"Hurry up, the lot of you." Instructor Mandu said as he led them down the Empyrean Tusk's trunk, all while mentally clicking his tongue, 'Resha, that blasted idiot! He up and wasted 100 Prana! Dammit! I really assumed he would become something based on his recent growth, but trash always remains trash, huh?'
Accumulating 100 Prana required a lot of time and effort. It also consumed a lot of resources. Therefore, Resha losing his composure meant he lost all 100 Prana, implying the wastage of all the resources used in his growth.
Such a loss caused Instructor Mandu to develop killing intent towards Resha, 'When you graduate, I'll chuck you the fastest into a Pranic Beast's mouth.'
'Why did you have to do that?' Inala stared at Instructor Mandu while walking right beside the weakened Resha, gloating at the latter's condition.
The fact that Resha lost all his accumulation meant he would have to build everything up from scratch once again. Even a newborn baby had at least one Prana. At present, Resha had none.
Building up Prana from one unit to a hundred wasn't as hard as building up one unit of Prana from zero. This stage was the most difficult.
After all, without a unit of Prana, Resha wouldn't be able to activate the Mystic Bone Art. This meant he couldn't cultivate to accumulate Prana. Even consuming 100 Parute Fruits wouldn't help the situation.
If the cultivation technique couldn't be activated, then consuming Parute Fruits would only end up causing indigestion, nothing else. So, having no Prana in the body was the biggest setback one could face, even for the regressor.
A normal person could at least do something about such a situation. They could be injected with a unit of Prana from another person and then gradually assimilate that into their body and work hard to make it theirs.
But Resha had no one to rely upon. He was alone. This provided Inala with a great opportunity. By helping him, he could probably get another useful Skill. That would further bridge the gap between him and the regressor that had lived through this world once already.
Inala wasn't aware of what Virala had done to result Resha in such a state. Currently, Resha was despondent, lacking any fighting spirit. Just one more push and he could be killed.
But in such a situation, Instructor Mandu directed his killing intent towards the regressor.
'Damn…' Both Inala and Virala groaned simultaneously upon sensing the killing intent. And as they expected, Resha reacted immediately.
'You want to get rid of me already?' Resha calmed down instantly, a nature he developed in his previous life. Everyone with enough experience of living in Sumatra became the same over time.
And honestly, sensing the killing intent brought him back to his senses, 'What am I moping about? So what if I lost 100 Prana? I just need to build it up from scratch once again. And even if Blola intends to make way towards my parents, he'll have to tread through the Zinger's territory. That's easier said than done.'
Resha stared at his body, 'I was originally hesitant to do this because I'm instinctually averse to any methods that cause me to lose my developed Prana. Since I already lost everything, it's fate. In this life, I'll tread a different path.'
'Fuck!' Inala stared at Virala as the duo trembled faintly upon seeing Resha break out into a faint smile.
Virala, Inala, Yennda, and Resha followed after Instructor Mandu in silence. None spoke a word about what transpired in the clouds above, acting as if nothing had happened. But the minds of everyone churned at full speed.
Soon, they came into view of the Ennoudu Plains.
It was a large piece of flatland that was barren, almost a desert. Faint vegetation sprouted here and there, but that was it. The soil didn't have any nutrients to sustain life. This was despite a river running through the plains.
The highlight point here was a hill that grew on the plains. It had an altitude of two hundred metres. Its peak had been levelled by monstrous power. Judging by the cracks, one of the Empyrean Tusks had done it.
The flattened peak covered at least ten square kilometres in area. And surrounding it, with their trunks placed along the edges were the 44 Empyrean Tusks. Using the trunks as bridges, the Mammoth Clan living on each Empyrean Tusk arrived on the hilltop.
When they were just a hundred metres to the hilltop, Inala stared forth and observed steep mountains covering the horizon a hundred kilometres away, 'We'll be entering that territory tomorrow.'
They looked like mountains but seemed as if the entire ground had been raised up by two kilometres. Narrow paths spread out within this elevated ground, forming canyons. Something resembling a dust cloud floated amidst the canyon. It was a dangerous region where the First Great Disaster would erupt.
"Fuck…" Yennda inhaled a breath of cold air, trembling in fright.
"Afraid?" Virala whispered as he nudged Inala.
"Heck yeah," Inala rolled his eyes, "The trial version of Sumatra ends here. From tomorrow, we'll be seeing its full version."
Dieng Canyon!
It was where shit truly began in Sumatra Chronicles.
'My confidence is waning.' Inala inhaled deep breaths to calm himself. Settlement life would become dangerous from tomorrow. After all, they would be attacked daily once they enter Dieng Canyon. There wouldn't be any time to rest.
And if he was the slightest bit careless, he could be assassinated, for that was the speciality of the Zingers, the Pranic Beast race that inhabited the Dieng Canyon. Unlike most Pranic Beast races, Zingers were structurally oriented in terms of roles and command chain. And the higher up the command chain a Zinger was, the stronger it got.
Mind that even the strongest Zinger was only an Expert Iron Grade Pranic Beast. But just like the Mud Vipers, their numbers were what made them terrifying.
'Well, my goal is a Zinger. So, I need to brace myself.' Thinking as such, Inala observed two concentric walls built on the hilltop, separating the area into three rings.
The outermost ring was where students like him could mingle around. The middle ring was for the elites while the innermost ring was for the masters. There existed a tower in the centre, the sole building on the hilltop.
It was where the 44 Settlement Leaders convened to discuss the future of the Mammoth Clan.
'This is where I can accumulate as much resources as possible in preparation for the upcoming conflicts.' Inala continued to circulate his 12 Prana to constantly maintain himself at an optimal state as he entered the outer ring and proceeded towards the location of his stall. 'This is the start of the Mammoth Fair.'