Chapter 1071: Continental Cancer Cell |
"You already know the answer."
Hearing the Royal Zinger’s words, Inala groaned in pain, "There’s no choice, huh?"
At the end of the Second Major Disaster, when the Celestial Boar unleashed a pillar of light, Sumatra’s location was discovered. Upon knowing about its uniqueness, many Continents were on their way.
After all, through Sumatra, they could tide through billions of years of evolution in mere millennia, or even shorter, if they had the means. And that wasn’t all.
Even if the Celestial Boar never appeared, this fate was bound to befall Sumatra Continent the moment the Fourth Major Disaster began. After all, the Seat of Transcendence was such a cheat.
If Inala were to fuse with it, even if his build wasn’t perfect, with all of Sumatra’s knowledge, he would be presented with a choice, to switch to a build where he had a State of Unity.
And then, the Seat of Transcendence will elevate him to the limit of the respective build. For normal creatures, there was a clear limit, for even if they were to do everything in their power, they might not have enough accumulations to reach the Mystic Grade.
However, that wasn’t an issue for Inala.
Even naturally, he would eventually enter the Mystic Grade. Of course, in this case, he wouldn’t reach Celestial Status, for he is using the inherent size of his soul to go up in the Grade. His case would be similar to a Blessed Race from another Continent.
He wasn’t surpassing his limit to enter the Mystic Grade.
However, creatures from other continents didn’t have so much accumulations. As long as they had a State of Unity and fuse with the Seat of Transcendence, they were bound to be presented with at least one path where they would reach Celestial Status.
As long as Sumatra Continent had the relevant knowledge, this was bound to happen. Considering how Sumatra Continent came from a Mature Continent, and was strong enough while alive to kill two Cosmic Beings, its accumulations were immense.
Following that, by treading the Mind Path, all its cultivators and Transcendents constantly pushed its limits and innovated endlessly. Its trove of data should be sufficient to create a path to Celestial Status for at least a few Pranic Beasts from the invading Continents.
’So, even if Turnip is destroyed, nothing changes. They will try to obtain the Seat of Transcendence.’ Inala frowned, ’And instead, destroying Turnip means we lose our biggest form of resistance against the invaders.’
"Is this the reason you’ve been pushing me to reach the Mystic Grade?" Inala asked, "You know I won’t attain Celestial status even if I fuse with the Seat of Transcendence. I do desire it now. However, isn’t it wasted on me?"
"Isn’t there a better candidate to obtain it?" Inala asked, "She is at the Kalahatra Desert..."
[No!]
The moment Inala mentioned the Brood Mother, the Royal Zinger shouted, visibly rattled by the mere mention, "That is the worst-case scenario!"
"Why?" Inala frowned, "I know how she’s designed to behave..."
"No," The Royal Zinger shook its head in a flurry, "Never her, never her..."
"Hmm..." Seeing the Royal Zinger’s visible change in mental state, even Inala was shaken. Thinking for a few minutes in silence, Inala pondered on the possible reasons for such a reaction, ’Has something else about the Brood Mother been hidden from my memories?’
For a moment, Inala stared at the grey tower. If he were to shatter it, all the data stored inside would flood his mindspace, allowing him to know everything the Royal Zinger had accumulated. However, in the process, he too would morph to become the Royal Zinger.
Instead, Inala only sought to think more, as much as was necessary, until he arrived at an answer, "Let me guess...the state she could reach upon fusing with the Seat of Transcendence allows her to reach a level where she could begin devouring Sumatra Continent itself, right?"
Seeing the Royal Zinger’s expression visibly morph in response, Inala chuckled in a disgustingly self-deprecating manner, "Man, she truly is an absolute calamity. We truly fucked up a lot, huh?"
"Can she overcome even Sumatra’s defences?" Inala asked and got his answer, ’Currently, she isn’t capable. But the Seat of Transcendence will give her the knowhow of the method to do so.’
That was what was most disgusting about the Brood Mother. As long as she had the knowledge, nothing could stop her. And unlike in the case of anyone else, all the Brood Mother will get from fusing with the Seat of Transcendence is a regular Information Slip’s worth of information.
That was all. Or rather, that was enough for her to begin devouring Sumatra, "I see..."
"She will become a Continental Cancer Cell."
"Precisely!" The Royal Zinger nodded, "She’ll completely break free of the mould of our power system and turn into a Cosmic Being."
It then pointed at Inala, "The Brully too is born out of a Cosmic Being, and at the Mystic Grade, you’ll start exhibiting Cosmic Being characteristics."
"But I’ll still be bound by the rules of our power system, huh?" Inala nodded, "So, I’m something like the best-case scenario to obtain the Seat of Transcendence."
"Yes," The Royal Zinger nodded.
"That’s exciting," Inala waved his hand to use a data cluster as a blanket to another cluster that had just formed.
The blanket consisted of data the Royal Zinger was aware. And hence, it blocked its sight from the cluster that Inala sought to hide from its gaze.
"What are you planning?" The Royal Zinger asked.
"I’m not saying." Inala waved his hand, "I intend to do whatever I want. After all,"
He turned around to face the grey tower and smiled, "I have a goal to strive towards, unlike before when you could easily manipulate me."
And then, Inala vanished from the mind space, leaving the Royal Zinger behind. Staying within the grey tower, the Royal Zinger maintained its flustered expression for a while before growing calm, happy even.
Judging by its expression, things were going as it had intended.
Slowly, it raised its hand and placed it on the grey tower, and then, the hand passed through. It stretched into the mind space and casually pierced the blanket to observe the information in the data cluster within.
After a few seconds, it retracted its hand into the grey tower, causing a subtle ripple like on a still lake. There were no traces of its action. And even though this happened in Inala’s mind space, the latter remained oblivious.
Calm, controlled, and passionate, the Royal Zinger was steadily making moves, planting and pushing pieces as it desired.
The first piece was obviously the Brully Inala, ’The moment you reach a State of Unity, you gain the capability to affect the soul. When you touch the Seat of Transcendence, you’ll be able to split apart from me.’
Basically, the Brully Inala will become separate from the Royal Zinger Inala. And both could exist simultaneously on Sumatra, without being considered as part of a Life Stage stack.
The information Inala had hidden in his mind space was exactly related to that, which he had figured out during their conversation.
’You’re moving exactly as I want.’ The Royal Zinger was happy regarding its first chess piece.
The second chess piece was Root, using which, the Royal Zinger influenced the first chess piece to enter Halmahera. And using the opportunity, it triggered its third and fourth chess pieces.
The third chess piece was Orakha, or rather, Orakha’s Checkpoint. The Quip Clan was extremely active in the Kalahatra Desert. They weren’t aware of the Minor Treasure of Orakha’s Checkpoint, due to the latter’s ability to remain hidden when fused into a body.
However, it was a Minor Treasure. So, it affected the body it had fused with. And based on the extremely minute changes in the creatures that had fused with the Minor Treasures, whether it be in subtle facial expressions, attitude, body language, etc. the Royal Zinger was able to spot the differences from the rest of the creature’s brethren.
And based on how the influence affected such creatures, the Royal Zinger tried to grasp the changes happening to the Minor Treasure.
At the appropriate moment, when the Cosmic Being had taken significant control over the Minor Treasure, enough to leave behind traces of its power, the Royal Zinger made plans.
And this plan was the Brully Inala entering Halmahera, during which the Royal Zinger used its energy to fuel the Influenced Region of Transcendent Plane, bringing the date of the Fourth Major Disaster forward.
As a result, Orakha returned, gaining some benefits through the whole ordeal. And his return caused a beneficial wave for both Boul Brimgan and the Brimgan Royals, who were busy harnessing the benefits to their utmost capabilities.
The fourth piece was Virala, whose mind was now being controlled by Brangara. This version was capable of harnessing the capabilities of both Brangara and Virala, possessing the means and the drive to reach a State of Harmony.
This would benefit Ruvva through the Violet Mystic Path, and possibly elevate her Primary Nature to the Mystic Grade, influencing her build to gain pinnacle resistance against even a State of Unity.
The fifth chess piece was the Brood Mother, as she was bound by the Mystic Major Treasure of Palm. However, even the Royal Zinger couldn’t do much in this regard, for there were just too many risks.
Even with a perfect plan, there was a possibility the Brood Mother might aim for the Seat of Transcendence. So, the Royal Zinger didn’t do anything, for fear of messing up anything.
The key to making the chess pieces a reality was the Panger, Loya, ’Orchestrating everything was hard.’
In the moment a Quip Clansman changes Grade, they become the most susceptible to the Royal Zinger’s influence. It was by using these moments that the Royal Zinger orchestrated a series of incidents that lured Loya into a conflict with a Brimgan Royal, flee the place, and eventually stumble into clues regarding Halmahera.
It selected Loya after plenty of observation, aware she’ll eventually head to the Wean Clan seeking Mystic Sumatra Art, which was also the first place on Brully Inala’s list to visit.
’Still, it’s not easy.’ The Royal Zinger thought at it patted the grey tower, added in a new crack and observed in silence, ’Our time’s running short.’
’And that’s extremely worrying.’
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