"How the fuck did you achieve this?" Orakha felt it hard to believe what his eyes were witnessing. Though it only had one carnivorous mouth, it was still a smaller version of a Transcendent Eater. It had all the powers that Blola possessed, just weaker.
Basically, Virala obtained an army of Blola juniors to do his bidding.
Seeing Orakha's stunned expression made Virala feel proud. He puffed his chest and huffed with an arrogant tone, "I achieved it through sheer grit, commitment, and focus."
"Bullshit, just tell me the truth." Orakha rolled his eyes, getting an urge to beat up Virala upon seeing his expression of boastful arrogance, "Did you steal it from Blola?"
"Well…yeah." Virala scratched his cheek and laughed awkwardly, "You know I stole the data of your Mystic Eaters. And through my Minor Treasure, I armed those tangible data in such a way that when Blola fights the Transcendent Eater in his mind space, the resulting clash spills more information into his Prana."
"And I've been consuming his flesh brimming with that Prana." He grinned, "With a combination of my stamp and the natural capabilities of the Empyrean Boar King body, I accumulated the necessary information eventually."
"It just allowed me to realise the truth of their identity. I then planned to take advantage of it based on the details about the Parute King Seed n Sumatra Chronicles and Blola's experience after consuming it." Virala concluded.
'He has yet to get to the truth of the matter. All he's doing is yapping around the real reason.' Orakha thought and dropped the topic. If Virala didn't wish to reveal the truth, he wouldn't pry into it forcefully either. 'I'll give him a reason to reveal it to me eventually, just as I've done for the rest.'
Probably the only person Virala considered his friend, or at least someone close to being a friend was Orakha. And Orakha realised that, which was why he wasn't all too adamant about getting to the truth of the matter.
Besides, just the information being revealed to him was shocking enough. Any more and he'll find it hard to digest everything.
"My Deity! What should I do now? I still need to fuse with one more Pranic Beast body. If My Deity has something in mind, I'll focus on capturing it with all my effort." The seventeen-year-old boy announced, struggling to articulate at the start, but in a matter of seconds, his carnivorous mouth produced human sounds.
"I already have your second Pranic Beast body." Virala grinned and exited the cave, following which he assumed Mystic Ewworm form, occupying a sizeable amount of space.
The Free Humans who exited the cave to watch the spectacle prostrated spontaneously upon seeing such a ginormous beast. One of them even began to compose a poem based on how much his emotions were riled up after witnessing such a sight.
"Are you going to capture a Pranic Beast?" Orakha frowned before asking, "Or will you be using the Nature Weapons?"
"Neither," Virala released a soft grunt before asking, "Do you know how Ewworms reproduce?"
"By laying eggs?" Orakha asked, unsure of the answer.
"That's one way." Virala nodded, "But an Ewworm is an Annelid."
"Are you a hermaphrodite, then?" Orakha asked and took a few steps back in reflex.
"Fuck you!" Virala cursed in anger, "That's Inala!"
"Then what are you talking about?" Orakha asked, still maintaining his distance.
"Have you never severed a worm into two on Earth?" Virala grumbled as his Spirit Weapon hovered beside his body, made out of Rutham, in the shape of a chakram. It whirred into life and cut off the tail section.
Virala immediately assumed human form and transformed his Spirit Weapon into a hand, using it to hold the twitching tail, "Hold still!"
Hiss!
The severed portion immediately regenerated an upper body, resulting in a 200-metre-long Ewworm that wriggled, intending to wrestle free. Its head stared in the direction of Orakha, intending to burrow into his rectum.
"Seems someone loves your ass." Virala laughed as he nudged Orakha, "You want this cutie for yourself?"
"As firewood, yes." Orakha activated his Human Avatar, ready to vaporise the Ewworm if it dared approach him.
"I'm kidding," Virala laughed as his figure flickered and arrived before the Ewworm, kicking it in the face until it fell unconscious. "When the body of a mature Ewworm is severed into two, the tail end can grow into a new lifeform."
"Is it a Mystic Ewworm too?" Orakha asked in shock as he stared at the unconscious Ewworm before him.
"Unfortunately, it's not." Virala sighed in disappointment, "The limit of natural birth for any existence is the Gold Grade. So, even though this creature is formed through a Mystic Ewworm, it's only a Gold Grade Pranic Beast."
"It's still plenty good, as it's a Gold Grade Pranic Beast." Virala grinned, "In terms of fighting strength, it pales in comparison to other Gold Grade Pranic Beasts, but it unlocks significant potential in the hands of a Mystic Human."
Intermediate Gold Grade Pranic Beast—Gold Ewworm!
With a Prana capacity of 5010 and a lifespan of 1110 years, it was a decently powerful Pranic Beast. Due to its characteristics, it was useless individually, and could only express its strength when inhabiting the rectum of another Pranic Beast, especially a Gold Grade Pranic Beast or above.
"Come here and assume your Spirit Eater form once again." Virala commanded the seventeen-year-old boy, "You'll need a lot of Prana to refine this Gold Ewworm's body and make it a part of your strength. I'll keep it unconscious, so you can take your time with the process."
Virala made the boy fuse with the Spirit Eater first so that he could assume Spirit Eater form, absorb nutrients from the soil, and generate Prana. This steady influx of Prana would make it easier to refine the Gold Ewworm's body as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, with barely a hundred units of Prana, it would take him months, if not more.
"I understand what you wish to achieve now," Orakha said as he watched the boy in action. He stared at Virala to state in praise, "You're raising an army of unkillable powerhouses."
Through the Spirit Eater form, the Mystic Human would root himself at a spot and constantly generate Prana, using which they would fight. The Spirit Eater would fight in close range while the Gold Ewworm would fight in mid-range.
Its Spirit Weapon would fight in long range, since Zarzelite had emission capabilities.
Secondary Body—Spirit Eater!
Tertiary Body—Gold Ewworm!
Spirit Eaters had a Prana capacity of 7200 and a lifespan of 1550 years. Basically, a Mystic Human who had fused with the two Pranic Beasts would have a Prana capacity of 12,210 and an absurd lifespan of 2660 years.
This already exceeded the power of an Expert Gold Grade Pranic Beast. Even an Empyrean Snapper that was the longest-lived among Expert Gold Grade Pranic Beasts doesn't live past two millennia.
But these Mystic Humans well exceeded that. And their Prana capacity was on par with an Intermediate Mystic Grade Pranic Beast. The most terrifying of them all was that this was per body.
Mystic Humans could progress through the Life Stage and eventually reach the 10-Life Stage. They pretty much had an unrivalled foundation. As beings unaffected by external influence, they'd be the most stable among the human race, eventually becoming the leader.
Producing Gold Ewworms wouldn't be an issue even in Virala's absence. Any Mystic Human who had reached the peak of the Body Stage could simply sever their Gold Ewworm form into two and birth a new one.
As for the Parute Seeds, that was even simple. Virala had fused his Mystic Human Stamp into the Spirit Eater. Until the end of its lifespan, it'll keep producing Parute Seeds. And upon its death, one of the Mystic Humans could use the Minor Treasure upon a newly sprouted Parute Tree and create another Spirit Eater.
Virala intended to conceptualise all the information necessary for the process and store it in the Mystic Human stamp itself. This way, the Mystic Human race could function on its own even without his involvement.
"You know, you too could create a powerful force like this." Virala said as he stared at Orakha, "It's childsplay with your set of abilities."
"I know." Orakha nodded.
"Then why aren't you making one? Time's running short." Virala argued, "The Third Major Disaster won't wait for you to be prepared."
"It's exactly because of it that I've yet to form a force." Orakha said as he stared at Virala, "Half the Empyrean Tusk herd were killed by the Armoury and the rest were too injured to make a full recovery."
"Yes, that's because they underestimated it…" Virala retorted, only to see Orakha shook his head with a sigh.
"Unlike other Influenced Regions, the Armoury is…a hunter." Orakha said, speaking upon seeing Virala's eyes widen, "Boul Brimgan has scouted it a bit. When I compared his experiences with Sumatra Chronicles, I found out that everything that happened in the Third Major Disaster wasn't a coincidence or an unfortunate twist of fate."
"You mean…the Armoury actively targeted the Mammoth Clan?" Virala asked in shock, realising something as he muttered, "Is that why it targeted the Empyrean Tusks more than the Mammoth Clansmen? With the Major Treasure of Weapon's power, it makes sense from a logical standpoint."
"The Major Treasure of Weapon can become a Spirit Weapon for any mineral it comes into contact with." Orakha sighed, "And the Armoury is a place full of these Spirit Weapons. It's like a living beast with a desire to collect more Spirit Weapons. And the stronger the mineral it chances upon, the strongest the Spirit Weapons it could gather."
"Recall the speciality of the Empyrean Tusks."
"Their tusks!" Virala nodded. The tusk of an Empyrean Tusk was touted to be the hardest material on Sumatra. As Sumatra Gold hadn't been unearthed in Sumatra Chronicles, the most precious mineral the Armoury could chance upon was the tusk of an Empyrean Tusk.
"That's why it targeted the Mammoth Clan. If Resha hadn't obtained the Major Treasure of Weapon as soon as he did, all the Empyrean Tusks would have died." Orakha said, sighing in response, "When the Third Major Disaster starts, there's a solid chance the Armoury might attack the Brimgan Empire, the Varahan Empire, or your Kingdom."
"Sumatra Gold, huh?" Virala muttered, frowning upon noticing an oddity, "Wait a second! When the fuck did the Brimgan Empire get a gold of Sumatra Gold?"
"I gave ten pieces to Boul Brimgan." Orakha smiled wryly, "Since they have an irreconcilable hatred towards Brangara, I wanted Boul Brimgan to grow strong enough to threaten the Celestial Boar. Since I didn't have a use for them anyway, I gave them to him in exchange for some benefits."
"You are one scary merchant." Virala laughed upon seeing that Orakha didn't detail the benefits he received from Boul Brimgan. He thought a little and understood Orakha's thought process, "So, you're supporting the Brimgan Empire."
"Yup," Orakha nodded, "Instead of raising a force from scratch, I'm better off strengthening the Brimgan Empire, since they're strong, especially after Boul Brimgan took the reins."
"My Deith! I'm done!" The seventeen-year-old boy interrupted their conversation as he assumed human form and prostrated on the ground. The body of the Gold Ewworm had disappeared, fused into his Spirit Container once the refinement process was done.
He was jubilant upon gaining such an inconceivable level of strength, not to mention the sheer amount of lifespan he had gained. "I'm awaiting orders."
"Good," Virala nodded in praise and dropped ten kilograms of Rutham before the boy, "This is your first task."
"Yes," The boy nodded and consumed the Rutham after assuming his Gold Ewworm form. Slowly, he condensed a tool at the end of his tail out of the Rutham.
"Take this," Virala tossed a handful of Spirit Containers in the boy's mouth. This Spirit Container cluster acted as Information Slips for Mystic Humans. As the boy consumed them, the map of the Dralh Sea and its surrounding regions became highlighted in his mind.
There were thousands of such maps and labelled in detail on each map were mineral deposits of a particular type. As the boy accessed the information in a daze, Virala's voice jolted him awake, "Your task is to mine Zarzelite."
"I…need to mine?" The boy felt his ears were deceiving him, "My Deity! Didn't you claim that we can lead whole new lives upon becoming Mystic Humans?"
"You still need to eat, shit, and fight, even if you become a Mystic Human." Virala snorted, "And unlike before, you'll be mining Zarzelite for yourself. That's the mineral you'll be using to forge a Spirit Weapon."
He pointed at the tool made out of Rutham, "That's Rutham I took from the Brimgan Empire, a major Free Human epicentre. It'll help you mine better. As the first successful Mystic Human of this group, it's your job to lead the rest."
"Since you have experience mining, you'll carry out the necessary work and educate your successors upon the task. And with your Spirit Eater form, you'll never run out of Prana to use." He said in an energising tone.
The seventeen-year-old boy was pretty simple-minded, thanks to the Cooter Clan's education. He was fired up by the end of the speech, thumping his chest thunderously to proclaim, "I'll complete this task zealously!"
And just as he was about to head to the closest mining location, Virala called at him, "By the way…"
"Yes! My Deity!" The boy replied in zeal.
"What's your name?" Virala asked without a hint of shame.
"it's Nez!" The boy replied, happy that his Deity asked for his name.
"Be careful out there, Nez." Virala stated in a cautionary tone, "Focus on gathering some fighting experience against the Bludders and the Phells. Once you become accustomed to your abilities, travel through the Dralh Sea. The closest Zarzelite deposit is a bit too dangerous for the current you."
"You can head there once your Prana levels surpass five hundred."
"Yes! My Deity!" Nez said and rushed to the border of Tez Island, engaging in a battle against a Bludder nearby, only to almost be killed by an Eddy Blade.
"Told you to be careful,"Virala said as his tail was the one that had tanked the Eddy Blade.
"Y-Yes!" Nez stammered and gathered his wits as he attempted to fight once again.
"Will he be alright?" Orakha asked, "He knows nothing apart from mining."
"I've already spoon-fed him all the knowledge." Virala shrugged, "Now, he only needs to gain experience that would allow him to comprehend the information in his possession. As long as I protect him for a week or two, he'd grow enough to not be beaten up by a Bludder in a one-on-one battle."
"The rest is up to him."