702 Resha’s Childhood
"I'm sorry…Resha."
"Please…survive!"
"As long as you live, the Mammoth Clan has hope to continue its existence."
"Live, Resha, live!"
"…Resha…"
"RESHA!"
"Urgh!" Seated on a sand dune at a spot two kilometres from the Sandy-Grey Void was Resha, his body covered with sweat. His expression seemed unfocused while his eyes exhibited pain.
Every breath he took reminded him of the final moments of his Mammoth Clansmen, those he was in charge of protecting. Every time they died, they only prayed for his survival. As long as he lives, the Mammoth Clan will revive eventually.
But that never happened, as it was all a product of Renduldu's future sight as he created Sumatra Chronicles, 'I know that's the truth, but still…'
His brows creased as his eyes turned red, "To me, it doesn't matter. I lived through it all, whether real or fake. And if I don't pick up the slack, Sumatra Chronicles will become our reality."
"Resha, we need to stick together as Death Row students." Aged ten, Orakha claimed with a flashy pose, "And if they still chuck us in the mouth of a Pranic Beast, we'll wrestle out from its belly."
"Idiot, just drink laxatives and it'll shit you out." Virala retorted.
"Save me if I can't make it out from its mouth." Blola stated with a pessimistic tone, "I'm afraid I'll be the first one that's chucked into the Pranic Beast's mouth."
"Well, I can't argue against Blola. He speaks the truth. He's the most useless of us." Yennda laughed and ducked to avoid a weak punch from Blola.
"Those two are somewhat better." Orakha commented as he nudged Resha and pointed at the duo of Inala and Grehha, "Maybe they won't be killed upon graduation."
"What do you think, Resha?" Orakha made eye contact with Resha, asking in seriousness, "Will all seven of us survive past the age of fifteen?"
"Haah!" Seated on the sand dune, Resha sighed, constantly churning his Prana through the Major Treasure of Cure, using the influence of which he began to gradually unearth his childhood memories that had been altered thanks to the power of Renduldu's future sight.
In places where he thought he was alone, six others were accompanying him, sharing his burden. They weren't always on the same page and argued most of the time, but when push came to shove, they had his back.
"Keuk! Thank goodness Blola can revive us." A string of tears streamed down his face as Resha thought of his past. Among the seven, the one closest to him, constantly following him as a friend and having his back in all situations was none other than Orakha.
They were actually besties before Sumatra Chronicles took effect. But once it did so, Resha forgot them and a few minutes later, caused Orakha's brutal death at the hands of the Mud Vipers.
If Blola never ventured out through the Ennoudu Plains to obtain the Parute King Seed, he would have never obtained the power of the Transcendent Eater, which meant Resha was the one who killed his bestie with cold-blooded composure.
"Damn him!" Resha cursed Renduldu for playing with his head, which caused a lot of chaos. Moreover, Sumatra Chronicles was a stronger ability than he had thought.
The moment Resha approaches an Empyrean Tusk, the influence it generates would cause him to gradually forget his childhood with the Mystic Seven and revert to his Sumatra Chronicles self. And this influence was generated the strongest from Gannala, the Supreme Tusk's successor.
If Resha wanted to mature, he would have to be away from the Empyrean Tusks. However, that would prevent him from protecting them. But if he remained with them, he'd revert to his Sumatra Chronicles self over time, which would cause him to make the same mistakes as before.
"Shit!" He understood the reason well. His sheer genetic composition was arranged in such a manner that there was never a Mammoth Clansman more attuned to Mystic Bone Art than him, so much so that his affinity actually exceeded the Empyrean Tusks and reached the level of the Supreme Tusk.
If the Supreme Tusk hadn't combusted her potential, she would have been on par with a mature Resha. That was what made Resha so special, he was a product of thirteen thousand years of genetic accumulation at all the right levels.
Majority of the creatures cannot even fuse with a Major Treasure. However, Resha couldn't feel any limitation in that regard. As he experienced, he felt that he could fuse with more than three Major Treasures.
'Maybe once I recover all my memories, I'll be able to find the answer.' He sighed. Renduldu's plan was simple. The Mystic Paths were designed to transfer all their accumulations to their daughters, who in turn would evolve into Empyrean Tusk variants geared to counter Brangara, as the Mystic Paths faced him at every Major Disaster.
As long as the daughters are born, they'll experience an evolution during the Fourth Major Disaster, as the Mystic Paths in them will fill rapidly once the Mystic Seven enter the Transcended Place, which was the Seat of Transcendence's Influenced Region.
And even if they were to fail, the Mystic Paths would funnel into Resha, along with all the experiences they had accumulated. They'll combine to become the Supreme Tusk's Mystic Path and allow Resha to become the strongest existence to ever walk on Sumatra, on par with the Celestial Boar.
The Supreme Tusk Gannala only had a Mystic Path. But the one Resha will be getting would be seven Mystic Paths all filled to varying levels, raising his evolution potential to a whole other level.
Moreover, all the Empyrean Tusk inheritances that the Supreme Tusk Gannala had were present in the Major Treasure of Cure. As the Major Treasures unleashed its influence in his biomes and began to gradually transform them into its Influenced Region, Resha was obtaining all the inheritances too, and even beyond.
The Major Treasure of Cure elevated Resha's Primary Nature from Internal Inertial Gravity to Perfect Inertial Gravity. And the Influenced Region it generates in an Empyrean Tusk's biomes was capable of converging all Empyrean Tusk inheritances in it.
The more this developed, the more Resha progressed to the state where he held the key to reviving the Mammoth Clan singlehandedly when necessary. It wasn't just that, but the more he absorbed the influence from the Major Treasure of Cure, the more he wondered how it had been created.
After all, the Supreme Tusk Gannala was a Gold Grade Pranic Beast. But despite that, she had created the Major Treasure of Cure, not by becoming one through Bolts of Transcendence but by condensing it in her heart.
This seemed to go against all the rules that had been established in Sumatra until now. 'I need to understand the underlying principles behind it completely before I can return to the Mammoth Clan.'
Though he wanted to head back as soon as possible to protect them, he couldn't do so for the time being, for that decision would wipe away all his mental growth once again. He couldn't afford to go through that, for it took him close to fifteen years to achieve this growth.
"Aaargh!" Resha's thoughts were interrupted by a loud screech as a figure rushed into the desert from the Sandy-Grey Void. Pieces of his body were crumbling into grey sand, held together by the superior regeneration speed of his Prana.
Grey sand dripped out of his body as the power of Subtle Terrain Domination flared up in all its strength, grabbed the expanding pieces of the grey sand all over his body, and chucked them into the Sandy-Grey Void.
15:51
After extracting all particles of grey sand from his body, he collapsed onto the desert weakly, running dry of Prana.
Followed by a forlorn sight, Resha approached the figure and grabbed him, flinging him onto his back like a bag. Followed by a leap, Resha covered more than a hundred metres, repeating the motion multiple times until they were far away from the Sandy-Grey Void.
Expert Gold Grade Pranic Beast—Empyrean Tusk!
A colossal entity appeared, generating a sandstorm in response as Resha assumed his Pranic Beast form. A field of gravity formed around the tip of his trunk, carrying the unconscious figure. With a flick, the Empyrean Tusk swallowed the figure, reverting to human form as Resha sensed the figure in his stomach biome.
Once the figure regained consciousness, he approached the closest Parute Tree and consumed some Parute Fruits, beginning to recover his Prana. A day's worth of consumption later, all the Parute Fruits in the stomach biome were eaten.
Immediately in response, Resha assumed Empyrean Tusk form and brought out the figure, asking upon assuming human form, "How's your progress?"
"Bad," The figure, Wally sighed dejectedly, "It seems impossible to adapt to the Sandy-Grey Void. I can't even seem to figure out how to approach this situation."
"Keep trying," Resha patted him on the shoulder, "I'll be here to pull you out from the Sandy-Grey Void if your life's at harm."
"That's the only reason I can dare attempt this." Wally expressed in gratitude, "To date, I never expected an Empyrean Tusk and Snapper could join hands like this."
"Same," Resha nodded, sighing in response, "The circumstances have brought both the Clans together."
After Brangara annihilated the Cooter Clan branch at the Dralh Sea, Resha brought Wally to the remaining branches, giving them the news as soon as possible. Though startled, the Cooter Clan began to take action accordingly.
They huddled together into a group first, following which they used Subtle Terrain Domination to make changes to their terrain, joining the water bodies of their respective branches into a singular whole where they erected their new base.
With the entire Cooter Clan concentrated in one location, they could manage to resist Brangara's future attacks. They planned to wait until Wally succeeded in his endeavour and became a Mystic Grade Pranic Beast. Only then could they live freely as they did in the past.
And while they waited, the Cooter Clan planned to strengthen themselves as much as possible, actively gearing up for future conflicts against Brangara. Resha actively supplied them with knowledge and battle tactics proven effective against Brangara.
"Try again," Resha encouraged Wally, sending him into the Sandy-Grey Void once he was ready.
Left alone once again, Resha took a seat atop a sand dune and began to focus on his mental growth. As for his physical growth, he wasn't worried. That was progressing steadily and he had already entered the 2-Life Stage, becoming significantly even stronger.
The arsenal of bodies in his Tertiary Nature of Empyrean 100 had also increased, further increasing his versatility. As he took a seat, faint gravity fields fluctuated from him, causing particles of sand to float individually, signifying the extent to which his control over External Inertial Gravity had progressed.
He stared at the sand blankly, recalling the scenes from Sumatra Chronicles' Fourth Major Disaster, bursting in hatred as a crater formed in the desert. He hurriedly controlled himself and recalled the sand that had spilled out, forming the dune once again.
"Endure it! Only then will I be able to think past my hatred!" He stared in a daze once again, recalling scenes of his Mammoth Clansmen getting crushed by the Empyrean Boar King, "BRANGARA!"
A sandstorm formed in his seated spot, reaching high into the sky, transforming into a rotating pillar with a thicker bottom. As time passed, his anger seethed, following which he dissipated the sand storm.
Sighing, he focused on another scene from his childhood that he had remembered following his outburst. It was a scene from before they were ten years old, huddled in a house, ostracised as children with the Fragment Disease.
The Mystic Seven lived by mentally supporting each other. Upon seeing the sight, Resha sighed, calmly staring at the sky to focus on the Transcendent World created by the Mammoth Ancestor, "You're probably watching me from there, Renduldu."
"I won't be your pawn," He snorted in anger, "And once I deal with the Celestial Boar, I'm coming for you!"