"Push, my Lady! Push!" The nanny said as she controlled a Spirit Weapon in the shape of a hand to help Penma better, having trained months for the task at hand. All nannies were expertly trained to be able to take care of all the necessary tasks during delivery alone.
The nanny did her best to assist Penma, leading to a successful delivery after some rough time. A pair of twins were birthed and Penma felt weak immediately after. The Empyrean Incubator fused into her ovary shattered as her water broke.
It was a natural process, which increased the importance of the Empyrean Incubators, since they could only be used once a pregnancy in this scenario.
"My…children…" Penma was relieved to see a healthy pair of twins, staring blankly immediately after as a stamp was placed on her forehead.
"That's…tiring." The nanny commented once she performed all the necessary procedures from cutting the umbilical cords to cleaning the twins.
Right as she had completed the task, a hole popped open in the floor beside her as a Mystic Eater jutted out stealthily. It looked around and only after judging that the situation was safe did it spit out a Nature Weapon. It was made out of bone, sporting the pattern of an Empyrean Tusk's head.
A second later, the Nature Weapon reverted into Gannala who approached the pair of twins and observed them, taking her time to inspect their conditions. Eventually, she analysed and selected the twin who seemed to have a better quality of Wean Clan genes.
'He'll probably be able to reach the 4-Life Stage. That's high enough.' Gannala thought as she observed the pair of twins, both of whom were boys. Her focus fell on the one she hadn't selected, 'In his case, there seems to be a higher level of genetic defect. He'd be lucky to reach the 4-Life Stage. In normal circumstances, his growth will stop at the 3-Life Stage.'
Simply being born a Clansman wasn't enough. Their genes had to be good enough. Otherwise, once they start to stack their bodies in the Life Stage, the genetic imperfections will exponentially project themselves through the stack and limit the person's growth.
This was the same reason a majority of the Mammoth Clansmen remained stuck at the Body Stage. To enter the Life Stage, they'd have to use Mystic Bone Art as much as possible and allow it to gradually influence their bodies.
In such a case, they could overcome their natural limitation and stack a few bodies. Lots of factors determine one's potential and the height they could reach by the end of their lives.
Even in the case of the Mammoth Clan which had existed for close to thirteen thousand years, with the genes of the Mammoth Clansmen continuing to improve constantly over the generations, not many succeed in entering the Life Stage.
Reaching the peak was another matter altogether.
This was another reason Brangara instantly accepted Yarsha Zahara as his wife. After all, through her, his children will be born competent. Their Empyrean Boar genes will be diluted anyway as his only choice to birth them was through a Free Human.
At least through Yarsha Zahara, they'd have a large arsenal of natural talent to capitalise upon. Moreover, by combusting his body at the Varahan Mansion, Brangara stimulated the genes of his children and strengthened them over time, allowing them to have a stronger foundation.
To further strengthen their foundation so that they had a chance of reaching the 10-Life Stage, Yarsha Zahara researched in the direction that strengthened their genetic makeup, resulting in the formation of Mystic Sumatra Art.
And now that the cultivation technique had been completed, as long as Brana and the rest of his siblings cultivate it, their genetic makeup will continue to improve over time.
Currently, Grehha had complete knowledge of Mystic Sumatra Art, having stolen it from Yarsha Zahara's memories. He had informed Gannala in the one time they communicated with each other—when he sent Yarsha Zahara's fertilised ovum to her.
Thereby, Gannala had the confidence of rearing more Wean Clansmen in the future. She stared at the twin that she had selected and enveloped him in a bone cocoon, applying the effects of Internal Inertial Gravity within to twist gravity.
The bone cocoon shrunk in size as she swallowed it and stored it in her stomach biome. She inspected her surroundings and checked multiple times to ensure no traces of her were left behind. She had cleaned up everything related to the second twin, including his portion of the umbilical cord.
Reverting to Nature Weapon form, she was swallowed by the Mystic Eater that retreated into the ground.
Another Mystic Eater worked on sealing up the hole as perfectly as possible. In the same fashion that a Mystic Eater infused minerals into a Human Avatar, it covered up the hole, ensuring even the grain distribution exactly matched the original.
The nanny had been supplied with Elixirs and Parute Fruits by the Mystic Eaters in the same process. And now, Gannala had stolen a Wean Clan baby without alerting anyone.
The Mystic Human Stamp cleared all memories from Penma related to her birthing a pair of twins and returned her memories, slightly modifying some of them to cover up the changes. Now, when she wakes up, Penma will only be aware of having birthed a single son.
Right after finishing its work on Penma, the Mystic Human Stamp returned to the nanny's body when suddenly, it absorbed all the data from her mindspace too. The nanny didn't react as she was being influenced by the Minor Treasure all along.
All the memories related to Gannala's side supplying Elixirs, Parute Fruits, etc. were erased from her mindspace. They were replaced by fabricated memories, ensuring the nanny would only remember behaving as her role dictated.
Once it was done, Virala sprouted the Minor Treasure of Mystic Human Stamp from the ground next to him. Once it sprouted there, it dissipated from her body. It didn't simply vanish but instead transformed into a stream of energy and entered the ground.
If her feet or any body part weren't in contact with the ground, it would be impossible for the Minor Treasure to leave her body and sprout in the location Virala desired. That was a weakness of the Minor Treasure's Root function.
"Congratulations, my Lady." The nanny said once she came to her senses, continuing her conversation with Penma as usual, unaware that she had forgotten everything related to Gannala.
"It's all thanks to your help." Penma stared at her nanny with gratitude and held her son dear to her, "He's cute!"
Two days later, in the laboratory of the Zahara Kingdom's palace, Grehha felt the Green Mystic Path leaving him. He closed his eyes and felt the changes, breaking into a subtle smile in response, 'It's a success.'
Since Gannala held the Empyrean Incubator containing Yarsha Zahara's ovum that had been fertilised by Grehha's sperm, she could control the volume of Prana being supplied to it and influence the baby's growth within.
This was how they would communicate. Once her plans were achieved, Gannala would speed up the last bits of the process, allowing the baby to grow the final portion necessary to hatch out of the Empyrean Incubator.
Right as the baby hatches, she'll receive the Green Mystic Path, which was an indicator to Grehha that he could begin his plan of action.
Once he confirmed that the Green Mystic Path had been transferred, Grehha stared at Yennda and nodded once, indicating that they could proceed now. Immediately in response, the two of them exercised the minimal freedom they had and stopped breathing.
During the inspection, Yarsha Zahara recorded her observations, judging how far the child could progress through the Life Stage, "The highest we have until now is still the 4-Life Stage."
"That's still good." Brangara nodded, "That will improve over time. 4-Life Stage is pretty significant this early in the picture. As long as they cultivate Mystic Sumatra Art zealously, they might enter the 6-Life Stage or even higher. They can live for a millennium after all. So there's a chance they could surpass our expectations."
"That is true…" Yarsha Zahara stopped speaking as she felt something was amiss, shouting a second later, "Those fuckers!"
"Husband…" She intended to alert Brangara upon exercising her will to keep the duo of Grehha and Yennda breathing. She felt that the duo was up to something, but by the moment she turned her head, Brangara wasn't there.
Shockwaves boomed across the room as a large hole formed in the wall. Racing to the top of the palace, Brangara stared into the sky, observing dozens of meteors falling towards the Zahara Kingdom.
The heat from the meteors reached first, setting panic amongst the people. The meteors were spread apart, targeting all over the Zahara Kingdom. But, all Brangara did was glance at them for a moment before which, he swerved his head.
He was unable to break his gaze free, noticing a hill-like existence across the horizon, positioned more than a hundred kilometres away. Due to its height, it was visible, especially since it was shooting massive compressed chunks of earth into the sky that trailed towards the Zahara Kingdom as a meteor strike.
Thump! Thump!
His pupils widened as he focused on the culprit, feeling his heart rate accelerate. The pores on his skin opened up as sweat oozed out in the form of steam, heated up as the temperature of his body continued to spike.
Absolute Hatred!
From the depths of his being, churned the emotion that he had been meditating the hardest to suppress. Instinctively, he knew the cause, 'She's the real deal!'
"Brangara!" Yarsha Zahara shouted shrilly, fearing that it could be a trap, but her shout fell on deaf ears. By the time the soundwaves from her shout could reach him, Brangara had disappeared. His figure had vanished from the Zahara Kingdom itself, blazing across the wilds as a pillar of light burst out of him, signalling that he had activated all three Natures and harmonised them, going all out from the get-go.
A grunting, maleficent scream reverberated amidst shockwaves, filled with pain, twisted to the extreme as a figure scrambled towards the target, "Gannalaaaa!"