778 We’ll Make It On Time!
"There's a way," Inala spoke softly as a line of tears streamed down his face.
"But there's no me beyond that."
He then wiped his eyes and stared at Boul Brimgan to say, "There are two builds a cultivator with three Natures can attain."
"First, is like you, one whose three Natures perfectly complement each other to unleash a singular result." Inala pointed at Boul Brimgan to say, "I call this the State of Harmony."
"Harmony…" Boul Brimgan muttered as immediately in response, all the relevant information from Brangara's research popped up in his mindspace, "It's what he was looking into."
"Yeah," Inala nodded, "His understanding is incomplete, just like the rest of us. But based on what the Brimgan Founder had been thinking about all along, and adding onto everything the lot of us have figured out over the years, I managed to derive this state."
"From what I've witnessed, there are only four individuals who have achieved the State of Harmony." Inala said, "You, Resha, Narkahamy, and finally,"
"Yennda."
"If the combination of all three Natures results in a singular effect, that's when you can be said to be in the State of Harmony." Inala continued to speak, "This is a strong build, for it maximises your potential to its limit. You'll be stronger than someone who has three Natures."
"What's the other build?" Boul Brimgan asked, immediately thinking of Brangara's build. "Is he..?"
"Yes, that's the other state." Inala nodded, "When your build is created in such a way that your three Natures are part of a whole and all three have to be activated simultaneously to unleash a unified power, the result is an unrivalled power,"
"The State of Unity."
"Unity…! That's a fitting name." Boul Brimgan nodded, recalling Inala's previous statement to ask, "Are you saying you have attained the State of Unity?"
"You need to enter the State of Harmony to even have a shot at attaining the State of Unity." Inala smiled wryly as he shook his head, "And I haven't even attained the State of Harmony, forget attaining Unity."
"Also," He stared at Boul Brimgan, "Even Brangara's build isn't perfect."
"We have three Nature slots, but each slot corresponds to a Nature from the aspects of Body, Mind, and Soul respectively." Inala pointed out, "Each Nature should exhibit one of the three aspects. From What Yamahara has learned through his conversation with Sumatra's Transcendent Eater, our entire power system is focused on only the aspect of Mind."
"We've been using the aspect of mind to emulate the other two aspects, which makes our builds innately flawed. Even Brangara's build is flawed. But," Inala sighed, "He can make up for that fault by being a Major Treasure. That is the only reason he can attain Unity."
"So, Unity is impossible to attain unless our Natures are properly split between the aspects of Body, Mind, and Soul?" Boul Brimgan scratched his forehead, his eyes flickering with a golden flash as he made eye contact with Inala, "And, you have a plan towards that?"
"Yeah," Inala nodded as an orb floated before him, "The Bolt of Transcendence basically fuses all our accumulations into a singularity. Using it, I can temporarily enter the State of Unity. And that'll look something like this!"
A small spark from the orb slammed into him as Inala grunted in pain, his expression twisted as his organs were forcefully yanked towards his Spirit Container. There was a flush of Prana as a gravitational field emerged, pulling everything towards the centre.
Arcs of Bolts of Transcendence danced across his body as in response, a pillar of light gushed out of him, reaching a height of four metres before stopping. It maintained itself for a fraction of a second before crumbling.
"Bleh!" Inala collapsed on the ceiling as his blood vessels coiled from the strain, making him experience a heart attack. A Biome Bomb containing the Celestial Boar's Prana and Lifespan hurriedly poured its contents into him, beginning to heal him.
Even then, his body continued to deteriorate, rapidly in fact. And then, it melted into a puddle, vaporising a second later, leaving behind a stunned Boul Brimgan.
"You see, even the Celestial Boar's Lifespan cannot heal the damage." Inala's voice resounded as another figure of his appeared. He had split his body into two and only made one body exhibit this.
He approached Boul Brimgan and lightly tapped the latter on the shoulder, noticing his body shudder in response, having broken into a cold sweat, "Are you alright?"
"That was…Unity?" Boul Brimgan was terrified, staring at his hands to see the goosebumps that covered his skin. In that instant when Inala exhibited Unity, his Prana detection means caused enough skin prickles that his brain cut off all sensory responses to the skin.
The presence he felt was…dreadfully overwhelming. It didn't feel like staring at a cultivator, "But a God!"
Boul Brimgan felt weak all over his body, feeling the urge to prostrate himself before the vacant spot on the terrace where Inala had assumed the State of Unity. Even the lingering traces were enough to overwhelm his senses.
But most of all, he couldn't even begin to understand what type of power it is, "I…couldn't even understand what kind of existence you had become there."
"I don't fully understand it either," Inala shook his head and smiled wryly, "I'm just brute forcing my way to achieve what Brangara can unleash naturally."
"Then, help me with it too." A moment later, Boul Brimgan firmed his mind, patting his chest to state, "Help me achieve Unity too, even if for a moment. If there's two of us, then we'll have a better chance against Brangara."
"Unfortunately, that's impossible." Inala shook his head, "The Royal Zinger can create and control Bolts of Transcendence. The State of Unity is when all my powers become one, including my power to create and control the Bolts of Transcendence. That's the only reason I can emulate the State of Unity."
"However, what I can unleash now is an incomplete version. To truly unleash it, I need to reach the 10-Life Stage first. Unity cannot be unleashed if I'm not operating at full potential." Inala sighed, "Which brings us back to square one."
He slowly raised his hand and patted Boul Brimgan, "You're fine with consuming nothing but the Prana and Lifeforce of the Celestial Boar for the next two years, right?"
"I'll be honoured to do that." Boul Brimgan got on his knees, expressing solemnly, "There were many political reasons behind why I had given you that title at the end of the Second Major Disaster. But let me wholeheartedly express this,"
He prostrated on the floor, "I, Boul Brimgan, current generation Emperor of the Brimgan Empire and the second Mystic Grade existence of the Brimgan line of Royalty, solemnly proclaim that the First Calamity, Inala, alias Amita Brimgan, as this Empire's First Guardian!"
"For as long as the Brimgan Empire stands tall, every successive generation will honour you," He lifted his head and stared at Inala, "As the Brimgan Guardian."
"What are you on about?" Inala frowned upon seeing Boul Brimgan on all fours, exhibiting the utmost respect possible, "Why are you doing this suddenly?"
"There's nothing much that I can give an existence such as you, especially considering the level of the enemy we have to face, but the least I can do is honour you." He lifted his head and smiled wryly, "I know this for a fact not, given the abilities you have displayed in recent days."
"You can avoid Brangara and remain on the run for the rest of his life if you put your mind to it." His tone was full of respect as Boul Brimgan stood up and bowed once again, "From a nobody, you've become a pinnacle existence at the mere age of 35. I'm sure you'll reach the end of your potential if you live for the next ten millennia."
11:11
"You can avoid Brangara and remain on the run for the rest of his life if you put your mind to it." His tone was full of respect as Boul Brimgan stood up and bowed once again, "From a nobody, you've become a pinnacle existence at the mere age of 35. I'm sure you'll reach the end of your potential if you live for the next ten millennia."
"But you've prepared yourself to sacrifice everything just to kill the Celestial Boar. I simply intend to honour that sacrifice so that future generations are aware of it."
"That's…alright," Inala sighed, having no intention to argue otherwise. At this point, he was just…tired of formulating schemes, calmly staring in the direction of the Dralh Sea, thinking of the Quip Clansmen working on a port there, 'It's just that, from some point in time, I started to care about them.'
"It's nothing selfless," Inala commented, "I'm motivated by selfish reasons. I won't be dead for long even if I sacrifice myself. I'll be reborn through the Quip Clan."
"So, as long as I kill the Celestial Boar, at least my next life will be free from worries." He let out a smile, "and then, I can truly enjoy doing what I wanted to do the most."
…
Ravaged Federation!
Appearing in the central point of the Biome Lattice was Inala, his expression cold as he used Perfect Biome Domination to control the water in his immediate surroundings, resulting in a vortex as all the corpses of the Phells—who had been sucked dry of Prana and Lifespan—surged in his direction.
He grabbed them all using a Biome Bomb and unleashed Perfect Biome Domination to compress their bodies to the limit. Once the flesh had been compressed into a ball, he entered the Biome Bomb containing Brangara and observed the latter.
After a few minutes of trying to control the latter's Spirit Container through Perfect Biome Domination, Inala managed to make Brangara assume his Celestial Boar form. He forced open the Celestial Boar's mouth and dumped the compressed flesh ball into it, watching the digestion process begin naturally, "Fucking pig!"
The air condensed around the Celestial Boar's arms and gradually sawed through it. He had to resort to using Perfect Biome Domination as even after expanding the side of the Biome Bomb using Prana Stitch to house the Celestial Boar, it wasn't large enough to accommodate the Royal Zinger.
Otherwise, Inala could have used his Royal Zinger claws to sever Brangara's arms faster. Once the arm was severed, he stored it in another Biome Bomb, watching the arm regrow rapidly. The compressed flesh ball of Phells was fully digested, "Already?"
"His voracious appetite is the most fearsome." Muttering as such, Inala continued to feed the compressed flesh of the Phells to the Celestial Boar, also pouring Prana and Lifespan gathered from the Biome Lattice into its body.
He then extracted body parts of the Celestial Boar alongside its Prana and Lifespan, storing everything while also systematically consuming them. He had barely consumed an arm when Inala was stunned, 'Just that accelerated my maturity by a year?'
His Spirit Container was created through the Empyrean Boar King's Prana, modified through the power of Astral Chart. Hence, Inala retained a small portion of the Empyrean Boar King's characteristic of maturing faster by consuming high-quality flesh.
However, even with a small portion of that characteristic, the result was amazing. 'I'll reach the 10-Life Stage on time!'
"But, just these Phells aren't enough." He muttered upon surveying his surroundings, "They'll be consumed until extinction for our requirements."
After all, he wasn't the only one consuming byproducts of the Celestial Boar to grow faster. The rest of the Mystic Paths too needed to consume it, which created a need for resources beyond what the Ravaged Federation could generate.
A thought later, he arrived at the Brimgan Palace, next to a Quip Clansman placed there that maintained a state of flight. He flew towards Boul Brimgan, feeling the sheer Prana fluctuations emanating from the latter's practice of Deity Fusion.
"Yes?" Boul Brimgan gasped as he stopped, wiping the sweat covering him as a nearby Biome Bomb supplied him with the Celestial Boar's Prana and Lifespan.
"I need Pranic Beast corpses, as much as you can gather." Inala stated, "The Phells aren't enough."
"Alright, consider it done." Boul Brimgan nodded as he snapped his finger, causing large, golden carriages to depart from the Brimgan Empire in response, "How much do you need?"
A second later, he retracted his question, nodding softly, "You'll get as much as you want. I'm dispatching my entire Raid forces."
"Thank you," Inala smiled and then arrived at the Dralh Sea, approaching Virala, only to notice that he had piled up a ginormous mountain of Pranic Beast corpses.
"I was waiting," Virala muttered as he pointed at the Brask Channel that connected the Dralh Sea with the Red-Draft River, "I purposefully antagonised powerful Gold Grade races native to the Red-Draft River."
"They invaded us in response," He pointed at the mountain of corpses, "Take them all and supply me with the body parts of the Celestial Boar."
"Perfect," Inala grinned, stating in confidence, "This will give us enough to reach the peak within the next two years."
He then disappeared and appeared at the border of a desert, watching a sea of Pranic Beast corpses from various races forcefully compressed into meat spheres. Seated amongst the pile was a somewhat tired Resha, smiling weakly as he stared at Inala, "Is this enough?"
"Yes," Inala nodded and collected them all, returning shortly after to provide Celestial Boar body parts to Resha.
He then vanished and appeared next to a Zinger Aristocrat who pointed at the entrance to a Dungeon, "Is he here?"
"Yes, we've confirmed it." The Zinger Aristocrat nodded, "The Green Mystic Path is stationed here."
"Found Yennda yet?" Inala asked, sighing upon seeing the Zinger Aristocrat shake her head, "Keep searching for him."
He then stared at the Dungeon's entrance, took in a deep breath, and stepped inside.