Virala's plan was extremely simple—to create an outlet for the people's emotions and become a form of reliance for them.
If his establishment never existed in the first place, the people would have simply suppressed their emotions, as they did for generations. After all, their lives at the Varahan Empire was heavenly when compared to their existence in their native.
The so-called concern they faced was child's play when compared to the death they were faced with every single day in their previous Kingdoms. However, emotions weren't logic that worked on absolute factors.
They were relative in nature, which he capitalised upon the most. His establishment was a place where people in important positions of work socialised and vented their job's stress. And to achieve such a setup, Virala only had to convince four people at a respectable position of work.
That was all. Once they became reliant on the source of comfort and peace that his establishment provided, they became regular customers and then recommended people from their field of work that they were on good terms with and were also aware of being suffering from excessive stress.
Most of the recommended people were part of the older generation that had survived in the Kingdoms. The remainder were those who had spent their childhood in the Kingdoms and lived their adult life at the Varahan Empire.
Aware of two different perspectives, they had a lot to discuss and share with, in situations without prior inhibitions or positional egos. Alcohol was a medicine that brought down all barriers, which made them addicted to the place more than the alcohol itself.
And these people used their influence to protect Virala and his place. Of course, as Virala had done everything in his power to ensure these people wouldn't be in a drunken state as they left his establishment, there was never any issue that stemmed from his place itself.
It was why even when the inspector department became aware of the place, they couldn't shut it down forcefully. Heck, some of the higher-ups of the inspector department too were patrons of the place.
These higher-ups were involved in lots of problems that cropped up in the Varahan Empire as it was a melting pot of cultures from countless Kingdoms. It was impossible for everything to mesh into a singular whole without issues popping up all the time.
Over time, they found themselves at this nameless establishment, having drinks of alcohol while venting their frustrations.
As for the alcohol-related problems that have begun appearing in society recently, he wasn't responsible. Of course, it would be a lie to say he had no hand in the matter.
Among the customers he brought in, not everyone wanted to vent their frustrations. Some were also the opportunistic kind. They wanted to become part of the business upon seeing the sheer money that Virala was raking in.
These people conveniently stumbled upon discussions between Virala and his customers, learning about there being old recipe books for alcohol brewing hidden amidst pages of cookbooks. Of course, these 'customers' were Virala's puppets.
And for some days following that 'leak of information', there were vendors in the market selling such books.
Once the ambitious ones got their hands on the recipes and figured out how easy it was to manufacture alcohol from common ingredients, their ambitions blossomed. They intended to form a large underground market and hence roped in a lot of similarly ambitious people from various fields.
Underground establishments began to pop up one after another, serving alcohol of varying costs. The advertisements too were subtle but managed to gather an audience from the fun-loving younger generation that had a lot of spare money.
Even a commoner in the Varahan Empire was wealthier than the Noikatol King. It was not to mention the scions from affluent households. A place to dance, drink alcohol, and let loose was an instant hit.
Moreover, these establishments quickly innovated various ways of entertainment as too many ambitious people entered the market and competed with each other. To avoid losing their customers, they tried to one-up each other.
Of course, in their effort to do so, many establishments went overboard, causing the authorities to crack down on them. However, plenty of alcohol establishments continued to function, creating a self-sustaining market.
Innovations accompanied desires. All Virala did here was find a couple of ambitious people and plant the idea in them. The seed he planted had already become a tree, so much so that a large number of inspectors were dispatched to tackle the growing concern of alcohol consumption.
'A cancer that gnaws on society, the root cause of all problems.' Virala smirked as he closed the establishment once it was dawn. The Rala puppet retired for the day while Virala sat in his room, resting as most of the workers in charge of production also stopped.
They entered a storage room that was connected to a discharge. When necessary, Virala could burst their bodies into body fluids and discharge them through the channel, the bottom of which led to the roots of the Decodus Tree.
The Decodus Tree would absorb everything in a matter of minutes, erasing all traces of the puppets. Even when in liquid form, they were a part of his body, which meant he could control them through psychokinesis.
This meant that Virala was always in the lead, ensuring none of his puppets could ever be captured or restrained. In the worst-case scenario, he would simply sacrifice them.
"Phew," Virala wiped the sweat covering his forehead as he observed his Spirit Containers, seeing that they were empty. With a thought, he destroyed it, smiling upon seeing a new cluster of eighty Spirit Containers form due to the effects of Spirit Container Lock.
The Spirit Container Lock had been used to suppress his cultivation to the Spirit Stage, keeping in him a reserve of eighty units of Prana. Hence, it will try to maintain that on him. Using up Prana wasn't an issue, since that was normal and could be recovered upon food consumption.
However, shattering the Spirit Containers went against the rule, since without a Spirit Container, Virala wouldn't be at the Spirit Stage. Therefore, to ensure he was at the Spirit Stage, the Spirit Container Lock would forge a new batch of Spirit Containers for him.
Virala calculated that the Spirit Container Lock was drawing power from his Mystic Human Spirit Container. Therefore, it would keep making new Spirit Containers until it runs out of Prana to draw from.
It also meant that if Virala was in urgent need of Prana, he could destroy his current cluster and instantly form a new batch. This way, he could draw on his actual Prana reserve, which was pretty much at the Mystic Grade.
The Mystic Grade Prana, when broken down into the version used by him at the Spirit Stage pretty much implied an almost inexhaustible resource. It allowed him to work on his ambitions without issues.
Of course, he had already achieved his purpose. Therefore, Virala was gradually trimming down his puppets.
He had a total of two Skills, which was all he had focused on the entire time. After all, the sheer possibilities brought by them were endless.
Mystic Nature Art—Spirit Weapon Switch!
Once Virala realised that he could use parts of his body as Spirit Weapons, the Skill of Spirit Weapon Switch became the most valuable. After all, through psychokinesis, Virala could modify his Spirit Weapons, meaning to reshape the body parts.
Through that, he changed the facial features of the puppets, altered their physique, etc. Even after so long, Virala felt that he had barely scratched the infinite possibilities such an ability presented.
That made Spirit Weapon Switch all the more valuable, since it meant he could control as army of himself. Though they cannot transform since they lack a Spirit Container, Virala could still make them after he transforms.
This meant that if he wanted, he could make an army of Empyrean Boar King puppets, which was extremely terrifying, even for him. Using Brandal Brimgan's memories, Virala derived Mystic Kinesis Art's Skill of Spirit Weapon Switch and derived its counterpart for Mystic Nature Art.
At that point, he thought of one thing—what if he could give these puppets better instructions?
The complex Spirit Weapons used by the Brimgan Royals followed the same logic. The Skill of Spirit Weapon Switch was used to control the various moving parts of an apparatus-type Spirit Weapon, the example of one being the turbine that Amita Brimgan had created for Farloon Brimgan and his family.
Currently, whatever he wanted the puppet to do had to be done by himself through psychokinesis, manually. This included the complex muscular movements a human body does to even walk. Doing the same was extremely difficult for a larger number of puppets, exponentially more difficult than controlling regular Spirit Weapons by Free Human cultivators.
The complex Spirit Weapons used by the Brimgan Royals followed the same logic. The Skill of Spirit Weapon Switch was used to control the various moving parts of an apparatus-type Spirit Weapon, the example of one being the turbine that Amita Brimgan had created for Farloon Brimgan and his family.
To realistically control a human puppet in battle would expend just too much brainpower, even for Virala's actual body. Therefore, Virala wanted to form a solution for the same, to which he derived a specific Skill.
Mystic Nature Art—Spirit Puppet Slip!
Mystic Humans used Spirit Containers as Information Slips. These Spirit Containers belonged to the Spirit Stage and were extremely unstable. However, they were Spirit Containers at the end of the day.
And a heart was naturally equipped to hold one. Since the puppets were forged out of his body and the flesh was an exact replica, with the only difference being a lack of a Spirit Container, can't he simply surgically plant one at the same spot?
Once surgically implanted, Virala would input a set of instructions in the Spirit Containers that doubled as Information Slips. The instructions were a set of actions that needed to be performed in response to a trigger.
If the trigger is to walk a step forward, all the information necessary to facilitate the movement was present in the Information Slip. The Prana funnelling into the Spirit Containers from Virala would activate this information and control the body.
The stimulus from the Spirit Container would be received by the brain which would then send a command, based on the information taken from the Information Slip. Now, the puppet would move on its own.
Originally, Virala had to manually make the body move accordingly. Now, all he had to do was send in the command and the Prana necessary to facilitate the action. This process drastically reduced the load on his brain, allowing him to control the puppets with greater fluidity.
There was a lag, however, as the puppet's brain received stimulus from the Spirit Container before sending electric signals through the central nervous system. But it was still revolutionary, as it allowed the current Virala to control a fleet of puppets without his brain melting from the strain.
Moreover, this lag would reduce drastically when a Mystic Human uses the same method as they were all at the Gold Grade. And when used by the Mystic Human Virala, the lad would become virtually non-existent.
The Skills of Spirit Weapon Switch and Spirit Puppet Slip were all Virala had and all he felt were necessary. After all, he had no guarantee that a Mystic Human would reach the end of this path even after training in it all their life.
There was no limit to the control one could display with it by using the two Skills in conjunction. It was an endlessly growing ability, one that was perfect for the Mystic Humans.
'Whatever you're planning, Inala, I hope you're fast enough.' Virala thought as he slumped on his bed, assuming a state of comfort, 'My weapon can grow and fuel itself. Even if I were to be killed today, the seeds of disaster have already been sown.'
'Alcohol consumption leads to an erosion of humanity, morals, and everything of the like. It's the start of one's fall.' Virala thought as he recalled his time on Earth, 'And every case of infidelity that I took part in began in a place that served alcohol. But at least on Earth, human capability was limited, so there were still some ways to counter alcoholism. Here, that's not possible.'
Free Humans were significantly more capable than Humans on Earth. Their Silver Grade strength, psychokinesis, and an array of Natures allowed a single Free Human to produce as much alcohol as a factory on Earth. He only needed the recipe.
That turned even regular household kitchens into dangerous cooking pots of alcohol, one that could never be discovered, since the recipes only included common groceries that couldn't be replaced. Therefore, once the information began to spread, it could never be stopped.
It was a societal virus that Virala had unleashed onto the Varahan Empire, 'Things will truly become fun when couples sleep with other people under the influence of alcohol and the truth comes to light. It usually results in brutal fights even on Earth. And here…'
"It'll be a bloodbath." He chuckled and fell asleep. 'And it seems Yarsha Zahara is planning something huge, considering how delayed her response is to this situation, which works in my favour.'
He was indeed right on the point as currently in the Royal Palace, Yarsha Zahara's eyes gleamed as she stared at the beam of light that impacted the palace walls and were contained. Her expression was jubilant as she stared at the floating stomach in the centre of the beam of light, "It's done."
"It…works!" She twirled around as Brangara placed a Tangible Nature on the stomach and watched it absorb it, storing the Tangible Nature in its interior. Not even an instant later did her expression turn fierce, "It's time, husband."
"Yes, it's time." Brangara said as he stared at the figure of Yamahara seated nearby, one who was in a meditative pose, "Have you figured out their route?"
"Yes," Yamahara nodded as he opened his eyes, his expression hesitant, "I have determined the Enclave they'll be arriving at in a year."
"Good!" Brangara grinned as he nodded at Yarsha Zahara, "It's time we start eliminating the Mystic Paths one by one."
"First is Orange!"