Kriek!
A Zinger Aristocrat glided across the skies, watching a large river rowing across a flatland. A group of Silver Grade Pranic Beasts were within the water, controlling it, making the river behave like a serpent as they made it flow across the dry flatland.
As the river flowed across the land, the sheer force in its movements removed a layer of topsoil, gradually creating a path for the water to flow like an actual river. Each of these Silver Grade Pranic Beasts spanned a length of eight metres.
Their bodies were shaped like a stingray. A blowhole at the top was added to it, similar to a whale. Moreover, unlike a stingray, it was more vertically elongated with a somewhat conical centre body.
Beginner Silver Grade Pranic Beast-Poulray!
With a Prana capacity of 1380 and a lifespan of 308 years, it was a decently capable Silver Grade Pranic Beast. However, it wasn't suited to fighting due to the structure of its Nature.
Primary Nature-Water Force!
Water Force allowed the Poulray to move the water in its Spirit Weapon range vertically forward. In terms of force, it could output a lot as it could carry the sheer mass of water within the entirety of its Spirit Weapon range.
However, it was limited to one direction alone, a glaring weakness that any Silver Grade Pranic Beast could take advantage of. This was where its symbiotic relationship appeared. Hidden underneath its stomach, latched onto its body without causing any discomfort was a tiny, starfish-like creature. It only spanned a maximum size of a metre, sporting cups resembling a fibre cluster towards the pointy tips of their body.
These were gelatinous fibre secreted by its body, able to be wielded as a Spirit Weapon by this creature. When the Poulray is besieged by a predator, these fibre cups would be launched like
arrows.
Upon piercing their target, the fibres would disperse throughout the flesh of the target and interfere with the functioning of their organs.
Advanced Iron Grade Pranic Beast-Remstar!
They had a Pran capacity of 602 and a lifespan of 40 years. Around three to four Remstar lived on the body of a Poulray. They weren't capable of movement, with their limbs meant only to latch onto a surface.
Their breeding grounds were situated deep within the home of the Poulray, and once born, a Poulray would accept them onto its body. They would spend the rest of their life defending it.
Primary Nature-Prana Misdirection!
The Spirit Weapons of the Remstar would be covered by this ability, which would cause the target body's Prana to avoid treating it as an enemy.
The Prana of every creature would try to heal it from damage, irrespective of what damage it be. Thanks to Prana Misdirection, the fibre arrows launched by the Remstar wouldn't be extracted out of the target body on time.
The fibre would spread across the target body, pierce through the bones, tendons, organs, and whatever was in its vicinity. And the Prana coursing through the body wouldn't try to eliminate it.
Therefore, the targeted Pranic Beast would have to forcefully rip out the fibre strands, which was extremely hard unless they had body parts or an ability capable of surgical precision. These fibres typically coiled around muscle strands, bones, etc. before they tried to harm a body part.
Removing them physically was the only option as the targeted Pranic Beasts' Prana wouldn't work in destroying the fibres. This was what ensured the survival of the Poulrays who were pretty high up in the nutritional ladder and treated as a delicacy by other Pranic Beasts.
Swoosh!
The group of 500 Poulrays arrived at a halt and fell into an artificial lake that had been dug just recently. The lake spanned a depth of sixty metres and encompassed an area of twelve square kilometres.
The river water steadily began to flow into the lake as the Poulrays began to adjust to the new terrain.
One of them used its ability and moved towards the edge of the lake in a bubble of water, watching the Zinger Aristocrat that landed on a rock nearby.
[We've brought in five hundred of us according to the established deal!]
The Poulray spoke in the language of its race, which the Zinger Aristocrat managed to understand. It was one of the few Quip Clansmen who had learnt this language and hence was in charge of communicating with the race of Poulrays, one of the thousands of Pranic Beast races that called the Red-Draft River their home.
The Zinger Aristocrat observed the Poulrays and pointed at a straight, inclined bridge behind it. This bridge stretched from the lake and travelled to the peak of the wall where a small pool had been constructed, and then cascaded past the Kalahatra Border like a waterfall. It fed into the lake that had been created on the other side.
[The bride is ready. With your ability, you'll be able to travel across the wall and enter the Kalahatra Desert. Please be careful once you reach the other side. The enemy will be swarming
us shortly.]
The Poulray who served as the leader of the group discussed with its brethren and then nodded at the Zinger Aristocrat. The leader and a team of twenty Poulrays activated their Primary Nature at the same time.
They faintly overlapped the borders of each other's bubbles and, as a result able to move forward as a single group to scale across the inclined bridge and arrive at the top of the Kalahatra Border.
The Poulray leader peeked from its pool and stared into the Kalahatra Desert, trembling subconsciously the moment it felt a tinge of presence that leaked out of the Kalahatra Desert. It then noticed the Zinger Aristocrat using a string of Prana to scale up the wall and land beside its pool.
[Indeed, as you have claimed, the sheer presence of this region is daunting. As long as we manage to adapt to this pressure, we'll become tremendously strong!]
The Zinger Aristocrat nodded in response to the Poulray leader's words. However, it didn't simply encourage them and instead pointed at a faint aurora that was beginning to form in the sky, in the shape of a boar.
[You'll be more a prey here than a predator. So, please be prepared mentally.]
'We're prepared for something like that.' The Poulray leader thought, remaining silent
following the Zinger Aristocrat's words, 'But anyone who saw that aurorae know this instinctively. Sumatra is changing, and if we don't adapt, we'll be pushed into extinction in a matter of decades.'
[The Quip Clan will be selling us resources per the Red-Draft Agreement, right?]
'Even we dare not go against that, especially since our Deity will be absent for a while.' The Zinger Aristocrat thought and made a formal bow in her Pranic Beast form.
[Obviously! The Quip Clan will honour the Red-Draft Agreement! Please don't worry about
the resources and fight to your heart's content. We'll purchase everything you extract from the Kalahatra Desert at the highest possible price and sell goods in return at the lowest possible amount.]
The Red-Draft Agreement was a formal trade agreement between the Quip Clan and a collective of powerful Gold Grade Pranic Beasts forming the Red-Draft River.
Following the agreement, the Pranic Beasts from the Red-Draft River will face the force spilling out of the Kalahatra Desert and sell their spoils of war to the Quip Clan, who in return will supply them with Prana Bombs-filled with Prana-and other necessities.
Since the Quip Clan was benefitting from the deal without having to risk their lives, the
agreement was skewed in favour of the Pranic Beasts from the Red-Draft River. Only then will they be willing to accept.
Otherwise, they couldn't care less even if the Forest Boars were to spill out of the Kalahatra
Desert and destroy every region in the vicinity. After all, the Red-Draft River was located too far away to care about such things.
Moreover, they were marine organisms. Whatever spills out of the Kalahatra Desert would be terra creatures. They'll be thrashed the moment they enter the aquatic habitat.
But if all the regions were to be destroyed, the Quip Clan would lose a good fraction of its customers. Moreover, it was just a matter of time before the creatures of the Kalahatra Desert would swarm every region until they even appeared at the doorsteps of the Brimgan Empire
and Varahan Empire.
Only these two Empires would be able to survive the onslaught, since the swarm wouldn't just
consist of Forest Boars alone. The Forest Boars were merely the first wave of the swarm. Stronger, more terrifying Gold Grade Pranic Beasts with an unquenchable hunger would
appear next.
Therefore, the Quip Clan had already been planning to amass the fighting strength of every force on this corner of Sumatra Continent and summon them to the Kalahatra Desert.
The races that manage to endure the onslaught and consume the bodies of these Gold Grade
Pranic Beasts had a high chance of mutating, since the swarm was birthed out of the Celestial Boar's body.
If there was a chance to spawn as many Mutants among themselves, this was it. The benefits were tremendous. Moreover, driven insane by hunger, these Gold Grade Pranic Beasts native to the Kalahatra Desert would be weaker than typical Gold Grade Pranic Beasts.
The Red-Draft Agreement was merely one of the many agreements the Quip Clan made. Every single agreement was skewed in the favour of the other party, since those in charge of the agreements were large groups of Gold Grade Pranic Beasts.
Externally, it seemed like the Quip Clan was making a loss. However, that was because they
had skewed the market rate from the very beginning. In truth, they were making marginal profits. They didn't go overboard, for their intention was to help the other races as much as possible, ensuring the customer base wouldn't be wiped out.
Moreover, even if the profit was marginal, this was an endless gold mine. And considering the
sheer number of sources giving them revenue across the Kalahatra Border, the marginal profits eventually collated to a sizeable extent.
Without any loss in members, the Quip Clan was accumulating a good portion of the resources
that would be generated from the Kalahatra Desert.
[Be Ready!]
The Zinger Aristocrat bellowed to alert all the Poulrays upon seeing the Forest Boars beginning to appear over the horizon. It hurriedly shielded itself with a string of Prana, turning into a cocoon, trembling in response as a wave of Presence slammed into the walls.
Shriek!
Zinger Shrieks reverberated across the place, growing in loudness as all the Quip Clansmen became nervous, watching the Forest Boars come into view, one after another.
Tens, hundreds...soon, there were thousands.
The Zinger Aristocrat gazed at the wall, seeing large Pranic Beasts gather to form armies,
most of which were unknown, 'I've never seen them before.'
All the Pranic Beasts in its vicinity were from the Red-Draft River. However, the only Gold Grade Pranic Beasts it could recognise were the Millingers, 'One...two...fifty...holy shit!'
"Just...how many Millingers live in the Red-Draft River?" Assuming human form, the Zinger Aristocrat expressed her shock. And then, she watched the sky become blotted as every single Millinger unleashed an artillery strike.