Raurau exerted strength in his hold, choking Torq, naturally expecting the other party to beg for mercy. However, all he obtained in return was a scornful glee. "What’s funny?"
"I asKED..." Raurau roared in anger, blasting his voice into Torq’s ears and causing them to bleed, "WHAT DO YOU FIND SO FUNNY?"
The air trembled around him, steadily expanding along the corridor while causing thick mist to appear. The mist expanded with power, releasing enough power to explode an entire section of the Dorm.
And then...the walls trembled, ever so lightly.
Torq’s smile deepened in response, his expression growing tauntingly arrogant while Raurau’s became immersed in deep-seated regret amidst broiling rage. His surroundings morphed, turning monochromatic for a few seconds.
A silver humanoid began to form towards the border of the monochromatic region, generating waves of suppressive force. Waves of dread slammed into Raurau, who eyed the silver humanoid in shock.
Then, in puzzlement, he eyed Torq, "What...the fuck is that?"
In response, Torq merely glanced at the hand choking his neck. "Gah!"
Once released, he massaged his throat that began to slowly heal. Deep palm marks covered the neck as the blood underneath seemed to have turned solid. Prana steadily circulated through the injured spots and began to heal through the damage.
"Go on..." Torq eyed Raurau, "Continue what you were about to do before."
"Kill me," He taunted, "I am aware you’re strong enough to trump my trump card."
"Finish what you started," He burst into laughter, "And then, once he reclaims my talent, Runthral will become a competent Empyrean Snapper,"
"And take last place among the Empyrean Snappers in terms of strength."
There was silence between the duo as the growth of the silver humanoid slowed down to a crawl. Torq was buying time, to see if his gamble worked.
If things progressed to his favour, then it was great. He would benefit tremendously from this endeavour. However, if it failed, he would unleash his trump card in all its glory. And if even that failed, he had one last card up his sleeve.
However, the final card was a desperate move and couldn’t be spammed like he did with his trump card. It was literally a do-or-die deal.
"You..." The longer the silence lasted, the more assured Torq grew of his assumption, "I had a faint suspicion you wouldn’t kill me."
"You are aware, huh?" Torq chuckled, "Runthral’s potential is limited to be the weakest Deity even if he were to recover his talents that were stolen by me."
"Well, it does paint reality about your grand screw up." Torq got up once he sensed Raurau wasn’t going to take action for the time being.
On Sumatra, the Human Race was split into three categories: Ravaged Tribesman, Clansman, and Free Human.
A Free Human was the purest form a human could be born at. They followed a different mode of power attainment through the four Stages of Spirit, Body, Life, and Transcendence.
A Ravaged Tribesman was a Free Human corrupted by the external injection of Pranic Beast genes into their genetic makeup. They were pretty much a tragic existence.
And in the extremely rare case a Ravaged Tribe adapts to the Pranic Beast genes, they become part of the strongest faction on Sumatra: Clansmen.
All Cooter Clansmen had Empyrean Snapper genes in them, at varying potency. Extremely rarely, Cooter Clansmen are born with a dense concentration of Empyrean Snapper genes.
The gene concentration is to the extent these Cooter Clansmen are closer to Empyrean Snappers than they are to Free Humans. The Cooter Clan labelled this state of existence as the ’Buoyant Disease.’
They were a tragic existence, in that the Buoyant Disease made their bodies have a negative affinity towards fluids. Mere exposure to water causes osmosis, resulting in their cells bloating up with water to eventually explode.
This wasn’t limited to water but all fluids. Just staying hydrated took serious effort. And if by mistake, a large enough part of their bodies make contact with a fluid, their muscles cramp up and stay in that state until their bloated cells explode.
Even breathing air caused strain, though not to the extent of a liquid. This issue arose from the issue that Cooter Clansmen with the Buoyant Disease looked human, but had the genetic makeup of an Empyrean Snapper.
Ironic enough, even though their lives were a misery, when a Cooter Clansmen couple with the Buoyant Disease mate, the result is the birth of an Empyrean Snapper. Runthral was conceived in the same manner.
Raurau was born with the Buoyant Disease. However, his pursuit of power diluted his genetic makeup. "And that’s why, even with my talents added to him, Runthral will forever remain the weakest Empyrean Snapper in history."
"It’s all thanks to you, father." Understanding he had explained enough to get Raurau to hear him, Torq got to the crux of the matter, "However, there is one way to solve this."
"What?" Raurau’s dispirited expressions ebbed like a tide that never came ashore. He eyed his son with interest, spontaneously appearing robustly powerful. "How? Tell me! THIS Instant!"
His presence wafted out, unbridled, unlike what he had been unleashing until now. It was focused on the developing silver humanoid and actually...stopped its formation.
’Indeed, it’s as I suspected.’ In the truest sense, Torq shuddered as he eyed Raurau, ’He knows significantly more than he lets on.’
The moment Raurau arrived, Torq intended to probe the other party’s intentions. If Raurau truly wanted to, he had the means to kill Torq before the latter could even unleash his trump card.
Therefore, Torq made a couple preparations in advance. First was to complete the process required to unleash his trump card. By the time he walked out of his room, he only needed a thought to unleash his trump card. And that, he was confident enough to think through before Raurau’s attack reached him.
Second, he intended to gleam into the depth of Raurau’s knowledge. Prior to his reincarnation at the Cooter Clan, Torq obtained as much knowledge as he could about the place from the Cooter Ancestor, the individual that resulted in the birth of the Cooter Clan.
Reaching the Transcendence Stage granted a cultivator infinite lifespan. Of course, after reaching this point, they were ejected out of Sumatra Continent and had to live their lives in the void.
Typically, these Transcendents maintained communication with their respective forces on the Continent. They were also able to view the happenings on the Continent, unless Sumatra cuts off their line of sight, which it did whenever it felt threatened by an external invasion.
Any Cooter Clansman that had reached the 10-Life Stage was theoretically capable of communicating with the Cooter Ancestor. Theoretically, only because the Cooter Ancestor never bothered to reply.
Other Transcendents of the Cooter Clan did respond though, so it was a worthwhile effort. Before his regression, Torq was a Transcendent. That was why he had plenty of valuable information about the Cooter Clan, including Skills related to Mystic Mist Art that haven’t been in use for thousands of years.
Also, during his time as a Transcendent, Torq observed all seven regions he potentially intended to reincarnate upon each regression. Once the invasion began in full swing, the Cooter Clan was annihilated in due time.
Raurau was one of the few to survive post the annihilation, because he was equipped with the strength, means, and versatility to do so. ’I could only see his end result back then.’
’But now, I can figure out things better by probing info out of him firsthand.’ With that in mind, Torq revealed his bait, "Stay with me for four days, father."
"And then," Ignoring Raurau’s body that visibly shook with disgust at being addressed as a father by him, Torq continued his piece, "I’ll let you witness firsthand what I’m getting at, because I can assure you this,"
"With my method, Runthral can become one of the strongest Empyrean Snappers to exist on Sumatra."