Seated in his cave, watching two Billakin Hammers revolve around him was Inala, his expression one of focus. He observed the two Spirit Weapons and then relied on his superior senses to observe what was happening to his body, "I see, it's clearer now."
"The side-effects of using the Skill of Puppetry."
Mystic Bone Art-Puppetry!
It was one of his most used skills from his time as a Mammoth Clansman. Upon activating it, he could control four Spirit Weapons without a drop in efficiency.
Irrespective of how much a force developed, they could only control one Spirit Weapon efficiently. Controlling a second Spirit Weapon dropped the efficiency to less than ten percent, making it no longer valuable.
Various forces tried different methods to overcome this limitation. By relying on their speed and strength of psychokinesis, the Brimgan Royals created the Skill of Spirit Weapon Switch that allowed them to manoeuvre a lot of Spirit Weapons.
At every moment, they were only controlling one Spirit Weapon. But by switching their control rapidly, they made it seem as if they were controlling a group of Spirit Weapons.
The Skill of Puppetry, however, actually allowed one to control four Spirit Weapons at the same time, without a drop in efficiency. Inala was the one to create this skill, which was then developed significantly over the course of his journey.
It only caused him exhaustion quickly by controlling four Spirit Weapons. However, the Mammoth Clansman Inala could absorb Prana and Lifeforce, so this exhaustion was never an issue.
But now that he attempted the same technique again, his Brully senses allowed Inala to truly understand the dangers of using the Skill of Puppetry, 'It burdens the brain beyond recovery. If used extensively, the brain cells deteriorate until the user's mind no longer functions as intended.'
"They'll become braindead." He uttered, feeling a chill. The Mammoth Clansman Inala never experienced these side effects thanks to the lifespan he constantly absorbed. Even Asaeya didn't suffer, as she only had to use Puppetry when accompanying him.
Inala supplied her with a steady stream of Lifespan for various reasons. As a result, her brain didn't sustain any damage. And once she returned to the Mammoth Clan, she never had the opportunity to use Puppetry, since her Grim Knell powers were enough to take care of a horde of Pranic Beasts.
They were the only ones who used the Skill of Puppetry extensively. The Empyrean Zingers controlled by Inala had too short of a living time. They weren't alive long enough for the side effects to catch up.
The ones who became part of the Quip Clan could no longer use Mystic Bone Art. Instead, they relied on their Pranic Beast form's traits. Zinger Aristocrats were capable of using two strings of Prana in their Pranic Beast forms, thanks to their build.
This was only possible in their Pranic Beast forms. In human forms, they were limited to one string of Prana only.
The brain of a Gold Grade Pranic Beast was robust, and hence, Inala didn't sustain any issues. He stopped upon observing the side effects, 'I originally intended to present this skill. But it's only valuable if one has my Mammoth Clansman build. Anyone else will die a young death due to brain damage.'
Inala knew plenty of Skills and Prime Skills from various cultivation techniques. Some of them could be recreated using Mystic Sumatra Art, so he wanted to attempt the skill of Puppetry first. 'I guess for the time being, I'll focus on enhancing and perfecting existing Skills that had been created by other Gold Grade Pranic Beasts.'
"Oh, there's also that." Inala thought for a moment and grinned, "Yeah, it'll be better to introduce it. This skill would be the most suitable for me, and with the contribution from others, I'll be developed into a frightening skill."
Immediately in response, Inala focused on himself and gathered the necessary data from his mindspace. He then tried to make it make sense through Mystic Sumatra Art and soon came up with a skeleton structure for the skill.
Mystic Sumatra Art-Adrenaline Rush!
Adrenaline Rush was the Bhirully's Secondary Nature, one that elevated its natural capabilities by a solid margin. Adrenaline rush makes a being erupt with more power than usual for a short period. Once the effect wanes off, the body enters a sluggish state of weakness for a while.
With three sets of organs, a Bhirully could quickly recover. Or during the activation of Adrenaline Rush, if it had not used one set of its organs, then even after deactivating its Secondary Nature, it could still rely on this set to move about casually.
The effect was pretty solid, giving it the necessary edge to win a fight. That was Adrenaline Rush as a Nature. As a Skill, it wouldn't give the same result. There would at most be the same level of boost a living being could naturally gain through a rush of adrenaline through their
body.
The one advantage of this skill was that this boost could also be applied to psychokinesis, 'That will give a solid edge in fights.'
Using the Bhirully's Secondary Nature of Adrenaline Rush as the base, Inala replicated some of its effects through Mystic Sumatra Art to result in the Skill. It was incomplete and had to be refined through practice and experience. 'That's where the others will come into play. Their insight will prove valuable.'
At the end of the day, the one who could make the most use of this skill was a Brully. So, it was to his advantage.
At present, Inala had learnt a total of four skills that could be employed through Mystic Sumatra Art, Prana Blood, Adrenaline Rush, Glove Slip, and Sensory Prickle.
Prana Blood had the same function as the one Inala used as a Mammoth Clansman. But the current version was superior, as Mystic Sumatra Art had the property where one's Prana and blood could imprint upon each other.
Adrenaline Rush was something he had created just now. Glove Slip already existed in the Gold Varahan Library, allowing one to access all Information Slips. And finally, there was Sensory Prickle, the skill that was the most researched upon in the Gold Varahan Library apart from Mystic Sumatra Art itself.
The detection means in Sumatra consisted of one releasing their Prana into the air and then waiting for feedback in the form of skin prickles once the Prana interacts with something. This was the sole detection method and had too many flaws, one of them being that Prana couldn't penetrate through most solids.
That was why Inala made pitfalls underground that worked with great success most of the
time. A layer of earth upon the trap served to block all Prana detection means, keeping it hidden. Even Brangara, with his various Natures couldn't overcome it, which was why Pet successfully remained elusive in the depths of the Kalahatra Desert during the Third Major Disaster.
There were ways to improve this detection means through the usage of Natures, but the core principle remained the same.
That was where Sensory Prickle came into effect. There were ways to improve one's Prana detection means, which was mostly by employing one's racial traits. But universally, the feedback in the form of skin prickles was insufficient.
Mystic Sumatra Art imprinted the properties of Prana and blood upon each other. Therefore, the skin prickles of a Prana detection means could be distributed across other senses too, such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste.
This allowed the user to gather more comprehensive information, which was the function of the skill of Sensory Prickle. And to avoid an information overload, the user could even limit themselves to one sensory organ.
Mystic Sumatra Art-Sensory Prickle!
Prana radiated off his body as Inala focused on his skin, feeling a mild scratching sensation on his thighs, allowing him to have a vague idea of the walls of his dwelling. 'But it's something I need to think and infer. If I don't have enough information, I can easily misinterpret this information, since the prickles cannot distinguish much.'
He then focused the prickles on his eyes, noticing faint glitters in his vision go off from time
to time, indicating the wall in his line of sight. Inala controlled his Billakin Hammer and made it move in his line of sight, noticing the glitters form a weak trail to indicate the stream of Prana controlling the hammer, 'It's a watered-down version of the Minor Treasure of
Spectral Eyes.'
"This is pretty good." He muttered. Even though the sparkles seemed distracting, but through it, he could perceive the stream of psychokinesis better than through skin prickles. He then shifted the prickles to his ears and heard faint ocean waves, the sounds similar to what one could hear when placing a conch over their ear.
"This will take some time before I can use it properly." Inala muttered, 'Though, a Zinger would be able to make stellar use of this, since they're more genetically disposed towards
sounds.'
And of course, if the Skill of Sensory Prickle were to ever make its way into the hands of a Death Knell, there would be chaos in the wilds of Sumatra. One of his brains became distracted with such thoughts while his main one focused on training.
Currently, he was armed with these four Skills. But Inala already had plans to bring forth the following useful skills and adapt them to Mystic Sumatra Art-Spirit Container Extraction, Spirit Container Assimilation, Empyrean Extraction, Mind Slip, and Prana Domination.
Among them, the Royal Zinger had already created the skill of Prana Domination to be used
for Mystic Sumatra Art. Inala had an idea regarding the rest, even though he didn't have all the knowledge base of the Royal Zinger.
He was confident in successfully creating these skills soon, which was his upcoming target. Of course, he had zero intentions of teaching them to anyone else, since they were too valuable.
"For my first Librarian Debate, the Skill of Adrenaline Rush is enough to prove my value," Inala muttered and continued to train while using his Billakin Hammer to hit his left hand, "And once they discuss and approve my suggestions to other skills, I'll have a better say in
this community."
There were plenty of Skills to learn, but Inala didn't wish to distribute his attention too thinly
and instead only picked those that suited his build. Days passed as he trained nonstop and soon, it was time for the Librarian Debate.
'I wonder what all Pranic Beasts have taken up the role of librarians here?' With a gaze brimming with anticipation, Inala walked towards the Gold Varahan Library and sauntered inside, observing the crowd of Gold Grade Pranic Beasts as he inhaled a sharp breath of air,
'There's a lot!'
A glance was enough as he tallied the number, including himself. With a poker face, he waved
his hand towards the Sphinger, Kapulahora and stood next to it, internally giddy, '28! There are 28 Gold Grade Pranic Beasts here!'
'And all of them are strong in their own right.' He thought and observed, his gaze finally
falling upon the Pranic Beast that served as the leader of the group and was in charge of the
Gold Varahan Library, 'There are all sorts of powerful Pranic Beasts out there, huh?'
'Another one from the woodwork has appeared here!'
Advanced Gold Grade Pranic Beast-Empyrean Whisker!
It was the oldest Gold Grade Pranic Beast race on Sumatra apart from the Gold Empyrean
Tentacle.