Two months after the birth of the Zinger Representative, an exhausted burp resounded from the Dralh Sea as Brangara climbed out of the massive bowl he had built.
He stared inside and observed the floors of the bowl that had been licked clean, "If Empyrean Snappers weren't so tasty, I wouldn't have managed to consume such a large amount in a single sitting."
'Their taste is inferior only to an Empyrean Tusk.' He thought, 'Or maybe I gain more pleasure from consuming an Empyrean Tusk because of my hatred towards them.'
He stared at his bloody self, sniffing to see that he stunk tremendously, having been swimming through Empyrean Snapper body fluids for months. "I need a bath."
Brangara jumped into the Dralh Sea and swam around for a few hours, using multiple techniques that employed Prana to clean himself. Yarsha Zahara had created a few Skills for Mystic Sumatra Art that he could use for this purpose.
But despite that, considering the extent of stench that had latched onto him for so long, it had taken him a few hours to freshen up fully.
Landing on the edge of the bowl, he dried himself and observed his Astral World, 'It's a success!'
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure—Bloody Affection!
Somehow, he managed to succeed, but that was his only success. From the 50 Tangible Natures of Decaleech that he started with, 47 were destroyed.
Thankfully for him, his Primary Nature of Voracious Cultivator allowed him to consume Tangible Natures as food too. This way, the moment a Tangible Nature of Decaleech failed to become a Minor Treasure after reaching the 10-Life Stage, he converted it into Prana and funnelled it into a second Tangible Nature of Decaleech.
He repeated the process while minimising his losses and managed to succeed on his 48th attempt. Even though this was his secondary objective, Brangara still felt as if he made a loss, 'I wiped out an entire Cooter Clan branch and only have a Minor Treasure to show.'
As for the Minor Treasures used by the Cooter Clan, Brangara failed to obtain a single one. Minor Treasures were precious and were only given to the Cooter Clansmen of absolute worth.
This was typically newborn Empyrean Snappers who will return them once they had matured and had gained all possible benefits from the respective Minor Treasures. The only one other than Empyrean Snappers who carried Minor Treasures was the Cooter Clan Chief, Geugeu.
But when he transformed into a powerful bolt of lightning, the Minor Treasures on his being were destroyed.
Brangara searched the place but failed to find any Minor Treasure, 'Maybe that's all they had.'
If a Minor Treasure hasn't fused with a living being, it would unleash a small pillar of light, noticeable to all living beings in the vicinity. So, it was easy to detect them.
Typically, Free Human Kingdoms stored Minor Treasures in their treasury by fusing them to Pranic Beasts.
These Pranic Beasts would be crippled through a variety of methods, ensuring it couldn't fight anymore. They'll then be sedated, following which the Minor Treasure would be fused into them.
The Brimgan Empire had robust cages to store Pranic Beasts, having a developed system in this regard since they had too many Minor Treasures to keep. They had existed through countless eras and hence it wasn't unusual that they had so many Minor Treasures.
That wasn't the case for two Clans that had come into existence during the time period of the Mudropper Invasion, which happed around 13000 years ago, right before Renduldu's era had begun.
And among them, the Mammoth Clan was nomadic in nature, travelling through a variety of regions. They had destroyed many Free Human kingdoms in the past. So, majority of the Minor Treasures in their possession came from these Free Humans.
On the other hand, the Cooter Clan stayed their hand, only having minimal interaction. So, the number of Minor Treasures that they had gathered were even fewer.
Once he arrived at this line of thought, Brangara sighed, "I should have targeted Geugeu before he sacrificed himself. I missed the Minor Treasure on his being."
He had the Wean Clan to take care of. So Brangara's thoughts were changing accordingly. Now, he was no longer focused on gathering resources for himself but also for his children, the grandchildren that would be appearing soon, etc.
"This Minor Treasure is just the start." He thought and stared at the Tangible Nature Minor Treasure of Bloody Affection, "Through this, I'll create more Minor Treasures."
He focused on the power of Decaleeches first because it allowed him to absorb only the blood of his target. This allowed him to farm Prana from creatures without killing them.
Moreover, this will allow him to resist the Royal Zinger's Prana absorption capabilities better. While the Royal Zinger absorbs his Prana, he could steal the latter's blood. With his superior regenerative speeds, he could recover enough Prana and Lifeforce to resist.
As the Royal Zinger absorbs both Prana and Lifeforce, they'll both be circulating through his blood. Which meant that Brangara could survive longer if in a direct confrontation.
Since he couldn't get the Zinger Queens, this was his only alternative. Even this will only prolong the inevitable. So he had to continue accumulating more useful Tangible Nature Minor Treasures such as this.
As long as he creates them, he could fuse them to his body and free up the slot. And when unnecessary, he could bestow the Minor Treasure to Yarsha Zahara or his children.
And unlike other Minor Treasures, the ones he creates contain the power of Nature that the respective Pranic Beast had when it was alive. So, he could selectively target the suitable creatures and farm their Natures to create a Minor Treasure.
He then focused on the influence generated by the Tangible Natures of Empyrean Snappers, unable to control his glee as he waved his hand casually and moulded the water nearby into a spring, "I can use Subtle Terrain Domination as much as I please."
He burst into laughter, continuing to spam its effects, "Those damn Snappers could freely wield this amazing power?"
"I want Internal Inertial Gravity next!" He became obsessed the more he used Subtle Terrain Domination, "If I have even that, then I'll become an invincible existence."
Until now, Brangara's weakness was that his Natures would vanish once he uses them. As a result, he stored them and used them only when absolutely necessary, which meant he had zero practice in using them, especially for the precious ones such as Internal Inertial Gravity and Subtle Terrain Dominance.
"Where are you lot hiding?" He bit his nails, praying to encounter an Empyrean Tusk. Eventually, he regained his bearings and controlled his obsession, 'This is a bit dangerous. It seems I need to meditate for a while after I return home.'
Brangara consumed a large batch of Bludders and Shifting Ants until his slots were filled. He condensed a bunch of their Tangible Natures and placed them in a bag that he slung on his back. This way, he could carry a larger number of them.
"No, I need a large quantity of them anyway. Then…" After a bit of thought, he appeared in a forest and used Subtle Terrain Domination to create a carriage using trees, "As expected, Subtle Terrain Domination is amazing!"
"Oh, I already praised it before. I forgot." He shook his head and began to capture as many Bludders, Shifting Ants, and Ewworms as he could. He stored them in compartments each and kept Tangible Natures on the lookout.
Soon, he had gathered about a couple thousand of each, "This is enough for the time being. With Grehha's Empyrean Incubators, nests can be created where these Iron Grade Pranic Beasts could breed without being affected by the changing environments."
Brangara carried the large carriage through psychokinesis—
thanks to Subtle Terrain Domination that treated all terrain within Spirit Weapon Range as Spirit Weapon—as he ran through the wild, crossing the Guna Caves as he made a beeline towards the Zahara Kingdom.
Once the nests for Bludders, Ewworms, and Shifting Ants were created respectively and their production had stabilised, Brangara could collect more Iron Grade Pranic Beasts. These nests will become the foundation upon which the Varahan Empire will be built upon and prosper.
"With Subtle Terrain Domination, I can actively modify the terrain into suitable forms to build what we want. Heck, I could build everything myself as long as Yarsha gives me the blueprint." The more he thought about the possibilities that Subtle Terrain Domination brought to him, the more excited he became, "It's amazing! Too amazing to be true!"
His pace was brisk as Brangara made multiple detours, making note of various Pranic Beast races that lived in the region. He consumed them and understood the function of their Primary Nature after turning them into a Tangible Nature.
He stored one of each for later research and returned to the Zahara Kingdom, sneaking into the palace without alerting anyone as he made his way to the laboratory, seeing a man disguised as him, "You're staying put, Yennda."
"Yarsha promised to announce me as the Chief Architect of the Varahan Empire." Yennda boasted, "So, I have reasons to obey her words."
"Good, good, continue to work hard for my Empire." Brangara patted him on the shoulder, "As long as you assist the Wean Clan, you'll be compensated tremendously."
'He's too happy! What the fuck happened?' Yennda frowned as he watched Brangara skip through the corridor, humming and dancing upon every step. 'Shit! The more he behaves like this, the more worried I become. I can only hope he hasn't grown more broken than he already is.'