Version 1.22.0 Released

Version 1.22.0 is here.

After expanding the Adventurer’s Guild in 1.21.0, this update focuses on one of the systems that naturally connects to it: the Bestiary.

Until now, the Bestiary primarily documented creatures you encountered and defeated.

With Bestiary 2.0, it becomes a full Monster Research system.

The goal is to make learning about the creatures of Crystalis part of progression itself — not just another checklist, but a system connected to hunting, Monster Cards, the Menagerie, Legendary Bounties and the Adventurer’s Guild.

Monster Research

Every Bestiary creature can now progress through four Research stages:

• Encountered
• Studied
• Hunted
• Mastered

Research is based on actual evidence gathered while playing.

Simply meeting a creature begins its dossier, but deeper information requires more interaction with that species.

As Research progresses, additional information becomes available.

Depending on the creature and available data, dossiers can reveal:

• Element
• Region
• Weaknesses
• Health
• Attack
• Defense
• Speed
• Monster Card information
• Kill history
• Nemesis victories
• Apex victories
• observed Hunt modifiers
• Menagerie specimens
• Hunt material signatures
• Legendary Bounty evidence

The intention is that the Bestiary now feels like an actual field research archive rather than a static enemy list.

Research Insight

Research progression is driven by Insight.

Current thresholds are:

• Encountered: 1 Insight
• Studied: 6 Insight
• Hunted: 20 Insight
• Mastered: 42 Insight

Different activities contribute different types of research evidence.

Normal victories are useful, but they are intentionally not enough to fully master a creature by themselves.

Even after 20 standard victories, a creature reaches at most 41 Insight from that source alone.

To reach Mastered status, players need at least one additional form of evidence.

That can come from systems such as:

• Monster Cards
• Menagerie specimens
• Nemesis victories
• Apex victories
• Hunt modifiers
• Legendary Bounties
• other specialized monster-related activities

This makes Monster Research reward broad interaction with the game rather than repetitive farming.

Mastered Creatures

Fully researching a creature provides a small combat benefit against that exact species.

A Mastered creature grants:

+2% damage dealt

and

-1% damage taken

against that specific creature.

These bonuses are deliberately narrow.

Mastering one monster does not make the player globally stronger against every enemy, and bonuses from unrelated Bestiary entries do not stack into a universal power increase.

The system is intended to reward knowledge without destabilizing the existing combat balance.

Naturalist Ranks

Bestiary progression now contributes to a new long-term research prestige path.

There are currently six Naturalist Ranks, beginning with:

Field Observer

and eventually reaching:

Grand Naturalist

These ranks provide an additional sense of progression for players who enjoy collecting, hunting and fully documenting the creatures of Crystalis.

Monster Cards Now Matter More

Monster Cards are no longer only collectibles.

Owning the appropriate Monster Card can now contribute meaningful research evidence toward that creature’s Bestiary dossier.

This gives existing card collections additional value and connects one of KoC’s older collection systems directly into Monster Research.

Players who already collected cards before 1.22.0 will receive credit automatically where applicable.

Menagerie Integration

The Menagerie is also connected to Bestiary 2.0.

Having a bound or collected creature provides additional research evidence for its species.

That means studying a monster through combat is no longer the only way to understand it.

Capturing, raising or maintaining creatures through the Menagerie now contributes to the wider Monster Research ecosystem.

Legendary Bounty Research

Legendary Bounties introduced in 1.21.0 now have another purpose.

Defeating a Legendary Bounty target contributes special evidence to the Bestiary dossier of the creature represented by that bounty.

This connects the new Adventurer’s Guild endgame directly to Monster Research.

A successful hunt is therefore no longer just about reputation and rewards.

It also expands your knowledge of the creature itself.

Adventurer’s Guild Research Contracts

The Adventurer’s Guild has also been expanded again.

Version 1.22.0 increases the Contract pool from 13 to 14 templates with the addition of a new research-focused objective:

Field Research Dossier

This allows Monster Research itself to become part of Guild progression.

The overall loop now connects several systems:

Guild Contracts → Hunts → Bestiary → Monster Cards → Menagerie → Legendary Bounties

Rather than existing as separate features, these systems now reinforce one another.

Existing Progress Is Preserved

Bestiary 2.0 was designed with existing long-term saves in mind.

Previous progress is automatically used when calculating the new Research system.

Existing data such as:

• creature encounters
• kills
• Monster Cards
• Nemesis victories
• Apex victories
• Menagerie progression
• previous Bestiary Mastery

can contribute retroactively.

Most importantly:

Any creature that was fully Mastered under the previous Bestiary system remains Mastered in 1.22.0.

The new system will not downgrade previously completed Bestiary progress.