Each side of the hexagon chamber spanned a length of 200 metres. The walls and ground seemed to be made out of a material resembling lava that had solidified, one through which water had precipitated through for millions of years to form crystalline structures.
The terrain was rugged and didn't seem anything too special. But the moment Inala kicked an outgrowth, he understood upon seeing his leg swell up. It was part of the Influenced Region, and hence, the material density resulted in its structural strength being on par with an Iron Transcendent.
He crouched before a stalactite and began to scratch it, intending to scrape some soil for testing later. His opponent stood afar and observed him in nervousness. Actually, Inala was more nervous than the latter but was just acting bizarrely to throw the latter's mental state out of sync.
Once his opponent is unnerved, Inala would gain the advantage. The reason he was using psychological tactics was simple. The Comb was neither sensing the presence of the competitors nor their strength.
It was judging based on a simple parameter—can the combatants kill each other? And it judged this based on the influence carried in the Prana of the Ravaged Tribesman.
Their Primary Nature would obviously accumulate influence on the cultivator, which would be felt on their Prana. The Major Treasure of Pet was able to create Nectar, a substance capable of affecting living beings, a characteristic exclusive to Minor Treasures. But as a Major Treasure, it achieved this through the Phells.
As its influence was able to reach the combatants, the Comb selected the combatants based on how the influence in their bodies reacted to external influence—from the Comb.
Based on this, it searched for combatants who seemed capable of killing each other, irrespective of their strength. Basically, what this meant for Inala was the fact that even if his opponent seemed weaker than him, his chances of killing Inala were the same as Inala killing him.
On paper, both were capable of equally killing each other. It was why Inala became nervous. His opponent probably had some sort of power capable of targeting Inala before he could grow in Grade.
Moreover, the Natures of all cultivators at the Ravaged Federation were complex due to the fusion between multiple Pranic Beast genes. As a result, every single Ravaged Tribesman was no different from a miniature Orakha.
The Gold Grade Ravaged Tribesmen who had been alive for more than a millennium like Pettenac might very well be just like Orakha, possessing a Compound Nature.
"Hehe, this is fun." Inala stared at his opponent, "Did you know that feeding this mineral to the Phell increases their body size? When we eat those Phells, we can experience a diluted effect of the Nectar."
"Something like that is possible?" Though he was on guard against Inala, hearing such a shocking statement made him lose focus for a moment.
"Seems that way," Inala nodded and pointed at a stalactite, "The green-edged ones can faintly amplify the strength of a Phell. All it does upon consumption is give us diarrhoea. The blue ones make us dizzy and suppress the effects of Nectar."
"The red ones are the good stuff," Inala said and pointed at a spot right behind the man, causing him to subconsciously turn in the direction when two strings of Prana jutted out of the ground and touched his feet, sucking his Lifespan rapidly.
"Argh!" The man bellowed in pain, almost losing consciousness. He activated his Ravaged Tribesman form, causing his body to bulk up in response. Scales covered his midriff, morphing into fur towards the limbs.
There was a chitin layer underneath the fur, providing tougher defence. The arms grew longer as the fingers transformed into claws. Toxin, acid, heat, corrosives, etc. a bunch of destructive substances condensed to form the claws.
Two large holes formed on the elbows, gushing out high-pressured mist capable of causing dizziness to anyone that were to inhale it. The legs elongated into a serpent. They didn't combine to form a single serpentine body, instead, there were two serpentine parts.
At the tails of each was a hoe, acting like a pair of scissors when combined. The head resembled a gator with the beak of a bird. The neck was that of an owl, capable of turning 360 degrees.
The creature was menacingly built, robust in appearance. The middle-aged man had consumed more than a hundred Ravaged Tribesmen and assimilated their genes in his body, resulting in his current Ravaged Tribe form.
Upon activating it, he was able to better endure the pain of losing Lifespan and turned around, glaring at Inala, "You tricked me, bastard!"
Primary Nature—Disorderly Nature!
Prana began to billow out of him like a broken dam, covering the entire chamber. They began to influence Inala, intending to turn the functions of his Primary Nature disorderly.
The middle-aged man, as a Ravaged Tribesman, was a mess. His existence would have been impossible without the Nectar. His Primary Nature exhibited that aspect of his existence precisely. All it did was unleash the effects of all his Pranic Beast genes at the same time, resulting in a power that could erratically influence the target and cause their Prana to go out of order.
The various influences would chaotically bombard the body, pushing, pulling, twisting, compressing, and expanding the target's Prana, bone, muscle, etc. This effect was able to nullify Inala's activation of Primary Nature.
Whenever the Primary Nature of his opponent was rendered useless, the middle-aged man would rely on his physical prowess to trample upon his target who was busy trying to heal his body from the internal chaos of organ failures, blood vessel ruptures, etc.
Disorderly Nature was a potently powerful ability, but wasn't something that could be controlled. Once activated, the entirety of the middle-aged man's Prana would radiate out of his body. He cannot stop it when he wants.
Moreover, this ability was incapable of differentiating friend from foe. Everyone in the range would be affected. It wasn't a power that could be used in the outside world. But here, in the Comb's hexagonal chambers, it was a terrifying power with guaranteed effectiveness due to the enclosed space.
As it slammed into Inala, the Biome Bomb layer covering him was rapidly getting destroyed, causing him to worry.After all, once his Quip Clansman presence emanates from within, the Comb would immediately send him to the Sanctuary.
That would absolutely mess up his plans. Hence, Inala had to finish the fight while holding back as much as possible. Thankfully, he had his means.
The Biome Bomb layer unleashed its Prana absorption power, absorbing the Prana within the effects of Disorderly Nature, as a result reducing its potency by a great extent. This allowed it to withstand the attack and mend itself using the Prana absorbed from the attack.
Moreover, two tendrils of Prana were absorbing the middle-
aged man's Lifespan. They were being funnelled into the recovery of this Biome bomb layer, overcoming the crisis immediately.
Mystic Royal Art—Tangible Piezo Slip!
[Sleep!]
Inala used his memories of sleeping to bombard the middle-
aged man, causing the memories to flood his mind. Years worth of sleeping data blasted forth into his mind, overwhelming him instantly, causing his eyelids to feel heavy.
The middle-aged man turned sluggish as a result, failing to rush towards Inala for close-quarters combat. The moment he lost the opportunity, there was a fluctuation of Prana from the opponent, jolting him to his senses.
He then stared in shock, observing the effects of his Primary Nature pausing in the air around him, failing to target Inala anymore. Instead, they formed clusters to hover peacefully as the Prana within flowed towards Inala. Once they were deprived of all Prana, the effects vanished.
"What…the fuck just happened?" The middle-aged man muttered in shock as he stared at Inala, feeling as if he was in the presence of a Deity. His entire surroundings felt like they were in his opponent's control.
"Ugh, this is a bit too powerful for my current form," Inala muttered as he wiped the stream of blood leaking out of his nose and used the absorbed Lifespan to heal his injury.
Secondary Nature—Perfect Biome Domination!
As he focused, the limbs of the middle-aged man melted like candle wax and transformed into a container that imprisoned him. The effects of Tangible Piezo Slip Skill continued to force him into a state of sleep, making it damn hard for him to stay awake.
By the time he could gather his bearings, his Primary Nature deactivated, indicating that he had used up all his Prana. And now, he was unable to fight anymore, for his limbs had transformed into a container to lock him.
"Who…are you?" The middle-aged man bellowed in fear, "This isn't the level of power someone at the Silver Grade can possess!"
"Well, I do." Inala approached the bound target and judged that he had constricted the latter completely. He only left three days of lifespan for the target and began to extract data from him. "Thank you for your information."
"You're a monster!" The middle-aged man grunted. "Who the fuck are you?"
"I've never seen anyone like you before."