There were two primary reasons for Gannala's current state. The first cause was the increased attacks by the Zingers, resulting in too much of her Prana reserves being stolen. Due to that, she had to overexert herself to consume more food.
All that did was strain her digestive system beyond the limit, as a result worsening her body's condition. An Empyrean Tusk consumed everything, from earth to trees to Pranic Beasts. Its organs were able to extract all necessary substances from the consumed food.
The Empyrean Tusk wasn't merely a living creature but was a biome. But that didn't mean it could consume everything wantonly. It still needed to spend time and effort to digest everything and assimilate the products into its body, just as a human did to food.
Therefore, overconsumption only strains the digestive system. Gannala was forced to do so because her reserves were drying up faster than she could produce. To upkeep her body functions and ensure the Mammoth Clan could survive, Gannala had no other choice. If she didn't do so, she would have shrivelled up and died, bringing down the Mammoth Clan with her too.
This was the first reason for the acceleration of her ageing, pushing her death a lot forward in time. The second reason was a lot more personal and had been voluntarily chosen by Gannala.
"It's finally done," Resha muttered as he stared at his hand and clenched it into a fist, sensing the explosive power contained within. "I'm hundreds of times stronger than the me at this point in my past life."
Having been living in the Empyrean Tusk's heart for the past nine months, absorbing the purest of essence from Gannala's blood, Resha succeeded in awakening his bloodline. But that wasn't all. He went a step above his past life's accumulation, obtaining abilities that were a level beyond what he attained at his peak.
But the cost of that was tremendous. Even Gannala struggled to endure the required resources. The consequence of that was her blood almost becoming water, absorbed of all its power.
Gannala was aware that she would die. Her death meant the lack of a future for her people. As a result, she actively supported her children—Mammoth Clansmen with the Fragment Disease—in their endeavours.
All the resources she accumulated would go to waste at her death. Hence, she used it up on her children, helping them further their paths. That would create a future better than what she saw through the reincarnates and Resha.
The one that received the most of her support, consuming the majority of Gannala's resources was none other than Resha.
After all, once he entered the Body Stage, he needed to build his Spirit Container into a Pranic Beast. As his Pranic Beast body was that of an Empyrean Tusk, the resources he required were astronomical.
Through the Empyrean Tusk's blood that was being pumped by the heart, Resha absorbed all the resources dissolved in the blood, right at the source. Thereby, he had progressed a good portion in the Body Stage.
'It took me a century to reach the end of the Body Stage in my previous life.' Resha sighed. Once he completed his body, he entered the Life Stage, obtaining a cultivation of the 2-Life Stage. Everyone that reached the Life Stage started at that point, for every addition of life was the creation of another body.
To complete the 2-Life Stage, he would have to build a second Empyrean Tusk body. But by then, the Mammoth Clan had suffered disastrous losses. There just weren't enough resources available for anyone, not to mention the astronomical sum he required.
And when he faced the Boar King, Resha was merely at the 2-Life Stage. Yes, he faced the pinnacle of cultivation existence with a cultivation that had merely entered the Life Stage. It was no wonder he was killed without even being able to scratch the other party.
Though, even if he was at the peak of the Life Stage, injuring the Boar King was questionable. The opponent was pretty much a broken character.
"In this life, I have saved at least seven decades' worth of cultivation," Resha muttered. He was seventy percent done building his body. As long as he finished it, he could protect his Clan during the First Major Disaster.
Even now, he built his body strategically. At his current accumulation, though incomplete, he could transform into an Empyrean Tusk and fight. "Just the last segment is left. But,"
He felt worried, seeing how resource-barren the blood had gotten, "Did I absorb too much?"
"No, this is the only way to ensure as many of my Clansmen survive the disaster." He gritted his teeth and continued to cultivate. Even though the efficiency had dropped tremendously due to the lack of resources, he still absorbed whatever was left in the blood that entered the Empyrean Tusk's heart.
The other individual who had absorbed a significant portion of the resources lived in a house at the back end of the settlement, alone.
The lone house looked as abandoned as before, having no trace of anyone living in it. In one of the rooms though existed a small door hidden behind a shelf, barely wide enough to crawl through. The space behind it was only large enough for a person to fit in while they made themselves as small as possible.
Only someone with flexible joints could even hope to settle within.
But Gannala used her power to enlarge the space, creating a room where Inala had been cultivating for the past nine months. Currently, he remained seated under a waterfall of blood that poured down into the room and washed him from top to bottom.
It left through a drain at the corner and was circulated by Gannala. Most of her remaining pure blood had been reserved for Inala, to the extent her Primary Nature couldn't be sustained properly. As a result, she ignored her tusks, the symbol of her pride, causing them to shatter.
Gannala was fixated on strengthening her children to the limit, and Inala was the one that received her second-highest favour, only behind Resha. In terms of personal bias, she favoured Inala the most, vastly ahead of any of her children.
There were obvious reasons for it, one of them being able to talk to him all the time. Having kept up the conversations for so long, Inala condensed the experience into a Skill.
Thanks to that, Gannala's tail slaps became a language similar to Morse Code, allowing them to communicate. The language was empirical at best, only allowing simple communication, but it still brought her joy, for she loved to talk to her children.
Before this, she could only converse with her children like Grehha and Virala once, when they satisfied stringent requirements. And each time, it took a toll on her, for she bore the burden. Otherwise, the bodies of Grehha and Virala would have exploded.
Only with Inala could she communicate without any stress and strain, so he was her favourite. As she was already at death's door, one of her joys was seeing Inala's rapid improvement and the innovative surprises he gave her.
"That's enough, Gannala," Inala said as he exhaled softly and got up, stretching as the blood waterfall stopped pouring. As all the blood in the room drained out, he stared at his naked self, "I'm fully prepared."