Mana Beasts

Mana Beasts are magical creatures scattered all over the world of TBATE. They come in various forms and species, ranked in classes by their overall power. Once they are killed, they will drop mana cores (known as beast cores) for people or other mana beasts to consume. Beast cores have an unlimited amount of uses, making them very valuable and highly sought after. Of course, the higher the classes of beast cores, the more valuable they would be. Some mana beasts can be tamed and communicated throughout, though mostly through actions and gestures like a dog or a cat would with a human. Their overall behaviour can be more predictable in certain regions, and more hostile/wild in others such as the Beast Glades in Dicathen.

Rule of thumb, one should always assume that mana beasts are stronger than Adventurers of the same class. Simply because, even if we take mana out of the equation, a beast’s physical body was much stronger than the average human’s. For example, an S class mana beast was on par with an SS class adventurer or at least ten S class adventurers.

Mana Beasts are separated into the following seven categories:

* **E:**
	+ **Forest Hounds - Probably E Class** Mana beast. They are mana beasts that looked like a mix between a deer and a dog, with antlers that branched out, looking like a complicated satellite. The forest hounds were native to the Forest of Elshire and could navigate even better than the elves could.
	+ **Snarler - E Class** Mana beast. Even amongst mana beasts, snarlers were hideous creatures. With a thick grey fur coat, their 140cm bodies looked like muscular mini gorillas. Their faces, though, were a mix of a boar’s snout and tusks with beady red eyes and long ears. With their thick and powerful protruding jaw, you wouldn’t think they were only E stage mana beasts upon first glance.

* **D:**
	+ **Skitter - D Class** Mana beast. These giant lizards, with spikes across their backs and powerful claws were used as a means of transportation. They were domesticated as draft beasts used to pull carriages over long distances through unsteady terrain with their strong claws. With a much greater endurance and strength than normal horses, skitters are a valuable asset for anyone that’s able to afford their services.
* **C:**

* **B:**
	+ **Sonic Hawk - B Class** Mana Beast. An Sonic Hawk is a B Class Mana beast that possesses incredible speed while in flight. This mana beast also possesses an affinity for wind and sound. These attributes are innate in their mana cores.
	+ **Widow Queen - B Class** Mana beast. The Widow Queen is a few times larger and nastier than their minions and also possessed wings, which it uses to fly. The Widow Queen’s front two limbs had four long, sharp claws that glistened in a coating that Arthur assumed was poison. This queen is quite a bit stronger than the E class minions that she commands. While it may be tough for beginners, a well coordinated party of E class adventurers can still take down this creature during a dungeon run.
		- During Arthur Leywin's expedition with his class into an D-Class Dungeon, they came across a variant where two queens are on the top level of their dungeon. Normally, this should be impossible. The variant seems to become exponentially stronger after consuming (cannibalizing) the other queen, to the point that she can even challenge and overpower Professor Glory during their battle, indicating that this variant most likely would have been at least an A class mana beast, if not AA class after consuming the other queen.

* **A:**
	+ **Silver Coat Bear - A Class** Mana beast.
	+ **World Lion - A Class** Mana beast. An adult world lion has the capability to at least become a B-class mana beast. But an infant world lion has the potential to become an A-class mana beast. See Grawder‘s page for more information!!

* **AA:**
	+ **Hades Serpent - AA Class** Mana beast. Not much is known about this mana beast, however it is presumed to have been a powerful serpent that has a distinguishing feature of being over 100 feet long, while blue flames spout across their long spine. Traditionally, they are also observed to have matte grey scales.
		- During Alea Triscan's encounter with the beast, it has been amplified to carry black flames instead, and has been magnitudes stronger than it’s traditional version. Other varying characteristics are the black horn jutting out of its forehead and their sleek black scales. Even though she managed to slaughter it in the end, she had considerable trouble doing so as she thought that this would be a relatively "simple" fight, indicating that this variant most likely would have been at least an S class mana beast. It does not drop a mana core upon death.

* **S:**
	+ **Elderwood Guardian - S Class** Mana beast. This mana beast looked humanoid to a certain degree, reminiscent of a centaur. While it was made up completely of entangled vines and branches, the top half of its body was that of an armored man. Its two green eyes were filled with pride and anger. It’s two humanoid arms were holding onto a giant wooden lance that looked more like a drill. It’s lower body was that of a horse, but instead of limbs, it possessed an uncountable amount of vines.
	+ **Phoenix Wrym - S Class** Mana beast. The phoenix wyrm isn’t nearly as rare as the dragon species, but rare nonetheless. They aren’t really known for their power and combat capabilities, but their unique ability to preserve their own life. When the phoenix wyrm is attacked, it’s pink scales will elongate and harden around them, forming a sort of cocoon. When the super hard cocoon they’re protected in breaks, they deplete all of the mana in their beast core to instantly transport themselves to wherever they know they’re safe. It’s a very unique ability that Gideon has only seen in the phoenix wyrm.

* **SS:**

## Mana Beasts from Epheotus

**Raptor Squirrel:** The Raptor Squirrels are squirrel-like mana beasts that Arthur encounters during his training in Epheotus. The Raptor Squirrels look like any other squirrel, except with more prominent hind limbs, three, thin tails, and beady eyes. Windsom asks Arthur to catch them as part of his training. They are fast and agile but lack physical strength. Since their eyes were bad, they relied on their acute nose to sniff for food and their tails to sense any sort of mana fluctuation or even movement in the area. If their tails detected a high concentration of mana or even a minute change in mana levels in the area, it would be difficult for even an asura to catch one. However, beyond that, the raptor squirrels were rather simple-minded. After erasing his presence, if Arthur were to stay absolutely still with some bait in his hands, it would be easy for him to catch one. Yet, he instead tried to use the first sequence of Mirage Walk (also known as Burst Step) to catch this mana beast, in which he ultimately succeeds.

**Silver Panther:** This large, gray cat-like mana beast was slower than a Raptor Squirrel but possesses a hyperacute intuition that allows it to react near instantly at the sight of any movement. Their innate intuition coupled with their accelerated reflexes make them hard to catch. Silver panthers are territorial amongst each other and hunted by themselves.

During his training in Epheotus, Arthur tried to catch a particular Silver Panther with claw marks on its back, which he named Clawed. Nevertheless, he attacked another injured Silver Panther instead since the opportunity presented itself before Arthur’s eyes. This Silver Panther fought against Clawed not too long ago and despite being bigger, was weaker than Clawed and sustained more injuries than Clawed during their duel. Yet, Clawed flees from their duel upon sensing the cub Titan Bear that was lying in ambush. Despite sensing some kind of danger, Arthur chooses to attack the injured Silver Panther instead of paying heed to his senses since the remaining Silver Panther was injured and his escape routes were limited because of the cliff. This Silver Panther was also oblivious to both Arthur’s or the Titan Bear Cub’s presence. When Arthur approached this Silver Panther, it growled since it instinctively knew that it had no chance against Arthur in its current state. It tried to flee, but Arthur used a fake step as a feint to get him to jump into the air before using Burst Step to catch it, instantaneously reaching a distance that was insufficient by just over a meter. As Arthur lost his balance, he desperately grabbed onto the panther’s neck with his arms and held on tightly. Afterwards, Arthur tried to choke him to death, while the Silver Panther tried to shake him off his body. In a desperate act, the Silver Panther jumped off the cliff while Arthur was clinging onto it. During the free fall, it lost consciousness, while Arthur used his body to push himself upwards to slow down the fall somewhat. Afterwards, he used Typhon’s howl to cushion his fall, which enabled him to safely land on the ground.

**Demon Leech:** A Demon Leech is an specimen that can possess living creatures and strengthen its host’s core to ridiculous degrees, it is also intelligent enough to have the ability to talk.

**Titan Bear:** A Titan Bear is a bear-like mana beast who‘s natural habitat is in Epheotus. Windsom mentioned that usually, grown Titan Bears reach 3 meters of height. Yet the cub that Arthur fought with during his training in Epheotus only reached half of Arthur’s size. This cub has been revealed to be infected with a parasite (a Demon Leech). Arthur was able to beat this cub, despite the fact that it’s strength had increased to ridiculous degrees after it got infested with a Demon Leech, because this cub‘s defenses were lower than a fully grown adult Titan Bear. This cub also possesses the ability to talk and despite looking cute, it’s way of speaking was vulgar at best. He met this cub after surviving a free fall from a cliff together with an injured Silver panther.

## Reference

1. ↑ The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 1- Chapter 4
2. ↑ The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 2- Chapter 33
3. ↑ The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 1- Chapter 10
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 3- Chapter 66
5. ↑ The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 1- Chapter 5
6. ↑ The Beginning After The End Webcomic: Episode 40
7. ↑ The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 1- Chapter 13
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 3- Chapter 67
9. ↑ The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 2- Chapter 24
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 3-Chapter 69
11. ↑ The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 2- Chapter 33
12. ↑ The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 2- Chapter 41
13. ↑ The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 5- Chapter 113
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 The Beginning after the End Novel: Volume 5- Chapter 114
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 5 - Chapter 115
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 5- chapter 116