The competition ran for a month. In this period, many teams succeeded in getting Centinger eggs. Based on the number of eggs they obtained, a score was tallied by Raaha and displayed for everyone to see.
Every time a team succeeded and exited the Red-Draft River, the Centinger colony whose eggs were stolen followed suit, chasing after the thieves. Unfortunately for them, the moment they came ashore and dared to target the Mammoth Clansmen, the Empyrean Tusks bombarded them with fierce gales, sending them flying.
The shockwave was so strong due to the compressed air that it was visible to the naked eye. The column of air, upon coming into contact with a Centinger colony, sent them flying, causing their blood to rain in response due to the sheer force behind the impact.
Their organs crushed, carapace shattered, their survival unknown, Centingers rained like pebbles into the Red-Draft River. Those that survived the impact were too injured to defend themselves, hence becoming food for other predatory Pranic Beasts.
Also taking advantage of the chaos was a Centinger, influenced by its Secondary Nature as it coiled around a wounded Centinger and suddenly cleaned its mandibles, surprising the latter.
After the mandibles was the carapace, then the centipede upper body, and eventually the shell. Once the cleaning was concluded, the Centinger defended the injured one from predatory Praic Beasts, appearing too strong.
Its body was heavy and generated strong undercurrents with every swing of its centipede upper body. Even when a Pranic Beast clamped upon it, there wasn't even a dent. Its body was too dense for the predator's teeth to sink in.
An artillery strike later, the predator was riddled with holes. Every single spike it shot out weighed over a hundred kilograms, possessing too much momentum that it shredded apart all enemies in the vicinity.
Despite being a Silver Grade Pranic Beast, the strength it displayed was easily at the Gold Grade. It then approached the wounded Centinger and licked the latter on the face.
The wounded Centinger was confused by this strong Centinger's actions that made no sense. But after a few minutes of such nonsense, Prana suddenly surged into its body from the strong Centinger.
The wounded Centinger noticed something was amiss in its body and intended to escape but was suddenly bound by the stronger Centinger's centipede upper body. It was unable to escape as slowly, its flesh, blood, and bones began to compress, melting into a condensed form.
A couple of minutes later, the wounded Centinger transformed into a Nature Weapon. Excitedly, the stronger Centinger swallowed it and equipped the Nature Weapon in its Tertiary Nature slot.
The Tertiary Nature was used as fuel for its Primary Nature, strengthening it further. Wounds riddled its body from the repeated fights, not to mention its depleting Prana reserves.
Suddenly, knowledge of Mystic Bone Art filled its mind, allowing it to consume biomass and rapidly digest it to replenish its Prana. With a stomach strengthened by Mystic Bone Art, the Centinger observed greater efficiency when it munched on its usual food—sea moss.
As a result, it was able to generate Prana at a faster rate, heal itself of all its injuries, and resume hunting for more Centingers.
From time to time, a poor Centinger would slam into the water, sent reeling by an Empyrean Tusk casually. It would be severely wounded, becoming the perfect prey.
Once the strong Centinger satisfied all conditions, it activated its Secondary Nature of Weaponisation to transform the wounded Centinger into a Nature Weapon and consumed it, using it as fuel once again.
It continued with this process until its Primary Nature reached the Gold Grade. Originally, Virala assumed it would evolve at this point, but that didn't happen.
As he pondered, he understood the reason. Body, Mind, and Soul; the combination of all three energies resulted in Prana.
Iron Grade Pranic Beasts were akin to animals, driven by instinct. Silver Grade Pranic Beasts were sentient in nature, having intelligence on par with humans. Gold Grade Pranic Beasts were superior to humans, with their intelligence and computational capacity on superhuman levels.
Currently, the Centinger's Primary Nature reached Gold Grade and only that. Its mind was still at the Silver Grade, having the same limitations as Silver Grade Pranic Beasts. Its body too wasn't as robust as a Gold Grade Pranic Beast.
The affinity between a Gold Grade Pranic Beast and its Prana was on a whole other level, allowing it to regenerate body parts in a matter of seconds, vastly superior as compared to Silver grade Pranic Beasts.
It could also generate Prana at a faster rate, with the generation efficiency a whole notch higher. The Centinger was still at the Silver Grade in these areas.
Finally, the aspect of the Soul. This could be considered a mixture of Primary Nature, Spirit Container, and Lifeforce.
Moments before her death, when the previous Gannala talked to Inala, she explained how Inala's Lifeforce, generated from the entirety of his lifespan would barely amount to a day or two for Gannala.
Hence, it was futile for him to feed her Life Bombs—ones capable of birthing a queen—rich with his Lifeforce.
The Centinger's Lifeforce was still at the Silver Grade. Its Spirit Container too was in the shape of its Silver Grade form and showed no signs of growing into a Millinger's Spirit Container.
Hence, it could be stated that only a third of the Centinger's Soul had reached Gold Grade. Only when the entirety of its Soul reaches Gold Grade would its evolution occur and influence its Body and Mind.
And when all three parameters reach the Gold Grade, the Centinger would become a Millinger.
This was also the reason Virala's strength was only at the Gold Grade, despite his Secondary Nature reaching the Mystic Grade. It was because his Body, Mind, and Soul were all modelled after an Empyrean Tusk once he reached the Body Stage.
'Does this mean the Boar King wouldn't sense anything even if I were to cultivate its Primary Nature to the Mystic Grade?' Virala had the thought, but he didn't focus on it for the time being.
The deadline for the contest was soon approaching. He didn't have enough time to cultivate the Primary Nature of Bone-Melting Artillery to Mystic Grade. After all, the source was a Silver Grade Nature. Therefore, it would require him thousands of the same to be used as fuel.
It would take Virala many years to gather that much, especially since without the Mammoth Clan's activity in the Red-Draft River, there wouldn't be any wounded and on-the-verge-of-death Centingers for him to take advantage of.
'Guess I'll stop here for the time being.' Thinking as such, Virala influenced the Centinger to target a nearby Centinger colony. With its superior Primary Nature, its attacks were devastating.
And with its body reinforced by Internal Inertial Gravity, the Centinger was unstoppable, allowing it to reach the nest and steal all the eggs. A biome formed in its stomach, in which the eggs landed, kept safe with the effects of Internal Inertial Gravity.
The eggs didn't even feel a thing, despite being moved roughly, all thanks to Internal Inertial Gravity. The Centinger colony could only stare helplessly as this bully swallowed their eggs and countered their artillery strike with its own.
And even if any of the spikes managed to land on its body, its tough carapace resisted them. Centingers had high resistance to the power of Bone-Melting Artillery. Adding onto Internal Inertial Gravity that toughened its body to the extreme, the artillery strike of other Centingers failed to wound it.
Having been in its body for close to a month, Virala had steadily stacked his influence on the Centinger, as a result, was able to give it short commands while making it think these commands were its own instinct, driving it to grow even stronger.
And now, unknowingly, the Centinger heeded Virala's command and swallowed Centinger eggs, exclusively targeting weaker colonies. He intended to gather so many Centinger eggs that the Mammoth Clan wouldn't know what to do with them.
'And with my exemplary performance, I'll become closer to Yahira.' He thought, excited.