Inala didn’t immediately rush to the Rooster Tribe settlement. Instead, he had something to check first, before nightfall approached.
The ring shown on the map spanned a radius of 500 kilometres. Towards its south was Ellora Trade City, the place he had just visited. Westward from it was the Rooster Tribe settlement.
He was currently running south in the direction closest to the ring. It was late in the evening when he arrived before the ring and stared at it in surprise.
Before him stood a curtain of darkness where light or sound didn’t exist. It felt eerie, like the end of the world. Inala approached it and passed his hand through the curtain of darkness. There was no change.
Of course, the place didn’t have any such effect. After a moment, he threw a piece of bone into the curtain of darkness, sensing it fall onto the ground before beginning to slowly sink into it. He waited patiently, watching it arrive at a halt eventually, ‘I see, so the depth is only a hundred metres.’
Sandy-Grey Void!
That was the region before him. But, it wasn’t the original Sandy-Grey Void that surrounded Sumatra Continent. No, this was a result of the Mudropper’s ability.
Primary Nature—Sandy-Grey!
The Mudropper was capable of consuming the soil of a region before blasting it out with the properties of the Sandy-Grey Void. Eventually, once enough of this grey sand fills an area, all light in the covered region vanishes, absorbed by the grey sand.
The sound too faces the same plight, turning the region—with the grey sand—into one where light and sound didn’t exist. Even if someone were to use a torch or a luminescent stone in the region, all produced light would be absorbed instantly, maintaining the darkness of the place.
That wasn’t all. The sand too behaved like quicksand. So, anyone who dares set foot on it would begin sinking into it.
Of course, if that happened in the original Sandy-Grey Void, death was guaranteed. But here, that wasn’t the case. The layer of the soil with the effects of the Sandy-Grey Void only extended to a depth of 100 metres. Below that was just the regular soil of the region.
Therefore, after sinking to a depth of a hundred metres, his Spirit Weapon arrived at a stop. If he wished, he could use the Spirit Weapon to drill through the regular ground and appear on his side.
Based on the map, the Sandy-Grey Void formed a circle with a radius of 500 kilometres. As a result, external Pranic Beasts avoided this region, creating a safe haven. That was primarily the reason for Ganrimb Kingdom’s successful development.
It seemed the authorities were aware of what the Rockatrice and its group of Silver Grade Pranic Beasts were planning. But, they didn’t do anything to stop it. Rather, they welcomed it.
After all, the actions of the Silver Grade Pranic Beast group created this region that was almost on par with an Enclave, as a result creating a safe haven for all sides to develop and prosper.
It was a tacit understanding between all involved parties.
The ring of Sandy-Grey Void was only a kilometre thick. Therefore, it wasn’t impossible to leave it. All he had to do was drill a tunnel at a depth of 100 metres and safely move to the other side.
The reason he didn’t think of moving through the Sandy-Grey Void was simple. As it had been a couple minutes since he threw the Spirit Weapon, the connection between the two was cut off.
The Sandy-Grey Void simply ended up consuming his Spirit Weapon. Moreover, before it did that, it erased all traces of his Prana signature on the Spirit Weapon. ‘This will do.’
A plan formed in his mind as Inala turned around and rushed in the direction of his cave. Night set soon after as Slump Lizards streamed out of the river and flooded the region.
Thump!
Inala crashed hard into the ground, coughing out blood from his nose getting bashed by the impact. His Prana Hands grabbed the closest two Slump Lizards and drained them of all Prana.
But while they were targeting the Slump Lizards, a few more approached him, leaping on him. “Move!”
Inala condensed Internal Inertial Gravity in his hands and punched them, sending them flying away. But, he winced in pain as their carapace was hard and sharp, ending up pricking him. Even though he could punch them to their deaths with a single hit, his hand too got messed up in response.
Slump Lizards charged him one after another, causing him to fall to the ground every time he tried to get up. If not for having no other choice but to return before dawn, Inala would have wished to remain in the safety of the city during the night and only depart by morning.
But by then, the giant Prana Bomb would have shattered, causing baby Gannala’s shouts to be transmitted. That would drastically reduce his preparation time. Hence his need to rush.
“Wait a second…” He frowned after falling for the hundredth time, muttering as he stared at his bloody self, “This isn’t how a Zinger fights.”
He recalled the way they fought at the Dieng Canyon, also drawing inspiration from Safara’s Eruppa Avatar. He finally activated his trump card and condensed over a dozen Prana Bombs.
Mystic Bone Art—Prana Blood!
During his stay at the 44th Settlement, the 44th Empyrean Tusk bathed him with her blood daily. Applying that experience to his Mystic Skill Creator, Inala derived the Prana Blood Skill.
For every entity in Sumatra Continent, Prana flowed in their blood. Just as how the blood carried oxygen, Prana too existed as atomic particles carried by it.
That was how Prana was circulated throughout the body, as it was a component carried by the blood. Similarly, the Spirit Container was a cell within the heart. A single cell held a single unit of Prana.
As the heart was the first to react to any external stimuli, including the body’s emotional response towards it, once it varied its heart rate accordingly, so were the Spirit Containers affected, for they were situated exactly there. 𝑂𝒱𝑙xt.𝗇𝓔t
And if the stimuli were too much, straining the heart, these Spirit Containers shattered.
While the heart pumped the blood, the Spirit Container injected traces of Prana into it, causing the blood to carry the Prana. While the heart regulated the blood flow, the Spirit Container regulated the Prana Flow.
Inala’s Prana Blood Skill fused the Spirit Container into the heart temporarily. Instead of two regulatory bodies, there was just one, causing large amounts of Prana to be pumped through the blood.
It was a process that strained one’s body. After all, the Spirit Container was the body part most suited to house large quantities of Prana. The rest of the body wasn’t suitable for that.
That was why, only a part of the Prana in the Spirit Container would be sent to circulate through the body through the blood. This implied that when the entity used a Skill or Primary Nature, they could only draw upon the Prana circulating in their blood.
The Prana Blood Skill overcame that limitation.