802 Iron Grade, Body Stage
Snort!
In a vast grassland, hidden from view was a massive crater, built like a bird's nest that its topmost part merged into the ground. A good half of the bird's nest was covered by the grassland, allowing the sunlight to shine through the remainder.
An expanse of flora had been created within, filled with Maetalla—meat-bearing trees with watermelon-shaped fruits available exclusively in the stomachs of Empyrean Tusks. The terrain within the bird's nest had been terraformed to resemble the stomach of an Empyrean Tusk as much as possible while also allowing the survival of another creature.
Empyrean Boar!
More than a thousand Empyrean Boars roamed within the Bird's nest, consuming Maeta—the watermelon-shaped meat fruits—produced by the Maetalla for sustenance. Spirit Moss also grew along the walls, providing both ambience and enriching the air within the region.
Mostly left untouched, a sizeable chunk of it had formed on the walls of the bird's nest. They released faint wisps of Prana into the air, which allowed one to recover small amounts of Prana over time just by breathing the air here.
Of course, this amount was a paltry sum. It took at least two hours to recover a unit of Prana, which was nothing for these Gold Grade Pranic Beasts.
Bam!
An Empyrean Boar slammed into the walls of the bird's nest in an effort to escape. However, even its full-powered slam did nothing to the wall. Externally, it looked nothing more than a regular piece of earth. However, it was internally reinforced by the tusk of an Empyrean Tusk, making it the toughest.
Moreover, forming the top layer was earth created by the power of Thought Condensation, ensuring it couldn't be damaged by an Empyrean Boar. Since these creatures didn't have a Nature, they couldn't break free of the place, even when they retained their original intelligence—from their time as Free Humans.
Nature Weapon—Empyrean Boar Transformation!
Gannala captured Free Humans at the Spirit Stage, equipped this Nature Weapon in their Primary Nature slots and transformed their bodies into Empyrean Boars. They were stuck in the Empyrean Boar bodies, as if they had been born as an Empyrean Boar.
However, they didn't have a Nature, since Gannala removed the Nature Weapon of Empyrean Boar Transformation from them.
Originally, their memories were erased. But after turning into Empyrean Boars, their Prana quality reached Gold Grade, which meant they recovered their original memories eventually. As a result, they were left as is.
After all, if they lived, ate, shat, and slept as Empyrean Boars, the growth in maturity Gannala experienced by consuming them was the highest. As a result, they were allowed to roam freely in the Empyrean Boar Farm.
A stone platform had been erected beside the Empyrean Boar Farm, large enough for an Empyrean Tusk to stand. It had been designed in such a way that the storm resulting from Gannala assuming Empyrean Tusk form didn't harm the Empyrean Boar Farm.
Though it had been cleaned regularly, the blood from Empyrean Boars had soaked into the platform, giving it a murky stench. Seated on it currently and munching the leg of an Empyrean Boar was Gannala, her eyes glinting viciously, having engaged in systematic slaughter for so long.
Her gaze was focused on a spot two kilometres away, observing a battle exchange between two individuals.
"Urgh!" Yahard Tusk condensed a sword of Prana and combusted it into flames, following which he hurled it in the direction of a man whose figure was a blur.
Boom! Boom!
Flaming swords of Prana rained down on the ground, forming large, molten craters, easily avoided by an armoured figure wielding a myriad of bizarrely shaped tools.
His shoes were laden with finely tuned springs, numbering more than a hundred, all intricately built into the shoe while maintaining its overall shape consistently. For every movement of the foot, according to the muscular contraction in the feet, the springs underneath released their spring force, resulting in the shoe providing a relevant boost when its soles came in contact with the ground surface.
Shoe-shaped platforms hovered in the air in the vicinity of the figure, adjusting accordingly as they perfectly aligned themselves to the soles of the man's shoes, acting as accurate footholds for him to step upon and move forward.
Moreover, right at the moment of contact, the platforms moved back slightly to cushion the landing. They then stored the momentum in the spring layout within and dispersed it right as the foot was about to leave the foothold, giving the leg another push.
This way, the man's figure was able to move around in a flurry.
"Hmph!" The man grunted as his figure sharply turned in the air. His armour was created in the same mechanism as the shoes, but with an added layer of aerodynamics. A multitude of flaps, ailerons, and rudders covered his armour, protruding and retracting in real-time as and when necessary.
The moment the man needed to make a sharp turn in the air after a jump, their aerodynamic objects came into existence to ensure the aerial acrobatics could be performed. This allowed the man perfect control of his movements.
The platforms behaved as Satellites while he was moving, as a result able to perfectly track his moments and ensure the relative distance between them remained consistent. However, the moment the man was about to land on a platform, it switched from a Satellite to a Comet, allowing it to adjust its angle, position, and direction of movement according to what the man needed.
22:37
The input and output necessary to perform them all were actuated by the man's brain through psychokinesis. Followed by another jump, the man condensed a drill that an internal set of gears to actuate its penetration power and rotation speed according to the situation.
Even the shape and thread of the drill could be varied according to the man's wishes. After a twirl and a jump to evade a flaming sword, the man hurled the drill at Yahard Tusk.
A barrier of Prana appeared along its path, blocking it. However, a fraction of a second later, the drill blade switched to a form more effective against the barrier of Prana, quickly penetrating it. In response to its success, Yahara Tusk added a terrain effect to the barrier, turning it into a slab of rock.
Ear-piercing sounds echoed as the blades of the drill changed circularly as its drilling speed increased, having adapted to the rocky terrain. Immediately after, the rock turned into sand as the drill adapted by turning conical with serpentine threads.
There was a series of changes, at the end of which the barrier turned into water. Followed by a grunt from Yahard Tusk, the water formed a vortex and converged upon the drill, intending to dent it through water pressure. "What will you do now?"
"Heh!" In response to it, the man chuckled. The drill changed forms into a deep-sea squid and casually used the slow of the vortex to break free out of it. Upon moving past the barrier, it elongated into a hand and slammed into Yahard Tusk, crumbling into embers a moment later.
"Urgh!" Yahard Tusk grunted as he skidded back a few metres, feeling a sting from the impact. However, he wasn't worried about the punch, but instead the point of his nose where he had been touched by the hand, "Shit!"
His nose tip elongated like an octopus that coiled its tentacles around his face, intending to choke him.
Tertiary Nature—Thought Condensation!
Yahard Tusk erupted with flames, intending to burn off the tentacles. However, since it was formed from his body, it could easily resist the effect, since Prana was still circulating through it, supplied by him.
His Prana tried to reverse the changes, however its effectiveness was subpar as compared to usual when it could instantly reverse any external effect. Blades of Prana flashed around his head, dicing up the tentacles until Yahard Tusk managed to rip off his nose.
It took him close to twenty seconds to deal with the mutated entity, following which he collapsed to the ground, "Let's call it a day here."
"Ok," The man facing him stopped as all the platforms hovering in the vicinity dropped to the ground. The armour opened as if it were a living creature, revealing a humanoid entity within.
Though it looked like a human, the uncanny valley effect was evident. Anyone who looked at the man would think that he was a human man but would feel strange, as if he wasn't human. They were right on the mark, as he was a Pranic Beast genetically modified to resemble a human from an appearance perspective.
Beginner Gold Grade Pranic Beast—Prime Enran!
With a Prana capacity of 4780 and a lifespan of 1020 years, it was the most stable version of an Enran that had been mutated to the Gold Grade.
Primary Nature—Satellite!
Secondary Nature—Comet!
All the footholds were a mixture of both Satellites and Comets. The spring actuation was unleashed through the propulsion function of a Comet in that it could charge into a target. Here, the target was simply fixed, allowing the Comet to behave like a springboard.
The Satellite function was charged to protect the man's feet, allowing them to naturally align correctly with the feet. Moreover, the footholds could freely accelerate and move about on their own thanks to the combined usage of Satellite and Comet.
Of course, the man kept the targets of both himself, that way he could use them as footholds while moving about. His armour too had been created with the same function.
The drill was a Spirit Weapon created with the power of a Comet, while the gear and blade mechanism within was made using a Satellite. Each blade mechanism was useful against a certain terrain.
These Satellites were made to recognise those terrains as their target. So, the moment they sense the respective target, they move forward, allowing the drill to spontaneously change itself to drill through any type of material it comes across.
All of this was possible thanks to its final Nature.
Tertiary Nature—Lagrange!
Lagrange allowed the man to perform three functions. First was to condense a larger amount of Prana within a Satellite and Comet, expanding their range of activity. Second was to allow the functions of both a Satellite and a Comet to be combined into a singular whole.
Third was to allow it to act as a Satellite or Comet belonging to any external party. The third function was primarily employed for recovery means, as the man could attach a Satellite or Comet to a tree. It could camouflage itself as tree bark and gradually feed on the tree's nutrients to generate Prana and maintain its function.
Lagrange was derived from the Nature of Spirit Moss Cultivator according to the genetics of an Enran, obviously while being mutated to the extreme by a certain existence.
"That was a brilliant fight, Dad!" Harrala jumped up and down in joy as she hugged the man. Of course, due to their height difference, it looked like she was playing with a doll. "You've become many times stronger recently."
"Really? I'm glad then." The man nodded. Piloting the body of the Prime Enran was none other than Yennda, having used his powers to mutate it until its body remained stable as a Gold Grade Pranic Beast while its external appearance remained a human.
A second later, Yennda appeared beside the Prime Enran, his figure mildly translucent. However, unlike before when he appeared extremely fragile, as if he could be destroyed by a gust of wind, he looked steady now, sturdy even, enough to endure a punch from the Second Major Disaster version of Brangara.
Expert Gold Grade Pranic Beast—Tangible Epidemic!
Using the arms of the Celestial Boar, Yennda finally finished building his Pranic Beast form to become the Tangible Epidemic, an Expert Iron Grade Pranic Beast. However, that was only its base form. It could constantly take in other genetic traits to grow stronger and progress through the grades, symbolising the Celestial Boar's Primary Nature of Astral Cultivator.
Astral Cultivator's characteristics when combined with his powers to mutate resulted in this possibility. But that wasn't all. Yennda didn't take the characteristics from just the Celestial Boar. There was also Gannala and Yahard Tusk before him.
Expert Gold Grade Pranic Beast—Empyrean Tusk!
Expert Mystic Grade Pranic Beast—Mystic Empyrean Tentacle!
Yennda constantly kept mutating his Fragment Disease body in the direction of an Empyrean Tusk until it showed signs of condensing Internal Inertial Gravity. Eventually, he reached that extremity. However, since he already had three Natures, the power of Internal Inertial Gravity instead manifested in his body, giving it a physical characteristic capable of a similar effect.
The blood in his body could change its flow to exhibit the effects of inertia, allowing him to tank tough blows. His body's muscles could perfectly disperse shockwaves in various directions using muscular force.
His body was rebuilt to exhibit many characteristics of an Empyrean Tusk upon absorbing the body parts of a Mystic Tentacle. It allowed Yennda three physical characteristics that naturally defined him.
The Celestial Boar's characteristics allowed Yennda to act like a Tangible Nature and fuse with the bodies of other living beings. The Empyrean Tusk's characteristics allowed him to withstand physical blows and gain a powerful, gigantic body. Finally, the Mystic Tentacle's characteristics allowed him to use his three Natures to instantly condense whatever genetic imprint he needed through his Prana according to his thoughts.
As long as he managed to create a certain type of cell once through his power, it'll be stored in his bone marrow. He could extract a droplet of bone marrow, supply it with Prana, and transform it into whatever mutated cell he had managed to create in the past.
"You're strong…Dad?" Harrala paused in shock, noticing Yennda rapidly grow weaker in presence while his body turned fragile, "What's happening to you?"
"Just a cancerous outgrowth," Yennda said, his tone more depressed than usual, 'This is the only way I can remain weak.'
Soon, his body's strength had fallen to the Iron Grade. Only then did he heave a sigh in relief, 'That was dangerous.'
He stared at Yahard Tusk, terrified of himself, 'With a mere touch, I could mutate the body of even a Mystic Tentacle. And it took even his Prana a whole twenty seconds to deal with it. If I'm not careful, I'll destroy everything.'
"It's alright, this is just temporary." He smiled wryly and stretched to the limit of his height, tiptoeing until he could barely pat Harrala on the head, "I can temporarily recover my strength when necessary."
'That's a lie, but she doesn't need to know.' He thought, hiding the fact that he was purposefully making himself weak, 'That's why I have remained in the Body Stage all along and never cultivated through the Life Stage.'
After all, if something goes wrong, it'll be easy to kill Yennda if he only has one life.