The Iron Empyrean Tentacle was an Iron Grade Pranic Beast. And thanks to its Primary Nature of Daily Checkpoint, it was extremely prone to mutations.
The Silver Empyrean Tentacle, on the other hand, wasn't prone for mutations at all.
Primary Nature-Prana Solidification!
It gave the Silver Empyrean Tentacle a strong resistance towards mutations as its Prana would constantly revert it to its optimal state. But eventually, it mutated to become a Free Human, not voluntarily, but was forced to do so by the Gold Empyrean Tentacle that constantly targeted it first.
And every single time they fought, the Silver Empyrean Tentacle lost, by the end of which it was forced to flee.
Prana Solidification allowed it to create constructs of Prana, using which it could traverse the place without issues. And back in the days, there was no Influenced Region of Hidden Eye.
So, using Prana Solidification, the Silver Empyrean Tentacle created wings that allowed it to fly. And from afar, it targeted the Gold Empyrean Tentacle. While the Iron Empyrean Tentacle consumes shrubs, died daily, and lived life, the Silver and Gold Empyrean Tentacles engaged in bloody battles repeatedly.
Eventually, during their fights, the gold Empyrean Tentacle succeeded in consuming the Silver Empyrean Tentacle. Consuming the Iron Empyrean Tentacle was easy after that, allowing it to become the first Mystic Tentacle on Sumatra.
It analysed the growing number of Pranic Beast races and their strength that had plateaued at the Beginner Iron Grade. It thought of the powers of the Gold Empyrean Tentacle and the Silver Empyrean Tentacle, recalling its state after consuming the Iron Empyrean Tentacle.
It intended to integrate Thought Condensation into Prana Solidification. The result of that was the Human Avatar.
And following the arrangements it had made during the course of its lifespan, the subsequent generations of Gold Empyrean Tentacles targeted the Silver Empyrean Tentacles and repeatedly used Thought condensation on the bodies of the latter.
After countless generations of trials and errors, with the arrangements of the first Mystic Tentacle being refined over many eras, the method was finally perfected during the era of the eighth Mystic Tentacle.
Eventually, a Gold Empyrean Tentacle managed to pull it off, mutating a Silver Empyrean Tentacle into a Free Human, who at the body state could condense a mineral-obtained from a terrain modified by Thought Condensation-into the Spirit Container and solidify it into a Human Avatar.
Every generation of Gold Empyrean Tentacles then began to turn Silver Empyrean Tentacles into Free Humans. Eventually, two Free Humans of opposing genders appeared in the same region, which made mating possible and resulted in a gradual increase of their numbers.
In every region they were revived systematically, the three Empyrean Tentacles performed their respective function. Over time, the current setup of Sumatra had been created.
Free Humans could integrate minerals in their Human Avatars and enter the Body Stage. Pranic Beasts could turn Free Humans into Ravaged Tribesmen and once one of the Tribesmen becomes a Clansman, they would evolve.
The Free Humans ere extremely low in numbers as they were birthed many eras after the appearance of the First Pranic Beast. Moreover, once there was a small population of Free Humans, the Mystic Tentacles raised them like livestock, primarily using them to make Ravaged Tribes.
Every Mystic Tentacle did the same over the course of its long life of 10 millennia, gradually raising the strength of the Pranic Beasts. By the time a large enough population of Free Humans had appeared, Sumatra Continent was dominated by the Pranic Beasts, one aspect that was yet to change even at the present.
Pranic Beasts originated from the Iron Empyrean Tentacle while Free Humans from the Silver Empyrean Tentacle. And thanks to the Ravaged Tribesmen, both the races were closely connected.
It was why when an Iron or Silver Free Human cultivator at the 10-Life Stage fails to become a Transcendent and turns into a minor Treasure, the resulting presence could influence the bodies of both Free Humans and Pranic Beasts.
Iron Empyrean Tentacles could mutate on its own while Silver Empyrean Tentacles resisted mutations. This was a delicate dynamic that had been seamlessly integrated into both Pranic Beasts and Free Humans.
However, Gold Empyrean Tentacles altered the terrain, and having been repeatedly targeted by it, the Silver Empyrean Tentacle resisted it the most.
That resulted in the current state of things. Theoretically, the presence of all Treasures ought to influence both living beings and the environment, since Sumatra too was a living being from a technical perspective.
But due to the strange dynamic that existed between the three Empyrean Tentacles, the current situation had been created.
Due to their shared characteristics, the resultant of an Iron or Silver Grade cultivator after failing to become a Transcendent was called a Minor Treasure. Its presence could influence living beings.
It couldn't influence the terrain because it didn't have any characteristics of Thought Condensation.
At the same time, Gold Grade Free Humans who turn into Treasures were called Major Treasures. As they were at the Gold Grade, the Silver Empyrean Tentacle characteristics in other living beings resisted fiercely, which was why a Major Treasure's presence couldn't influence living beings.
And depending on how the characteristics of the three Empyrean Tentacles react to each other, differing phenomenon was observed.
The first outlier that appeared in this setup was Brangara. As a Pranic Beast, he obtained Cultivator, which strengthened his Silver Empyrean Tentacle characteristic, allowing him to progress through the Life Stage.
Upon becoming Celestial Boar, his stomach became a Major Treasure. But due to the influence of Cultivator, which had been integrated into Voracious cultivator, the Silver Empyrean Tentacle's characteristics was still going strong.
That was why the pillar of light unleashed by Astral World didn't change the terrain, but instead living beings. Its Influenced Region was the Celestial Boar, a living entity.
The pillar of light could be assumed to be a product similar to the radioactive energy released from nuclear fission and fusion. The half-life for any average radioactive material spans thousands of years.
From that perspective, it can be considered the reactions in a Minor Treasure to not be too strong, which is why the pillar of light they unleash typically being weak and only moving about in the sky for a few kilometres.
A Major Treasure was infinitely stronger, which is why its pillar of light heads endlessly into the sky. And it could theoretically maintain the pillar of light across countless eras, which was how they build the Influenced Regions.
Maybe by the end of completing their Influenced Region, the Major Treasure loses most of its fuel, which is why it reveals its pillar of light to Sumatra and wishes for a living being to fuse with it.
If fused with a living being, maybe it could recover its fuel over time. Or otherwise, integrate with the being as it becomes a Transcendent or be destroyed in the process.
Astral World wasn't the first outlier though. Sumatra Chronicles already had an example,
which was showcased in its climax.
Major Treasure-Seat of Transcendence!
The first Major Treasure created by a Mystic Tentacle. It had all three Empyrean Tentacle characteristic. Thereby, it could influence both living beings and the environment. It was why when the Seat of Transcendence reveals itself, things would forever change on Sumatra
Continent.
Being the second outlier, Astral World used its influence to build the Celestial Boar's body. And using the cell replacement theory, the cells of the Celestial Boar were constantly being replaced with new ones created by Astral World.
Upon getting replaced, the old cells are digested by Unlimited Predator, which ensures the Celestial Boar's lifespan is maintained at an optimal age-of its prime-while it also has infinite Prana.
Until Astral World runs out of whatever material it uses as fuel and stops emitting its pillar of
light, Brangara would have an infinite supply of Prana. And he was damn well aware of it after killing Orakha and rapidly progressing through the Life Stage by digesting the Empyrean Tusks.
'It may be months, or even years before Astral World runs out.' Inala assumed. He calculated according to the Attributed Region created by Attribute, Armoury created by Weapon and Sanctuary created by Pet.
Attributed Region and Armoury were completed Influenced Region while Sanctuary was
almost complete. After talking with Pet, Inala had an accurate grasp on when it would be
completed.
And then, from a basis of the amount of Prana necessary to condense the Attributed Region water, Inala formulated how many units of the Royal Zinger's Mystic Grade Prana it would take to create the entire Attributed Region.
He had an accurate grasp for the Attributed Region, since he had all its properties. Using that
as a basis, Inala made similar calculations for Armoury and Sanctuary.
Finally, he compared the Attributed Region to the Celestial Boar's body in terms of creation costs, arriving at a certain denominator, "Approximately 2800 years..."
He chuckled wryly, 'That's how long it would take before Astral World runs out of presence.
And this is based on calculation using Gold Grade Major Treasures as reference. Astral World is
a Mystic Grade Major Treasure...so my calculation might be even more off.'
'Way longer than my prediction, huh?' Inala controlled himself from breaking into laughter
due to the absurdity of the situation, 'A war of attrition won't work, huh? Even if all of us
manage to fight for so long, I'm pretty sure we'll all lose our minds and go insane by then. However, that doesn't matter to the Celestial Boar, since his mind would constantly be reset. So, he will forget many things but retain the bare minimum to function as a sentient
existence.'
'It's a stupid disease, which causes him to forget about everything he cares. But in a war of
attrition, that is exactly what allows Brangara to emerge victorious.' Inala now had a
complete grasp of the picture, 'Infinite Prana and endless lifespan...now, that's absurdly
broken.'
"Phew," Inala let out a long breath as he eyed Brangara, 'His mind has almost been reset. He'll soon begin unleashing his true strength. Man, ever after so much preparation, there's still so many areas where I have been lacking in my plans. As expected, it's tough to plan
against a living Major Treasure that operates at rules beyond Sumatra's power system.'
"But, I now have a solid grasp of its functions..." As he muttered softly, his eyes turned moist,
tearing up, 'I didn't want to do that if I could help it. I wanted to kill him using my death alone.'
"It's not fair..." He muttered as he stared at the sky blankly. His tears vaporised as his Prana detection means expanded to sense the figures of Resha, Boul Brimgan, Yennda, Pet moving underground, Yahard Tusk, Virala, and the far away figure of Blola.
His gaze finally fell upon Root to ask, "How long are you confident in stalling him?"
"An hour or two," Root nodded in confidence, "If you're there to assist me, then I can fight
endlessly, even if I'm beaten throughout the duration. Armed with so many Treasures, he far outclasses me."
"But, if you claim otherwise, I'll adapt." Root grinned confidently, "So, my Deity, will I
defeat him?"
"No," Inala shook his head as he glared at Brangara with reddened eyes, "You won't. But,"
He uttered in confidence, "You'll win."