The Sandy-Grey Void erected by Maroppa wasn't the stable kind created at the Sanrey Plains. No, it was the kind capable of swallowing the whole of Sumatra when left as is. And obviously, having been through the era of Mudropper invasion, Sumatra Continent had a few internal defences prepared against it.
The external defence was obviously the Continent's border, a shallow region that was immune to the effects of the Sandy-Grey Void. All Continents had this border, which was a layer surrounding them and actively protected them against the Sandy-Grey Void.
The internal defence, especially on Sumatra Continent consisted of two: Empyrean Tentacle and Parute Tree.
The Gold Empyrean Tentacle's Primary Nature of Thought Condensation was capable of altering the terrain of a region. At the Mystic Grade, when the three Natures are combined in a certain way, with Thought Condensation kept as the focus, the terrain-altering capabilities were enough to heal all Sandy-Grey Void regions on Sumatra Continent back to normalcy.
Typically, when there's no Mystic Tentacle, Sumatra Continent would spawn all three variants right next to each other, allowing them to devour each other and quickly become the Mystic Empyrean Tentacle, following which the Sandy-Grey Void could be healed.
In case the Mystic Empyrean Tentacle already existed, or the three variants were too far away to devour each other and result in a Mystic Grade existence, Sumatra Continent would lower its barrier and allow the Transcendents to take action, especially the Mystic Tentacle Transcendents.
Mahira Tusk too could take action, which gave her somewhat greater leverage and higher communication capabilities with the Mammoth Clan. But this was just the last resort, as the abilities of Transcendents came with consequences.
They were similar to Major Treasures but significantly more destructive, their Transcendent Prana capable of altering the entire terrain, resulting in a headache only inferior to the growing Sandy-Grey Void.
As a result, Sumatra Continent had a more relative internal defence, which stemmed from Sumatra's Transcendent Eater.
The Transcendent Eater was a special existence, one capable of planting its roots in the Sandy-Grey Void and using the grey sand as minerals to grow, generating Transcendent Prana. It was the power source that all Transcendents relied upon to build the Transcendent Worlds.
Sumatra Continent too grew over time by consuming the energy generated by Sumatra's Transcendent Eater.
Parute Trees were an extension of the root tendrils of Sumatra's Transcendent Eater. The Parute Fruits they bore were condensed by heavily diluting the Transcendent Prana generated by Sumatra's Transcendent Eater.
This energy funnels into the living beings that consume the Parute Fruits, entering the food cycle. And eventually, when the living beings die and become one with the earth, they contribute to Sumatra's growth, at infinitesimal quantities, but surely resulting in growth over the course of millions of years.
That's how all Continents gradually grow.
And as extensions of a Transcendent Eater's root tendrils, Parute Trees had the capability to use the grey sand as a mineral resource. Rather, this resource was more beneficial to them than regular soil.
In cases like the Sanrey Plains where the Sandy-Grey Void ring was contained and when Inala used the Sandy-Grey Bombs at the Dralh Sea that had a limited growth time, these internal mechanisms weren't triggered.
However, the moment the Sandy-Grey Void began to grow at an exponential pace, with no signs of stopping, the internal defence system activated spontaneously.
Once Vhalla became too exhausted, unable to run anymore, Maroppa had no other choice but to use her Primary Nature of Sandy-Grey Assimilation, Parute Trees popped up in the millions, forming an encirclement around the expanding Sandy-Grey Void.
"Of course, that makes perfect sense. Why didn't I think of it before?" Brangara burst into laughter as he observed three layers of Parute Trees encircling the Sandy-Grey Void. He observed the border, noticing that the grey sand was actively trying to eat into the earth and expand the Sandy-Grey Void.
However, before the grey sand could work its magic, the Parute Trees absorbed them in large quantities, stopping their progression.
"Hmm?" Brangara raised his eyebrows for a moment, noticing the strength of the grey sand spike for a second, causing the Sandy-Grey Void to expand by ten metres. The Parute Trees wilted in response as they were damaged in the process.
However, a fraction of a second later, a new batch of Parute Trees encircled the expanded Sandy-Grey Void. Moreover, the layer of Parute Trees increased to five, not only stopping the Sandy-Grey Void's expansion, but had actually begun to shrink it.
Every minute, the Sandy-Grey Void receded by a millimetre. The speed was slow but definite. In a matter of decades, the Parute Trees will recover the region. And by consuming the Parute Fruits they were sprouting in large numbers, the local vegetation would experience a boost that would eventually accumulate in the soil.
Therefore, once the Sandy-Grey Void is cleared, there was a good chance the region will become a blessed land.
"Now, I don't want to miss out on this," Brangara muttered as he made a mental tally of the Parute Trees, coming short of half a million. "That's a lot of Parute Fruits that could be harvested."
For a moment, he stared into his Astral World and focused on the Tangible Nature Minor Treasure of Blessed Inheritor, "This can work!"
He didn't fuse with it but simply placed it in his Astral World, where his influence affected it. Hence, he didn't have to deal with the influence it generated thanks to the thousands of Tangible Natures stored within it.
It could only be stored in his Astral World though and cannot be used as it. To use it, Brangara would have to fuse with it, which was an issue. However, he had a workaround in place. Whenever he wanted to use a Nature from it, the Tangible Nature Minor Treasure of Blessed Inheritor would first release it into the Astral World, from where he would activate them.
The scent released by the Parute Trees began to lure in Pranic Beasts in large numbers. There was a decent number of Gold Grade Pranic Beast races in the vicinity, so it was just a matter of time before things became bloody here.
But that was only if he didn't take action.
Astral World-Rocky Intimidation!
Influence-Subtle Terrain Domination!
Rock pillars appeared a kilometre away from the five layers of Parute Trees, each reaching a height of twenty metres. After they appeared, Brangara used Subtle Terrain Domination to combine them, forming a large mountain eventually.
He first circled the Sandy-Grey Void and placed a mountain at each quadrant, the intimidation they released served as a warning against other Pranic Beasts. And since they felt the Celestial Boar's presence, they were too afraid to come near, despite the strongest allure they felt from the half a million Parute Trees.
Tangible Natures jumped out of the Tangible Nature Minor Treasure of Blessed Inheritor and approached the Parute Trees, harvesting the fully sprouted Parute Fruits. Upon collecting them, they approached Brangara and chucked them in his mouth.
Followed by a single crunch, Brangara swallowed everything, assuming Celestial Boar form to fear of consumption and digestion. His stomach was severely bloated. But thankfully, most of the Empyrean Tusks had turned into miniature suns.
So, they didn't take up much space. Instead, he was only digesting the content extracted out
of the miniature suns by the 10-Life Stage Yoked Wyrms and the Tangible Nature Minor Treasure of Bio-Synthesis.
The Parute Fruits were digested instantly once they landed in his stomach, producing a large volume of Prana that he used to maintain the functioning of the Tangible Natures and using Rocky Intimidation.
He took his sweet time, understanding that it was a waiting game, for in the Sandy-Grey Void, Maroppa held the advantage. He was only at the Body Stage and a single misstep meant his life was at risk.
A month later, a mountain range formed a ring, completely blocking the Sandy-Grey Void from the outside world. The lowest altitude of the mountain range reached a height of six kilometres, absolutely massive.
Its width at the thinnest was ten kilometres wide, ensuring that even if an Empyrean Tusk
were to ram into it, the mountain range wouldn't cave in. The range wasn't just condensed out of the rock pillars formed using the Rockatrice's Nature of Rocky Intimidation but had been compressed to the limit through Subtle Terrain Domination.
The only way to travel to the other side was to scale it. After all, the range also expanded
inwards, reaching a depth of two kilometres into the ground. Without the basically infinite supply of Parute Fruits, this wouldn't have been possible.
Once the construction had been completed, Brangara plopped to the ground and did nothing
other than consume Parute Fruits, using the excess energy to focus on nurturing useful Tangible Natures through the Life Stage.
He was waiting until his body at the Varahan Empire reached the peak of the Body Stage. 'With the resources available there, my body should be achieving it in another five years.'
Once that happens, he could begin to condense a new body thanks to the sheer amount of
resources at his disposal, especially the Empyrean Tusk corpses that could accelerate his body's maturity significantly.
With that in mind, he focused on his stomach, which doubled down as the Astral World. As
many Empyrean Snappers lived there, the Astral World was massive, which allowed for more than enough stomach space.
However, the food and the Astral World didn't interact with each other, operating as if they existed in different dimensions. Brangara wasn't yet fully aware of the process behind it, but he knew that it was some kind of biome similar to the Empyrean Tusks.
Similar to how a majority of the Royal Zinger's power was concentrated in its arms and throat,
the Empyrean Boar King's power was concentrated in its digestive system. For the Celestial Boar, it was entirely concentrated in the stomach.
In terms of defensive strength, his body didn't even come close to the stomach. That was because this one organ acted as both the stomach and the Astral World.
Since he had an infinite supply of Parute Fruits, he used them to elevate the Empyrean Snappers, also feeding a significant chunk to Yarsha Zahara while ensuring to not seep any of
his influence into her.
"How are you feeling?" He asked upon bringing her out of the Astral World, his eyes tearing
up to see her condense before him.
"Like shit," Yarsha Zahara's shoulders drooped, "I...was overconfident! I never expected Orakha to be sharp enough to have seen through my oversight."
"You did mention that he was capable of that, right?" Brangara sighed as he hugged her,
"Let's think of a way to bring you back. These Parute Trees are able to give me enough Prana to eventually nurture you to the 10-Life Stage..."
"That won't work, husband." Yarsha Zahara slowly parted way from his embrace, turned
around, and wiped her tears, "My chances of becoming a Major Treasure are abysmal. If I was still a human, I could have prepared for it throughout my life. But as a Tangible Nature..."
She shook her head, "I'm way too fragile to attempt that. And even if there's a chance of
success, it's a lost cause since I'm not becoming a Major Treasure by absorbing Bolts of Transcendence."
"I'll be a mockery of a Major Treasure as compared to all Major Treasures." She grunted, "I would rather die than become something like that."
'This woman and her pride...' Brangara felt irritation for a moment before controlling himself, retorting calmly, "But I want you to live freely. In the present state, your fate is tied to mine. If I die, you die too. And I don't want that."
"Hmm..." Yarsha Zahara stared at him in conflict before opening her mouth in hesitation,
"There...is one way out."
"What is it?" Brangara asked in excitement, "Tell me! I'm ready to do anything to allow you
to live once again!"
"You...won't like this." She sighed before staring at the horn Brangara carried, "With his Mystic Eaters, and Blessed Inheritor, I can create a dwelling for myself..."
She almost choked, feeling insulted to even suggest the idea, "In Orakha's Human Avatar."