783 Heading For War
"There's only a year left for the Third Major Disaster to begin."
"One year is plenty enough." Brangara nodded as he inspected himself, smiling upon seeing the contents of his Astral World. Of the hundred Natures he could store there, sixty were Treasures—both Minor and Major.
Sixty!
That was the result of him digesting all the Empyrean Tusk corpses alongside an infinite supply of Parute Fruits. It was all in an effort to prepare himself to attain his strongest possible state in the given time limit.
Of the Minor Treasures, the majority of them were from Iron Grade Tangible Natures, with plenty of them having multiple copies.
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure—Satellite x4!
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure—Shredded Lunge x8!
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure—Prana Bomb x1!
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure—Bio-Synthesis x10!
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure—Statue x7!
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure—Drifting Tunnel x1!
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure—Eddy Blade x10!
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure—Prana Shock x10!
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure—Mud Ball x1!
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure—Whip Exhaustion x2!
This added to a total of 54 Iron Grade Tangible Nature Minor Treasures, an incomprehensible sum on the level of an Empire's accumulation. But this wasn't the end yet. There were also Silver Grade Tangible Nature Minor Treasures, for a total of four.
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure—Gracious Inheritor x2!
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure—Rocky Intimidation x1!
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure—Linked Rupture x1!
Finally, there came his two, most precious Tangible Nature Major Treasures.
Tangible Nature Major Treasure—Internal Inertial Gravity x1!
Tangible Nature Major Treasure—Subtle Terrain Domination x1!
Armed with 58 Minor Treasures and 2 Major Treasures, Brangara was absolutely confident of his strength. He could permanently use them all without fear of them vanishing after use. Hence, he could fight as recklessly as he could.
After all, this was no different from him possessing 54 Iron Grade Natures, 4 Silver Grade Natures, and 2 Gold Grade Natures. Even this wasn't close to the pinnacle potential he could obtain, which was to have 100 Mystic Grade Tangible Nature Major Treasures.
The remaining forty slots contained his Gold Grade Tangible Natures, which had 33 Tangible Natures of Subtle Terrain Domination and 7 Tangible Natures of Internal Inertial Gravity. They were each at varying levels of the Life Stage and hadn't reached the 10-Life Stage yet.
However, they were his reserve, meant to be used only when he was on his last leg. The Major and Minor Treasures at his disposal were all he needed.
Moreover, he had two Minor Treasures of Gracious Inheritor, each with a capacity to store 3600 Iron Grade Natures or an equivalent of 360 Silver Grade Natures. Brangara filled them with as many varieties of Natures as he could and had multiple stackable Natures of the same kind, just in case he had to engage in multiple, successive battles.
He couldn't straight up use the Natures stored in them, for Gracious Inheritor only acted as a storage for the Natures. So, if absolutely necessary, he'd fuse the Tangible Nature Minor Treasure into his body, thereby using it.
However, unlike keeping it in the Astral World, fusing it with the body was extremely dangerous, for all the influence generated within it through the pile of Natures would bombard his body, mind, and soul, absolutely harming even him.
He had fused Gracious Inheritor into Orakha to initially destroy his mind. It was extremely potent, and also something he planned to use when a chance presents itself.
Using 3600 Natures to fight was less effective than fusing the Minor Treasure of Gracious Inheritor into the body of a Mystic Seven. The influence it generates destroyed Orakha, someone who had entered the Mystic Grade. So it was guaranteed to work, a sure-hit attack that would destroy his enemies for good.
Brangara had prepared a few trump cards against the Mystic Seven. First were the two Minor Treasures of Gracious Inheritors. Second were the Minor Treasures of Statue, which he prepared seven, for each of the Mystic Seven.
Even though Orakha was out of the picture, Brangara felt there was a solid chance Boul Brimgan would take that place, so he prepared seven in any case. He didn't waste resources to prepare anymore of them, for no one else apart from these seven could ever hope to touch him, much less harm him.
He then had his final trump card, prepared for whichever existence he considered the most dangerous. It was the Minor Treasure of Linked Rupture, whose power was on a whole other level.
Primary Nature—Linked Rupture!
It was the Death Knell's power, a double-sided sword. It took out the respective senses of both the user and the target. The effect would be maintained as long as the Death Knell had enough Prana reserves.
They were one of the most dangerous existences to be encountered in the wild. And its Mutant, the Grim Knell was invincible before a crowd, thanks to its Secondary Nature of Akashic Transfer. But Voracious Cultivator is incapable of gaining the Natures of Mutated Pranic Beasts, hence Brangara could only target the Death Knells.
"Unfortunately, I could only find one." He sighed. Due to the nature of their ability and their Lonewolf characteristics, the population of Deaths Knells was one of the lowest, pretty much endangered.
Due to their solitary nature, they never tended to the eggs they laid, which resulted in most of the eggs being eaten up by other Pranic Beasts. Even encountering a suitable mate was incredibly rare. Most Death Knells would spend their entire lives never encountering another of its kind, not to mention finding a suitable mate.
As a result, the population of the Death Knells remained abysmal, with their Mutant variant, the Grim Knell being even rarer. At most a hundred existed on the entire Sumatra Continent.
The fact that the Mammoth Clan managed to obtain a Grim Knell egg was no different from a stroke of luck.
Once elevated to a Minor Treasure, Linked Rupture became absolutely bonkers. It was a one-time-use Minor Treasure. And once used, it permanently destroyed a sense of both the user and the target.
It required a whopping 12,000 units of Mystic Grade Prana to be activated, which was insane. Hence, only Brangara could use it. But if he were to use it, he'd be losing one of his senses permanently. So, unless absolutely necessary, he didn't plan to use it.
There were some workarounds to ensure he could activate it through another existence. However, in a battle against the Mystic Seven, any third party would be obliterated instantly, so it would be hard to pull off.
"But if it's a pre-emptive strike, then I can charge it up first, and make another Gold Grade Pranic Beast activate it. This way, it'll be the one to lose its senses and not me." Brangara thought, swerving his head to stare at the figure of Yarsha Zahara observing him in calmness, "Is something the matter?"
"Do you remember the plan?" Yarsha Zahara asked, "I need to acquire Weapon at all costs."
"I do," Brangara nodded softly, sighing after a few seconds of silence, "Are you nervous?"
"Obviously," Yarsha Zahara nodded, gritting her teeth, "We had all the advantage, our plans were perfect, and we had prepared counters for everything. But even then, you lost a body while I died to Orakha. And this was from someone who was fleeing."
"I can't begin to fathom what the rest had prepared against us, since they have stayed behind to fight us." Her body trembled slightly.
"Are you worried I would lose?" Brangara snorted as he extended his hand and motioned for his wife to feel the muscles, "My stack of nine bodies is ridiculously tough to the extent Vhalla could do nothing to me even after harnessing her Internal Inertial Gravity to the limit."
"Even a so-called Deity can no longer harm me." He expressed arrogantly, "It will take the likes of a Mystic Grade Pranic Beast to even hope to injure me, not to mention kill me."
"You know how strong my regenerating prowess has gotten after reaching the 9-Life Stage. So, there's no reason for you to worry."
"THERE IS!" Yarsha lost her cool, bellowing in rage, "I don't want to believe it's true, but there's a high chance they've captured your body. Who knows what they're attaining through it? But most of all,"
Her expression grew incensed, "They most probably wouldn't have missed the chance to kidnap Yamahara."
"Our SON might be suffering in their hands already!" Her eyes grew moist, raging further upon seeing that Brangara wasn't reciprocating enough. Her voice turned bone-chilling, her every word uttered slowly, brimming with menace, "Don't tell me…you forgot even him?"
"Of course…not!" Brangara grunted in irritation, "I haven't used my full powers recently. So, there's no reason I forgot something recently. And I am carrying an Information Slip with me all the time."
Saying so, he took out a piece of Sumatra Gold, "As you have mentioned previously, I'm recording everything in it. So even if I were to forget something, as long as I have this, I can remember everything once again."
"Then tell me this…" Yarsha Zahara stared deep into Brangara's eyes, "If the Mystic Seven were to do to our son what we did to Orakha…"
Boom!
The ground cracked as the Celestial Boar's presence billowed in absolute fury, causing all the Parute Trees in the region to wither instantly. Even the Sandy-Grey Void, the pillar of darkness created by it flickered in response to his presence.
Her feet dug into the collapsing ground as Yarsha Zahara was steadily pushed far away, her Prana riling up in response in an effort to protect herself. She stared at Brangara's absolutely incensed expression and heaved a sigh in relief, "You're still the man I know."
"I am," Brangara gradually calmed down and retracted his presence, waving his hand to disperse the projection of a Celestial Boar head that had appeared in the sky, like an aurora as a result of his presence emission.
Once he had calmed down, Brangara stared at Yarsha Zahara, huffing, "Don't do that again, please. When I seem like I'm not emotional, it's only because I'm using the influence from the Empyrean Snappers to suppress my feelings."
"Nothing has changed, whether it be my hatred for the Mammoth Clan, my hunger for Gannala, or my love towards you and our kids. Nothing has changed," His voice was almost a whisper as he embraced her, "I promise you this, Yarsha."
"I'll win, no matter what I must do, I will survive, I will kill the Mystic Seven, and I will protect us all." His expression hardened in resolve, "Currently, I'm the strongest I've ever been. So, it's high time we put an end to this war."
"I know," Yarsha Zahara tightened her hold over Brangara, "It's just…I'm scared. Ever since I've inhabited Maroppa's body, the mere thought of the Royal Zinger terrifies me. But I can't abandon this body, no matter what. It's extremely valuable."
She could simply try to expand the Sandy-Grey Void without limits, which would allow Sumatra's Transcendent Eater to stop the Sandy-Grey Void's expansion within Sumatra Continent by surrounding it with Parute Trees.
Basically, they'll obtain a massive farm of Parute Trees in this way, able to control exactly where they appear, without having to break any of the rules set by Sumatra.
15:35
If they were to create a large Parute Tree farm in the Varahan Empire, they'd succeed in creating the strongest Empire in the history of Sumatra, one that will continue to voraciously expand its influence and grow without limits.
It wasn't just that, but the combination of Orakha's and Maroppa's powers allowed Yarsha Zahara to rapidly modify Human Avatars and ingeniously fuse various powers into a unified whole. Whatever feats her Sumatra Chronicles self had accumulated and performed through great calculations, resource collection, and sheer perseverance were now cakewalk to her.
She could do it without any issues, which was why she valued Maroppa's body. Moreover, just the fact that it was a Mudropper meant they could freely travel through the Sandy-Grey Void using her powers, making it the most valuable even among strategic assets.
"Have faith in me and persevere. That's all I ask you, Yarsha." Brangara consoled her and seated her on his shoulder.
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure—Internal Inertial Gravity!
His figure flickered and sped forth, also using Subtle Terrain Domination to reduce air resistance to zero, allowing for smooth travel, "Where are we going first?"
"The Brimgan Empire, of course." Yarsha Zahara muttered in seriousness, "Harla Brimgan's Minor Treasures would prove pivotal in acquiring the Major Treasure of Weapon. Also,"
"I want to meet with Ruvva."