Minor Treasure—Buoyant Disease!
It influenced the target it had fused with and granted them the Buoyant Disease. It was no different from a death sentence to the average Cooter Clansman whose build was based on fluids.
But for Wally, with Subtle Terrain Domination, he had no issues. The Minor Treasure strengthened Wally’s Buoyant Disease and reinforced it. He was already born the perfect Snapper. Therefore, the Minor Treasure didn’t give him any growth benefit.
It couldn’t improve something that was already perfect. However, its biggest role arrived not in Wally’s regular life, but when he ventured into the Sandy-Grey Void.
The Sandy-Grey Void was already dangerous. But with Transcendents arriving from multiple continents, not to mention Cosmic Beings drawn thanks to the pillar of light Brangara had released a few times, the Sandy-Grey Void surrounding Sumatra Continent was ripe with Transcendent Influence.
An Iron Grade Pranic Beast would mutate into an eldritch horror in a matter of seconds and die soon after, as its body would be unable to handle the series of mutations. Every cell would be doing its own thing, gaining sentience, and burning with insanity.
Even Wally was no exception. The moment he stepped into the Sandy-Grey Void, the Transcendent Influence bombarded him and individually mutated his every cell. And the mutations of each cell were different.
If left as if, he would turn into a maddened cluster of warring cells. His Prana would protect him and heal his body.
However, it wouldn’t have the capability to fully cleanse any minor mutations that had occurred to the cells. Wally’s Prana would only be cleaning out cells with severe mutations. The cells with minor mutations would camouflage themselves amongst the rest of the normal cells.
Or rather, Wally’s Prana itself would have been a tad influenced by then, which is why it ignored those cells with minor mutations. Eventually, these mutations would stack up at the micro scale and completely change his race at the macro scale one day.
It was why the Empyrean Tusk herd that left Sumatra Continent two millennia ago was rumoured to have changed races by the time they reached another continent, if they had succeeded in doing so.
A prefix of Empyrean already meant the existence had reached the end of its race’s evolutionary path. To progress beyond would be to change races.
However, the Cooter Clan hoped the Empyrean Snapper wouldn’t evolve so much that its power at the Mystic Grade had zero relation to Subtle Terrain Domination. That wouldn’t be helpful to the Cooter Clan.
Hence, thanks to the desperate prayers and preparations of Wally’s parents, the Minor Treasure of Buoyant Disease was created. It had fused into Wally’s blood, and every moment, it generated its influence and influenced mildly mutated cells into reverting back to Empyrean Snapper cells.
This way, Wally could train without worrying that he would turn into an existence completely different from an Empyrean Snapper. The Minor Treasure of Buoyant Disease kept his genetic makeup purely Empyrean Snapper.
"What should we do now?" Danhral asked as he stared at Wally, "We still struggle with raising Gold Grade Cooter Clansmen, as even in the Dralh Sea, Gold Grade mineral deposits were too rare. It’s even rarer here."
"I can collect some," He said and scooped out a small grain from the waters nearby, "But it would take me centuries to gather enough to form a single Clansman’s worth of Spirit Pool."
"Unless we take control of either the Brimgan Sea or Narkn, we cannot produce Gold Grade Spirit Pools in large numbers."
The Brimgan Sea surrounded the Brimgan Empire and was also part of the blessed land. However, these waters were heavily contested for dominance by both the Brimgan Empire and the publicly known 300 plus Gold Grade Pranic Beasts.
The Cooter Clan cannot afford to antagonise the Brimgan Empire.
Narkn was the Varahan Empire’s capital city. It was a blessed node. If the entire Cooter Clan were to make a move, they could claim that city. Currently, their strength easily outclassed the Varahan Empire, even after adding the Wean Clan into the mix.
Only with the help of either a blessed land or at least a blessed node could the Empyrean Snappers produce large quantities of Gold Grade Spirit Pools.
"The Quip Clan will start throwing Royal Zingers at us if we were to touch Narkn." Wally shook his head, "It simply isn’t worth the effort."
"Especially since I have a significantly better solution." Wally unfurled his clenched fist and revealed a small clump of grey sand. It appeared no different to the grey sand, not even displaying any of its power.
"It’s still not perfect yet, but I’m able to control this clump without issues. If the quantity increases beyond this, however, it’ll slip out of my control." Wally stared at Danhral and then eyed the rest of the Empyrean Snappers to ask, "Do you know the grey sand’s properties?"
"It consumes all matter and turns it into grey sand," Danhral responded spontaneously.
"It also consumes light and sound." Another Empyrean Snapper answered the remainder.
"Yes, it’s an extremely destructive substance, but it’s not as terrifying as we have pictured it to be." Wally explained, "We have existences on Sumatra now, other than the Gold Empyrean Tentacle, who can deal with the grey sand."
"It’s still an all-consuming matter, irrespective of how much I try to downplay it." Wally said, "Even Transcendents are eaten by the grey sand. However, its greatest weakness is that it’s matter."
"Therefore," Wally said, "Influences that can alter terrain are an issue for it. The grey sand is actually helpless in this regard. Similar to every other terrain, it too gets altered thanks to an influence."
"That’s why Influenced Regions fare better against it, especially when backed by a Major Treasure. It’s why the Sandy-Grey Void outside Sumatra is rampant with Transcendent influences." Wally smirked as he pointed at the clump of grey sand on his palm, "I have been feeding this clump the influence from my Major Treasure."
Major Treasure—Spirit!
Wally’s growth in Subtle Terrain Domination had reached a point where he was able to harness his Major Treasure, generate its pillar of light, and funnel the pillar into the grey sand clump.
Regular grey sand would have still resisted a Major Treasure’s influence. As even in the Sandy-Grey Void, despite drinking influences from multiple Transcendents and even Cosmic Beings, the grey sand hadn’t changed in terms of matter. It was still the grey sand.
That wasn’t an issue for Wally, as he could control the grey sand on his palm.
Primary Nature—Subtle Terrain Domination!
He controlled the grey sand and made it more susceptible to the influence. And then, he turned it into a tiny cup once it was brimming with the Major Treasure of Spirit’s influence.
"Watch this carefully," Wally said as under his control, a droplet of water from the Tsloch Sea fell onto the cup and was acted upon by the grey sand. He controlled the grey sand’s power as it ate into the droplet of water and tried to turn it into grey sand.
He waited, and suddenly, right at the moment when the droplet was about to turn into grey sand, he cut off the grey sand’s assimilation trait and instead bombarded the droplet with the Major Treasure’s influence.
The droplet had a yellowish white texture to it now, turning solid. It resembled a Spirit Container.
Influenced Region—Teary-Eyed Snapper!
Wally controlled a clump of grey sand. He turned it into a cup after it was loaded with the influence of his Major Treasure of Spirit. Now, he took advantage of it to turn water droplets into the Influenced Region of Teary-Eyed Snapper.
The process was similar to how a magnet—when moved around a piece of iron in a set pattern—ends up magnetising it.
The same process was done here, but with the grey sand’s assimilation properties. The Major Treasure of Spirit’s influence in the grey sand cup wasn’t consumed. Instead, the grey sand cup—grey sand plus influence—assimilated the droplet into it.
At the last moment, the process stopped after the water droplet was assimilated into the influence part but cut off before it was assimilated into grey sand too.
"To accumulate this amount naturally would have taken four to five years," Wally said as he pointed at the Influenced Region of Teary-Eyed Snapper on his palm, which was a sliver the size of a clipped nail. "It only took me a few minutes."
"Now, I’ll be controlling this process with Subtle Terrain Domination. If I let up for even a moment, there would be a grey sand catastrophe in this region." Wally commanded the Empyrean Snappers, "Your task is to refine me the highest quality of Spirit Pools to add to my reserve, so that I can draw out Prana from them."
"Also, get me the most potent medicines while you’re at it." Wally then paused for a moment and said, "No Elixirs, though, as I don’t intend to consume one. In my current state, my Nature’s potency exceeds natural development. And I intend to maintain it until I reach maturity."
The entirety of the Cooter Clan moved with renewed vigour to assist Wally as the latter focused on creating more and more pieces of the Teary-Eyed Snapper.
Once it was completed, even if it was small, as long as the structure of the Teary-Eyed Snapper was fully built, the goal was achieved.
When it was placed deep within an Empyrean Snapper’s mountain, touching the snapper’s shell, it would absorb the latter’s Pran and gradually begin to shed bluish-black teardrops. These droplets formed the Cooter Clan Chief’s Spirit Pool.
Lightning Plasma Spirit Pool!