"But Dad," Gannala expressed confusion upon recalling a certain piece of information, "Wouldn't we risk entering that place if we were to dig underground?"
"We'll all die miserable deaths if that were to happen."
"It's not an issue." Inala patted the ground, "We're not making a tunnel system here."
"Then…" Gannala trailed off before muttering in disbelief, "You don't mean?"
"Yup, we'll be making it in the Brimgan Empire." Inala explained himself, "There are plenty of Pranic Beast habitats within the Empire. You can camp at one such place and continue to grow without issues."
"It'll be risky, Dad." Gannala expressed her nervousness, "A slight misstep and we'll have the Brimgan Empire Royals chasing after us. We're severely disadvantaged against their range."
"I know." Inala nodded, "You'll mostly be fed resources by the Empyrean Zingers through the tunnel system. You'll live in a city like normal. Only when you need to move around in your Pranic Beast form would you leave the city."
"Besides," He grinned, "Asaeya will always be at your side. In the worst-case scenario, you can glide away on an Empyrean Zinger while she blinds our enemies."
"Got it." Gannala nodded.
Inala finished emptying his biome and addressed Gannala and Asaeya, "I'll be going ahead with Wittral. We'll coincidentally run into each other in Fentan City and become neighbours."
"Got it. We'll stick to the plan." Asaeya nodded, practically hanging from his neck as her gaze was heated. She then inched closer to him and whispered, "Don't you think I'm old enough now?"
"Let's talk about it once we settle into our lives here," Inala said, acting ignorant of her frustration. 'Having a second child at this point will stress me out further.'
Honestly, he was surprised Asaeya had held herself back for as long as she did. But she was already at the tipping point now. Mammoth Clan women had a child when they were sixteen years old. Asaeya was now nineteen. At her age, her peers had at least a couple of children.
The day she was saved from the fall at the Mammoth Clan by Inala was when she became serious about pursuing him. And now, having been living together for so long, she had long since begun considering him as her significant other.
But no matter how much she tried to get ahead, Inala never reciprocated. Back at Ellora City, she was worried that he might be dysfunctional down there. Thankfully, when she checked, it was rather healthy and reacted promptly to her touches. Inala remained unaware of her sneaky actions.
It wasn't just once or twice she had done that. But all the time, she only checked and controlled her urge to jump him, respecting Inala's choice. Her patience had mostly run out though, especially after hearing from Gannala that Wittral could now assume a female form.
She inched her mouth close to Inala's ears and whispered seductively, "I pray Wittral can live healthily with a functioning pair of sensory organs for the rest of his life. Convey my well wishes to him anonymously."
Asaeya let out a bright smile and distanced herself from Inala to wave her hand, "Then, I'll stumble upon you coincidentally in Fentan City."
If Wittral dares make a move on Inala, he'll have to bode farewell to all his senses. That was what Asaeya wanted to convey through her well wishes. Though her lips arched to form a wide smile, her eyes weren't smiling.
"Got it." Inala nodded casually, trying his best to hide the fact that his back was covered by cold sweat. Based on what he could sense, Asaeya had gotten tremendously stronger than before, having completed her Tertiary Nature.
Her cultivation too had improved by leaps and bounds, truly making her a powerhouse. After all, she had been drinking Cooter Clan medicines like water and cultivated nonstop by also taking advantage of the Empyrean Zingers to discuss and clear her ideas.
She actively fed them Bone Slips containing information about her Grim Knell and used them to hasten her growth.
Inala had yet to access the information he absorbed from the Empyrean Zingers through his Tertiary Nature. It could only be done in his male form. Hence, he wasn't privy to the details of everything that had happened in his stomach biome.
"Leave a few minutes later." Saying so, Inala assumed his female form and walked out of the boulder by making an entrance. There was no longer a biome in his stomach. However, it was currently full, packed to the brim with Sumatra Gold and the bone attached to it.
Inala had extracted as much bone as possible out of his three Sumatra Gold items, making them only occupy enough space to be present in his stomach without causing issues. The bone there had been seamlessly integrated with three pieces of Sumatra Gold by the Mudropper.
The bone was sourced from his body.
Therefore, Inala could theoretically fuse that into his skeleton. That was his plan, though the process might take a long time. As long as he finishes this process, his bones will carry the properties of Sumatra Gold, which would allow him to endure a Bolt of Transcendence and not be destroyed in the process.
The Sumatra Gold would influence his body over time and keep improving it. And when the Bolt of Transcendence hits him, it will fuse everything in his body into him, completing his evolution to reach his endgame build.
Patting his slightly bloated stomach, Inala placed Asaeya's gentle threat to the back of his mind and walked through the wild for a couple of minutes before meeting Wittral, "It's done. Were you waiting for long?"
"Your complexion looks better now." Wittral asked, "What had you done?"
"Touch my stomach and feel for yourself." Inala smiled.
"You…sure?" Wittral asked with a slightly reddened face as he placed his hand on Inala's stomach and seeped in his Prana. A moment later, his face hardened as he muttered in shock, "W-What is that material?"
"Is its information not available in your inheritance?" Inala tilted his head in surprise.
"Wait, let me check. I feel like I have seen it somewhere before." Wittral clutched his head and thought long and hard before muttering in disbelief as he stared at Inala, whispering in response, trying to be as secretive as possible, "Sumatra Gold?"
"Seriously?" He found it hard to believe when Inala nodded, "How many?"
"Three," Inala said, watching Wittral suck in a deep breath in response.
"How did you find that much?" He asked in shock.
'I have to thank Gudora for that. He extracted it from the body of a Centinger he had hunted during the Mating Season a century ago.' Inala thought and gave a one-word answer, "Mudropper."
Centingers typically ate moss and other marine plant life that grew on the riverbed. The Centinger hunted by Gudora had swallowed the three pieces of Sumatra Gold that had drifted to that location possibly due to a river current.
The location might have been a node for the Sumatra Gold to accumulate. And these three pieces were all that was present in the Red-Draft River itself. As Gudora had some knowledge regarding an ancestor of the Brimgan Empire that succeeded in fusing Sumatra Gold into his Human Avatar, he intended to do the same, which was why he stored the three pieces in his treasury and didn't even relay the news to his father—Fhoong Brimgan.
Inala had looked through the entire Sanrey Plains and only found these three pieces. That was a testament to their value and rarity. After all, Sumatra Gold was the sole Mystic Grade mineral that was available on Sumatra Continent.