Chapter 23: The Regressor Despairs

Spirit Reinforcement rapidly consumed Prana to shatter and reform the Spirit Containers. It was a delicate Skill and required a lot of practice before it could be used without problems.

When Inala activated it, he caused his Spirit Containers to break one after another, resulting in his Prana escaping out of his body. It was because he had activated the Skill on more than one Spirit Container.

With his current skill level, the Skill could only be used on one Spirit Container successfully. Instead, he had used it on eight Spirit Containers, causing the Prana in them all to begin escaping his body rapidly.

It would take a couple dozen seconds at least for eight units of Prana to leak out of his body. And this phenomenon was no different to when a cultivator died. After all, when they died, their Spirit Containers begin breaking in batches.

As the process in both was exactly the same, it gave the illusion to Resha that Inala had died. Not in his wildest dreams would he ever imagine Inala gaining the Spirit Reinforcement Skill from Granny Oyo.

It was the creation of this Skill that was a turning point in her life.

In his previous life, only after going through a lot of trouble was Resha finally able to obtain this Skill from her. By this point in time, none of the reincarnates should have succeeded in it.

Not in his wildest dream did he imagine Inala would trade with Granny Oyo. For, doing so would allow her to realise that the Toxin Refinement and Elixir Condensation Skills were pretty much similar to what she had been developing. They were slightly improved versions of Skills she had spent years researching.

Unnerved, she would immediately use the Prana Domination Skill to turn Inala into her Spirit Weapon.

But, there was a difference in mindset here.

Resha was born in Sumatra and had a pure cultivator’s mindset where must absolutely possess free will. Therefore, being in control of someone else for even the slightest wasn’t something that sat well with him.

This was not to mention becoming Granny Oyo’s Spirit Weapon. That was a status no different from a slave. Even if he were to die, he would never become that.

Conversely, Inala was fine with it. He hailed from a modern society where the thoughts of people were influenced and directed by algorithms, with technology monitoring their every action.

Even a slave bound by chains had some free will. The master of the chains could only force the slave to do their bidding through torture or inhumane punishments. In the end, the choice to submit was still with the slave.

But the digital chains of the 21st century were different. One would never feel their existence, but the chains existed. Moreover, they gradually steered the minds of the people in the direction dictated by the owners.

Social Media Narrative Brainwashing!

Inala came from such a place and was aware of the truth regarding his society. Therefore, even becoming Granny Oyo’s Spirit Weapon wasn’t an issue to him. All he had to do here was repeat whatever was conditioned in him on Earth—understand, adapt, and overcome the algorithm.

As long as he understood Granny Oyo’s mind, he could instead affect and control her decisions.

This difference in mindset was how Inala fooled Resha into believing he was dead. Inala played dead for a few minutes, getting up only after enough time had passed. ‘They must almost be at the exit.’

He began to push his trolley towards the exit, content with the execution of his plan. ‘I hope you succeed, Virala. It’s to my benefit too, for I can use you as a knife to wound Resha. And when he recovers, he’ll target you with all his power. I can avoid his attention for a while.’

…

“Resha! Did you know?” While fighting within the clouds, Virala shouted by infusing Prana into his throat, causing his voice to boom out. “A month ago, all of us had a dream!”

“What dream?” Even though Resha stopped attacking, he was on guard. Slowly, he began to walk towards Virala, ‘I can hit you better from close up.’

“We saw you getting killed,” Virala said. His words caused Resha to come to an abrupt halt.

“It wasn’t clear. There were only some messages.” Virala continued to speak upon hearing grunts of shock from Resha, “Following that scene, I dreamed about a couple other scenes. Based on what I probed, except for your death, everyone else dreamed different scenes.”

“Through that, Orakha knew the Mud Viper Tonic you created would help him survive the crisis. But you overreacted and caused his death.” Virala expressed helplessness, “We know some things. And in the past month, we verified their legitimacy. Whatever we dreamed about will happen. Hence, all of us began to prepare accordingly to the information we gained from the dream.”

“What…are you getting at?” Resha’s heart lurched as he felt heavy. Virala’s words caused an unsettling creepiness to froth in him, ‘How did I regress to the past? Why are there six people with the same condition as me in my second life? How do they know about me?’

It felt like Virala’s words would allow him to find an answer behind his regression, ‘Is some Deity playing a sick game on me? Is that what it is?’

“But as you saw with Orakha, we each only possess limited information, and the majority of that information is vague. That’s why Orakha misjudged the situation and died. I feared one of us might repeat his mistake and placed a Spy Bone Fragment in the clothes of each.” Virala infused as much uneasiness in his tone as possible, controlling his grin as he spoke, expressing fear in his shaky voice, “I saw Blola heading down that path.”

“Where is he?” Resha felt alarmed. While he was fighting Virala, he seemed to have lost track of the sixth figure’s Prana signature. That was Blola.

“The cure to Fragment Disease,” Virala said solemnly, “Blola left the settlement in search of that. And the direction he’s heading toward is…”

Virala hurriedly backed off as he shouted, “South-East.”

“South-East?” Resha was petrified. His face lost all colour, “No, no, no! Where is that fucker? Don’t! You bastard! BASTARD!”

A few days after the First Major Disaster, Resha’s parents would return, having succeeded in their mission. They would arrive on the back of a baby Empyrean Tusk, giving hope for the herd’s future. Based on the timeframe, the baby Empyrean Tusk would currently be South-East their location.

Blola was currently heading in the direction of their arrival. If the baby Empyrean Tusk is compromised, it would accelerate the annihilation of the Mammoth Clan, ‘No, we might not even survive the Third Major Disaster.’

“W-Where is Blola?” Resha shouted, intending to get the information out of Virala, but the latter ran away. “Don’t screw with me. Tell it to me, NOW!”

“Shouldn’t you know it the best, Resha?” Virala’s voice echoed, “There’s a one-time use secret pathway in Ennoudu Plains that leads directly to the destination.”

“It’s too late.”

Plop!

‘It’s true.’ Resha knew it the best. Originally, he intended to use that pathway after getting his hand on an important item at the fair that happened today. That way, he could meet with his parents in advance and lead them to the herd.

That would ensure most of the 44th Settlement would remain alive. It was because, in his past life, barely twenty from his settlement survived the First Major Disaster. 𝓞𝗏𝗅xt.𝒸𝗈𝕞

“It’s over!” He collapsed to the ground, despairing. The intense shock he experienced, coupled with the effects of his Fragment Disease caused his 100 Spirit Containers to shatter. All the Prana he had accumulated leaked out of his body.

He was so mentally affected that Resha couldn’t even gather enough presence of mind to retain as much of the leaking Prana as possible. The reason for his despair was simple. The cure for the Fragment Disease was…

An Empyrean Tusk’s Heart!