Records of the Weakest Emperor

Chapter 128: The Bestiary

This was possibly the thickest book that Calvin had ever encountered in his entire life.

Written on the surface of the book was the word, "Bestiary". The font used to write the word made it look domineering and dashing, but the dust that covered its surface made it obvious to Calvin that the book hadn't been opened for at least several months now.

Calvin opened the book and a short introduction was on the very first page.

[Author Unknown]

[Let this book be the guide for the lost souls of the future generation. Written within this book are accurate information pertaining to the beasts that have appeared after the first Cataclysm.]

[However, one must never rely on a single source of information for advice when it comes to dealing with the beasts described in this Bestiary for mutations do happen...]

[A Thrall may have consumed the Essence Core of a Ghoul and it could acquire abilities that are far different than what is described in the Bestiary. Nonetheless, those that aspire to be Predators must start by memorizing each and every beast described in the Bestiary.]

[A prepared mind is sharper than a silver sword.]

[Table of Contents]

[Evil-Type Beasts]

[Non-Evil Type Beasts]

[The Untouchables]

[Draconids]

[Elementals]

[Corpse Eaters]

[Insectoids]

[Draconids]

[Giants]

[Ancients]

[Specters]

[Vampires]

Calvin turned to look at the side of the book and discovered that the information related to Non-Evil Type Beasts was the thickest. He opened the very first page of the topic in regards to Non-Evil Type Beasts and he was greatly disappointed for he discovered the reason why it was so thick.

it was because both Non-Evil Type Beasts and Evil-Type Beasts were a collective term referring to beasts without any magical capabilities nor core that could store any amount of Mana. The beasts described within the Bestiary included, but not limited to, Wild Dogs, Bears, Wolves, and Wild Boars.

The stark difference between the two was the word, "Evil".

When a non-magical beast stayed long enough in a place filled with negative energy such as a battlefield. They would be able to gain capabilities far beyond what their species permitted.

In other words, a wolf whose leap only reached three meters would suddenly be able to pounce for five meters after soaking up these negative energies.

The author of the Bestiary found them dangerous enough and worthy of being listed in the Bestiary due to the fact that their transformation was far too devastating for rural villages and other city residents who often ventured to the woods near their walled cities.

"And I have to memorize all of these?" Calvin felt a headache coming. But his interest was still piqued by the vast amount of information contained within the book, so he continued to peruse.

He flipped to the end of the current topic and reached the topic related to the Untouchables.

The Untouchables sounded intimidating at first, but it was yet another collective term referring to beasts or humanoid creatures cursed by Predators wielding evil magic.

Every being that turned evil due to the result of a curse could be considered as a part of the Untouchables.

As for the reason why the author deliberately added the Untouchables into the Bestiary... It was because those that fall into this categorization were often weak against silver and medicinal decoctions.

In the very first Epoch, people relied on decoctions to fight against the Untouchables and other beasts, so the author found them worthy to add as an entry to the Bestiary.

Calvin skimmed through most of the info regarding the specific creatures first as he flipped over to the next topic related to Draconids.

Draconids piqued Calvin's interest, after all...

Who didn't want to see a dragon?

But when Calvin saw that the bloodline of the Draconids wasn't even close to the bloodline of True Dragons...

His disappointment was immeasurable and his day was ruined.

However, there were a lot of different species of Draconids existing in the world of Las Felipinas at this moment. Both Draconids and True Dragons had inhabited this land since time immemorial and they became an important branch of Las Felipinas's eco-system.

But unfortunately, the Draconids far underestimated humanity's reproduction capabilities. As human cities and villages grew, so did the territories claimed by humans in the land of Las Felipinas.

Soon, the Draconids found out that it was far better for them to swoop in for some quick meal on herds of cattle and swine than to fight against other beasts and possibly sustaining injuries that would make them waste their time recovering.

Unfortunately for the Draconids, their involvement with the humans became the reason why the author of the Bestiary decided to add them as an entry.

While the creature mostly associated with the Draconids are dragons. The most populous members of this species were actually from a kind of a lesser dragon known as Flood Dragons.

The Flood Dragons bred Wyverns and Dracolizard. They were easily confused with dragons as they share the same scaly skin or armor made up of bony plates and the reinforcement of the earth.

Their features such as their reptilian maws, legs, and tails were also the same as the dragons.

But there was a stark difference.

Members of the Flood Dragons were known to be less intelligent than the dragons.

Those dragons were far developed than the Wyverns and Dracolizards and they were the undisputed king of the skies due to their prowess in aerial combat.

They were definitely a force to be reckoned with, but every problem in the world has a solution.

As formidable as these dragons may be, they still had a weakness. One of them was once again, silver. They also shared this weakness with the Draconids though it was easier to kill a Draconid with a silver sword than a fully-fledged dragon.

[Elementals]

Elementals are fascinating creations made from the manifestation of a Predator's will. Those that can manipulate Mana can create an Elemental, but creating them was far easier than controlling them.

Elementals have little to no will of their own, but if left on its own, an Elemental is a force to be reckoned and can easily obliterate a human settlement or so if it wished.

Elementals are incredibly difficult to fight against, but with the usage of a silver sword coated with the dust of a material containing the properties of anti-mana.

They weren't insurmountable mountains.

[Insectoids]

A collective term for monsters with insect-like traits. They usually lived in woodlands and damp forests. They are weak against fire, and one could repel their presence with a mixture of appropriate medicinal herbs and decoctions.

[Corpse Eaters]

They are monsters born from the negative energies that haunt the battlefield. Usually, they appear in cemeteries, but if a battlefield wasn't cleaned up fast enough, then their appearance was sure to be neigh. They are weak against silver, and could easily crumble in the face of fire.

[Giants]

Calvin was about to open the page describing the Giants, but he decided against it. The title of the topic alone was enough to describe its contents. After the disappointment that he had with the Non-Evil Type Beasts and Evil-Type Beasts topic earlier, Calvin didn't even bother.

Though, he glanced at it and discovered that "Giants" was another collective term of humanoid beasts whose figures were so tall and huge that one could mistake them for a mountain from a distance.

[Ancients]

Not much information was contained within the Bestiary regarding the Ancients.

The author said that they arrived in the world of Las Felipinas after the First Cataclysm, but he also cited some references which said that the Ancients were actually one of the very first creations of the Goddess Grace, similar to the Primordial Beast, Bakunawa.

[Specters]

Specters are easily confused with Ghosts, but there was a stark difference between the two.

Specters are usually spirits that swallowed enough negative energy and are tethered to a place or a person. Ghosts, on the other hand, may or may not have absorbed negative energies, and they generally have a lot of freedom, unlike the Specters.

Specters could also remain in the material plane due to unfinished business.

The Church of All-Encompassing Light believes that if one granted the wish of a Specter or Ghost, they would be able to gain positive karma which could give them access to an expressway to reincarnation if they died in their current life term.

Specters and Ghosts do not usually manifest their physical form apart from when they are trying to harm humans whose bodies exist in the material plane.

They are weak against silver and exorcism rites belonging to the gospel from any of the Seven Gods and Goddesses.

[Vampires]

Calvin was once again disappointed. The word Vampire was also described by the author as a collective term for beasts or humanoid creatures that require the sustenance of blood or life force from other creatures to survive.

It was obvious to say that it encompassed a large number of species, though every beast nor creature belonging to this species had a common weakness.

Silver, Garlic, and bad tasting blood.

Calvin saw the end of the paragraph and he didn't know what to say.

Bad tasting blood?

How are you supposed to know if your bad tastes good or bad for a Vampire?

The advice so far was straightforward but this bad tasting blood was confusing.

But of course, Calvin knew that there must be something that he could use or consume to turn his blood bad tasting for the Vampires.

Closing the Bestiary, Calvin exhaled.

The vast amount of information contained within the Bestiary gave him a headache.

He walked out of the kitchen and he was greeted by Ashlynn with a smile on her face, "I heard from Captain that you went inside the library to peruse the Bestiary... Did you do it?"

Calvin nodded his head and squeezed out a bitter smile, "Yes, I did it. I managed to read through all of it."

"Really?"

"Umm... I skimmed..."

"Oh...?"

"I skimmed through a lot of info..."

"But I read the introduction paragraph at least!"

Calvin continued when he saw the smug look on Ashlynn's face.

"All right, that's good enough. To be honest, I don't find you as a scholarly man. Your movements remind me more of a mercenary's than a scholar... Are those books boring for ya?" Ashlynn leaned onto Calvin's arm and smiled.

Calvin trembled.

His adam's apple bobbed up and down as he turned his gaze away from Ashlynn's chest, "No... They are interesting... There are a lot of beasts whose names the first time I heard so the book was quite interesting for me..."

"Is that so?" Ashlynn sized him up with a smile, "Would you like to play a card game with us?"

She gestured to the table where Ron Samuel, Bruce, and James Branzuela was staring at him with smiles on their faces. Apart from Ron Samuel, the other two were smiling, but the light in their eyes seemed to be more hostile than friendly.

It was probably because they were looking for a scapegoat.

Within the past few days, Calvin would always hear Bruce and James Branzuela's curses while they were being absolutely destroyed by both Ashlynn and Ron Samuel in the card game.

At this point, Calvin must be someone that could replace their position as the one being bullied in this card game.

But Calvin was about to disappoint them for he refused.

How could he spend an awfully long time with these men and a vixen?

He had a wife and a daughter to tend to!

Calvin walked over to Ron Samuel and as always, he hurled the five joselian pesos into the air and Calvin deftly caught them in mid-air.

Afterwards, he noticed that there was a serious look on Ron Samuel's face as he asked Calvin, "Did you perhaps ran into some trouble that you haven't told us, yet?"

Calvin shivered...

The Cavaliers had no idea that Calvin had killed several members of the Yellow River Gang and had their bodies float up near the harbors on the Revoir River.

Calvin wanted to tell them at first, but he was afraid that the Cavaliers may turn in him to the police. In a shithole like this city of Ashmelion, being imprisoned was the last thing that Calvin wanted.

Mustering his courage, he shook his head and scratched his cheek, "What are you saying, Captain? I haven't run into any trouble. In fact, my life is even better than before since you're so generous with my salary. Hahaha, I wonder, how can an employee of this Coffee Shop qualify for a bonus?"

Ron Samuel stared at Calvin for a moment before he smiled, "We'll talk about the bonus later. It still hasn't been a month since you become an employee of the Coffee Shop, yet you are already trying to earn a bonus?"

"How about you show me some brewing techniques first and actually serve customers with your coffee in the counter?"

Even though the prices in Captivating Fragrance Coffee Shop were exorbitant, the quality of their coffee was indeed up to the task.

Of course, some customers would beg to differ, but in the end, deliciousness was subjective.

Especially, when it comes to niches beverages in the world of Las Felipinas such as coffee.

In other words, even though the Coffee Shop lacked customers.

The shop wasn't entirely idle for they still had to tend to at least ten customers a day.

Calvin waved the others goodbye and he then walked towards the direction of the Malasakit Inn.

Ron Samuel placed all of his cards on the table, revealing all of his cards in a card game where secrecy was prioritized the most only meant one thing he was giving up the game.

"Captain?" Bruce absentmindedly asked.

He didn't expect their Captain to give up the game when he wasn't even losing.

"Prepare for a Spiritualistic Ritual... We will go ahead and divine just what kind of trouble did that young man encounter in the past few days..." Ron Samuel exhaled and gave his orders.

James Branzuela stood up without saying as he noiselessly obeyed Ron Samuel's orders. Bruce and Ashlynn turned to look at Ron Samuel in confusion as Ashlynn asked, "So he really did run into trouble? How did you discover it, Captain?"

"I haven't discovered it..." Ron Samuel shook his head.

"So you are trying to use Spiritualistic Divination to guess? That's such a waste of resources, Captain!" Ashlynn was someone who loved and hoarded money. Hearing his words, she couldn't help but exclaim in astonishment.

Ron Samuel glanced at her and languidly said, "The church will reimburse us if we tell them that we've used those resources to investigate the Red Cloud..."

"I-If you say so..." Ashlynn was finally convinced.

It turned out that it wasn't that Ron Samuel didn't care about the waste of resources, it was just because there was no need to worry about wasted resources since the church would reimburse them anyway.

In other words, at this moment, Ashlynn finally realized that this small team of Cavaliers were tycoons!

She could finally see some hope of completing that dream of hers of becoming a wasteful tycoon!

James Branzuela soon returned from the kitchen carrying a deep silver bowl as well as several Spiritualistic Ingredients necessary for the divination.

Ashlynn ignited the incense to transform the room into a room of concentrated spirituality and she also closed the doors and hung up the curtains.

At this moment, apart from a candle. There was no other source of light within the room.

Ron Samuel sat straight and taut in front of the deep silver bowl filled with water.

His eyes were closed and he placed both of his hands in parallel with each other, with his fingertips barely touching each other.

Then, after an unknown amount of time.

His eyes snapped open!

His brown eyes had vanished, replaced by a hue whose color was similar to the night sky!

This was a Predator

A Mage-Type Predator!