Kiseungsu

A **kiseungsu** (Korean: 기승수, Hanja: 騎乘獸, RR: *giseungsu*; lit. "riding beast") or **beast mount** is a monster that has been tamed and trained for use by a Hunter. They can be ridden into battle or act as additional fighters in a raid party, primarily assisting in dungeon raids.

## Origin and value

Kiseungsu are raised from baby monsters captured alive during dungeon raids, as adult monsters are too hostile towards humanity to be easily tamed. Once the chosen monster is tamed by an Awakened person with a taming skill, it can be trained by its owner to gain proficiency in skills suiting its nature and role.

Important characteristics looked for in a kiseungsu are:

* *high rank and tier*. The higher-ranked the kiseungsu, the stronger it will be overall and the less likely to get injured or killed.
* *achievable growth conditions*. Since the monsters are captured as babies, if they cannot be raised into combat-ready adults, they cannot act as kiseungsu.
* *suitable aptitudes*. The kiseungsu's attributes and skills must match or complement its owner's abilities, or they risk potentially deadly friction during combat.

The appearances of baby monsters in dungeons (especially high-rank ones) is rare, let alone the appearance of one that fits the criteria above. Raising a monster also costs significant amounts in both time and money, so monsters that are discovered to be impossible to raise or train are generally killed. As a result, kiseungsu are extremely rare and therefore extremely valuable. Even a standard horse-type monster is treated on par with an S-rank item, while stronger monsters with better aptitude matches have exponentially more value, with fully-trained adult kiseungsu potentially costing upwards of hundreds of billions in won.

## Personality

Kiseungsu are as varied in personality as their human owners. Regardless, they are all notably more acclimated to humans than monsters who live in dungeons, being apathetic to their existence if not actively enjoying their presence or seeking out their company.

## Uses

Kiseungsu are chosen for various reasons; some are chosen for their speed and act as mounts for Hunters (such as the Gold Gryphon Blue) while others are strong and intelligent enough to assist in combat (such as the Horned Flame Lion Peace) yet others specialize in defense (such as the Lake Winen Lizard) or even support. The best kiseungsu have multiple or all of these strengths.

There's a high demand for kiseungsu from Hunters, especially high-rank Hunters, all around the world. Due to the large amounts of travel time required to get from one end to the other in higher-ranking dungeons, kiseungsu can not only support Hunters as additional fighters but also cut down significantly on total time and stamina usage required for dungeon raids. Raid teams would ideally have one kiseungsu per person, but one kiseungsu for every couple of team members is noted as a sufficient headcount as well, with the given example being 10 kiseungsu for the 20 members of an S-rank raid team.

## History

Kiseungsu were vanishingly rare, if at all existent, in the first three years after the dungeons appeared.

### Original timeline, pre-regression

As time went on, some low-rank monsters were successfully raised into kiseungsu, but no mid- or high-rank monsters achieved the same, likely due to unachievable growth conditions. Even so, the total count of kiseungsu remained extremely low. What kiseungsu existed were also not utilized heavily by high-ranks due to the danger of taking low- or mid-rank monsters into high-rank dungeons, only being brought along occasionally on initial raids. Han Yoohyun in particular was confirmed to not have a kiseungsu.

## Synopsis

After Han Yoojin regresses and gains the Perfect Caregiver title, along with its associated growth buff skills, he is able to use them to bypass the impassable growth conditions for high-rank monsters, training them into kiseungsu. Upon learning of this, Han Yoohyun (through his guild, Haeyeon) made several international purposes of baby monsters to supply to his brother, including a Volcanic Black Sheep and a Lake Winen Lizard among others, to be eventually raised into kiseungsu. Han Yoojin then goes on to form a contract with five major guilds (Haeyeon, Seseong, Breaker, MKC, Hanshin) and the Hunter Association, gathering their support to establish a kiseungsu rearing facility which takes kiseungsu training commissions from guilds and Hunters the world over.

## References

1. ↑ *The S-Ranks That I Raised* Novel: Chapter 18
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *The S-Ranks That I Raised* Novel: Chapter 35
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 *The S-Ranks That I Raised* Novel: Chapter 10
4. ↑ *The S-Ranks That I Raised* Novel: Chapter 11
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 *The S-Ranks That I Raised* Novel: Chapter 212
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *The S-Ranks That I Raised* Novel: Chapter 37
7. ↑ *The S-Ranks That I Raised* Novel: Chapter 36
8. ↑ *The S-Ranks That I Raised* Novel: Chapter 41
9. ↑ *The S-Ranks That I Raised* Novel: Chapter 42