“I understand your plan better now.” Grehha nodded.
“I told you pretty much everything,” Inala pointed at Grehha, “It’s time you reveal your plans too. There’s a reason you’ve chosen the Mud Vipers, right?”
“Fine,” After a moment of thought, Grehha stared at Inala, “But, do you understand the implications if I were to show you my plan?”
“By revealing our plans to each other, we’re placing our weakness in each other’s hands,” Grehha said.
“I know that,” Inala stared at him calmly, “Isn’t that why I told you my plan already? Stop wasting my time and out with it.”
‘I understand.’ Grehha was able to glean better into Inala’s nature, ‘He has probed enough that he’s aware he could gain tremendously from me through this transaction. That’s why he has revealed his plans without hesitation.’
‘Wait!’ He shuddered upon thinking of their first interaction. It was Inala that shouted to get Grehha’s help in closing the entrance to the academy’s shelter during the First Minor Crisis.
It was from there that their partnership began. ‘He already had a grasp of my character to bet on me. And in the name of a transaction, he refined Mud Viper Tonic for free for a month.’
That transaction was due to Grehha giving Inala a Mud Viper. But after the transfer, Grehha had no way to ask Inala to uphold his end of the deal. They hadn’t notarised the deal after all. Moreover, Inala gained nothing from refining Mud Viper Tonic for him daily.
Instead, he expended his Prana to do so. There was no benefit in keeping up his end of the deal, since if he holed himself in his room, it would be a blow to Grehha.
Without the Mud Viper Tonic, Grehha wouldn’t have been able to raise the Mud Viper eggs, train, or do anything worthwhile. That one move would have crippled all his plans. But despite everything, Inala refined Mud Viper Tonic for him daily, without shirking away from his responsibility even once.
He always complained but never acted against him.
Leading to the current event, Grehha was terrified of this individual named Inala, ‘Did he show his goodwill just to lay the groundwork for today?’
The groundwork began the moment Inala called out for Grehha’s help. And by showing his favour during the past month, Inala indeed built a positive image of himself in Grehha’s mind. If not for that, Grehha wouldn’t have been willing to disclose his secrets.
“…Since when?” Grehha stared at Inala and asked, “How did you know that I would come to possess a valuable secret and would be willing to share it with you?”
“I’ll tell you after you reveal your secret.” Inala smiled.
“Alright,” Grehha brought out the Ovum and spoke, “This was my target from the start. When I touched it, the Empyrean Tusk was able to converse with me. She called me her son, despite knowing everything about me.”
Tertiary Nature—Empyrean Incubator!
“To the Empyrean Tusk, we Mammoth Clansmen are like a Bone Slip. All information about us is available for the Empyrean Tusk to access. So, she already knows of us hailing from Earth and whatever we set out to do.” Grehha said, “But what was puzzling was that she used her powers to fuse this Ovum to me and made it my Tertiary Nature.”
“Tertiary Nature,” Inala nodded, “That’s terrifying. Even Resha only gained it at the endgame.”
Grehha then explained about his Tertiary Nature, “I plan to use the Empyrean Incubator to infuse the Empyrean Tusk’s essence into a Mud Viper egg and create a mutant egg. Once it mutates, the egg would at least be at the Silver Grade.”
Mud Vipers might be Iron Grade Pranic Beast. But when they fuse with the powers of a Gold Grade Pranic Beast, the result would at least be a Silver Grade Pranic Beast.
“I plan to refine as many successful eggs as possible. By collating the data, I’ll do my best to increase the result as high as possible in the Silver Grade.” Grehha said, “And if time permits, I hope to refine the Gold Grade Mud Viper egg. But I’m not sure if that’s possible before the First Major Disaster starts.”
“Even otherwise, using the Empyrean Incubator, I can refine myself.” He continued, “It might take significantly longer than if I succeeded in these eleven months, but I have confidence in improving my Pranic Beast Grade to Gold eventually.”
“But, why a Mud Viper?” Inala asked, “That’s what I’m wondering about. Other than that, your plans are more or less similar to mine.”
“Individual strength doesn’t work against the Boar King.” Grehha sighed, “If even Resha failed, I won’t be foolish enough to claim I could be better. This past month, I could clearly feel how gifted he is towards combat. Therefore, I chose the only other method.”
“Swarm tactics.” He concluded. “It’s the easiest to raise the number of Mud Vipers. They have the fastest maturity rate. And with my Ovum, I can make them vastly more terrifying than a common Mud Viper.”
“That’s rather straightforward.” Inala could guess Grehha’s thoughts. The 44th Empyrean Tusk was a Gold Grade Pranic Beast, one whose individual strength lay at the top of Sumatra. But even it was overwhelmed by a Mud Viper nest.
Had it stumbled upon two Mud Viper nests, it would have been surely killed. For a young Empyrean Tusk at its prime, at most four Mud Viper nests would be necessary to kill it.
Therefore, as long as Grehha had enough of a swarm under his control, he could kill even the Boar King. That was his plan.
“That’s why I revealed my secrets to you, Grehha.” Inala smirked, “I too am proceeding in the same route. That’s why I’ll become a Zinger Queen.”
“Now, tell me.” Grehha asked, “How did you trust that I’ll come to possess such secrets?” 𝓞𝑽𝗅xt.𝒸𝚘𝔪
“It’s simple,” Inala grinned, “Remember when that Cthulhu gathered us?”
“I do,” Grehha nodded.
“Back then, weren’t you the most confident among us all in claiming to be better than Resha?” Inala grinned, “You’re green.”
“Yes, I was confident.” Grehha nodded, “But it could have just been a boast…”
“You see,” Inala coughed awkwardly, “In the negative review I left, I bashed his mom. So, when we met, the Cthulhu beat me to a pulp. That made me realise he’s as emotional as a teenager. Therefore, I was observing him all along.”
“When he gathered us all, his heads multiplied from one to six. And each head faced one of us respectively.” Inala said, “For every statement we said, the respective head facing us reacted, even if all the heads spoke in unison. Since it could read our minds, that mild facial reaction indicated whether or not it believed our claims.”
He stared at Grehha and grinned, “I clearly remember its expression at your boast. Even though it was subtle, it was an emotion of…”
“Excitement.”