"How was today's hunt?" A woman asked a man once he entered their home.
"It went great," The man replied, "I received a share of 6 Keys. It should last us for a while."
"I'm glad to have chosen you." The woman smiled contently as she patted her belly, "Our child will inherit our genes with a better working ratio."
The duo had interesting Primary Natures with a complex physical build. And upon taking an interest in the genes of each other, they decided to have a progeny. Once the decision was made, they began to live together.
According to their culture, they'll live together for two years after the baby was birthed. After that, the mother and father would return to their respective houses and focus on looking for another suitable mate.
The child would live in the house of either parent depending on their choice or alternate a few days between each house. Once the child becomes old enough to enter the Comb, they'd move out to a home of their own.
If they succeed in their first battle, they would return in triumph and select a mate, trying to leave behind a progeny.
The children identified themselves based on their birth parents, having a few dozen step-siblings at the very least. As for siblings, it was a rare occasion. Siblings appeared only when twins were birthed.
Typically, a couple separated after birthing a child. Due to the effects of Nectar, the child would inherit the most successful combination of the genes of its parent. Hence, having a second child was unnecessary.
They could instead create new combinations with other people, which is how the thought process of the Ravaged Tribesmen in the Ravaged Federation churned.
The man and the pregnant woman discussed for some time before resuming their respective work, which was nothing other than to train and accustom themselves to their changing genetic makeup—which happens every time they consume the Nectar.
'I've seamlessly integrated into this society.' The man thought as he behaved no different from his original self. In truth, he was a puppet.
Pharkh City had a population of around three hundred thousand. It was one of the smaller cities in terms of size. Currently, around seven thousand in this city were puppets.
Inala planned to take control of this city using the puppets and make it a temporary base until he formed his own base, deep in the ocean. Occupying the space within the Biome Bomb masquerading as a puppet, Inala approached the City Lord's house.
Upon entering the house, he stared at the eleven Transcendent Statues before making his way to the flight of stairs. Soon, he was on his way through the tunnel, arriving at a hexagon chamber after five hours.
His opponent was someone at the Silver Grade, sporting a decently powerful Nature that was capable of erecting a forest of thorns in a matter of seconds. The thorns were poisonous and elicited a powerful rash.
It was a troublesome ability, but exactly three seconds later, the man was unconscious, having been swarmed by Gold Biome Bombs that stole all his Prana.
"Let's see if this works." Inala wrapped a Gold Biome Bomb on his opponent and shrunk it to thumb size. He grabbed it and slung it at the side of his hip. He then threw two Biome Bombs, "I choose you!"
The Biome Bombs spat out two Ravaged Tribesmen who were unconscious, having already been deprived of Prana, barely having a few days' worth of Lifespan.
Krieek!
Inala cleared his throat and unleashed a sonic scream that ruptured the insides of the two Ravaged Tribesmen and killed them. Both of them had a Key inside as Inala observed with interest. A few seconds later, he was disappointed, "So it doesn't work like this."
As the two Ravaged Tribesmen weren't the combatants that had entered this hexagon chamber, their deaths didn't trigger the established rules. Hence, no Nectar was produced.
This meant that Inala couldn't kill a group of Ravaged Tribesmen at a time and amass a large volume of Nectar. "Then, onto the next experiment."
He grabbed the Biome Bomb containing his opponent, activated his Secondary Nature of Perfect Biome Domination and focused on the Key that had fused into the skeleton of the man.
To aid the process, Inala absorbed Prana and Lifespan from a Mystic Biome Bomb and elevated himself to the Mystic Grade. Now, as a Mystic Grade Royal Zinger, he had enough power to focus on the Key and gradually exert his control over it.
Close to ten days later, he had gained complete control over the Key, able to control it as he pleased. Once this was done, Inala killed the man possessing the Key and observed the changes, making a note of it.
As one of the combatants had died, the Comb began to produce a droplet of Nectar. At this moment, Inala replicated the fluctuations in the Comb's influence when the combatant died, making it seem as if the man had died a second time.
He then observed the centre, noting that there were no changes, 'So, the Comb has a rule of generating only one droplet per chamber.'
Secondary Nature—Perfect Biome Domination!
Inala focused on gaining control of his surroundings, which included the ground and ceiling of the chamber through which the Comb was gathering influence to condense a droplet of Nectar.
It was impossible to gain control of the surroundings in a short time, since it was part of an Influenced Region. Inala only intended to observe the process. Soon, the Nectar was produced as he gathered it in a Biome Bomb and attained complete control over it. Now, it wouldn't dissipate once he leaves.
Inala then jumped into the tunnel and hovered at the entrance by latching his strings of Prana onto the walls to observe the phenomenon in the hexagon chamber. A mysterious substance in the form of influence covered the place and vaporised all foreign substances.
Inala erected a Biome Bomb around him and expanded it to make it come into contact with the filament of air, using Perfect Biome Domination to focus on gaining control over it.
This time, he planned to see things through to the end, having elevated himself to the Mystic Grade. A month later, the filament of air was now under his complete control, allowing him to control it as he pleased.
Inala took out a Key and made it touch the filament, causing it to generate the same reaction as a Ravaged Tribesman entering the chamber. He released some fluctuations through the influence of the Comb that was under his control, making it seem as if two combatants were inside the hexagon chamber.
Unfortunately, the only way to make this a success was by using two Keys. All other methods he used failed. The Comb only recognised the Keys and seemed capable of distinguishing them. So, Inala couldn't fool it in this regard by making a Key emit the presence of two Ravaged Tribesmen.
Well, just the fact that he could succeed with two Keys was more than enough. A second after the two keys arrived at the hexagon chamber, Inala made one of them emit the same changes in influence that the previous man generated upon death.
Inala had killed two Ravaged Tribesmen in the hexagon chamber. Among them, he had complete data regarding the second one, since he was at the Mystic Grade when doing so. As a result, he could perfectly emulate the changes that happened in the man's Key at the moment of his death.
With it, the Comb judged that the battle here had ended and began to condense a droplet of Nectar. As the filament of air was under his control, Inala could enter and leave as he pleased.
He collected the Nectar and sensed the substance released by the Comb to vaporise all foreign substances in the hexagon chamber. After a few seconds, Inala failed to gain info on it, since even his Biome Bomb—occupying a portion of the hexagon chamber—began to vaporise in response.
He wasn't able to gain control over the mysterious substance fast enough. But he did observe that the substance occupied the hexagon chamber for close to two hours, which seemed to be more than enough time to vaporise the body of even the toughest Gold Grade Pranic Beast.
He made the calculation based on the rate at which his Mystic Biome Bomb was being affected. If Inala were to remain in the hexagon chamber without any protection, his Mystic Grade Royal Zinger—in Pranic Beast form—body would take about four to five hours to be fully vaporised.
The Empyrean Boar King's body would vaporise in about eight to ten hours. Inala had no idea how long the Celestial Boar's body would take to vaporise though as he lacked information in that regard. Of course, this calculation was only in the case of them lying there as a corpse, with the Prana in their Spirit Containers actively gushing out of their bodies post-death.
If Inala was alive, he could casually live inside for months. His regeneration at the Mystic Grade surpassed the damage of this mysterious substance. Only when he ran out of Prana would his life be at risk.
The case was true for all Mystic Grade Pranic Beasts, 'This substance is powerful but it's not dangerous enough to be harmful against my opponents. Resourceful Gold Grade Pranic Beasts would be able to survive too.'
Its sole advantage was that it was a product of an Influenced Region, so it took a lot of time for Inala to gain control over it through Perfect Biome Domination. In terms of sheer destructive prowess, Inala had the terrifying grey sand and the Bolt of Transcendence.
Once he had figured out a method, Inala began to dump Keys into the chamber, two at a time, intending to farm for as much Nectar as he could.
After all, it was time to begin Wittral's race change.