"Koff!...Koff...Kahh!...Kahh!" Strewn amidst a viscous solution was the figure of a boy aged fourteen. His somewhat oval face sported an expression of confusion as his flat chin aligned perfectly on the floor.
His ivory hair was long and damp, covering his eyes as it stuck to his face. A few seconds of nonstop coughing later, the figure slowly but carefully got up, swiping his hair to the side to reveal a pair of crystal-clear eyes, brimming with joy, "The fact that I'm here means everything went as planned, right?"
"To a certain extent, yes." Grehha nodded, "However, I don't know if Sumatra can handle the swarm produced from the Celestial Boar by the Brood Mother's power."
"Everything can get destroyed at this rate." He expressed his worry, only to see Inala looking around the Dungeon in curiosity, "Do you...not care?"
"I don't have the power to care, you see?" Inala raised his hand a bit faster and pointed at his wrist which had reddened in response, "Ouch! This hurts like shit!"
He had the Fragment Disease, which meant Inala had to worry about his brittle bones before every action he took. Slowly, he shrugged, "How strong is each Pranic Beast from the swarm?"
"See for yourself," Grehha caused a Bone Slip to hover before Inala, "This is the state of events that transpired after the Royal Zinger's death."
"Yup, that's horrifying." Inala flinched the moment he accessed the Bone Slip. He then thought for a moment and asked, "What's the stance of the Brimgan Empire on this?"
"They'll use this chance to rally Free Human Kingdoms under rally even further and then send those armies into the Kalahatra Desert." Grehha explained, "Boul Brimgan plans to create an extensive trade route connecting the Brimgan Empire to all sorts of Free Human forces."
"Eh? How does he plan to do that?" Inala frowned, "The Brimgan Empire doesn't have the same means as the Varahan Empire to create underground railway lines. Even if they dig and set up the tracks, the sheer Prana costs would be astronomical to be worth anything."
"Only if they were transporting Sumatra Gold will such a cost be reasonable..."
"Seems he figured out a way," Grehha slumped on his seat in exhaustion, "He tanked a few Bolts of Transcendence too, you know. Most, if not all of his abilities would have been upgraded to completion through it."
The Varahan Empire created tunnels, with gravity acting upon the target. This way, the tunnels seemed like a downward slope for the railways, which meant after gaining some initial velocity, they would keep travelling through the route without any need for propulsion.
That was how the Varahan Empire made their travel economical. Only at the start and end of the journey would the railway have to expend Prana, which required nothing more than the reserves of four drivers.
The Brimgan Empire couldn't replicate that, "Unless..."
"Kinesis Beyblade," Inala muttered, seeing Grehha's expression widen in realisation as he nodded, "Seems you also suspected something related to that."
Only the Minor Treasure of Kinesis Feline couldn't be replicated, since it was a product of Boul Brimgan's gains from the Ravaged Federation. The Minor Treasure of Kinesis Beyblade could be created by any Brimgan Royal as long as they had Harla Brimgan's method.
"But with their pride, they wouldn't be sending out their Royalty for transportation. If one of dies, then it'll be a tremendous loss, since every Brimgan Royal at the 10-Life stage is a strategic asset with their own set of Minor Treasures." Grehha stated.
As long as the Brimgan Royal at the 10-Life Stage doesn't die prematurely, they'll eventually refine ten Minor Treasures. That pretty much implied generational wealth, since these Minor Treasures could be freely wielded by Brimgan Royals. They were extremely compatible with their Human Avatar and cultivation techniques.
So, the Brimgan Empire wouldn't take unnecessary risks that could result in the loss of such Minor Treasures to the wilds.
"Well, we'll know their plans eventually." Inala slowly crawled towards a corner and hid behind a crevice, extending his hand outward to beckon with embarrassment, "Give me a set of clothes, won't you?"
"Pfft!" Grehha burst into laughter, 'He was dancing around naked every time he transformed into the Royal Zinger and reverted to human form. Guess his current version retains the innocence he had lost over time.'
"Yeah, I've had them prepared already," Grehha said as an Empyrean Incubator rolled towards Inala under his psychokinesis and popped open, revealing a set of clothes, "You can also take a bath if you want."
"That's not necessary," Inala said as Prana slowly seeped out of his skin through the pores, using a generic technique belonging to Mystic Bone Art that cleaned up his body. It wasn't even complex enough to be called a skill and something every Mammoth Clansman had known since childhood.
After cleaning himself up, he wore the Mammoth Clan clothes and walked out, "It's my first time wearing them in this body but it feels like I've always worn them."
"It's strange," He closed his eyes and focused on his mindspace, noticing a grey, glass tower radiating faint sparks from time to time. Contained within it was a dense cluster of data, enough to absolutely shred the mind of anyone under the Mystic Grade apart from the two Deities-Empyrean Tusk and Empyrean Snapper.
They were the Royal Zinger Inala's memories, 'This is proof that I'm the real me and not a mere puppet with selective memories.'
The grey glass tower was created using the Royal Zinger's State of Unity. It followed the same rules as the Mystic Paths and the Dance of Annihilation inheritance left behind by Mahira
Tusk.
This grey glass tower sealed every other memory of the Royal Zinger Inala that the current Mammoth Clansman Inala didn't want. It also protected his soul from any lingering effects of Unlimited Predator or even Four Steps To Nullity, for that matter.
As long as this tower exists, this version of Inala would be alive. But once it is destroyed, the effects of Four Steps To Nullity would seep in and destroy him, since he wasn't the Royal
Zinger.
Then, the next Inala would be the Quip Clan's Deity. Only a State of Unity could defend against another State of Unity. Without it, Inala didn't have any methods to guard against the effects of Four Steps To Nullity in the body and soul aspects.
So, it would try to change him fundamentally into the Royal Zinger Inala or destroy him in the process, nothing in-between.
'I'm not sure how long I can live like this, but the structure seems stable enough.' Inala thought as he observed the grey, glass tower, 'I have a few centuries at the very least and at most a millennium. That's plenty enough to have fun.'
"Where's my egg?" Inala had just asked when an Empyrean Incubators rolled towards him alongside three Biome Bombs. The Empyrean Incubator had an egg inside, which was what he planned to fuse with as a Mammoth Clansman.
The three Biome Bombs were Inala's preparations. First was an orb, second was filled with Nectar, and the final one had the Major Treasure of Weapon.
"I'm sorry about Armoury," Grehha apologised, "I've already gained complete control over it. And it's only through it that I'm able to prolong my life without any side effects."
Once the psychokinesis forming Armoury gets consumed, the effects of Unlimited Predator
will begin to display itself, causing Grehha to age rapidly as his body, mind, and soul get consumed from within. He'll lose all his strength, intellect, etc. at a rapid pace until he becomes nothing.
"I need to be alive for as long as possible so that I can nurture Yara into a respectable leader of the Mammoth Clan." He expressed without hesitation. Grehha's original build could be completed through either the Major Treasure of Weapon or Pet.
Since he already obtained Pet and finalised his build, he no longer desired Weapon. It was of
no use to him anymore since they had already defeated the Celestial Boar. His only goal was to
live a comfortable life next and create assets for his daughter to inherit and watch his final days through retirement.
Grehha disliked anyone interfering with that, and hence he expressed himself stubbornly, as originally, the deal was to give both Weapon and Armoury to Inala.
"That's alright," Inala nodded, "I can manage with Weapon alone. I too only need it temporarily, since it'll serve as reference material. If you need it, I'll give it to you once I'm done using it."
"That's not necessary," Grehha smiled, "I'm not greedy enough to hog onto everything. Pet is
a peerless Major Treasure, and I intend to harness all its benefits. I can't guarantee to finish everything by the time I meet my end, so having another Major Treasure atop that is useless."
"Besides," He stared at the Empyrean Incubator containing his daughter, "Yara only needs to fuse with one."
"I understand," Inala nodded as he grabbed the orb and watched it extend a string of Prana to touch him. A slow, but steady stream of Prana began to funnel into him as Inala activated
Mystic Bone Art spontaneously.
Mystic Bone Art-Spirit Reinforcement!
He had twelve Spirit Containers in his cluster, the same as his starting point. They began to
shatter one after another as using the influx of Prana, Inala began to construct new ones,
repeating the process as his Prana levels dropped to one unit before recovering to twelve units, repeating the cycle.
He steadily strengthened his Spirit Containers and increased their number as and when the cluster of Spirit Containers was strong enough to handle the strain of more. The orb was no different from a limitless supply of Prana to him currently, since it contained two million units of Mystic Grade Celestial Boar Prana.
He could have chosen to use the Royal Zinger Prana, but it was Attributed Prana, which would
influence his Spirit Containers too much. The influence from the Celestial Boar's Prana was better in that regard, since the result was in line with his desires.
'He's having fun,' Grehha smiled upon seeing Inala immersed in the process, watching the
latter control four Spirit Weapon at the same time to carve sculptures, 'He's revisiting his past Skills and using them to strengthen his Spirit Containers.'
Of course, the best medicine for that was Spirit Moss, and there was an endless supply of it in Grehha's Dungeon. Inala could spend his entire life gorging on them and still not make a dent, for the amount being produced outclassed the consumption.
Creak!
An entire year of nonstop training later, Inala's eyes shot open as he smirked, "I have 100
units of Prana now."
His Spirit Containers had reached their limit in terms of how much they could be strengthened. And by now, Inala had completely gotten used to his Mammoth Clan body and fully assimilated with the memories planted in this body.
He could freely use all his original Skills at a level that far surpassed his previous Mammoth
Clan self because of three cheats-Celestial Boar Prana, Spirit Moss, and zero stress.
Having zero stress played a significant part, enough to be called a cheat, since his mental
state also affected his Spirit Container. At the Mammoth Fair conducted at the Ennoudu Plains, even Resha lost all his Prana due to his emotional upheaval-upon learning from Virala that Blola had gone to target the newborn Empyrean Tusks being brought in by his
parents.
Currently, in absolute safety at the core of Grehha's Dungeon, being protected by who knows how large an army of Pranic Beasts, including those at Gold Grade, Inala had absolutely nothing to worry about.
Currently, he didn't have an enemy to be afraid about, an ally to care about, or a threat to be
pressured about. So, in a pristine condition, he trained nonstop for a year and reached the absolute peak in terms of strengthening his Spirit Containers.
"Now, onto the exciting part," Inala's heart thumped as he approached the Empyrean
Incubator containing a rare egg that took the entirety of the Quip Clan's network to find. It had then been improved upon by Grehha to result in the perfect Pranic Beast for his
exploration of Sumatra.
"Fuse with it quickly," Grehha said as he watched with interest, "It'll hatch soon."
"I know," As the Empyrean Incubator cracked open, Inala smiled as he placed his hand on the
egg and began to seep his Prana inside, "No need to worry, Grehha."
"Since this'll be over in a jiffy."