Shades of the New World

Chapter 131: Nyxium

80% of the time, Mana-beasts would simply absorb some sort of mana from their surroundings and become a normal mana-beast. But in certain areas, like the sea and underground, the number of variations would increase. In the sea, most of the mana-beasts can affect the liquids in some way or another. While deep in the Earth, most mana-beasts would be able to use the World of Earth to some degree. These special variations usually had some very good materials on their bodies, so they were widely sought after by all mages. 

'Perhaps the Vulpine Mother was a species like these?' Evin wondered, as his consciousness searched through his shadow and found Enri sleeping peacefully inside Evin's shadow, surrounded by a bunch of World Sprites.

The book then described some species who were naturally born with these abilities and were hunted to extinction. This act caused some of the powers in the World to create specialized environments to preserve the rest of the special Beasts.

But all of this wasn't important to Evin. What he was most interested in were the Dark Mana-beasts. Most of the beasts that could be created from their normal counterparts were huge insect and arachnid-types from the deep underground. These types of creatures were extremely difficult to hunt, since they all opted to ambush and surprise their enemies from the shadows. If one didn't have the ability to see in the dark, they would usually have a very bad time against them.

But their carapaces were the best materials for creating armor and weaponry, so they were widely sought after by many mages, not just Dark World mages.

Compared to other types of mana-beasts, insect-type or arachnid-type mana-beasts had the biggest size difference between normal insects and mana-infused insects. For example, tier-2 mana infused spiders could reach the sizes of dogs and cats, while tier-3 spiders might even become as big as cows or horses.

In comparison, the tier-3 bull that Evin killed in the Beast's den was only about 50% bigger than a normal bull.

Thankfully, the number of tier-4 insect-type mana beasts could be counted on the fingers of one's hands during the long history of the Empire. Since insects were animals that was considered lacking in individual intelligence, they simply couldn't cross the huge obstacle that was tier-4. 

But every time it happened, there were endless trouble for the World's denizens. When an insect-type reaches tier-4 it automatically develops the ability to lay eggs, turning it into an endless source of tier-1 mana-beasts. While these little creatures would not pose much threat individually, the numbers they could reach were truly astounding. Even a super-imposer would find it troublesome to deal with thousands of tier-1 and tier-2 mana-beasts. 

'But how can even males turn into breeding machines? Is it the Empress' will? Wait, it's not like the author of this book knows that the tier-3 insect that evolved was a male or not This is bullshit,' Evin found a mistake.

'Then that part about the Chameleon skins containing stomach acids and urine was probably wrong as well,' Evin concluded happily. 

Even though he convinced himself that this book's author was a scammer, he still continued to read about the Dark World related creatures with interest.

Aside from the Dark insects, there were occasional mentions of Dark related creatures in the deepest depths of the seas. But sadly, even with the help of magic, the expeditions to the deep were not something that could be done so effortlessly. Perhaps the Undines have a better understanding of the seas, but the North was certainly lacking in this field of research. 

Evin searched for more of such creatures like the Vulpine Mother, but sadly he wasn't able to find anything. The Vulpine Mother's existence was only possible thanks to a series of very unlikely coincidences. 

But although there weren't much info about organic Dark materials, Evin was able to find a rather special inorganic material.

Most would agree that Sorbothium was the most popular material on the market, due to its unparalleled ability to absorb mana and any kind of World Energy. But it wasn't the best when a mage wanted to only work with the Dark World.

For the mages who worked with this World, the material known as 'Nyxium' was the best possible thing. It was an extremely weird material which embodied the three states of being depending on how it was treated and prepared. It could become harder than metal, or could become more fluid than water and it could be more invasive than air. Obviously, there were a lot of variations in-between the three states. 

Needless to say, it was the perfect material for Evin's golems. Even a complete beginner like Evin understood that one couldn't make a golem out of completely solid materials. Being hard enough, but having enough leeway was important as well. And since Nyxium could also be gas and liquid, perhaps Evin could add in some pistons and springs that utilized Nyxium. He didn't know where he would put it or how he would create it, but it might be useful.

When Evin searched for places that could produce nyxium, he was overjoyed to find that there was a workshop nearby. Evin decided to visit this place in the future, but realized he had no idea how the golem specialist he was going to visit would take care of finances. If he could get free stuff, then it would be truly great. 

Reading about Nyxium reminded Evin of the Core Shard in his possession. Evin was almost 30 percent finished with the vial's absorption, but he could definitely feel that the effects were lessening slowly but surely. But Evin wasn't disheartened, since he understood that the process took time. 

'And it's honestly fine, since I need to digest and become used to the increase of my mana-core, anyway. I still feel like my mana-core's recharge time can be improved substantially,' Evin thought with anticipation. Ever since he used the Velvet Contract to increase the size of his mana-core capacity from 1 kg to 10 kg in one day, he still wasn't quite able to completely get used to this sudden increase.

Flipping through the book, Evin tried to find some materials that were widely used in Somaturgy as well, but the topic itself was a bit taboo, so there weren't any mentions of it in the book. 

Content with the knowledge he just learned, Evin opened up the other book about strengthening willpower.