[D'sP] The Difference Between Magic And Monster - Chapter 488

Ally, ‘We’ll start with the known!’

Ally pulls up a blue screen and Doyle focuses on what he is seeing.

Ally shakes her head, ‘Use the screen to anchor your actual view. You’ll want a front-row seat. The blue screens are handy, but the system very specifically makes it so they aren’t true to life. It wants people to go out and see things, not turn into screen-heads.’

Doyle nods and uses the blue screen to do just that. Which certainly proves true. Oh, the blue screen, barring the blue edges, was true to life. Pre-system gamers would foam at the mouth over such accurate color matching.

Except actually seeing the landscape? Maybe it was literally magic, but then again, he had felt this whenever he managed to go out for a hike, so maybe not. There is just something bigger about it all, something More when seen directly.

The scene views the portal directly from above. There are oak trees all around and the portal is hard to see. One problem.

Doyle turns to Ally, ‘Uh, why are the leaves changing color?’

Ally sighs, ‘Yeah, we’ve been a bit stuck in. It’s already fall! Not that it has to be fall around Wolf’s Rest. In fact, the trees aren’t turning there yet. It’s nearly harvest time.’

Doyle snaps his view to Wolf’s Rest and she isn’t wrong, the fields he can see are ready to be harvested. However, it’s dark out. ‘Dang, what’s the time difference between the portals?’

Ally glances over at what he is looking at. ‘Oh yeah, the second portal is like three or four hours behind? I don’t have an exact time because it’s hard to get a kobold to set up a proper sundial and I was never good at judging time by the position of the sun or moon. Not really a skill you pick up when you have the exact time available at any time.’

Doyle, ‘Well, I guess Ace really doesn’t have a chance of finding that portal.’

Ally shrugs, ‘Distance doesn’t mean as much. You should know that, given how connected your world was. Before the quarantine ends, there will be people flying under their own power at the speed of planes. Ace, given his wood magic, might even manage tree stepping. And well–’

She gestures at all the oak trees around the second portal. ‘–More than enough oaks here and I’m sure they spread across this continent. Well, assuming this is the same continent? With the time difference, that might not be the case. Given the map of your world, pre-system, we can’t be certain even ignoring the system’s tendency to do a little terraforming to create monster islands.’

Doyle sighs, ‘So, there might not be any people near my other portal, at all? I’m not sure whether that would make me happy or sad. Because we’re getting some new patterns right now, but growth would need new people.’

Ally nods, ‘And you’re not likely to get a third portal soon unless you get lucky with a path. Anyway, back to the area around the other portal.’

Doyle realigns his view, and Ally pans it around. And yeah, it was a forest. A few more critters out and about than Doyle is used to, but that could easily be the fact they’re using an invisible viewpoint. Maybe a regular forest is more active when a human isn’t clomping around?

Though things most certainly aren’t “normal”, no matter how you view the population density. Because while none of the critters are monsters. They are not mundane.

At the most basic level, they all possess inherently better bodies. Stats did wonders for them. Not that animals can’t already do some impressive feats. Simply that these animals are clearly displaying feats of strength, speed, and reaction much higher than expected. It almost looks like when you watch a video at one and a quarter speed or maybe closer to 1.1 speed. Except stuff like falling leaves do so at the normal pace.

From there, it only got crazier. Sure, there wasn’t a species of mice running around and shooting electricity at things. However, individual critters do appear to have gained powers of one sort or another.

A squirrel with a magically enhanced jump distance. That songbird with feathers that blur its exact location. And over there is a snake that looks normal, but Doyle can feel that it is using magic to regulate its temperature and negating the whole “cold-blooded” thing.

Oh, and by far the most common examples are the large insects. Magic coming in to begin the work of beating the square-cube law. Though for the moment it is limited to things like butterflies the size of a hand and toe-sized beetles. Not that they’re all accomplishing this in the same way.

Doyle pauses, ‘Wait a second. Is that a flower?’

He takes control of the view and shifts it down. ‘Yeah, that’s a flower and not one that should still be blooming at this point. Leastwise, it doesn’t look like one.’

Ally nods, ‘Yep, that’ll happen as well. Plants and insects are similar as magic tends to affect them in similar ways. As you just saw, insects get bigger and what happens with plants is that their life cycle gets extended. It’s how you get stuff like a five hundred-year-old ginseng root.

‘They don’t normally live that long, but it can now happen and with the extended growth? Well, it is already magical and so extra magic tends to get incorporated into the plant. 

‘Though this early on? Safe to assume that flower is likely close to going to seed. The extended vitality already used.’

Doyle, ‘So, what’s up with all these things using magic? I thought that would elevate them right into being monsters or something of the sort?’

Ally takes back control of the view and zooms it around to a few of the already seen magical critters and some of their non-magical fellows. ‘Note how the magic is being used. Even that snake is actively using the magic and if it went to sleep, the effect would likely not persist.

‘This is important because it represents the core difference between a magical beast and an actual monster. Technically, every person who uses magic is a magical beast. Monsters are the ones who have some physical aspect that innately channels magic for them.

‘Such a change does generally result in an odd appearance. Even if it is something as simple as a fire-channeling monster having their fur turn red. Though important to note, unlike with magical beasts, the same thing does not extend to sapients and being a monster. In fact, if a monster outside of a dungeon gains sapience, they stop being a monster. And the only reason dungeon monsters don’t count is because technically the monsters themselves don’t have a soul. It is the dungeon that has a soul, as seen by the fact that when a boss dies, the soul is stored in the core until they respawn. At least, that’s how they justify it.’

Doyle, ‘Okay, so those critters are just using magic, while monsters are those changed by magic.’

Ally nods, ‘Yep. The reason for this is because a monster can pass its changes down to their children. While a magical beast might be able to teach its magic, like how in Wolf’s Rest the “fire ribbon” spell has been passed around, but any children that don’t learn the magic have no greater chance at said magic than others of their species. And given that animals aren’t always the best at passing such things down, you tend to end up with a lot of one-offs.’

Ally moves the view back and sweeps it outward in a spiral. ‘Now let’s finish looking at what we can properly see.’

Not much changes, though the view is still beautiful. There are small clearings, a smattering of other types of trees, even more critters, and at the edges, they spot a couple predators. Not big ones, but still, a lynx and a fox are an exciting change of pace.

Doyle has to ask though, ‘Why didn’t I see any bigger creatures? Like, where are the deer?’

Ally shrugs, ‘Deer specifically are more active during dawn and dusk, so there is that. Though more realistically, our portal is the cause. Once a creature gets that big? They tend to either seek out the portal or avoid it and what you’re seeing through right now is your territory. Basically, the area of effect of your dungeon on the outside world.’

Doyle, ‘Isn’t that bad for predator and prey balance? Things don’t tend to go well if you remove the pressure of predation.’

Ally, ‘It isn’t that bigger creatures can’t or won’t enter. You saw those two at the edge. There is nothing stopping them from entering the area, they just won’t stick around.’

Ally then pulls the view back and gives a good overhead view of the area. Which even with the leaves turning, still looks full of life. Doyle had missed it, besides the one flower, but the other plants are all still very lively.

Before Doyle can ask, Ally gets in, having expected the question. ‘No, they’re not all magical plants. This is simply heightened resistance that magic provides. Which for people gets represented in their stats.

‘With the first frost or enough nights that get close, they’ll all finish up their growth cycles. These normal plants simply aren’t yet adapted to the changes wrought by magic. Give it a few years and their life cycles will sync back up with how they were.’

Doyle, ‘Then why are the leaves on the trees still changing?’

Ally shrugs, ‘I won’t say that trees are smarter. They don’t have minds for the most part. However, they live a long time and for some reason react quicker to the changes wrought by magic.’

Doyle, ‘Wait, don’t some plants go by more of a time-based growth cycle? Like, I remember that some plants need to have their growing environment changed on a regular schedule for the best results. You know, when being kept in a temperature-controlled environment like a home or greenhouse.’

Ally, ‘Well, you’ll notice that despite how lively things are, it is mostly greenery. Things like flowers tend to represent the end of a plant’s life cycle for the year and what do you know, we don’t see many of those plants still standing. Anyway, neither of us is a botanist and while I know a bit about this, what with being a Fae, I feel we should focus back on the important stuff.’

Doyle, ‘Did I miss something?’

Ally, ‘I wouldn’t say you missed it? The actual area within your territory is mostly flat. However, over here’, and she shifts the view again, ‘You will notice the terrain is sloped? Yeah, over in that direction there are hills that may turn into mountains. To get a good view, I’d have to go out myself for a look as I can’t use eagle-eye magic through the blue screen.

‘And if there are mountains? Well, it is not very safe for me to be flying around out there, especially not up high enough to get a look. Flying creatures around mountains tend not to be a joke, even if they aren’t magical or monsters.’

Doyle, ‘Okay, but what does a mountain we might not even be able to see matter to us?’

Ally, ‘Extreme locations will breed extreme creatures, and said creatures don’t always stay home. Along with being hard to clear out? Even if there are people nearby, we’re likely to always see a trickle of new and interesting creatures.

‘Well, as long as someone doesn’t build a town around this portal as well. Except the foothills of a mountain tend not to be the safest place to make a town, especially this early on. Animals tend to be more innately dangerous on a physical level right from the start. There’s a reason the system has placed the communities near, but not too close to things like big forests and hills. If anything, Wolf’s Rest is a little too close, but that is with the understanding that the original two settlements were actually a decent walk away from where our portal is.’

And Plans Of Scouting - Chapter 487

Glowing Berries - Chapter 489