The snowboard raced toward the stable at breakneck speed. Having spent so much time with these gentle animals, Ryan naturally felt a deep bond with them, making his heart fill with urgency.
"Damn it! What are you? Put down… Damn it!" Ryan burst into the stable, only to find the gate already shattered. A humanoid creature was gnawing on a horse, blood dripping everywhere. Ryan recognized the horse—it was a colt he had personally raised. Yet the creature ignored him entirely, its attention solely on its gruesome feast. The horrifying sight made Ryan feel nauseous, while the other horses huddled together, trembling in fear.
"Fireball!" Ryan muttered the incantation, summoning a small fireball between his fingers and flinging it at the creature.
"Roar!" The fireball struck the beast, causing it to let out a heart-wrenching cry. It raised its head and charged ferociously at Ryan.
The stable lacked light, and Ryan had no intention of entering. Keeping his distance was the hallmark of a mage's combat style. Being cautious and valuing his life, Ryan knew better than to charge recklessly into danger. His gaming experience came in handy at moments like these.
"A Level 1 magical beast—Magic Ape." Ryan finally got a clear view of the humanoid creature. It stood at least two meters tall and walked upright, resembling an oversized gorilla from Earth. However, its claws were sharp as blades. While the Magic Ape couldn't cast many spells, it did have a single earth-element ability, Stone Skin, which it could use a limited number of times. Its magic resistance, though, was incredibly high. According to the bestiary, a lone Level 1 mage stood no chance against it. Ryan's mind raced as he recalled these details.
Ryan observed the charging Magic Ape, calmly launching another fireball. This time, he aimed for its face, a known weak spot. Seeing the fireball hurtling toward it, the Magic Ape raised its arms to shield its face. The fur on its arms sizzled and burned, filling the air with a foul, burnt-leather smell.
"Roar!" The Magic Ape lowered its arms and let out a thunderous bellow before charging again. Its low intelligence blinded it to the growing distance between itself and Ryan.
"Ha! This is getting interesting," Ryan muttered, smirking. After casting his second fireball, he pushed off the ground with his left foot, causing his snowboard to glide backward. He maintained a steady 30-meter distance from the Magic Ape, knowing that his fireball spell had an effective range of 50 meters. The two meters of snow covering the ground gave Ryan an advantage, allowing him to easily outpace the clumsy beast.
Several failed charges later, the Magic Ape grew increasingly frustrated but remained relentless. Its childlike intelligence prevented it from giving up, though Ryan knew other Level 1 magical beasts were much craftier.
The chase continued, with Ryan and the Magic Ape weaving through the snow-covered stable yard. Ryan's repeated fireballs had left the Magic Ape's arms battered and bloodied. Its movements were further hindered by the snow, limiting its agility.
"Roar! Roar! Roar!" Frustrated by its inability to catch Ryan, the Magic Ape let out a series of deafening howls. A yellowish glow enveloped its body, and stony wrinkles appeared on its skin. Then, with a sudden roll, the Magic Ape hurtled toward Ryan.
"Using Stone Skin will just make you heavier, you fool… Uh-oh." Ryan chuckled but quickly noticed a shadow racing toward him. He rolled out of the way just in time.
"Ouch!" Ryan exclaimed, inspecting himself. A shallow gash on his waist trickled blood. The Magic Ape's claws had torn through his clothes, which were already worn and tattered. "Whew, good thing I dodged in time," he muttered.
"Roar! Roar! Roar!" The Magic Ape sniffed its claws, delighting in the faint scent of blood. It pounded its hairy chest and roared in triumph before rolling toward Ryan once more, its claws gleaming ominously in the snowy landscape.
"Damn it! Just because I'm quiet doesn't mean I'm weak!" Ryan groaned, casting Water Ball this time. The winter environment amplified the spell's effect, creating a soccer-ball-sized sphere of water. Environmental conditions greatly influenced spellcasting. For instance, a Water Ball cast in a lake might grow to the size of a high-level water spell, though its power would still be less than the genuine article.
"Earth Shield! Water Ball!" Ryan yelled, abandoning all pretense of elegance. His clothes were long gone, leaving only a ragged strip of cloth around his waist for modesty. Learning from experience, he conjured an Earth Shield in front of him for defense, then hurled a Water Ball at the charging Magic Ape.
"Ha! Frozen solid, aren't you? You thought my Water Ball was just for fun? Come on! Try again!" Ryan shouted triumphantly. The Magic Ape, now covered in ice from Ryan's repeated attacks, had become immobilized. Its relentless rolling through the snow and repeated dousing from Ryan's spells had left it completely frozen, its limbs rigid and unresponsive.
"Hey! I told you to cause trouble, and trouble you shall cause!" Ryan continued hurling water orbs at the Magic Ape's body. Once the Magic Ape was completely immobilized, Ryan planned to use a fireball spell to melt the ice on its head, followed by a wind blade spell to decapitate it.
"This Magic Ape is practically a treasure trove of alchemy materials," said Niu Niu, who had suddenly appeared beside Ryan.
"Exactly! How could I forget?" Ryan smacked his forehead, then glanced at Niu Niu. She seemed unusually polite today. After speaking, Ryan turned and headed back into the cave.
"A Magic Ape? Hmm... Its blood is an excellent solution for soaking leather. If you can harvest the hide and blood from a Magic Ape, the resulting armor will have enhanced defensive properties. Its teeth can be used as natural materials for crafting daggers or arrowheads. The bones, when ground into powder and mixed with blood, become ingredients for earth-element magic arrays. The gallbladder is a material for engraving such arrays, and its claws are ready-made daggers. Its eyeballs, when soaked in a solution of blood and bile, can be embedded in a hat to provide dust resistance. The sinew is excellent for crafting magical bows. Its brain matter is a natural tonic, and its bone marrow can enhance an earth-element mage's magic capacity. Truly a treasure trove! Damaged my clothes, though—time to craft a set of leather armor. Hmm, you could call this a strange, otherworldly version of philanthropy!" Ryan exclaimed, grabbing a wooden bucket and rushing toward the Magic Ape.
Ryan clumsily began draining the Magic Ape's blood. The creature's blood, though red, was not thick but had a faint earthy yellow tinge. It was said that the blood of a ninth-level magical beast would take on the color of its element. Ryan managed to extract about half a bucket of blood, but refining it posed a challenge. Blood had to be processed immediately using magic to remove impurities, leaving only the essence. This required constant stirring and magical effort. If the Magic Ape's brain, bone marrow, and eyeballs weren't quickly extracted, they would lose their potency. However, a crystal bottle could preserve the blood's vitality without any magic.
"Give me the blood," Niu Niu offered. Though she wasn't particularly skilled in the process either, seeing Ryan struggling prompted her to step in.
"Alright," Ryan said, handing over the bucket. Niu Niu, despite her small frame, lifted the large bucket effortlessly. From a distance, it looked like the bucket was flying on its own.
"Take this, Wind Blade!" Ryan targeted the folds in the Magic Ape's neck, where the skin was thinner and easier to cut. He carefully peeled back the hide. Although it was Ryan's first time doing this, he managed. Luckily, the Magic Ape had been drained of most of its blood, and its meat was a pale, snowy white rather than red. The Magic Ape's hide was about 2 millimeters thick, and Ryan immediately took the first strip to Niu Niu in the cave for further processing.
It took Ryan a tremendous amount of effort to fully dismember the Magic Ape. The snow-covered ground was soon piled with bones, meat, sinew, and other parts. He left the internal organs behind, as they had already cooled; if still warm, they could have been used for certain potions. To Ryan's surprise, the Magic Ape's sinew was as thick as his arm. Remembering the saying "you are what you eat," he decided to keep it for himself.
The real work began afterward. Ryan had prepared a solution for the Magic Ape's eyeballs, which he immediately placed into the mix. The sinew was set aside to dry. Bone marrow and brain matter would serve as dinner—Ryan had always loved pig brains back on Earth. Teeth and claws were tossed aside for now.
"Whew! That was exhausting. Now I understand why mercenaries always work in teams. But hey, the magic core is a prize! Wonder if it's worth much," Ryan said, gathering all the usable materials into the cave before collapsing onto a pile of straw.
"Mercenaries don't usually bother with this stuff," Niu Niu replied. "Venturing into a magical beast forest takes months, and all these materials are worth just a few hundred gold coins. Only portable items like eyeballs, teeth, and claws are taken, while brains are eaten for nourishment. Didn't you know?"
Ryan assumed Niu Niu would be refining the blood over a fire in a large metal pot, but instead, she used a magical furnace. The magical furnace, resembling a short, round kettle, was inscribed with runes and powered by fire-elemental magic cores. It handled everything automatically—quite a luxurious and valuable item, made primarily from crystal. Ryan couldn't help but wonder who had been unfortunate enough to lose it.
"How would I know?" Ryan said with a wry smile.
"Books. If you'd read the ones on the table, you'd know. Oh, and here's the refined blood," Niu Niu replied, pointing to a sealed crystal bottle on the wooden table. Inside, a faintly glowing, earthy yellow liquid shimmered.
Ryan picked up the bottle and examined it. "Is this all? Just a tiny bit?"
"What did you expect?" Niu Niu retorted irritably. "We only had half a bucket to start with. Some of it had to be used for soaking the hide and eyeballs. This is the refined portion."
"Time for meat! Finally, fresh meat after months of going without. Self-sufficiency is the way to go. By the way, Niu Niu, where did this Magic Ape come from?" Ryan asked, fishing out a piece of meat from the boiling pot.
"These things don't come out of nowhere. Magical beasts have legs, after all. In winter, food is scarce, but you'll only find creatures around levels two or three here," Niu Niu replied.
"Niu Niu, don't you think it's odd how the Rishi Kingdom, being so close to the imperial lands, is so desolate?" Ryan asked again.
"It's a mountainous region. What else did you expect? Now stop bothering me and go read a book," Niu Niu said impatiently.
"Hmm, should I stay or leave? With my status as a mage, I shouldn't encounter too much trouble. After all, what's a mere knight compared to a mage?" Ryan pondered aloud, reflecting on his growing understanding of this world's hierarchies.
"I wonder... Do nobles here really have the legendary right of the first night?" Ryan thought mischievously, popping another piece of Magic Ape meat into his mouth.