Cleo woke up early in the morning when the sky was still dim. There was something different that day. It wasn’t too cold like yesterday morning. He didn’t know the exact reason for this, as it could be a lot of things. Maybe the weather got hotter, or perhaps because he slept together with Duk, embracing each other at night.
But that wasn’t why he woke up early. The monkey made a ruckus outside. For some reason, it started screeching and jumping around, making a mess around the shelter. Well, at least it had finally regained its strength to make a commotion. He could only think of one thing for the child-like behavior—the monkey needed something. Was it hungry? He didn’t know what exactly the time was, but looking at the sky, he could guess it was still around five in the morning.
As he was already awake, there was no point in getting back to sleep. He was about to get out when his hand touched something. When he looked at it, he saw Duk sleeping like a baby—he was too cute. How could he sleep with all the noise outside?
After gazing at Duk for a bit, he crawled out of his shelter and stretched as he needed to prepare his body for another eventful day.
In the middle of his stretching, the monkey walked closer to him on all four limbs. Then it tagged his pants, wanting him to look at what it pointed to. When he traced the place where the monkey pointed its finger, he saw burned grass, some remaining ashes, and charcoal that the wind was unable to blow away.
It appeared the monkey was telling him something.
"Wait, don’t tell me you want me to cook a sweet potato for you?" He said while staring at the audacious monkey.
His assumption solidified the moment the monkey did sign language, in which it acted like it ate something.
"Hey, I’m not your helper; go into the forest and find yourself something to eat. You're already strong enough to do that," he said while pointing to the sea of trees.
The monkey glanced at the forest, but then it turned its head back to him again and repeated its action, tagging his pants with more force. No matter how much the monkey pulled his pants, he couldn't do anything about it, as the sun was still at its rising pace. He wanted to explain it to the monkey, but he had no idea how.
Still, he tried to communicate using his words and sign language, but to no avail. Sighing, he gave up, went back to the shelter, and took his bag. He withdrew one sweet potato and gave it to the monkey. However, the monkey only stared at the sweet potato and did nothing.
"Come on, eat it."
The monkey glanced at him and tossed the sweet potato to him.
"Hu ha," the monkey said.
"What the! Now you don’t want a raw sweet potato? Fine! Starved then, I can’t help you with what you want," he said, then he deposited it back in the bag and left to take a leak.
The monkey followed him around and stared at him while he pissed. It made him uncomfortable, so he decided to shoo the monkey away. But it didn’t listen, and the worst part was that it copied him, shooing him back with its hand. He didn’t know if the monkey was smart or stupid, seeing how ridiculous it was.
After he was done, he went back and sat in front of his shelter, waiting for sunrise while watching the waves. After around one hour, Duk finally woke up, maybe due to the noisy monkey jumping around him.
"Good morning," he said to Duk.
"Gwud Mowning too," Duk replied, still drowsy.
He couldn’t stop his lips from forming a smile when he heard the cute voice of Duk, as he reminded him of his daughter, who was also like that every morning.
"What are you doing?" Duk asked while rubbing his eyes.
"Nothing; I’m just waiting for the sunrise," he replied. "Anyway, the sun still needs time to show itself; how about we try planting the seed you created?"
"Ok."
He ran back to the shelter, taking out the blue seed from the bag, then returned beside Duk.
"So, can we plant this anywhere?" He asked.
"No, we need to find suitable land," Duk replied while scanning the ground. "But, luckily, the lands here are suitable for planting."
"We can plant it here then."
"Yes, here may be a good place, as the Lu’na Fr’uctu’m needs an open area to absorb the moonlight."
"Let’s start then!" He said, excited to know what kind of plant would grow from the blue seed.
Grabbing the stick he usually used to take out the sweet potatoes, Duk pointed him to the most suitable place to dig—in the middle of the open field, a few steps behind his shelter. Without thinking too much, he dug a hole about three times the size of the seed and five inches deep.
After he had dug, he dropped the seed in the hole as instructed.
"What next? Should we water it or something?" He asked, curious about the next step.
"Nothing; this seed is a common plant. My ability will give it all the things it needs," Duk said while walking closer to the plotted ground.
Seeing Duk about to use his ability, he focused all his attention, wanting to see what would happen. However, Duk didn’t do anything and looked at him with anticipation.
"Do you need me to do something?" He asked.
"I need your permission to use my ability. Without it, I can’t use your Life Force as a source," Duk explained.
That made sense, as it would be dangerous if a Spirit could freely use someone’s Life Force without thinking of the consequences. After all, the ability made use of a literal life.
"Please use your ability?" He awkwardly said.
He didn’t know what to say; he wasn’t accustomed to someone asking for his permission—other than his family. He used to be a factory worker who always followed orders and was the one who asked for permission, never the other way around. He hated that life, and that was why he decided to become a small-time investor—of course with the permission of his wife—for whom he was his own boss.
With the risk of taking a loan, he ventured into the investment industry. The path was rocky and full of difficulties, but it was much better than being a factory worker, where his life repeated every day. And because he became an investor, his world widened, allowing him to meet a lot of people and create connections.
That was also the reason why he got an opportunity to go to America, invited by one of his connections. Which led him to this situation. Did he regret becoming a small-time investor? A little, but he was sure he would regret it more if he stayed at his previous job.
Amid his pondering, a bright, green light and the feeling of being drained interrupted his line of thought. Duk used his ability while he was busy. Seeing this, he let go of all the thoughts and focused solely on the magical things happening in front of him. The light was warm and gentle, reminding him of the touch of his mother. As if he went back to being a child, and his mother gently caressed his face to make him fall asleep.
Soon, a small stem broke out from the ground. From a blue stem, sprouting two blue leaves… four… ten… until it became so many that he couldn’t count them anymore. By the time the blue plant stopped growing, it was already bigger than him perhaps around 7 to 9 feet. It was magical to witness the rapid growth of the plant. But he did not expect it to grow bigger than him!
"How amazing," he whispered while looking up at the plant.
"Hmhmhm! Amazing, isn’t it?" Duk smugly said. He seemed proud of his ability.
"Yes, it’s amazing. Can you make any plants grow to their full potential?" He asked, curious about the endless possibilities!
With Duk's ability, he could stop being a small-time investor and become a farmer! Even with a normal plant, he could earn a lot and buy all the things his family ever wanted! However, his plan for the future disintegrated in an instant.
"I can only grow a plant for 30 days a day; that’s the maximum of my capabilities," Duk said, like a balloon losing its air. His confidence vanished just like that. "Also, you shouldn’t waste too much of your Life Force because every single day I boost plant growth is equivalent to a day of your life."
Of course, power like that had an equivalent exchange. If he thought about it, he already lost two months of his life with just two uses of Duk’s abilities, making him wonder how much Life Force he could use before it became too much.
"May I ask, how much Life Force can I use, and can you explain more about how much Life Force and Spirit Energy I get every day?" He asked all the questions that bugged him.
"Yeah, I should probably explain that to you," Duk said, nodding his head in agreement. "First, I should explain to you the limitation of your Life Force. Due to your Spirit Root still being undeveloped, the limit of Life Force you can use will be around five years’ worth. So, I’ll advise you to not pass that limit for now, as we don’t know what kind of damage you’ll receive.
As for Spirit Energy, my Realm provides you with double what you gave it. Currently, the Life Force you sent to my Realm is one Life Force a day, thus my Realm gives you two Spirit Energy in exchange…"
His questions were answered, but instead of decreasing, they increased as the things he wanted to know almost doubled than he previously had.
"Wait, wait a minute." He interrupted Duk, wanting to clarify things before continuing. "Two Spirit Energy a day? So, if we compute it and consider that one Spirit Energy can replenish one Life Force, then I need 15 days to recover for a single ability. Isn’t that too long? Wait, no, that’s wrong, you said I need to send one Life Force a day in your Realm, then that means…" His face paled in disbelief. "That’s too long!”
"Yes, that’s why it isn’t wise to use your Life Force carelessly," Duk said.
"Then, is there any way to increase the Life Force I can give to your Realm? After all, you said that your Realm will give me double what I give."
"Of course, there is; you need to develop your Spirit Root by cultivating it with Spirit Energy."
Cleo’s eyebrows furrowed. "Spirit Root? You have been mentioning that. What exactly is that?"
"Ah, when will I learn? I keep forgetting." Duk tapped his forehead lightly. "I’m sorry about that. Some Mortals have Spirit Root within them. We don’t exactly know how the Mortals evolve in such a state, considering the lack of Spirit Energy in your Realm; it’s a mystery. Anyway, Spirit Root is a must if Mortals want to form a contract with Spirit. That’s why I chased you yesterday, seeing you have a Wood Spirit Root that is compatible with my Kin.
"Once a contract is made, a Spirit Root will connect itself to the Spirit and the Spirit Plane, where the Realm of the contracted Spirit is. Thus, developing your Spirit Root will enhance the Life Force you can give and take; not only that, it will also expand the limit of how much Life Force you can use."
"So, you're telling me I’m one of the few Mortals who have a Spirit Root?" He asked, skeptical of what he heard. He never saw himself as someone special, after all.
"Yup, and the amazing thing is, you have a Wood Spirit Root, which is very rare to see!" Duk exclaimed, finding their meeting incredible.
His eyebrows frown deepened, as things were a bit confusing for him. He wanted to know more but decided to stop asking, as he couldn’t absorb any more information. However, he wanted to know one last thing before ending the conversation.
"So, how can I cultivate my Spirit Root?"
