The Magical Beasts on the Island Are Artificial

The afternoon meeting was held inside the tent.

Four people attended.

Zhen Jin, Zi Di, Cang Xu, and Lan Zao.

Several beast-hide maps were spread across the ground.

The largest of them lay in the center.

Pointing at this largest map, Zhen Jin said, "Zi Di combined all the maps we have on hand into this one."

Everyone turned their gaze to the map.

North was at the top, south at the bottom, west to the left, east to the right.

At the northeastern end of the beast-hide map was a drawing of an anchor.

Zhen Jin pointed at the anchor symbol. "This is the starting point where your Exploration Team set out, and also the beach where the front half of the Pig Kiss ran aground. If nothing has changed, there should still be fifty or sixty people there, with the First Mate holding the situation together."

At the southeastern end of the beast-hide map was an X.

Zhen Jin moved his finger to the X. "This is where President Zi Di and her group came ashore. There are also three landing boats on this beach."

A winding route extended from each of the X and anchor marks. At intervals along both routes were notes or drawings.

These two routes represented the paths taken by Zi Di's and Cang Xu's respective exploration parties.

However, the two routes did not converge. Instead, both came to an abrupt halt halfway through. The center of the large map was filled with vast blank spaces.

Zhen Jin took out two more small maps and slapped them onto the blank area of the large map.

One depicted desert terrain, while the other showed mountainous woodland.

The focus was on the latter.

The woodland map showed prominent locations such as the mine where Monkey-Tailed Brown Bears lived, Spider Forest, and a mountain spring.

The two routes representing the Exploration Teams merged at the mountain spring.

Zhen Jin moved his finger to the mountain spring marker. "We are here now. Our goal is to return here."

He moved his finger to the anchor drawing in the northeastern section of the large map.

No one objected.

This island forbade low-level magic and battle qi, while countless unimaginably ferocious monsters roamed it. They had to unite every force they could and survive together.

Outside rescue was distant and uncertain. Rebuilding a ship and setting sail again was the more reliable option.

Building and operating a seagoing vessel was not something a handful of people could accomplish.

"The difficulties before us are obvious. There are two," Zhen Jin continued. "The first is the ferocious magical beasts along the way. The second is the abnormal terrain here. What are your thoughts?"

Lan Zao answered in a deep voice, "Master, if this place did not prohibit low-level magic and battle qi, our strength would increase tremendously. But now, to deal with these strange and grotesque beasts, we can only fight them head-on with flesh and blood. But no matter what, Huang Zao and I will be your blades and swords. Wherever your gaze falls, there will be clashing steel."

Lan Zao expressed his loyalty. Zhen Jin nodded, quite satisfied with that attitude. "Then I look forward to your performance."

Hearing this, Zi Di seemed to keenly sense something. She looked at Lan Zao, her expression rather puzzled. "What you said is somewhat strange. If low-level magic and battle qi were not prohibited here, those ferocious monsters would be able to use all kinds of Spell-like Abilities. We would be stronger, but they would also be more threatening than they are now."

"According to my deductions, that would not be the case, Lady Zi Di." Cang Xu spoke up. "I believe that the magical beasts on this island cannot use any Spell-like Abilities."

"Oh? Why would you make such a judgment?" Zi Di asked.

But rather than answering directly, Cang Xu looked at Zhen Jin. "My lord, among the magical beast corpses you have cleared out, have you found any magic crystals?"

Zhen Jin shook his head. "Not a single magic crystal has been found so far."

That was clearly abnormal.

Cang Xu nodded. "Although we did not kill any Silver-level ferocious beasts along the way, we obtained quite a few magical beast corpses at the Bronze and Iron-levels."

"But we have never seen a magic crystal, either."

"Why is that?"

"A magic crystal forms when a magical beast lives for a long time in an environment rich in elemental energy. As it grows and feeds, magic power continuously accumulates within its body until it finally undergoes a qualitative change and condenses into a magic crystal. A magic crystal not only stores the vast majority of a magical beast's magic power, but also helps the beast stabilize and mobilize it."

"Generally speaking, the more powerful a magical beast is, the higher the quality of the magic crystal in its body."

Neither Zhen Jin nor Zi Di had any objection to Cang Xu's words. This was common knowledge to begin with.

Then Cang Xu stated his view. "I believe that the magic power within the magical beasts living on this island is all chaotic. They cannot coordinate their magic power and keep it stable and orderly. Because of this, the magical beasts cannot control the magic power in their bodies. Their magic power is in complete disorder, and so they cannot form magic crystals."

Zi Di nodded slightly, then shook her head slightly. "Chaotic magic power indeed cannot form magic crystals. But that is only one possible reason why magic crystals cannot be produced. The key question is, Mr. Cang Xu, how do you judge that the magic power inside these magical beasts is utterly chaotic?"

Zi Di could not help but be suspicious.

Zi Di herself was an Iron-level mage, but she could not use magic here, and therefore could not investigate the state of magic power within magical beasts.

Cang Xu was merely an ordinary person, not even a Magic Apprentice. What method could he possibly have to measure it?

Facing Zi Di's suspicion and questioning, Cang Xu remained calm and composed. "I deduced it."

Then the old scholar put forward a new view. "First, I believe that these magical beasts on the island did not arise naturally. They are all Artificial Magical Beasts."

"Artificial Magical Beasts?!" Zhen Jin and Zi Di exchanged a glance, each seeing the shock in the other's eyes.

As for Lan Zao at the side, he had probably heard Cang Xu's conclusion long ago and showed no surprise at all.

"Then how did you determine that these Magic Beasts were not naturally born, but artificially created?" Sir Zhen Jin asked.

Cang Xu slowly explained, "Since arriving on the island, I have dissected many Magic Beasts. I found that although they possess stable internal cycles, and their organs and tissues work closely together as if they had been born this way, once you truly examine them, none of them are natural."

Zi Di's brows knitted slightly as she pondered Cang Xu's words. "Not natural?"

"Yes." The old Scholar nodded, his gaze profound. "They all lack nature's own flavor. Don't you think these Magic Beasts all seem to have been cobbled together from mismatched pieces?"

Zi Di mused, "I once handled the corpse of a Monkey-Tailed Brown Bear. It was a Silver-level ferocious beast, slain by Sir Zhen Jin. It had a monkey's tail, a bear's torso, and an ape's palms, yet the ends of its fingers grew hard, slender iron claws."

"At first glance, that Monkey-Tailed Brown Bear seemed as though it had been pieced together from an ape, a monkey, and a brown bear. But in truth, its internal skeletal structure was extremely sound. It had two hearts, and its other internal organs perfectly supported its physique."

"I am a low-ranking mage. During my studies, I devoted most of my efforts to potion-making. I have collected quite a few materials and understand the anatomy of most living creatures. Although it was my first time seeing such monsters, I believe their physiques are all exceptionally perfect. They are not deformities, mutations, or useless bodily tissues. What is unnatural about that?"

Sir Zhen Jin's heart gave a slight leap.

Zi Di's mention of the Monkey-Tailed Brown Bear made him think again of the mutation in his hands.

In that desperate situation, his hands had suddenly mutated, becoming claws like those of the Monkey-Tailed Brown Bear, and killed the Eight-Legged Spider in a single blow.

Afterward, his hands had returned to normal.

For some reason he could not explain even to himself, Sir Zhen Jin had chosen to conceal the matter and had not told Zi Di.

Zi Di is bringing this up now to deliberately display my strength as well, Sir Zhen Jin immediately thought, seeing one layer of Zi Di's intentions.

Sure enough, in the next moment, he saw Lan Zao's eyes widen as he looked at him with admiration.

Lan Zao praised him from the bottom of his heart, "Master, your strength is truly formidable!"

"Sir Zhen Jin, your talent is astonishing. Your courage and accomplishments will surely be sung far and wide," Cang Xu added, before turning his gaze to Zi Di.

"Lady Zi Di, you are entirely correct. I fully trust your judgment. Their life forms are indeed extremely sound and stable."

"I have no aptitude for magic, nor have I studied potion-making, but I was fortunate enough to read quite a number of books. Some of those books recorded the histories of various families. Those histories described in detail how certain noble families rose to prominence and managed their territories. Their early pioneering histories were, in truth, a process of contending against their surroundings and using human strength to tame nature."

"The records in those books included exterminating gnoll bandits, resisting Beast Tides, hunting wolf packs near villages, driving wild boars from croplands, and so on. To instruct their descendants, the forebears who compiled those histories left behind many carefully drawn illustrations, documenting in detail the forms and habits of wild beasts and Magic Beasts, as well as how to resist and kill them more effectively."

"It was precisely because of this material that I benefited greatly. After some thought from my foolish mind, I arrived at many shallow yet interesting conclusions. That, in turn, allowed me to sense the unnaturalness of the ferocious beasts on this island."

"I discovered that beasts with horns on their heads are generally herbivores. Their horns are their main weapons for defending themselves against predators."

"As for the relatively fiercer carnivores, their teeth are longer and sharper, their muscles more developed, and they excel at running, especially in short bursts. Some even have fleshy pads beneath their claws, making it easier for them to approach their prey without a sound."

At this point, Cang Xu's tone shifted slightly.

"Not long ago, before Huang Zao found us, we reached a hill where the forest was relatively sparse and the temperature low. Occasionally, a few snowflakes would drift through the wind. That was the furthest point of our exploration so far. There, in a fleeting glimpse, we saw a Gold-level Magic Beast."

"It was an elk, with enormous antlers of white bone branching chaotically from its head like tangled tree limbs. This elk ate meat rather than grass, and it had a pair of huge snow-white wings on its back. Privately, I named it the White Bone Winged Deer."

"Though we saw it only in passing, I believe the structure of its bones and flesh must have been sound enough to stably and perfectly support its daily activities."

"But it was not natural. Look—its body was not suited for flight. That pair of enormous wings could at most grant it the ability to glide. It ate meat, survived in nature at the top of the food chain, and preyed upon other animals. Yet it had antlers. Antlers are for defense; they are not suited for attack, for charging hunts, or for lurking and concealing itself."

"Take the Monkey-Tailed Brown Bear slain by my lord, for instance. When monkeys swing through the forest, their tails help them keep their balance and stabilize their direction as they leap through the air. But does a brown bear need that? It is so heavy—what tree could bear its weight? Does it leap about often? With a monkey's tail growing from its body, does it not feel somewhat superfluous?"

"And then there are the ape's palms. Similar to human hands, their greatest difference from the claws of many ferocious beasts is that apes have thumbs. This structure helps apes grip branches tightly while moving from tree to tree. Yet on the Monkey-Tailed Brown Bear, such palms had grown claws. Was that not simply gilding the lily?"

"That is what I mean by unnatural."

Seeing the people before him deep in thought, Cang Xu continued speaking eloquently.

"The first need of life is survival. Nature is cruel and harsh. Beasts that successfully survive and reproduce often possess astonishing means of survival. These abilities are usually bestowed by the organs on their bodies."

"Take a mole, for example. It has hard claws and teeth, and its body is shaped in a way that makes burrowing extremely convenient. Yet it is nearly blind. In fact, it has no need to see, because the soil is utterly dark and without light. In place of sight, it has its nose. Its sense of smell is extraordinarily keen."

"That is life in nature. It has its strengths, and it has its flaws. Upon its body, advantages and disadvantages are united, allowing it to find the place most suited to it amid the cruel struggle for survival against other life."

"But look at these monsters on the island—they are excessively powerful. Their structures are stable, yet contradictions and conflicts exist among their parts. Their place in nature is unclear."

"Like the Monkey-Tailed Brown Bear Sir Zhen Jin killed—did it need a monkey's tail? It did not."

"Or take that White Bone Winged Deer. Did it need those broad antlers? Likewise, it did not. The heavy antlers on its head were instead an obstacle to its hunting."