Apricorn
Risk and Reward
It clung to the drooping vine, heavy with power. June drew closer to it, moving the brush and undergrowth aside as she warily looked around the forest, ears straining to pick up even the lightest of feet around her. As many times as she had wandered these woods, she had never grown comfortable searching them for her current quarry: An apricorn.
She always knew one was nearby when she started to spot signs of particularly dangerous monsters - a fallen tree here, a smoldering pile of ashes there... the hairs at the back of her neck stood on end just thinking about it. She stepped softly towards the orb, breath held, eyes focused on the warped reflection of herself staring back at her from the hardened surface of the plant. Her heartbeat quickened as she came within arm's reach of it. Trembling fingers stretched towards the apricorn, and with a pop sound, she plucked the strange fruit off the vine.
She hated these jobs. Unfortunately for her, she was the only one in town who had the skills and knowledge to find them in these woods, and they were too valuable to pass up - with this one, she'd finally be able to take that trip to Sagara Nagara that she'd dreamed of since she was a child. Her relaxing thoughts melted away when she spotted something in the reflection of the apricorn as she stowed it into her bag - one of the trees began to move, branches snapping as a blackened mouth tore itself free from the wood...
Mechanics & Inner Workings
Apricorns are a basis or reagent of nearly every advanced magical technique beyond divination or crude energy projections, but in spite of this, the fundamentals behind their biology is unknown, even to this day. Since they are almost always found in areas thick with infestation, it has long been theorized that there exists some connection between fruit and beast, but no evidence has been collected that supports this theory. The little knowledge of their workings is that they naturally draw in the Prana from their surroundings... which would imply that Apricorns can somehow manipulate the Astral Realm in order to collect it.
What else is known is that they grow similarly in any climate, no matter how bizarre - one vine only grows a single apricorn no matter how hot or cold its surroundings are. The hard outer shell is surprisingly malleable and conducts nearly all kinds of magic, but the true treasure of the plant is its thick, gooey interior, which is just as magically versatile as the shell, yet also carries the property of "altering" any magical energy put into it. All colors of apricorn share these features, but each also has key differences dependent upon its coloration.
- Red Apricorns grow more potent the closer they are to humans or monsters of great vigor or mental alacrity.
- Yellow Apricorns resonate with energy when near magical stones, such as Fire Stones or Moon Stones. It is equally adept at absorbing or amplifying such energy.
- Blue Apricorns bizarrely enough, have their power drawn out when paired with organic material, such as raw meat, plants, or other edible compounds.
- Green Apricorns have strange powers over the mind, causing the minds of others to be more subject to change.
- Pink Apricorns are similar to green ones, yet never affect more than one being at a time. These tend to be much more powerful than their green counterparts and often have uncontrollable effects.
- White Apricorns are literally attracted to movement, and have been seen to move on their own, rolling after many a monster. They enhance physical properties, usually to make something lighter or quicker.
- Black Apricorns weigh twice as much as other apricorns and appear to absorb kinetic energy. They also enhance physical properties, but to make something heavier or more forceful.
Significance
Before their discovery, most spells and rituals took days for even the most rudimentary effects to succeed, with potentially disastrous results. They first revolutionized the field of magic by making it far more accessible to the average human, then again with the innovative creation of Monster Balls in 2332 AC, orbs that could seal monsters away while enslaving their minds. It is arguable which milestone was more significant.
Monster Balls
Traditional Monster Balls are created by hollowing out an Apricorn and removing its innards, forming the containment shell. This shell is then immersed in a magical solution to harden and attune it to the Astral Realm even further - this solution determines how easily a Ball is able to "capture" a monster inside it. Due to their more malleable forms, monsters can be contained within a Monster Ball as long as they contain no Origin Energy - Ditto is the only known monster to meet both criteria and cannot be contained. All humans and Kami have the spark of Origin Energy within them, rendering them completely immune to Monster Balls. Industralized versions operate similarly, except they are created out of metal - it took many years for scholars to successfully adapt the magical solution to steel instead of Apricorns.
When a Monster Ball makes contact with something, it briefly opens up and scans the Astral Realm for inert Prana and tries to absorb its Astral Form into its own, compressing and forming a shell around it. When it finds a suitable target, it forms a Link with it and converts it into pure elemental energy that is transported to the Astral Realm. Once it has formed a shell around the target's Astral Form the Monster Ball begins to dominate the monster's mind, forcing it to obey its captor - only destruction of the Monster Ball will release this mental hold. Particularly strong-willed monsters can resist certain commands, but they will never attack their master. If a Monster Ball is destroyed while containing a monster, the monster will reform itself in the Material Realm, but this process is not always entirely successful. Monster Balls "register" their users simply by physical contact - touching it overrides the last person who registered it. Monster Balls excel at forming Astral Links in a short time, so some people handle them with gloves until it is time to use it.
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