4 Chapter 4: Deal!

Lucca was only able to get out of bed at lunchtime and he still felt a little drowsy. Getting up off his large bed he slowly dragged his feet to the bathroom. Fortunately as he was browsing through the market yesterday he had found a collection of hygienic products all for 1 coin. Inside there were practically everything he needed from soap and shampoos to toothbrushes and toilet paper.

Lucca brushed his teeth and took a long cold shower to freshen up, once he was finished he ate his breakfast of warm rice and headed outside to see how much the old farmer had gotten done.

As he left through the back door Lucca was met with a perfectly tilted spot of land that was even surrounded by white fences. Inside he could see the old farmer planting the last of the seeds and as he finished he looked up and greeted Lucca.

``Good morning Master`` the old puppet said as he gave a slight bow.

``Good morning uncle Ben´´ Lucca responded as he rubbed his eyes.

``Master, the seeds have all been planted and the rooster has been tamed´´ the old farmer exclaimed

``The rooster has been tamed? Good! Where is he?´´ Lucca said excitedly. `Though the rooster was beaten up by the old farmer he is still considered a tier 1 creature, if its truly tamed i could ride it out into the forest and see if i could find anything to sell, also maybe something to eat since i doubt i can survive solely on rice.´

The old puppet pointed to the big doghouse. ``Though its no longer aggressive its still being a bit stubborn. Spiritual creatures are all like this as they were usually the strongest in their territory they are too prideful to surrender to someone weaker than themselves, well unless there is some kind of incentive of course´´ He said as he rubbed his thumb with his index finger.

Lucca quickly understood and sighed `it looks like I'm going to have another expensive mouth to feed, why are all these creatures so materialistic?´ He thought as he walked towards the chicken house.

The door of the house had been replaced to one of those old wild west bar doors that you needed push in to enter.

`Old Ben sure is thoughtful´

Luca pushed the doors and walked in where he saw the rooster with a swollen face sitting on a big nest with his eyes closed, however, as soon as he had walked in the rooster had woken up startled but when he saw who it was he turned his head to the side not completely ignoring him.

`Hes sulking?.... how... cute....´ he thought smiling.

``Old Ben sure was rough with you wasn't he?´´ Lucca said slowly walking to his side. Though he was still a little wary, he trusted old Ben and his ``Taming´´.

``HMPH´´ The big black bird snorted and turned his head to the side.

Lucca scratched the back of his neck, he already felt a little embarrassed having to talk to a chicken and it was completely ignoring him.

``Ok look, you and i are both on the same boat so why don't we work together instead of being enemies?``

``HMPH´´ the big rooster turned his head to the other side and hmphed once more.

*sighs* ``Look you might have been one of the strongest creatures where you're from but here you are only a tier 1 beast. The first creature I met when I came here was tier 3! The ape was bigger than this whole castle! Do you think you can survive out there by yourself? If you let me ride on your back as we go outside and explore for a bit every day you can keep this little house to yourself and ill feed you good food, how about that?``

The big roosters eye twitched slightly when Lucca mentioned the big ape and he seemed tempted to agree but the pain on his face reminded him of Uncle Ben's "taming".

Hmphing once more he turned his head other away. 'You had me whacked by that old monster for the whole night and now you want me to be your mount for just shelter and food? keep dreaming!'

Lucca knew he wouldn't be able to convince him with just words so he had already come ready. He went into the shop and bought tier 1 nuts. It was the cheapest food for spiritual birds that he had seen in the market yesterday, fortunately as they could not be planted and were specific only for avian beasts so they were a lot cheaper than the banana. For 2HC he was able to get enough to feed the bird for at least a week so his monthly taxes was raised to 23HC.

The nuts looked like acorns made out of crystal and inside you could see a small amount of red liquid swirling about. There was no smell coming from them but the rooster could feel the powerful amount of mana contained in those little nuts as Lucca removed it from his inventory.

As he opened up the little bag the rooster became visibly excited. It was about to snatch the nuts when Lucca quickly took it back into his inventory.

"tsk tsk tsk," Lucca said as he waved his index finger ``Do we have a deal?´´

The rooster instantly bobbed his head up and down. It knew if it could get to eat like this everyday he would eventually be able to break through to tier 2.

``Annnd i can ride you??´´ Lucca asked.

The big rooster hesitated for a second. It was humiliating to have such a weak creature using him as a mount, but eventually he agreed.

Lucca took the little baggy and threw it to the rooster who swallowed it whole. He was worried about him choking but seeing its delighted expression it looked like it everything was fine.

``Rest early today, we will go out first thing tomorrow`` Lucca said as he left chicken house.

Walking outside he noticed the old farmer sitting on a stump under the sun watching over the farm holding onto his wood. If you looked close enough you could see that he wasn't moving at all as if he was a statue and his straw hat was slightly transparent but Lucca wasn't surprised. The old farmer was charging his battery as Lucca bought him specifically for that function just like the little obsidian home.

After watching for a bit he turned and walked back into his house. Inside the little home he sat down on the big comfy couch and opened the market once more. When he remembered how close he was to dying yesterday Lucca had decided he needed to get stronger because one day he might not be so lucky.

"Though the chicken is strong i still need to strengthen myself, who knows when i will be put in a situation where i have to rely on myself? fortunately i found this!!" He said as he opened one of the tabs. On the top it was written in big letters "Cultivation Manuals".