It was a thumb-sized crystal with a metallic texture, sporting orange and black stripes amidst a golden hue. There was a soft glisten to it, capable of causing the colour of the stripes to vary based on the viewing angle.
Royal Zinger—Sumatra gold!
This was the piece of Sumatra Gold that had begun to form on Inala's heart, akin to a wart. As he observed it, he continued to absorb Prana nonstop. It would take him two years to finish condensing it fully. Until then, he had other things to do.
First of all, the Biome Lattice was steadily gathering Prana. Inala only had to lure the Phells once a month for his needs. He didn't go overboard for a few reasons.
If he overhunted the Phells, their population might be affected in the long run. This was easily possible if he were to continue drawing in them using a Royal Zinger's presence.
When all the Phells in this region die, the Phells from the surrounding region would fill in, son on, and so forth. Eventually, the Ravaged Federation might notice something is amiss and send people to investigate.
That would lead to a series of inconveniences, so Inala limited himself to farming Prana only for his needs and not becoming overly greedy.
Moreover, if he amassed too many Keys, it would cause issues for the cities closest to his location. So, if Inala wanted to maintain his base long-term, he had to keep a tab on everything so that his actions wouldn't be revealed to others.
Thankfully, the population of the Phells numbered in the hundreds of billions. Inala's current plans weren't at a level where they could put a dent in this number.
Moreover, at the end of the various exit streams, such as the Abyss Fall in the Dralh Sea, the Phells were constantly targeting other living beings to explode and release spores. A good portion of these spores were sucked back to the planet.
The spores that had germinated by absorbing the blood of other creatures would begin to grow by consuming the minerals dissolved in the water and reach maturity in eight months.
Similar to the exit streams, there were plenty of influx streams, which fed in water containing various minerals into the planet's ocean. This cycle between the influx and exit streams maintained the ecosystem of the planet and allowed it to sustain the severe mineral consumption by the Phells.
Inala condensed a Mystic Biome Bomb and poured all the absorbed Prana into it, focusing on condensing a Bolt of Transcendence. Not only was it the most compact way he could store Prana in a Biome Bomb, but it was also the means through which Inala could create Minor Treasures, which was what he wanted to do.
Whether it be to create Minor Treasures or for Wittral's evolution, Bolts of Transcendence were a necessity. They also became his strongest offensive means, capable of destroying pretty much all existences with a single bolt.
As he began to condense a spark in his Biome Bomb, Inala calculated the costs based on his Mystic Grade Prana. To condense the smallest bolt required 8400 Prana from his Mystic Grade Royal Zinger.
Anything less than this and the generated sparks were merely lightning. They didn't have the characteristics of a Bolt of Transcendence. And to fully condense a Bolt of Transcendence—that slammed into 10-Life Stage cultivators intending to enter the Transcendence Stage—required two million units of Prana.
With his current absorption rate, Inala required a bit more than four months to condense a single powerful Bolt of Transcendence. Four months was a long time indeed, but for condensing a Bolt of Transcendence, it might as well be an instant.
After all, prior to becoming the Royal Zinger, Inala made preparations for 13 years to draw in a Bolt of Transcendence. And now, he could casually create one in 130 days, a bit over four months.
Best of all, he was condensing it through his Prana. Therefore, it was completely under the control of his Secondary Nature, allowing Inala to do whatever he wanted with it. All it did to move it was a thought from him.
Of course, to seamlessly manipulate it without experiencing a mental explosion, Inala would have to be at the Mystic Grade. Only then was his mind robust enough to handle the strain of controlling a Bolt of Transcendence.
Inala only planned to use this to attack Brangara. In that instance, he would anyhow be at the Mystic Grade. Until then, his Biome Bomb would merely store the Bolts of Transcendence, treating them as a massive reservoir of Prana.
As it was a devastatingly destructive energy, it was wise to store only one Bolt of Transcendence in a Biome Bomb. Technically, Inala could store more, but the bolts might interact with each other to wreak havoc.
They were like lightning, sparkling nonstop. So, even if they were under his control, a single moment of carelessness from his side and the bolts might interact with each other to spark out of the Biome Bomb.
Hence, for safety reasons, storing one Bolt of Transcendence per Biome Bomb was the best. Inala was more than content with that result. After all, it implied that every such Biome Bomb carried two million units of Prana.
With a few such Biome Bombs slung at his hips, Inala would never run out of Prana during a battle.
Only at this ocean filled with Phells was Inala able to stably accumulate such an incomprehensible amount. While he continued to condense Prana to form a Bolt of Transcendence, Inala began his other arrangements.
At a spot on the ocean a kilometre from the shore, four people paddled a fishing boat. Two of them threw a fishing net and hurled a school of Phells. They were gathering the Phells for their needs, for both food consumption and Keys to enter the Comb.
"Any luck?" One of them asked after pouring all the captured Phells onto the deck, flooding it.
"A little." The remaining two people on the deck swiftly cut open the bellies of the Phells one after another, taking care to not come into contact with it. The moment they detected an ivory object within, they carefully placed the Phell in a box nearby.
These Phells had Keys. And in the box, there were only two such Phells. "Our harvest is bad this time."
"Only two Keys?" The duo that were fishing for Phells frowned at the news. They glanced around, observing plenty of similar fishing boats roaming around, also gathering Phells. Some had bad luck and barely got any Keys while others had a windfall.
One of them spotted a fishing boat with a box filled with Phells. It means that they had obtained at least thirty Keys. "Those guys lucked out tremendously."
"Do we fish at their location?" The man slicing the bellies of the Phells on the deck asked.
"It's dangerous. The last thing we need is a conflict." The man holding the fishing net said and sighed as he stared at the lucky group. "Let's continue to fish. I refuse to believe our luck is this crappy…"
He stopped speaking and turned back in a hurry upon failing to hear the sounds of Phell's bellies being sliced open. "Where are they?"
"How did they vanish?" The other man holding the fishing net too noticed that something was amiss and turned around, failing to see the two people on the deck, "What the heck happened? Is this…a prank?"
The duo observed the evident expressions of fear on the faces of each other, deciding to flee when suddenly, over a dozen strings of Prana jutted out of the water and coiled around their bodies. It happened so fast that they were unable to react.
As the strings of Prana coiled around their mouths first, they couldn't elicit any sounds. As Prana was sucked from their bodies through at least a couple dozen strings, the severe pain knocked them unconscious.
There wasn't even a ripple in the water as their bodies were pulled inside. It was because the region of water in a hundred metres vicinity of the fishing boat was already enveloped by a Biome Bomb, controlling the water through Perfect Biome Domination to ensure no sound was generated through the capture.
All four Ravaged Tribesmen were captured in a matter of seconds. And exactly a minute later, the four Ravaged Tribesmen jumped on the fishing boat. There didn't seem to be any difference in their being from before, but in truth, they were puppets.
Each puppet was a Biome Bomb that carried the body of the respective individual in the centre. This way, it could behave as the original without issues.
Deep underwater, Gold Biome Bombs floated around slowly, having shaped themselves as jellyfish. The strings of Prana behaved as the tentacles while the Biome Bomb morphed its shape to form the umbrella-type head structure of the jellyfish.
This form was chosen because it seemed the most energy-
efficient. Imitating nature was the best in terms of efficiency, for evolution occurred to optimise a being's design by following the rule of survival of the fittest.
As the jellyfish moved across the ocean, a group stealthily approached a fishing boat and targeted the people on it. By swallowing a captured Ravaged Tribesman, the Gold Biome Bomb transformed into a puppet that was an exact replica of the individual.
Once everyone on the fishing boat had been captured, the respective puppets took the place of the original. In this way, the population on the ocean was steadily getting replaced by their puppet counterpart.
By the end of the morning fishing session, the group that had set out to the ocean had been entirely replaced by puppets. And these puppets returned to their homes in the City to go about with their usual lives, waiting for Inala's command.
The person in question was still near the Biome Lattice, continuing to gather Prana while giving orders to an army of Gold Biome Bombs in his vicinity.