This place can hold many creatures. Now Daniel needs to select some magical creatures from the magical creature encyclopedia book that Envy gave him. He doesn't want to bring to life creatures such as mutated frogs or zombified unicorns, as those are off-limits. He still needs this place to be able to produce magical ingredients for the mage who has joined his organization.
Daniel takes out the book and carefully marks the creatures that he currently has in his mindscape and is ready to bring to life.
"Hmmm... Portal Rabbit, checked. Unicorn, checked. Pegasus, checked. Thunderbird, checked..." Daniel mutters as he continues checking the creatures that match the ones he has as cards in his mindscape.
The checking continues as Daniel reaches the section of rare creatures in the index.
"Hm... Behemoth!? Oh, so there's this guy too, checked. And what is this? There are many variations of the behemoth that await discovery! I see, I see." Daniel reads the magical creature encyclopedia in his hand, nodding along with what he has learned.
"What is this!? Dragons? Red Dragon, Black Dragon, Fairy Dragon... oh, a lot of dragons... Golden dragon?" When he reads about the Golden Dragon, he remembers the yellow, gluttonous, chubby iguana at home. That guy is a Golden Dragon too.
So dragonkind must have a lot of power to be able to become a Hell Lord.
Daniel continues to read and check. "Oh, there's a Hydra too! Lernean Hydra!? That's great, I got that one. Kalidonian boar Great great..., Chimera, Cyclops... wait, Cyclops is a creature?
I see... its intelligence is equal to a normal pig. Wait, bone dragon too!? Isn't it undead? I see, it's born from absorbing death energy from the surrounding area and is considered a creature." Daniel nods repeatedly with this knowledge.
Unknown to him, the section he's currently reading contains mostly near-extinct or extinct species. The only reason why they were recorded in this book is because this book is considered precious, as it is one of the few that has documented all these rare species.
Envy is afraid that Daniel will continue to be gullible and buy something strange from the internet, as he did in the past when he bought a fake mandragora, unknowingly causing this misunderstanding.
"Ok! Let's bring all of these guys to life then!" Daniel declares with excitement. He has too many creature cards that he hasn't brought to life in his mindscape, and this is his chance to bring them to life. Thus he began actualizing them.
—
Card Name: Lernean Hydra - The Lerna Lake Tyrant
Illustration: A five-headed Hydra rampaging through a human army, leaving a bloody path in its wake.
Rarity: Legendary
Type: Unique Creature - Hydra
Mana Cost: 1 Forest, 1 Dark, 4 Non-Element
Description:
Whenever this creature is damaged, put a Strengthen counter on it.
Whenever this creature is targeted by non-Fire spell sources, after the spell's effect resolves, put a Strengthen counter on it.
This creature cannot be destroyed by non-Fire creatures or Fire spell damage or effects.
Power: 5
Toughness: 5
Flavor Text: The Lerna Lake Tyrant, a formidable force of nature, leaves devastation in its wake, growing stronger with every blow and impervious to all but the hottest flames.
"Okay... You guys can stay here for now. I think this place has the necessary biomes for you to live in. As for the carnivores, you'll need to wait a few days for your prey. Don't eat the little guys, okay?" Daniel said, noticing a Manticore staring at a group of Portal Rabbits with its mouth watering.
The beasts roared in confirmation before dispersing into the biomes they wanted to live in.
Satisfied with the enclosure, Daniel exited the space inside the sphere to the area outside. He decided to use his expertise as a clockwork master to inspect the Clockwork Enclosure. However, he thought it might be better to let Nexus Prime manage it.
"Prime, are you here?" Daniel called out for the A.I.
"Yes, Master. How may I help you?" the artificial voice responded from the speaker above.
"Can you take control of this artifact?" Daniel asked. Since Nexus Prime had already integrated most of the artifact into its system, it was capable of utilizing magical artifacts, such as golems and metal scarabs, for its own use.
"Let me examine it first, Master," Nexus Prime responded. A swarm of drones deployed from a hidden compartment to scan the spherical object, with several venturing inside.
"Master, I've lost contact with the drones," Nexus Prime reported.
Intrigued, Daniel stepped through the entrance. A downed drone lay on the floor. The connection had been severed upon entry, suggesting an isolated environment.
Retrieving the drones, Daniel brought them outside and re-established communication with Nexus Prime. The AI quickly accessed the drones' data.
"From the result of the scanning and comparison to the database about magical artifacts, this large spherical artifact is 99.9% an object that contains its own artificial space that simulates diverse ecology and biomes to support the life of magical creatures as much as possible.
There are several key features that this technology should come from the Beaumont family. But from what I have gathered, the technology in the Beaumont family is not as advanced to the point that they can create this marvel of magical technology. You were able to create this object even before the Beaumont family could.
As expected of my master, you're vastly superior to those primates," said Nexus Prime.
"Hahaha, where did you learn to bootlick others?" Daniel chuckled.
"Bootlicking, Idiom, It is a derogatory term used to describe someone who is excessively submissive or obsequious to someone in authority or power. It implies that the person is behaving like a dog licking its owner's boots, hence the name.
In essence, it means to flatter or praise someone excessively, often in a fake or insincere way, in order to gain favor or avoid criticism.
Negative, I'm not bootlicking, master. I'm stating facts," Nexus Prime clarified.
Daniel smiled wryly. "Alright, alright."
"Master, there's more. According to the information provided by Lady Envy, magical creatures are different from normal creatures. They can sense natural mana within one's body and will only obey those whose mana matches theirs. This means that if you want me to take care of the magical creatures, it would be an impossible task unless I master artificial mana pathway technology.
I suggest you hire some trustworthy individuals to take care of the magical creatures, and I will help you monitor them. In the meantime, I'll allocate more processing power to researching artificial mana pathways," Nexus Prime explained.
Daniel thought about it for a moment and then nodded. "Okay, I'll talk with Envy and see what we can do."
After finishing with the actualization of the Clockwork Enclosure, Daniel went to visit Envy to discuss the Clockwork Enclosure and come up with ideas for filling it with magical creatures.
Daniel arrived at Astral Corporation and asked about Envy, but the receptionist told him she had gone to the guest house. Daniel nodded, thanked the receptionist, and followed Envy to the guest house that Astral Corporation had prepared for its guests.
When he arrived and let a valet take his car to the parking lot, he looked around the guest house lounge and found Envy socializing with a beautiful, long-eared woman who appeared to be an elf. A long bearded muscular but short man, who looked like a dwarf, was also there.
Somehow, Daniel found both of them very familiar. He didn't know why, but he felt like he should know them; he just couldn't recall how. Daniel slowly walked toward Envy's group. At this time, Envy noticed him and waved. The dwarf and elf looked toward him as they saw Envy waving.