CH49: Elite Camp’s Beast Companions
***
CH49: Elite Camp's Beast Companions
Hatching Beast cocoons were simple. Place it in a mana rich environment and once the cocoon is supplied sufficient amount of mana, the cocoon will break to reveal the young animal.
The cocoon stage was important because in special cases where a large amount of mana was provided to the cocoon, the young one inside may mutate or even evolve into a stronger beast.
Of course, this was not without risk. If the cocoon was fed too much energy, it may directly explode, killing the young one inside it.
Over the centuries, Beast Merchants have found ways to measure the maximum threshold a cocoon can take and they feed it just under this threshold.
If they're lucky, the beast within would mutate, making the cost worth it. If not, the cost would outweigh the reward.
Nowadays, most Beast Merchants don't feed mana to the cocoons anymore than needed to keep them alive. They push the burden and risk unto the buyers. Only high-end Merchants feed them.
These Top Merchants supply their cocoons with the maximum amount of mana they can withstand before putting them in special stasis stores which freezes further growth of the cocoon.
This way, the eggs are ready to hatch whenever they get a buyer.
The Merchant can then charge some more pennies to help the customer hatch the cocoon and teach them how to train their young beast companion/pet.
The stasis store needed for this cost a lot of money so no john and Jane merchant could have them.
Fortunately, being a Champion, Rowland had a bit of money and could afford to buy a cocoon from a high end merchant for all the members of his daughter's party.
They all got high-grade ready-to-hatch cocoons which yielded good Beasts for each of them.
The egg Zora bought for me was a special case because the Merchant couldn't determine the egg's threshold. Since they didn't know its race or species, plus they had fed it a lot of mana stones already without success, the merchant decided against feeding it further and just consider the egg a loss.
He allowed Zora to buy the egg cheaper than what he expected to sell it since no one wanted to buy it.
Now that the egg landed in my hand, I realised that it might hurt my pocket a bit to hatch it. Then, I remembered a method I could use.
I made a small cut on my hand with a pocket knife, then proceeded to draw a mana gathering circle with my blood on the egg.
I was fascinated by mana circles, especially since the glyphs used for it seemed familiar somehow, so I studied it extensively at the Academy alongside Herbology.
I modified a mana gathering circle to absorb large amounts of ambient mana into a small space. I also added a restriction that the absorption would stop once the material it was drawn on had reached the mana limit it could withstand.
This actually took me all my three years at the Union Academy to achieve, showing how difficult modifying mana circles were.
My plan was to engrave the mana circles onto the glass vials for my Herbal concoctions, thus potentially increasing their efficacy to rival that of Alchemy potions.
I even took Alchemy lessons as well for this reason.
Anyway, this was the first time I was actually using it, but I had a hunch it would work.
"What are you doing?" Zora asked.
"Drawing a mana gathering circle to increase its absorption of ambient mana."
"You can do that?"
"We'll see. I've never done it before either."
"Why did you use your blood?"
"We don't know what kind of creature is inside the egg, so I won't know which ingredients to mix together for the ink that would be acceptable to it. So, I'm using Blood which is something all creatures like." I said. 'Plus, my blood is special.' I added inwardly.
Mana entering through my body is devoured and used to build up my flesh and blood. This makes my flesh and blood possess more energy than all other humans at least. Only that the energy flowing through my body isn't mana so most people can't sense it.
I soon finished the gathering circle.
Almost immediately, a vague vortex appeared on the egg surface. Noticeable amounts of ambient mana flowed into it.
The mana flow was so strong that the vortex absorbed the remaining mana in the mana stones within a minute.
However, that wasn't the biggest surprise to me.
It was the window floating before my eyes.
**
[Notice: Blood circle has been absorbed by unknown creature. Due to the creature's weak consciousness, Host's power is subduing the creature.]
[Notice: Unknown Creature has been subdued. Creature is now bound to Host.]
[Notice: Creature is mutating due to the influence of Host's blood...]
[Notice: Creature has reached threshold of evolution due to the influence of Host's blood...]
[Notice: The ambient energy 'Mana' is too impure to properly facilitate the Creature's evolution. Host is advised to put the creature into the {Private Realm}.]
**
The series of notifications caught me off-guard. Things went off the rails... beyond anything I could've imagined.
I couldn't use the {Private Realm} while Zora was hear though. My mind worked fast and I came up with a solution.
"Now that this is done, let me get changed. I'll meet you outside."
"Okay." Zora nodded and left my room.
I locked the door behind me.
'Open {Private Realm}.' I ordered mentally.
The serpentine eyes of the Snakehead cane glowed an a silvery door silently opened before me. I walked in with the egg in hand.
I received a new set of notifications once I entered the sealed space.
**
[Notice: The Energy form 'Mana' within Host's bound unknown creature is being converted to higher energy form 'Astra'.]
[Notice: Host may leave the egg with the Realms' Guardian Great Tree to maximise the creature's evolution and ensure its safety.]
**
I looked towards the Great Tree. As if expecting me, a hole opened in the Great Tree's bark. The hole was more than large enough for me to put the egg into.
I put the egg into the hole and the hole closed up.
I sensed a feeling of gratitude(?) from the Great Tree. I wasn't sure what to make of it.
Gandr in my hands reverted to its animate form. The snake slithered before the tree.
Suddenly, a root as thick as my arm, rose out of the ground and Gandr coiled around it. This root was actually the Tree's smallest root.
Anyway, I turned my focus from the scene to the notification I received.
**
[Notice: Rate of Energy form conversion has been maximised under the influence of the Great Tree. Conversion will be completed in one hour.]
[Notice: Absorption of Astra for evolution has been maximised. Potential of unknown creature is being increased. Evolution is undetermined. Time till completion of Evolution cannot be determined.]
[Notice: Host will be informed when Evolved creature is ready for hatching.]
**
I was curious about the seeming diamond in the rough which landed on my lap. I wondered what kind of creature was tucked away in the egg.
I eventually left the {Private Realm}. Gandr seemed adamant about coiling around the root so I left it there. Anyways, I could always call it out whenever I needed it.
*
Time waits for no one and two weeks quickly passed.
The Union Academy's graduation for my year finally came around.
The graduation was held in a fancy hotel in Landrose with the whole red carpet effect, reminiscent of an award gala from my previous life. All the graduates looked to dress their best.
Even Zora who had now become somewhat of a tomboy, looked for her mother to help her dress up for the event, much to Ingrid's delight.
I'm sure the woman must've been worried her daughter wouldn't take the party seriously.
Thanks to that, the lady of the DoomMane Guild also offered to help the two other ladies in Zora's party with dressing up for the event.
The two young ladies gladly accepted. Ramla even showed a glimpse of change in expression. Was that excitement I saw?
I'm not sure.
-
On a side note, the party member's beast cocoon hatched within these two weeks. I got to see their beast companions.
I must say, I was happy with the beasts they chose with the Beast Merchant's recommendations. The cost of buying from a high class merchant was well worth it.
-
Fenton's pet was called a Trojan War Horse.
As obvious from it's name, it was a beast mount meant for battle. The horse species resembled a lustrous grey metal statue. They grew to about two metres tall with powerful legs that could carry a lot of weight and still run with a high speed. They boast a nice blend of balance, defence, speed, stamina and power.
I had the impression they were the perfect war horse species. The only problems were that they were rare and somewhat expensive to feed as they fed on metals.
Heck, if it wasn't that they bled, I would believe anyone who said they were full-metal horses.
-
Milos got an Agribeast.
This creature looked like a mountain goat, only that its legs, below the knee to the hooves, looked plant-like. This species were herbivores. Plus, they were like Milos an could control plants. They had the ability to grow their food with mana wherever they were and so the pet had a low maintenance cost for Milos.
The flipside was that because they didn't compete with other creatures, they were relatively docile.
(P.S: This is compared to other beasts. They were still beasts and were dangerous in their own ways.)
They were also very weak at the start. However, they had potential.
Their growth rate was limited only by the quality of the food, i.e. plant, they ate. The higher the quality of the plant they ate, the greater their growth.
Fortunately, nature is balanced. On their own, Agribeast couldn't grown more than low grade Tier I plants.
But with Milos added to the equation, as long as he and his pet weren't lazy, there was a possibility they could cultivate higher grade plants.
It's a good thing Milos had experience in cultivating plants.
-
Jaras chose an Armoured Rhinoceros.
To be honest, the big guy had little choice. His big frame, plus combining with Arakus, there was a small pool of available creatures that could bear his weight and serve as mounts. An Armoured Rhinoceros was the best choice for him from the bunch.
This species were Rhinos, obviously, however they had natural steel plating growing on their hide. They were herbivores in the most sense, but they also fed on iron and related ores to strengthen their hides. Heck, these beasts can even snack on Mana stones like candy without needing any preparation and not explode.
-
Ella's chosen cocoon yielded a Light Pegasus.
I heard Essana was the one who adamantly chose the cocoon which yielded this mount. Hence, it wasn't a surprise when it birth a light-attributed creature.
The Light Pegasus were horses with wings. They were either white or gold in colour. Ella's Pegasus turned out to be white.
Light Pegasus were capable of short to mid range flight at heights under four thousand feet.
Pegasus were omnivores, however, they were picky and favoured only foods rich in mana.
Like her, Ella chose an annoying pet.
-
Ramla's partner was an electric panther.
This was pretty much a panther that shot out bolts of electricity. Plus, they enjoyed being zapped by bolts of lightening. They actually have an inherited skill which allowed them attract lightening to themselves during heavy rainfalls and thunderstorms.
It seems Ramla's electric-natured Pangea, Shock, could aid the Panther's growth which was why the beast was recommended to her by the Beast Merchant. Plus, Ramla was... light. So, the panther could easily carry her even though panthers weren't known for their strength.
-
Finally was Zora.
Zora's pet didn't have a racial name.
She won the cocoon lottery and the beast she chose evolved in its cocoon. The new race after the evolution was unknown so we just called it White Liger.
Why?
Because that's exactly what it looked like.
A white... Liger.
Anyway, according to Zora, the creature distorts space like her so we guessed it must be a Spatial-type beast.
On a side note, the lass brought the cocoon to me when it hatched so the creature saw both of us together when it hatched. It imprinted on both of us and sees us as its parents or something. Though, the bond is obviously stronger with Zora, perhaps due to sharing the same element.
-
All in all, I think the beast companions match well with the party. All that remains now is to see how they'd raise them.
The beasts were still toddlers as far as their races were concerned. They were still mouldable.
Whatever they were taught and however they were handled at this stage determine what they'd grow up to become.
That is a matter for the future.
For now, it is time for the Academy Graduation Party. A day when another hassle was added to my life and when I took the final steps in unlocking all my blessings.
(To be continued...)
AUTHOR'S RAMBLING
I can finally see the end of the first volume. Just the graduation party and induction event to go. From then on, it's back to assassinating people.
Spoiler: The fool reappears in the next arc so expect someone to die😈. Also, another important character appears... or reappears😏.
See you in the next chapter.🤓🤓