Primary Nature—Boar King Transformation!
After becoming the Boar King, YoriBuntara's Primary Nature changed from Empyrean Boar Transformation to Boar King Transformation. This Primary Nature became the core of Narkahamy's Blessed Influence of Vara Boar King.
And the reason he could call it a cheap transformation was simple. Upon becoming the Boar King, YoriBuntara's Secondary Nature of Voracious Nature gained Brangara's trait of reaching maturity faster by consuming the flesh of Gold Grade Pranic Beasts and above.
Just by employing this trait, Narkahamy could make YoriBuntara make as many new bodies of herself as he wanted. And once they reached maturity, Narkahamy would consume and use the resulting Nature of Boar King Transformation as the base of his Blessed Influence.
He could do the same with a new body's Nature too, but the influence generated from a matured body's Nature was at its strongest, which could be harnessed with greater capacity through the form of a Blessed Influence.
"And hence you see," Narkahamy said as he assumed his Vara Boar King form once again, "It's a cheap transformation."
"You…" KalTara's expression morphed into shock as he stared at Narkahamy in disbelief, "There's a Boar King on your side?"
"YoriBuntara," Narkahamy winked, "She was the source of my strength all along."
"YoriBuntara…?" KalTara frowned, 'She's part of the first generation? I thought she died during the civil war. That's what our records state.'
'Dammit! How bad have our intelligence organisations been fooled?' He analysed and rushed at Narkahamy, "Doesn't matter. I'll destroy you now, Varahan Emperor."
'Fine by me.' Narkahamy suppressed a subtle smile as he used his larger Human Avatar as a canvas to freely make puzzles with the various Natures stored in him, forming a stronger Blessed Influence. He then pointed at KalTara and uttered, "Kneel."
Intermediate Iron Grade Pranic Beast—Slump Lizard!
It was currently most present in the Sanrey Plains, thanks to the setup erected in the region. However, Slump Lizards were available in reasonable numbers in the Red-Draft River, usually found at the bottom of the food chain, and preyed by most of the other Pranic Beasts native to the water body.
The Boutique Lizard that arrived at the Sanrey Plains introduced them after chancing upon one along the shores of the Red-Draft River. Individually, Slump Lizards were weak, so weak that even humans at the Spirit Stage could kill them with minimal preparation.
Individually, they were bat-shit weak, but they had the trait of being strong as a swarm. After all, their Primary Nature's effect could be stacked.
Primary Nature—Grand Slump!
Upon activation, it caused the target to fall to the ground. It was most effective on bipedal creatures, for a tilt of their bodies was enough for them to fall. The effect was weaker on quadruple-legged Pranic Beasts with wide skeletal structures.
Of course, if enough of Grand Slump was stacked, even an Empyrean Tusk would fall. It was how Slump Lizards survived, by constantly making their enemies fall and damaging them through the weight of their own bodies.
The constant falls would shock their bodies and stack up damage until their Prana was expended. Once caught in this attack, the target couldn't advance or retreat, as they'll keep falling.
It was an extremely annoying ability and defending against it was difficult unless one had a neutralising ability such as Internal Inertial Gravity or the resistance of a Mystic Human against external influences.
The Red-Draft River wasn't a place where the Varahan Empire's influence could reach. Hence, there was no way their Raid groups could chance upon Slump Lizards, which were rarely encountered along the shores, not to mention capture enough of them to kickstart a nest.
But things changed when a certain someone came to offer a 'Trade' in exchange for something only he could sell.
Blessed Influence—Grand Submission!
A total of eighty Natures of Grand Slump were combined alongside four Natures of Prana Shock and one Nature of Drifting Tunnel. The result was the Blessed Influence of Grand Submission, which only consumed eight units of Prana upon activation.
The effects of Grand Slump spread like a wave and grew weaker the farther away from the Slump Lizard. When a group of them activated, it was like a tsunami, which carried most of the effect towards the target while keeping the dispersion conservative.
Narkahamy's Blessed Influence, on the other hand, moved like a stream of psychokinesis and made contact with the target in the blink of an eye.
Immediately upon activation, KalTara's knees buckled, but he didn't fall and instead shifted his weight, made his legs slide forward a little, and smoothly regained his balance.
Seeing it, Narkahamy smiled and fired off Grand Submission six times, smiling upon seeing KalTara collapse on the floor. "I see, I need to fire it off six times to make you fall. That's a bit more than my expectations, since two would have been enough for a Gold Grade Pranic Beast."
"You truly are strong, Wean Clan Leader." Narkahamy expressed his praise and fired off the ability six more times the moment KalTara used Shredded Lunge.
'Of course.' Inala glanced in the direction of the man in whose Nature slot, Gannala had equipped herself onto. The moment he saw the power of the Slump Lizard, he knew what must have happened, 'The fact that she traded with Narkahamy only implies she has observed the latter enough to weigh the risks and benefits.'
'And the fact that she made a move means it's for a fact.' Inala chuckled, trying his best to not show how proud he was feeling at the moment, 'She has the Nature Weapon of Boar King Transformation in her possession now.'
But the big, fat grin on his face told otherwise, 'I am curious of your endgame build, brat!'
"Urgh!" KalTara got up and brushed aside the dust covering his face. He was in his human form, so the damage he sustained from the fall was zero. Even in human form, his body was extremely tough. Adding that alongside his human level of weight meant that no matter how many times he fell, he sustained no injury.
Physically, at least. But it was embarrassing to fall repeatedly, especially in front of an audience, "Is this your last effort?"
"You have nothing else to threaten me with, Narkahamy!" KalTara said while on the floor, clearing out the ten slots in his Astral Chart. A piece of Vara in his stomach was digested as ten Natures of Gracious Inheritance appeared in his Astral Chart.
He activated it and got up, grinning upon seeing Narkahamy fire off another Grand Submission, "This is meant to counter your power specifically."
The moment the effect of the Blessed Influence of Grand Submission hit KalTara, it was absorbed by the latter. No, it was graciously inherited by him, which caused the Blessed Influence of Grand Submission to vanish from Narkahamy's Human Avatar.
"I already did it once," KalTara chuckled as he stored the Blessed Influence of Grand Submission in his second tusk, "And I'm sure you've encountered some examples of it in your Empire before."
"Give it up, Varahan Emperor." He said and snapped his finger, "I can steal your Blessed Influence, rendering your strongest card useless."
"Everything you do, I can steal it." Saying so, he assumed his Boar King form, "And if you think I'm limited to stealing only two Blessed Influence, that's only if I don't erase them from my tusks."
Saying so, he activated Grand Submission once and erased it from his tusk upon seeing Narkahamy collapse to the ground, "See…"
He hadn't finished his sentence when Narkahamy targeted him with another Blessed Influence, causing him to steal it too.
Blessed Influence—Vara Boar King!
KalTara activated it the moment Narkahamy engaged in close combat, 'That's all he has on his being now! Just the natures that are maintaining his Vara Boar King form.'
Narkahamy was faster and stronger in close combat, forcing KalTara to resort to activating Vara Boar King form. He had to pierce the latter with his tusk before being able to steal a Blessed Influence whose functions were self-applied on the target…
"See!" Narkahamy bellowed, "Don't despair when they steal your abilities. They can only steal emission-based Blessed Influences. If it's something that's applied to your body, the only way they can steal it is by stabbing their tusks into you."
Saying so, he barely evaded KalTara, "Keep thinking, we're already strong and we'll continue to grow stronger in the future."
Astral Chart—Shredded Lunge x10!
"It doesn't change anything even if you have figured it out, Varahan Emperor," KalTara said as he stopped, eyeing Narkahamy in close-up as his tusks had stabbed into the other party. "It's over."
The Blessed Influence of Vara Boar King was stolen, reverting Narkahamy to his human-sized Human Avatar form. It was a dull shade of grey, with traces of ivory that was homogeneously distributed. Such an appearance indicated that he no longer had any Natures stored in his Human Avatar.
"It's over, Varahan Emperor!" KalTara reverted to human form as he held Narkahamy by the neck, applying force, "I've won this fight."
The ten Natures of Shredded Lunge vanished from his Astral Chart as most of the Vara pieces in his stomach were dissolved as a new set of Natures filled his Astral Chart.
Nature—Rectum Merger x3!
Nature—Bio-Synthesis x3!
Nature—Statue!
Nature—Imprison!
Nature—Prana Bomb!
Nature—Satellite!
With the Nature of Imprison at the centre to form a physical cocoon, with Prana Bomb to trap the Prana, with Rectum Merger serving as a bridge between flesh-based and mineral-based powers, Bio-Synthesis consumed the target's Spirit Container and Satellite turned the extracted Human Avatar into a Spirit Weapon that was stable.
The Nature of Statue only existed to prevent the target from resisting the effects until the process was done. This way, using only one Gold Grade Nature and nine other commonly available Iron Grade Natures, KalTara created his trump card.
State of Harmony—Human Avatar Extraction!
"Argh!" Narkahamy let out a shriek once as his Human Avatar was stolen.
A body of KalTara appeared next to the stack, as his tusks carried two of Narkahamy's Human Avatars. A second body appeared as Astral Chart was transferred to it, as it extracted another two Human Avatars.
"I think I can use this for a while, since I have ten copies." The 5-Life Stage figure of KalTara said as he casually dropped the figure of Narkahamy on the floor and uttered, "Now, this is a sight."
There were ten figures of Narkahamy on the floor, next to each other, bereft of Spirit Containers. They were no connected by mind, as none of the ten bodies had a Spirit Weapon range anymore, "I respect you as an opponent, so I won't insult you any further."
"You will live and die as a mortal, ten times." He said and raised his hand towards the ten figures of Narkahamy, "But if you so wish, I'll give you an honourable death."
"Ke…keke…kuhahaha!" The ten figures of Narkahamy suddenly burst into laughter as one of them spoke, "You truly fail to understand Free Humans, kid."
"Why do you think I issued the Varahan Challenge? To kill you? To destroy the Wean Clan's leader? Why? Just because you're a Boar King?" He cackled, "I have a Boar King in my residence. You're not any special."
"My only goal has been what my race wanted throughout history," With a derisive snort, Narkahamy pointed at the sky, "It's to be free,"
"From everything!"
At the words, KalTara stared at the sky, paling with fright moments later, "This…shouldn't be impossible."
In the sky, one resembling the face of an Empyrean Boar, the aurora that had appeared at the start of the battle had morphed. Now, it had become smaller, but more condensed, forming a clear image of Narkahamy's face.
And as KalTara stared at the Narkahamy Aurora, the radiant eyes of the latter twitched and made eye contact.
Was unwell. I'll make up for the missing chapters this week.