World Keeper

Accalia bounded from treetop to treetop, leading a group of her huntresses on a training exercise. It was difficult for them to properly stretch their legs in recent years, ever since the world outside of the Hyperlane Network became too chaotic to regularly travel.

Before, people would place an order for some exotic creature material, such as the fangs of an Engracian Turtle-Snake, found on a remote planet in Deckan’s galaxy. These fangs were a rather popular ingredient in older healing potions, and so people would regularly ask for them. Afterwards, one of Accalia’s huntresses would be sent out to hunt the turtle-snake, stripping it of not only the fangs but also any other valuable materials, such as its scales and shell, and list those on the Boundless Caravan.

However, because the planet where this monster appeared was among the many that were outside of the Hyperlane Network, its surface had been ravaged by memetic monsters. It would likely never be safe to return to that planet again, even if the turtle-snakes were still spawning. At most, the huntresses would be tasked with hunting more mundane monsters in the local systems, unable to venture out and retrieve anything more exotic.

And so, when Accalia received a report that a new type of monster had appeared on one of the worlds occupied by a daughter of Giles and Sprigga, and that its body was practically a treasure trove… well, of course she called several of her huntresses for an outing.

Among her twelve chosen huntresses, only three of them actually used bows, in addition to Accalia herself. The rest had all either ‘caught up with the times’ and switched to more modern firearm-style artifacts or had developed abilities to hunt without any need for a physical artifact to use as a weapon.

Personally, Accalia always preferred the use of a bow, as it was a key facet of how she envisioned hunting. As she thought about this, one of her huntresses spoke up behind her, a halfling woman carrying a pair of long-barreled revolvers. “How far to the target?” She asked with a smile, twirling the pistols in her hands as she followed the lycan goddess.

Accalia simply smiled at that, shaking her head. “We should be there soon. Remember, we’re studying it first. So, everyone hide your presence.”

The others nodded at that, quickly pulling in their energies to hide them from the natural senses of most creatures. Until now, they had been hidden by the abundant natural energy filling the Sylvan grove, but that wouldn’t last once they got near the target.

It didn’t take them long to find the target, which was a serpent more than ten meters long with red scales, a series of glowing, red crystals seeming to grow all along its back, head, and tail. Every time it took a step, the nearby ground cracked with the strength of its body.

When they reached the area with this lizard, the huntresses all stopped in a nearby tree, observing it in surprise. In order to prevent it from noticing them, they switched to using private messages as opposed to verbal communication.

Are those crystals… blood heart? The halfling huntress asked in shock, sensing the powerful ki radiating from the crystals on the beast’s back.

That’s right. Accalia nodded with a smile, her eyes faintly glowing as she studied the creature. This beast can naturally produce blood heart due to the excess ki that is constantly building in its body. Outside of Bloodhaven or the sites blessed by Scarlet, it should be the only source of raw blood heart on the market.

However, Bloodhaven produces enough to satisfy the basic demands of the public. If that was all that was special about this creature, we wouldn’t be here. Due to the powerful ki in its body, every part of it has been modified. Its blood, once refined and distilled, can become a powerful elixir for mortals. Its bones are a prime material for divine artifact creation, and its meat can temporarily increase the natural ki production of anyone that eats it.

Its eyes are believed to be a powerful alchemic component, especially when creating a conversion spell. Finally, its heart can continue to beat and produce ki long after it has been removed from the beast’s body.

Several of the huntresses were astounded at the list of uses that a single beast could provide. This wasn’t even talking about the basics, such as using its hide for armor or fashioning weapons out of its claws. Though, one human huntress did speak up as the others were reeling in shock. Pardon me, but this monster should be largely unknown. How do you already know all of these uses for its materials?

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Accalia smirked softly, reaching over to pat the trunk of the tree she was standing atop. This grove belongs to Helena of Understanding. Whenever she identifies a new monster, she uses her demigod providence to simulate a disassembly and testing process. There are likely more uses that she has yet to understand, as she can only simulate experiments that she is aware of.

The others understood once she said that. There were likely many, equally useful monsters in the other groves and colony planets, which simply hadn’t had their special traits identified. How many of these monsters have been found so far? A lycan huntress with red hair asked, looking at Accalia.

Aside from this one… Helena has reported that she has found ten others that belong to the species. Accalia reported, and the other lycan nodded her head.

That’s why you brought me on this journey. You want me to increase their numbers?

That would be great if you could. Accalia responded with a warm smile. This was Kristen Lyris, the Lycan Goddess of Taming, Husbandry, and Life. Any mission that she was specifically called for would often involve an endangered species, one which she needed to use her divine abilities to help increase the population.

I’ll take care of this one first, then. Kristen said, holstering the pistol at her side as she took a step forward, dropping down from the tree. Despite the height of more than fifty meters, neither she nor any of the observers were concerned for her. Though, the same couldn’t be said for the lizard she was fast approaching.

Kristen landed with a gentle breeze, wearing brown leather armors that hugged her frame. As she landed, the lizard let out a hiss, its eyes glowing with building ki. However, Kristen was undeterred, lifting her hands in a gentle gesture as she walked forward. “It’s fine. I don’t want to hurt you.” She spoke in a soothing tone, only to be met with a beam of condensed, red energy fired from the beast’s eyes.

Kristen was forced half a step back, shielding her face to block out the sudden burst of intense light. Once the beam had passed, she resumed walking towards the creature, maintaining a non-threatening stance even as it hissed at her in warning.

“Come on, let it out of your system.” Kristen said with a smile, the giant lizard retreating a step backwards when it realized that she hadn’t been fazed by its previous attack.

As she came closer, her hands began to glow with a faint, golden light. This light entranced the lizard, causing it to stare at her and relax its body. The closer she came, the less vigilant the lizard. Until finally, she rested one hand on its lower jaw, and began to slowly stroke the side of its snout. “I shall call you Bryn, the Lifeblood Lizard.” She said in that same soft tone, the glow from her hands spreading across Bryn’s body.

Once the glow had completely covered the lizard, the light began to fade. The other huntresses all descended, and this time Bryn did not show any hostility. It stood next to Kristen obediently, who turned to face the others. “Does it have any special requirements?” Accalia asked. One of Kristen’s basic powers from the Husbandry domain was to identify what was required for it to reproduce. There were so many species out there that didn’t just have two genders, and some that didn’t have any gender at all! Before studying the creature, it was hard to tell what was needed.

Kristen smiled at that, looking back at Bryn. “This is a non-gender race that reproduces asexually. The crystals on its back aren’t just blood heart gems. Mixed in are a small number of foggy gems, five in the case of Bryn. These gems are deep within the blood heart, which forms a protective layer. Once they are ready, the Lifeblood Lizard will shed the crystals surrounding these foggy gems, which act as eggs, draining the energy of the shed crystals to hatch.”

Accalia let out a relieved sigh when she heard this. This meant that, so long as one of these creatures existed, the species would be able to survive. “Were you able to find out how long it takes to hatch, and propagate new crystals?”

Kristen hesitated at that. “The eggs hatch roughly two months after being laid under ideal circumstances, according to what I understood. However, the parent will not grow any new ones after laying the eggs. Think of it like the ancestor tree of the Sylvans, which is created with a limited number of golden Sylvans that it can nourish. It’s likely that this trait influenced the spawning of this creature.”

Accalia pursed her lips when she heard this. In other words, although the population was capable of a somewhat sustained growth, it was harder to domesticate them. If they weren’t careful with their hunting practices, it wouldn’t take long for the species to go extinct entirely. “Can I leave you in charge of these ‘Lifeblood Lizards’ as you called them? Secure the help of the Sylvans in this grove if you need to.”

Kristen nodded her head firmly. It had been a while since there was anything for her to do in her official capacity as a huntress, so this was a welcome experience. “I’ll set up a ranch for them, once I’ve figured out their dietary needs and how much space they need. For now, I’d like to keep at least five of the mature members of the species alive that haven’t yet laid their eggs. I should be able to produce results with those numbers.”

Accalia glanced back at the others, nodding her head to give them a silent signal. Immediately, they began to disperse, searching the nearby forest for similar creatures. “I’ll see how many we can find. Also… given that this creature’s meat has significant culinary applications, you can expect a visit from him soon.”

Kristen blinked, before her eyes went wide at the realization. In the old days, her work often brought her into contact with the King Consort of Deckan, who would go to her to inquire about any new species that she had begun raising. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Kristen nodded her head. At the very least, Aznod would never arrive empty-handed, and would always bring a delicious treat when going to ask someone for a favor.

“For now, I’d like to make a request for a medium-scale time acceleration ranch. Given the size of Bryn, I can’t imagine its species needs more room than that to move around, and it would let me populate the ranch more quickly.”

Accalia nodded her head in agreement. For such endangered animals, it had been deemed worth it to invest in the newer developments which would allow for incredibly accelerated time in an isolated area. “What do you want the population limit of the ranch to be set as?” Once this limit was reached, the time acceleration function would be disabled until it dropped back below the threshold.

Kristen thought about that for a brief moment before answering. “Since it’s only a medium-scale ranch, let’s set the limit to one hundred. If the demand for Lifeblood Lizards becomes too high, I’ll ask for another ranch, or increase the limit if they can handle it.”

Accalia chuckled at that, understanding what she meant. Although they were called medium-scale, they were roughly a thousand kilometers in diameter. There was also large-scale ranches, which had ten times the diameter, and often needed their own dedicated landmass. Finally, the ultra-scale ranches required an entire moon to be terraformed to function as a ranch.