A torrent of materials gushed out of his stomach upon its explosion. The organ was ruptured, resulting in terrifying pain.
Inala went insane as his body spasmed, frothing at the mouth. His eyes rolled to the back while his organs began to fail one after another, a side effect of his biome’s explosion.
His Internal Inertial Gravity activated through the rest of his body, reinforcing it to the extreme, the only reason his body didn’t entirely explode. But the power behind the explosion was powerful enough that Internal Inertial Gravity expended most of his Prana and barely managed to protect his body.
The Empyrean Zingers staying in his biome sustained some damage upon being hurled out in force. But before they even touched the ground, they hurriedly unfurled their wings and returned to Inala.
Dropping on his forehead, they shrieked in worry, for Inala’s condition was deteriorating rapidly. His Lifeforce was leaking out through the injury on his stomach region, as both were intrinsically tied together.
Inala was rapidly aging!
It was just a matter of time before he dies from old age. As he had fallen unconscious from the pain, Inala couldn’t make a recovery on his own. Hence, the Empyrean Zingers were worried.
They hurriedly grabbed all the Life Bombs and poured the liquid on his stomach, causing the Lifeforce to influence the body to make a recovery.
But this was akin to pouring water in a leaking pot. The majority of the Lifeforce simply leaked out and only a minor amount was consumed by his body.
As his stomach got obliterated, the Mystic Bone Art couldn’t take effect, since the most pivotal organ for its function was the stomach. Thereby, the only remaining option was for the various cells in Inala’s body to passively absorb Lifeforce and mend the damaged region.
Simply using the Life Bombs would only needlessly waste them. As even Prana had healing capabilities, the Empyrean Zingers created a large tub out of a Prana Bomb and filled it to the brim with the fluids of Prana Bombs—that were filled with Prana.
This was unrefined Prana and wouldn’t assist in Inala’s recovery. But that didn’t matter as the leaking Lifeforce was trapped within this Prana-filled fluid. Moreover, as long as Inala’s stomach could recover a bit and Inala regains consciousness, he could fire up his Mystic Bone Art and actively refine Prana to heal.
[Wake up!]
[Inala!]
[Don’t die!]
The miniature Empyrean Zingers danced over his body, shouting in their language, trying everything to wake him up.
Moreover, the moment they made contact with his body, his Tertiary Nature would be activated. It meant that Inala would be able to access their memories and become aware of his body’s state.
As long as his subconscious memory takes notice, his body will take action eventually. It was the correct method for the situation. An entire four days later, Inala barely regained consciousness for a few seconds. 𝒐𝑣𝑳xt.𝑐𝔬𝔪
At that time, he grabbed a Life Bomb and transformed it into a Life Hand before losing consciousness. Thanks to his actions, he made a path for survival.
Without any hesitation, the Empyrean Zingers landed on the Life Hand and trembled in pain as their Lifeforce was absorbed by the Life Hand and funnelled into Inala. As this was transmitted through their psychokinesis connection, the Lifeforce was channelled right into his Spirit Container, fully refined for his body’s consumption.
It was then ejected into the heart and pumped across his body through blood. As the blood flowed into the wounded regions, the Lifeforce naturally healed them.
[Farewell, Inala!]
The last of the Empyrean Zingers shrieked as it collapsed, having become a withered husk of its former self after being drained of all its Lifeforce. It was only natural for them to sacrifice themselves for the wellbeing of their Deity.
What the Empyrean Tusk was to the Mammoth Clansmen was Inala to the Empyrean Zingers, their Deity.
Slowly, Inala’s eyes opened as he gazed at the sky vacantly, feeling like absolute shit, “Fuck!”
Everything the Empyrean Zingers felt moments before their death, from their thoughts to their emotions were all transmitted to him through his Tertiary Nature. Their final moments had now become part of him.
When an entity part of the immune system dies, its existence fuses into its Deity. This was the weight borne by the Deity. All Empyrean Tusks endured this, silently storing the final moments of their Mammoth Clansmen in memory.
In his influenced state, Inala was unable to detect this data being steadily inscribed into him. Now that he had returned to normalcy, he could sense it. The data was inscribed in his bones, similar to a Bone Slip.
As the volume of information was high, he forgot them all in a matter of seconds. But that was only for the time being. Once his Mystic Bone Art’s third level, accessed by Life Stage cultivators, gets unlocked, he’ll obtain the ability to never forget anything.
On that day, everything that he had forgotten or his memory had blurred out thanks to age would return with perfect clarity. He wouldn’t be able to forget a single moment of his life. And that also included the data containing the final moments of his immune system.
This power was both a boon and a curse. Unless he becomes similar to an Empyrean Tusk and gains the mind to endure them, he’ll cave in sooner or later. ‘This is why the previous Gannala desperately wanted us all to find a Cure!’
‘Only an Empyrean Tusk can perform the activities of an Empyrean Tusk.’ He came to a realisation. Being a Deity wasn’t just about wielding power but also came with its share of burdens.
Inala weakly turned his head to the side and stared at his Life Hand, observing the pile of miniature Empyrean Zinger corpses on it. His stomach had made a complete recovery, but his body hadn’t.
Currently, he resembled a seventy-year-old man, feeling weak all over. It would take him some time to recover to his prime. He would have to do this without his immune system.
After all, it was wise to not use his Tertiary Nature for the time being. Its influence on him was the strongest. If he were to activate it blindly, he would get caught up in a mess just like before.
“Kekeke!” Suddenly, there was laughter from the other side of the pile ejected from his biome. A man gradually got up, having made a complete recovery as he touched his limbs, “How many decades has it been since I last had my limbs?”
“You…” Inala was surprised to see the grinning Lurt. As there was no Empyrean Zinger to keep watch over him, Lurt steadily recovered his Prana using the excess pile of Prana Bombs.
Many Prana Bombs had cracked during the biome explosion, so it was easy for him to access the Prana-filled fluid inside. It took him a while to digest the contents and recover Prana. And after four days, he finished regenerating his limbs.
Hearing Inala’s voice, Lurt flinched in fear. But a moment later, he grinned, “I see…”
“You don’t have enough Prana to control me as a Spirit Weapon anymore.”