Sumatra's Greatest Fan-Chapter 55: Growing Neurons

"You wish to investigate the cause?" The battleship’s Raid Captain eyed the duo of Runthral and Torq, considering for a moment before shaking his head, "Denied!"

"Stay put in your respective cabins." He curtly brushed them off and ignored the situation at the place, instead deciding to proceed straight ahead.

A small team of Cooter Clansmen jumped into the water and roamed around the region to investigate, before returning to the deck soon to deliver the information they had scouted.

"I see," The Raid Captain calmly drank a series of vials handed to him, Information Slips containing everything the scouts had witnessed. "The investigation will take time."

He then frowned upon seeing Runthral and Torq standing on the deck a fair distance away, "Get in."

The air trembled under his voice, prompting the duo to hurry inside.

Once they had disappeared from the deck, the Raid Captain resumed his duties. "Have a team keep watch of Runthral. We don’t want him doing anything unnecessary."

...

"This is frustrating!" Runthral groaned as he slumped on the bed in a simple cabin room assigned to him. "Why aren’t they doing anything despite having enough power to make waves wherever they please?"

"They are probably exhausted." Torq said after some thought. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

A battleship was typically stocked full of supplies for the army of Cooter Clansmen on board it. The moment a battleship sets sail, it was only to erase a colony of living beings off the map. It had enough power to do so.

Only the best of Cooter Clansmen with Silver Grade strength and an 8-Life Stage cultivation were qualified to become a Raid Captain. They generally reached this point after stacking up mountains worth of contribution to the Clan and a deep sea of slaughter to afford their strength.

A battleship had over a hundred Cooter Clansmen with Silver Grade strength, often at higher Life Stages, not to mention over five thousand Cooter Clansmen with Iron Grade strength.

The strength difference between someone at the Iron and Silver Grade is extremely vast. Hence, the conditions were stricter for a Cooter Clansman with Iron Grade strength becoming part of a battleship.

The lowest qualifying metric for them was the 5-Life Stage. Therefore, even those at the Iron Grade were pretty powerful and could hold their own against even Silver Grade Pranic Beasts for a while.

A battleship had enough force to kill a Gold Grade Pranic Beast without much issue. The fact that despite possessing such power at his disposal, the Raid Captain refusing to investigate the region meant the stock of supplies in the Battleship was running low.

"It’s either a supply issue, or..." Torq said after a moment’s consideration, "They probably have something valuable in their possession that they couldn’t afford to compromise on."

"Their priority is to reach the headquarters." He concluded.

"Things might probably be too late by the time a force is dispatched here." Runthral grumbled.

’It might probably be, or it might not. Nothing can be said without information.’ Torq leaned on the wall and closed his eyes, ’The two quills I can sense are too far away to be the cause behind whatever is happening here.’

’If it’s not related to the Celestial, then it’s not my concern.’ He came to terms with the situation, ’The Cooter Clan is strong enough to face everything else that’s thrown at them.’

At a consistent pace, the battleship proceeded towards its destination.

Returning to his room, Torq pulled out the Narlakk skin from the cylinder in his possession. Eyeing it, he began supplying it with his Prana, ’Since it’s a mature Gold Grade Pranic Beast, it’ll take me a long time before I can turn it into a Pet.’

He could sneakily send out a Boiboi Pet once the day resets to scout the region. However, since he came to terms with the present situation, he refrained from taking such needless action, ’The Boiboi Pet isn’t powerful enough to find out anything that the Cooter Clansmen here haven’t managed to.’

"I will have the qualifications to do as I please only after I get enough strength." Hence, he focused on charging up the Narlakk skin once the duration of his Primary Nature reset.

As for Narlakk Nirrkarrlarr, it was currently secured within the most guarded location in the battleship. And Captain Trotro was also staying put next to it, intending to guard it. He had fought against it before and hence had enough experience to be on guard against its powers.

It was also his way of making up for the loss of his subordinates.

On a stone stool, he sat, eyeing the metal cage before him which was covered by thick layers of mist. Within the cage was the Narlakk, without the strength to get up. It had just barely been revived.

It was still in the process of gathering its bearings and would take a long time of recovery and amassing energy before it could regain its original strength. Of course, the turtle shell fused into its body assisted it with its recovery.

So, even without consuming any nutrients, the turtle shell was trickling Prana into its Spirit Container, using which it could make a complete recovery in a matter of minutes, if it wanted to.

However, it refrained from doing so, for it didn’t consider the Cooter Clansmen as its enemy anymore. Instead, it was happy to serve their interests. ’Strange!’

’It’s as if I was in a trance all along.’ Narlakk Nirrkarrlarr thought, ’And only now has my mind turned clear. I feel a tad puzzled, but mostly unnerved by this change in me.’

’Am I still myself?’ It thought for a moment before breaking into a chuckle, ’Hah! I am still me. However, something has been done to me that resulted in this change.’

After thinking for a few minutes, it shrugged, ’This feels naturally ingrained in me. I can neither sense nor figure out the cause for this change. All I know is that I am a changed individual now.’

It focused its attention on Captain Trotro, ’Seeing the man primarily responsible for my death, it’s unnerving that I find in myself zero hatred towards him.’

’Such is life, I feel.’

Iron Grade Pranic Beasts lacked intelligence and were creatures bound by instincts. Silver Grade Pranic Beasts possessed sentience by default, and developed intelligence on par with humans.

Gold Grade Pranic Beasts had intelligence vastly superior to humans. This intelligence didn’t necessarily mean they were smarter than humans. It only implied they had information processing capabilities superior to humans.

As for how much they harnessed their ingrained capabilities, it varied from one Pranic Beast to another. But at the end of the day, if a Gold Grade Pranic Beast were to harness all its capabilities, it would trump a human’s easily.

Narlakk Nirrkarrlarr was one such individual, as it had been granted power beyond its capacity–through the turtle shell–only after its mental faculties had evolved through its experience fighting Captain Trotro.

’I will keep thinking.’ And that was all it planned to do until the battleship reached the Cooter Clan headquarters. ’I will keep thinking until I figure out why I’ve become like this.’

’And then, I’ll make a decision as to whether or not I can accept living such a fate.’