Greetings.
My name is Herschel of the Astronomy institute of the Academy of Magic and Sorcery of Dwinn, also known as the Magic Towers or Magic Academy of Dwinn.
Hm?
You already know that? Well, I do recognize some of you too, but it seems like there are new faces in the class. Since this is only our second meeting, I am still willing to introduce myself thus.
Hm, but I guess you need more information this time? So you do… Someone told me I might have been a bit too dry last time.
Well then, since we are going to talk about monsters today, I will talk about my favorite one—it is the Garuda.
Now, with that out of the way, let's begin the lecture.
1 . What are monsters?
Monsters is a general term designating all creatures created by themiasma and hostile to us, those blessed by the Light. Or should I say, us, Light users.
You must be familiar with the terms I used here, but some further explanation shouldn't hurt so…
What is the miasma?
It is the dark force that distorts both space and time and that has permeated our world since 2000 years ago when the being known as the Nyx fell on our world. As you might have guessed, it was most certainly a Ba'al though we have no way to verify it today. Regardless, even with our Paths, magic and arts, an event of that scale today would spell the end of our world.
Nyx is referred to as the very firstoverlord and is mostly known for almost wiping out every life in the known world. The few that survived witnessed the arrival of the first hero, Arca,as well the establishment of the hero system which was then extended to become the adventurersystem after the Overlord Nyx was sealed in the earth of the continent.
This is as far the legend goes.
Indeed, the continent is named Arca after the first hero, but there's no concrete proof of his existence unlike Nyx who is without doubt real.
Why are we so sure? Well, you remember when I spoke about the hero system? It exists specifically to fight against the Spawn of Nyx or SoNs—you might know them better under the name of demon-lords or overlords.
They appear sporadically and each time they do, a hero appears to vanquish them. It is a cycle that has been going on for some time now. Most of the Kingdoms or royal families are even named after the greatest heroes in history, rightfully or not.
Still, I must make a rapid correction here.
You are all familiar with the demon clan and the peace treaty our kingdom signed with them in recent years. I also see that a few of you are demons so to avoid any misunderstanding, I must clarify a few things.
No, being of the demon clan doesn't make you evil.
No, they are not SoNs. The Archdemons were indeed, but their case is a bit different than others for reasons that don't concern us today.
No, not being a demon clan doesn't make you less likely to become a demon-lord. In fact, statistically speaking, you have more chances to become one if you weren't a demon at first, especially if you are from one of the seven great families.
Some demon-lords didn't come from any clan.
There's a difference between a demon lord and a demon-lord. The first is a title in Verhaalian culture, the other a title to designate a SoN.
Long story short, while demons have not always been the most innocent clan in history, the phenomenon I am describing is not linked to them in any way. Not to the clan at the very least.
Now then, that was a long detour…
So, as I explained, monsters are being created by miasma.
Just like Nyx who wished to eliminate all life, monsters seek the same thing making them essentially lesser SoNs. This is another difference with a demon clan individual as they do not seek to eliminate other people inherently.
Their appearance and strength depends on the concentration of miasma around, but also on the people and lifeforms in the vicinity. That is because miasma seems to interact with thoughts and is able to corrupt some organisms, turning them into more aggressive counterparts. This is especially with being known as animals.
Hm? What are animals? Beings like horses, for instance. But it doesn't stop there. Actually, you are more familiar with animals than you think.
For instance, when I say rabbit, you think of the Rabbit Clan and their ears, but did you know that the word rabbit used to refer to little beings with the same ears?
It is the same for the other eleven sprites clans and even the others. Some of you might even have had the chance to own a dog or a cat. They aren't as miasma resistant as horses, but they can be kept inside particularly clean domains. If you are curious, a few teachers here have cats and fewer still have flying creatures called owls.
But I digress.
Miasma can also use thoughts, especially negative ones, to generate a monster. This is one of the reasons exploration of zones high in miasma are extremely regulated as they can create new types of monsters should the participants' mental strength be under a certain threshold.
Again, this is not the subject today.
What you must keep in mind is that monsters can be created in many ways and there's always a new species waiting out there.
The miasma seems to be able to remember forms used before so monsters that appeared once, even in the most isolated corner of this world, can be generated again from nothing elsewhere. This phenomenon can be used to willingly recreate monsters in other environments for farming purposes notably.
Well then, I believe this covers the basics about how monsters are created. I will only add a few things here.
Monsters are able to reproduce. Not every single one of them, but they can also appear through that method. Their reproductive methods are however so varied that there's no way we could cover that in this single lesson. It should be noted though that monster can produce miasma too.
While most monsters are unable to understand the common tongue, we discovered some can communicate through other languages. Some are even capable of understanding and speaking in our language even if that intelligence only makes them less sympathetic to us.
Now then, let's talk about what characteristics monsters have in common.
2 . Monsters Characteristics
The most interesting part in my opinion.
What makes monsters different from the other lifeforms in the world?
I already talked about their will to bring an end to other lifeforms and their appearances which are more diverse than ours, but there's more than that.
Monsters cannot be hurt in the same way as us. Cut a part of a monster and it will regenerate almost instantly. They don't seem to get tired or need to eat.
They are entirely sustained by miasma though it might appear otherwise and just like us, they have floating bars indicating the amount of life force they have left.
Unlike us though, their bars are red and they get stronger as those bars get lower, though the exact extent of this phenomenon depends on the individual.
Now then…
One must have noticed this looks awfully similar to how the Red Path works and they would be right—the Red Path is a Path emulating the miasma.
Some people think it was the first path, dedicated to fighting monsters using their own powers, though those at the white tower might not agree with that.
Anyhow, it can be resumed this way: monsters can only be killed by emptying their whole HP bar, but unlike us, they do not get weaker as they lose HP. This, of course, makes fighting them an uphill battle as we need to prepare for a battle of endurance with an opponent that doesn't even have the concept of fatigue.
Thankfully, we have a bigger arsenal than monsters.
Unlike us, they cannot use magic or arts, but only a set of five active skills at maximum. We call those moves, and their total is called a moveset.
This moveset can be studied and accounted for when fighting a monster making killing them easier. Monsters don't have evolving movesets after all, unlike us who can always progress, become stronger or change strategies.
But do not go fighting a monster thinking it will be easy because you know of its moveset. A few factors make even extensively studied monsters dangerous.
Another thing with monsters is that they also get stronger at night. Or it would be more accurate to say that they are more active at that time, making them more volatile? Regardless, miasma seems to become denser in the dark, so I would advise against going outside a town or at night unless you dislike yourself.
3 . Phases
Introducing a mechanic monsters possess that we do not—phase change.
I repeated it a few times, monsters become stronger as they are closer to death. This can manifest in not only more powerful attacks, but also more powerful versions of their skills. This is called a phase change, a phenomenon in which a monster gets stronger and often modifies some of the moves of his normal moveset.
The five moves I spoke of earlier can be multiplied by two or more depending on how many phases the monster has. Because yes, a monster can have more than two phases. Of course, they will only be variations of the five originals, but bear in mind that those variants might be way stronger than the original versions. We call those variants the extended moveset.
Then, there's what is called a form change.
This can totally change how a monster behaves or attacks. This often means a totally new moveset. Only monsters of the rank 3 or above can change their forms, but please, be wary of which kind of monster is in front of you at any moment. As for the new moveset, it is called advanced moveset.
In your compendiums there should be a list of common monsters and their normal, extended and advancedmovesets. Please refer to it if you need exemples.
Now, let's talk about the part you all are probably waiting for, the Scale.
3 . Monster's scale
How strong is a monster? You probably asked yourselves the question before.
You heard about things like bosses, calamities or plagues and you wonder who would beat who in a fight. Things like that.
No need to feel shy, I asked myself those questions too. That is why I can tell you that the answer is: it depends.
First, let's drop the "streets" classification and use the proper scaling system used by our kingdom, shall we?
There are six (6) known ranks of monsters, and they do not have any fancy names.
Rank 1 is the lowest. Those are basic monsters that mostly struggle to kill a single person. Their movesets mostly consist of only three skills at best and none of them are inherently able to instantly kill the average human.
Why human? Because they are the one who fought the monsters the most for these days so the scale uses them as a basis.
Anyway, a Rank 2 is a bit more serious in terms of threat. Killing a single human is easy for them and they must mostly be dealt with in groups to stand a chance. They can change phase but have the same amount of moves as therank 1. Theirmoves however can often instantly kill one person so they are way more dangerous than the rank under them.
This trend continues with rank 3 monsters who can easily wipe out a full party of adventurers in one attack. Killing groups is easy for a rank 3 and the miasma they produce often allows them to twist the environment around them thus creating a dungeon. Those are what you people refer to as bosses, though actually, any monster at the top of the command chain in a dungeon is a boss. There have been cases of rank 2 and even rank 1 monsters inheriting the title of boss of a dungeon, but we are not going to talk about those today.
Their movesets have four skills and they can both change phase and change forms, though the latter isn't always true.
Rank 4 monsters are… something I wish you will never see. If rank 3 can wipe out a party with a single attack, rank 4 can destroy a whole town. Of course, not instantly, but entire guilds of hundreds of members are needed whenever they appear. You might all remember the Dance of Crystal a few years ago—to this day, Kuwa is still deemed inhabitable because of it. Anyway, they have five skills and can also change phase and form.
Starting now, we will talk about very rare monsters that require years of preparation just to give people a chance to not instantly lose.
Rank 5 monsters can obliterate towns in one attack. We can virtually do nothing against them. Those are what people call Calamities. They roam freely through the continent destroying whatever they meet, though they are different from monsters of inferior ranks. They have an ability similar to the fairies circles as their miasma is so strong that they turn everything around them in their dungeon even as they move.
You know the twelve of them, and you probably know that one was captured by the Eldwitches to serve as this school's ground.
Yes, you are currently on a Calamity, or rather, this school is a dungeon created by the calamity known as Ya Gog Ma Gog, The Cities at the Edge of the World.
Thankfully, it is currently dormant and sealed, but this is not the case of every single calamity. Only three have been defeated since those appeared more than 200 years ago, two by the esteemed D-13, one of the most influential guilds on the continent, and the other one by the nameless princess. The others are either sealed, wreaking havoc, or their status is unknown.
There isn't much I can say about rank 6 monsters. They are demon-lords at their best, overlords, tyrants.
Such a demon-lord didn't appear for a while, but the last time, the map of this continent was very different. This is why the second order makes sure the hero always vanquishes the demon-lord before they can reach that level.
Now, for the little you usually use incorrectly…
No, a rank 4 monster isn't a plague. A plague is a powerful monster or group of monsters roaming through the land and able to break through the barrier of our domains.
Yes, because I didn't say it yet but monsters are rather territorial and respectful of the hierarchy above them. Monsters living in a dungeon will rarely go out of it for instance since it is full of miasma. Similarly, they will not often enter a dungeon too different from what they are used to.
Our domains, though, have a low concentration in miasma along with special signals that ward off monsters. There are like dungeons that keep monsters out because they are too different from what the monsters know, and because their bosses are hostile to them.
Still, some don't fall for this trick and force their entry even when additional measures like barriers are present. Most simply die killed by the guards, but when they are powerful enough, they can become a problem.
Plagues are monsters that often do that. A monster is called that when it is identified for that behavior at least three times and, to be honest, most monsters who can do that and be known through the kingdom must be rank 4.
Most of the cases are perpetrated by rank 2 though, mostly in little villages with bad protection.
Hm, there might be other terms to correct here, but we can always do that later. Let's finish this with a short explanation on monsters and economy.
4 . Monsters and Economy
An indicative title indeed.
So, what purpose do those monsters serve in our kingdom? Well, they create a lot of work. Adventurers of course, but almost every field deals with them somehow.
This is because, when monsters die, they leave behind two things.
a . An object or bundles of objects called drops.
b . A force called exp.
The drops are objects of all sizes and forms that are thematically linked with the monsters.
For instance, you surely know that most of our food comes from places named hunting grounds but did you know that those are artificial dungeons created to harvest monsters' drops? Yes, eggs, milk, flour, meat, tomatoes, all of those basic ingredients come from monsters. And that's not all—the magic stones we use to communicate and keep ourselves warm also come from monsters.
For this reason, if we stopped killing monsters, the kingdom would probably fall in a matter of months.
Still, having too many and too strong monsters would make the harvest very difficult or impossible. Additionally, the monster's threat would create a great climate of insecurity that would negatively impact the morale of the population and push them to more violent and egotistical behavior.
In that sense, Berattelse is rather well placed in the continent. Then again, I do not intend to discuss geography today, so let's switch to the second reason why monsters are important: exp.
So, what is exp?
It is a value that is given to someone when they kill a monster. That value is equal to 10^(the rank of the monster – 1).
In less obscure terms, it is 1 for arank 1, 10 for a rank 2, 100 for a rank 3, 1.000 for a rank 4, and probably 10.000 and 100.000 for ranks 5 and 6.
Accumulating exp allows you to level up which gives some advantages like increased spell slots and increased magic damage amongst other things. It also allows you to take on a title and thus a class.
To even inherit a family name, someone must be at level 11 at least, meaning nobles have a greater need to kill monsters than the average citizen but cannot possibly risk their lives in the same way as them which leads us to the second use of the hunting grounds.
Our money, too, comes from monsters. As the bard Gordian of Pharos said, "the beasts of darkness are despised because without them, no hate could be devised".
I believe you can interpret what he meant by those words now.
In conclusion
The monsters are the "others" in this world. Those we dislike but can't help to be curious about nonetheless.
The world is full of them and the only places we can be safe are towns being part of a domain. In the past, settlements were different—there was no need for great walls and barriers around town, it was easy to go anywhere at any time.
But things changed. The old civilization couldn't keep up with those changements, but our current one seems to be doing fine.
I could even go as far as to say that we have reached an equilibrium, a state where we can live with monsters.
Still, there are lands that are under a stronger threat than Berattelse. Do not take our peace for a generality. Try to understand those who come from different backgrounds. Here we are searchers, we seek to understand, not to blindly classify.
Hm...
Next time we will talk about magic so bring your magic encyclopedias please.
Now then, have a good day. Class dismissed.