Plantation Drive

"Fuck! Huff! Who knew I can jog for more than 30 minutes straight!" Reed felt exhilarated. If he tried to jog for this long a few days ago, his lungs would have gone— Understandable, have a great day— and bam, disappear. But now, he only felt more refreshed.

For the first time, Reed loved stamina.

"Meeaaooo!" Cinnamon seemed to agree. She looked around casually while hugged between Reed's arms and chest.

Last night, Reed had planned on sleeping on the couch while keeping Cinnamon out but she simply refused to stay in the apartment. Instead, she continued to yowl softly until he pulled her inside the beast management system. This time, Reed used the spy mode, already knowing that his body would remain in the real world and Cinnamon won't be able to see him.

For almost half an hour, he continued to observe Cinnamon and discovered an interesting convenience.

By now, it was true that Cinnamon did not need to eat anything and it is due to the strange space but she did relieve herself— another concern for Reed— and to his surprise, Cinnamon's litter actually crumbled apart and disappeared into the soil in a matter of seconds.

Fucking awesome— he thought, obviously.

He didn't need to feed Cinnamon. He didn't need to concern himself for cleaning after her. Instead, he can have other moments with Cinnamon like this one. Jogging alongside her.

She would jump down from his embrace every now and then, running until she felt bored before jumping on top of Reed once again.

Given the situation of the world, nobody stared at him wrongly. To others, it only looked like an owner cultivating a bond with his pet. Who here hasn't done the same thing?

'I should be on time and even if I'm late, I can get all my tasks done before the opening time so the manager wouldn't be giving me tough shit today,' Reed thought in his heart and he only reached the cafe after few more minutes, bringing his time of jogging to a total of 37 minutes.

The cafe had a tasteful exterior. In fact, for restaurants and cafes, the exterior and interior needed to be equally attractive to the food and drinks. Reed entered the cafe through the back entrance and seeing that the Manager only glanced at him from the main hall, he let out a sigh of relief.

Cinnamon attracted a little attention. Aside from the Manager, the other staff members only brought their pets once to show it off. Like a— bring your child to the workday.

"Dude! That's what you bought?"

Reed had only taken off his shirt when Gary barged in.

"Alright, we need to stop meeting like this when I'm half-naked," Reed looked at Gary before looking at Cinnamon who sat near him silently.

"Yeah, I bought her. A Toyger. Sweet, right? Her name's Cinnamon," Reed introduced with a smile before wearing his uniform and as the manager had stated yesterday, the new uniform seemed closer to his size. There was still a little adjustment to be made but now, it would be on Reed's salary so he chose to compromise without raising a fuss.

"Toyger? First time hearing about it," Gary walked closer to Cinnamon and crouched down.

"But she looks well-mannered. Most of the videos on the cat show them doing stupid things. Like jumping from wardrobe towards the bed but falling midway. It's hilarious, actually. You should let Cinnamon see that," Gary snickered.

"I already did," Reed shrugged.

Cinnamon would only know how to move and present herself well when she watches cat failure videos, after all.

"Man, I really need to buy a pet, too. I'm thinking of an iguana!" Gary's gaze brightened, "a mutated one bred from totem beasts. Nessie has a contracted Iguana, too... maybe that can help me."

"You're still on that?" Reed looked at Gary with a hint of pity, "Why do you have to waste money like that? Just watch porn."

"What waste?" Gary scoffed, "I placed those tickets on sale and they sold for 4500! Man, that's plain monet! I just need to save a little and I'll purchase a nice Iguana... hehe," Gary stood up.

"Hey, are you still on for the premiere this Friday?" Gary inquired.

"No, not me," Reed shook his head.

Usually, the staff would collectively watch one of the more hyped movies together. This Friday, Cynthia Kaiser's movie would be premiered. Being a local star well-known in the four-flame districts and also a popular Warlock, her productions were accepted like a bowl of oatmeal.

"What? Why?" Gary frowned, "This was supposed to be your first premier with us, right?"

"Right, but I have to get home early that day. Maybe, I won't even come to work," Reed lied. He still wasn't well enough to restrict himself in a dark room with a houseful of strangers. He just couldn't.

"That's a shame," Gary clicked his tongue.

As he went to his station, Reed walked out to the main hall and silently began to start setting the desk while Cinnamon would follow him, occasionally mewling while Reed continued to calmly proceed with his job.

"Kikikiki!" The green-furred monkey jumped down from the Manager's shoulder before it jumped down and hopped towards Cinnamon.

Unlike Cinnamon, the Green-furred monkey was a pet bred from totem beasts. There is an inherent difference between species derived from totem beasts and the species bred from domestic cats. Although, the two of them could not be considered totem beasts because of the lack of totems on them, the difference in various attributes, including intelligence should be plenty.

There is even the benefit of the pets derived from totem beasts that their connections with their warlocks are significantly sturdier and allows easier communication than domestic pets. But all of these were trivial matters to warlocks. In the end, to a true warlock, only totem beasts mattered.

"Kikiki!" The monkey jumped in front of Cinnamon. The monkey was the size of an average adult's palm with an unusually long tail. So, only when it jumped high enough could it meet Cinnamon's eye level. Meanwhile, Cinnamon sat in front of the monkey and gazed at him curiously.

If Reed would have observed closely, he could have seen her vertical pupils shrinking slowly while she softly chattered.

"Ah? No!" Reed instantly glared towards Cinnamon and growled.

At this moment, he felt an extreme, predatory sensation rising within him.

It was strange. After all, Reed had been looking towards the roll of tissue, so, such a surge of emotion shouldn't be possible unless it wasn't from him.

As expected. Cinnamon woke up from her stupor and looked at Reed with an indignant expression. Not paying any attention to the jumping monkey anymore, Cinnamon sauntered towards Reed, climbed up the chair, and jumped into his embrace.

"Hey, Manager... I was thinking of buying some potted plants for my apartment. Do you know a good place?" Reed inquired.

"No," the Manager grunted in response. Although Reed had expected this, he still sighed and then checked the online map to find nearby nurseries. He had thought of an idea yesterday to test the other function of his system but for that, he needed cheap plants or...

'Or I can just find any plant near a garden... yeah. Why waste money?' Reed's thoughts transcended for a moment.

"What is her name?" Nessie inquired as she stood up and gazed at Cinnamon in his hands.

"Her name is Cinnamon," Reed introduced with a smile.

"She is a beautiful Toyger," Nessie nodded after a moment.

"You know it's a Toyger? That's impressive," Reed looked at Nessie with a strange gaze.

Not commenting about the matter, Nessie thought for a moment and looked towards Reed, "I heard that you aren't going to the premiere this Friday."

At this moment, Reed turned silent. He continued to match Nessie's gaze before looking away slightly. He simply couldn't continue to look at a woman like this, it was slightly awkward for him.

"Uh... where did you hear that?"

"I heard."

Nessie replied plainly.

"Well... yeah. I have an important business," Reed replied. Nessie was too strange for his taste. He might have found such eccentric nature cute if he was reading a novel or watching an anime but to him, Nessie was slightly scary and he needed to make sure that she understood that he wasn't free on Friday.

"Oh," Nessie looked towards Cinnamon before stretching her hand and stroking Cinnamon's side with the back of her finger for a few times.

"Kikikiki!" The green-furred monkey began clapping like usual as the first customer arrived and Reed once again felt strange at how easily a smile bloomed over Nessie's face. Once again, from an epitome of indifference, she turned into the refreshing neighbor and started her job with polite greetings.

'I wouldn't be surprised if she's a lizard monster... wait, Gary said that she has an iguana,' Reed gulped for a moment.

---

Jerome's Enterprise.

Reed walked into the fine establishment once again and the moment he entered, he found his gaze locked with the same salesperson. The youth already stood from his chair and smiled at him, as if inviting him.

'Woah...' Reed was genuinely impressed this time. This particular youth was like a hunter, already locking onto a prey from afar. As to why Reed considered himself a prey? He couldn't negotiate, that's why. And if a salesman persuades him to buy at the market price without any reduction, Reed could only accept the situation.

Right now, Cinnamon was inside the space of the system. This store was relatively close to his apartment and the chance of the little baldy finding his little grey was higher.

"Hey, are you here to purchase feed for your pet?" the youth inquired, indicating his greater memory. Every store owner or salesman or even a waiter would only recognize a regular customer and Reed wasn't a regular yet. So, this kind of familiarity did work its charm on Reed.

Thinking for a moment, he shook his head and stated calmly.

"I need contract fluid. For plants, this time."

"Hmm? Uh, okay. The best one we have comes from Global Restoration Group. Their contract fluids let you sedate a plant. But, if you're really thinking of contracting with a plant, you would also need a few other auxiliary tools for its mobility. Unless you just want to take care of it without putting too much effort, of course," the youth smiled and explained.

How could someone even sedate a plant is something Reed did not understand. He wasn't 'cultured' enough. But still, he knew that buying the absolute best wasn't needed since the plants he was aiming for weren't cultivated from mutated seeds and whatnot.

He had no idea on how to break into the circle of warlocks but he wasn't exactly impatient either.

"Not these... I want the fluids created by the Warlock's Conclave. The basic one. Five tubes of it."

The online price of the most basic contract fluid was around 20 dollars. Now that he had actually made a contract, he understood that he didn't need high-end fluids. The heroes of the internet had confirmed the fact that the higher the difference of the mental prowess of the Warlock and the beast, the easier it is to make a contract.

Usually, a Warlock, in the beginning, will have 1 or 2 points of mental prowess. To compensate and even overpower the minds of the pets and beasts, various carefully selected drugs are mixed and concocted with the contract fluid.

Reed felt like for potted plants, he didn't need to spend 100-120 bucks per tube.

"Sure," the youth shrugged with slight disappointment.

"That'll be 100 dollars. I'll package them for you. You can pay at the counter right there," the youth pointed towards Jerome and Reed silently captured the QR code again before paying.

Walking out of the shop, Reed made his way towards his apartment. Or so it would seem until he took a new turn and instead came close to a park.

The park had its triangular perimeter fenced with a brick wall with the height not exceeding a meter and over the fence was erected beautiful iron rods with twists and curves that made it look like short spears with curving swirls on the side. The park had three entrances from the three edges of the park through revolving doors.

With a paved pathway that followed the perimeter in the interior, the usual spot where middle-aged men and women would jog and socialize in the morning, the interior of the path was layered with trees, and in between trees were planted shrubs and flowers.

Iron benches painted with green color were place around various spots of the park to let a few visitors rest under the shade of a tree. But the distinct lack of various public equipments such as toy vehicles bolted on the surface of the park to provide entertainment for children made the park slightly eerie. It was almost 10 in the night and nobody visited the park this late.

Reed's targets were a bunch of potted plants instead of shrubs and flower bushes. These potted plants were placed next to many of the trees. The pots themselves were colored yellow or red.

These potted plants were actually placed during the nursery drive of primary schools. Every year, primary and secondary classes would prepare events like the nursery drive and they would lead children to various parks and allow them to plant a small bush, or flower, or any other kind of saplings they purchased voluntarily.

Usually, these guys wouldn't leave potted plants but these pots were only used once the gardener of the park was commissioned to replant various flowers next to the trees. To refrain from destroying the samplings planted by plantation drives and possibly attract negative publicity from the locals, the plants were shifted to the pots.

After making sure that there was nobody around, Reed let out Cinnamon.

He had no hopes yet to make Cinnamon stand guard but at least, in someone else's presence, she would be the one to react quicker since Reed would be focused on contracting with these plants.