Dungeon of Niflheim

534 Chapter 534: How monsters are born

“Oof you’ve gotten a fair bit bigger since I last saw you Kiba, Frost must be feeding you well.” Druakai openly displayed the strength held within his physique by picking Kiba up off the ground and lightly tossing him up and down.

“Garow!” Kiba replied in a proud fashion equating all his weight gain to muscle development.

After Druakai had his hug it was time for Ruby to greet her adoptive kid and assess his growth. The two cat monsters eyed one another before rubbing their heads together and purring.

“Thanks for bringing him over Frost.”

“No problem, family is important after all.” Frost smiled gently as he looked at Kiba’s and Ruby’s exchange.

“Yeah, you’re right about that.” There was clear love and adoration in the B.F.G’s eyes. “Yarrow already told me about the situation, you’re here to fill in for my big sister right.”

“Yeah she’s not exactly up for any heavy labour right now and also needs to cross off a few last things with Chia and Yarrow before we leave.” Frost was perfectly fine with bragging about his skills to Yarrow or Sam, but Druakai was different, Daki was his sister after all.

“Haaaaaa so the time has finally come, my big sis will be leaving the nest.” Druakai let out a heavy sigh as memories of his childhood with Daki flashed before his eyes. Though his sister had left Kranor multiple times for business and the occasional vacation this time was clearly different. She was following after Frost the man of her dreams as she put it. Thankfully however despite her departure from Kranor, Frost’s territory wasn’t that far away. If he really missed her he could always visit without too much hassle. Still, her leaving made him quite emotional.

“Treat her well okay.”

.....

“Of course, you have my word brother.”

“Brother huh…..has a nice ring to it hahahahaha.” Druakai erupted into booming laughter before wrapping his arm around Frost. “Well then brother let’s put you to work, these little critters I recently got hold of have been nothing but trouble. Kiba you come to you can serve as intimidation for these arrogant little pups.” Druakai thus dragged Frost towards a large warehouse in the distance with Kiba and Ruby following close behind.

“During the monster stampede we had to deal with the occasional wave offshoot, nothing too serious like what you had to handle but still…anyway one of the attacking groups was a bunch frost drakes, one of which was pregnant.” Druakai started explaining the situation as they walked.

“Unfortunately due to the mother’s maddened state it was impossible to capture her without some injury and therefore she was unable to survive giving birth. However despite that we managed to secure 6 healthy albeit very aggressive baby frost drakes for our pens.”

“If you can successfully raise them into adults they’d make for some deadly battle mounts.” Even though the frost drakes could never match the might of Kiba, Frost didn’t dismiss their value. Druakai and Kranor would likely make a pretty penny by the end.

“That’s the plan, however when it comes to 1st generation spawnings, especially those that are born during such tumultuous times raising them successfully in captivity is no easy task.” Druakai shook his head and frowned as he imagined the uphill battle he was faced with.

“What do you mean by first spawnings?”

“They’re the first set of monsters birthed through the mating of two mana spawners.” Druakai’s answer left Frost with more questions than answers, a situation that was conveyed through his confused expression.

“Sam did say that you were rather lacking in regards to some commonly known knowledge” Druakai scratched his cheek in thought before continuing.

“Monsters can be birthed through five different methods, the first and the rarest of them is being directly created by one of the Gods. These almighty beings can utilise their mastery over divine energy to create new life in whatever shape or form they see fit, though they usually mimic traits of the God who created them. Those born through this method are usually the ancestors of their species, the first and original of their kind.” Frost could partially fall into this category given that he was personally created by Dark.

“Second, and by far the most common is through natural mana spawning. The natural mana throughout Nova frequently pulls itself together to create new life in the form of monsters. The species and strength of the monsters however are heavily dependent on the surrounding environment and mana density. You won’t see a fire elemental being born anywhere near the glacial mountains under normal circumstances.”

“The third method which can been seen as a more specialised version of the second is through monster lairs. The cores of these lairs absorb the nearby mana to create monsters that are bound to them, forbidden to leave their influence. These monsters also tend to be of lesser quality than those birthed through the second method unless the monster lair is of a sufficiently high level.”

“The fourth method which applies to Daki and me is natural mating. Most monster regardless of their birthing method and lack of any defects are born with the ability to mate with others of their species. Our father and mother met and fell in love just like any other sapients and eventually gave birth to me and my sister. And as you’ve probably noticed monsters birthed this way tend to be a little different than our more mana born counterparts.” Frost nodded his head in agreement. Daki and Druakai were practically indistinguishable from sapients when it came to their manner and intelligence.

“As the process of mating continues and gives birth the subsequent generations certain wild and primal traits tend to be curtailed and replaced with intelligence and wisdom. Though at heart I’m still an orc and can evolve just like my primal kin I’m not as restricted in my development as they are.” Druakai and Daki were the products of multiple generations of evolution.

“The final method is rather abstract as it only facilitates temporary life and that is summoning. Certain spells allow people to act as pseudo monster lairs and use their internal mana to create a monster bound to their will.” Frost was quite knowledgeable in regards to this method as his 3rd circle spell [summon ice golem] fell into this category.

“The 6 frost drakelings you’re about to meet are the result of two monsters born from the second method mating thus their natures are still very aggressive. They see pretty much everything that isn’t their parents or siblings as enemies, hell sometimes even their siblings are on that list. More than a few times we’ve had to break up fights that were heading down a dark path.” It wasn’t unheard of for monsters to eat their own siblings to grow more powerful.

“If you ignore the biting, the clawing and the aggressive roaring they’re actually quite cute.” Druakai was clearly biased towards any baby monsters finding even the most repellent ones adorable. Though it may be fine for him with his massive, muscular physique the same couldn’t be said for his weaker staff.

The first thing Frost was graced with when Druakai opened the warehouse doors was the sight of two young monster ranchers donned in thick, soft armour being attacked and bit by 6 frost drakelings.

“See, cute right.”

“Boss stop gawking and help us already!” One of the two ranchers, an elven woman who looked to be in her late teens roared at Druakai the moment he spoke up.

“You two really need to learn how to handle these things on your own, they’re only babies after all.”

“Yeah with razor sharp teeth and claws owwww!” The other rancher a human male retorted before having one of the drakelings’ fangs pierce his skin. Only Druakai could stand in the buff without worrying about their fangs and claws. They however had to make do with these makeshift soft armours fashioned from pillows and cushions.

“Haaaaaa fine.” Druakai shook his head before rolling up his sleeves and heading in. “Frost, watch and learn how I handle them. Despite their vicious appearances they’re still babies and quite weak.” Druakai appeared behind one of the drakelings and pinched the back of its neck in a firm yet gentle manner akin to lifting a cat by the scruff of its neck and slowly pried it away from the elven woman. “You can’t be too forceful or too weak otherwise.” He loosened his grip for just a moment and the instant he did the little drakeling twisted around and attempted to bite off his hand. The thing really was a vicious little demon but only care and affection could be seen in Druakai’s eyes.

“They’re just scared. Without their mother they’re practically lost in this world.” Druakai didn’t flinch or pull away as the drakeling bit his hand, doing so would not only show weakness but could damage the drakelings teeth, something he abhorred to do. Instead he allowed it get out all of its rage before gently placing it on the floor.

“[Calm]” He then used one of his monster breeder skills to further calm the drakeling, helping to present himself as a non-threatening entity, an ally. The previously aggressive drakeling thus changed in demeanour, though it still looked rather wary, and tense it no longer showed aggression towards Druakai.

“You two should have learned how to use [Calm] by now, why didn’t you use it?”

“Does it look like we got the chance owww!” The male rancher got bit again and Druakai shook his head in disappointment before moving to help detach the rest of the drakelings in the same manner.