Hello, I'm 연백.

To mark the International Day for Biological Diversity, I would like to explore the idea of using the monsters in Mapleland

to create a Maple field guide to living things.

This past May 22 was the International Day for Biological Diversity.

The International Day for Biological Diversity originated with the announcement of a convention in 1994

as a day to recognize the variety of species that exist and raise awareness of the need to conserve them.

With environmental pollution, habitat destruction, and other factors

placing an increasing number of species at risk of extinction,

it is also an opportunity to reflect on environmental conservation.

- Biodiversity and Extinction in MapleStory?

MapleStory is also home to a wide variety of monsters.

These creatures share similarities but each have slightly different characteristics,

and encountering and hunting them allows players to obtain items and more,

making them an indispensable and valuable part of the game.

Fortunately,

monsters in the game spawn continuously, so there is little risk of extinction. However,

some monsters, such as Lupin, Zombie Lupin, and Clang, have occasionally lost their habitats to revamps and other changes

and disappeared from MapleStory itself (the main game).

There is a curious parallel with the real world here.

With that observation aside, let us return to the field guide.

- What If I Created My Own Field Guide?

If I were choosing how to organize my own field guide,

I would use species as the basic classification,

but I think I would place greater emphasis on grouping creatures by region.

Let us put together a simple field guide

and discuss the entries as we go.

- 🍄Mushroom Family

No guide would be complete without mushrooms, the most abundant monsters on Victoria Island.

In Henesys, you can find plenty of

Orange Mushrooms with a typical mushroom shape, but...

— Ellinia

If you travel to Ellinia, a region of dense, sprawling forests,

you can encounter Green Mushrooms, which are so poisonous that they are immune to poison attacks.

Perhaps they evolved to suit Ellinia's distinctive environment,

which offers ideal conditions for poisonous mushrooms and various plants to flourish.

— Sleepywood

Continuing on to Sleepywood, where deep caves extend beyond the reach of any light,

you can encounter Horny Mushrooms, which evolved from Green Mushrooms.

Living in the lightless Ant Tunnel has affected their development:

after so long without light, they have lost much of their toxicity, but instead,

horns have grown on their caps, giving them a strikingly more threatening appearance.

— New Leaf City

Moving on to the somewhat less familiar New Leaf City,

we can encounter the Urban Fungus, with its striking purple cap.

Although we do not know what environmental influences gave it a purple cap,

the fact that it evolved to suit New Leaf City,

with its cutting-edge technology and modern buildings, is particularly intriguing.

— Japan

Finally, there is Blue Mushmom, which followed a different evolutionary path in the Japan region.

Although it looks quite similar to Mushmom, a king-like figure among mushrooms,

its cap has turned sky blue, and it has evolved into a much stronger boss monster,

making it a creature that I think would deserve a special place in a field guide.

- 🐷 Pig Family

The pig family, commonly found around Henesys, also deserves a mention.

Although these monsters look threatening as they scrape their hooves against the ground in preparation for a charge,

NPCs can tame and domesticate them,

and they make relatively easy hunting targets for beginners.

Among these pigs, however, the exceptionally strong ones

wear ribbons around their bodies to display their higher rank.

At first glance, they may seem to have simply put on a ribbon,

but since they have become much stronger than ordinary pigs,

the mysterious power these ribbons grant might be worth examining in detail.

— Perion

Some pigs, angered by this unequal treatment of ordinary Pigs and Ribbon Pigs,

venture into the barren region of Perion.

Although its environment is completely different from that of Henesys,

they train relentlessly to find a way to adapt

and survive even here, eventually evolving into Wild Boars.

Unlike ordinary pigs, they develop strong teeth, much sharper-looking eyes,

and bristling manes on top of their heads,

marking an impressive transformation into powerful monsters characteristic of Perion (Lv.7 → Lv. 24).

Their development does not stop there,

as some learn to harness Perion's intense heat and evolve into Fire Boars.

Rather than simply adapting perfectly to Perion's environment, they find new ways to use it,

strengthening themselves through the ordeal of setting their own bodies ablaze

and offering Perion's residents a fine example to follow and a barbecue party.

Their ability to survive in such an extreme environment is remarkable.

— 🐲 Drake Family

Lastly, let us look at a powerful monster that players in their Lv. 50s will likely have hunted at least once:

the Drake.

These dragon-type monsters inhabit the deepest parts of the dungeon beyond the Ant Tunnel,

and although they look a little foolish, they are dangerous enough that players cannot afford to let their guard down.

— Perion

Among these Drakes,

some Drakes have been banished because they could not adapt to dungeon life (or were too weak).

Visually, they differ only slightly, with a somewhat brownish tint,

but they are much weaker than ordinary Drakes, giving the impression that they have not fully evolved.

However...

By adapting further to the intense heat and barren environment,

some evolve into Red Drakes, taking on a reddish hue and gaining the ability to shoot fireballs.

Although they were driven out of their original habitat,

their evolution into formidable creatures that now pose a threat in Perion

seems to reflect both the influence of their environment and the abilities they naturally acquired to survive.

— Dungeon

Ordinary Drakes do not seem to have been idle either:

there are also Ice Drakes, which adapted to the cold in the lightless depths and turned to ice,

and Dark Drakes, which underwent a dark evolution under the evil influence of the Cursed Temple,

for players to encounter.

Even while living in the same region,

they have adapted to external influences and become new species—a development I find particularly impressive.

That completes my own small field guide.

There are many other fascinating monsters and traits that have emerged through evolution,

but what particularly interests me is how the environments of their habitats and various other factors

have caused them to evolve and change into new monsters,

making them all the more engaging to explore.

Which monsters left an impression on you?