Dralh Sea, Abode of the Mystics!
Situated in the Dralh Sea's Abyss Ring was a mountain that reached a height of 14 kilometres, the tallest in the region. The entire mountain radiated copious amounts of Prana, littered with Spirit Eaters producing Parute Fruits that fell on the ground upon ripening.
The Parute Fruits enriched the soil with Prana, improving the quality of the mountain. Artificially constructed, it became the sacred grounds for Mystic Humans, named their origin lands.
Constructed at the peak of the mountain purely using Zarzelite was a palace, referred to as the Abode of the Mystics. Due to the characteristics of the mineral, the entire palace shone with a gentle light, emanating a mystifying feeling.
Due to the massive waves of Prana circulating across Mystic Mountain thanks to the actions of the Spirit Eaters, the palace emanated a sacred feeling.
However, though it was called a palace, the building was small, barely occupying 10,000 square metres in area, the size of a square with the sides spanning 100 metres. The main building was constructed as a dome, with conical leaf-patterned outgrowths across the spherical surface.
Within the palace floors constructed out of Zarzelite, there was a circular patch, revealing soil within. The soil was damn, rich with nutrients constantly funnelling into it. Mystic Mountain too had been constructed by mimicking the Spirit Pools of the Cooter Clan.
It absorbed nutrients from the Dralh Sea, especially during the Death Hour when copious amounts of minerals were gushed out. The minerals absorbed traces of Prana resultant from the Parute Fruits mixing into the mountain, becoming enriched in response as they filled the Spirit Pool within the palace.
Affixed in the sole Spirit Pool at the peak of the Mystic Mountain was a Spirit Eater that Virala had gained possession of from Sumatra's Transcendent Eater. It was steadily absorbing nutrients from the Spirit Pool and producing Parute Seeds.
Seated twenty metres before it in a meditative pose atop a golden lotus was Virala, breathing in and out slowly. With every inhale, he drew in the Prana mixed with the air and absorbed it through the blood in his lungs. And slowly, he exhaled out turbid air.
The golden lotus generated a special influence, one on par with a Major Treasure, but geared to a living being's body. As he breathed in and out, his body absorbed the influence and steadily accumulated strength, growing tougher by an infinitesimal amount with every breath.
His tail flashed once, gathering all the Parute Seeds produced by the Spirit Eater and poured them into a sealed treasury nearby. Followed by soft footsteps, a youth entered the palace and bowed at the entrance.
After remaining silent for a few minutes, Virala uttered a soft tone, filled with dignity, "Enter."
The youth was Nez, the first Mystic Human that had appeared from the Dralh Sea. He had grown a bit over the years, now more informed and armed with a decent wealth of experience.
His expression was zealous as he walked softly and approached a second golden lotus that was positioned adjacent to Virala. He approached it and took a seat on it, scrunching up immediately as a powerful stream of influence flooded his being.
His mind space felt the pressure the most, causing the data to manifest tangible outside his body. He gradually gathered his bearings and generated Prana, absorbing the tangible data back into his mindspace.
Soon, he adjusted to the intensity of the influence generated by the platform, feeling his body gradually strengthen in response. The golden lotus was Virala's Minor Treasure of Mystic Human Stamp.
The reason there were two of them was simple. The moment Gannala used the Mammoth Clan Virala to generate the Nature of Internal Derivative Refiner to be housed in the Major Treasure of Arsenal, he was considered dead.
The Mystic Human Virala was no longer inhibited in his cultivation after that. The moment he sensed the opportunity, he directly entered the 2-Life Stage and had been focused on steadily cultivating his second body.
And the moment he gained a second body, his Minor Treasure of Mystic Human Stamp replicated itself. Similar to how a Major Treasure's influence builds up an Influenced Region, by concentrating its influence, the Mystic Human Stamp gained a second piece.
It did consume a stupid amount of Prana though. Thankfully, the Dralh Sea had plenty of food and an extremely limited number of predators. Due to repeated invasions from the Bludders and overcrowding of Phells, the powerful Pranic Beasts that once inhabited the Dralh Sea thinned out rapidly.
The scant few survivors were living within the Abyss Ring. And of course, Virala didn't want powerful enemies to live at his doorstep. Hence, he systematically eliminated them, using the Prana he generated by consuming them to grow his second Mystic Human Stamp.
Currently, there were a total of 814 Mystic Humans excluding him and Ruvva. This was from a million Free Humans attempting the process. The results were extremely satisfactory for him, for 814 Mystic Humans laid down a solid foundation.
That wasn't all. Once a year, Knork Island would send a talented batch of Free Humans who had gone through the mode of education Virala had created. They'd attempt the process of becoming Mystic Humans.
Knork Island's population was currently at four million. With the Mystic Humans giving protection and resources, not to mention expanding the size of the island artificially, enough space had been made to accustom ten million humans.
Other than the ones left to maintain the population, every other child would aim to become a Mystic Human. Virala aimed to have at least a hundred thousand Free Humans attempt the process every year.
That would result in about a hundred Mystic Humans, if their quality was good. Being able to add a hundred Mystic Humans every year was an ample amount. It would take a decade to reach that point, following which the place would usher in a virtuous cycle.
The kids of Mystic Humans were born as Free Humans, but their success rate in becoming a Mystic Human was significantly higher than the Free Humans of Knork Island. Once the strengths of the Mystic Humans stabilise and they start having children, the Dralh Sea will truly become a stronghold.
And as their leader, Virala had completely whitewashed his image as a virtuous leader. Not that he stopped being his scummy self, but he simply had no reason or opportunity to do so. His strength had reached such a height that he started maintaining a fa?§ade.
On a nearby mountain was Peikaha, the Spirit Eater Guardian. He had a Human Avatar made out of Rutham, revived and controlled by a Spirit Eater. He was busy refining Zarzelite using Mystic Kinesis Art.
Though the refining efficiency was limited, as it wasn't Kirenal, it was still able to refine Zarzelite. The efficiency was around seventy percent of refining Kirenal into Rutham.
Zarzelite, when refined fully, produced the Gold Grade mineral, Tratham. It had the property of gentle heat psychokinesis, able to unleash the effect of psychokinesis through heat and light. The heat was warm at best while the light wasn't ear-piercing. They merely acted as a medium to transmit psychokinesis.
The waves of psychokinesis it unleashed varied according to the shape and size of the Tratham. The waves bombarded all forms of matter, but other than acting as a form of force, they didn't do anything.
Varied angles and intensities of push were all this wave of psychokinesis was capable of. Unlike Rutham, Tratham didn't generate any impressive speeds, strength, and range for a Spirit Weapon.
Currently, Virala managed to develop the Tratham into a boat. By coursing waves of psychokinesis through the water, the boat could travel at rapid speeds. The Mystic Humans were already travelling on such boats.
The second variant was a shield, which unleashed psychokinesis on all incoming projectiles, decelerating them rapidly until they stopped before reaching the shield. Virala threw a piece of rock at one such shield upon assuming Brangara's appearance.
The rock lost most of its momentum midway and produced a mild bang upon slamming into the shield. If an army of Mystic Humans carried such shields, they'd be able to tank the throws from even the Royal Zinger.
And thanks to their recovery speeds as Spirit Eaters, they'd be able to get back on their feet quickly even when breached. The strength of the force emitted through the psychokinesis varied in proportion to the amount of Prana expended.
Hence, with the large reserve of Prana that all Mystic Humans possessed, their defensive capabilities were spectacular. Similarly, the psychokinesis could be emitted as a concentrated beam, resulting in an attack similar to the one unleashed by Boul Brimgan's Kinesis Feline.
Since he lacked a ranged attack, Virala eventually swapped the Rutham out of his Mystic Ewworm's tool and replaced it with Tratham.
As using Mystic Kinesis Art would cause him to lose Prana permanently, Virala instead relied on the influence generated by his Mystic Human Stamp to refine and strengthen his Tratham. All the other Mystic Humans were doing the same.
Though the speed at which they could strengthen their Spirit Weapons wasn't on par with Brimgan Royals, it was still a worthy trade-off as had significantly longer lifespans. So, they could afford a longer time to reach the 10-Life Stage and possibly accumulate enough of the Mystic Human Stamp's influence in their Spirit Weapons to turn it into a Minor Treasure.
Virala felt confident that they too could refine their tools into Spirit Weapons eventually through his method. Of course, the chances of it happening were far off in the future.
Virala always stayed on his Mystic Human Stamp, constantly strengthening himself. The second Mystic Human Stamp was used by the other Mystic Humans. The duration they could stay on it depended on their contributions.
'The day I have ten Mystic Human Stamps is when my Mystic Humans will enter their heyday.' Virala thought, snapping his finger once as he told Nez to leave. He blinked once and turned to his right, staring at Orakha to ask, "How long will you be using my Minor Treasure this time?"
Orakha remained in silence until Nez left the palace and spoke, "I won't be using it anymore."
"What happened?" Virala's expression turned serious upon staring at Orakha's lack of fighting spirit, "Did something happen to the Mammoth Clan."
"Nothing happened…yet." Sighing in response, Orakha revealed information about Yamahara's birth and everything he witnessed the latter do.
"Boar Kings…?" Virala was stunned for a few minutes before nodding, feeling pressured by the fact, "That is indeed troublesome. But, confirm me something."
He stared at Orakha to ask, "They're the Boar King and not the Empyrean Boar King, right?"
"Brana's presence upon becoming the Boar King indicated that his transformation was at the Expert Gold Grade," Orakha replied.
"It's not the end of the world then." Virala nodded, "My Mystic Humans can face the Boar Kings. We have an advantage in numbers. And at endgame, all of us will be pooling our strength. So, we have a significant fighting chance."
"The Mammoth Clan will be leaving Sumatra." Orakha sighed and said, "And I plan to leave with them too."
"Are you…serious?" Virala was silent for a few seconds before asking, "What about the rest?"
"Yennda is staying behind, but he's prepared to die. Blola doesn't care. He's confident of succeeding as long as he reaches the 10-Life Stage, so he's staying too." Orakha trailed off, "Grehha…I'm not sure. He has expressed neither an interest of staying nor leaving Sumatra."
"His daughter has been birthed, right? What's he doing with her?" Virala asked next.
"He has encased her in an Empyrean Incubator immediately upon being revived by Blola." Orakha said, "His daughter has remained in the state of a newborn since then."
"I won't stop you if you wish to leave, but I'm afraid leaving Sumatra isn't up to us." Virala said and got up, stretching his joints to brisk himself, "While the Mammoth Clan is making plans to leave, let's ask the guy who probably knows the best solution to the situation."
"Do you know where Inala is?" Orakha asked in excitement.
"I know the direction he went last." Virala said and pointed at the Abyss Fall, "From the data I pulled out of the Pranic Beasts living here, I saw scenes of him entering the Abyss Fall."
With a mild grunt, his newly forming body stayed behind on the Mystic Human Stamp while the mature body grabbed Orakha and jumped in the direction of Abyss Fall, "Let's visit him, shall we?"
"I want to know how much he has grown in this time."