'Why do I get a disgusting feeling…?' Resha turned around and noticed Virala staring at him, "No wonder."
"Resha's team!" Raaha announced upon seeing the eggs, his voice a notch higher, "6084 Points!"
"Holy shit!" Yennda was blown away by the number as he stared at Resha, wondering how he managed to steal six Millinger eggs and not sport a single scratch on him.
"So, that's the MC." Reading about it and witnessing it with his own eyes were two different things. He knew how dangerous the task was, having personally participated in the competition himself. But the difference in scores between him and Resha were heaven and earth apart.
'Six Millinger eggs.' Virala closed his eyes and inhaled deep breaths. 'I need to grow stronger faster. Resha is building up strength at insane speeds.'
Resha had already reached the 2-Life Stage in his past life. Hence, he possessed all the knowledge necessary to build an Empyrean Tusk body. Therefore, his progress was smooth this time. He was simply making contributions and using that to purchase tusk bone powder.
His growth was limited by solely his contribution.
In contrast, Virala had to break his head comprehending an Empyrean Tusk's body, which was a monumental task. Hence, his growth in regards to building a body was damn slow.
"In a decade, he'll reach the peak of the Body Stage." Grehha expressed his thoughts on the manner, knowing very well what Virala was thinking about. After all, he too was thinking the same.
"What about you?" Virala stared at Grehha to ask, "How long do you need to reach the peak of the Body Stage?"
"Forty years, if I were to proceed at the same pace, hopefully." Grehha said, "There will be plenty of setbacks until I reach the peak of the Body Stage. It's only smooth sailing after that."
"What about you?" He asked Virala.
"A century," Virala clicked his tongue, "At my fastest."
"That's why you should have aimed for a Silver Grade Pranic Beast like me or Inala." Grehha commented, "You'll be a sitting duck during the Fourth Major Disaster, if you were to remain alive by then, that is."
"Yeah, you can swallow your advice using your lower mouth." Virala felt irritated.
"Hmm?" Grehha raised an eyebrow and tilted forward, staring Virala in the eye, "Don't tell me…As I thought, holy shit."
"You probably have an idea to hasten the process…hey, don't go. Answer me, will you?" Grehha said, watching Virala walk away. Staring at Virala's back, Grehha revealed a knowing smile, 'Alright, this weasel knows something. I should focus on him for the time being and extract his secret.'
This was pretty much why he helped Virala. It was to create an opportunity for Virala to slip up and reveal sensitive information. He learnt the technique from Inala, having personally experienced it before. And now, he used it on Virala.
Virala suddenly began to act weak while talking about building a body, even going to the extent of embracing nonsensical expressions such as sighing. He wasn't that type of person. It was probably another scheme of his to make Resha let down his guard.
'That bastard probably doesn't have any intention to stay away from Yahira.' Grehha thought, 'Anyhow, that confirms it. Virala knows a way to cultivate faster. He wouldn't have chosen to become an Empyrean Tusk otherwise.'
"With that, I'll conclude this contest as a success!" Raaha announced as he stared at everyone, "I'll distribute Elixirs and other rewards to the elite teams based on their contribution. As for the teams with scores above a thousand points, you can each take one treasure from my stash."
He snapped his finger, causing a six-storey tower to appear, seemingly made out of brick and red tiles. There was a golden stream that connected it to the 1st Empyrean Tusk for a second, followed by a spike in energy.
Following that, the stream disappeared as the tower began to glow faintly, "You can all enter it now. My power will restrict your clearance according to your points. So, feel free to roam around anywhere you're able to."
The door on the first floor opened as Raaha pointed at Resha and Yahira, "You'll have full access. The higher the floor, the more valuable the treasures So, keep it in mind as you make your pick."
"Yes, Master." Resha nodded as he held Yahira's hand and entered through the tower's door, standing still upon passing the entrance. Even he was too stunned to speak, staring at the vast meadow that stretched before him, almost endlessly.
There were pillars of light strewn across the meadow, each a few kilometres away from one another. 'Even with the Attribute reinforcing my Internal Inertial Gravity, I can't create such a massive biome. But that isn't all.'
His body turned lithe as his figure flickered towards the closest pillar of light. It was as if the sky had cracked and cosmic energy poured out of it, slamming into the ground to form this pillar of light.
It emanated a suffocating presence, and at the centre of it hovered a strand of hair. Yes, a mere hair strand was generating such a suffocating pressure, almost on par with a peak Body Stage Boar King.
"What…are these?" Yahira arrived at a halt beside him and took a moment to catch her breath. She felt goosebumps form on her skin as she stared at the strand of hair, "Is this the Boar King's hair?"
"Does even his hair exude such a pressure?"
"No, this isn't from him." Resha said, "Even though the Boar King is a broken existence, for a mere strand of his hair to exude such a presence, he would have to be at the 8-Life Stage at the very least. He obviously hasn't reached that point in this life."
"Then is this something left behind by a Mystic Empyrean Tentacle?" Yahira asked. No other being existed on the Sumatra Continent that could emit such a presence from a mere strand of hair.
"This is a Transcendent's hair," Resha said in all seriousness, "Or rather, it's the sole body part that had survived a cultivator's attempt at Transcendence."
When a cultivator reaches the 10-Life Stage, they could begin ascension to the Transcendent World. Bolts of Transcendence would rain down from the sky, beginning to fuse their ten bodies into a singular, transcendent form.
Each Bolt of Transcendence contained a vast sea of knowledge and information, but it was also tremendously destructive in nature, capable of destroying large swathes of land. If a cultivator manages to endure all the Bolts of Transcendence, they'll succeed in reaching the Transcendence Stage and be transported to a Transcendent World.
But more often than not, they would fail, as the majority of the cultivators attempting to reach the Transcendence Stage were 10-Life Stage cultivators with Iron Grade Human Avatars.
Typically, their bodies would be vaporised by the Bolts of Transcendence. But in extremely rare cases, a small part of their body survives and absorbs the Bolts of Transcendence. As the cultivator was dead, these body parts wouldn't reach the Transcendent World and instead fall on Sumatra Continent.
Each such part contained mysterious powers, a condensation of the respective cultivator's Human Avatars refined by the Bolts of Transcendence. They were labelled Treasures and were sought after by the strongest forces.
Minor Treasure—Whickered Strand!
"This is a Minor Treasure?" Yahira exclaimed in shock, "We have some records left by the Mammoth Ancestor briefly talking about them. How…"
She stared at the numerous light pillars strewn across the meadow, "How are there so many Minor Treasures here?"
"One thing is for sure," Resha became excited, "This is what the Mammoth Clan managed to accumulate over the thousands of years we remained supreme."
"Let's go," He grabbed her hand and ran towards the helical flight of stairs reaching the sky, "The Minor Treasures here are produced from cultivators with the weakest Iron Grade Human Avatars. This is merely the first floor."
"We have access until the sixth floor. Let's go there."