From the depths of the ocean, Inala watched the duo of Orakha and Virala head up the stream of water, en route to the Abyss Fall leading into the Dralh Sea. He steadily kept watching until they disappeared from even his eyesight, too far off to make out anymore.
Immediately following that, he condensed a Biome Bomb and placed it at the spot where the stream of water connected to the ocean. He created a series of Biome Bombs and connected them, lining the network until the lowermost Biome Bomb's strings of Prana came in contact with the ocean bed and latched onto the spot.
Kriek!
He let out a shriek, watching a couple of Biome Bombs float his way until they joined the network. The strings of Prana on both sides coiled to form a tunnel and connected with each other. After a few seconds, the space within the two biome Bombs in contact synchronised, allowing for the flow of matter between the two.
A hole opened on both sides as Quip Clansmen walked out of the Biome Bomb and entered the Biome Bomb network. They were tasked with keeping a watch on anyone who might arrive from the Dralh Sea next. They were also in charge of making contact with the Mystic Humans and resources that Virala would be sending next.
'Things have progressed to greater complexities. Thankfully, Virala's Mystic Humans will prove useful.' Inala thought, interested in amassing a large batch of Parute Fruits through the Mystic Humans.
He could use these as money to trade with the Ravaged Federation. Currently, Inala's Biome Puppets had infiltrated four cities, mingling expertly among the populace. He could arm these puppets with Parute Fruits and make them engage in transactions for his benefit.
It opened up another route for resource gathering, which honestly was a welcome change. But most of all, the Mystic Humans would supply the Quip Clan medicines, which was what they lacked the most.
The Quip Clan's capability in this field was severely lacking, and currently, they didn't have the energy to invest in this regard, having already been exploring countless other fields.
Inala could craft a bunch of medicines, but even for him, crafting medicines was the most efficient with Mystic Mist Art, which he couldn't use without sustaining damage to his Prana reserves.
Trying to do the same through Mystic Royal Art and Perfect Biome Domination wasn't efficient enough, and he already had a lot on his plate. It was best to trade when the option existed instead of trying everything himself.
For the next four days, Inala made preparations for the arrival of the Mystic Humans five months later. He even placed a large Biome Bomb on the ocean floor where the Mystic Humans could enter and lodge the roots of their Spirit Eater forms and draw up nutrients to generate Parute Fruits.
Finished with the preparations, Inala swam through the ocean in his human form, slow in his motion. He soon came across a deep valley, one that seemed to have formed due to the tectonic plates moving farther away from each other.
This crack on the ocean floor spanned three kilometres in breadth and reached four kilometres deep. It was dark here, lacking any sunlight. The water pressure was tremendous too, capable of crushing most Silver Grade Pranic Beasts.
Inala grabbed an orb from his back and turned the Prana Bomb transparent, allowing light from the Bolt of Transcendence within to radiate outward, illuminating the valley. Littered on the valley, with each spanning a cubic metre in size were Biome Bombs, spherical in shape, half-wedged into the ground.
Currently, there were close to sixty Mystic Biome Bombs, with their Prana strings widened to form tunnels. A string from each Biome Bomb joined to form a tunnel, acting as a bridge between the two Biome Bombs, allowing for travel.
The space within these bridges was synchronised with the Biome Bombs, hence the people within didn't face any issues as they moved between the Biome Bombs. Each Mystic Biome Bomb spanned a radius of 179 metres, with the remainder metre left for the string of Prana.
If the Biome Bomb was 180 metres, it signified the maximum size, preventing a string of Prana from extending out. The radius of the Biome Bomb plus the length of the string cannot exceed 180 metres, that was the rule his Biome Bombs followed.
These sixty Biome Bombs became the home of the Quip Clan, with each Biome Bomb designated with specific purposes. From one edge of the arrangement ran a string of Prana, created by a Biome Bomb whose internal radius was only a metre.
The remainder distance was used to create a string that joined with the Biome Bomb positioned at the edge of the cluster of sixty Mystic Biome Bombs.
This string was similar to the ones he had created all over the place—179 metres in length and attached to a Biome Bomb with a metre in radius.
By joining these strings, Inala created a long transmission line for Prana, attaching its other end to the Biome Lattice. This way, the Quip Clan could gather energy for its operations from the Biome Lattice.
The production capacity of the Biome Lattice was more than enough, despite Inala absorbing at his maximum capacity to condense Sumatra Gold and Bolts of Transcendence. He was simply limited by the amount of Prana that could flow through the strings of the Gold Biome Bombs.
The amount of Prana stored in the Biome Lattice was many times higher. The transmission line from the Quip Clan Settlement was connected to a section of the Biome Lattice that was gathering the most amount of Prana from the Phells.
Every time the Biome Lattice drew in a large stream of Phells, the Phells weren't uniformly distributed. Many concentrated upon specific regions, the Biome Bomes in the proximity of which overflowed with Prana.
Over the years of operation, Inala observed the Biome Lattice and noted down such places. He then created transmission lines from these locations, joined them, and connected them to the Quip Clan Settlement.
The Mystic Biome Bombs forming the Quip Clan Settlement constantly absorbed Prana from the Biome Lattice to condense terrain, trees, etc. within, recreating the Dieng Canyon. However, the radius of the Mystic Biome Bombs was only 179 metres, while the elevated plateaus of the Dieng Canyon were two kilometres high.
It won't be possible to recreate the actual Dieng Canyon in this place due to the limitations of space within the Biome Bombs. Inala had plans with his Tertiary Nature to solve that, which was why he had been patiently accumulating resources all along, ignoring everything else happening outside.
His Quip Clansmen too needed time to grow and mature. Time was of the essence here. Before they could consume the tremendous amount of resources at their disposal and grow to a sufficient amount of strength, Inala had no intentions to engage in a conflict.
He didn't like the fact that Virala and Orakha found the Ravaged Federation where he was hiding. But that was how things proceeded on Sumatra Continent. He couldn't control everything. Hence, he had to always stay on his toes and constantly make changes to his plans.
'Even though I wanted to accumulate resources until I had enough to finish all my plans, things have changed.' Inala sighed as he landed before one of the Mystic Biome Bombs forming the settlement. 'Since those two know about my place, it's a matter of time before the entire Mammoth Clan knows too. If there's any information leak, Brangara and Yarsha Zahara too will know.'
'Since they are fully aware of Sumatra Chronicles, they'll figure out what I'm up to here.' He sighed and shook his head, maintaining his strength at the Mystic Grade as he let out a shriek. 'I need to start my plans in advance. I have more than enough accumulations for my Tertiary Nature. Let's start with it first.'
In response to his shriek, the Mystic Biome Bomb whirred into action and began to expand to its original size. This Mystic Biome Bomb served as the entrance into the Quip Clan Settlement. The doors opened as Inala entered inside. The effects of Perfect Biome Domination only allowed his entry, keeping the high-pressure water at bay.
Once he was inside, the space began to twist as the Mystic Biome Bomb began to shrink from an external point of view. Internally, it was the same for Inala. Once the space was fully twisted, the Mystic Biome Bomb only spanned a metre in radius from the outside.
Now that the space in it had been synchronised with the rest of the Settlement, the doors opened to other Biome Bombs as Inala walked through the bridges, steady in his pace.
Shriek! Boom!
A 2-Life Stage Quip Clansman shrieked with all her might, producing a shockwave that slammed into the wall four hundred metres away from her and created a diagram similar to those used by a gramophone.
The grooves were intricate, reaching a depth of a millimetre at its highest, depending on the intensity of the respective data. Neat lines trailed across the diagram, resulting in a series of concentric circles connected like a maze.
The image was pretty visible to the naked eye and seemed perfect. However, once the woman approached the wall until the diagram was within her Spirit Weapon range and seeped Prana into it, the resulting sound caused her to frown.
Her eyes were closed for a moment as she analysed all the information she received, grumbling in exasperation, "The engraving's not perfect. Eight percent of the information has been reduced to mere noise."
Her grumbling stopped as the woman got up in a hurry, her poise straight as she noticed Inala observing from afar and bowed in his direction, "I greet the Deity!"
"Continue training." Inala waved his hand, allowing the woman to ease up and continue pondering about her training session. Sound travelled as a wave, so the farther it went from the source, the greater its diffusion, even when unleashed as a beam.
To improve it, the power has to be increased and the Prana infused into the shriek has to be moulded precisely, ensuring it keeps the soundwave intact and prevents diffusion.
The woman was currently practising on reducing the Prana used for a Piezo Slip on a target 400 metres away. Once she succeeds, she'll then proceed to practice for a range of 500 metres. Some of the talented ones had already exceeded 700 metres and were making greater strides.
Inala watched the woman's training session for a couple more minutes before making his way to the next Biome Bomb. It was empty except for small hooks littered across the inner surface of the Biome Bomb.
A group of Quip Zingers in Pranic Beast forms were currently climbing to the top of the Biome Bomb using the hooks, following which they jumped to glide. Followed by numerous aerial acrobatics, they arrived at the bottommost hook and latched onto it firmly.
They were training to engage and disengage from their spots to glide around. The group became stunned upon seeing Inala, so much so that some of them forgot to turn around in the air and slammed into the walls of the Biome Bomb.
"Careful!" Inala said, extending a string of Prana that grabbed the Quip Zinger in danger of colliding into the hooks. He waved his hand, motioning for them to continue training, ignoring the Quip Zinger who was overjoyed to come into contact with his Prana.
With a slow stroll, Inala entered the third Biome Bomb which too was covered by hooks. But also dangling in the air were a series of hoops in all shapes and sizes. They were also arranged in a series of angles, making a tough aerial course for the Zingers to glide through.
As he entered, he watched a Quip Zinger deftly turn its body while gliding, using air friction as a drag whenever necessary to make sharp turns without losing much altitude. There were close to thirty such hoops, the hardest of which was shaped like a crescent, angled 220 degrees from its previous hoop.
The Quip Zinger spread itself wide, breaking its hardest to make the turn, but wasn't perfect enough. It ended up crashing into the ring of the hoop, falling to the ground, at the end of which it glided a bit and landed.
It clutched its stomach that suffered the impact, healing the damage through Prana, gasping in exhaustion while it observed another Quip Zinger attempt the same.
"Is it tough?" A glorious voice resounded from behind, startling the Quip Zinger who turned around in a hurry and prostrated.
"It's fine, be normal." Inala said with patience and sat beside the trembling Quip Zinger, "This loop is pretty tough. I hit the rings multiple times myself."
The Quip Zinger reverted to human form, transforming into an eight-year-old boy who was nervous, scared, but also excited, staring at Inala with awestruck eyes to ask, "Then, how did you make that turn?"
"Want me to show you?" Inala asked.
"YES!" The boy jumped up and down in joy, his shout alerting everyone else training in the place, including their gliding instructor, the Zinger Guard, Kenzar.