A Story of Evil

Chapter 195: Monster Taming

Shadow, that is the name given to Sol's group of elites. Nobody hated this and, in fact they quite enjoyed the title. They thought it was perfect for what they were doing, living outside the brilliance of the domains and, entering the great shadow that is the chaos areas. Moving in an adventure to find whatever it is that is asked of them and, to defeat all that dares come in their way.

As for their official uniform, King Jubilee decided not to change its looks. However, there were great upgrades to what their clothes could do. One of these is an actual mana reserve which allows them to use even more mana than what their body has stored. This way they can fight even longer and, have more options on what skill combination to use. 

Aside from this, the badges they used during their days in the Domain Expansion Division was given to them. This being for the sake of giving honor to their respective domains.

"If there are any adjustments in size that you need, feel free to tell me about it. The seamstress would be more than willing to comply." King Jubilee said, sitting in front of the round table.

"Thank you my liege." Sol said in reply.

His whole team was actually surprised to see that it was only the Void king who was there. After all, it was the new Sanctuary. And the normal thing to do with the place is to make the monarchs enter it on the facility's first use.

Plus, they felt that they didn't deserve this privilege. They haven't entered the old Sanctuary but, they were able to enter the projected version used by the king in Pandora's Box. And using it as a basis of comparison, they knew that this Sanctuary is a huge upgrade compared to its predecessor. The whole facility was wider than the old one. There was enough space to run around, that's how wide it is. There are runes on the walls and, pillars with [Cores] on each of them. In the middle is the table of the monarchs and their seats of power.

"So, are you guys ready to hear what your mission is going to be?" King Jubilee asked.

"Yes my liege." Was Shadow's unanimous response.

"Great. You should sit down then and listen closely." King Jubilee said, snapping his fingers and making seven chairs appear out of thin air.

"If you wanna know how that happened. It's basically one of the features placed into Sanctuary. Although I won't trouble myself explaining the particulars to you." King Jubilee said, finally standing up as he snapped his fingers again. Creating a large screen behind him.

Displayed on this is the current structure of the ten domains. The expanded land outside the main territory included. As well as the new Sanctuary which sits at the center of it all.

"Let me get straight to the point. We don't have enough mana crystals."

"But how is that possible my liege? We even exhausted the capacity of the teleportation just to get all of it back to the domain."

"Yes. But that's only because I thought you would find a reserve."

In his head, King Jubilee thought that this would be the outcome. That Sol's team would find a cave filled with crystals. They were close to finding something like this actually, if not for Elise blocking their path. But because this happened and, because their path got derailed, they chanced upon the treasury filled with mana crystals instead. 

These are large chunks, enough to fill the lower floor of King Jubilee's castle. That's why the other monarchs were overjoyed upon seeing this with their own eyes. However, the same couldn't be said of King Jubilee.

The crystals were enough for the initial fueling of the plan. But was still insufficient in order to fully carry it out. In fact, just the distribution to all the domains would, in itself, deplete all the resources. Placing them back to square one where, Shadow would need to find another place to gather it. Jubilee explained this to Sol and his team at that point. That's why he had an illustration of the ten domains presented.

Here he placed the estimation on crystal distribution. He also placed the sheer amount required just to keep the barrier active which, was almost half of what was gathered. And because of this illustration, the point he was trying to make was easily understood by Sol's teammates.

"Don't get me wrong, I am a hundred percent proud of what you've done for the domains. In fact, we are all indebted to you for finding such a large pile. But like I said, it's not enough."

"Do we need to look for a reserve then?" Nathan asked.

"No." Sol said, an answer which didn't come to Jubilee as a surprise. He knew that the boy was already able to catch on because, the way Sol looked at all the data said it all. That he was thinking about the variables connected to crystal accumulation and that, he has arrived at a conclusion of his own.

"Care to elaborate Sol?" The king invited.

"Of course my liege." Was the paladin's response as he began his explanation.

"Right now, we already have an abundance of mana crystals. Since these are not distributed yet, that fact remains the same." Sol placed this first because, the rest of his argument relied on this premise.

"Putting that aside, there are two ways to gain more mana crystals. The first being the traditional method of looking for a reserve. While the other is, probably breeding crystallized monsters."

"But aren't crystallized monsters supposed to be rare?"

Unlike the first generation who has intimate and close encounter with the monsters, the second generation doesn't have this same experience. This means that they don't possess most of the knowledge connected to the various monsters, their breeding methods, and the anomalies as well.

That's why they didn't know that crystallized monsters are formed from monsters which ate mana crystals. They also have no idea that, if a monster cannot handle the crystallization, it would inevitably die.

But that only applies to the general majority. Not to King Jubilee whose [Analysis] skill has almost reached its peak. Allowing him to gain advanced knowledge on crystals.

What got the king impressed however was how, Sol came to this conclusion even without the power of [Analysis]. It was purely based on the data, the situation, and, the message he delivered. That's why the king smirked at the boy's genius. Knowing that he himself couldn't arrive at the same answer if they switched places.

"He's right." Jubilee remarked, getting the surprised expression of Sol's team.

"Pardon me my liege but...we're gonna breed monsters?" Hendrickson repeated, with the words sounding even sillier from his own mouth.

"Yes. But don't confuse your heads with the details, I'm going to explain it myself." Jubilee said, going back to his presentation.

He explained that a monster will get crystallized as soon as it intakes mana crystals. But the problem comes after its ingestion. He explained how most monster die because, they are forced to take more mana than their bodies could normally handle. This creates a feeling of freezing, burning, and electrocution all at the same time as, the muscles of the monster gets ripped and torn over and over again. Until it finally adjusts.

"So it's still a bit of a sketch since the monsters could die." Jade summarized.

"Yes there's that. But, what if we can remove that risk altogether?"

"Is that even possible?" Nathan asked.

"Kid, I can make anything possible." King Jubilee said, smirking and getting the instant admiration of Nathan.

The king continued his explanation. Showing them that, if the mana crystal intake of the monster is done gradually, then the chances of them dying is greatly decreased.

"Little by little. Just like the mana veins that exist within your bodies. If they are given the chance to adjust to the slight increase of mana and, if this is done regularly, then..."

"Then we can ensure that they won't die!" Hendrickson blurted.

"Correct. But the question now is this What type of monster do we get exactly?"

"What do you mean my liege? Can't any breed of monster suffice for this?" Alice asked.

"No. Unfortunately not. Although we can crystallize monsters, their output of crystals vary greatly in consideration with both their body type and, the amount of mana they initially had. That's why our choices are limited to these."

The king presented a very limited set of monster types on the board. Fifty at that with these still having a hierarchy on which are more preferred.

Dragons.

Basilisks.

Earth Type Monsters.

Bears.

Glacials.

These are only some of the monsters placed on the list. Sol quickly memorized these in his head without much effort.

"You'll need to get your hands on any of these monsters. And as the hierarchy suggests, I'd love it if you could get your hands on the better specimens."

"But, do we have enough cores for the job my liege?" Sol asked.

"We do. In fact, I've already prepared them for you to pick up." The king said, already having things worked out.

"You mean, we'll be going to the summoners domain?" Nathan asked.

"Of course, you'll have to choose your five new teammates there after all." King Jubilee said, surprising the group even more. But he didn't want any more questions. That's why he finally set up the runes to cover Shadow. Ones which would teleport them to their destination.

"Well I'd love for you to stay for more chitchat but, we all got things to do so you better get going." King Jubilee said, snapping his fingers and sending Shadow to Queen Reoul's domain.