpents exploded out of his chest and latched onto the walls. A few of them targeted Ruvva, who turned into a flash and moved out of the room, watching the serpents bombard the walls.
’Are they...eating the walls?’ She noticed small holes at the spots touched by the serpents, frowning as she watched them retreat into the individual’s chest. ’They are Mystic Eaters!’
’Is he back?’ Ruvva felt hope for a moment, her eyes growing moist as she shouted, "Is that you, Uncle Orakha?"
There was no response. Instead, a few jet-black serpents slammed into a nearby shelf and consumed all the medicines stored in it. They were what Ruvva fed Orakha while using her blood to purify the external influence plaguing him, as much as possible.
"HE...hehehehe!" Suddenly, there was a crazed laughter as the individual made contact with the second Minor Treasure of Orakha’s Checkpoint and absorbed it. Mentally, there seemed to be a direction in its being.
’No, something’s amiss!’ Ruvva thought as she observed the remaining eight Minor Treasures of Orakha’s Checkpoint twitch even greater now, ’Their condition seemed to be worsening as they are fusing into Uncle Orakha’s body.’
Using the Skill of Prana Flash, Ruvva twirled once as she created a container of bone, swooped the eight Minor Treasures, and exited the room.
"My...ne...mine!" The seated individual swerved his head at Ruvva as his presence began to climb up. The absorbed medicines were being digested to generate Prana, as somehow, a Spirit Container appeared in the heart.
At a closer glance, this Spirit Container was formed by the condensation of a Mystic Eater, which seemed to be shivering in madness as it was somehow broken down at the fundamental level and assimilated by the body, at which point a Spirit Container appeared.
The moment it formed, Prana surged into the Spirit Container and began to construct more of its kind, causing the individual’s cultivation to quickly progress through the Spirit Stage.
’His strength is climbing in such a disastrous mental state? That’s not possible!’ Ruvva was stunned by the sequence of events, for a moment unable to respond.
Whether it be the body or the mind, if one of them gets stressed, the Spirit Container sustains damage in response. The Spirit Container is the most fragile at the Spirit Stage. And hence, when a cultivation experiences an emotional upheaval, they will quickly lose Prana as a good number of their Spirit Containers would shatter.
Orakha’s mind had been so fucked up that his Spirit Container was fully destroyed. Even if Ruvva tried to build a new one, that too crumbled instantaneously. However, it had not only formed now, but was also being built up further.
In less than a minute, Orakha had gained 18 Spirit Containers, which put his Prana capacity at 18 units. "No...you’re not Orakha!"
"Orakh...a? Who is...Orakh...a?" The individual commented as all the Mystic Eaters had retracted into his body.
"Everyone, stay back," Ruvva said upon seeing many golden flashes. The moment Orakha behaved strangely, they had already noticed and took action, for this was happening in the Brimgan Palace. They hadn’t taken action only due to her orders.
However, upon seeing that Orakha had started to accumulate strength, some of them grew restless. One of them was the minister of defence, who had the authority to take action on his own initiative, even without the Emperor’s input.
He eyed Orakha once and released five golden flashes, severing the other party’s limbs.
"What are you doing?" Ruvva shouted once, "We don’t know the risks yet..."
She stopped speaking, clearly remembering five golden flashes. However, only four had struck, with each severing a limb. The fifth one, meant to sever the neck, hadn’t hit its mark.
Thump! Thump!
’Shit!’ She hoped she was wrong. However, as she stared at Orakha, she realised her fears had come true upon seeing a cluster of Mystic Eaters had coiled around Orakha’s neck and had kept their mouths open.
When the Rutham Spirit Weapon aimed at the neck, it was consumed by their mouths. This also included the Gold Grade Prana infused into the Spirit Weapon. Exactly two seconds later, there was a spike in presence as Mystic Eaters coiled around Orakha in a protective embrace.
"Tch!" Ruvva dodged two Mystic Eaters that targeted the suitcase of bone in her hand. It contained the eight Minor Treasures of Orakha’s Checkpoint.
The suitcase had begun to glow now, as the eight Minor Treasures had released their respective pillar of light inside. These eight pillars had combined and were attempting to break out of the suitcase.
"They...mine!" His sentence structure turned a tad better as the words resounded from the cocoon, which suddenly fell through the floor.
"The Mystic Eaters have chewed through the floor!" Ruvva shouted in alarm, "Don’t intercept it with your Spirit Weapons. They’ll be eaten and will only serve to reinforce the enemy’s strength."
"Guardian!" The Minister of Defence shouted, "Is that an enemy? I need your confirmation."
"Yeah," Ruvva stated solemnly, "That’s not Orakha. I’m afraid it’s something from the cosmos."
"It doesn’t have a Nature but is somehow able to use Mystic Eaters." Ruvva stated her analysis as she peeked in through the hole and leapt back to see a bunch of Mystic Eaters swarm her, "I think this power is somehow getting harnessed through the two Minor Treasures of Orakha’s Checkpoint in its possession."
"Vacate everyone!" The Minister of Defence barked an order to all the Brimgan Royals on standby, "Clear out the Brimgan Palace of everything. People, medicine, food, don’t leave anything inside."
Mystic Kinesis Art—Spirit Weapon Switch!
Thousands of golden flashes occurred in the Brimgan Palace as suddenly, whether it be people, food, medicines, etc., were all piled outside.
"W-W-What is happening?" Moihala winced upon being brought outside the Brimgan Palace. She instinctively perceived a stream of orange trailing from her and into the palace, "Mother! Where are you? Mother! Please answer me!"
Exactly five seconds since he had given the order, the Minister of Defence, Fuhrh Brimgan appeared beside Ruvva in his Kinesis Deity form, "The Brimgan Palace has been vacated."
"What do you propose we do next?" He asked, "I have ordered everyone to not even use any detection means, afraid the traces of Prana in them could also be absorbed."
"Mystic Eaters don’t have that capability. They’re only effective against solids...at least, that’s the case until now." Ruvva twirled once and cut off a large pillar in the pillar, "Anyways, get me rocks and the likes, blunt objects without any Prana or organic matter in them."
Saying as such, she jumped into the hole, observing the cocoon of Mystic Eaters was boring down the floors one after another, ’This presence...he has already accumulated over eighty units of Prana!’
’I don’t dare find out what this being is capable of upon reaching the Body Stage!’