Chapter 5: [TP] 5: Majin
"Looks like I need to explain where these beasts come from, Ogerpon."
Over the past few days, Damien and Ogerpon had defeated many beasts, including a few monsters.
But they hadn't gone for the kill.
With the Grower skill, defeating and killing yielded the same amount of Magicule.
This made them prefer simply overcoming opponents rather than mindless slaughter.
"First off, this beast we call a Terror Burst Bear... don't let its flesh and blood fool you into thinking it's like us, Ogerpon."
Damien explained, "In truth, its body is entirely made of Magicule."
"Completely made of Magicule?"
"This world has three main forms of existence:
One, the astral body, which houses the soul and is the most fragile.
Two, the spiritual body, which stores power.
Three, the material body, directly connected to the world."
Seeing Ogerpon's 'I don't get it, but I'm amazed' expression, Damien couldn't help but chuckle. "Alright, alright, I know this is a bit much for you."
"To put it simply, the beasts in this world, no matter how strong, are products of spiritual bodies fused with Magicule."
"They don't have souls."
Spiritual bodies are everywhere, intangible and formless. You can't destroy them with the rules of the physical world.
When the Terror Burst Bear died, the spiritual body driving it had already dissipated.
All that remained was a pile of Magicule-infused meat.
"But creatures like you, Ogerpon, are called monsters."
Monsters have souls, making them fundamentally no different from humans.
"Ogerpon's a monster."
Ogerpon tilted her head and asked, "What about you, Damien? Are you a human or a monster?"
From appearances alone, Damien would definitely be seen as human.
But that wasn't the full story.
Damien was a mixed-blood Majin, the product of a Majin and human union.
It's worth noting that a mixed-blood Majin isn't the same as a half-Majin.
Half-Majins typically refer to humans transformed into Majins, also called human-Majins, a completely different concept from Damien's mixed-blood Majin status.
"Half-Majin, mixed-blood Majin."
Ogerpon scratched her head, still not fully understanding but grasping the gist.
"I'm not entirely sure myself." Damien admitted. "From what I know, mixed-blood Majins are supposed to be incredibly rare in this world."
The Cardinal World wasn't some fantasy realm where monsters and humans could easily produce offspring.
Only humanoid monsters were classified as Majins.
When Majins reproduce, a significant portion of their Magicule is passed to their offspring through inheritance.
This is true for Majin-to-Majin reproduction. But when a Majin pairs with a human, it's no exaggeration to say the Majin parent essentially ceases to exist.
Losing a large amount of Magicule is akin to losing most of their lifespan, even for the world's ceiling, the Creation God, Star Dragon King.
'My predecessor's origins are a bit odd.'
'A mixed-blood Majin, yet I don't know what kind of monster the non-human bloodline comes from.'
Fortunately, Damien wasn't particularly reliant on the power his Majin bloodline might offer.
Even without awakening it, it didn't affect him much.
'Having some monster blood is already a win. Why ask for more?'
In the Cardinal World, monsters had it better than humans and found it easier to grow stronger.
This was evident in the original novel, where the protagonist was a monster.
Thanks to his Majin blood, Damien also had the monster-like ability to grow stronger by increasing his Magicule and evolving.
His only regret was not having a convenient ability like Rimuru's.
To boost his Magicule, he had to train himself, building it up step by step.
Alternatively, he could rely on Ogerpon.
Before crossing to the Pokémonverse and bonding with Ogerpon, Damien's Existence Value was a mere 300, barely qualifying for an E-rank evaluation, about on par with a forest goblin.
But as Ogerpon's Existence Value climbed to 7000, Damien's saw a dramatic leap.
From 300 to 3800 now... a 3500-point increase, roughly half of Ogerpon's gain.
With 3000–6000 Existence Value, by Cardinal World standards, he'd reached the level of a C-rank monster.
As for actual combat ability...
Unlike Ogerpon, a Pokémon naturally adept at fighting, Damien, with two lifetimes, had no formal combat training.
None of his three Unique Skills... Planeswalker, Leader, or Capturer... offered combat enhancements.
In a real fight, he couldn't muster C-rank monster strength, managing only to bully D-rank orcs with brute force.
As mentioned before, Existence Value determined the amount of Magicule.
More Magicule meant greater magical power.
The relationship between Magicule and magical power could be likened to a mana bar's capacity, current mana, and mana recovery rate.
(While the original work doesn't distinguish magical power, for clarity, we'll separate Magicule and magical power here.)
For example, 1000 Magicule versus 10,000 seems like a tenfold difference.
But the former recovers 1% magical power per second, while the latter recovers 5%.
In numbers, the former can expend 10 points of magical power per second, while the latter can burn through 500.
This creates a fiftyfold gap in basic magical output, not counting additional magic, inherent abilities, unique skills, resistances, and so on.
Of course, combat outcomes aren't solely about stats and abilities. Martial skills and real-world experience also play a role.
The best example is Hakurou from the original story.
Hakurou's Magicule was around 100,000, not particularly high.
Yet, with his swordsmanship, he could take on foes with far greater Magicule.
That's the boost martial skill and experience can provide.
Crackle~
The firewood ignited, flames greedily consuming dry leaves, popping and snapping.
Skewered bear meat sat on the grill, its savory aroma quickly spreading through the crisp air.
The meat, seared by the flames, turned from bright red to golden brown, with oil dripping into the fire, sparking wisps of smoke.
Gulp~~
Seeing Ogerpon drooling, Damien picked up a skewer and handed it to her. "Heh, here, dig in."
"Thanks! Chomp."
Ogerpon took a big bite, her eyes squinting in bliss. "So yummy~~"
Damien grabbed a skewer for himself.
The food in this world... whether mushrooms from the forest or animal meat... was incredibly delicious.
'Is this the effect of Magicule?'
Damien could only marvel at how extraordinary things were in a high-tier world.
As he ate, he didn't idle, using the break to ponder his future path.
"Martial skills, magic, combat experience…"
"I've got no way to learn magic or martial skills."
"And combat experience is too risky."
"As expected, being a trainer suits me best."
Damien knew his role: a summoner, the kind who stays behind his summoned creatures and cheers them on.
His Leader skill paired perfectly with Ogerpon's Grower, making them an ideal team.
Ogerpon could grow stronger by defeating or killing monsters and enemies, gaining Magicule.
Of course, this growth wasn't limitless.
First, each individual could only be defeated once for experience unless they achieved a major breakthrough.
Repeatedly defeating the same target wouldn't yield more.
Additionally, this Magicule growth had a cap, not an endless well.
Even so, for a Unique Skill, Grower was impressive, capable of pushing Ogerpon to Demon Lord Seed status.
To break through to Special A-rank or even S-rank... a True Demon Lord... Grower would need to evolve further.
As for how to evolve it…
Damien's gaze shifted to his Planeswalker skill, currently on cooldown. "I wonder if the next world will have a way to make Ogerpon and me even stronger?"
***
Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC
***
If you want to read up to 50 chapters ahead, don't hesitate to visit our patron: pat reon . com / XElenea (remove space)