Kieee!
An eagle soared through the skies, speeding along the crops as it opened its beak and swallowed dozens of locusts before curving in the air to arrive at a location beside the farm to spit out the dead locust corpses.
The eagle continued to attack the locusts swarming through the acres of farmland, killing them in droves nonstop as it mowed through them. every flap of its wings slammed into at least a few locusts, swatting them dead.
"My Lord! At this rate, the entire harvest would be destroyed." A villager said in despair, watching months of their hard work go up in flames.
Best
They were a group of eighteen villages, situated on an archipelago that was abundant with fertile soil, for these islands were actually situated in a lake where more than three rivers intersected.
So, the quantity of freshwater here was enormous, not to mention the sheer vitality of life growing in the region. Of course, it was wrought with its fair share of concerns.
First were the frequent floods that plagued the region, not to mention disasters and diseases resulting from an outbreak of swarm insects like mosquitoes and locusts.
That was the reason that despite its abundance, no formidable power wished to set foot here. But of course, despite the challenges, there was Sturrala who dared to set foot here.
Currently, her eagle was killing the locusts in droves before piling them up in a corner. They were a precious resource of protein that she could use to feed her Eagle Basket. Moreover, she was long since prepared to take control of this region.
She wasn't just ambitious but also had the smarts necessary to fuel her ambition, just as the rest of her family.
"Be calm and bring me the most able among the youth here." Sturrala said, watching the villagers hurry in response.
Within a minute, over fifty youths, thirty men and twenty women assembled before her. Sturrala gazed at them, nodding in response before throwing a packet to each, "Run a lap through the fields and return here as quickly as possible. The locusts would chase after you. Remember to cover yourself with a couple layers of clothes to void being injured."
She said with a commanding tone, "Just bring them here. I'll take care of the rest."
"Yes!" The youths nodded as they covered themselves with multiple layers of blankets before holding the packet to rush through the fields, doing as they were commanded.
Emanating from the packets was a fruity scent that worked wonders on the locusts. This was a medicine Sturrala had created using a team of researchers under her.
Currently, the group of researchers had already arrived at the location and set up shop there, providing her with the drugs necessary to do what she needed.
Bzzzz!
A gigantic cloud chased after the running youths that hurried towards her in alarm. The cloud was akin to a disaster, made up of billions of locusts, a power enough to wipe out an entire country's worth of farm produce.
"Run!" Sturrala said, watching the group of youths run past her, dropping the packets at her feet as they dived into their homes in a hurry. The cloud of locusts headed straight for her as she let out a calm smile, shouting right as the locusts were a few metres from her, "Now!
Boom!
Her Invoked Spirit flapped its wings, taking flight as multiple ropes seemed to be tied around its body. And at the end of the ropes were lids to large containers. There was shimmering coal within the containers, placed atop which were a large number of leaves.
There were dozens of such containers as the moment their lids were opened, intense smoke billowed out, seeping into the cloud of locusts, affecting them in a matter of seconds as they dropped down like flies.
When burned, the leaves released a narcotic substance that knocked out all the locusts that inhaled it.
Sturrala was prepared, covering her nose with a cloth as she gradually began to retreat, commanding her eagle to trigger the locusts to chase after it. And thereby, it led the group into the range of the smoke.
This way, a majority of the locusts formed a pile on the ground, showing no signs of waking up for at least a few hours.
Sturrala continued to use her eagle to round up and kill the rest of the locusts, for there was still a significant sum in the other islands that weren't lured here.
"We need to repeat the same in the other islands. Let's go." She motioned at the villagers, bringing the group of youths with her who carried the necessary materials and the containers.
In the meantime, the team of researchers hurriedly exited their shed, covered from head to toe as they began to look through the pile of locusts, capturing the egg-laying kind among them and any specially mutated ones that they chanced upon.
This was under Sturrala's orders. After all, she planned to rear the locusts into a food resource for the eagles, for it was the easiest to rear them. The locusts pretty much consumed anything. And as grass took the shortest time to grow in the largest numbers, it could be used to feed the locusts.
This would give multiple benefits for the archipelago, which was why Sturrala had brought an entire team of personnel with her, having already taken up command of the region, for she was the sole Invoker of the place.
Within a week, she rid the place of the locus problem, capturing more than enough of them to create a farm, having clipped the wings of all to prevent them from fleeing the place. Sturrala had been sending a portion of her wealth to this region in preparation towards this for years now, so the nest to farm the locusts as a crop had already been built, including her domicile.
Following that, she convened all the talents of the eighteen villages settled in the archipelago, using the Inferior Invoker Crystals in her possession to turn them into Invokers.
She first created forty Invokers, planning to proceed with the rest after that. After all, they still required eagles for their cultivation, which had to be reared carefully from now. But thankfully, she had everything required to make that a reality, setting up a Clan in the archipelago.
The best way to train one's mind was to subject themselves to things they are apprehensive about. The eagles were dangerous, but didn't exert the maximum amount of mental pressure on Pilkan. After all, he belonged to the Lan Clan, a Clan that worked with the eagles.
So, they offered the least amount of mental pressure on him. But even that, when pushed to the extreme like the situation on the deck of the ship was strenuous enough to exhaust him mentally.
But, that wasn't enough for Compass Carburettor whose goal was to attain the peak of this world within three years. To make that a reality, he had to go about things in a different form.
So for that, Compass Carburettor also captured exotic but dangerous fish varieties, storing them within the almost empty ship. One of them were the electric eels he had changed upon.
Pilkan was averse to creepy crawlies, having a natural fear of them. Therefore, it took a greater mental toll on him just to see them, not to mention interact with them.
Thump! Thump!
His heart thumped loud enough for him to feel it reverberating through his chest, the sounds resounding clearly in his ears, drowning out the rest. His index finger neared the tank as the thumping of his heart spiked in response as if he was sprinting at his utmost limit.
Slowly, his finger touched the water in the tank, feeling a minor shock as he retracted his hand in reflex. Though, that itself seemed to have taken a toll on him as Compass Carburettor fainted.
In his original body, he wouldn't have fainted, for he had an affinity to most serpentine creatures. But Pilkan was different. And in Pilkan's body, this was too much to endure.
"My Lord!" The sailors rushed to his rescue, hurriedly tending to hi injuries before setting him on the bed nearby.
"They would leave nasty scars." One of the sailors said after bandaging Compass Carburettor's arms.
"At least, it doesn't seem like he'll suffer any disease of sort from that." Another said.
Medical technology in their world was limited, similar to primitive Earth. Whether it was Invokers or Ascenders, none had the capability to regenerate from fleshly wounds.
Though would have to recuperate for extended time to heal naturally. And even then, amputated parts would never grow back. Of course, Ascenders had the option of shifting into the bodies of someone young and healthy.
That was how Ascenders dealt with any severe injuries. Though for Invokers, if they were injured, that was it for them.
Special abilities like the mist Compass Carburettor used was rare, probably only in the possession of a few direct descendants of Conjurers. As Compass Carburettor had yet to encounter one, he wasn't sure of the types of abilities there existed.
His eyes shot open upon sensing the dense Mental Energy streams gushing into him, smiling as everything was absorbed by his true body within the Invoked Spirit.
When the Invoked Spirit was out of the Dreamland, moving about for its task, the Mental Energy streams actually gushed into it. Pilkan was just a house for the Invoked Spirit.