Situated 200 kilometres from the Rumtara Kingdom was a litter of mountains, all densely packed together. These mountains had steep cliffs, but the biggest uniformity was their arrangement.
Like parts of a puzzle, irrespective of their shape, there was always another mountain closely resembling its cliffs. There was a uniform gap between two mountains, which ranged anywhere from eighty to a couple hundred metres.
The region was dry, rocky even. Only small patches of grass and moss grew at clifftops. And oftentimes, there were flash floods when geysers burst out of multiple mountaintops at the same time.
The region was dry, but deep underground, at depths ranging from four to fourteen kilometres, there was a sea. This sea was constantly churning, having currents so fierce and turbulent, an Iron Grade Pranic Beast would be shredded in a matter of minutes.
Mrutch Sea!
This underground sea was highly pressurised and insanely hot. At its edges, the water in the Mrutch Sea ranged around 450 degrees Celsius, and the core region reached as high as 900 degrees Celsius. Despite the temperature, it was maintained in a liquid state solely due to the pressure.
Stromar Cliff!
This was the mountainous region situated atop the Mrutch Sea. Stromar Cliff wasn’t anchored to the earth. Instead, the entire region stayed floating atop the Mrutch Sea. It was the source of the pressure supplied to the water in the Mrutch Sea.
Whenever there was a minor nudge in the Stromar Cliff, the landscape’s stress distribution on the Mrutch Sea varied. And in places where stress increased, water was sent up in response, which burst out of the mountaintops as geysers.
The hot water shot up kilometres into the sky like lasers and vaporised. However, once a large vapour cloud formed, it began to lose heat as the higher altitudes of the region was extremely chilly, with cold winds.
Once it began to cool down, the vapour cloud turned into water and pretty much collapsed upon the region. The downpour from the skies created the flash flood, devastating the region.
At first mention, the Stromar Cliff might seem like a dead man’s zone. However, similar to the Dralh Sea, some creatures made this place their home.
One of them, built like a mountain goat with horns that constantly glowed like the noon’s sun, was a creature that thrived in the region.
Expert Iron Grade Pranic Beast—Rascl!
At maturity, it reached a height of two metres and sported a slightly longer body length. Its legs were built like robust springs, allowing it to leap over ten metres with a jump. These spring-like legs weren’t just to make the leap.
Most of their power was condensed behind to maintain the speed of their jump. Between two points, a Rascl shuttled the fastest, able to jump, land, and jump again, looping at least thrice in under a second.
When there’s a flash flood, the Rascl charges up the cliff and constantly charges through the descent waterfall.
Primary Nature—Spring Ram!
Upon activation, it creates a forcefield of psychokinesis around the Rascl’s body, protecting it from all elements. And upon contact, it discharges all the condensed force of psychokinesis into the target through the horns.
The horn growing on the head of a Rascl was shaped like a battering ram, while aerodynamic curves to push water in a stream perfectly along its body’s contours. In terms of hardness, the horn was on par with the defences of Gold Grade Pranic Beasts.
There was a flash flood in the Stromar Cliff at present. Once after another, the Rascls charged across the cliff, towards the peak. As the water descended like a wall, a Rascl used its spring-like legs to jump forward, activating its Primary Nature at the same time.
The shield of psychokinesis protected it right as the Rascl’s horns made contact with the water.
Kaboom!
There was a loud thunderclap as an empty cone stretching a length of five metres was formed in the descending sea of water. Through the empty cone, its hooves slammed into the walls and jumped forward, using their Primary Natures once again.
If seen from above, one would notice a line of interconnected cones forming in the sea of water that fell. And through these cones, the Rascls charged upward, through the sea of water.
From time to time, a Rascl missed its timing and was caught by the water flow. It was inevitably carried to the bottom, its fate guaranteed to be death. However, most of its kind charged forth without missing a beat.
Halfway up the mountain, the water finished pouring down, leaving behind clear skies.
Bleet!
All the surviving Rascls stood on the cliffs of the upper sides of the mountains and stared at the bottom that was drowned by water. This water would drain out in a matter of hours. And once it does, the Rascls would descend to the lower levels.
This flash flood wasn’t a disaster though, as once the water dripped down the mountains, there was a spike in greenery.
At speeds visible to the naked eye, a mixture of spring-like grass covered by mushroom-shaped moss grew on the rocky surfaces.
There was a strange mineral composition in the rocks of the Stromar Cliff and the Mrutch Sea. When these two interacted during the flash floods, life bloomed.
Krave Fil!
It was the name given to the organic substance. When consumed, it invigorated Prana, serving to both satiate one’s appetite and also mildly strengthen the Spirit Container.
In terms of potency, Krave Fil had a strengthening rate one-hundredth the Spirit Moss. However, its advantage was its large numbers. After a flash flood, the entirety of the Stromar Cliff was covered by a thick layer of it.
All the creatures native to the region couldn’t eat through it even if they spent decades doing so. However, that wasn’t possible. The shelf life of Krave Fil was less than two hours. After that, it would wilt.
Flash floods happen anywhere from once in a few days to once in a few months. There was no set frequency or pattern. Hence, the natives had adapted accordingly.
On the back of the Rascl were humps similar to camels. Their sole function was to store extremely compressed quantities of Krave fil. The Rascl’s digestive system was capable of processing the Krave Fil and converting it into a substance that wouldn’t spoil before storing it in the humps.
Most Rascls had a single hump. However, some eventually grew a second hump, which was a sign that they were on the verge of mutating. This was one of the creatures where the mutant could be identified before it mutated.
And they were priceless commodities. A Rascl would become extremely powerful upon mutating and couldn’t be captured in the Stromar Cliff.
Having been living on a diet of Krave Fil for generations, for tens of thousands of years, they had built robust spirit Containers. And one advantage of it was how they could vary the Prana used by their Primary Nature.
The minimum most Prana required to activate Spring Ram was 40 units. However, more could be funnelled to strengthen the Nature’s effect, with the limit being 210 Prana.
The unique biology of the Rascl meant it could accumulate 210 units of Prana in its horns through its jumps. It was a tad slower than a Bludder in terms of accumulations. However, the strain felt by its Spirit Container was significantly less.
Or rather, the strain was almost negligible, allowing the Rascl to fire off its Nature in succession. With a Prana capacity of 1140, the Rascl could pull off a series of powerful manoeuvres. It had a lifespan of 80 years, which was decent for an Iron Grade Pranic Beast.
And that was where its mutation arrived. Whenever there was too much gap between two flash floods, the Rascls would starve. In such a situation, they mutated, which allowed them to preserve their lives.
Intermediate Silver Grade Pranic Beast—Muscl!
With a Prana capacity of 2390 and a lifespan of 410 years, a Muscl was a menace. Its greatest boon upon mutation was the range in which it could fire off its Primary Nature. Now, the minimum most Prana required fell to 16 units, with the maximum amount reaching a whopping 378 units.
Its body was twice the size of a Rascl, but its jumping capacity exceeded twofold, and its jumping speed increased by threefold. They were extremely quick movers along the cliffs, which made capturing them pretty much impossible.
However, a Muscl was worth a small Free Human Kingdom. That was due to its hump that developed upon mutation.
Secondary Nature—Elixir Hump!
Since the mutation happened out of a starvation necessity, the hump of a Muscl is more extremised in its storage capacity, able to store one-tenth the Muscl’s weight within the hump.
Within the hump was a highly refined Krave Fil whose functions rivalled a High-Grade Elixir in terms of quality.
At equal mass, the substance within the hump was on par with a High-Grade Elixir. And the sheer quantity available made the Muscl have such value.
A Muscl only needs to eat after a flash flood. It then wouldn’t have to worry about food for at least three to four decades.
Since capturing a Muscl was impossible, a Rascl with two humps was targeted. If it had two humps, it meant it was on the verge of mutating. They were the best targets.
Once captured, their legs were broken while their horn was shaved off. After the Rascl mutates into a Muscl, it is fed Krave Fil until its two humps are full. Then, they are extracted.
The extract alone was one of the many reasons the Rumtara Kingdom existed for so long, despite its infamously abyssal administration.
At present, a team of Free Humans were dragging a Rascl with two humps along the edges of the Stromar Cliff.
"See that group," Loya pointed as three people peeked from behind her, "They are dressed slightly differently as compared to the citizens. I’m sure they are the people responsible for working on the Brimgan Empire’s secret project."
"Let’s tail them then." Said Inala as his eyes glinted in interest.