Five years after the Second Major Disaster, the Zahara Kingdom was in a state of ruins, not because it was destroyed by external factors but had been purposefully brought to ruin by Brangara.
All traces of its existence had been cleanly wiped out. This way, their opponents wouldn't be able to gather any clues from traces left in the Kingdom.
As for all the inhabitants of the Zahara Kingdom, they were en route to the Varahan Empire, forming a large procession, guarded by tens of thousands of Tangible Nature of Yoked Wyrms. Standing at the forefront of the procession was one body of Brangara while his second body stood at its rear.
Manning the centre was Yarsha Zahara, guarded by the Wean Clan. Her four children were on full guard, remaining the most alert possible, armed to the teeth with Nature that they could activate and blast the heck of any existence that approaches them.
The five Royal Guards formed an inner perimeter around the carriage carrying Yarsha Zahara. Royal Guards at the inner circle, her four children at the outer circle, and then an army of people spread further away. The reason so much security was placed upon her was due to the existence she bore in her womb.
Thump! Thump!
She felt her son's heartbeat, feeling the vigour he was amassing by constantly consuming her blood. The moment she conceived a child, Brangara fused the Minor Treasure Tangible Nature of Bloody Affection into him, making them a singular entity.
As the sperm fertilised the egg and began to process of lifecycle, the Minor Treasure had already become one with it. Like a baby, the Minor Treasure was nurtured in Yarsha Zahara's womb, constantly absorbing her blood to grow.
With the power of Bloody Affection, the baby gained the ginormous volume of information present in the Prana carried by Yarsha Zahara's blood. The influx of information shaped his growth. Instinctively, she knew it was a boy growing in her womb.
Before the fusion, the Minor Treasure Tangible Nature of Bloody Affection had absorbed a sea's worth of Brangara's blood, gaining practically all the information at his disposal. And now, during the labour period, the baby was absorbing all the information from his mother.
An existence created by sacrificing their fertility, intending to form their future. That was the baby growing in her womb. And hence, utmost care had been given to her safety. It was to such an extent that Brangara even loaned a Tangible Nature of Empyrean Snapper to each of the Royal Guards, something he would never do otherwise.
The procession was long, with powerful Silver Grade Pranic Beasts pulling massive wagons that were no different from multi-storeyed buildings. The shortest building had ten storeys and was capable of housing a thousand people.
These Silver Grade Pranic Beasts had been recruited by Brangara for manual labour, with the condition that if they failed to cooperate with him, he'd annihilate their entire race. But if they were to cooperate, he'd support their race and provide them benefits.
Getting a promise from the Celestial Boar was more than enough motivation for the Silver Grade Pranic Beasts to break their backs with labour, serving the procession to their utmost ability.
Every single Free Human part of the procession had a Tangible Nature of Yoked Wyrm fused with their body. This allowed them to consume the trees without issues, irrespective of what they might be made of.
This saved a lot of travel time as they didn't have to stop for food. The Tangible Natures took care of everything. A group of Silver Grade Pranic Beasts typically sped across the carriages when the Tangible Natures of Yoked Wyrms would jump onto their backs.
Once they catch enough, these Silver Grade Pranic Beasts would head towards the closest thicket of trees and allow the Yoked Wyrms to consume the trees there. Once they had their fill, they would refrain from activating their Primary Nature.
The Silver Grade Pranic Beasts would return to the procession and run past the carriages. Whenever the Tangible Natures of Yoked Wyrms come within the Spirit Weapon range of their owners, they'd vanish.
By the end of their pace, the backs of the Silver Grade Pranic Beasts would become empty. And once a day, the Silver Grade Pranic Beasts would bring in a batch of Tangible Natures of Ewworms on their backs, for obvious reasons.
Once the Ewworms had their fill, they would be checked to see if they could survive until the next day. The ones that could survive were retained while the rest were dumped at the side, left to their fate of dispersion.
Tugging a large nest filled with Ewworms was a Gold Grade Pranic Beast, at the forefront of the procession. And seated on its head was Brangara, consuming the Ewworms when necessary to produce a bunch of their Tangible Natures.
They had been on travel for a few months already as Brangara watched in patience. The procession was currently treading upon a flat road, one Brangara had laid in advance through Subtle Terrain Domination.
His gaze was focused, staring onto the horizon. Soon, his face broke into a smile, announcing, "We're here!"
From a spot twenty kilometres before him, stretching endlessly was a forest of Decodus Trees, steadily growing in size. Even the smallest had surpassed a height of ten metres, showing no signs of stopping.
Their ceiling height was four hundred metres after all. At the edge of the forest stood an artificial mountain that he had constructed. The screeching sound of wheels constantly resounded from within.
He leapt from his spot and ran towards the mountain, climbing to its peak before jumping through a tunnel. The tunnel ended at a depth of three hundred metres underground, leading into a station where he landed.
A railway had halted there, arriving from the Burac Kingdom. Through Subtle Terrain Domination, Brangara created underground railway lines leading to the Varahan Empire from various Free Human Kingdoms that had pledged allegiance to them.
Burac Kingdom was the first to submit to their rule and hence received preference, being the first to arrive. These artificial mountains served as stations connecting the Varahan Empire to all parts of the region.
Through a mix of Subtle Terrain Domination and Drifting Tunnel, Brangara altered the gravity within the tunnel in such a way that there was a mild horizontal pull. It wasn't strong enough to act against the natural gravity of the land, but this pull made the railway accelerate deeper into the tunnel.
As a result, the railway only needed to consume energythrough psychokinesis from the driversfor the initial run. Once it accumulated some speed, this pull would gradually accelerate it until it attains terminal velocity.
After that, even without using any energy, the railway would traverse thousands of kilometres to arrive at its destination. And once they approach closer to the destination, the pull within the tunnel would steadily decrease until it becomes zero in value.
Following that, it would push against the train, decelerating it gradually until it arrived at a stop at the station. The drivers will micromanage the momentum, ensuring a smooth journey.
Similarly, another such tunnel was constructed, but in reverse, which will take one from the Varahan Empire to the Burac Valley. Drifting Tunnel was an Iron Grade Nature. To establish the same effect as Brangara, hundreds of Shifting Ants would be necessary.
This wouldn't be an issue as there will be plenty of Free Humans with Human Avatars made out of Vara. They'll have plenty of Natures of Drifting Tunnel, using which they'll be posted across such railway lines for maintenance.
The entirety of the Burac Kingdom wasn't planning to migrate. No, there were plenty of useful resources there, which the Varahan Empire could take advantage of.
Hence, after becoming citizens of the Varahan Empire, Free Humans would commute to and fro between the Varahan Empire and the Burac Kingdom, performing their tasks from resource collection to spreading their influence.
This railway line ensured swift communication between the two sides, making it easy to send reinforcement without any hindrance. Moreover, Brangara had paid exceptional care while creating the tunnels, harnessing his utmost strength to compress the walls of the tunnels to such an extent that they couldn't be destroyed by even Gold Grade Pranic Beasts.
Only powerful Advanced Gold Grade Pranic Beasts and above could damage it. But with the resources of the Varahan Empire, the damage could be rectified in a matter of days.
"We greet His Majesty, the Emperor!" The passengers that alighted from the railway bowed upon seeing Brangara.
"Welcome to the Varahan Empire." Brangara smiled as he stared at the group and disappeared. He returned to the peak of the mountain, watching the passengers jump into the tunnel that was pointed upward.
This way, although they fell through the tunnel, in reality, they were scaling up the mountain. The end of the tunnel opened up to the peak of the mountain, from where a cable car took them deeper into the Varahan Empire.
At first glance, the Varahan Empire looked no different from a forest of Decodus Trees, having no external activity. That was because everything was happening within.
The interior of the Decodus Trees was hollow, creating domiciles for people to live in, educational institutions, factories, etc. Yennda was the one who created the interior design for all of them while Yarsha Zahara made the final touches.
Travel was extremely simple. Underground, tunnels were created using the Nature of Drifting Tunnel. Railway lines were laid to ensure smooth travel. The travellers would enter a pod-
shaped carriage at the entrance of the tunnel and move through it with minimal effort.
The tunnels were created in such a way that when the gravity of Drifting Tunnel interacts with the ambient gravity, it resulted in an effect similar to a downward slope. This was irrespective of the direction the tunnel traversed underground, whether straight, curved, upward, or downward.
The pod, upon entering the influence of the tunnel, slides to its destination. Similarly, another tunnel would be running parallel to it, with the gravity within placed in inverse. This would bring the pod travelling within it to the starting position.
There were nodes, joined by multiple tunnels. Parallel tunnels connected the nodes, allowing seamless to-and-fro travel between the nodes.
Depending on the population of the people living or visiting the institution within a Decodus Tree, the size of the node underneath it would vary.
Decodus Trees serving as part of an educational institution with tens of thousands of travellers would have a massive node underground, one compassing all the Decodus Trees that were part of the institution.
Currently, there were less than a hundred nodes across the entire Varahan Empire. As Brangara was the sole individual making them, its progress was minimal. However, once the people begin to arrive, he'd focus on the required areas with higher priority.
"At this rate, I'll run out of space within this Information Slip." A familiar voice resounded as a third figure of Brangara walked out of the forest of Decodus Trees, holding a piece of Sumatra Gold in his hand. "The routes will be hard to navigate for anyone without a map."
The figure of Brangara on the peak of the mountain stared at his exhausted third body, one created only a few months ago and landed before the latter. The two adjusted the influence on their body and mind before stacking upon each other.
The 2-Life Stage Brangara walked out and received the procession, beginning to integrate everyone within the Varahan Empire. His children took charge of all the formalities, from designating people to positions of power and authority to deciding where which institution would form.
As the days spanned past, the people gradually settled with their new lives as citizens of the Varahan Empire. A month after the influx of people started, its population crossed twenty million.
In the beginning, all the necessary Vara and moneyThe Yoked Wyrm's Nature of Bio-Synthesiswere produced exclusively by the first-generation Wean Clansmen of Barla, Brana, Braga, and Baga.
Thankfully, it was the adjustment period as the Free Humans were also getting accustomed to their new cultivation technique of Gold Inheritance Art and their Human Avatars being built out of Vara. And a mere few months later, the oldest children of the Wean Clan's second generation began to supply money and Vara.
Their human forms might barely be a year old, but their Empyrean Boar forms were already significantly developed. Anywhere between two to eight years, their Empyrean Boar forms would reach maturity.
And the wives of the trio of Brana, Braga, and Baga who had already given birth were pregnant once again. Yarsha Zahara had enough stock of Empyrean Incubators to last a couple decades worth of births, having filled three whole Minor Treasures of Lunchboxes with just it.
Every single day, new railway lines were erected as people began to apply for job openings and join the workforce. The Varahan Empire's society was rapidly starting to take shape.
The Wean Clan's second generation continued to increase in size, entering the three digits in less than two years since the Wean Selection. Eventually, the talented Free Humans who had amassed a significant number of Natures took up positions as Envoys, journeying to far-off Free Human Kingdoms in an effort to recruit them under the Varahan Empire's fold.
Approximately eight years after the end of the Second Major Disaster, when the population of the Varahan Empire approached thirty million and the number of Wean Clansmen approached four hundred, a significant event happened.
After more than three years of labour, Yarsha Zahara had given birth.