"He has strong mental defences," Battalda muttered as he wiped his sweat, "The more valuable the information, the stronger it's guarded. It'll take me a while to obtain anything of importance."
"Well, it's only natural since he's an Empyrean Tusk. They wouldn't be a Gold Grade Pranic Beast if it was easy." Hanya said and placed a group of guards to protect Battalda, "I'll ask for more experts from the Capital's Intelligence Team."
"That will be helpful," Battalda nodded, "We'll be able to obtain information at a faster rate if my master were to come here."
"I'll ask the King about that." Hanya said, "I can't give any guarantees due to how sensitive of a time period this week is."
After the short exchange of dialogues, Battalda resumed his work while Hanya returned to her residence to rest.
After two hours, Battalda sighed and motioned at one of his subordinates, "You take charge now."
"Yes," The Intelligence Team member nodded and activated his Human Avatar, seeping an energy packet into Inala's head, "What's your relationship with the two Mammoth Clansmen that lived with you."
As expected, he received no information. The energy packet was consumed in Inala's head. The Intelligence Team member continued asking questions of varying difficulty. But in the end, he was unable to obtain even the simplest of information—like Inala's name.
"His mind's defences are too strong for me to breach." The team member sighed and returned to recording duty, leaving Battalda the only one with the capacity to extract anything worth of substance from Inala.
Of course, that wasn't the case actually. Inala was simply manipulating his mental defences through the Prana Domination Skill to make it seem as such.
This way, he only needed to guard against Battalda. That meant whenever Battalda rested, the others from the Intelligence Team wouldn't bother him, allowing him to catch a breather too.
It would be hard to protect himself if he were to fall asleep. Hence, by absorbing small portions of fluid from a Life Bomb, Inala was forcefully keeping himself awake. He was confident in being able to remain awake for a week.
Of course, he would have to pay the price later. But that wasn't an issue. His body was currently reeling from the side effects of using the Prana Blood Skill. So, he was taking time to mend the damage and gradually heal himself while ensuring to mask himself as still being injured.
Having used Mystic Skill Creator so many times, Inala was familiar with the process. This time, he was using the Prana Domination Skill and the Empyrean Slip Prime Skill as the base, allowing the gathered experience to simply modify them according to his desire.
Therefore, he could feel the rate at which it was being accomplished, 'One week is more than enough time.'
The stronger Battalda's efforts were, the greater the fuel for Inala's progress, causing him to be giddy internally, 'Come! Work harder!'
He was internally cheering for Battalda. If the latter were to ever realise this, he would bang his head on the wall and commit suicide. The worst thing for an Intelligence Officer was to lose a battle of intelligence and not even be aware of it.
The next day, at the City Lord mansion, a crowd had gathered in the meeting room. The meeting room was a mix between a study and a dining room, a unique style.
There was a rectangular table placed in the centre, vacant at the centre. The edges of the table were situated only two metres away from the walls. There were shelves placed at equal intervals around the table, each a metre in width, housing shelves filled with various reference materials.
Situated in the gaps were cushioned chairs, numbering forty in total. Currently, thirty-six of them were occupied, consisting everyone of power in Ellora Trade City.
Maharell too occupied a seat as one of the largest merchants in the city. Currently, his expression was a mixture of relief and pain.
He was relieved at the fact that Inala had been removed from the picture. The latter was growing too powerful at a rapid pace. It caused him to be uneasy all along.
He also felt pain because it was through Inala that he was making a large sum of profits. Now, in his absence, the Theatre lacked an owner. Inala's capture was also a hit to its prestige.
And without someone to take the reins as the leader, there was chaos in the Theatre. The various Troupe Leaders fought for the spot but none had the power to actually clinch ownership.
Externally, the big merchants too vied for the Theatre's ownership. As a result, things had become chaotic. The chaos resulted in a lack of interest in the commodity, as at the end of the day, the Theatre was a recreational place meant for entertainment.
It should sell drama but shouldn't become the source of one itself. With that, it lost some confidence among the patrons.
For the first time since it opened, the Theatre experienced a drop in viewership, an alarming cause of concern for the big merchants, for their profits were impacted severely as a result.
Their profits the previous day were only half as usual, and the trend seemed to only continue. Just before arriving at the meeting, Maharell tallied the day's profits, realising that it dipped further.
He intended to stop the chaos, but he couldn't. He wanted to own the Theatre and so did the other big merchants. As a result, they added to the chaos, despite wishing to stop it themselves.
'I hope we figure out a solution by the end of this meeting.' That was Maharell's goal. Hence, he came prepared.
Gudora entered the room and occupied one of the seats, motioning for the rest to remain seated as he began the meeting, "The reason I called everyone is to address the issue with the Crisis that occurs once every century."
"The mating season of the Centingers will begin in five days." He said, causing waves of shock to resound amongst everyone in the meeting room.
"I'm sure you must be shocked, as only half of those in this room have lived long enough to experience the previous Centinger's mating season." Gudora spoke after a few seconds of pause, "But for the rest, let me explain."
"The Centingers are marine creatures that travel through the Red-Draft River. But they remain at the depths and hardly surface. And since the part of the Red-Draft River that passes through our Kingdom, the Angan River is shallower, and filled by slump Lizards, the Centingers typically avoid this region and navigate through a parallel tributary flowing outside our Sandy-Grey Void ring." Gudora said, "But the exception is their mating season, during which they kill every single living being in their sight for game."
"And our Kingdom becomes their largest target."