?The flight of stairs made out of water reflected the sunlight, emanating a gentle beam of light across the region. The ceiling height was only a hundred metres, so any Gold Grade Pranic Beast intending to enter would have to crouch.
Most were smaller than that but there existed massive Gold Grade Pranic Beasts. Even if they weren't as massive as an Empyrean Tusk or Empyrean Snapper, they were still big enough to be barred from entry.
But for the humans, this was a massive entrance as Inala and the rest calmly descended through the long stretch of glittering stairs. It was soft to the touch, for it was water. But the stairs were rigid, as if made out of granite due to the sheer density of water present in every cubic centimetre, equal in mass to a mountain range.
Inala crouched low and touched the stairs, "I'm able to recognise that it's water, but unable to interact with it."
He retracted his hand and observed that it wasn't wet. It was a strange feeling. Even though he was standing on water, could feel that he was standing on water, but was unable to do anything that he could with water. It messed with his common sense.
"As expected of the Attributed Region," Rhanalla said as she used Internal Inertial Gravity to reveal the true brunt of her weight, watching the step—she was standing upon—cave in mildly under her weight. The depression spanned a mere millimetre, even though the weight she was unleashing was in the thousands of tonnes.
Trulla approached the wall at the side of the flight of stairs and stared at it in interest. She looked to her side and upon noticing that none were staring at her, inched her head forward and extended her tongue to lick the wall.
Her face scrunched up for an instant before euphoria burst out of her being, "It's…water!"
Even with an Empyrean Tusk's power, it took forever for it to drink enough water from the surroundings. Any lake would be instantly emptied from a single Empyrean Tusk's action, not to mention that of the entire herd.
They would have to find a sea to satiate their thirst. But generally speaking, there were too many minerals dissolved in seawater. It mostly consisted of salts. Technically, it was good for the Empyrean Tusk's biome but not for its taste needs, which preferred freshwater instead.
The Attributed Region was created using water in its purest form. All dissolved minerals had been extracted out of the water making the place. And hence, when Trulla licked the wall, she was able to taste the water in its purest form.
Even though she couldn't lick much, the faint quantities stuck to her tongue were equivalent to a pond. The density didn't bother her, for she had Internal Inertial Gravity.
Like a geyser, the particle of water stuck to her tongue expanded to its original volume, causing a geyser to form in her mouth as the water gushed into her stomach. Trulla laughed cheerfully as it was fun.
"Cutie Inala!" She roared next and grabbed Inala, "When you obtain the Attribute, can you control this Attributed Region? If you can, bring it with us."
"I…don't think that is possible." Inala smiled wryly, "When Resha obtained it in Sumatra Chronicles, he wasn't able to control the Attributed Region. And during my research, I didn't notice the possibility of it happening either."
"No!" Trulla pouted as she longingly stared at the wall and licked it once again, appearing heartbroken as she was unwilling to part with it.
"Let's not waste time here." Rhanalla dragged Trulla with her and urged the other Empyrean Tusks to follow her lead, "We need to hurry."
"Cutie Inala will cry otherwise."
In a matter of minutes, the group of eight reached the end of the flight of stairs. They didn't run at their top speed and instead just walked while observing the place. The Attributed Region was no joke as it was capable of killing the current Boar King. So, they had to exercise utmost caution, even if they had a lot of information about the place.
A gate appeared before them, spanning a breadth of a hundred metres and a height of two kilometres. The only distinction between it and the rest of the walls forming the Attributed Region was its relatively lower density.
Light was refracted at a lower angle through it, the sole indicator of a density difference. Inala approached it and extended his hand nervously, touching the gate with his index finger. When his finger touched it, all he felt was a sensation of coming in contact with a normal waterfall.
He could feel the sensation of water cascading over his finger but nothing stuck to it. He neither felt the density nor the momentum behind the water. This was a mechanism present only at gates.
Water flowed through the Attributed Region at a speed of two kilometres per second. With every cubic centimetre weighing as much as a mountain range, forgetting getting killed, even the Boar King would be instantly dissolved. The sheer momentum present in it was unfathomable.
"It's safe," Inala said and passed through the gate, hearing his thumping heart accelerate in response, nervous to the extreme. When he reached the other side, he sighed in relief, staring to his back to see a nervous Asaeya nod back at him to signal that she was okay.
One after another, the six Empyrean Tusks made their way through, mentally stressed through the short encounter. They all could feel that the Attributed Region was manually allowing them entry through the gates.
It gave them hydrophobic characteristics to ensure they didn't interact with the water at the gate and avoid experiencing the true momentum behind its moving particles.
Fualla was the last to arrive as she looked around, becoming flustered in a matter of seconds, "I…wasn't prepared for this!"
She stared at the monolith made out of condensed minerals to the side, reading the information on it to understand that she was currently in compartment 10-K.
From the gate she had entered to the gate leading into compartment 9-K was a distance of 16 kilometres. It wasn't much from an Empyrean Tusk's perspective usually. But now, this seemed to stretch forever.
Layer 10 Mission—Rainfall!
Fualla stared at the ceiling of the Attributed Region which was two kilometres high. From the ceiling dripped droplets of blood, resembling rainfall. But each droplet travelled from the ceiling to the ground in a second.
As for their density, it was the same as the rest of the Attributed Region. Basically, if a droplet were to fall on her head, it would pierce through her body without issues. Only if she were to crank up Internal Inertial Gravity to her absolute limit and raise her body's density to the maximum would the droplet fail to easily touch the ground.
It would still travel through most of her body, resulting in her death. That was how dangerous the place was, and worst of all, this was merely the Tenth Layer.
"Don't lose your cool. Didn't we prepare for this already?" Rhanalla mildly slapped the back of Fualla's head and pointed at the monolith, "The Attributed Region's goal is to find an owner for the Major Treasure of Attribute and not kill us all. So, all regions have a method to clear it."
Compartment 10-K was divided into a grid, with each square occupying a square metre in area. The lowermost grid on the left was labelled with the number '1', the one on its right being '2', and so on. The entire grid was numbered.
After '9', it started with '1' again and continued to loop as such. The arrangement of numbers was done in such a way that it resembled a completed game of Sudoku.
Written on the monolith was a sequence of numbers, signalling when the droplet of rain would fall on a particular grid. There was a one-second interval that popped up in the grids, forming routes leading to the other side.
As long as they were to follow it, they would reach the gate leading to 9-K. Of course, it wasn't as simple as that, for reaching the gate did nothing. They would have to find the keys leading into Compartments 9-K, 10-L, and 10-J.
Their priority was to find keys leading to 9-K and if possible, hog all the keys leading to 10-L and 10-J. This way, they could reduce the number of competitors. But the problem were the existences guarding the keys.
Along one such safe route amidst the rain was a thin, grasshopper-like existence. It was made out of water, covered by minerals at occasional spots like an exoskeleton. When the rain fell on this creature, it bounced over the water portions.
The exoskeleton portions shattered at the impact but they were merely mineral segmentations. Upon impact, they dissolved into the grasshopper-like creature's body and were extracted in a matter of seconds to reform the exoskeleton.
In the centre of its body remained a key, made out of water but covered by a layer of sedimentation. To obtain it, they would have to defeat the creature. And upon obtaining the key, they'd have to shed its sedimentation.
Only then would the key be revealed, displaying the compartment it would lead them to. If they were lucky, they'd quickly find eight keys leading to Compartment 9-K. Otherwise, they'd waste time and energy needlessly.
"No matter what, don't get injured by it." Inala said with a solemn tone, "The Attributed Region will use our Prana to construct more of these Attributed Creatures."
"Now, let's go!" Once the timing was right, Inala shouted as the team flickered through the safe spots and made a beeline towards the grasshopper-like Attributed Creature, tensing up to see the latter react in response.
In silence, it extended its forearms and thrust forward like a whip spear, aiming for Inala's forehead.