"Do you wish to teach my people?"
'That's a weird way to phrase it.' For a moment, Inala intended to make eye contact with Wepetay and wonder what the heck MunuBuntara meant here, but after a moment's consideration later, he discarded the thought, 'Let's probe a little here.'
'It seems he intends to lead the pace.' Inala thought as he stared at MunuBuntara and controlled his chuckle, shaking his head, "Not really."
"What?" MunuBuntara's expression crumbled as he asked, "Then, do you not plan to work to make a living?"
"Why do I need something like that?" Inala scratched his head, "I have a few years to live at most. I don't wish to waste my time working."
'That's different from what I've been told.' MunuBuntara glanced at Wepetay for an instant. Even though this seemed like an impromptu visit, Wepetay had already sent someone with an Information Slip to inform MunuBuntara of everything, from his thoughts to his opinion regarding Inala.
MunuBuntara's question was intended to probe Inala's objective for arriving at the Varahan Empire. After all, he wasn't from the Noikatol Kingdom but had an unverifiable past. Thereby, MunuBuntara remained cautious.
After all, all Wean Clansmen had been told of the incident where Gannala, Orakha, Virala, and Blola had infiltrated the Zahara Kingdom. She had briefed about the various abilities they held, including what she knew about the Mystic Paths and how much danger they posed to the Wean Clan.
As a result, the Varahan Empire had a strict set of monitoring system that spied upon the people brought into the Empire both directly and indirectly.
When Virala arrived at the Varahan Empire, MunuBuntara had planned to investigate the latter's background. However, they couldn't find out anything. How could they even investigate across the dozens of regions that Virala had supposedly been to?
Even their background of hailing from the Bollutiya Kingdom couldn't be verified, since the Kingdom's destruction happened more than eighty years ago. Any survivors from there might have fled to other Free Human Kingdoms and integrated into their society.
And if they didn't have Silver Grade strength, they might already be dead. To get concrete details a large team had to be dispatched, which MunuBuntara couldn't afford.
Usually in such cases where they were suspicious about the identity of someone, they'd forward the list to the Capital from where Yarsha Zahara would personally take charge of the investigation. She had the means to detect whether or not the person in question was a Mystic Path or not.
Now, the question remained as to how he had to classify Inala, 'I've already classified Kvirala as suspicious since I cannot prove his background information, even though all the events he has told, including the Bollutiya Kingdom's destruction, are accurate.'
'But with the means available at the disposal of our enemies, they could have forged false backgrounds easily.' MunuBuntara thought as he stared at Inala to ask, "Tell me, then. How do you plan to make a living?"
"I'll tell stories of my past to his kids," Inala pointed at Wepetay, "That should do, since I don't need anything beyond three meals a day anyway."
"That's not an official job. The Varahan Empire doesn't avoid discriminating against freeloaders…" MunuBuntara stopped speaking upon seeing that Inala's expression was one of disappointment.
"Guess this is it then." Inala sighed as he stared at Wepetay and cupped his fists in respect, "I'll accompany you in your return to the Noikatol Kingdom. Seems I'm not fated to be a resident here."
His shoulders slumped mildly as Inala turned around and began to exit the room, stopping once to bow towards MunuBuntara, "I'm tired from the journey, My Lord. If you'll excuse me…"
"Stop!" One of the guards blocked Inala's path, "How dare you behave disrespectfully towards your Lord?"
"Disrespectfully?" Inala stared a MunuBuntara in confusion, "Did I do that, My Lord?"
He collapsed on the floor in response, "Please spare me, My Lord. I apologise for being bold. It's my fault since I'm losing the fear of death the closer I approach it. So, it's getting harder for me to express fear."
"You needn't express fear against me," MunuBuntara waved his hand once, motioning for the guard to return to his post. Only after the guard retracted his presence did MunuBuntara observe Inala's trembling stop, 'Seems the guard's presence was too much for him to handle. That makes sense, since the Vara I'm sensing on him is minuscule at best.'
He got up and approached the kneeling Inala and expanded his senses, "Can you activate your Human Avatar?"
"Y-Yes," Inala shivered as he nodded, gradually expressing more and more fear as time passed. He extended his trembling hands and revealed his palm, "This is my Human Avatar."
'That's an interesting build. It's the first time I've seen anyone start with the palm print. I never thought something like this was possible. It's a wonder how he has been able to delicately build the Human Avatar on the palm print.' MunuBuntara thought as he noticed Inala's right palm print containing the Nature of Statue. He then touched Inala's left Palm Print and placed a Nature inside, "I can allow you to stay at the Varahan Empire."
"Thank you, My Lord!" Inala nodded meekly as he felt the Yoked Wyrm's Nature of Bio-Synthesis that he had just received.
"However," MunuBuntara's tone became imposing, "You need to work your living. I order you to teach students at the location I'm designating as your classroom henceforth. You'll teach them everything you know,"
Followed by a pause, he said with authority, staring down at Inala, "Including your skill to weave a suit. If even a single student can successfully make a suit, I'll give you a pay from my personal funds to chill for the rest of your life."
"I'll follow your arrangement, Lord MunuBuntara." Inala nodded with an expression of resignation.
'It's as stated in the reports. He is unwilling to teach his craft to others. However, since he's staying at my place, he has no other choice.' MunuBuntara thought as he observed Inala's collapsed expression. He then nodded at Wepetay, "You can bring Binala with you."
"Yes, My Lord." Wepetay nodded and escorted Inala out.
MunuBuntara was silent for a few seconds before letting out a chuckle as he opened the locker in his room to reveal rows of suitcases. They were the suits that Inala had created over the years.
All the suits that the people of the Noikatol Kingdom had purchased from Inala fell in his grasp once they arrived at the Noikatol District. He purchased them at a decent price, for which the owners were more than willing to part with.
Just to get on his good books, they would have given him it for free. But to avoid getting a bad image, MunuBuntara paid them a relevant amount.
Picking one of the suitcases from the locker, MunuBuntara inserted a unit of Prana into it and watched the wool forming the suitcase wrap his body and transform into a neat suit, 'Indeed, this design is revolutionary. Even after using them so many times, I never become bored of seeing their transformation.'
"I wanted the Petrichor Savannah precisely because I intended to make clothes." MunuBuntara chuckled, having already purchased all cloth-making techniques from the various Kingdoms that the Varahan Empire had brought under their fold, "And Binala's skill gives me the perfect edge to become a textile industry leader."
The reason for his confidence was simple—he knew the method to Mutate the Balghats.
It was still part of the same race. In the records compiled by the Varahan Empire, there were some accounts of there appearing a Mutated variant of the Balghat whenever their race was pressed to the verge of extinction.
The Balghats weren't native to the Petrichor Savannah alone. They were also present in other regions, albeit with minor physical differences such as wool colour, texture, mild physique differences, etc.
It was still part of the same race. In the records compiled by the Varahan Empire, there were some accounts of there appearing a Mutated variant of the Balghat whenever their race was pressed to the verge of extinction.
Intermediate Silver Grade Pranic Beast—Telghat!
With a Prana capacity of 2100 and a lifespan of 410 years, it didn't seem too offensive on paper, but from a combat standpoint, it was one of the most dangerous existences in the Silver Grade. The reason stemmed from its terrifying Secondary Nature. Secondary Nature—Wool Gate!
Wool Gate was a space-type defensive ability, one allowing the Telghat to compress a large volume of wool into a smaller volume. This wasn't mechanical compression but was similar to an Empyrean Tusk's biomes, but limited to the wool produced by the Telghat alone.
Using this Secondary Nature, the Telghat condenses a coat of wool that is dozens of metres thick, one that resembles the same thickness of a regular Balghat's coat of wool. This provides it with ridiculous cushion armour that allows it to tank the strongest of physical attacks without even flinching. After all, the thick coat of wool absorbs and disperses the damage across it, preventing any harm to the Telghat.
Adding onto the growth speed of its Wool Expansion being almost instantaneous, a Telghat could actually face a Centinger and win more matches than lose.
'The defensive strength of this suit made using a Balghat's wool itself is this exemplary. Once I have people that have learnt Binala's weaving skill, we can produce better suits by improving the process through our knowledge base.' MunuBuntara thought as he felt the soft but abundantly tensile fabric, 'And once we're ready, we can begin forcing Mutations on our captured Balghats to rear Telghats."
"The suits made from Telghats will be good enough to arm my soldiers. Our success rate in raids will increase further." He muttered and let out a soft chuckle, summoning an aide with a snap of his finger to command, "Make a list of children talented in the textile craft. I want them to learn Binala's craft and even grasp techniques that he might be hiding."
"We have a few talents who can do that." The aide nodded. "I'll make a comprehensive list within a few hours."
"Good, make a priority of this." MunuBuntara nodded, unaware that he hadn't even thought of listing Inala as a suspect. He had been fully distracted by Inala's fiasco.
The person in question was currently being apologised to be Wepetay as the duo exited the Decodus Tree.
"I apologise, Sir Binala. I know you didn't wish to leak your family's trade secrets." Wepetay expressed his apology, "But I couldn't hide anything to My Lord, since many others flaunted your suits."
"I'm not blaming you," Inala shook his head, "If I had intended to take it to the grave with me, I wouldn't have made a suit in the first place. So, you needn't worry."
"It's just…" Inala said after a sigh, "I wanted to pass it on to someone who was as passionate about the craft as me. I don't intend to teach it to someone who treats it as a secondary passion and is more passionate about strength."
"I get your point," Wepetay nodded, "I hope you find a great pupil."
"The Noikatol Kingdom doesn't have one." Inala shook his head, "Otherwise, I would have taken in a pupil already."
"True…" Wepetay sighed before saying briskly, "Why don't you visit my home now, Sir Binala? I'll introduce you to my family."
"My kids are talented. Maybe one of them suits your fancy." Wepetay tried to cheer up Inala to the best of his ability.
"Thank you," Inala chuckled after a while, commenting honestly, "You're indeed a great guy, Wepetay."
"People like you are a rare breed."
"Haha!" Wepetay laughed, "That's the first time I've been complimented in a while. You have a way with words better than Sir Kvirala, Sir Inala."
"I was just stating the truth." Inala laughed before asking nonchalantly as he looked around, "Where is that guy living? I am curious to see how much he has changed after living here."
"Sir Kvirala is at the Capital," Wepetay said, "He's the manager of one of our clothing stores. I heard his work ethic is exemplary and has garnered praise from our regular customers."
"So, he's doing well, huh?" Inala smiled as he arrived at a certain floor in one of the nearby Decodus Trees. Of the ten houses situated on the floor, one belonged to Wepetay.
"Please, come in." Wepetay opened the door to his house and beckoned for Inala to enter, introducing his wife and three children to the latter.
"Hello everyone," Inala greeted the family and exchanged some pleasantries. A day later, he settled into a new house and appeared to teach a class of forty students who were all deemed suitable for weaving.
'Let's start, then.' Thinking as such, Inala stared at the group of students and let out a smile, "Before we start learning about weaving, I want everyone to showcase their skills."
Saying so, he plucked a few strands of his hair and tied them sequentially, elongating them in such a way that the knots between the strands were almost impossible to detect. "Try doing this first."