Essence

Essence, alternatively translated as mana , is a kind of "life force" possessed by humans, elves, dwarves, and most other types of living things in the Monster Girl Encyclopedia world. It forms one half of a metaphysical yin-yang relationship with the opposite mamono mana of the monsters. Very similar to the Eastern concept of qi, essence is lost by vigorous activity and magical spellcasting, while it is replenished by food, rest, and living in a healthy environment. Although monsters do not innately possess essence, they all greatly hunger for it, and for some monsters it represents most of their diet. Since male semen contains highly concentrated essence, this makes it the monsters' most delicious food.

Monster Girl Encyclopedia World Guide III: Sabbath Grimoire also notes that "divine mana" and "human mana" are different kinds of essence.

General features

A mystical, metaphysical substance, essence of various varieties is generated by all living things, aside from monsters (who produce their own type of energy, distinguished by properties essence lacks). Small amounts are contained in organic foods like meat and plants , but it is intelligent life which produces it in the greatest abundance. Angels and elves both have more than humans, which provides them a limited degree of magical protection from monsterization. When essence is expended, males replenish it naturally from within themselves, while females do the same but less quickly; they can also replenish their reserves by absorbing the energy which is emitted passively by grass, plants, and other living things in the environment. While useful in human lands, this becomes a liability in mamono realms, where absorbing mamono mana from the surroundings causes monsterization via essence corruption.

Monsterization of women occurs when so much mamono mana is poured into the victim that her internal essence production ability is extinguished, turning her into a creature of only mamono mana. This is impossible in men except for those of very particular psychologies; instead, for males, mamono mana in their system spurs essence production. Persistent exposure turns a man into an incubus, a creature of both mamono mana and essence.

Some monster girls, particularly akanames and beelzebubs, love licking men's bodies precisely to get at the essence contained in sweat. But all monsters prefer semen best of all, as the white stuff contains much more essence than any other source.

When they have a husband, monster girls can become so enamored with the taste of his essence that they become addicted to it. Married monster girls also become extremely good at detecting their husband's spirit scent, and can essentially track him down wherever he is. In contrast, the essence of other men becomes so disgusting that it makes them feel like throwing up. For unattached monster girls who eat essence, like succubi, they can survive on mana contained in normal foods. There's also Essence Supplement, capable of replenishing mana with higher efficiency than ordinary meals, although the medicine has a reputation of being extremely unappetizing amongst monsters; it's described as being tasteless and disgusting, and married mamono are unable to take it.

Essence, as well as mamono mana, is unique to each individual. It's possible to identify race, and even uniquely identify an individual, by performing a detailed analysis of mana.

Book Information

Spirit (Early settings info)

Spirit is the embodiment of life energy innately possessed by members of all races barring Monsters, and is possessed in large amounts by human males. Spirit is similar to what is commonly known as Mamono Mana and as such shares a plus/minus relationship with it. If there is more Spirit, there would be less Mamono Mana. One might think of it as a Yin and Yang relationship - if one exists more than the other the other becomes lessened as a result, ie Inversely proportionate. Human mages' magic and elven magic utilize this Spirit themselves. However, it is often called "Magic" by humans and elves, and it is often confused with Mamono Mana. Some monsters use this Essence as food, and obtain it through intercourse. By absorbing the spirit obtained during intercourse into their bodies, it is then converted into "Mamono Mana". One might view Mamono Mana as their life-force. Human males possess the ability to produce this spiritual energy, and as such are not harmed when monsters take this from them, as it can be regained through food or rest. Hence, the ability to produce spiritual energy and store it inside the body would classify the incubi as human instead of monster.

Essence (MGE1, p14)

A vital energy possessed by humans, and various other races besides monsters. Men especially have a lot of it. When human wizards or elves use magic, the energy used is the same thing as essence, but the monsters are the only ones who actually refer to it as such. It is generally called magical energy. It is extremely similar to the mamono mana of monsters . If essence is the plus, then the mamono mana of monsters is the minus. They are related like two sides of the same coin.

A Feast for Monsters

The monsters feed on essence which they get from men through sex. Much essence is included in the saliva and semen of men. Besides swallowing it down and absorbing it along with everything else using their mouth, they most of all enjoy the method of using their vagina to squeeze out semen. As far as the monsters are concerned, essence is a treat far better than any other food. When they gain essence, their thoughts melt away as they experience a powerful rush of joy and ecstasy. Essence that they've absorbed in this way is then converted to mamono mana, which will be discussed later, inside their body and stored.

The taste of the essence is heavily influenced by the state of the monster when she takes it in. The stronger her desire is for the man who will become her prey, the more exquisite the taste of the essence becomes, especially the taste of the essence of a man that instinct has recognized as her husband. It tastes so much sweeter to her than anything else that she wouldn't even bother feeding on another man's essence again. Most of the monsters become a prisoner of their husband's essence. It is said that many of them even fall into a state that could be called “semen addiction.” Also, there are some medicines made from essence for nutritional supplement. But for the reason described above, it seems that it's not something that tastes very good to them at all. Furthermore, human men are always giving off minuscule quantities of essence. By sensing it, the monsters can infer the presence of a human man. They are especially sensitive to the essence of their own husband. They are always able to sense his location and track him down. It is to such a degree that no matter where he tries to hide, she can always find him no matter what.

Recovery of Essence

The essence that dwells within the body of a human, besides being stolen away by monsters, can also be spent through casting spells. Even if essence is lost for one of these reasons, it never results in death, though it may cause the person to feel fatigue, or pass out. In the case of human men, they have the power to create essence inside their body. It is possible to recover their essence through eating, or getting sleep. In the case of women, this function is very weak compared to how it is in men, but they are able to make up for what they lack by absorbing the essence released by men around them. However, in the case that there is mamono mana around them, they take in the mamono mana of monsters in place of the essence that they're lacking. Because of this, their essence recovery function, which was weak and lacking to begin with, completely ceases. The mamono mana settles in the woman's body and ends up causing monsterization. Additionally, when a man becomes an incubus, his essence capacity is extremely increased, and his essence production function also rises by leaps and bounds.

Diet of Monsters: Essence (World Guide 2, p44)

Most monsters feed on the vital "essence”, that human men have a lot of. They absorb it inside their body and convert it into “mamono mana”, the vital energy of monsters. For monsters, essence is a delicious treat that is far better than any other kind of food. Monsters that obtain and taste essence will be engulfed in powerful ecstasy and joy. Even monsters that mainly eat things besides energy can still take in energy and convert it to mamono mana. To them, a man's energy is a sweet treat.

Essence is plentiful in human bodily fluids, especially semen. Besides drinking it through their mouth and ingesting it, they most prefer to milk it out using their vagina by having sex with a man. Since energy is mainly taken in through sex in this manner, while “sex” is an act of reproduction for monsters, at the same time it is also “feeding.” Additionally, the taste and smell of essence lingers faintly on a man's body, and is comparatively thicker on the penis. Monsters can enjoy the taste by licking a man's body, or taking it in their mouth or vagina. For monsters, a man's very existence itself is like a sweat treat because he has essence within his body that they can taste and enjoy by licking, sucking, and having sex, resulting in pleasure that soothes their body and heart.

For that reason, monsters say “Delicious.” or “Looks delicious.” when they see a human man, and they refer to sex as “eating”.

Since monsters build up mamono mana by obtaining spirit, monsters that have more sex with men and get more energy poured inside them generally become stronger individuals. The more powerful a monster becomes, the more essence she requires, and they never get tired of consuming it. For monsters it's like a drug: the more they absorb, the more they want, so when more essence is poured inside them, not only do they become more powerful, they grow into much more lustful monsters.

The essence of each individual man has a distinctive feel and taste. Humans can't sense it, but monsters are sensitive to it, and because of that, it's possible for them to sense and distinguish the presence of individual men based on the trace amounts of essence that a man scatters around.  

What Mana Is (World Guide 3, p26)

It is a general name for the vital energy contained within the bodies of animate beings; all living things possess mana. Naturally, that's true of humans and monsters; divinities possess vast sums of mana within themselves, and even plants and animals possess mana, albeit in small quantities. There are minute differences between races and individuals, but generally speaking, when ordered in terms of who possesses the most mana, it goes divinities, monsters, humans, animals, plants. Furthermore, there also exist races that do not have bodies of flesh, whose bodies are instead comprised entirely of mana such as “spirits”. Mana is not at all a special energy just for using magic; instead, it is the fundamental essence that organisms use to perform vital functions. In other words, it is life force itself. It tends to be misunderstood, but just because someone cannot use magic doesn't mean that they do not possess mana. For example, most “slimes (encyclopedia I – p.16)” cannot use magic, but that's because they lack the knowledge and wits to use magic. A slime's body itself is mostly made up of mana, and for that reason, we can say they are creatures who possess extremely large amounts of mana within themselves.

Other than that, most “werewolves (Encyclopedia I – p.26)” are just poor at controlling mana in the form called magic due to their racial characteristics; however, they instinctively use mana to enhance their physical abilities and control their posture when exerting themselves. Humans and other animals are also the same way. Ultimately, whether or not one can use magic is determined by one's inherent proficiencies and inadequacies, as well as subsequently acquired knowledge and training. It has very little to do with the presence or absence of mana, or the magnitude of the mana possessed. The vital energy, mana, is essentially required by organisms to perform vital functions, so in the first place, a lack of mana would signify that something is non-living rather than living.

Even when people possess the same amount of mana, on the one hand, there are individuals who have a frail constitution and poor physical abilities that invest their mana into the gift known as magic, while on the other hand, there are people who possess brute strength and boundless stamina due to mana, but are completely unable to use magic, while still others are endowed with a good balance of everything. We can say there are endless variations in how mana is used depending on the particular race and individual. In this way, mana is not simply energy used for magic.

Mana is also the “vitality”, and “overall energy” of living things. Basically, beings who are filled with mana are also highly active, while if mana is lacking, they will feel fatigue, and if mana is lost, it may cause lethargy or a loss of consciousness. Since possessing more mana is equivalent to possessing a greater life force, even though they're still human, powerful sorcerers tend to have greater longevity compared to ordinary humans.

It's generally all lumped together and treated as “mana” most of the time, but in fact the nature of mana differs depending on each race, and it's classified as divine mana, mamono mana, human mana, and so forth. Mamono mana can be further classified according to race as succubus mana, lamia mana, slime mana, etc. Moreover, the mana of each individual is slightly different even when they are of the same race. Each and every animate being possesses a unique mana, and there is no one else in the world who has exactly the same mana. Even human twins raised together with the same mother and father, and even two golems created from the same material by the same craftsman, and animated by the same mana, do not possess exactly the same mana. For that reason, naturally, it's possible to identify race, and even uniquely identify an individual by performing a detailed analysis of mana. In general, humans do not have the power to sense mana; however, those who normally deal with mana such as wizards and golem engineers are an exception, being capable of sensing mana to some degree, and there are also humans “with good intuition” who are inherently able to sense the presence of mana. On the other hand, monsters excel at sensing mana. Other than being able to sense mana as a presence, there are also those who can sniff out the scent of mana and even visualize mana. Additionally, they are extra sensitive to human mana, men's mana in particular, and can sense the presence of humans even from a location some distance away. Naturally, they can identify whether it's a human or a monster, and even discern particular individuals, but they can also sense what other mana is mixed in with the mana possessed by the target, and it's even possible to discern whether or not the target has a partner, and identify who that partner is as well. The mana of a monster's own partner in particular is unmistakable, and even if her partner has been transformed into another person or beast due to a spell, she can identify him as her husband at a glance; conversely, it's absolutely impossible for a monster to mistake someone using magic to masquerade with her partner's form and mana as her actual husband.

The fact that “human mana” is the main staple of the inma is a point that is especially noteworthy. The vital energy possessed by humans called “essence” is the favorite treat of all monsters, and that's another word for this human mana. In this book, for the sake of convenience, “human mana” will most often simply be referred to using the word “mana”, but please note that it means exactly the same thing as “essence”. Due to the influence of the mamono lord, an immensely powerful inma, all monsters are endowed with the traits of a “succubus (Encyclopedia I – p. 8)” and have a habit of feeding on human mana, i.e., essence, so their mouth, vagina, and womb have a sense of taste to enjoy the flavor of mana. The flavor of the mana of human men is strongly preferred by all monsters, and the semen ejaculated by men is particularly full of it. For that reason, monsters will do things like taking the penis deeply into their mouth, and licking and sucking it to spur ejaculation, or uniting the penis and vagina, and shaking their hips to produce stimulation that induces ejaculation. In other words, they ingest men's mana by engaging in sex with men. Additionally, their sense of smell with regard to human mana is also sharp, and a man shrouded in mana has a wonderfully delicious scent to monsters. The taste of the mana of the man recognized by a monster as her partner is exceptional, and after knowing that sweet taste, other men's mana will taste awful and no longer be tolerable to her, so much so that a monster's body will gradually alter into one specialized exclusively for sex with her partner. Her sense of taste with regards to mana will also gradually change so that only her partner's mana tastes more sharply and deliciously. Not only will a monster not get bored of her partner's taste, the more they have sex, and the more she slurps his mana, the more intoxicated she will become. In fact, many monsters even end up begging for their husband's semen practically like addicts. On top of that, they even become more sensitive to the presence and odor of their partner's mana, and in many cases it gets to the point that just being near their partner and smelling him is enough to make their head giddy, and inflame lust, resulting in a surge of sexual excitement.