Kalahatra Desert!
Standing on border was Kenzar Echo, watching his Homing Satellite made out of ivory sand get pummelled by a group of twenty Forest Boars.
Without any hesitation, he threw a Homing Satellite towards the group, watching them let out shrieks in response as their Prana was stolen by the Homing Satellite that touched the ground, sucked in the ivory sand, and then rose up with a physical form.
It joined the fight and was steadily getting pummelled too. Before it was destroyed, Kenzar threw a third Homing Satellite.
Grrr!
The Forest Boars let out guttural groans, unable to break free of the attacks, as no matter how far they got, the Homing Satellites always reached them.
Secondary Nature—Accel Hurl!
Thanks to it, every single one of Kenzar’s throws reached its target at sonic speeds. He could throw faster, if necessary, but limited himself, as the Homing Satellites took damage due to friction at such speeds.
The Forest Boars were pretty slow, so his throws were already fast enough.
Boom!
A Homing Satellite shattered, spilling out the ivory sand forming it. The four Forest Boars that caused its destruction cheered, unaware that when the ivory sand spilled on them, the Prana absorbed by the Homing Satellite from their body had been returned to them.
Or rather, placed upon them.
Tertiary Nature—Prana Stitch!
A few seconds later, all four Forest Boars screamed in pain as they lost Prana at a painful rate, observing through their Prana detection means the formation of a Homing Satellite on the back of each.
Boom!
One of them punched the Homing Satellite growing on the back of a nearby Forest Boar, only to hear the latter’s painful scream. After all, when damaged, the Homing Satellite sucked more Prana out of the Forest Boar to mend the damage.
It was a painful process. And soon, the four Forest Boars fell to the ground, fully exhausted as four Homing Satellites surrounded them. These Homing Satellites used the excess Prana to create Prana stitches in their body.
When they are destroyed, they’ll spill the ivory sand in their bodies on the targets and latch the Prana Stitches on them, through which new Homing Satellites were born.
Moreover, by forming bodies out of the ivory sand, they could camouflage themselves perfectly in the environment. Once the Homing Satellite buries itself in the soil, it was unrecognisable. And in its state of inactivity, it had no presence or Prana traces, and wouldn’t be registered on a Prana detection means.
Kenzar had been steadily building an army of Homing Satellites in the Kalahatra Desert. Only he knew how many he had buried in the ivory sands. And every time he fought, he accumulated the excess Prana from his Homing Satellites to condense his trump card—an Attributed Water Homing Satellite.
His previous one was stolen by the Empyrean Snappers. And hence, he wanted to create a new one. There definitely was an excess amount of Prana available at the Kalahatra Desert, which was why the Quip Clan treated the place with absolute importance.
"Capture them!" He uttered once the twenty Forest Boars were out of commission. Each Homing Satellite dragged a Forest Boar towards the walls as a team of Zinger Aristocrats pulled them up.
Following that was a butchering session as all the valuable parts of the Forest Boars were extracted, especially their stomachs, which sold for a fortune at a faraway region the Quip Clan had recently expanded into.
They didn’t bother capturing Forest Boars to repeatedly extract their organs. The amount of Prana consumed for the process wasn’t worth it. There were too many Forest Boars in the Kalahatra Desert, practically spilling out of the region due to their sheer numbers.
And Kenzar Echo could capture dozens of it with a profitable venture.
Kriek!
While the Zinger Aristocrats were busy dissecting and packaging the Forest Boar parts, there was a Zinger Shriek, alarming Kenzar Echo, ’They want me to use what?’
"Seriously? Now?" He was flustered, slapping his forehead in frustration, "This is too early to reveal such a card."
’It’ll make our expansion more difficult, since we’ll be treated as a military force instead of merchants the moment I use it.’ He groaned and shrieked once, informing the Quip Clan of his message.
A Homing Satellite jutted out of the ground, grabbed him and threw him into the sky. Once he reached his maximum altitude, he assumed his Zinger Guard form and glided around, soon reaching the closest Quip Tower.
The Quip Towers were all Homing Satellites, created as bases for the Quip Clan. He maximised their size according to the region. Other than a select few regions that needed hands-on interaction and diplomacy, Kenzar Echo had created the remaining Quip Towers.
Zinger Guards were starting to appear in the Quip Clan, thanks to their usage of the Minor Treasure of Royal Nectar and regular consumption of Nectar. Of course, these were all given according to their contribution, so the talented Quip Clansmen had a high growth speed.
Of course, the overall Gold Grade existences in the Quip Clan were a paltry sum when compared to the Wean Clan. They had yet to bridge that gap. However, that wasn’t their goal at the moment.
The Quip Clan used most of its gathered resources to spawn Quip Zingers, solely focused on increasing their number of Clansmen. As long as the Quip Zingers used Mystic Royal Art, they would gradually grow stronger and a sizeable number of them would become Zinger Aristocrats, even without relying on Nectar and other treasures in the Quip Clan’s possession.
Once they become Zinger Aristocrats, they would be nurtured by the Quip Clan and given directions for future progression. They would be given resources, the knowledge, and the means to become one of the four Gold Grade variants.
A small portion of Quip Zinger would become Zinger Aristocrats and only a handful among them would reach Gold Grade. It was a pyramid with a wide base and a pointy top.
The ratio would remain the same even in the future. However, the Quip Clan intended to widen the base to such an extent, the number of existences funnelling to the top would allow them to contend against the strongest forces on Sumatra, including the Wean Clan.
They were playing the long game here. But that was as long as they maintained their status as a merchant organisation.
The moment they displayed might capable of endangering even an Empire, it would become harder for them to make trade relations, irrespective of how advantageous a relationship with them was.
And Kenzar Echo’s actions would establish the status quo.
Landing on the closest Quip Tower, Kenzar Echo inhaled a deep breath and grunted, causing the Quip Tower to unleash a Zinger Shriek. Immediately in response, it began to communicate with all the Quip Towers one after another.
Primary Nature—Homing Satellite!
Secondary Nature—Accel Hurl!
Tertiary Nature—Prana Stitch!
Inhale, exhale; Kenzar Echo closed his eyes and meditated as one after another, the Quip Towers of the Quip Clan appeared as dots in his mind space. The number of dots increases as he was slowly synchronising himself with the Quip Towers.
The expansion was at the speed of sound, so it would take a while before he would synchronise with the Quip Towers in the vicinity of the Varahan Empire. Thankfully, they were preparing in advance, so he wasn’t worried.
As the dots appeared in his mind space, one seemed...Heavy!
It had a significantly stronger presence than the rest, causing him to know the cause, "I am ready when you are, leader."
The dot represented the Zinger Representative—Zhya!
She was already in position in one of the Quip Towers. If one used their Prana detection means at present, they would notice a thick bridge forming between the Quip Towers.
The were Tangible Piezo Slips, maintained between the Quip Towers in such a way they formed a bridge. Their sole purpose was to facilitate the transfer of sound.
In this medium, sound could travel at its fastest, similar to its speed in a highly dense medium. With their current level of development, these bridges could at most handle sound at speeds six times the speed of sound.
It was the limit due to resources. Had Kenzar Echo created the Quip Towers using Attributed Water, there would have been no limit. Of course, they simply didn’t have enough Prana to afford that.
He had to scrimp and save the Quip Clan’s resources just to have one Attributed Water Homing Satellite. Having the network of Quip Towers being made from the same was impossible. So, they had to compromise on the quality and select on whatever worked the best while being as economical as possible.
Six times the speed of sound was already tremendously great. The moment the bridges formed, the Quip Clan could communicate through this network at six times their usual speed, making communication rapid.
After all, every Quip Tower behaved as a transceiver for a Zinger Shriek. Any Quip Clansman could reach any Quip Tower to communicate with a Quip Clansman placed somewhere far away, at another Quip Tower.
It immediately connected the entire Quip Clan. But this was merely an auxiliary addition. The bridge was merely the first step as Kenzar Echo let out a mild sigh, watching strings of Prana from multiple Gold Biome Bombs latch onto him and supply him with Prana.
He exhaled softly as his three Natures harmonised with each other, ready to solidify the bridge at a moment’s notice. And then, he waited for orders, "Please...whatever happens, let’s try to talk it out."
He let out a forlorn sigh, "I don’t wish to use this, not now, never in the future. After all, the moment we reveal this..."
"Sumatra itself will become our enemy."