"That was anticlimactic," Blola muttered upon staring at the bloody interior of his boat. There was a gaping hole on the foreheads of both Duvara and Lahena. "They never suspected me even once. Well, I can understand that since they would have braved through a lot of fights while transporting the baby Empyrean Tusk."
Blola inspected the corpses of the two, finding only one item. He grinned in excitement, "It's here. In Sumatra Chronicles, they gifted it to Resha on the night before they mysteriously committed suicide."
Eight-Storey Storage Lantern!
One of the highest grades of Storage Lanterns manufactured by the Mammoth Clan. It was something only the Settlement Leader possessed. Not only was it expensive to create, but it was also a display of authority.
Whenever the Settlement Leader changes, this Eight-Storey Storage Lantern too would swap hands. And the one before him was Bora Tusk's prized treasure.
"It was mentioned in the story that Bora Tusk gave it to Resha's parents to help their efforts in securing an Empyrean Tusk. Well, considering how they succeeded, it seems Settlement Leader trusts their skill that much. Well, not that I care, since it's mine from today onwards." Saying so, Blola grabbed the Storage Lantern and slung it to his hip.
Since it had Lahena's imprint, Blola wouldn't be able to access its contents. But he had a solution to it already. His prana seeped into Lahena's corpse and began to morph it, causing her flesh, blood, and Prana to seep into her bones.
Using the Mystic Bone Art, he refined her body into a hand, "If there's an irony, it's this."
What Blola was doing was a Skill Resha created in Sumatra Chronicles. Of course, it was impossible without the Secondary Nature of Spirit Moss Cultivator. Resha used that as the base to create the Skill.
It was easy to replicate once Blola obtained his Secondary Nature. All he had to do was repeat a certain action by activating his Secondary Nature and voila, he gained the Skill. This was one of those easy-to-learn Skills, with the hardest requirements being a set criterion—Nature of Spirit Moss Cultivator.
The skeletal hand gently touched the Storage Tower as Blola seeped Prana into it. The skeletal hand absorbed his Prana and converted it to Lahena's Prana signature, instantly granting access to the Storage Tower.
Following that, he changed ownership from Lahela to himself, becoming the Eight-Storey Storage Tower's owner.
His eyes then fell upon the cage, "Now, for the main dish."
Blola used Lahena's skeletal hand to touch the cage. Using her Prana signature, he unlocked the cage, causing it to open, revealing the entity inside.
A baby Empyrean Tusk barely a metre tall, lacking an exoskeleton. It was in a state of deep sleep, remaining peaceful. At the sight, a lurching sensation enveloped Blola, causing his heart to feel emotionally pained.
Blola slammed his hand onto his chest a couple of times, "Is the Mystic Bone Art acting up? I see, I understand now. It is a cultivation technique created by the Empyrean Tusks after all. And at the sight of a baby Empyrean Tusk, it's screaming at me to protect it."
"All Mammoth Clansmen would feel the same way, a systematic brainwashing of sorts that had been maintained for generations. The effects are now instinctual." Blola muttered calmly as he positioned a spindle on its stomach, making it drill without any hesitation, "But not for me."
Duvara had placed the baby Empyrean Tusk under a spell, keeping it asleep to avoid it causing a scene. After all, even its softest cries acted as a beacon, alerting every single Empyrean Tusk in a ten-thousand-kilometre radius.
It was something similar to a hive mind, an ability only baby Empyrean Tusks possessed. They could innately request the help of every adult Empyrean Tusk when feeling threatened. Therefore, it was best to keep one asleep.
And that worked to Blola's benefit as he drilled into its body and extracted its heart, swallowing it immediately.
Boom!
Prana surged in his body as Blola attempted a breakthrough, fusing his hundred Spirit Containers into a unified whole. His Fragment Disease flared up, but instead of destroying his body, it absorbed the concentrated essence available in the baby Empyrean Tusk's heart.
Blola's bloodline awakened as his Spirit Container transformed into an Empyrean Tusk. A surge of lifeforce settled in him, elevating him into a higher existence, "Hahahahaha! I can live for 2000 years now!"
His Spirit Container's Prana Capacity was now a whopping 8398 units. That means, by the time he reaches the peak of the Body Stage, he'll possess 8398 Prana. No Mammoth Clansmen would even come close to him.
Now that he obtained everything he needed, Blola observed the baby Empyrean Tusk's corpse and touched its barely protruding tusks, "Hmm, it's useless. They haven't even begun developing, so I can't use them to build my body."
Blola pedalled the boat back to the pond and set the baby Empyrean Tusk's body on the tiny island. He scattered Duvara's body parts on the island. He had set aside Lahena's heart while refining her body before. And now, he threw the organ next to the Empyrean Tusk, "Next, to erase my involvement."
He didn't have to do anything for that other than to imprint the image of a boar on the baby Empyrean Tusk corpse's tiny, developing tusks. "Upon seeing this, they'll conclude the killer to be the Boar King."
Blola inserted Prana into his boat and began to move upstream, using a Spirit Weapon to collect as much Spirit Moss as he could. Since he had a Storage Lantern to store them, he wouldn't waste such an opportunity.
Two days later, Blola had travelled a long distance, having also collected as much Spirit Moss as possible. He filled all the empty floors of the Storage Lantern with them. And as he continued travelling, he waited, "Anytime now."
Blola shut the hatch and braced himself for impact. In the past two days, he swallowed large mouthfuls of Parute Fruits, having built his Prana to three hundred units already. That was the limit his Spirit Container could bear, hence he stopped there.
Primary Nature—Internal Inertial Gravity!
Blola never felt this strong in life. As he waited patiently, a shockwave slammed into the back of his boat, launching it forth like a bullet thanks to its design. The boat rode the shockwave and flew at frightening speeds through the tunnel.
The aerodynamic grooves on its surface caused it to spin, thereby reducing air resistance as it bolted through. Even though it spun at terrifying speeds, thanks to his Primary Nature, Blola was perfectly fine, not feeling any shock. "They're crying."
The raging herd of Empyrean Tusks had discovered the corpse of their newborn. And upon seeing the Boar King's crest, they cried in rage. The shockwaves from their cries travelled through the tunnel, launching the boat like a bullet through a gun's barrel.
His Prana was consumed rapidly to negate all shockwaves that slammed into his body. Thankfully for his preparations, he barely had enough. And when only three units of Prana remained in his body, the boat flew out of the tunnel and crashed into barren land, crumbling into dust.
Blola rolled out and gasped as he lay down, staring at the sky, "A distance that I travelled for six months…I covered it in three days."
After an hour of rest, Blola consumed some Spirit Moss from the Storage Lantern and recovered his Prana. Once he was ready, he stared at the deep footprints on the ground leading into Dieng Canyon, "I should be able to catch up to my settlement while they're slowed down by the First Major Disaster."