At its tallest, it reached only four metres. It had a humanoid build, with a dozen vines for legs. There were no arms, and the head was shaped like a starfish, attached to a bull-like body. For a Gold Grade Pranic Beast, it was too small.
However, despite its nonchalance, its presence was the strongest at the Gold Varahan Library. Ignoring the two visitors, it continued to paddle within the small pool, from time to time ejecting a small arc of water.
Intermediate Gold Grade Pranic Beast-Panger!
Among the 300 Gold Grade Pranic Beasts surrounding the Brimgan Empire, this was one of them, mostly hidden in nature and never revealing itself unless necessary. Its interaction with the Brimgan Empire often remained minimal, not because both sides avoided each other but because when the two sides clashed, it always emerged as the victor.
Among the Brimgan Royals, a talented one at the 4-Life Stage had a chance to succeed in killing a Gold Grade Pranic Beast in a one-on-one battle and become a prince or princess. But their target typically was a Beginner Gold Grade Pranic Beast.
A Panger was typically capable of killing a 6-Life Stage Brimgan Royal. At this level, the Brimgan Royal was probably the leader of their respective family branch and had been alive for many centuries. And of course, upon their death, the rest of the branch family would chase after the Panger to exact vengeance.
All this did usually was to result in more deaths among the Brimgan Royals. If even a 6-Life Stage Brimgan Royal couldn't kill the Panger, weaker royals weren't its opponent. But that wasn't the reason. The Panger had lived in the blessed land surrounding the Brimgan Empire throughout its history.
There were at most five to ten of its kind alive at a time. They typically limited themselves to this population because they were somewhat similar to Centingers when it came to mating. A male Panger would have to bring in the heads of at least a few Gold Grade existences to be worthy of mating.
When their population was larger, they invaded the Brimgan Empire many times, and each time were met with brutal retaliation by a horde of Brimgan Royals, alongside the entire might of the Brimgan Empire.
After suffering crushing defeats one after another, the Panger Race decided to limit their population. They occupied a large area in the blessed land and had never faced any fertility issues. Moreover, as long as their numbers stayed low but powerful, the Brimgan Empire would think twice before targeting them.
It was because a Panger countered the Brimgan Royalty.
Primary Nature-Shield Of Thorns!
When activated, it created a layer of thorns on the Panger's body. Defensive strength-wise, it was pretty robust, inferior only to the tusk of an Empyrean Tusk. But what made them horrible opponents to face was the power of Shield Of Thorns.
Every cultivator only had one means to detect using Prana, which was through skin prickles. Shield Of Thorns amplified the feedback of a Prana detection means to a threatening level.
When Brangara perceived Brood Mother with his Prana detection means, the skin prickles were so strong the respective spot on his skin exploded. That was only because of how powerful the Brood Mother was.
Shield Of Thorns did exactly that to everyone who used a Prana detection means against a Panger. The moment an opponent's Prana comes into contact with the Shield Of Thorns, whether through a detection means, a Spirit Weapon, or the effect of a Nature, the opponent's skin would undergo a series of explosions.
Brimgan Royals enjoyed the advantage of the greatest Spirit Weapon range, able to attack from well beyond the retaliating range of their opponents. However, a Panger countered them, because the moment their Spirit Weapon touches the Shield of Thorns, the Brimgan Royal would experience a series of explosions on his body that would leave him in a bloody state.
He would have to spend time to recover from the damage. However, the moment he attacks the Panger, he'll suffer another series of explosions. Usually, when the Brimgan Empire targeted the Panger Race, it was because there was enough hatred between the two.
There were Brimgan Royals who hated a Panger enough to sacrifice his life in an effort to destroy the Pranic Beast.
Therefore, to prevent such a situation from happening, the Panger Race limited themselves. In every generation, there was only one male while the rest were females. Since there was only one male, there was no other choice but to mate with it.
Hence, they didn't follow their tradition of the male having to kill many Gold Grade existences before becoming eligible to mate. This was how they continued their existence.
'Then, why did it kill the Brimgan Royals?' Inala thought upon hearing Kapulahora's explanation. The Sphinger talked about the Panger's history right in front of the latter, not minding whether or not the Panger was bothered by this.
The Panger was obviously unbothered, for they were usually chill until their matin season started. And the one before Inala was an old Panger that was nearing the end of its lifespan, having gone long past its mating stage.
"Why?" Inala stared at the Panger to ask.
"I have a few decades of lifespan to live." The Panger stopped spitting out arcs of water and stared at Inala, "One of our younglings harmed a Brimgan Royal on a Raid by mistake. The situation escalated. And obviously, we couldn't let our youngling get killed by the Brimgan Empire."
"So, I shifted their target to me by killing some of their powerful people." It let out a sadistic smile, "They came with vengeance and unleashed all their might upon me, only to explode in response. It was fun!"
"I killed enough Brimgan Royals until their attention was only on me, having forgotten the other petty squabbles." It chuckled, "I then bolted from the place, after leaving clear clues that I'm heading towards the Varahan Empire."
"What if they were to switch their anger at the rest of your brethren?" Inala asked in worry. "There's no guarantee they wouldn't vent, right?"
"Yes, but so what?" The Panger chuckled, "You see, our race is built with lots of genetic gifts.
One of them is the trait of maintaining our fertility. Once we mate, we can carry the fertilised eggs for the rest of our lives. Only if we desire will the fertilised eggs start developing, and then we lay them."
"So, if the Brimgan Empire goes all out on us, that gives us an excuse to expand our population at full throttle." Its chuckles grew stronger, "As a Gold Grade Pranic Beast, our ability to birth our progeny is limited. That's why, in every mating session, we have been patiently accumulating our fertilised eggs and kept them safe in our bodies."
"All the eggs I've been born with have been fertilised." The Panger who went by the name of
Loya said while patting its stomach, "Even if our race's sole male gets killed or kidnapped by the Brimgan Royal, it doesn't matter. I alone bear the fertilised eggs containing four males with over a dozen females."
"So, you plan to return once you gain something from this Library?" Inala asked, grinning subconsciously, "And then you'll head into battle when you have an year or two left in your
lifespan."
"I like this kid," Loya stared at Kapulahora while pointing at Inala, "What race is it from?"
"Brully," Kapulahora replied.
"I see, so that's how a Brully looks." Loya's eyes widened as it stared at Inala to ask, "Are
there any more of your brethren remaining?"
"I'm not sure," Inala shook his head, "They may be alive, I think."
"Then, you better look forward to our Librarian Debate in twenty days." The Panger, Loya grinned, "I'll be presenting something revolutionary."
"I look forward to it then." Inala bode farewell after the exchange. He and Kapulahora then descended the slide and arrived at a wall on another side, embedded with small holes.
"You can take one of them and modify it as you please. Just insert your Spirit Weapon into it and you're good to go." Saying so, Kapulahora pointed at the holes in the wall that contained a pile of Glove Slips, "They're called Glove Slips and can allow you to interact with all
Information Slips."
"I was pretty stunned the first time I came across it here." Kapulahora expressed its amazement, "And to date, it's still the greatest item I've ever seen."
"Using the Glove Slips, you can access all the Vara Slips available in this library. And then, you
can leave your insights in them too. Don't erase any information, for we'll be able to detect it. And once we do, we'll kick you out of this place." Kapulahora warned, "I don't know what Shuwrak Zahara saw in you, but you better be willing to be an active librarian."
"That I'll be." Inala nodded and watched the Sphinger move away. He then took out a Glove
Slip and inspected it, 'Yupp, I still cannot understand it fully. Maybe Yennda might have been able to understand it better.'
Inala placed a clump of Billakin within the Glove Slip that was in the shape of a deflated balloon. Once the Glove Slip latched onto the clump of Billakin tightly, Inala was able to use it, 'Some things are best left to the experts of the field. This is not my field of expertise.'
The Royal Zinger Inala had used a Glove Slip in the past and even had a few in storage. It had the production knowledge of the Glove Slip, but not the understanding.
As a Brully, Inala didn't have much hope in understanding its functions. He would give it a try
though, but if he doesn't succeed, he wouldn't think about it too much. He has his field of strengths and weaknesses.
It was better he played to his strengths and planned while taking advantage of those.
The Glove Slip flew in the air and grabbed the closest Vara Slip embedded in the wall. Upon contact, Inala was able to perceive the information within the Vara Slip, 'It has methods to circulate larger amounts of Prana through the blood. Damn, it's similar to the Prana Blood Skill. Once completed, this will give the same result.'
The first Vara Slip already impressed him as Inala observed the thousands of Vara Slips
present around him, 'Such a treasure given for free. I'll accept this meal, thank you.'
The Prana Blood Skill could only be used through Mystic Bone Art. The Vara Slip in Inala's possession could be harnessed through Mystic Sumatra Art. Meaning, every Pranic Beast would become stronger once armed with this Skill.
'Sooner or later, Pranic Beasts will grow even stronger thanks to the contents of this library.'
Inala thought and walked towards the centre of the library where a spherical Vara Slip was embedded in the floor, unlike the others.
He knew what it was even without touching it, smiling as his Glove Slip made contact, 'I see,
this version is already superior to the one I'm using. Even without experimentation, I can sense the difference.'
"Harnessing the intellectual superiority of Gold Grade Pranic Beasts from various races, it's a genius manoeuvre." He chuckled and absorbed the contents, updating the information to the technique in his mind space.
Mystic Sumatra Art!