Altea III

Magical creatures are divided into two groups: mythical and magical beasts. This division was made because of what the origin of the beast species is. Mythical beasts originate from magic itself, while magical beasts are animals endowed with magic. They usually live in groups, although there have been individuals or whole species living singly. Whatever their origins, they are gifted with extraordinary intelligence. Thanks to this intelligence, as long as nothing threatened them, they were not hostile to other intelligent beings. However, this also had its limitations. Magical creatures were very territorial and did not take well to having their space violated without reason. If they felt that someone was not justified in being in their territory or had been there too long, they would then attack with all their might.

The strength of these creatures is as varied as the species of mythical and magical beasts, but even the weakest magical creature can easily deal with several Maji. The strongest, on the other hand, can lead to the downfall of entire countries. An example of this was the destruction of Jimba, a small state in the Tartus Mountains, by a phoenix that wanted to retrieve a stolen chick.

Magical creatures can be found all over the continent. However, they like places where there is a lot of mana in the air. The more powerful the beast, the stronger the tendency to settle in mana-rich places. There are three mana-rich places on the continent: the Tartus Mountains, the Divon Forests and the Eastern Ruins. This is where the greatest number and the most powerful magical creatures can be found. Observations carried out on magical beasts, animals and Maji have proven that living in places with a high amount of mana has a beneficial effect on living organisms. Life expectancy increases, the risk of disease decreases but the most important issue concerns mana. Living constantly in a place with a high amount of mana means that one's own mana reserves increase naturally to a small extent over many years. Combining this phenomenon with the previous benefits has led to the conclusion that life expectancy depends on how much mana one has and whether it is unlocked, as is the case with mages and magical creatures. The lifespan of beasts is longer than that of ordinary Maji and ranges from a few hundred years to even a few thousand, while that of mages is several hundred years. In comparison, the average lifespan of a Maji is around eighty years, with the exception of Dragonits living to over a hundred years, the reason for which was a second heart giving them around a quarter more mana than other Maji races.

The Magi, as a result of this discovery, after many attempts and unsuccessful experiments having numerous casualties, developed a training method to increase their mana levels. However, this technique was not available to everyone. It was very expensive and only the wealthy elite of ordinary Maji and most mages could afford it. In addition, the optimal place for training was associated with the increased risk the trainee had to bear.

In the beginning, the necessary materials had to be taken care of. The cost of acquiring them was very high which was the main reason for the lack of universality of this training method. Three materials were needed to start the training. The first was black cloves, a plant used to prepare a mana boosting potion in Maji . It looks like an ordinary clove tree, but has black leaves. Apart from the Divon Forests, they are very rare on the continent. Another material is a mineral called crystalite, which has the appearance of a white crystal. It contains a certain amount of mana and can reflect it. Depending on its purity, the amount of mana in the crystal and the ability to reflect it increases or decreases. It can be mined in the Tartus Mountains, and the further north you go, the higher quality the crystalite will be. However, this involves a great deal of risk, as the Tartus Mountains, along with the eastern ruins and the Divon Forest, are among the places where the most powerful magical creatures have their territories. Crystalite helps to increase mana levels in the surroundings during training. In addition, it is used to deflect mana released from the third most expensive and difficult to obtain material. This is the magic core, which is part of magical creatures. It has a deltoid shape and comes in different colours. It is their magical heart without which the beasts die. To obtain the core, it was necessary to hire at least a few mages to exterminate the magical creature. Of course, it was possible to buy all three materials without getting them yourself or having someone else get them. However, this increased the cost of training even more.

Next, the place where the training was to take place was important. It should have as much mana in the surroundings as possible, as this has been shown to increase the chances of retaining the magical energy released from the core. It was best, therefore, to carry out training in three mana-rich regions. This involved the risk of attack from magical creatures, leading to the need to hire protection. Another issue was the training itself. It was very exhausting and after one session of one hour, a long rest of several hours was needed. This made the time spent in the danger zone significantly longer, because for one training session the costs incurred were too high, and just one session might not raise the mana level.

After collecting materials and being in the right place, training could begin. One drank a potion of black cloves and surrounded it with crystalite. Then, with the help of magic, one would release the contained mana in the core outwards, in order to then channel as much of it as possible into the body of the Maji . While mages could perform the entire process themselves, non-mages needed help to do so. Mana cyclically rotates in the body of all Maji, and for the training to be successful, the mana in the core had to be forced to join in this rotation. Mana that could not be forced into the rotation left the body of the Maji. How much, or if any, of this mana could be retained depended on talent and skill in this aspect. It happened that Maji, who originally did not have the potential to become mages, absorbed mana from magic cores much more easily than some mages.

The inconvenience of this training method was that the amount of mana in the cores was limited and once used up was not renewed. There was only as much magical energy in them as could be possessed by a fully rested magical creature from which a core was removed. The mana from it was released very quickly and the cores of not very strong creatures were exhausted in a very short time. Only a part of the released mana was able to be channelled into Maji's body. The rest, in turn, fled in every direction, which is why crystalite was important, stopping the escaping mana, giving more time to try and absorb it. The period for which mana was released increased the more powerful the beast that was killed. It was decided, therefore, to experiment with Raksa cores, which had more mana than the magical creature from which they were born. Unfortunately, the mana contained in the cores induced madness in the Maji trainees, so attempts to use these cores were abandoned.

Despite the rapid consumption of the cores, the high cost of acquiring the materials, the hiring of a mage to assist during training and to protect them during training, there was no shortage of those willing to use the training method among the wealthy elite and the mages themselves. Everyone wanted to live longer, and non-mages could furthermore have the chance to become mages. This caused rich, ordinary Maji to spend money on themselves and their children in the hope of a longer life and the chance to become mages. This increased the number of mages in Altea, as it was no longer only those naturally endowed with mana who were able to survive the ritual. Importantly, mages born in this way were not inferior to natural mages when it came to magic. As it turned out, mana only limited who could become a mage, not how good.

For mages, meeting the conditions needed to use the training method was simpler. If they didn't have enough money, they could get the materials themselves or with the help of friends from dangerous places and didn't need someone else's help to control the mana contained in the core. This resulted in an overall increase in mana possession by mages. This in turn provided the opportunity to develop spells that required more mana.

Due to the growing popularity of the only way to increase mana, the relationship between Maji and magical creatures changed from neutral to hostile. Beast hunts swept across the continent, but the initial fever was halted by the most powerful of creatures on the continent - the dragons. The leader of the dragons, Berion demanded a halt to the mindless killing of weak magical beasts, which often had their habitats outside the Tartus Mountains, the Divon Forests or the eastern ruins. Furthermore, he revealed to the beasts that if the creatures ate the mage's heart then their mana would increase. Under pressure from Berion, a compromise was created. It was agreed that only young mages could hunt the beasts outside the three regions with the most mana. Powerful magical creatures, on the other hand, pledged not to attack mages outside these regions without reason. The places with no restrictions became the Tartus Mountains, the Divon Forests and the Eastern Ruins. This ended the period when Maji and magical creatures coexisted in a certain harmony. Now both became predators for each other to increase their mana levels and thus their lifespans.

Beasts and Maji did not know that Berion's intention was to resolve this conflict in such a way as to strengthen both sides through mutual competition. He hoped that this would avoid the kind of casualties that occurred during the Raksa war, should a similar crisis ever occur. He also wanted to change the peaceful nature of the magical creatures, which had brought them many casualties at the jaws and claws of the Raksa.

He knew that the magical creatures had always been a part of the continent and were more or less influenced by what was happening to the Maji and what they were doing. From the beginning of the known history, most of the time the Maji and the magical creatures coexisted without interfering with each other's actions. There were minor and major incidents that did not disturb the neutral relationship of one to the other. Everything changed with the creation of the miasma, through the constant wars of Maji. Initially, many magical creatures, unaware of the danger, lived in its clutches. This caused many beasts to turn into Raksa. After the initial shock, most of the creatures that had not been transformed retreated deep into territories not affected by the Maji wars and therefore devoid of miasma.

Magical creatures watched the conflict between Maji and Raksa from afar, themselves losing further existences through death in the maws of Raksa or becoming one of them. The dragons wanted to support the Maji in the fight, but the other races of mythical and magical beasts would not agree. They believed that the Maji had to suffer the consequences of mindless fighting even if the price was the death of some of the magical creatures. The birth of the mages and then the renewed chaos only strengthened their position. The helpless dragons, led by Berion, could only stare at a bleeding Alteia. Countless lives had been lost.

When the dust of war settled magical creatures returned to their former territories that were not covered by the miasma. Only half of the magical creatures survived the turmoil, and they also had to be careful not to fall under the influence of the miasma from then on. It was then that a disillusioned Berion decided that he would take the first opportunity to change the attitude of the beasts.

Now that the relationship between the miasma and the magical creatures had been changed, Berion believed that a new era awaited Altea.