Ch.114114. Birdman (2)

After being guided by the Birdmen, we arrived at their village.

[“Companion, would it be possible for you to allow the Thunder Eagle to stay with our tribe for a while?”]

“…What?”

When I heard those words—which could easily be mistaken for some kind of human trafficking proposal—I stiffened and questioned them. The Birdman chief, noticing his verbal misstep, hurriedly began to explain.

The Birdman tribe worshipped the Thunder Eagle… that is, Corin. Their faith wasn’t based on any expectation of reward but rather touched on something beyond rational understanding.

So when they asked if they could host Corin for a while, it was essentially the psychology of a fan wanting to meet their favorite celebrity, even if just briefly.

“That’s what happened. Sorry, Corin.”

[“Y-y-you traitor! Aaaaargh! I’ll curse you! How dare you abandon me among these strange creatures!”]

After much deliberation, I offered Corin as a temporary sacrifice to receive hospitality and stay in the village. I contacted Sophia to inform her that I would be staying here for a while.

[“That’s fine, Gregory. The Prophet needs to make some adjustments to Tarasque’s functions anyway, so you can stay there as long as you wish.”]

‘…Really?’

The timing was perfect. We decided to accept their hospitality and stay in this village for a while to train… which ultimately proved to be a very wise decision.

[“…Urgh?”]

“Are you coming to your senses?”

[“Urgh… Urgh!! Uuugh!!!”]

The Tzompantli “Ketzak,” who had been healing beside my soul, was now fully recovered and could be summoned. This beast with human-level intelligence seemed to recognize that I had saved its life, approaching me and nuzzling against me affectionately.

As I was analyzing this creature called Tzompantli, I discovered something unexpected that left me astonished.

When forming an animal companion contract, the druid and the animal (or magical beast) influence each other’s powers. Through this principle, I gained the ability to wield primal mysteries originating from the Tzompantli “Ketzak.”

‘…Ooooh!!!’

[“So big! Amazing! Super cool!”]

-BOOM! THUD!

The most notable example was that through animal transformation magic, I could now transform into primal beasts like the Bloodsaurus.

After transforming into various primal beasts that had maintained their ancient forms in the primeval jungles of the southern new continent, I discovered something remarkable… these primal beasts were incredibly powerful, beyond imagination.

Perhaps it was due to their enormous size?

Most primal beasts, including the Bloodsaurus, possessed physical abilities ranking in the upper tier of intermediate level, and the output of their special abilities was also quite high.

But… gaining something means losing something else. While primal beasts possessed overwhelming combat power, their special abilities were generally simpler in nature.

For example, among the special abilities that the Tzompantli had been using, the more complex ones were all from non-primal creatures. Most abilities possessed by primal beasts were extremely simple in structure and principle.

…If you were to ask whether this is necessarily a disadvantage, the catch is that it’s not particularly so.

On the other hand, the reason I couldn’t hide my shock when looking at Ketzak the Tzompantli was because of the changes that occurred in Ketzak due to the influence of my mysteries.

Originally, the Tzompantli had the ability to permanently strengthen itself through predation and nutrient absorption, as well as the ability to steal one random ability from its prey, store it, and use it once…

But after forming an animal companion contract with me and being influenced by that role, Tzompantli Ketzak underwent an independent evolution, losing its original predation ability and gaining a new one instead.

Namely, “Special Ability Copying.”

Of course, this isn’t an ability that allows indiscriminate copying and usage without limitations; there are various restrictions.

It can only copy abilities from me and my animal companions who are spiritually connected to it, and it can only copy and use one special ability at a time.

Therefore, although it has the power to copy special abilities that my animal companions or I possess, Tzompantli Ketzak cannot use all of our abilities.

For example, my spell-casting ability is a result of three combined special abilities: “Magic Aptitude,” “Great Nature Mystery Assimilation,” and “Spell Activation,” so Ketzak’s copying ability cannot use it.

Additionally, it cannot use abilities that don’t include immunity to their byproducts, such as the Hydra’s poison.

Thus, despite its impressive-sounding name, the copying ability alone is quite mediocre and clumsy. However, we have plenty of methods to compensate for these limitations.

Since it still retains the ability to permanently increase physical abilities through predation, it can continuously strengthen over time. Even considering just the abilities it can copy now, this lower-ranked primal beast the size of a large dog deserves high praise.

The abilities it can currently copy include the three major elemental attributes—lightning, cold, and fire—as well as Gretel’s aura, the Hydra’s super regeneration ability, and the defense-penetrating teeth of the Squeak-Squeaks.

Satisfied with the special abilities of my newly joined animal companion, I wanted to develop magic using the primal mysteries I could now access.

Primal mysteries—unlike the mysteries that have deteriorated or been altered by the civilizations built by sentient beings—still maintain their pre-collapse properties to some extent, making them an incredibly attractive power.

Primal mysteries are fundamentally rough and aggressive… quite similar to wild mysteries, and thanks to this, I was able to supplement the firepower I had been lacking until now.

The characteristic of a Wild Conclave Druid is high stability.

Basically, they compensate for weaknesses through animal companion contracts and overcome the chronic weakness of spellcasters in close combat by transforming themselves with animal transformation magic.

Additionally, most wild magic specializes in buffs, making it quite effective for rear support, and it’s also optimized for learning healing magic.

But despite these abilities, Wild Conclave Druids suffer from a critical weakness—a chronic lack of firepower.

From the beginning, wild magic itself doesn’t have many attack spells that directly target enemies, and the truly powerful aspects of druid magic are found in nature or celestial branches.

Until now, I had been making do with nature magic thanks to the staff my mother gave me… but compared to specialists focused on nature magic, my level was insignificant.

Of course, now it’s different.

Primal mysteries are similar to wild mysteries yet subtly different, and what particularly impressed me was the violence inherent in primal mysteries.

While mysteries are generally closer to principles than energy, unlike mana, this primal mystery can exert physical influence by itself.

Thanks to this, I was not only able to break free from the buff-heavy wild magic and cast spells with proper offensive power, but I could also dramatically improve the buffing aspect that was the specialty of traditional wild magic.

Specifically, with the “Primal Regression” spell—the primalized version of the “Wild Explosion” spell.

True to its name, this spell makes the target beast regress to its primal form, and it boasts outstanding performance and effects considered the pinnacle of wild magic.

For example, when I cast this spell on the Hydra, it transformed from its dinosaur-like form with 12 snake heads to a snake with hundreds of heads, as described in ancient mythology.

Its regenerative ability—where one head grows into two when cut off—was faithfully implemented, and its deadly poison became even more potent, fitting for its agonizing toxicity.

When Robo became the target of this spell, his ability to handle cold became even more activated.

His fur turned completely white, ice-like spikes protruded from various parts of his body, and he reached a level where a mini-otherworld was automatically constructed around him.

Thus, while the basic principle of this “Primal Regression” spell is to return the target to an ancient form of its species, the essence of this magic is to unleash the target’s potential.

Pleased with this unexpected gain, I continued to accumulate various magical powers and devoted myself to training in the mysteries of the wild.

And then… one day.

An “incident” occurred—or rather, a spontaneous event that no one could have predicted.