’What happened?’ Root thought in a fluster upon seeing his field of vision brought to the water surface. ’I was in the lead until now, but suddenly, I can’t feel anything anymore.’
Subconsciously, a groan slipped out, "Urgh!"
"Stand down and listen to me." Ruvva said as she held Root by the neck, "Whatever your reason might be, there are procedures to be followed. If you wish to enter the Brimgan Empire, request it through the Quip Clan, and then come here through the official channels."
"For anything else, you’ll have to face me." As she spoke, her blood continued to wreak constant damage inside Root. But in a matter of seconds, the damage was in a steady decline, ’Damn!’
’What an absolute monster.’ Externally, she wore a poker face oozing confidence. However, internally, she was only growing nervous, for Root was beginning to heal at a pace that trumped her rate of dealing damage. ’His body is adapting to heal better by focusing on necessary areas and then using it as a base to trudge deeper into the damaged portions.’
Every living being had an immune system, which would naturally trigger the Prana’s characteristics of maintaining the body at an optimal state. So, it would naturally fight against anything that pushes the body away from its natural state.
’Strangely, his immune system is that of a baby. It’s untrained.’ Ruvva analysed, observing that Root’s Prana was analysing the situation and gradually exercising its prowess to heal Root, ’But his potential is the highest I’ve ever seen.’
’How did Uncle Inala come about creating such a monster?’ She wondered.
During the Third Major Disaster, Root had a specific function, which he performed exceptionally. However, his entire performance had been orchestrated by Inala. All he did was follow the template given to him and fight according to it.
After he was killed at the Kalahatra Desert, Root appeared atop the Major Treasure of Turnip a few years later. And when he was revived, all he did was waste time playing around with the Brimchoir Race.
His first actual fight was against the Brully Inala, which he performed well in a way. But that was mostly because the other party didn’t attack him and instead fled passively. The greater reason was the insane power difference between the two.
And now, against an actual Mystic Grade opponent who had considerable experience, his inexperience was capitalised spontaneously. Ruvva simply fought in such a way that she fed Root’s confidence and then, spontaneously switched up the attacks to bring him down to his knees.
’Now, what do I do with him?’ Ruvva thought as she observed Root, ’His body is adapting and recovering at a rapid pace. But I have plenty of time to kill him before his regeneration reaches a worrying level.’
’Will it worsen our relationship?’ She had to analyse the implications of her actions. After all, the Brimgan Empire was reliant on the Quip Clan for a variety of resources.
It’s not like the resources was a necessity, but it was important. The Brimgan Empire had so much wealth that they typically didn’t know what to do with it. Now, they were simply selling their excess to purchase items that helped their progress better, such as medicines and Elixirs from the Cooter Clan, Parute Fruits from the Mystic Humans, body parts of various Pranic Beasts to be used in the fields of medicine, research, construction, etc.
The Brimgan Empire was even using Pranic Beast body parts to construct training rooms that could specifically resonate with cultivation techniques and allow a more precise construction of Human Avatars.
They were rapidly flexing their financial muscle to arm up from a fundamental level, allowing more and more citizens to enter the Life Stage. The Quip Clan was extremely convenient in this regard.
The Brimgan Empire had plans to have its own trade network, but it would only be between them and their satellite Free Human Kingdoms. The Quip Clan’s network encompassed everything. So in the grand scheme of things, the Brimgan Empire needed the Quip Clan’s services.
’If I were to kill him now, things would become somewhat annoying in the future.’ She thought, hesitating a little, but also felt a pressure to act upon seeing Root’s resistance steadily increase in magnitude.
"Is it here?" She placed her hand on his stomach and caused blood to ooze out of her palm. It drilled into Root’s stomach through the pores, invaded his bloodstream, and entered his stomach, which doubled as the Zinger World.
The blood turned into a tornado and shredded through the Tangible Natures present in the Zinger World. Only upon absorbing all the sediments of the shredded Tangible Natures did the blood leave the Zinger World.
Ruvva yanked out all the blood she had seeped into Root’s body and hovered it next to her in the shape of a sword. All remnants of Root’s Prana began to dissipate slowly upon exposure to air as Ruvva waited patiently.
She wanted to wait until all of Root’s Prana traces in her blood dissipated. She had done this to ensure nothing remained in Root’s body that he could digest to regain Prana.
"Gah!" Root gasped as he regained clarity now, noticing that he was held up by Ruvva. Only then did he notice her arm remaining steady as she held him, ’She’s able to prop up my weight without issue?’
It came as a surprise, because thanks to the existence of the Zinger World, even his human form was extremely heavy. However, Ruvva was able to carry him with just one arm.
’Can I escape?’ He thought for a moment and realised he couldn’t. He was fully drained of Prana. His Spirit Container sported a large hole, preventing him from using any Natures for the time being.
From the hole, his Prana leaked out and flooded his bloodstream. Ruvva had ensured that most of it was consumed to heal the damage in his body.
The largest reserve of Prana was in the Tangible Nature in his Zinger World. She destroyed them and cleaned out the Zinger World.
Now, fat reserves in his body were being burned to generate Prana to heal his damaged internal organs. A small portion of this reserve flowed into the Spirit Container in an effort to repair it, but the process was taking time.
’Thirty...no, I’m afraid I need over a minute to make a complete recovery.’ That speed was lightning quick for any other Pranic Beast, since damage to the Spirit Container required an extremely sensitive recovery process and took a lot of time and effort.
However, for someone who could heal brutal injuries in a couple of seconds, a whole minute felt like forever. This perception changed the way he viewed Ruvva, causing him to glare at the latter.
"Feels insulting, right?" Ruvva uttered as she stared at Root’s eyes in close-up, "Then you shouldn’t have tried to invade my home."
She then groaned, like it was a pain, "For what reason you felt compelled to do this, I wonder?"
"I wonder," Root was oblivious to most things, but he was aware not to divulge sensitive information to a third party. In response, he simply closed his eyes, ’I messed up, so I cannot complain here. If this woman delays trying to kill me, there’s a chance the Representative will arrive here.’
If he is killed, then so be it. Root didn’t feel he had a reason to beg to be spared. That felt against his character. He was pretty rational in that manner, ’Urgh, the urge is growing uncontrollable.’
’What must I do in this situation, My Deity?’ He thought, recalling the Royal Zinger’s glorious form, ’I am ashamed to have lost to someone many times weaker than me. It might seem like an excuse, but I never knew a Mystic Human’s resistance was so high it could even avoid being digested by me.’
It was never tested. Moreover, Ruvva had never openly displayed her resistance capabilities, so the Quip Clan wasn’t aware. That was why such a piece of information wasn’t available to him.
It might seem like Root haphazardly barged into the Brimgan Empire. However, during the journey, he came across many Quip Towers, all of which used Tangible Piezo Slips to impart him all the information about the Brimgan Empire at their disposal.
He analysed the Brimgan Empire’s strength and felt he could intrude on it. He was sure he would be killed soon. However, he felt confident in his strength to endure long enough to reach the end of the brown stream.
What he hadn’t expected was for Ruvva to have the means to stop him at the Brimgan Sea itself.
"Tell me!" Ruvva increased the strength in her grip, "What’s your reason? Huh?"
However, there was no response from Root. Instead, the latter seemed to be at peace, his expression akin to a prayer. At present, his mind only had thoughts about his Deity, asking for insights into his failures and what he could do to overcome them.
[Guardian!]
Ruvva stopped her interrogation upon being alerted by one of the Brimgan Royals watching the fight all along.
[The Zinger Representative, Zhya Echo, is on her way with an entourage.]
’How long until she’s here?’ Ruvva thought and placed her free arm on her back, using sign language to communicate.
[Around 200 seconds at their current pace. They have entered the Brimgan Sea, and in 200 seconds, you’ll come into their line of sight.]
’If necessary, intercept them and demand a reason for Root’s actions. Buy time, if I signal as such.’ After communicating as such, Ruvva brought out a lotus-shaped object and placed it on Root’s forehead.
Minor Treasure—Mystic Human Stamp!
The Minor Treasure actually creaked in response, struggling to extract data from Root’s mindspace. There was an inherent resistance as Ruvva grunted, noticing copious amounts of her Prana was getting sucked into the Minor Treasure just to extract paltry pieces of data. ’That’s a first.’
She had never expected to see the Mystic Human Stamp struggle so much. The Mystic Human Stamp was created by refining Rutham using the influence of a Transcendent Eater. One of the ingredients that make up the Quip Guardian was the Transcendent Eater.
Swoosh! Poof!
After whirring futilely for a couple of minutes, the Mystic Human Stamp only managed to extract some data. Then, it sported a crack, forcing Ruvva to hurriedly retract it, in fear the Mystic Human Stamp might suffer irrevocable damage.
She made a copy of the extracted data and placed the original contents back into Root’s mindspace. As the Minor Treasure vanished, Ruvva analysed the data, most of which was from recent times. ’A...Mystic Path?’
She saw brown flashes heading into the Brimgan Empire in some of the data fragments, ’That was why he was trying to enter. But strange...’
’There’s no Brown Mystic Path...oh shit!’ She finally understood who that might be. Nervousness plagued her being as her mind whirred into overdrive, trying to figure out how Yamahara might have infiltrated the Brimgan Empire, and if he had done so, how he managed to hide himself until now. ’There’s only two possibilities.’
First was when Brangara and Yarsha Zahara infiltrated the Brimgan Empire before the Third Major Disaster. However, recalling what Boul Brimgan had said, she knew otherwise, ’We had kidnapped Yamahara. And then, Uncle Inala hid him somewhere...’
’That chessboard! Moihala’s in danger!’ She turned around in a panic and was just about to rush into the Lotus Range when the Brimgan Royals alerted her.
A Homing Satellite was being diced up by golden flashes as it swam through the Brimgan Sea and exploded due to the attacks. However, it had served its purpose as Zhya, alongside her entourage, landed within view of Ruvva.
"Guardian of the Brimgan Empire," Zhya announced as her eyes shot to the figure of Root held in Ruvva’s hands, "Please unhand our Guardian."