Beginner Gold Grade Pranic Beast—Empyrean Boar!
The reason they were called the weakest of all Gold Grade Pranic Beasts, weak to the extent even Silver Grade Pranic Beasts could kill them was entirely due to their Primary Nature.
Primary Nature—Voracious Nature!
When an Empyrean Boar wholly devours a Pranic Beast, it gains the Pranic Beast's Primary Nature. Originally, such an accumulation-type ability would have made them the strongest. But there was a problem here.
The ability they are accumulating wasn't a Skill but the Primary Natures of their targets.
A Primary Nature was a Pranic Beast's original state of being, one it adapted to specialise in after thousands of years of nonstop evolution. From the way it ate to the way it shat, everything was optimised for survival.
Primary Nature was merely a condensation of its evolutionary traits. Therefore, when an Empyrean Boar obtained the Primary Nature of another Pranic Beast, the Natures within its body conflicted with each other.
The Primary Nature of a Razor Rat was to burrow in the swamp and wait for a Yoked Wyrm to show up before latching onto its prey like a bolt of lightning. The speed of its attack shredded its target, making It easier to predate.
When an Empyrean Boar obtained a Razor Rat's Primary Nature, it instinctually felt the need to burrow underwater and wait for its prey, uncharacteristic of itself. After all, it wasn't equipped to remain underwater for extended durations like a Razor Rat.
A Yoked Wyrm had pretty much no combat capability. Its Primary Nature was purely geared toward the consumption of nutrients, allowing it to accumulate as much muscle mass as possible in a short while before birthing its offspring.
It fought by creating as many offspring as possible in an effort to overwhelm its predators. When its predators have more to eat than what they can handle, it allows the excess Yoked Wyrms to survive. This was their nature.
Therefore, when an Empyrean Boar obtained a Yoked Wyrm's Primary Nature, it felt an intense desire to mate and leave behind more offspring.
But this was merely the start of the problems.
An Empyrean Boar could store Primary Natures in its body without limit. And every time it attacked, it would unleash a bunch of Natures. Upon use, the respective Natures would vanish.? But here was the problem.
A Yoked Wyrm was no different to a worm. Even the biggest among its race only reached a length of two metres. For an Empyrean Boar reaching a height of a hundred metres, one or two Yoked Wyrms weren't enough.
No, it needed anywhere from hundreds to even thousands daily. That meant it was gaining an equivalent number of Primary Natures.
These accumulated Primary Natures reach such high numbers that they overwhelm the Empyrean Boar's body and mind, making it believe it was a Yoked Wyrm and not an Empyrean Boar.
Moreover, its diet didn't consist of just Yoked Wyrms. It also consumed Razor Rats and Petrified Geese. Therefore, at every point in time, there was an overwhelming number of Primary Natures of all three Pranic Beasts in an Empyrean Boar, splitting its body and mind three ways.
Its original nature as an Empyrean Boar was overwritten long ago. And the three-way tug-of-war turned it insane.
At one moment, the Empyrean Boar would be underwater, acting like a Razor Rat, the other moment, it would be digging the earth for moss like a Yoked Wyrm, or suddenly, it would turn into a statue and bask in the sunlight like a Petrified Geese.
This wasn't just one or two, but the entire race was in such a state. Thankfully, whenever they were overwhelmed by their Yoked Wyrm's Pranic Natures, they would mate and increase their numbers. It was the primary reason the Empyrean Boars hadn't gone extinct yet.
During one such session, an Empyrean Boar had become pregnant. It stood still like a Petrified Geese, not even reacting as it delivered a dozen of its kind.
Following that, it entered the swamp nearby to act like a Razor Rat, devouring the Yoked Wyrms that approached its proximity.
Not a single Empyrean Boar cared about the dozen newborns that were left to fend for themselves. Though weak, the newborns could move. One of them let out faint squeals and approached something resembling a statue.
It was a Petrified Geese laying in wait there. And the moment the newborn entered its range, the Petrified Geese's mouth shot open. Its tongue lashed out and whipped the newborn, petrifying the contact region.
The newborn squealed in pain, but there was no response from the mindless adults of its race. The mother of the newborns had birthed them in a colony of Petrified Geese, a blatantly stupid act.
Hence, the newborn simply became prey to the Petrified Geese. One among the newborns ran under a tree root and bleated helplessly from there, hoping for its mother to return. Two days spanned past in such a fashion as its brothers and sisters that survived the Petrified Geese had grown tremendously by now.
They were already treating the Petrified Geese as food. And once they had their fill, they made a repeat of the adults of their race, now acting as Petrified Geese. But their bodies had already reached a height of four metres, an explosive growth.
Empyrean Boars had an explosive growth rate, capable of outgrowing all their predators in two days. Yes, two days. Any Empyrean Boar that survives the initial two days directly reaches the peak of Varahan Enclave's food chain.
But the exception was the newborn that had hidden under the protruding roots of a tree. It was still its original size. From time to time, it carefully peered out and gobbled some nuts before retreating to its safe home.
A Petrified Geese stood right next to its home, preventing it from moving much. As the days spanned past, the newborn barely reached a metre in height. It was still weak, but unlike its brethren, it was sane.
Having not consumed any Pranic Beasts or even meat for the matter, it remained an Empyrean Boar, experiencing a growth in intellect that all Gold Grade Pranic Beasts possessed.
Two months later, it was able to think, realising that the day it consumed another Pranic Beast, it too would lose its mind, just like the rest of its brethren. 'I should strengthen my mind first.'
Pretty much all Empyrean Boars had their first kill in two days since birth. Therefore, before their minds could even grow, they were influenced by the swallowed Primary Natures.
To avoid such a fate, the newborn had a strict vegetarian diet, eating grass, tree bark, nuts and fruits. Its growth was slow as a result, but with every successful day, its mind continued to mature.
Two years later, the newborn exited its home under the protruding tree root and killed the nearby Petrified Geese. But it didn't consume the latter and simply walked away, intending to find more nuts to munch upon.
And it was the very same day as the Empyrean Tusk herd's entry into the Varahan Enclave.