"Artificial Mineral?" Loya felt it hard to believe, "Is something like that even possible? I mean, I know Millanir exists, but are you sure it’s an Artificial Mineral and not something else that you’ve confused with?"
"If we’re going there, then I’ll have to ask you one thing." Inala stared at Loya to say, "What do you define by a mineral?"
"Eh?" Loya was stunned by the question and gawked blankly, "A mineral is a mineral."
"Haha!" Inala burst into laughter and then explained, "In essence, a mineral is any substance that can be built into a Human Avatar."
"See the wording there," Inala iterated once again, "Any substance."
"That...makes sense, I guess?" Loya wasn’t satisfied with the answer, "Does that mean if I were to stuff a Human Avatar with a substance, it counts as a mineral."
"That’s exactly what a cultivation technique does." Inala nodded, "If a substance can interact with and influence Prana, then it means it can be built into a Human Avatar."
"With that explanation, you can understand why normal water isn’t considered a mineral." Inala explained, "It can interact with Prana but cannot influence it. That’s the difference."
"Then, here comes the question," Inala asked, chuckling as he observed Loya getting more and more confused, "Can a Parute Fruit be considered a mineral?"
"It can both sense and influence Prana."
"Maybe it’s an exception?" Loya laughed hesitantly, unsure with her answer.
"Nope, if you have the means, you ought to be able to create a mineral out of a Parute Fruit." Inala said, "It’s only that there’s no mineral naturally in it."
"That’s what I have been researching." Inala pointed at himself, "My Major Treasure of Weapon allows me to create and control Spirit Weapons out of any mineral, whether they are mineral-based or biological."
"Theoretically, there ought to be specific body parts in us that contains most of our Primary Nature’s characteristics in physical form." Inala explained, "If that could be extracted and refined, you’ll get a substance that can interact and influence Prana, and can be built into a Human Avatar."
"Millanir, in that sense, is condensed from the part of the Millinger’s body that has the highest physical concentration of the essence related to its Secondary Nature." Inala stared at Loya, "Are you seeing a relation here?"
"I think I do." Loya nodded, "Theoretically, you can obtain two minerals from a Mutated Pranic Beast. One might be a biological mineral while the other is present as a physical characteristic that we have to refine until its effect is on par with a Nature."
"That’s the Artificial Mineral." She concluded.
"Bingo," Inala nodded as he pointed at his heart, "In my case, my Billakin is related to my Secondary Nature."
"Then your extra set of internal organs..." Loya pondered, "If there’s some common substance among them all, then that could be refined into an Artificial Mineral."
"That’s what I think." Inala shrugged, "I still don’t know if it’s feasible, since Weapon can only create Spirit Weapons out of natural minerals."
"But with your set of abilities, if you can extract such Artificial Minerals, won’t you get greater strength?" Loya asked after some thought, "Especially since you have the ability to elevate the Spirit Weapon to have the power of a Secondary Nature, too."
"Exactly why I have Vara." Inala smirked.
"That’s an Artificial Mineral?" Loya gasped.
"Yup," Inala nodded.
"But how?" Loya asked, "With how common it is, I thought it was a natural mineral."
"The strongest physical characteristic of the Empyrean Boar Race is their stomachs." Inala explained, "Using Weapon on them creates a Spriit Weapon whose mineral is sourced from the stomach."
"It is confusing on their regard because of a simple reason." Inala explained upon seeing her confusion, "To refine Vara, the tusks of an Empyrean Boar simply has to be grounded into powder form. That’s how simple it is, which is why Vara is so commonplace."
An Empyrean Boar stored the Natures it obtained through Voracious Nature on its skin. Its tusks too were considered part of its skin and had a greater concentration of the storage traits of Voracious Nature.
That’s why, Vara was produced from the tusks of the Empyrean Boars. This characteristic remained the same even in its higher iterations of Boar King, Empyrean Boar King and even the Celestial Boar.
"It’s pretty complex." Loya groaned as she noted down all the details in an Information Slip for later use. She intended to keep analysing it until she fully understood the means to differentiate the category of mineral with minimal deduction.
The reason was simple. Through reverse deduction, as long as Loya could predict where an Artificial Mineral could be located in her body, she only had to strengthen the physical characteristic of that spot until eventually, it becomes her Secondary Nature.
’Once I familiarise myself with this process, it’ll become easier to gain a Secondary Nature.’ Loya thought in excitement. She already had ideas to gain a Secondary Nature, but the risks were too high.
There was a high chance of explosion or mutating into something weaker or unnecessary if she was hasty with the process. That’s why Loya intended to accumulate more information. Now, she had a slightly better chance.
She planned to wait until it was as safe as possible. But most of all, Loya wouldn’t attempt to obtain a Secondary Nature until she figured out the means to gain a Tertiary Nature too.
The same method would apply to gain a Tertiary Nature, only with increased difficulty due to the body now being influenced by two Natures.
"I think, once we infiltrate that formation, I’ll finish my process." Loya said, "I’ll harmonise a process so that the Pangers only obtain the most suited Natures with a chance of reaching a State of Harmony."
That was Loya’s ultimate goal, which was why she accompanied Inala, for she felt the possibility was high if she accompanied this young Brully.
Intermediate Gold Grade Pranic Beast—Panger!
A mutation would bring Loya to Expert Gold Grade status. From there, she could finally start thinking about the conditions that needed to be satisfied to reach the Mysti Grade.
Well, even if that couldn’t be done, she wasn’t concerned as long as the Panger Race obtained a State of Harmony. With that, they could finally start increasing their numbers. And down the line, one of their descendants would figure out the conditions necessary to reach the Mystic Grade.
Even otherwise, if the Panger Race stabilised their Mutations to obtain a Secondary Nature, then there was a small possibility that one such Mutation would birth a new variant.
This variant would only have a Primary Nature. This Primary Nature might have some characteristics of the Panger Race’s Primary and Secondary Natures. But the biggest advantage with this method was the fact that it opened up the Clansman route.
A Pranic Beast race used the Ravaged Tribe route. And when the Tribe turned into a clan, the Panger Race was born. As a result, the same Clansman method cannot be used by them again.
However, if a new variant appears, it wouldn’t have any evolutionary influences in it, only mutations. That meant an evolution by using Clansmen was possible.
Even if the evolution doesn’t bring them to Mystic Grade, it is guaranteed to turn them into a Deity Race. That was the best possible outcome, since by birth, they’ll be born with the peak possible strength on Sumatra.
As long as they steadily accumulated power, in ten to fifteen thousand years, they would naturally birth a Deity with the possibility to reach Mystic Grade.
To reach that point, Loya had to gain a Secondary Nature that is perfectly in line and compliments her Primary Nature.
Primary Nature—Shield of Thorns!
Repeatedly, it had proved itself against many situations and opponents. That was why, even when their numbers were little, the Panger Race was a force to be reckoned with.
Loya intended to create a suitable Secondary Nature to increase the chances for the chance to create a variant. This variant’s Primary Nature should definitely contain the essence of Shield of Thorns. That was her goal.
’Oh, she now has a roadmap.’ Inala thought as he eyed Loya. There was a specific reason he told her what he did, ’If there’s any race that can reach Deity Status, it’s the Panger Race.’
For Sumatra’s future, especially during the Continental Invasion, having Mystic Grade existences would be awesome. However, it wasn’t easy to achieve it.
Moreover, whether it be the Mystic Humans, Wean Clan, or even the Quip Clan, they were all derivatives of the Mammoth Clan. They had all cherrypicked some characteristic of the Mammoth Clan, elevated it to the extreme and made it their strength.
The Quip Clan cherry-picked from both the Mammoth and Cooter Clans.
Currently, most routes for growth had already been explored by the Mystic Seven and people related to them.
For new routes to emerge, a new, third Deity Race has to appear. A Deity symbolised the peak, strength that could naturally be attained at birth, like Empyrean Tusks and Empyrean Snappers.
It was possible to increase their numbers to a large extent. ’And in the worst-case scenario, Gannala can turn one of them into a Nature Weapon to preserve for the future.’
Once reverted, the Deity could just focus on making more of its kind. It would have a powerful Clan that would gradually shape and elevate the ecosystem of Sumatra.
There were many candidates trying to reach that status. Of them, Inala felt the Panger Race had the most potential, ’Their physical characteristics are plenty.’
Inala stared at Loya and thought, ’Once a new variant appears among them, it would have enough physical traits to base a Mystic Grade cultivation technique on.’
’Well, it is exciting.’ And that was his basis to assist Loya. He was having his fun while ensuring his actions would eventually screw Sumatra’s enemies in the future, "Win-Win!"
"Win-win for what?" Loya asked at his sudden declaration.
"Don’t worry about that." Inala waved at her casually and then gawked once Stromar Cliff came into view. "We travelled around its edges the previous time. But this time..."
He pointed at the peak, "Let’s camp there. I want to experience its flash flood!"