"Does this make any sense? More than a hundred Royals have disappeared in the past few months!" The current generation Emperor of the Brimgan Empire, Bronsk Brimgan shouted at the Ministers, "And you dumbasses haven't even managed to gather a single clue!"
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid more bodies of Loot have infiltrated the Empire." One of the Ministers got up to speak, "This phenomenon cannot be explained otherwise."
"Isn't it convenient to blame it on Loot?" Bronsk Brimgan snorted in anger, "Do you have any proof that it's him?"
"No…" The Minister bowed his head in response.
"Get out!" Bronsk Brimgan bellowed, "Don't you dare return here without evidence. All of you, get out, now!"
He sighed once the Ministers had left the throne room, staring helplessly at his mother who made her entry, "Mother, can I handle this? Without reaching the 10-Life Stage, my words have no effect of coercion on the Ministers. They're more or less on par with me in terms of strength and cultivation. And they're older, so they don't treat me with the same respect as they do to father."
"It's something you need to learn to handle. That's what it means to be the Emperor." Harla Brimgan said, "There's a mysterious force acting in our territory with enough power to take care of our Royals. If we don't take action soon, we'll be crippled."
"Why isn't father doing anything?" Bronsk Brimgan asked in worry, "He hasn't come up in a while. I'm worried about him."
"There's nothing we can do about that. He's in the middle of an experiment." Harla Brimgan said as she thought, deciding after some consideration, "I'll call back your brother."
"No!" Bronsk Brimgan shouted in a hurry, "Let him continue with his mission. His success is of utmost importance."
"Yes, but it's of no use if the Brimgan Empire falls by then." Harla Brimgan said as she unleashed a gentle pulse of Prana, one that vanished promptly after. It was a Minor Treasure, the Summoning Bell, the same as the one in Yarsha Zahara's possession.
Through it, Harla Brimgan was able to summon her son who was out on a mission alone in the wilds. It was a mission that would have taken him a couple of centuries to complete, the reason why he never made an appearance in Sumatra Chronicles.
Boul Brimgan, the most talented Brimgan Royal in their recorded history, said to be the first of his kind who had reached the end of Gold Kinesis Art and was about to refine his Secondary Nature using it. This was his status before he left the Brimgan Empire a century ago.
He was at the 9-Life Stage when he left, carrying with him enough Rutham to condense his final body. One of his objectives was to create a solid path for gaining a Secondary Nature. Boul Brimgan had strength surpassing Brandal Brimgan at the same cultivation level.
"If he managed to reach the 10-Life Stage now, he'll be stronger than your father even without any Minor Treasures. With his capabilities, solving this issue would be easy." Harla Brimgan said, "Until he arrives, let's make the Royals move about in groups and use the Raid Team to search for the culprits."
"Alright…" Bronsk Brimgan nodded and began to make preparations, sighing, "There's less than a month before the Attribute appears. To think we're facing such a crisis right before it. I fear they're aiming for it too."
"Hmm," Harla Brimgan acknowledged the issue, silently making plans to tackle the situation on her own, unaware that all this information was leaked to the entity fused into her wrist bone.
'Many Royals disappeared mysteriously. Interesting!' Resha thought as he continued to seep his influence through Harla Brimgan's skeleton. Unlike in Sumatra Chronicles, he was built different now.
Thanks to the effects of the Major Treasure of Cure whose influence had begun to seep into his biomes, Resha's body was steadily changing into a region similar to the Attributed Region and the Golden Giant.
Merely by harnessing that influence through his Tertiary Nature of Empyrean 100, Resha was able to act like a Minor Treasure, using which he infiltrated Harla Brimgan's body when she fused with the Minor Treasure that she supposedly purchased at the Arlfarah Mansion Auction House.
Once the Major Treasure of Cure's influence began to affect his biomes, and in connection, with his Empyrean Tusk body, Resha corrected his original misconception. In Sumatra Chronicles, he had fused with the Major Treasures of Attribute, Weapon, and Pet.
But despite having three Major Treasures, he failed to kill the Boar King. It was simply due to a case of incompatibility, despite him being able to handle three Major Treasures, something no one else was capable of on Sumatra.
And in this life, upon getting the Major Treasure of Cure, Resha realised what was happening. The Major Treasures were powerful, yes, but the majority of their power was concentrated in the creation of an Influenced Region such as the Attributed Region and the Golden Giant.
Major Treasures were only able to influence a terrain, unlike Minor Treasures which influenced living beings. And they did this over the course of many eras. In Sumatra Chronicles, by the time the Major Treasure of Attribute began to influence his biomes, Resha obtained the Major Treasure of Weapon, causing the influences of both to counteract each other.
Adding the Major Treasure of Pet into the mix did nothing other than make them all useless.
Unlike his previous life, Resha managed to obtain the Major Treasure of Cure this time. It was something created by the Supreme Tusk Gannala to possess the strongest essence of an Empyrean Tusk. As a result, the moment he obtained it, Cure began to influence his biomes.
The influence was weak at the start, but when Resha absorbed the blood of the mysterious eye and considerably filled his Mystic Path, Cure began to actively influence his biomes at an accelerated pace.
Getting the Attribute in such a situation would only mess up the influence and interfere with Resha's transformation. As a result, his goal for coming here wasn't to gain the Attribute for himself but to obtain it for the Mammoth Clan.
As to whom it should be given would be something that he would decide. Resha wasn't planning on giving it to any of the Reincarnates, 'They're simply not worth it, especially Virala, that disgusting fucker!'
At the same time, deep underneath the palace, seated within the stomach of the golden giant was Virala, his eyes closed, keeping track of the shimmering orb in his mind space. His lips curled up as he muttered, "She's about to give birth now."
The condensed orb in his mind space looked like it was about to be transferred. Immediately in response, Virala got up and left the Golden Giant, making a beeline towards Varahan Mansion.
Secondary Body Stage 2—Worm!
Virala transformed into a metre-long Mystic Ewworm and slithered through the long tunnel, following which he entered the narrow path he had drilled out long ago, quickly heading towards his target.
A minute after he left, a large number of Mystic Eaters slithered into the tunnel and approached the golden giant. Some of them streamed into its mouth and entered its stomach, observing their bodies dissipate as information streams flowed out of their minds and condensed in the region in tangible forms.
A few minutes of observation later, a group of Mystic Eaters combined into a three-kilometre-long Mystic Eater that rested its rear on the ground of the tunnel and arched its upper body through the mouth of the Golden Giant and into the stomach, not touching anything.
It swallowed the tangible stream of information that escaped the Mystic Eaters from before, following which it stared at the figure of Brandal Brimgan. It slowly approached him and gently bit onto his head and yanked him out of the Golden Giant.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Orakha approached Brandal Brimgan and took out an Information Slip made out of Rutham from his sleeve. A Mystic Eater swallowed it and surged into Brandal Brimgan's Spirit Container, feeding him the contents in the Information Slip.
In it were memories Orakha had fabricated, taking advantage of the situation to obtain a powerful servant who remained obedient to him. His Mystic Eaters seeped into the latter's Spirit Container and began to make subtle modifications to his Human Avatar, smiling upon seeing Brandal Brimgan's eyelids flutter faintly, 'Soon, he'll wake up.'
He then faced the direction Virala had left, "Based on what I have observed of him for the past year, he's not planning to kill his child. Rather, he'll bring the child here and nurture them. Though this is considerably better than his past actions, it'll still mess up everything."
"By now, the Boar King might have reached the 3-Life Stage. When Yarsha Zahara activates her Minor Treasure of Summoning Bell, he'll create a stomach biome to store the corpses of at least a couple of Empyrean Tusks, following which he would activate four or more Internal Inertial Gravity." He sighed, "He would be here in a matter of days, before the Attribute reveals itself. If that happens, he'll end up getting it."
"Guess I have no other choice but to do this." Orakha snapped his finger, unleashing a subtle fluctuation that was transmitted through the network of Mystic Eaters he had laid down over the decade.
In response to his command, more than a hundred thousand Mystic Eaters poured onto the Attributed Region and got assimilated by the latter. They turned into pure energy that was wielded by the attributed region.
And then, their property was unleashed, causing the Attributed Region to voraciously suck in all the water from the neighbouring region. In a matter of minutes, the Brimgan Sea became empty, following which the various channels feeding into it became similar.
Connected by the Vrumsh Channel that led into the Brimgan Sea, even the Dralh Sea was emptied, alarming the Cooter Clan.
"Argh!" Yarsha Zahara wailed in pain as through a final push, she birthed a baby daughter. And in the background erupted a festival of lights at the same time, as if fanfare for such a birth.
The pillar of light blasted into the sky endlessly, drawing the attention of every single creature in the vicinity. Brimming with a magnitude of power unlike anything, the beam of light called forth every single living being from a wide region of Sumatra, having finished building the Attributed Region a month in advance.
And now, it revealed itself, bringing the date forward by a month, thanks to Orakha's machinations. "Good, it worked. Now, it won't fall into the Boar King's possession."
Major Treasure—Attribute!