Chapter 789: Man, That’s Annoying
Chapter 789: Man, That’s Annoying
"The two of you were from the same Kingdom?" Inala expressed his surprise, having never expected the source of both Attribute and Pet to have been comrades. He accessed the
Brimgan Founder's memories and immediately recalled the past self of Torq, "So that Torq was indeed you."
"Brimgan came from a line of family that served the Royalty." Pet said, "Back in our time, there was no Empire in this region. My Kingdom was the closest to reaching that level."
"Unfortunately, that invasion destroyed everything." His voice was calm, as if talking about the story of someone else, "Based on what I've experienced, this region of Sumatra has faced three invasions."
Whenever a Cosmic Being is killed by the combined might of the Transcendents, parts of its body would typically fall into the Sandy-Grey Void during the fight. These body parts would sprout strange existences that when pulled into a Continent's influence, get transformed into a Pranic Beast.
"Many strange creatures ended up becoming Pranic Beasts once Sumatra integrated them into its fold." Pet stared at Inala to say, "Invasions happen across Sumatra Continent. However, from what I've found out after becoming a Transcendent, our region gets affected the most due to our geographical position."
"Three invasions have occurred till now since I've been born." Pet raised its paw and lightly slapped Inala's ankle, "First was the Brully Invasion, the second was the Death Knell Invasion, and the third was the Mudropper Invasion. Every invasion brought about powerful characters in resistance."
The Mudropper Invasion resulted in the birth of the Mammoth Ancestor and Cooter Ancestor, leading to the creation of two legendary Clans on Sumatra. The Death Knell invasion resulted in the birth of the Brimgan Ancestor, a Mystic Grade Free Human.
And finally, during the Brully Invasion, there appeared four existences who all ended up becoming Major Treasures.
...
"There's no one left at home, Lord Torq!" The balding man cried as he uttered weakly, "That bastard converted them all!"
"Is...that so?" Torq burst into laughter, his face convulsing into a series of sadness, frustration, regret, and despair. He sat on the ground weakly and asked while gasping, clutching onto any traces of hope, "They...they are at least...alive, right?"
"A portion of them, yes." The balding man, Brimgan nodded.
"Then, all's not lost." Torq recovered, as if nothing had happened until now, expressing clear signs of coping mechanisms. He stared at Brimgan to say, "We'll save them, even if that's the least we could do."
"They've been turned into a Ravaged Tribe by the Brully? Fine, I'll still rescue them." Torq claimed as he returned to the cave and walked out with the Iron Empyrean Tentacle, "I am its sole Ravaged Tribesman. Considering how much I've subjected it to torture, it doesn't dare influence my behaviour."
Primary Nature-Daily Floater!
Daily Floater allowed Torq to extract the skin of a target and turn it into a balloon resembling the original. If he were to use it on a Bludder, the Daily Floater would look no different from the respective Bludder.
However, it was solely composed of the Bludder's skin. Its interior was just filled with Prana, enough to prop up its form through psychokinesis and move it around exactly like how the original behaved.
The Daily Floater behaved like the cultivator it was created from, moving about on its own. Using the reserve of Prana within it, the Daily Floater could use Prana detection means, allowing it to observe its surroundings through skin prickles.
It could see, smell, and do everything the original did, but had zero combat ability, since it was just a bag of Prana. Once it's killed, all the information it perceived through its Prana detection means-skin prickles-would be transferred to Torq, irrespective of how far hen/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
was.
This ability wasn't restricted by the Spirit Weapon range and hence was perfect for scouting. Even though it gave him no fighting power, Torq had aimed for it due to the possibility of the Primary Nature growing stronger once he evolved into a Clansman.
The Empyrean Tentacle race was genetically wired to never create a Ravaged Tribesman, for if the Tribesman were to become a Clansman, they'd evolve accordingly, which would disrupt their power structure completely.
If an Empyrean Tentacle devours its other two variants, it'll become the Mystic Tentacle. However, if one of its variants evolves, that formula can no longer work, which meant preventing the Mystic Tentacles from ever being born again.
The Gold Empyrean Tentacle was too strong, so it was never in a compromising situation. The Silver Empyrean Tentacle was an expert hunter, so even if someone attempted to use its power to create a Ravaged Tribesman, it would instinctively kill itself.
The Iron Empyrean Tentacle was similar. However, its lack of combat capability made it more prone to such attempts. Throughout history, many Free Humans attempted to voluntarily become its Ravaged Tribesmen in hopes of obtaining the power to revive.
Countless ancient organisations existed for this purpose. However, they were all met with failures. And just when it seemed like they were about to succeed, the Iron Empyrean Tentacle was no longer birthed in their region.
Sumatra purposefully spawned it somewhere far away, leading to these organisations dying out over time. The ancestors of Torq's maternal side were part of one such organisation. Whatever scant records they had managed to preserve over the centuries were read by Torq, which was how he knew what to do.
After all, by the time he obtained the information, the Iron Empyrean Tentacle was already born. His mother, grandparents, and even great-grandparents never had the time to refer to such records, as they were busy surviving.
Basically, as these organisations had basically died out, the Iron Empyrean Tentacle was spawned somewhere in the region like usual, as it was where they were historically spawned. Torq was the one who revived this school of thought.
And once his Kingdom was destroyed by a group of Brully, he fixated himself on the Iron Empyrean Tentacle. That was his only option. After all, brute strength wasn't enough to kill a
Brully.
Beginner Gold Grade Pranic Beast-Brully!
Reaching a height of 80 metres, it was a humanoid giant with arms in the shape of weapons, typically an axe on the right and a hammer on the left. Having a Prana capacity of 4188 and a lifespan of 1100 years, a Brully lived its life fighting. It was meant to live and die in a battle, as evidenced by its power.
Primary Nature-Cyclic Recovery!
A Brully had three sets of internal organs that looped around in operation. When set one is operating at full capacity, set two acts as a backup and operates at half the capacity while set three is resting completely, similar to when one was in a state of sleep.
Once set three has finished its recovery, it would operate at full capacity, prompting set one to
now operate at half capacity while set two would enter a state of rest. This way, the Brully could keep moving about without stopping, for one set of its internal organs was constantly
in a state of rest.
Cyclic Recovery acted passively and ensured a Brully never had to sleep like other Pranic Beasts, thanks to the three sets of internal organs it had created and maintained
harmoniously.
As a result, from the moment of its birth, a Brully roamed Sumatra, devastating everything in
its path. Unlike other Pranic Beasts that took action for procurement of food or resources, a Brully moved only to engage in a battle and slaughter.
It cared naught to further its species, self-preservation, or anything of the sort, focused only
on fighting. However, to fight, it needed to consume food, for only then could its body have the energy to operate as usual.
But it didn't wish to waste even the few minutes it would take to eat. Hence, every Brully grudgingly came to a conclusion-to have servants for the procurement of food.
The Ravaged Tribesmen it created existed to serve only one purpose. They would gather food from the corpses the Brully leaves in its wake and process it into easily consumable forms. The Ravaged Tribesmen would then accurately throw packets of food into the Brully's mouth while it was fighting.
For such a purpose, a large horde of Brully barged into Torq's Kingdom and turned all the Free Humans there into Ravaged Tribesmen. Since a group of them had attacked at the same time, it was impossible to determine which Ravaged Tribesman was under the control of which
Brully.
If any existence falls under the line of sight of a Brully, the Brully wouldn't stop until it killed the creature. Hence, the only way to realistically gather information was through the power
one gained as the Iron Empyrean Tentacle's Ravaged Tribesman.
And once prepared, Torq could target the respective Brully once it was alone.
"His Majesty is dead." Brimgan said after a while, his expression dark, "The last I saw was
him being swallowed by a Bhirully."
Mutated Intermediate Gold Grade Pranic Beast-Bhirully!
It was the mutant counterpart of the Brully, an even more annoying existence. After all, it was
just a Brully, but more deranged, more enthusiastic, and more destructive.
Secondary Nature-Adrenaline Rush!
It was as the name implied. The Bhirully was constantly in a state of adrenaline rush, allowing
it to fight in a self-destructive tendency. However, thanks to its Primary Nature and the recovery capabilities of its Gold Grade Prana, it was never in a state of self-harm.
...
"Things were grim back in the days." Pet let out a faint sigh, "Prowling about in my Kingdom
alone were four Bhirully and over sixty Brully. There were hundreds across the region, laying waste to everything in a span of a century."
"Everything?" Inala asked in disbelief, "Shouldn't there be powerful Gold Grade Pranic Beasts and Free Humans to offer resistance?"
"It's precisely thanks to their resistance that we managed to hold on for a century." Pet
smiled wryly, "Things began to change as I grew my strength. I attempted the Ravaged Tribesman process with a Silver Empyrean Tentacle and Gold Empyrean Tentacle too. I didn't gain their power, but my Grade increased while my Primary Nature evolved over time."
"The Silver Empyrean Tentacle devoured the Iron Empyrean Tentacle I carried. This was the
price to attempt the Ravaged Tribesman process on me. Once that was done, I captured it and offered it to the Gold Empyrean Tentacle, repeating the same." Pet chuckled, "Eventually, I
became a Clansman."
Blessed Clansman!
"I was the only existence of my kind, and the moment I appeared, Sumatra changed its rules
to ensure I was the last of my kind." Pet smiled wryly, "As a Blessed Clansman, I can spawn on Sumatra whenever I've satisfied the required conditions. So, every time I do, I focus on some aspect to experiment with and strengthen myself, failing more times than succeeding. I turned myself into Pet just to further my purpose."
"I see..." Inala nodded as he stared at Pet, "Then the 11 Transcendents of the Ravaged
Federation..."
"No, no," Pet waved its short legs in a hurry, "They're not me. Unfortunately, only one of me
could exist at a time, whether as a cultivator or a Transcendent. So, every time I plan to revive on Sumatra Continent, my Transcendent self dies"
"The ten Transcendents of the Ravaged Federation are all geniuses in their own right." Pet expressed with unconcealed pride. It then coughed, having gotten sidetracked as it spoke with regained vigour, "Getting back to the point, by the end of the invasion, the four of us realise that even if we become Transcendents, the threat faced by Sumatra cannot be solved, since Transcendents cannot interfere with its affairs."
"So, to strengthen our descendants, we began to set up plans before turning ourselves into
Major Treasures." Pet boasted as it stared at Inala, "I created the Ravaged Federation just for that purpose. Now, it's the strongest force in Sumatra. Brimgan created the Brimgan Empire, which managed to withstand two other invasions and stand tall to date."
"Then, who are the other two?" Inala asked, "I have Brimgan's memories, but I can't seem to
determine who became Weapon or the Seat of Transcendence, since Brimgan became a Major Treasure first."
"What did the other two create?" Inala expressed his confusion, "There doesn't exist any
other force on the level of the Brimgan Empire or the Ravaged Federation here, apart from the ones created by the Mystic Paths and Brangara."
"Those two didn't create a force but left behind something more fundamental." Pet let out a sigh and stared at Inala, "How do I say this...man, it's annoying to accept our defeat."
Groaning at the end, Pet grumbled, "Mikhakatakha, the Mystic Tentacle popularised Ravaged Tribes and assisted in the evolution of countless Pranic Beast races, some of which became the origin races that evolved into Empyrean Tusks and Empyrean Snappers."
"Kanka created over a tenth of the cultivation techniques in practice today, including the Iron
Grade versions of Mystic Bone Art and Mystic Mist Art. He was also the one who theorised the ability that Renduldu perfected into Sumatra Chronicles." Pet slumped on the floor in embarrassment, "Renduldu understood our plans, our arrangements, and our creations. He then integrated our Major Teasures into Sumatra Chronicles."
"Man, that's annoying!"