[I miss you, Dad. Am I…that detestable? Do I…not have the privilege to see you ever again?]
Tears streamed out of his eyes nonstop as Yennda stared at the ceiling, 'My daughter wants me!'
'But, what if she detests me once she gets to know me? No, she'll definitely feel that way sooner than later.' Yennda felt conflicted as his heart lurched, unable to erase the memory of Harrala's saddened expression from his sight, "Haaah!"
He stared at his trembling hands, afraid of being rejected by someone who loved him deeply. It had happened once on Earth already. He had yet to overcome the trauma. 'I…I'm not strong enough to go through it a second time.'
"But…" He was unable to stop his tears, chuckling as his body trembled, from sadness at the start, but now, there was also happiness mixed into it, 'My daughter wants me. I'm needed.'
"A father only wishes to be needed by his family, nothing more, nothing less." The moment he arrived at that conclusion, he realised that his plaguing conflict meant nothing now, "Right, I'll do that."
'I'll be there for Harrala for as long as she needs me.' His expression was sad but brimming with hope, 'Once I have no use for her, I'll simply have to embrace death.'
"Yeah, I've already been through it once. A second time…shouldn't hurt." He wiped his tears and inspected everything in the laboratory around him, "Guess it's time to leave this place."
"I have someone waiting for me back home." Yennda inspected the state of his body, 'I'm at the peak of the Body Stage. I can enter the 2-Life Stage whenever I want, but that won't be good for the time being.'
'To escape from her control…' He stared at the side, focusing in the direction of Yarsha Zahara, 'There are things I need to do.'
Secondary Nature—Infection!
He bit the tip of his index finger and dripped out a droplet of blood, infecting it as he infused a large quantity of Prana into it.
Tertiary Nature—Mutation!
The droplet of blood experienced cell-division internally, causing its volume to increase. Gradually, organs formed in it, starting with the heart. Soon, a miniature version of Yennda was created, barely a centimetre tall.
It had no intelligence and its body was unstable too. But that didn't matter as Yennda created multiple variants of his miniature form. He then grabbed a large container from nearby and placed all the miniature versions inside, giving them a single command, "Devour and grow!"
Primary Nature—Fission and Fusion!
He infused his power in them all, enough for them to consume each other and gain the characteristics of each other. He waited two minutes and opened the container, observing a fist-sized Yennda within, one sporting bare traces of intelligence.
The body was a tad more stable. 'Almost there.'
He repeated the same process until there were twenty fist-sized Yennda, all of which he dumped in the container and used his Primary Nature. Five minutes later, there was a foot-tall Yennda inside, one sporting a fat belly and a blood-smeared mouth.
Its expression resembled that of a rabid dog, intending to swallow everything in its path. 'The tissue culture is a success. Since I can selectively control and capture the variables for growth, the product mimics what I have in mind.'
It was tissue culture, through which a variety of cures for infectious diseases were created. From growing an entire organ out of a single cell, it was a miraculous field of work on Earth, which allowed humans to play around in the field of Gods.
'Unfortunately, I was a data scientist, so my practical experience was limited on Earth. But it's not an issue here.' Yennda observed the blood-smeared entity inside the container, paused for a few seconds, and then unleashed a punch, 'I've gained enough experience on Sumatra to be labelled one of the greatest scientists on Earth.'
The bones in his hand cracked from the attack while the entity within the container turned into blood paste, 'That should be enough to alert Blola.'
Yennda gathered all the blood used in the process and fed it to other experiments until even Yarsha Zahara wouldn't be able to detect what he had done until now.
What he had done currently was to send a shock to the Transcendent Eater, making it aware that it needed to revive him. But as he was alive, it wouldn't know what had happened.
Every time he dies, the Transcendent Eater knows and makes preparations to revive him spontaneously. But the one that died was an entity he created in his imagery. As it wasn't the real him, it couldn't be revived, but Yennda made it close enough to trigger the Transcendent Eater's revival mechanism.
This would make it experience a minor shock. Honestly, other than triggering the Transcendent Eater, this served no other purpose. Yennda did it to alert Blola, 'He won't understand shit about this, but Gannala will. And that's enough.'
The shock to the Transcendent Eater will also make the ones being revived gain awareness. Orakha maintained this state of awareness every time he was revived, which was how he accessed useful data from the Transcendent Eater.
Yennda wasn't good at it, but even he gained some information after being revived so many times. And the reason he was doing this was simple.
The Transcendent Eater had inbuilt defensive mechanisms to protect its information. Renduldu's arrangements resulted in a tug-of-war between Blola and the Transcendent Eater, which created an avenue for the ones being revived to access its data.
Even then, the data was minimal at best. But things were different in Yarsha Zahara's case. She had virtually no defences in this regard. Despite being tremendously talented, at the end of the day, she was a Free Human and not a Transcendent Eater.
Therefore, once Grehha was jolted awake into a state of awareness, he could gain access to pretty much everything that Yarsha Zahara had. 'With his obsession, he'll have a field day.'
The sack reviving him was currently in Yarsha Zahara's Minor Treasure of Lunchbox. She had already given it enough Prana to finish forming it fully. Now, the moment she takes it out, the sack would bloom and a revived Grehha would emerge.
'Before she notices that something's amiss, let's take action.' Yennda got up once his arm healed and began to play around with the plant specimens in the laboratory, intending to create a plant similar to Earth's Pitcher Plant.
Pitcher Plant releases an aroma that lures in insects and once they're feeding on the nectar, it closes the lid and releases digestive fluids to melt them, a carnivorous plant in the truest sense. He would use it to trap the Varahan Kingdom, putting them in enough danger that Yarsha Zahara would have no other choice but to kill him to stop the threat.
"Wait a second…" He stopped his plan, thinking of something, 'Even if I return home like this, the Chief will simply throw me into dangerous situations time and again. Would I…be of any help to my daughter?'
'She needs my presence because she hasn't grown up with a father. Once that lacking desire of hers is satisfied, she won't need me anymore.' His expression drooped as he thought of something, 'Maybe I need to change my perspective.'
'If she has more needs from me, she'll want to be with me for a longer time.' He thought and let out a chuckle, "Then I need to grow in such a way that I can assist her evolution."
"It should be relevant to the current situation…" Yennda thought, immediately recalling the Tangible Natures used by Brangara, "Got it. That'll be my target."
Two days after Yennda began to subtly make preparations for his plans, Yarsha Zahara was in her room, situated adjacent to the laboratory, having just arrived to rest after a round of research. 'Thankfully, Yennda is staying put obediently for the time being. It seems he was starved for recognition. This is good. I don't have to worry too much about controlling him every second of my life.'
She had just lied down on her bed when the sack in her Minor Treasure of Lunchbox stirred up, alarming her, "What is it acting up on its own?"
She grunted, intending to suppress it, only to exclaim in shock momentarily after, "He's waking up on his own?"
"Dammit!" Once the revival process was completed, Grehha would be automatically rejected from her Lunchbox. Trying to force him to stay inside would damage or even destroy the Minor Treasure. Hence, she had no other choice but to bring out the sack, watching it burst immediately after.
Fleshy goo splattered all across the area as Yarsha Zahara hurriedly brought out her kite-shaped Spirit Weapon, intending to shield herself from it. She was still drenched though, as the Spirit Weapon wasn't big enough to protect her fully.
And taking advantage of her momentary state of fluster was Grehha, who leapt into her embrace as if he was naturally going out for a stroll after eating lunch. "Hehe!"
"You! Get away!" Yarsha screamed shrilly and unleashed a Prana Shock to send Grehha flying, only to see him skidding from the impact, having used Internal Inertial Gravity to turn himself heavy. She glared at him, "Don't get near me."
"I'm sorry, I cannot help that." Grehha laughed wryly, "Well, we can trade though."
"Valuable information belonging to the Mammoth Clan for the price of a hug." He offered a deal.
"Not needed," Yarsha Zahara glared, using her will to make him way away from her, "I can get everything I want from Yennda."
"Oh, he's also under your control?" Grehha acted surprised for a moment before shrugging casually, "He doesn't know a fraction of what I'm aware regarding the Mammoth Clan."
"Get lost!" Yarsha Zahara growled in anger, sending him to the laboratory.
"Don't you know that your control over me will reduce once I'm farther away?" Grehha raised his voice, "I'm unlike that guy, you know? Controlling me is possible only when I'm within two metres of you."
Bang!
She slammed the door shut, hurriedly taking a shower to clean herself of the gooey substances covering her.
Arriving at the laboratory, Grehha clenched his hand into a fist, observing that he was completely under Yarsha Zahara's control despite his attempts to fluster her, 'Judging by how expertly she controlled my movements and made me walk to this place, she has accumulated enough experience controlling Yennda, not to mention having complete spatial awareness of this place.'
'She's indeed the Heroine!' He grinned and stared at the seated figure of Yennda, winking once, "Thanks for your help."
"I had the best two days of my life!"