Noikatol District!
It was a newly formed one after MunuBuntara gained control over the Petrichor Savannah and had absorbed most of the Noikatol Kingdom's populace by now. Before the Noikatol Kingdom's absorption into his force, all MunuBuntara had was the force that had been granted to him by his parents.
All Wean Clansmen obtained a group of trained people well-versed in a variety of fields, from economics to battles. Wepetay was one of them. The purpose of these people was to guide the respective Wean Clansman they served and ensured they continued to grow and became a better version of themselves every successive day.
MunuBuntara was yet to be crowned the King of the Noikatol Kingdom, as there were still plenty of steps left to finish before that could happen. Until then, he was simply addressed as Lord MunuBuntara.
There was a total of 400 Decodus Trees that formed the Noikatol District, which was situated closer to the Varahan Empire's rear borders. Pretty much 540 kilometres from the Noikatol District was the Sandy-Grey Void.
The heart of the Varahan Empire was the Capital District, Narkn, which was actually a blessed node for resources, similar to the Brimgan Empire. It was situated 3542 kilometres from the Varahan Enclave, and this entire region was part of the Empire's territory.
Towards the rear, the Varahan Empire expanded like a droplet along the edges of a wall, with new Wean Clansmen setting up their respective districts one after another to further push the border. Once their districts are set up and they begin bringing in people from a Free Human Kingdom, an Empyrean Boar Aurora gradually forms in their sky, serving as their protective shield and intimidating external foes.
The native Pranic Beasts will be pushed further back or even out of their territory. In some cases, if their Natures were useful, a large group of them would be captured and raised in their original homes as captives, in nests where they were slaughtered for their Natures.
The useless ones would be straight-up driven out or slaughtered. This close to the Sandy-Grey Void, only weak Pranic Beast races lived. Moreover, the majority of this region was mostly barren, resulting in a lack of resources. So, no powerful Pranic Beast groups lived in the general vicinity.
When traced back through history, these barren regions had been destroyed during the Mudropper Invasion. Even though Mahira Tusk had used the Dance of Recovery on these regions, it had been a while since the damage was done and she had amassed enough strength to use the ability.
The result was similar to the Gaja Enclave. Even though the region had reverted into land, it had never recovered to its original level.
A railway arrived at the Noikatol Station as Inala and the others alighted. The station only had four railway lines. Two of them were to journey to and fro the Petrichor Savannah and the remaining two took them from and to the capital, Narkn.
MunuBuntara's influence was limited for the time being, which was shown clearly through the size of the district he controlled. The number of railway lines in a Station too was a show of power and one's social stature.
Though he himself was strong, MunuBuntara had purchased the rights of a low-levelled region such as Petrichor Savannah, placing his status at the bottom-most of the Wean Clan. Not only was Petrichor Savannah lacking resources, but it was also occupied by weak Iron Grade Pranic Beasts whose population wasn't also that high.
Considering the side of the region, the number of Iron Grade Pranic Beasts living there was limited, barely even reaching a hundred thousand.
For comparison, the Petrichor Savannah was close to forty times the area enclosed by the Sanrey Plains. Just the number of Slump Lizards living in the Angan River of the Sanrey Plains was ten to twenty times the total population of the Petrichor Savannah.
There were plenty of regions on Sumatra without any valuable minerals. However, due to the bountifulness of the region, the population density of the Pranic Beasts living there remains significant.
This meant that even if the Varahan Empire hunts them extensively, they can repopulate themselves in a matter of months. Due to the sheer size of their population, the crisis brought about by the Varahan Empire will force multiple Mutated Pranic Beasts to appear among the natives.
Just the byproducts of these Pranic Beasts alone were valuable enough, considering the medicines that could be made through them, not to mention the Natures. The volume of profits gained through the region was astronomical.
However, MunuBuntara had to be careful while hunting at the Petrichor Savannah. If he was even the slightest bit careless, the native Pranic Beasts such as Balghat and Ptattah would go extinct. Their smaller populations made them fragile to external changes.
Due to all that, the moment MunuBuntara purchased the Petrichor Savannah, he lost respect from his siblings, which showed the lack of railway lines at the Noikatol Station.
'But with the way he has done things, that doesn't seem likely.' Inala smiled as he exited the station and observed the Decodus Trees, inhaling softly as he smelled the faint scent of dye. He then observed a good portion of the district had been cordoned off by a layer of Decodus Trees.
A thick layer of earth wall filled the gap between the Decodus Trees. Inala closed his eyes and focused on his ears. His vocal cords vibrated at a high frequency as he unleashed soundwaves beyond the audible range of human ears.
The high-frequency soundwaves bombarded the earth wall and returned to him, allowing him to judge its material composition based on the changes experienced by the reflected soundwave as compared to the incident soundwave.
'There's a thick layer of rock within the wall. It has been manually constructed through Subtle Terrain Domination.' That was enough for Inala to know the extent of value placed on MunuBuntara by Brangara, 'Indeed, he's not as bad as his siblings might be thinking.'
"Follow me," Wepetay led everyone into a large Decodus Tree, the entrance of which was located close to the ground, formed by a cluster of roots combining to form the shape of an arched door.
Thin roots dangled out of it, forming a curtain.
Wepetay parted the curtain and led the group into an elevator that had been constructed through the Nature of Drifting Tunnel. The elevator was a cylinder spanning a radius of three metres and a height of five metres.
There were two columns side by side, with the elevator on one side going up and the other side coming down. The field of gravity within each was opposite to the other.
Inala noticed a roller mechanism attached to the elevator that was made using the tusks of an Empyrean Boar. They served as Spirit Weapons that the elevator operator controlled to move and break the elevator at the respective floors.
Upon reaching the top, he would then shift the elevator into the column descending down. This way, the elevators looped through the mechanism, allowing for quick transfer between the various floors.
However, these elevators were used only when someone had to travel for more than ten floors. For anything beneath that, they simply took the flight of stairs. After all, everyone here was at the Silver Grade. Climbing ten floors only counted as a simple exercise, whose exhaustion their Prana could heal in a matter of seconds.
The group was still in a state of amazement as Wepetay led them into the elevator and stared at the operator, "To the top floor, please."
"Yes, Sir Wepetay." The flight operator recognised Wepetay who was pretty well known in the Noikatol District. With a tug from his psychokinesis, the brakes were released, allowing the field of gravity to pull the elevator upwards.
He also spun the rollers to accelerate the elevator, and once they were close to the destination, he applied the brakes, causing the elevator to smoothly slow down.
'It's not as smooth as the ones on Earth but the progress rate is terrifying.' Inala thought as he felt a mild jerk once the elevator arrived at a halt on the topmost floor.
A refreshing wind blew inside, not too soft and not too fierce either. Inala observed windbreakers installed beyond the window to control the speed of wind. The Decodus Trees were also arranged far apart from each other to allow the wind to glide around them without its flow being interrupted.
Ornamental plants hung along the way, taken delicate care to establish a natural beauty. Inala noticed that these plants were parasitic in nature as their roots dug into the Decodus Tree and absorbed nutrients from it.
The doors were operated through psychokinesis, opening as Wepetay led everyone out. The walls had a thick scent of nature, for they were the Decodus Tree's body. Large windows trailed across one side, revealing the expansive view beyond.
A refreshing wind blew inside, not too soft and not too fierce either. Inala observed windbreakers installed beyond the window to control the speed of wind. The Decodus Trees were also arranged far apart from each other to allow the wind to glide around them without its flow being interrupted.
Ornamental plants hung along the way, taken delicate care to establish a natural beauty. Inala noticed that these plants were parasitic in nature as their roots dug into the Decodus Tree and absorbed nutrients from it.
'If these ornamental plants aren't trimmed down at regular intervals, they'd eat the Decodus Trees from within eventually.' Inala silently made note of the point and followed alongside the group through a circular corridor.
There were some carvings on the walls, depicting battle scenes of Empyrean Boars facing off powerful Gold Grade Pranic Beasts. The bodies of everyone faintly trembled, intimidated by the depicted scenes.
However, Inala was calm, having been a part of fights significantly more earth-shattering than ones between Gold Grade Pranic Beasts.
"Lord MunuBuntara, I've brought a group of people from the Noikatol Kingdom," Wepetay announced as he stood before a large, double door and shouted with respect.
There was silence for a few seconds before the double doors opened and a surprised voice resounded, "You've returned, Wepetay? Has your work at the Noikatol Kingdom finished?"
"Not yet, I'll be leaving after a couple of days," Wepetay said and led the group of people inside.
Inala's throat vibrated as soundwaves slammed into the double doors, detecting a change in density at two spots, 'There's some Vara placed there. So, they're relying on conventional Spirit Weapon means to operate moving objects.'
He had done the same at the Mammoth Clan, so it wasn't anything that Inala was surprised about. It was the most basic method of using a Spirit Weapon, common sense that any decent cultivator was aware of.
Of course, the people from the Noikatol Kingdom had only learnt it recently, so they stared at the double doors with a knowing gaze.
The room was circular in shape, spanning a radius of eight metres. One side was flattened a little, which served as a backdrop. A large mural of Brangara and Yarsha Zahara was carved on the wall, depicting them in imposing grandeur.
"That's the Emperor!"
"That's the Empress!" The people from the Noikatol Kingdom commented in hushed voices as they kneeled in respect, facing the individual seated before the mural.
A chubby face sporting a broad, almost bulbous nose, contrasting a pair of sharp eyes similar to that of a cat was a man, his 150-centimetre-tall stature exaggeratedly diminished by his horizontally inclined body.
'He's using muscle mass to distribute the influence from the Natures on his being, diluting their power. That's smart.' Inala thought the moment he laid gaze on the man, 'For someone so young, he understands well of the disadvantages of Voracious Nature and has devised realistic means to adapt to it.'
"We greet Lord MunuBuntara!" Everyone echoed alongside Wepetay, paying respects to the seated individual.
"I welcome you all to the Noikatol District," MunuBuntara said with an imposing voice before nodding at Wepetay, signalling that he could escort everyone to their respective quarters and begin their induction to life at the Noikatol District.
"Please stay here, Sir Binala," Wepetay whispered as he informed the rest to leave, allocating other personnel to guide them.
"Hmm?" Upon seeing Wepetay make one of the individuals stay behind, MunuBuntara raised an eyebrow, knowing that Wepetay wouldn't have done this without reason. His eyes fell on the man who was tethering into old age, 'He doesn't strike as anyone special. Even his presence is weak. Then, what is the reason?'
"This is Sir Binala," Wepetay pointed at Inala and said, "He's the wisest man that I have ever encountered in my life. His experience of surviving the wilds while at the Spirit Stage for years has proved valuable to plenty."
"I get your point," MunuBuntara grasped Wepetay's thought process as he stared at Inala to ask, "Binala, right?"
"Do you wish to teach my people?"