Magical Beast

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Magical Beast
Original Name	魔兽
Species/Race	A category encompassing animals, coral, and some plantlike beings with magical abilities 1 20 23.
Occupation/Role	Wild creatures, mounts, companions, combatants, and producers of magical materials 1 12 26 42 44.
First Appearance	Chapter 1; Kroya owns two second-level Blaze Horses 1.

Power Progression

The documented developments below concern individual beasts or groups; they do not establish a rank increase for every member of a species.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Kaba Beasts — Steel Hardening and Magic Power Forging	12	Kroya inscribes both spells into all eleven beasts. Their teeth become harder, and their stomachs refine swallowed ore into metal that they expel. Digesting the impurities may strengthen their organs.
Air Coral — Bubble Spell	21	Inscription enhances its natural air production. Its bubbles can grow stronger, connect with one another, and admit Kroya.
Woodstar Curving Vine King — Watching Demon Eye	29	Eye crystals merge with its body. It can reposition them, retain captured images through mental energy, and reproduce those images within a magic array.
Burrowing Mice — Underwater Breathing and Basic Water Control	38	Two contracted mice receive the spells needed to live underwater and tend seabed crops. Their desire for underwater life motivates them to refine the spells.
Kaba Beasts — holy-energy strengthening	39	Exposure to holy energy makes them stronger but also assimilates their magic, potentially limiting their ability to refine other materials.
Burrowing Mice — demonstrated aquatic adaptation	39	Both mice swim successfully, pass through the Air Coral’s protective bubble, and demonstrate water-control magic.
Sea Spirit Dolphins — mermaid-blessed abilities revealed	43	A blessing helps them attract followers. The female’s song calms the sea and drives away a shark pack that includes a suspected fourth-level beast.
Sea-Pattern Clam — Water Luminary Sword · Sage	44	A clam unable to use its innate spell receives a replacement inscription. Its future pearls can reproduce Water Luminary Sword patterns if supplied with sufficient Water Luminary Power.

Classification and Biology

• Ranks: Magical beasts are described by numbered levels or tiers. Documented examples range from first-level Kaba Beasts to a suspected fourth-level shark; beasts above level six normally produce Magic Cores 4 43 45.
• Innate magic: Beasts are born with special spells, but learning additional spells is ordinarily extremely difficult 12.
• Astral spirit bodies: Kroya can inspect compatible beasts’ astral spirit bodies to identify their desires and suitable inscriptions. The Kaba Beast’s body is substantially more complex than a first-tier sunflower’s 4.
• Intelligence: Fully developed, humanlike intelligence normally requires at least level six or seven and additional specific conditions. Lower-level beasts can still learn tasks, cooperate, and express desires 25 36 42.
• Exceptional intelligence: Ilyst’s modifications give the Woodstar Curving Vine King coherent speech despite its comparatively weak mana 25.
• Plantlike beasts: Air Coral and the Woodstar Curving Vine King are identified as magical beasts. The vine retains the need for soil, water, and mana, as well as photosynthesis 20 23 30.
• Habitat requirements: Sea Spirit Dolphins need the open sea. Prolonged confinement away from it can cause depression and eventually suicidal urges 27.
• Reproduction: Refined Seven Luminary essences can help beasts and magical plants of corresponding attributes reproduce 25.

Known Varieties

Variety	Documented Rank	Characteristics and Uses
Blaze Horse	Second level	Spits fireballs and runs with flame-like speed; useful as a mount, draft animal, and fighter. Kroya begins with two 1.
Kaba Beast	First level when introduced	Gentle, capybara-like grazer with tough hide and mana-bearing dung. Kroya modifies eleven into ore refiners 4 12.
Air Coral	Not stated	Translucent coral that expands rapidly in freshwater and releases air when squeezed. Its inscribed bubbles support an underwater habitat 20 21 38.
Woodstar Curving Vine King	Kroya gives differing estimates around levels two to three	Also called the Wood Luminary Curved Vine. An intelligent former guard of Ilyst’s Mage Tower, later modified into a surveillance network 25 29 30.
Sea Spirit Dolphin	Not stated	Playful, cooperative marine beasts that gather Sea Spirit Pearls, retrieve food, command fish followers, and attack with high-pressure water jets 26 27 42.
Sweetfruit Shrimp	First tier	A delicacy that Kroya eats raw after removing its head, tail, and shell 27.
Blue Moon Sea Urchin	First tier	Prized for its cool, fresh, sweet flavor 27.
Burrowing Mouse	Second tier	Intelligent, palm-sized mouse with earthy-yellow fur. Can perform trained tasks; Kroya equips two for underwater farming 36 38.
Fish-Tailed Sea Duck	Second tier	Blue, flock-oriented water beast with valuable, nutritious eggs and coordinated freezing attacks. Kroya acquires eighty 40.
Silverback Dragonfish	Not stated	Valued by nobles for its flesh and roe. A school becomes part of the dolphins’ following 41 42.
Glare Magic Fish	Second level	Uses dazzling colors and water-resonating movement to confuse enemies and conceal allies 42.
Golden-Scaled Fish	Second level	Possesses exceptionally hard scales and can ram through boats; participates in the attack on the Magic Shark 42.
Magic Shark	At least third level	Defeated by Kroya’s coordinated forces. Its unusually early Magic Core indicates potential to reach at least level seven or eight 42 45.
Sea-Pattern Clam	Second level	Produces pearls bearing natural spell patterns that gather mana and cast water spells 44.
Water Elemental Jellyfish	Second level	A simple-minded creature placed in the castle spring, where it slows and purifies the water 49.

Abilities and Modification

Innate Spells and Astral Spirit Inscription

Astral Spirit Inscription grants compatible beasts the abilities of spells written into their astral spirit bodies 1 12.

• Compatibility matters: The technique does not work on every magical beast. Different subjects require different spells and may need supporting cultivation materials 1 2.
• Spell knowledge is required: Kroya must already know a spell before inscribing it 2.
• Organs can receive separate inscriptions: Kaba Beast teeth receive Steel Hardening, while their stomachs receive Magic Power Forging 12.
• The process can cause discomfort: Kroya must soothe the first Kaba Beast when it becomes restless during inscription 12.
• New abilities can exceed a beast’s original repertoire: Kroya realizes that inscription effectively grants innate spells the beast was not born with 12.
• Ordinary alternatives are rare: Certain high-tier learning scrolls and the Church’s Divine Blessing scrolls can teach beasts additional spells 12.

Desire and Adaptation

Kroya uses a creature’s expressed desires to choose inscriptions and encourage their development 4 21 38.

• The Kaba Beast’s teeth want to withstand chewing, while its stomach wants to digest iron ore 4.
• Air Coral’s desire to release air leads Kroya to select Bubble Spell 20 21.
• The Burrowing Mice accept underwater fieldwork in exchange for the chance to live beneath the water 38.
• Kroya theorizes that environmental pressure and psychological suggestion could guide magical evolution. He has not established this as a universally reliable method 38.
• Holy energy demonstrates a trade-off: it strengthens the Kaba Beasts while changing the nature of their magic 39.

Cooperative Combat

Different beasts can combine specialized abilities to overcome a stronger opponent 42.

• Glare Magic Fish conceal the initial ambush.
• Golden-Scaled Fish ram the target.
• Sea Spirit Dolphins use high-pressure water jets, including an attack that blinds the shark.
• Fish-Tailed Sea Ducks bombard it with freezing magic.
• Kroya adds fireballs; the combined freezing and heating weakens the shark’s skin enough for further water-jet wounds 42.

Taming and Contracts

Master-Servant Contracts

• Binding effect: The vine’s contract places its spiritual awareness and soul under Kroya’s control; he can kill it through a thought 25.
• Contract type: Contracts of Order cannot be used for magical beasts. Master-Servant Contracts provide the strongest binding effect 38.
• Commercial availability: The Sacred Spring Trade Guild supplies beasts with arranged contracts and separately sells contracts for creatures Kroya already possesses 26 38.
• Limits: Each duck contract would cost a magic crystal, and one person can form only a limited number. Contracting all eighty ducks is therefore impractical 40.
• Communication: Kroya’s dolphin contracts let him understand a little of their intended meaning 42.

Taming Through Strength

Overpowering a beast is a common method of securing its submission, but flock behavior can undermine individual taming 41.

• Kroya drives the entire duck flock into a barren hollow away from its water-element advantage 41.
• He repeatedly bombards it with fireballs, using mana-recovery potions while avoiding serious injuries 41.
• After five days of controlled exhaustion, all eighty ducks submit 41.
• He rejects taming smaller groups because previously subdued ducks might rebel once reunited with the flock 41.

Materials and Economic Uses

Product / Resource	Source	Use or Limitation
Refined metal	Inscribed Kaba Beasts	Their stomachs separate impurities from ore and expel refined metal comparable to Kroya’s own work 12.
Mana-bearing dung	Unmodified Kaba Beasts	Attracts small animals and magical beasts, some of which bring food to the Kaba Beasts before eating their droppings 4.
Sea Spirit Pearls	Gathered by Sea Spirit Dolphins	Used to cultivate Sea Spirit Lingzhi for potion-making 26.
Nutritious eggs	Fish-Tailed Sea Ducks	Expensive and commercially valuable; an individual duck may sell for five or six gold coins 40.
Spell-bearing pearls	Sea-Pattern Clams	Natural patterns cast water spells. Kroya’s modified clam offers a prospective source of custom Water Luminary Sword pearls 44.
Magic Cores	Normally beasts above level six	Used to nurture magical beasts and form the cores of magic arrays 45.
Soul-containing Magic Core	The defeated Magic Shark	Exceptionally high quality; possible uses include soul-related potions, rudimentarily intelligent tools, and a Mage Tower’s tower spirit 45.
Food	Shrimp, sea urchins, dragonfish, and the defeated shark	Supplies delicacies; soup made from the shark’s fin boosts Kroya’s magic 27 41 45.

• Most magical beast merchants are reluctant to sell breeding females because customers could establish their own breeding stock. The Sacred Spring Trade Guild nevertheless sells Kroya a male–female dolphin pair 26.
• Dolphins present a separate handling problem: without a prior contract, they can escape as soon as they enter the sea, while prolonged confinement harms them 27.
• Kroya accepts magical beasts and plants as payment for refining work, using trade to expand his territory’s living resources 23 40.

History on Reef Island

Magical beasts initially form part of both Kroya’s resources and the hazards of his assignment. He arrives with two Blaze Horses, while his impoverished coastal territory is reported to be plagued by dangerous creatures. Finding a Kaba Beast at the castle entrance gives him his first opportunity to apply inscription to an animal 1 3 4.

The eleven Kaba Beasts become the foundation of his ore-processing operation. Kroya assigns a warehouse servant to record their output, while later purchases and barter bring dolphins, Burrowing Mice, and Fish-Tailed Sea Ducks into his domain. Air Coral creates an underwater habitat where the Kaba Beasts settle and the mice practice their new spells 12 13 26 36 38 40.

His marine expansion develops into a cooperative effort rather than simple extermination. The dolphins recruit fish he had intended to confront, and the combined force defeats a stronger shark, explores reefs, and retrieves Sea-Pattern Clams. By the time Kroya revisits the lake, his Kaba Beasts are feeding on sacred white iron and appear to carry a holy glow 42 43 44 50.