I'll Surpass The MC

Myorc City—City Lord's House!

Inala entered it, surprised to see a lack of security. The Ravaged Federation was a homogeneous society, despite their diversity. Or rather, no two Ravaged Federation cultivators were the same. The sole goal of everyone here was to evolve into a supreme existence, enter the Life Stage, and try to become a Transcendent.

Majority of the people didn't have any materialistic possessions. They ate the Phells for food, lived in simple coral homes, and had minimal utensils. They slept on a stone bed that was covered by a leather carpet created using the skins of the Phell.

When the Ravaged Federation was established, they barred any form of technological development, instead intended to pour all their time, effort, and energy into genetic development. As a result, they were pretty far in this field, having been at it for hundreds of thousands of years.

Gold Ravaged Art!

This was the cultivation technique practiced by everyone in the Ravaged Federation. In terms of functions, it was lacking at best, with its functionality on par with Iron Grade cultivation techniques from the Brimgan Empire.

But the reason it was still a Gold Grade cultivation technique was its foundational objective. Every single Ravaged Tribesman in the Ravaged Federation had different genes, possessing traces of a unique combo of Pranic Beast characteristics.

But they weren't Pranic Beasts but instead Ravaged Tribesmen, falling under the category of Humans. Therefore, to cultivate, a cultivation technique was necessary.

However, it would be impossible to grow if everyone had to create a cultivation technique on their own. Not only was this foolish, but upon every visit to the Comb, the genetic distribution in their body would change, rendering the previous cultivation technique useless.

Hence, by investing all their time and effort during the initial decades of the Ravaged Federation's establishment, they focused on creating a cultivation technique that everyone in the Federation could practice.

Eventually, after a lot of improvements, it became the Gold Ravaged Art. In essence, this cultivation technique had one purpose—to ensure the Ravaged Tribesman could cultivate.

Hence, it was like water, able to occupy the shape of its container. Gold Ravaged Art would treat the body as a container and the various genes as salt deposits. Upon activation, it would cause the Ravaged Tribesman to sweat profusely, generating a mist.

This mist would carry traces of Prana that would then be inhaled into the lungs, causing the Prana to circulate through blood. Every single Pranic Beast gene would be influencing the Prana accordingly. So when the cultivator sweats, this influence is carried through the Prana present as traces in the sweat, and ejected out of the body.

The sweat they produce contains a pigment capable of absorbing Prana when exposed to air. At this moment, they act as a filter against the excess influence being carried by the Prana. Thereby, when the cultivator absorbs the Prana, the strain generated on their body by the influence reduces.

Moreover, when they inhale, this Prana mixes into the fresh blood in the lungs, following which they enter the heart before being supplied to the rest of the body. When the blood enters the heart, the filtered Prana enters the Spirit Container, allowing the Ravaged Tribesman to accumulate it.

Through the Spirit Stage, they follow this process to slowly, but steadily build Spirit Containers. Gold Ravaged Art spikes the healing properties of Prana, further reducing the strain experienced by the body due to the various Pranic Beast genes.

This allows them to continue building their Spirit Container through the Body Stage, able to progress in strength without much problems.

In the Sanrey Plains, the Ravaged Tribe created by the Rockatrice lived a cursed life. Their bodies were severely strained, as a result damping their lifespan. On average, they only lived for a decade or two, despite being Ravaged Tribesmen of a Silver Grade Pranic Beast.

Gold Ravaged Art worked on reducing the strain on the Ravaged Tribesman to the extreme and allowed them to build up their Spirit Container without losing much lifespan. With its current level of development, a Ravaged Tribesman was able to live close to eighty percent of their source Pranic Beast's lifespan.

It was significantly high, especially since these Ravaged Tribesmen were able to bring out all their Pranic Beast characteristics without straining their human bodies.

This was thanks to the Ravaged Tribe focusing their everything to develop and improve Gold Ravaged Art. They also created a variety of Skills that were capable of exhibiting the characteristics of a compound mix of genes.

A branch of the Ravaged Federation existed solely to modify the existing Skills to suit various Ravaged Tribesmen. They even had competitions where they would modify a Skill to suit a Ravaged Tribesman on the spot.

'It happens every year. And one of the skilled contenders of that competition is the Myore City Lord, Pettenac.' Inala thought as he noticed Pettenac on the ground floor of the house, bowing towards the latter, "Good day."

"Did you have fun?" Pettenac stared at Inala with a knowing smile, "You've been at it with a woman for two whole days even before heading to the Comb."

"Well, I didn't have many opportunities back at home for this." Inala smiled wryly, "Our Tribe has a significantly higher concentration of males."

"Even with your strength, you couldn't find a mate?" Pettenac stared at Inala, scrunching up faintly as he relied upon his ability and experience to perceive the latter's strength, "Among all the cultivators with Silver Grade strength that I've seen to date, you're one of the strongest."

"You're praising me too much," Inala smiled wryly while thinking, 'This old man is relying upon something other than presence to judge my strength. After all, my Biome Bomb should only reveal an average Silver Grade strength.'

The Biome Bomb layering him not only revealed the presence of a Quip Tribesman but also masked his strength to be somewhere around Beginner to Intermediate Silver Grade Pranic Beast's level. He shouldn't appear too strong in this place teeming with powerful cultivators.

Just along his route, Inala observed quite a few Silver Grade cultivators with enough strength to almost be on par with their counterparts at the Brimgan Empire. There might be more monsters present here than in other places due to their significant population.

'Indeed, the strength I feel from him is substantial. He's somehow able to glean into my actual strength.' Inala laughed, "Well, due to my identity, I couldn't select a partner just like that."

Even if Pettenac could see through Inala's disguise, it was merely for a single layer of disguise. Inala had multiple layers, with the deepest layer being his ability to reach the Mystic Grade.

"Are you related to the Royal Zinger?" Pettenac asked after a couple of seconds of silence, making a guess based on the information Inala had revealed until now, "In that case, your situation would make sense."

'It's the easiest to fool smart people.' Thinking as such, Inala expressed momentary shock before letting out a sigh to say, "Yes, she's my older sister."

"The Royal Zinger is a Clansman and not a Pranic Beast?" Pettenac focused on Inala's word choice, expressing mild desire upon seeing the latter nod in response, "Impressive!"

'If I could wholly assimilate his genes into my being, there is a chance I can inherit the Royal Zinger's influence. Maybe there's a possibility I could even enter the Mystic Grade.' Pettenac's heart raced at the thought, 'But, the Comb can't match him with me due to our Grade difference. Then, is that other option my only choice?'

Pettenac hurriedly controlled himself to avoid revealing anything to Inala and instead asked, "It's indeed a boon for the Ravaged Federation to obtain your genes. So, I pray for that woman to get pregnant successfully. And I also hope you survive."

He then whispered, "Though, if I may."

"Yes, City Lord." Inala nodded respectfully, "I'm honoured to hear your advice."

"Good," Pettenac smiled and continued, "When you kill your opponent, don't consume their flesh. Instead, just consume the Nectar. Since your older sister is the Royal Zinger, focus on keeping your genes pure."

"Once your cells become drunk on Nectar, your chances of becoming a Clansman increases sharply. Maybe you can even follow your older sister's footsteps to reach the Mystic Grade." Pettenac patted Inala on the shoulder, "I'm only giving you this information due to your status. You understand, right?"

"Yes, City Lord." Inala nodded respectfully, "I'll survive no matter what and return in one piece."

"Good!" Pettenac nodded and pointed at a flight of stairs descending down, "Head in that way and you'll enter the Comb."

After saying his piece, he returned to stare at the statues of the Eleven Transcendents, especially the Eleventh Transcendent.

His actions puzzled Inala, "Is there any reason you're staring at them, Coty Lord?"

"They are Deities." Pettenac said in reverence, "Every single one of them established a brand-new path to Transcendence. Thanks to them, we have eleven ways to accumulate strength and perfect our cultivation."

"Especially the Eleventh Transcendent," Pettenac's devotion increased in fervour, "He was the most recent to become a Transcendent. And the first to become one in this era."

"In this era…?" Inala began to think, 'In Sumatra's calculation, an era begins with the birth of a Mystic Grade Pranic Beast. Currently, it's the Empyrean Boar King's era, which started two millennia ago. So, this guy became a transcendent immediately after that.'

Similar to how Raaha could communicate with the Mammoth Ancestor, there might be cultivators at the 10-Life Stage in the Sanctuary capable of communicating with the Ravaged Federation Transcendents.

As Transcendents, they were able to keep watch of everything on Sumatra and probably were the ones to disseminate this information to those in the Sanctuary. Following that, the information made its way out of the Comb and into the Ravaged Federation.

"But, how is being the first Transcendent of this era anything special as compared to the other Transcendents?" Inala asked.

"Haha, that was just his introduction. His speciality lies somewhere else." Pettenac patted the feet of the eleventh Transcendent statue, "He's the only cultivator among the eleven to become an Iron Grade Transcendent, despite his accumulations surpassing his Grade."

"IS that…possible?" Inala asked, "If his accumulations surpassed his Grade, he should have evolved into Silver Grade at the very least."

"But he didn't. And that's why he's special." Pettenac grinned in pride, "To date, he holds the record of being the fastest to attain the Transcendence Stage on Sumatra."

"The Extreme Iron Transcendent, Torq!"