Mystic Devouring Beast

Biodata

Appearance

Mystic Devouring Beasts have doglike bodies covered in slick, gleaming black skin, with no eyes and an enormous, fang-filled mouth 28.

• Head: The mouth occupies roughly half the head. A blood-red nose sits above it, flanked by enormous ears 28.
• Limbs: The first specimen has sturdy black hooves; its attacking claw is compared to a black gorilla's 28 29.
• Size: The first encountered beast is at least two meters long and one and a half meters tall. Both colony leaders are three meters long 28 50.
• Weight: Cao Fengqi estimates the slain specimen weighs at least two hundred jin 30.

Habitat & Behavior

• Group living: Mystic Devouring Beasts live in groups. Cao Fengqi's attempt to lure a single beast instead attracts three 28 33.
• Limited roaming: Their reliance on smell and hearing keeps them close to their territory unless the whole group migrates 33.
• Resource consumption: Their territory is conspicuously depleted of resources, allowing Cao Fengqi to estimate its boundaries through changes in his cheat's scan results 28 33.
• Treasure-driven aggression: They will attack even Wraith Remains if those creatures possess treasures they can devour 28.
• Nest: The local colony gathers around a level 6 forging table near the Mystic Artificer's shop. Its two leaders rest beside the table 40 50.
• Retreat: The first beast abandons its pursuit and tries to flee after repeated arrow wounds 29.

Abilities & Skills

Resource Devouring

Mystic Devouring Beasts strengthen themselves by consuming resources 28.

• They swallow level 3 metal used as bait 39.
• A powerful specimen carries an undigested level 5 resource in its body 40.
• Swallowed resources remain detectable by Cao Fengqi's scan before digestion, allowing him to track the beasts indirectly 39 40.

Treasure Detection & Hearing

Their noses innately sense treasures, while their ears provide exceptionally acute hearing 28.

• Concealment detection: The first beast notices Cao Fengqi despite his Evil Concealment Armor; he suspects his level 4 equipment has exposed him 28.
• Longer-range detection: A stronger specimen detects him at approximately two hundred meters while he wears only the Evil Concealment Armor 40 41.
• Projectile awareness: The first beast hears incoming arrows and can dodge or intercept them when given enough time 29.
• Leader sensitivity: The two leaders have sharper hearing than ordinary members of the colony 50.

Physical Strength, Speed & Durability

Even an ordinary Mystic Devouring Beast is stronger than a Calamity Rat leader 28.

• Durability: Three direct Arcane Musket shots penetrate only halfway into the first beast's head, leaving it able to charge 28.
• Melee attacks: Its claws and bite rapidly weaken the Blue-Patterned Robe's protective barrier 29.
• Speed: The first beast covers twenty to thirty meters in a single dash. Cao Fengqi needs a level 4 Swift Speed Potion to become slightly faster than it 29.
• Stronger specimens: The three-meter beast encountered near the rune runs twice as fast as Cao Fengqi despite his use of the Wind-Breaking Movement Technique 40.
• Relative threat: Water Ghost Monkeys are stronger than the beasts Cao Fengqi has previously faced, while a powerful Mystic Devouring Beast is wary enough of an approaching Wraith Remains to halt its pursuit 34 40.

Bone Projectiles

Powerful Mystic Devouring Beasts possess supernatural abilities; encountered specimens fire black bone projectiles from their mouths 28 29.

• The first beast intercepts an Evil-Piercing Arrow with a bone spear, then launches successive bone spikes at Cao Fengqi 29.
• The stronger beast near the rune fires four spikes in one attack, with greater speed than the first specimen's projectiles 40.
• Cao Fengqi narrowly evades the stronger specimen's attack from over two hundred meters away, even with advance warnings from his script 40.

Exploitable Senses

• Metal bait: Their appetite for resources allows Cao Fengqi to draw them away from exploration routes with scattered metal 39.
• Auditory lure: The Evil-Attracting Music Box is especially alluring because they lack eyes and rely on hearing and smell. It draws the entire local colony away from its nest, including both leaders 50.
• Interrupted pursuit: Cao Fengqi escapes the stronger beast by attracting a nearby Wraith Remains, forcing the two threats into a standoff 40.

Harvestable Materials

The first slain specimen's corpse is rated level 4 quality, with usable materials throughout its body 30.

Meat Yield & Consumption

• The carcass yields 160 jin of meat after its bones, hide, and teeth are removed 33.
• Each jin provides approximately 0.5 constitution, with an individual reaching the four-point limit after about eight jin 33.
• Cao Fengqi gains one constitution point after eating two jin in a meal 33.
• The cooked meat is tender and juicy, with a faint sweetness; Cao Fengqi considers it much tastier than Calamity Rat meat or cured meat 33.
• Its flesh and bones also serve as valuable trade goods. Cao Fengqi uses them to pay for his family's purchases at the Worldweaver's Clothing Store 38.

Story Role / Major Arcs

First Encounter and Kill

Cao Fengqi first suspects Mystic Devouring Beast territory after advancing through an unusually resource-poor area. While circling its edge, he encounters a beast that detects him and survives three direct musket shots to the head 28.

Its speed and attacks force him to expend his Swift Speed Potion. With the potion's temporary advantage and his script's assistance, he repeatedly shoots the beast with the Evil-Breaking Bow until it attempts to flee, then kills it just as the potion expires 29.

While recovering his arrows, he discovers a buried Frenzied Sealing Saber Technique manual and subsequently finds three more warrior technique manuals nearby. He brings the corpse home, where its quality and value astonish his family 30 31.

Failed Hunting Attempt and Territorial Scouting

After eating the beast's meat, Cao Fengqi tries to lure another specimen with level 3 metal. Three arrive together and chase him for two kilometers before abandoning the pursuit. He postpones hunting and maps the territory instead, concerned that it overlaps Klein the Apothecary's Shop and the Mystic Artificer's Forge 33.

He later scatters metal to distract the colony and enters with minimal equipment. His scan reveals a Transcendent Sequence Rune and a level 6 treasure, but a much stronger beast guards their location. He survives its pursuit by drawing it toward Wraith Remains territory 39 40.

Theft of the Transcendent Sequence Rune

Cao Fengqi prepares a diversion using over five hundred jin of level 3 metal, a piece of level 5 Thousand-Refined Metal, and the Evil-Attracting Music Box. The lure draws every beast away, revealing that the nest has two powerful leaders rather than the single guardian he previously encountered 50.

He retrieves the Artifact Refiner's Transcendent Sequence Rune from a hidden compartment in the level 6 forging table, acquires the sequence, and carries the table out of the territory. The beasts roar after detecting the loss, but he selects the option to leave the Lost Land 50.