Varahan Empire, Noikatol District!
MunuBuntara exited his home, guarded by a large team of Free Humans acting as his bodyguards, one of whom was Wepetay. As one of his strongest people, Wepetay was recalled from the Noikatol Kingdom for just one reason: Trust!
The cause was the pair of eyes trained on him the moment MunuBuntara walked into the open. Mild sweat dripped down his back, turning his shirt damp as he noticed multiple, ravenous stares directed at him, 'It has further worsened today.'
He quickly boarded his carriage and closed the doors, heaving a sigh of relief once he was inside, commenting to Wepetay, "I feel stuffed to leave my house."
"We're investigating the cause, My Lord." Wepetay expressed his helplessness, "But we're unable to figure out the cause. It suddenly sprang into existence the past month."
"Arrest everyone who is displaying unnatural behaviours." MunuBuntara said solemnly, "My coronation ceremony is next month. I need everything to be clean when I'm proclaimed King Noikatol by His Majesty, the Emperor!"
"The prisons are overrun," Wepetay let out a mild sigh before stating in a hurry upon noticing MunuBuntara's dissatisfaction. "We're making more space right as we speak and are also interrogating all the captured prisoners."
"I'll be expecting positive results soon." MunuBuntara said before waving his hand, taking out a kerchief to wipe the cold sweat dripping down his face as he let out a slow breath, relaxing slightly once he was unable to feel the stares anymore, "Let's listen to some music. My nerves have been too tense these days."
"Yes, My Lord." Wepetay nodded and opened the suitcase placed under his seat, revealing a gramophone. A small piece of Vara was embedded into the crank, in which Wepetay poured his Prana and used psychokinesis to turn it.
The crystal disk began to rotate in response, causing the needle-pin to trail over the faint indentations embedded on the disk, producing a piece of soft music. The pin, the disk, and even the box, all were made from a special set of materials dedicated to the one song recorded on the disk.
Since the Varahan Empire was wealthy, they made custom gramophones for every single piece of music they had produced, not because they liked to waste money, but because the interaction between the various materials resulted in the perfect playback for certain pieces of music.
So, for every type of music, a certain set of material combinations was preferred. The Gramophone set MunuBuntara had was expensive, having over ten pieces of music, with an assortment of pins and disks.
It was a new model that had only been released a couple days ago and was a hot commodity. As the heavenly music echoed in his ear, MunuBuntara closed his eyes and relished it, feeling himself relax naturally.
Wepetay too felt relaxed. However, he couldn't let loose, as he needed to be alert to protect MunuBuntara from harm. Even though there had never been a targeted attack on MunuBuntara until now, he couldn't throw heed to caution, for things seemed different for the past month.
[You only need to consume an Empyrean Boar to obtain the Secondary Nature of Voracious Nature!]
'What?' Wepetay's eyes shot open suddenly, realising that he had fallen asleep for a couple of seconds. His gaze fell on MunuBuntara, noticing the latter had his eyes closed, enjoying the music. Based on the content being played in the music, Wepetay judged that he had only fallen asleep for five seconds.
The music piece lasted a whopping eight hours without any repetition. Since it was MunuBuntara's favourite, even Wepetay had heard it more than thirty times by now, which was how he could judge the time that had passed as he had fallen asleep.
'How did I fall asleep despite my state of alertness? Besides, why did I hear the Emperor's voice all of a sudden?' Wepetay frowned, feeling jittery, 'And...what exactly was that sentence?'
He recalled the sentence and subconsciously stared at MunuBuntara for an instant before he mentally chided himself, 'What the fuck am I thinking? How DARE I think of something so presumptuous?'
"Is the music not to your liking?" MunuBuntara noticed a faint fluctuation of presence from Wepetay and stared at the latter, saying upon observing his expression, "You look like you've eaten a rotten dish."
"Did you recall the dinner we had four nights ago?" MunuBuntara chuckled casually.
"Yes," Wepetay nodded, lying spontaneously as he felt odd for some reason. But a few seconds later, the odd sensation vanished as he said, "Sir, I'm not sure how to say this. But..."
"Yes? Please go ahead and say it, Wepetay." MunuBuntara said, "You don't need to be reserved against me."
"I heard a strange sentence suddenly." Wepetay expressed truthfully, "It was His Majesty, the Emperor's voice. As to what it was..."
He hesitated, mildly trembling in fear, for the notion was just too absurd to comprehend. But upon seeing the truth and confidence MunuBuntara placed in him, Wepetay revealed the truth, "You only need to consume an Empyrean Boar to obtain the Secondary Nature of Voracious Nature."
"I heard this statement through His Majesty's voice."
"What? How did you hear it?" MunuBuntara was stunned by the sentence, expressing his shock.
"It...popped up into my head." Wepetay said, "I think I had dozed off for five seconds. I think I dreamed of sitting here, at the same spot, and someone whispered this sentence in my ear. That's how the sensation was."
"Has this happened before?" MunuBuntara asked, frowning as Wepetay shook his head. After a minute of thought, he nodded, "See if any of our captives have heard the same sentence."
"Alright!" Wepetay nodded, unaware of the true culprit, which was staring at him in the face, the cause of all the problems.
His Clothes!
Tertiary Nature-Prana Stitch!
It was the Royal Zinger's Tertiary Nature, which Inala had used when weaving the suits worn by MunuBuntara and everyone of importance accompanying him. The fabric forming the suit was thick, having been created by weaving multiple layers together.
The inner layers, hidden from view, had threads weaved to basically form the design of Piezo Slips. And these Piezo Slips had the information about the Skills of Universal Slip and Dual
Speech.
Therefore, whenever MunuBuntara activated the suit, two extra units of Prana were consumed, which were to activate the two skills of Universal Slip and Dual Speech
respectively.
The music played by these Gramophones was created using the Dual Speech Skill. The sound travelled at two superimposed frequencies. The first was in the audible range while the second was in the range inaudible to human and Empyrean Boar ears.
Whenever MunuBuntara listened to music right after wearing or removing his clothes, the zinger voice got translated and sent to his ears by Universal Slip Skill embedded in his clothes. The information lodged itself in his mind space, left to ponder about later.
However, as he was at the Gold Grade, the Universal Slip Skill's effect waned within a minute.
And on days when he carried a large bunch of Natures on his being, it waned in a matter of seconds. Therefore, there wasn't enough time for the information contained in the music to engrave itself in his mind space and appear in his dreams.
That was why MunuBuntara was oblivious to it until now, despite hearing the music daily.
Pretty much every single melody that one could listen to while falling asleep had been encoded with a Zinger voice.
Wepetay wasn't the type to listen to melodies, and hence he hadn't heard anything suspicious
in his dreams before. He only got it because he had fallen asleep for a few seconds now, due to his nerves being tense for an entire month.
That was why he had relaxed unconsciously as he heard the music. The tension had taken a toll
on his body.
The carriage arrived at a stop as Wepetay alighted first. And only after he judged the safety of their surroundings did MunuBuntara get down.
Waiting at the entrance to his office was a middle-aged man who had recently reached the 2-
Life Stage, his presence vastly stronger than everyone at his level, thanks to one thing-
Wealth!
Prumace was a merchant from the Capital City who created the Gramophone, his invention receiving crazy attention in a matter of days, allowing him to amass a large fortune thanks to the sheer number of orders he obtained after his first successful demo.
He then built a massive company and expanded into various districts, soon becoming one of the biggest companies of the Varahan Empire. The wealth of the Varahan Empire was Natures, with the Yoked Wyrm's Nature of Bio-Synthesis forming the base unit of their currency.
The Banks of the Empire each controlled large Nests of Yoked Wyrms, the population of
whom indicated their disposable wealth. And it was this that they managed across the Empire, since only Natures could be used as a currency, nothing else.
Even promissory notes were illegal. Only the Banks knew the information of an individual's
wealth, the information of which was guarded behind multiple security layers, impossible to be tampered with. And accordingly, whenever someone wanted some money, they'll approach the bank, withdraw the necessary number of Natures of Bio-Synthesis and head about their daily lives.
The presence unleashed by Prumace was strong, not in quality, but in quantity. And everyone accompanying him farther behind was similar, indicating that they had arrived with as many Natures of Bio-Synthesis as their Human Avatars could hold.
"It's a pleasure meeting you, Lord MunuBuntara." Prumace made a solemn bow as he stated
his intention, "I've come here to discuss business with the Noikatol District. Do you have some free time now?"
"Of course," MunuBuntara smiled immediately, for a business opportunity would help grow
his District better, especially one with such a large merchant company, 'It seems the rumours
I heard are true.'
He thought while flashing a cordial smile towards Prumace, 'He intends to monopolise the business since the manufacturing secrets of the Gramophone have been leaked to his competitor a year ago. No wonder he's been visiting every single District. Seems it's finally
our turn.'
'The Noikatol District's value is still very low, huh?' He sighed mentally for a moment before leading Prumace to his office, "Please come with me."