Cleo decided to rest for a bit before fixing his shelter. The encounter with the black panther was so fresh that it repeated itself in his mind like a broken tape. Imagining himself in the same situation as the monkeys made him shiver in fear.

Looking at the sleeping monkey, he touched his neck, recalling the black panther fang sinking into the first victim. Even though it didn’t happen to him, he could feel the pain of the monkey when the panther bit its neck—he just wished he didn’t meet the same fate.

The talkative bear seemed distressed too, as it sat beside him, staring at the ocean’s waves—he couldn’t blame it, as it was indeed traumatizing.

After a while, he stood up and intended to fix his shelter. The sun would set soon, so he needed to hurry. Thankfully, he had experience building a shelter, so it didn’t take him much time to fix it.

After a while, he was finally done rebuilding his shelter. What must he do next was fix himself some food. However, he didn’t have enough materials to start a fire, as all the dry materials he gathered were already turned into charcoal or ashes. Thus, he must gather some once again. Glancing at the traumatized bear, he could see that it was still imagining the incident, so maybe some activity could distract it from whatever it was thinking.

"Uhm..." As he attempted to call out to it, he realized he didn’t know how to address the bear—should he call it a bear? Although he called a monkey a monkey, that was okay for him. However, it felt weird to call a talking bear a bear. He didn’t know why, though. As if he were degrading it for some strange logic.

“Do you have a name?” He asked, as he didn’t want to tire himself thinking of something useless.

The bear looked at him absentmindedly and didn’t reply.

“Do you have a name?” He repeated his question, thinking the bear didn’t hear him.

It seemed it worked as the bear reacted.

“Oh, are you talking to me? I’m sorry, it’s a little hard to understand you," the bear said.

“What do you mean hard?” He said, confused as his words were very clear. "Now that we’re on the topic, may I ask: How can you speak? Did you meet a human before who taught you our language?”

The bear stared at him for a bit before answering. “No, like I said, this is my first time in Mortal Realm… Oh, I mean in your world. We Spirit can speak and communicate using the Spirit Language, which is a universal language that can be understood by anyone.”

His eyebrows deepened again as the bear began talking nonsense once more. However, he ignored it and tried to indulge it.

“So, I can understand you because you’re using a universal language. But how can you understand me?”

“In truth, I don’t understand any of your words, but I do understand the intent behind them, and guess what you’re saying," the bear explained. “However, I’m still not proficient in reading the intention of Mortals. Thus, I sometimes couldn’t understand you.”

“Uhm... I see, so why do you keep calling yourself a Spirit, and this world a Mortal Realm? Are you saying you are an alien or something?” He asked open-mindedly.

The bear stared at him for a bit again before answering. “I don’t fully understand your words, but yes, I’m not from here. I’m from the Spirit Plane,” he clarified. “If you form a contract with me, we will understand each other more, as I can read your intention more clearly with our connection.”

Another word that he couldn’t understand. He didn’t know if he should continue indulging in the bear’s delusion, as he might become deluded himself—if he still weren’t.

“Contract? What is this contract you have been saying since earlier?”

“Ah, of course, you still don’t have knowledge of that. I’m sorry, I keep forgetting about the fact that this world was in an integrating process," the bear said, saying a lot of things that he couldn’t understand. “Contract is a bond between a Mortal and Spirit. Once it’s formed, it will last until one of them dies.”

“That seems harsh," he mumbled. “Okay, so what will happen if the contract is signed? Does it have benefits or anything?”

“If we form a contract, it will benefit both of us because you can use my ability while your Life Force will be sent to my Realm in exchange," the bear said while its eyes gleamed in hope.

He was starting to get fed up with the conversation and wanted to end it, as he needed to make a fire before sundown.

“Ok, I guess if I agree to a contract with you, can you promise to stop speaking nonsense?” He said, agreeing to the bear just to end the insufferable conversation.

“Do you really mean it?!” The bear stood in excitement; its face shone brightly with happiness.

His heart squeezed as if someone were holding it against his will. The bear was too cute for his heart to handle. “Yes, I mean it, so let’s begin whatever you need to form a contract so we can continue our activity.”

The bear ran towards him with a wide smile, and when it reached him, it held his hand, trying to do something with it.

“What are you doing?” He asked, confused at the bear’s action.

“Oh, I need to prick your finger, so you can drop your blood on me!” the bear exclaimed.

“What? Why do you need me to drop blood on you?” He began to regret his decision to agree to the bear.

“I need your blood to form a contract," the bear explained.

Seeing the bear’s eyes gleaming with anticipation, he couldn’t bring himself to reject it, afraid he might hurt its feelings.

“Fine, but do it quick!” He shouted, and he closed his eyes, as he didn’t want to see the bear poking his finger.

After receiving his approval, the bear didn’t hesitate and used something sharp to create a small wound on his index finger. His body jerked a bit when he felt a small pain on his finger, and his eyes flung open. The bear placed his finger on top of the plant on its head and let his blood drop on it. The moment his blood hit the surface of the weird plant, the bear's body emanated a bright green light like a star!

He squinted, blinded by the light. This made him start questioning his reality once again. A green bear, with a strange plant growing on its head, and could produce a green light if blood touched it. If he told that story to anyone, they would probably think that he was crazy, which he might agree with if the weird episode kept happening to him.

When the bear finally stopped shining, he slowly opened his eyes. His vision was still in a blurry state, but he could discern a figure jumping around and screaming in happiness. When he regained all his senses, the bear was still in its happy moment, like it had won a lottery. He wanted to ask it about the light, but its joy was such a blessing to his eyes that he didn’t dare interrupt it.

After a while, the bear stopped and bolted to him like a ball of happiness.

“Thank you for forming a contract with me!” The bear said while greening.

“Why are you so happy? Is forming a contract that important?” He asked, curious about the reason for the bear’s cheerfulness.

“Of course! It’s very, very important to me and my kin. However, for other Spirits, forming a contract is nothing much. But my Plant Kin is in a dire situation where every contract matters!” The bear exclaimed. However, it blocked its mouth with its paws—like a toddler who got caught by their parents cursing. “Sorry, I forgot about your condition.”

He wanted to ask the bear all kinds of things, but right now wasn’t the time. The sun was setting; he must start a fire as soon as possible.

“Don’t worry, I’ll ask you about it later, but for now, help me gather dry leaves and wood," he said, not minding the slip-up of the bear. “Oh, I almost forgot. Do you have a name I can call you with?”

“I can understand you now; this is much better than guessing.” The bear nodded with understanding. “I still don’t have a True Name, but you can call me Duk’lre’mak.”

“What? Du-dure-dumak, what?!” His tongue got twisted for attempting to say the bear’s name.

"It's Duk'lre'mak," the bear repeated.

“Your name is hard to pronounce. I’ll shorten it and call you Duk," he said, not wanting to make it hard for both of them. “You can call me Cleo, by the way.”

“Ok, Cleo!” Duk agreed.

After all of the talking, they began collecting dry materials for fire. Thanks to the help of little Duk, he gathered what he needed in around five minutes. He placed the mountain of dry materials farther than he previously had, afraid it would set his shelter ablaze again.

With that done, he took out the bottle of water again and recreated what he did in the morning. As usual, it took him about 10 minutes to create a fire. He didn’t rejoice, as he had already experienced it before. Duk, on the other hand, stared at him with wide eyes while walking away from the fire.

“Do you also form a contract with a Fire Kin?” The bear asked while scanning the surroundings.

“I still don’t understand you, but no, I didn't form any contract other than with you.” He cleared up the misunderstanding.

“That’s a relief. It will be disastrous if that happens.” Duk sighed.

Even though he saw Duk’s reaction, he didn’t ask, as he was too hungry to care. With the fire created, he took out four sweet potatoes from the bag, intending to cook them. Having another mouth to feed would drain the food supply faster. He must find other food sources; perhaps that will be on his agenda tomorrow. However, for now, he liked to enjoy himself with a hot sweet potato.

Now that he thought about it, could Duk eat sweet potatoes?

“Duk, do you eat sweet potatoes?”

“I eat anything as long as it’s plant-based food,” Duk answered.

After receiving his answer, he cooked the sweet potatoes, as he had earlier. It would take some time before it was done, so this was the perfect time to question Duk.

“So, Duk, what was the light earlier? Can you explain it to me?”

“Oh, that’s the symbol of a contract being formed; you don’t have to worry about it,” Duk replied.

“If the blood touches you, will you glow?"

“No, it will only happen if a Spirit forms a contract. If the Spirit doesn’t want to, then no matter how much blood a Mortal drops, it won’t happen.”

The glowing light made him rethink every opinion he had about Duk. What if he was telling the truth? Even though it sounded absurd, the fact that an unbelievable creature was with him was good enough proof to consider it. Maybe more solid proof could settle his doubts about it. But what kind of proof did he need to satisfy him? It should be something incredible and out of this world. Now that he thought about it, Duk mentioned his ability—that should be enough for him to clear his doubt.

“Oh yeah, Duk. You mentioned earlier that you have some kind of ability. Can you use it now that we have formed a contract?” He carefully asked, as he was afraid he might offend Duk without his knowledge.

“Yes, I have two abilities. I can create any seed of the plant that I have eaten before and fasten the growth of all plants," Duk explained while staring at the fire. “But it will use your Life Force, in exchange for using my ability.”

“Life Force? Like my life?” He asked with confusion.

“Yes, my ability will use your life.”

“Does that mean my life will shorten if you use your ability?”

“Yes, but you don’t have to worry, because you’re now connected to the Spirit Plane. With that connection, your body will absorb Spirit Energy from my Realm and slowly replenish your Life Force.”

His head hurt, listening to all the strange words Duk mentioned. Why was he asking questions if he only wanted to get some proof? It didn’t matter what Duk said if everything was a lie, after all.

"Ok, fine, can you use your ability?"

“Sure, what do you want me to do? Do you want me to fasten the growth of a plant or create a seed?” Duk asked. He seemed confident and wanted to show off.

“Okay, give me a seed that will produce food.”

“Sure! What kind of food do you want? I have so many seeds in mind, so please be specific.”

He was getting suspicious of Duk for all the requirements he asked for. To him, it looked like he was making excuses to buy time. But he will engage in the conversation just to see the end of it.

“Something easy to grow and delicious. If possible, something that can replenish my stamina.”

“Oh! I know what kind of plant you want! Lu’na Fr’uctu’m!” Duk shouted when he thought of the plant. “Here I go. You will feel some kind of drain in your energy, but don’t worry. The seed will only take 30 Life Force.”

Duk quietened and concentrated.

At first, he thought Duk was doing nothing, but everything changed when he felt something inside him was being pulled away and went to Duk. Some kind of energy escaped his body; he didn’t know what it was, but he knew it was something important. Then a burst of green light poured out on top of Duk’s paws. Steadily, something formed inside the green light—a seed!