Aether Beasts!
Aether Beasts...
Aether Beasts.
The best way I can explain them is that they're...animal plus.
No that ain't right...non-mortal plus?
Alright, no...let's try this...
________________________________________________
Aether beasts are creatures that occur when normal animals and plants suddenly develop the ability to cultivate and use aether, like mortals. This sudden development can occur due to them ingesting aether herbs, living in danger zones where the aether is denser than usual, when cultivators decide to infuse their pets or livestock with aether or it just happens out of nowhere.
________________________________________________
...is what I had initially thought, but after spending more time in Valresta, I can say it's a lot...whackier than this.
________________________________________________
For starters, turns out all animals have the capability of turning into aether beasts with a big enough infusion, but the peak strength of these aforementioned beasts is random and vague to say the least.
For example, on the Stampeding Bison continent, there is a flatland full of bison type of aether beasts, that range from fourth tier peak Diamond -Horned Bison to first tier Copper Hooves Bisons.
However, a little known fact about these bison is that they all come from the same mundane stock.
Depending on how these bison spend their youth, what they eat, from what elders they learn their skills from, the mundane bison can evolve/mutate into Aether beast bisons of any element.
This gets really confusing on a genealogy tree, but....let's just do a proper example.
Let's say there are two calves that both came from the same mother, a completely ordinary bison.
Now, let's say the first calf ends up eating and developing a liking for Devil Chillis, a first tier aether plant known for its Ignati energy.
Over time, it will eventually develop into an aether beast known as the Smoke-Breath Bison, a first tier fire type aether beast.
As for the second calf, they end up eating a third tier Cyclone Pineapple, and end up coming a Twister Horn Bison, a 3rd tier air type aether beast.
Now, depending on whether or not those aforementioned calves ended up becoming the students for older and stronger Aether beast bisons, they could develop different enhanced features, abilities and maybe even whole new aether types.
In essence...I guess aether beasts develop in the same way mortals do, just less set instructions and more...random happenstance.
________________________________________________
I just realized this place would probably give Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel heart attacks...especially when the interspecies stuff gets involved.
________________________________________________
I'm not sure why or how but around the 7th tier and above, aether beasts are able to breed across species lines.
Like...all of them.
Rattle-Tailed Tigers, Ox-Head Constrictors, fucking Jackalopes, literally any and all, what I have been dubbing "chimeric" beasts can trace their bloodlines back to a progenitor "first" chimera that was born from the result of two "normal" 7th tier aether beasts get frisky.
Hell, there's a reason why "dragon-blooded" is it's own separate category of aether beast altogether.
I'm not entirely sure what to label this phenomenon, but the fact that ligers are considered natural on this planet is mildly cool to me.
________________________________________________
That said...I'm still not sure who topped who in the creation of the Ox-Horned Lion that serves as my dad's companion...oh right!
________________________________________________
Due to aether beasts being living things infused with the power of aether, they're able to produce a variety of naturally occurring materials that are useful for aether cultivation in a myriad of ways.
Aside from the general flesh, fruit, skin and bones most aether beasts provide like some mundane animals, aether beasts can produce some more... unusual by-products.
________________________________________________
Aether Beast Cores
Certain powerful aether beasts can produce an aether beast core, a crystallization of their power that serves a fuckton of different uses for warriors of any trade.
The technical term is something like...Heart-Soul Crystallized Aether Beast Core, but that's such a mouthful of a name everyone just go with "aether beast core", unless they're alchemists or professionals that work with aether beast cores.
Aether beast cores are surprisingly stable and can serve a variety of purposes to bring key components in medicines, fuel and or material for certain type of tools and some cultivstors can even consume them wholesale to make themselves more powerful.
That said, aether beast cores are simultaneously the most common and most valuable commodity due to the cores quality being highly dependent on the beast it comes from.
________________________________________________
Sacred Beast Essence.
Liquid platinum as it were in the world of cultivators and alchemists, Sacred Beast Essence is a strange liquid substance produced by eighth tier and above aether beasts.
Well, technically sixth tier and above but anything below eight is a gamble, eighth is guaranteed.
By consuming Sacred Beast Essence directly one can gain the ability to express their aether in the same manner as the beast it came from, assuming there's compatability.
For example, if an ice aether cultivator can get their hands on Blue Glacial Ape Essence or Blizzard Scorpion King essence, they'd be able to produce an ice similar to one of those two beasts.
However, the true worth of the Sacred Beast Essence is it's usage in medicine making, since raw essence is powerful, refined essence is divine.
On a secondary note, it should be noted that while Sacred Beast Essence is super useful to a lot of cultivators, not all cultivators should consume all essences.
It's not so much a power limit, moreso...allergies.
Life debilitating, mutation of the body, allergies.
________________________________________________
Natural Arrays.
No idea why, but aether beasts sometimes come born into the world with arrays built into their bodies.
As a refresher, aether arrays are patterns and seals designed to manipulate the surrounding aether around them in a specific way. Think of it like...coding or magic circuits.
Some aether beasts come into the world with natural Cultivation arrays imprinted onto their cores, giving them the ability to cultivate more efficiently than some of their peers and even surpass their natural limits, heaven willing.
The other type of array are known as "supplemental arrays."
These types of arrays are interesting in the sense that they can use either the beast's internal aether or external sources of sufficient, and their effects vary wildly.
Some do nothing more than increase the sharpness of a beast's claws, or they do absolutely insane shit like help to condense balls of magma out of thin air.
Side note advice: If you find a rat in a tier 6 danger area, surrounded by corpses, steer clear.
________________________________________________
Aside from materials though, there are many cultivators out there that seek to tame aether beasts as pets and companions.
There is a lot of complexity surrounding that bit, so much so that it's just easier to push that off to another chapter.
But for now just keep in mind: aether beasts are like normal animals, but they can breath fire.
Interpret that as you will.