Zahara Kingdom Colosseum!
The Wean Selection started in earnest as a large crowd of youths at a marriageable age proceeded through the various events in order to appeal to the Wean Clansmen. The Wean Selection was divided into two: males and females.
The female event was boisterous as a large number of women tried to appeal to the three Wean Clansmen of Brana, Baga, and Braga. The Zahara King announced that each of the trio would accept at least thirty women as their bride.
As there were a lot of slots, it meant many had the opportunity to become part of the Wean Clan. So, the competition was cutthroat.
In contrast, the male side was pretty tame, as the only Wean Clansman they could impress was Barla. Moreover, she only declared ten slots.
So, all the able-bodied men had to compete for a mere ten slots while the women had ninety slots to compete for. Obviously, greater attention was placed on the female section.
Even if Barla gets pregnant, if she were to give birth while in human form, she'd only birth one baby. There was a small chance of the birth of twins or even triplets.
However, the male Wean Clansmen could get many Free Human women pregnant at the same time. So, the ones involved in increasing the population of the Wean Clan by a large extent were Brana, Baga, and Braga.
"First competition is painting!" The Zahara King announced as he stared at the crowd that had gathered in an orderly manner, "Your task is to paint my face in an hour. You'll be awarded points based on your artistic vision and the quality of your art."
"You can either paint with your hands or do it using a Spirit Weapon. The choice is yours." Saying so, he signalled the start of the competition, watching tens of thousands of women start painting immediately.
Seated in the seats of the judges were the trio of Brana, Bagam, and Braga, nervous at the situation.
"I'm feeling intimidated." Baga trembled faintly, "So many women are working hard for us."
"Not for us, but for mother and father." Brana said, "Though we have Gold Grade strength, we have no accomplishments. We're being sought after only because of the strength and status of our parents."
"Forget about it," Braga interjected the conversation, "I'm more worried about big sister. She has to do things alone. If only…"
"Enough," Brana glared at Braga, telling him to stop talking about their dead sisters, for that only served to rile up the trio.
"I understand," Braga sighed, "I'm just…sad."
"One day, we'll avenge our sisters." Brana grunted, "Resha will pay dearly. Until then, we need to focus on strengthening ourselves."
"Has Mother finalised the Tertiary Nature that she plans to give us?" Baga asked next, "I hope it's something strong enough to allow us to fight against an Empyrean Tusk."
"I heard mother and father talking about it." Brana said after a moment of thought, "The plan is to get us a Tertiary Nature that's a Gold Grade version of Astral Chart. With it, we'll be able to better use our stockpiled Natures."
"Oh, that is possible?" Baga was surprised, "Does a Gold Grade version of Astral Chart exist?"
"Mother plans to create it," Brana nodded, "I'm not sure how she goes about doing that though."
"As long as I'm strong enough to kill Resha, I don't care about anything else." Braga muttered as he began to focus on the competition, "Let's not distract ourselves. We need to select talented women who will shape the future of the Wean Clan."
While the trio focused their attention on the Free Human women going through a painting competition, Barla accompanied Shuwrak Zahara to observe the competition in the male section. They too had started with a painting competition.
Painting, hand-to-hand combat, singing, cooking, architecture, obstacle sprinting, etc. A total of thirty competitions had been organised, one per day. And the ones with the highest points will be selected by the Wean Clansmen.
At this point, Yarsha Zahara addressed a group of soldiers, "Listen, safety is of utmost importance. Nothing amiss should happen, alright?"
"Yes!" The soldiers saluted in response and dispersed, intending to strengthen security around the Kingdom.
Once they left, Yarsha Zahara stared at a group of individuals dressed no different from regular citizens, "Your task is of tantamount importance."
"Everyone has received the respective Natures, yes?" She asked and observed the five individuals before her, sensing the influence of multiple Natures from the presence they unleashed. "Good!"
She then took out a vial and gave one to each, "Keep it close to you. The moss within the vial can react to the presence of anyone carrying a Nature Weapon."
"Do we intercept the target, Your Majesty?" The leader of the team of five bowed respectfully to ask.
"No, you've only recently begun to build your Human Avatar. Though you have Gold Grade strength, you're not their match." Yarsha Zahara shook her head, "You only need to note their position and tail them from afar. With your Natures, you'll be able to blend in with the crowd without causing any suspicion."
Gold Inheritance Art!
Once it was completed, Yarsha Zahara gathered the Free Humans most compatible with it, ones displaying the highest talent in her Kingdom. She managed to find five such people and made them build a Human Avatar using Vara produced by the Celestial Boar.
This Vara was at the Gold Grade, giving them significantly greater strength than those who will be building their Human Avatars with Silver Grade Vara. It also had special properties that seemed to be in the process of manifesting.
Yarsha Zahara hadn't researched them fully yet. But currently, they were the best bet at detecting Gannala or Virala. Hence, she mobilised them.
The five Free Humans had just entered the Body Stage. So in terms of strength, they weren't anything worth commenting about. But eventually, they'll become one of the strongest of the Varahan Empire, serving as a personal guard for Yarsha Zahara and Brangara.
"Keep me posted using the shrieks of the Zingers." She nodded and condensed a Tangible Nature which was a Zinger King.
"Yes," The five Free Humans too had been equipped with Tangible Natures of Zingers. As they had limited Prana capacity, their Tangible Natures were only of a Zinger Scout.
Once Yarsha Zahara informed them of everything they needed to know, the team of five dispersed, mingling among the crowd that had come to watch the Wean Selection, subtly searching for the Nature Weapon that had been equipped onto a Nature slot.
Once she had given all orders, Yarsha Zahara walked to her seat in the colosseum, observing the Wean Selection. Taking her seat next to the Zahara King, she stared at her father to ask, "How many Kingdoms are participating now?"
"Fourteen," The Zahara King took out a bunch of Information Slips and handed them over to her, "This contains the travel records of them all. It wasn't easy to obtain this from them."
"Nice," Yarsha thanked her father and started by observing the travel records of the Burac Kingdom, 'Let's see how they managed to arrive here so soon.'
"…" Two hours later, her expression was fierce, 'A mysterious individual with Gold Grade strength gave them the news. And upon hearing it, they rushed here.'
'As I suspected, they're behind it.' Yarsha Zahara wasn't able to figure out if the culprit was Gannala or Virala, but she became assured that it was one of them. 'Good, I'll proceed with the plans as usual.'
While her mind was revving up at full intensity, forging hundreds of plans to outwit her enemies, the one seated next to her seat in silence, behaving as Brangara was none other than Yennda. His mind was in a state of serenity, not thinking of anything.
To display the demeanour of the Celestial Boar, Yennda was commanded to act aloof and not give attention to anyone in the Wean Selection, even those performing the best. Yarsha Zahara will tell him to stare in a certain direction to look at the man or woman who caught her fancy.
Only then will Yennda look in the direction of the respective individual. This action of his implies that the contestant had caught the eye of the Celestial Boar, implying a guarantee of occupying one of the slots.
Due to all this, Yennda wasn't able to observe the Wean Selection. Hence, he was feeling bored. As a result, he closed his eyes and embraced sleep, intending to mimic a sloth.
[Don't fucking fall asleep!]
Suddenly, Yarsha Zahara's voice resounded aloud in a Bone Slip that he was made to carry, which jolted him awake. Through her Glove Slip Skill, she was able to make an Information Slip out of all materials. Hence, to communicate with Yennda, she used a Bone Slip, which was all the latter could access.
[Fine!]
Yennda sighed mentally as he appeared aloof to the common populace. 'I'm feeling sleepy. I worked a lot yesterday.'
While Yennda tried his best to remain awake, something stirred up in his mind space, stunning him. Slowly, the data clusters there condensed to form a small cup, out of which a string of words jutted out.
[…Dad?]
[Can you hear me?"]