Facing each other within the deep marsh were two sides: one was the giant eel, the other was Courage, Wally, and their beasts.
Both sides stared at one another, sizing each other up. Until , Courage proceeded to make the first move. Following his commands, Kabuto used [Burst Shell], however not to attack the eel itself, but the water just before it.
Water erupted in an explosion of force, disorienting the eel; the splashing water momentarily blinding it.
This momentary distraction was all the opening Octo needed to begin his attack. Propelling himself through the water, he lunged at the eel, with several of his tentacles turned into iron daggers that slashed at the eel's body, causing several cuts on its scales.
The eel roared loudly, then thrashed its long body violently, forcing Octo to retreat. Fixing its gaze towards Courage, Wally, and Kabuto, who were all huddled up atop the large boulder, it lunged at them, its lizard-like maw gaping wide.
Murky water churned around its body as it surged towards the boulder. Sensing the incoming threat, Courage ordered his beast to meet it head-on.
Unfurling his wings, Kabuto lept from the boulder and shot towards the eel using [Burst Charge]. Kabuto slammed into the incoming eel, breaking its momentum and completely thwarting its attack. Then, using his wings to stay above the marsh's ground, the beetle hovered around the eel's head, harassing it with punches from its fists and swinging his horn at it like an axe.
The eel tried to bite him with its big maw, but following Courage's instructions, Kabuto made sure to hover behind the eel's head, making it harder for it to retaliate.
Soon, Octo also joined the fray; together with Kabuto, making this a three-way battle. The two beasts together held the advantage for a little while, until the eel's scales and fins began shivering all of a sudden, and a subtle buzzing sensation emanated through the air.
Courage, sensing this, realized the danger immediately and, without explaining anything first, told Wally to get Octo out of the water. Wally didn't understand why Courage was asking that, but trusting his friend, he complied immediately. Following his command, Octo leapt out of the water and grasped onto one of Kabuto's limbs, hovering in the air with him.
And just in time as well, as right at the next second, a violent shock of electricity surged through the water. The water rippled and shone with electricity, a buzzing sound filled the area like a live wire crackling with energy. Small water plants and tree roots were scorched black, giving off a burned smell.
"Damn," Courage said, sweat dripping on his brow. "If Octo was a second too late, he would have been severely injured and most definitely left incapacitated.....and if Wally and I weren't standing on this boulder, we would have been done for," Courage thought nervously.
Though glad their beasts avoided that attack, their joy was short-lived, as it seemed the eel wasn't done attacking yet . Lifting its head and aiming towards Kabuto and Octo, electricity cracked and surged between the eel's teeth, making them glow. Then, opening its mouth wide, the eel actually shot a bolt of lightning from its mouth towards them.
Caught by surprise, Kabuto could barely dodge the attack by a hair's breadth.
"Oh no, it has a long-range attack ability!" Wally exclaimed
The eel continued shooting several lightning bolts at Kabuto and Octo, intending to strike them out of the air.
Kabuto kept maneuvering to the best of his ability, but then again, flying was never one of his strongest aspects, so he would always dodge the attacks just barely, with some bolts even managing to graze his body, leaving faint scorch marks.
Even though the shocks sustained weren't strong enough to paralyze it, they were surely slowing Kabuto down, as every graze would electrocute it a bit. Though the effect of every shock wasn't severe, together the damage was building up.
Courage knew Kabuto wouldn't be able to keep up for long. Making a bold move, Courage ordered Kabuto to dive down to try and disrupt the eel's attack.
Kabuto dove down like a bomb, weaving between the incoming projectiles. Just as he was about to crash into the eel, the eel surged with electricity again, electrifying its body and all of the water around it.
"Shit!" Courage cursed. Kabuto was too fast to change his course; so he was going to slam into the electrified eel directly. But immediately responding to his panic, Wally shouted, "I got this!"
Receiving orders from Wally, Octo quickly crawled onto Kabuto's body and climbed to the top of his back. Octo wrapped several of its tentacles around the shoulders of Kabuto's limbs, then using [Polymorph], turned his body elastic. He opened his mouth wide to take in air, causing himself to suddenly enlarge. Octo had basically turned himself into a parachute, managing to create enough air resistance for Kabuto to slow down enough to change direction.
Kabuto fluttered his wings as hard as he could and changed direction with all his might, narrowly avoiding colliding with the eel and creating a wide arc as the beast rose back into the air.
"Good save, Wally!" Courage praised.
The eel roared in anger as it watched the two beasts escape its grasp. Despite Kabuto and Octo managing to avoid danger, they were back to square one.
Seeing that they were back to where they started, Courage raced to formulate a plan. "That eel has a shock ability, so we can't get close to it, but thanks to its lightning bolt attack, we can't just keep our distance and attack it from afar either," Courage pondered over this tricky situation. As the minutes ticked by and their situation didn't improve, he suddenly had an idea as he watched Octo clinging to Kabuto's body.
"Wait, this could actually work!" Courage exclaimed. "What could work?"Wally asked, also desperate for a solution to their predicament. Courage whispered his idea to Wally.
Wally's eyes widened after he heard Courage's plan. He asked, "Are you sure that would work? This is the first time we've attempted to do something like this, you know."
"I am aware, but it's a gamble I am willing to take," Courage responded. Seeing his friend's determination, Wally agreed to the idea. After quickly discussing the details and synchronizing a bit, the two simultaneously gave orders to their beasts.
First, Octo crawled on Kabuto's body until he reached the tip of his horn. Once there, the octopus shifted his body, compressing it into a semi-cylindrical shape resembling a small rocket. Using several of his tentacles, Octo aligned himself perfectly with Kabuto's horn. Finally, his texture changed into a curious pristine white color.
It was Kabuto's turn to act next. Once Octo aligned himself perfectly, the beetle stopped flying around in the air, hovering in place instead, making himself an easy target.
The eel, seeing this, didn't waste any time and began charging an especially powerful lightning bolt to shoot at them.
Wally was sweating nervously watching this, yet Courage kept his cool and kept muttering, "Not yet....not yet."
But then, right at the moment the eel opened its mouth, Courage roared, "NOW!"
Immediately following his call, Kabuto's strength surged under the effect of [All Out]. Then, using [Burst Charge], he drew out that tremendous strength and compressed it. Finally, wielding [Flux], he redirected that compressed force before launching it, unleashing his special move, [Burst Shell].
But this time around, the special move was also armed with a physical projectile: Octo himself, who got shot forth with the compressed air under the effect of the special move.
Octo shot forward like a real rocket, cutting through the air and reaching the eel at a breakneck speed.
This all happened so fast that the eel couldn't even shoot its charged-up attack before Octo reached it.
A loud sound of an explosion—strong enough to burst one's ears—resounded as Octo shot into the eel's wide-open mouth and then burst out from the back of its head with a bloody explosion.
The lightning flickering in the eel's mouth vanished as silence settled in the place after the loud boom of the explosion. The eel froze in place for a couple of seconds, as if pondering what just happened, then shuddered before collapsing to the ground, dead.
The battle was over, and Courage and Wally had won.
"Holly... Haha, it worked!" Wally said, almost not believing his eyes. Even Courage,who planned the whole thing, was also left stunned by the results but then remarked in an impressed tone, "Ok... this worked better than I thought it would."
As you have seen, Courage's plan was to combine Kabuto's and Octo's abilities to create an attack powerful enough to hopefully one-shot the eel, as they had no hope of a prolonged battle with it. And so, what they ended up doing was rather simple in concept.
Kabuto would simply use [Burst Shell], but this time with Octo working as the projectile. Once the timing was right, they would attack right in the middle of the eel's own attack, disrupting it and inflicting severe damage.
However, for that plan to have worked, several things needed to align perfectly. Kabuto would have needed perfect aim and timing. Not only that, but Octo would need to turn into a sturdy enough projectile not only to inflict significant damage to the eel but also to survive both the launch from Kabuto's [Burst Shell] and the collision with the eel's charged attack and the impact of tearing through its body.
Luckily for them, Courage had previously allowed Octo to inspect Kabuto's body to help him with his cultivation. This meant Octo could mimic the Jade Bone trait of Kabuto, giving him what he needed to perform this stunt, once again showcasing the incredible versatility of [Polymorph].
Jade Bone granted incredible defense, ensuring Octo could survive the tremendous force of the launch as well as the brutal impact of the collision. Jade Bone also granted a level of resistance to all elemental damage, ensuring Octo would survive the lightning charge gathering in the eel's mouth, even if it resulted in slight injuries.
And even if the mimicked properties of Jade Bone were inferior to the real trait—which they were—Jade Bone was an extremely potent trait. Courage had judged that even if Octo's copy was only half as good, it should suffice for their desperate plan.
And looking at the results now, with the eel dead and Octo injured but not to a severe degree, it was clear his judgment had been correct. Their improvised combination special move had actually worked.
And with that, their mission was complete. Wally administered treatment for his beast before sending him back to his soul domain. His beast had worked especially hard today and deserved some rest, leaving Kabuto to guard the two young men.
Courage was stashing their kill in his storage boon, at the same time his mind pondering the previous events. That improvised combination special move they pulled earlier was stronger than he anticipated; it might be worth developing further, he thought. But as he was contemplating the matter, something cut his train of thought.
It was the body of the eel, which stopped being sucked into the storage boon, left dangling halfway.
Courage was surprised to find out that his storage boon had actually run out of space, something that had never happened before. But in the end, it's not that shocking; Courage's [Squirrel Cheek Pouch], though impressive to most, was a bottom-tier boon after all, so it was bound to show some limitations sooner or later.
Courage stuffed his hand into the pouch and scrambled to make some space. They needed the body of the eel for their mission, so something else was gonna have to go. In the end, Courage dropped several beast carcasses they got from the waves of beasts they resisted previously. He made sure to drop the ones that he judged were the least valuable. Although it annoyed him having to give up some loot, there was nothing he could do about it.
Once the eel carcass was finally collected, the two were on their merry way back to the bastion. After several hours, the two were once again back in the mission hall, where they were lucky enough to meet with the commissioner of this mission to hand over his request.
The commissioner was a man that looked like he was nearing his thirties. He had a red-tanned skin and silky black hair, and even more interestingly, he seemed to be a Level 2 beast catalyster, halfway through to Level 3.
The senior beast catalyster was happy with his commission being completed so quickly, as he urgently needed this catalyst for one of his beasts. He explained that he'd usually go fetch this catalyst himself since it was from a beast of a lower level than him, but some personal circumstances kept him too busy to do so himself, so he was forced to request that someone else fetch it for him.
The commissioner then paid Courage and Wally their promised compensation, around 2000 credits split between the two of them.
Before they parted ways, Courage asked if it was possible for them to watch this man use this catalyst or at least explain to them what it does or how it's used, out of curiosity, he explained. Luckily for them, the man agreed, probably because he was in a good mood after getting his request fulfilled, or maybe because he wanted to play the role of the wise senior in front of them.
Either way, the three moved to a private place where the man could work in peace and show them his skills.
In a private room somewhere else, the man immediately got to work, first summoning his beast from his soul domain.
The beast looked like a giant eagle. The large bird had electric blue and black feathers decorating its body except for its head, which was white. It also had long, razor-sharp talons, a sharp curved beak, and finally, a set of small, jagged horns that looked like thunderbolts growing forward from the sides of its head.
The bird looked mighty and proud as it perched upright on a stand nearby, but once its master approached, it lowered its head and let him pet it
, clearly showing him affection.
Courage and Wally were taking in the sight of this majestic bird while its catalyster was preparing all the necessary items to begin. He brought out several items and placed them on a large table close by. Once finished, he approached his beast again, ordering it to lay down on the large table next to the other items.
Soon, the eagle was sprawled on its belly with its wings spread wide open. Then, taking out a pearl-like bead from the pile of nearby items, the man crushed the bead into dust in his fingers near the eagle's nose.
The eagle inhaled the dust, then its head began swaying a bit. Its eyelids began bobbing up and down as if drowsy before closing completely, the eagle's relaxed frame now showing that it was out cold.
The man nodded after making sure that his beast was completely sedated, then he turned his head to Courage and Wally and said, "Ok, pay attention you two. I'm going to start now."
The two perked up and made sure to focus completely on the ensuing process.
First, the man grabbed a jar and showed it to them. Inside the jar was the tendons of the eel, prepared for him by the butchers in the mission hall. He held the jar before the two then asked playfully, "Do you know what catalyst this is?"
Courage and Wally could only shrug, clearly not knowing. The man didn't judge and continued to explain. "This is the catalyst for a trait called the [Bio-Electric Tendon]. This trait can allow a beast to naturally generate electricity through the movement of their body."
Courage and Wally listened intently, very intrigued. The man continued, "The benefit of this trait is that it reduces the energy consumption of Lightning-type beasts when using their elemental powers."
This next statement left the two puzzled, however, as they wondered, "Energy... consumption?"
Noticing their puzzled expressions, the man asked, "What, you didn't know that beasts consume energy to use their abilities?"
Courage and Wally looked at each other, then responded that they didn't know about such a thing, as their beasts never showed such a requirement.
Hearing this, the man laughed a little then asked, "Let me guess, your totem beasts are a Vigor or a Corpus type, aren't they?"
Courage was surprised by his accurate guess and then asked, "How did you know?"
The man responded, "Once you understand how beasts' abilities work, you can guess this kind of thing... Let me take this right from the beginning. You see, beasts can have all sorts of abilities, but to use them, they need to spend a type of innate energy that they all have, called Casam Energy."
Hearing this name, Courage was surprised. "Casam Energy? Wait, isn't that the same thing used to trigger my awakening?" he thought, as he recalled the day of his awakening. He remembered clearly that an infusion of this energy was what triggered it. "So this energy has other uses?" Courage wondered.
"All beasts store Casam Energy within their bodies, which they use to fuel their abilities. After all, even if you have the ability to control fire or shoot lightning, you can't manifest all these remarkable effects out of nothing. Every ability has an energy cost to use, and the name of the energy used by beasts is called Casam Energy. There is a lot you should know about Casam Energy, but that's a different subject, so we'll skip it for now..." the man said.
Then he added, "Now, usually, a beast catalyster can sense how much energy their beast has, judging by how much they spend of it as they use their power."
"Really? How come we never felt such a thing?" Wally asked.
"That's because your beasts' energy expenditure is too small for you to notice," the man responded. "See, amongst all of the types, Vigor and Corpus types are known to be the types with the lowest energy requirement for their abilities, as they derive most of their powers from their physical being. Unlike the other elemental types, which have to first spend energy to generate their element, then spend more energy to channel that elemental power through their abilities, which makes their energy requirement higher. That's how I figured out that your Totem Beasts are either a Vigor or a Corpus type. Because if you didn't know that your beasts expend energy when using their abilities, that would mean that their expenditure is too small for you to notice, which is a signature of those two types."
Courage and Wally finally understood hearing the man's explanation, and comparing it to what they knew, it certainly made sense. However, they felt ashamed for not knowing such basic knowledge. "Did I miss a page in my father's notebooks? I feel I should have already known this by now," Courage thought.
However, the real reason Courage didn't know this , is because this information was such common knowledge that all beast catalysters knew, so no one hardly felt the need to teach it. Most figure this stuff out naturally as they work with their beasts.
The only way for someone to miss this memo is one: they awaken a Totem Beast that's either a Vigor or a Corpus type. And Two: is that they start from absolute zero as a beast catalyster. Two conditions that both Courage and Wally fit.
They both awakened Corpus and Vigor Totems, so they couldn't figure this stuff out themselves for the reasons mentioned before. And they both started from scratch as beast catalysters, so they didn't even have basic-level knowledge about the mechanics of this profession. Wally was the first-ever beast catalyster in his entire family history after all. And Courage, though had the guidance of his father's notebooks, found they had no mention of this subject, possibly because Courage's father thought Courage would also naturally figure it out. After all, how could he know his son was going to awaken a Vigor-type Totem? A short sight on his part.
"Don't worry. As your totems grow in level, or if you tame beasts of other types, you'll develop a sense for your beasts' energy consumption," the man assured them before returning to their original subject.
As he explained before, the eel's tendon, which is the catalyst for the [Bio-Electric Tendon] trait, granted the beast who possessed it the ability to naturally generate electricity as they move this tendon in their bodies, thus reducing the energy consumption of Lightning-type abilities—a great trait to have as a Lightning-type beast.
However, using this catalyst was more complicated than using others, since you would have to graft it into your beast's body.
Grafting was a Corpus-type cultivation technique, much like the body strengthening and refinement techniques unique to Vigor types. Vigor focuses on improving what's already there, and Corpus focuses on adding new functions to a creature's body; that was the difference between the two.
Finally beginning, the man first took a purple flower bud, tapping it lightly. the air inside the entire room suddenly turned fresh and sterile as he did so. Then, clasping a silver glass shard and using it as a knife , the man proceeded to make a long cut along the eagle's entire wingspan, as well as part of its back. The process was a bit hard to watch, but after fifteen minutes, the man was finished cutting the areas where he would implant the tendon. He explained that to get the maximum benefit out of the tendon, it was best to plant it along the wings, shoulders, and back muscles, as those were the most active areas in the eagle's body.
As the two were digesting the information, the man warned against trying to use grafting on their beasts without proper experience. To attempt this technique, one would need a surgical understanding of their beast's anatomy to know how to implement a new function into it properly. Doing this hastily or without the proper knowledge and experience could result in worse results or even the failure of the entire process. The man explained that he was only doing this process himself because he did possess the necessary knowledge and experience; however, for most people, it was best to entrust this process to a trusted professional to do it for them. Courage and Wally nodded in understanding .
Continuing with the process, the man then surgically removed some flesh and tendons from the eagle's body to make space for the new tendons he was going to implant. Wally shied from looking at this part of the process, as it was a bit bloody, but Courage maintained focus, not wanting to miss anything and making mental notes on every move the man made during the implant.
Once finished implanting the tendon across the eagle's body, he retrieved a spray can that was labelled "Beast Stem Cells." Applying the spray carefully across the newly implanted tendons, the man then proceeded to close the cuts. He then sewed them shut using a cord of special string that seemed to fuse with the beast's flesh. Then, applying an ointment, the wound mended in seconds. For the final touches, the man applied several concoctions and medicines that, in the end, made the wound heal completely, not even a scar left behind. The items the man used throughout the operation were special catalysts used specifically to assist in grafting.
And finally, after nearly an hour, the process was complete.
The man, once finished, unsummoned his beast back to his soul domain. He explained that he would have loved to show them the final result; however, beasts that undergo the grafting process are always left very weak and need time to recover and properly assimilate the catalyst into their bodies, so he was forced to unsummon his beast. Courage and Wally understood and didn't blame him.
By the end of this, the two had several questions, mostly about the core principles and intricacies of Corpus-type cultivation, as well as the energy consumption of beasts—questions which the man happily answered.
With their questions answered, the two parties finally parted ways, but not before the man told them that if they ever needed help with grafting in the future, he would gladly help them; all they needed to do was come find him.
The two gave their sincere thanks for the man's guidance before they left.
Walking back home, Courage was happy with today's results. They made some cash and achieved their goal of giving Wally insight towards how he was going to cultivate his beast. Even Courage learned many new things today