Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

The afternoon meeting was held in the tent.

A total of four people attended the meeting: Aupin, Violette, Palebeard, and Blueteres.

Several animal skin maps were spread out on the ground.

The largest of them all was placed in the center.

Aupin pointed at the largest map and said, “This is the result of Violette combining all the maps we have on hand.”

Several people cast their eyes on this map.

North, west, east, south.

The northeast end of the animal skin map depicted an anchor.

Aupin pointed at the anchor and said, “This was the starting point for the exploration team, it is also the beach where the Pig Peck is stranded. If everything stayed the same, there should be fifty or sixty people there. The chief mate of the Pig Peck should be in control there.”

At the southeast end of the animal skin map, a cross was drawn.

Aupin’s finger moved to the cross. “This is the place where President Violette and I landed. There are three landing boats on this beach.”

A squiggly route was drawn from both the cross and anchor. The two routes were marked with text and drawings at regular intervals.

These two routes respectively represented the paths of the two teams, led by Palebeard and Violette.

However, the two routes did not connect together, but stopped abruptly in the middle. In the center of this big map was a large blank space.

Aupin took out two other small maps and placed them in the middle of the big map.

One map depicted a desert, while the other was a jungle.

The focus was on the latter.

The jungle map depicted notable locations such as the cave where the Monkey Tailed Brown Bear lived, the spider forest, and the mountain spring.

The two paths representing the two teams merged at the mountain spring.

Aupin’s finger moved to the mark of the mountain spring. “We are here now, and our goal is to come back here.”

He moved his finger to the northeast section of the big map, on the drawing of the anchor.

No one had any objections.

This island prohibited low-level magic and battle aura, and inhabited many unimaginable ferocious beasts. A union of all forces was necessary for survival.

External rescue was out of the question and hard to predict. What was more reliable was to rebuild the ship and set sail again.

The construction and maneuvering of a seaship couldn’t be done with just a few people.

“The difficulties before us are obvious, there are two.” Aupin continued, “The first one is the ferocious beasts along the way. The second one is the landform and environment changes. What do you guys think?”

Blueteres replied in a deep voice, “Sir, if low-level magic and battle aura were not prohibited, our strength would greatly improve. But we can only fight these beasts with our own flesh and blood. No matter what, Yellowteres and I will be your swords, we will strike wherever your eyes can reach.”

Blueteres had expressed his loyalty. Aupin nodded, he was satisfied with this attitude. “Then I look forward to your performance.”

After hearing this, Violette seemed to have noticed something. She looked at Blueteres confusingly and said, “That sounds a bit strange. If low-level magic and battle aura were not prohibited here, then those ferocious beasts would have the ability to use all kinds of spells. We would be powerful, but they would also be more threatening than they are now.”

“According to my hypothesis, that won’t be the case, madam Violette.” Palebeard continued, “I don’t think the beasts on this island can use any spells.”

“Oh? Why don’t you think so?” Violette asked.

Palebeard did not answer directly, he looked at Aupin instead. “Sir, have you found any magicite in the corpses of the beasts you eradicated?”

Aupin shook his head. “So far, I haven’t found a single piece of magicite.”

This was obviously abnormal.

Palebeard nodded and said, “Although we have not eliminated any Silver-rank beasts along the way, we have killed a lot of Bronze and Black Iron-rank beats.”

“But we haven’t found any magicite either.

“Why is this?

“The formation of magicite occurs over the lifetime of a magical beast in an environment full of elements. As it grows and eats, the magic power in its body continues to accumulate, finally a transformation occurs, and a magicite core forms. The magicite not only stores the vast majority of the beast’s magic power, but it can also help the magical beast stabilize and mobilize its magic power.

“Generally speaking, the stronger the magical beast, the higher the quality of the magicite in its body.”

Neither Aupin nor Violette had any objections to Palebeard’s words. This had always been common sense.

Afterward, Palebeard said his main point, “I think the magic power in the body of the beasts living on this island is chaotic. They cannot manipulate their magic power to be stable and orderly. Because of this, the beasts cannot control the magical power inside their body, and magicite cannot be formed.”

Violette nodded slightly, she then shook her head slightly. “If the magic power is chaotic, it is indeed impossible to form magicite. But this is only one of the possibilities for the lack of magicite. Palebeard, how do you know the magic power in these beasts is chaotic?”

This made Violette suspicious.

Violette was a Black Iron-rank mage, but she couldn’t use magic here, and she couldn’t investigate the state of magic power in the beast’s bodies.

Palebeard was just an ordinary person, not even a mage apprentice. How could he make an accurate judgment?

Faced with Violette’s doubts and questions, Palebeard calmly said, “I made an inference.”

The old scholar put forward a new opinion, “First of all, I think these magical beasts on the island are not from nature, they are all man-made.”

“Man-made magical beasts?!” Aupin and Violette glanced at each other, they both saw each other’s surprised expressions.

As for Blueteres, he probably heard Palebeard’s hypothesis a long time ago, so he wasn’t surprised in the slightest.

“So, why do you think that these beasts are not from nature and are man-made?” Aupin asked.

Palebeard slowly explained, “Ever since I stepped foot on the island, I have dissected many beasts, and found that although they have stable blood circulation and tight cooperation between their organs, when I dig deeper, they are not natural.”

Violette frowned slightly as she thought about these words. “Not natural?”

“Yes.” The old scholar in front of her nodded with a deep gaze. “They all lack natural aroma. Don’t you think these beasts feel like parts connected together?”

Violette said, “I once cleaned the corpse of a Monkey Tailed Brown Bear. It was a Silver-rank beast that died in the hands of Aupin. It had a monkey’s tail, a bear’s torso, and gorilla palms. But its fingers grew hard and slender like iron claws.

“At first glance, this Monkey Tailed Brown Bear looked like a gorilla, monkey, and brown bear pieced together. But in fact, its internal bone structure made sense. It had two hearts, and the rest of its internal organs perfectly matched its physique.

“I am a low-level mage. When I was studying, I devoted most of my energy to medicine. I collected a lot of raw materials and knew the structure of most creatures. Although this was the first time I saw a monster like this, I thought its physique was perfect. It did not have disabilities, mutations, or useless body tissues. What is unnatural about this?”

Aupin’s heart skipped a beat.

When Violette mentioned the Monkey Tailed Brown Bear, it reminded him of the mutation in his hands.

Under a desperate situation, his hands suddenly mutated and became sharp claws like the Monkey Tailed Brown Bear, killing the eight-legged spider with one blow.

Afterwards, his hands returned to their original shape.

For some unexplainable reason buried deep in his heart, Aupin chose to conceal this matter, not telling Violette.

Violette is mentioning this matter to show my strength. Aupin immediately realized Violette’s intentions.

Sure enough, the next second he saw Blueteres’ eyes widen, casting a gaze of admiration on him.

Blueteres exclaimed from his heart, “Sir, your strength really is powerful!”

“Sir Aupin, your talents are amazing. Your bravery and achievements will also be widely praised,” Palebeard said, he then immediately looked at Violette.

“Violette, what you said is not wrong. I fully trust your judgment. These life forms are indeed reasonable and stable.

“I do not have the qualifications of a mage, nor have I been exposed to medicinal training, but I have been fortunate enough to read many books. Some of these books contain the history of various clans. These books describe in detail the noble clans: how they rose to power and how they managed their territory. Their early pioneering history was actually a confrontation with nature, using manpower to shape nature.

“The content recorded in these books includes paying off the Lycan bandits, defending against beasts, hunting wolves near villages, forcing out wild boars in crop fields, etc.. In order to guide the descendants of the family, the sages who compiled these historic books left many carefully drawn illustrations that recorded in detail the shape and habits of the beats, and how to resist and kill them effectively.

“I have learned a lot from these books. After some pondering by my stupid mind, I have also created many shallow but interesting conclusions. As a result, it also made me feel how unnatural these beasts on the island are.

“I discovered that beasts with horns on their heads are usually herbivores. Their horns are their main weapon used to defend against predators.

“And the more ferocious carnivores have longer and sharper teeth, more muscle, and are good at chasing, especially short-distances. Some of their claws also have flesh under them, which allows them to approach prey quietly.”

Palebeard’s tone slightly changed.

“Not long ago, before Yellowteres had found us, there was a hill. The jungle was relatively sparse, the temperature was low, and occasionally some snowflakes were entwined in the wind. At the place we ended our expedition, we saw a Gold-rank beast.

“It was an elk with huge bone-like antlers on its head, like disordered tree branches. This elk ate meat and did not eat grass and it had a pair of huge snow-white wings on its back. I named it, White Feather Elk.

“Although we only saw it for a moment, I thought its bone and flesh structure made sense, it could stably and perfectly support its daily activities.

“But it was not natural. You see, its size was not suitable for flying. A pair of huge wings, at best, allowed it to glide. It ate meat, lived on high ground, and preyed on other animals. But its long antlers were used for defense, not offense. It was not suited for hunting prey, not optimal for lurking and hiding.

“Let’s take the Monkey Tailed Brown Bear you killed as an example. When monkeys swing in the forest trees, their tails keep their bodies in balance. When they jump in the air, the tail will stabilize their direction. But do brown bears need a tail? They are heavy. Can a tree bear its weight? Does it jump? Doesn’t the monkey tail feel a little redundant on the brown bear?

“Furthermore, the palm of gorillas is similar to a human hand. The biggest difference from the claws of many beasts is that the gorilla has a big thumb. This structure helps the gorilla to grab to the branches when moving between trees. But the Monkey Tailed Brown Bear grew sharp claws in its palm, isn’t this superfluous?

“This is why I say they are unnatural.”

The people around him began to think, Palebeard continued to talk.

“The first need of life is survival. The natural environment is cruel and harsh. Beasts that can successfully survive and reproduce often have amazing survival skills. These skills are usually manifested on their bodies.

“Like a mole… It has hard claws and its posture allows it to dig holes. But it is almost blind, in fact, it doesn’t need to see, the soil is dark and there is no light. Instead, its nose is extremely sensitive.

“This is life formed by nature. It has special strengths and shortcomings. Its advantages and disadvantages are unified, allowing it to find its position in the cruel survival competition with other species.

“But look at these beasts on the island. They are too powerful. Their body is very stable, but there are contradictions and conflicts with each other. Their hierarchy within nature is not clear.

“Why does a Monkey Tailed Brown Bear need a tail? It’s useless.

“Or the White Feather Elk. Does it need wide antlers? The heavy antlers on its head are instead an obstacle to its hunting activities.”