Fundamentals of Magic

Before delving into the voluminous field of a monster's composition and its interactions with everyday materials and magic, a rudimentary reminder of the essence of magic itself will be beneficial in understanding the contents of this book later on. Bear in mind that this will not be a comprehensive explanation of magic but a cursory overview of the fundamentals, explained with history to elucidate how monsters have grown to understand what forms them.

Investigations of magic are thought to have begun around 750 BCE. Initial attempts made minimal progress, given that the monster population was sparse and resources scarce. Consequently, monsters lagged a few decades behind humans in technological development for the following centuries until the 16th century, noted by the rise of a monster who became a revolutionary in the field of magic: Twobit Vanhelm, one of the last slime monsters recorded. Although her composition rendered him ineffective for combat or other careers at the time, she was noted for her determination - occasionally compared to a human's -  and unrivalled scientific temperament. By experimenting on fragments of her own body, a slime being the least developed form a monster could take, the current theory for magic's crux was proposed: magic was proposed to be a selectively visible and tangible, weightless fluid. Although it is omnipresent and can be harnessed by any monster, it requires willpower to take form - the mentioned willpower being the strength and motivation of a Soul.

This raised one more question: what differentiated monsters and humans, making the latter have vastly more potent magic? As they and humans were both sentient and, ignoring physiological differences, had the same mental capacity, an inherent aptitude for magic was ruled out - hence a varying composition was suggested as the discriminator in magical ability. Actual experimentation to prove this theory was nigh-impossible, given the ethical concerns of testing on dead human corpses. Thus, an accord was made in 1537 between the then-queen of monsters and a local fiefdom, the monsters receiving prisoners who were to be executed in exchange for protecting the lands of the local baron, Rupert Langley. Some dissidents of this theory retorted that investigating a monster's composition would be unfeasible, as they turned to dust upon death, and it was illegal to experiment on live ones regardless of their criminal actions; their counterarguments were soon proved false as adept mages were capable of converting said dust into magical attacks, proving that monsters indeed were made of magic.

Modifications to the original theory of fluid magic were made, with it being suggested to be of particulate nature and yet gaseous behaviour. As monster dust evanesced into oblivion after varying amounts of time - dependent on the monster - more questions were raised. Despite having no discrepancies between said observation and the then-working theory of magic, it was inexplicable as to why the dust remained. It remained consistent with the theorem that magic could only interact with the physical world with sufficient willpower, lest it returns to intangible oblivion; however, unless there was an unknown exception, monster dust's tendency to linger after the owner's Soul shattered would imply that their will also remained briefly. Such a notion, naturally, led to possibilities of revival upon death. The exploration of this possibility, however, would be the most fateful thus far in the history of monsters.

To the surprise of many, it was true: monsters could be revived after death, although haste was required. As the shards of a monster's Soul directly fall and are absorbed by its dust, the consequent heap becomes the most concentrated form of one's existence attainable to date. Thus, by using a hint of Determination to give it motivation, the Soul would reform on its own and create its body from the surrounding dust. In overzealous achievement, however, word of such a feat by the scientists involved spread fatally quickly, with the humans now wary of their capabilities. Although remaining amiable in communication, an armada of human mages was secretly made to subdue the monsters. After years of gradually coaxing their to-be rivals into the vicinity of what is now Mt. Ebott, the Monster-Human War began. It spanned only three years, with the humans first burning all monster libraries and laboratories and executing all monster scientists. They intended to leave behind no trace of "Revival Magic", the technique used to rebirth fallen soldiers, and were successful; as a result, two and a half years into the war, the monsters were forced back onto Mt. Ebott, before being banished to the Underground by the end of the third year.

The original manuscripts and writings investigating the nature of magic were disposed of with little attention by the humans and thus were recovered during the monster's retreat to Mt. Ebott; however, due to the cremation of all evidence of Revival Magic, its existence only remained in history books, cryptically referenced as to avoid destruction. Attempts are being made to rediscover Revival Magic, but are only authorised to be done by the Royal Scientist due to its ethical concerns, as well as the possibility of it being used by rogue monsters with their own agendas.