"I obtained it during the Mud Viper Crisis," Inala expressed honesty as he lifted his head and stared at Granny Oyo's face. At the sight of her, his mind blanked; his face blushed a beet red.
'How cute,' Granny Oyo stared at him as if she were looking at an ingredient in the market, "Name a price."
'Judging by his actions, he doesn't seem willing to reveal the source. But that's fine. It doesn't matter who he bought it from. It only matters that it lands in my hands.' Granny Oyo disliked using force unless necessary. Besides, she was curious about the truth.
The Mud Viper Tonic was very familiar to her. It was similar to the ones she refined, just a tad more advanced and potent in effect. So, she intended to verify her conjecture after looking into the Skill. That would change how she dealt with him.
Since he was commanded to, Inala had no other choice but to stare at her face. As a result, he couldn't think of anything, 'How pretty!'
He was aware of his weakness and hence came prepared, using a line from the sentences he had ready by heart, "Please exchange it with a Skill."
"Are you negotiating with me?" Her mood worsened a little as the room turned hot.
Inala was sweating buckets by now and plopped to the floor, gasping for air. He was breathless, strained to even budge an inch. 'T-This is the strength of someone at the Life Stage.'
"I…" He bit his tongue and used the pain to shout, his voice echoing weakly, almost a whisper under the pressure, "I want to train! My body is brittle, but I want to train! My Spirit Containers continue to shatter, but I want to strengthen them!"
"I want to become strong…!" He inhaled in the end, like a drowning man chancing upon air. The pressure vanished. The room turned warm as even a cool breeze washed over him, alleviating the heat in his body.
"Take a seat," Granny Oyo snapped her finger, unleashing a burst of wind that forced Inala into a lotus position.
By the time he managed to react, a bone slab appeared in his hand, and seated behind him was Granny Oyo, her hand on his back, positioned right above his heart.
"Take in a deep breath and circulate the Mystic Bone Art." She said, her voice containing a mysterious commanding power, unleashed by a faint vapour she released. Moreover, she inserted a bit of Prana in him, triggering his cultivation technique into activating on its own.
'This technique…' Inala realised what she was attempting. This was the same that Resha intended to use on him for the Elixir.
Mystique Bone Art—Prana Domination!
The foreign Prana was absorbed by his cultivation technique as it circulated in his body, starting from his stomach. It was digested, broken down into pure energy, and then reconstructed into his own Prana.
But after the first circulation, it was Granny Oyo performing it in his body. She was controlling his cultivation technique, activating it at a higher grade than what he could do at the Spirit Stage. Prana flowed out of his palms and into the slab of bone, inscribing knowledge into it.
Mystic Bone Art—Bone Slip!
Inala felt knowledge of all the Skills he learnt flow through his palms in the form of Prana and inscribe themselves into the slab of bone, forming a knowledge imprint. Within a minute, the process was done as Granny Oyo retracted her hand.
Inala slumped on the ground in exhaustion, unable to move as he saw the slab of bone fly into Granny Oyo's hand. She grabbed it and absorbed the knowledge in it, muttering, "Toxin Refinement, Elixir Condensation, and Puppetry. You have learnt quite a few high-level Skills for someone your age. Considering Puppetry's unrefined state, it's something you created, right?"
"You have taken inspiration from Toxin Refinement and Elixir Condensation, pretty impressive for a brat." She raised a finger, causing Inala's body to follow along in the air, and laid him on the sofa nearby.
Granny Oyo tapped him on the forehead and infused a tonic in his body. She released it in vapour form and seeped it into him through the pores on his body. A moment later, Inala got up in a hurry, full of energy.
"G-Granny…" Inala was depressed. All his Skills were stolen, so he would be lying if he wasn't displeased about that. But there was nothing he could do about it. Even a thousand of him would be unable to take her down.
He lost the initiative already. Though, his depressed expression was just an act. He was aware of her nature. Things were still within the plan, just that the level of risk had multiplied. There was nothing else to be done, such was nature.
Even though he had a good grasp of Granny Oyo's character, that was only through his perspective as a reader. She was a century-old lady with a wealth of experience under her belt. She might have instinctively sensed something and hence behaved differently.
The one before her was a living human and not a character in a book limited to her characteristic traits.
"Well, worry not. I don't like stealing from a brat, so I'll compensate you fairly." Granny Oyo said as three bone spheres flew into her hand. She closed her eyes and focused on them, imbuing something in them through her Prana.
She then chucked them at him, "They are yours."
Inala grabbed the first bone sphere and seeped his Prana in it, sensing a stream of information flow into his mind, shocked, "This is my Puppetry Skill."
"I improved it a little." Granny Oyo said calmly.
'A little is an understatement.' Inala was stunned, realising that Granny Oyo was on another level, 'She has been alive for more than a century. Of course, the knowledge and experience in her arsenal cannot be compared with a fledgeling like me that has only been here for a month.'
With the upgraded Puppetry Skill, Inala could do complex plays. It was a proper Skill now, unlike the barebone version he had created. Seeing that there were three bone spheres, he excitedly grabbed the second one.
Spirit Reinforcement Skill!
This was the reason he had approached Granny Oyo. In Sumatra Chronicles, teaching Resha the Skill allowed him to successfully reach the peak of the Spirit Stage and break through to the Body Stage. It was a necessary Skill for someone with Fragment Disease. And only Granny Oyo possessed this.
That was why she was an important character and why every reincarnate intended to trade with her at some point in time after accumulating items that she desired.
Spirit Reinforcement Skill strengthened the Spirit Containers by breaking and reconstructing them repeatedly. The concept was the same as what Inala did but the process was many times efficient. He only attempted that training because that was what Resha did in the story. It was all to familiarise himself with the process until he obtained the Skill.
It was all a matter of when, not why.
And now, his theoretical knowledge had once again been transformed into practical knowledge.
He intended to use his Skills—obtained from Resha—to trade for the Spirit Refinement Skill from Granny Oyo. The order of events went wrong, but he got the intended Skill either way.
His objective in meeting her was completed. But, there was still one more bone sphere that remained. He wondered about its existence, since in terms of value to someone with the Fragment Disease, the Spirit Refinement Skill was equal to both the Toxin Refinement Skill and Elixir Condensation Skill combined.
So, it made sense if Granny Oyo had stopped at that. Upgrading his Puppetry Skill already exceeded the value his side provided in the trade.
'But, it's before me. So, I must learn it.' He couldn't figure out Granny Oyo's thoughts at this part and hence decided to just bite the bullet first and grabbed the third bone sphere.
As the respective knowledge flowed into his mind, Inala shuddered as he stared at Granny Oyo, pale with fright.