‘Am I hearing things?’ Rick was shocked. He just heard the chick call him mommy. It was the weirdest experience ever!

"Did you just say, mommy?” Rick looked at the little chick.

“Peep! Peep!” the little bird chirped and nod its head yes.

Amazingly, Rick understood what the bird was trying to say, “No. No. I am the daddy.”

“Peep! Peep!” the bird tilted its head in confusion.

“No your mommy’s name is not the daddy.” He tried explaining.

“Peep!” the bird tilted its head again.

“No. No. Aah, let it be,” he gave up trying to explain that he was a male, “Anyway I am the only one who can understand what you say.”

“Peep! Peep!” the bird hopped on its tiny feet in happiness. Her mom finally accepted her.

“Fine. What do you want me to call you?” Rick asked.

“Peep! Peep! Peep! Peep!” the bird called out happily.

“I know you are a chick. But you have to have a name,” he explained.

“Peep! Peep!”

“No your name cannot be Chick. What about when you become a hen?”

“Peep! Peep!”

“Okay, how about Big Yellow”

“Peep!” the chick turned her back around, obviously displeased with the name.

“Okay, how about Tiny Yellow”

“Peep! Peep! Peep! Peep!” the bird refused to look back.

“Oh come on, I was not trying to make fun of you. I would never do that,” Rick tried explaining himself. “How about Pip?”

“Peep!” the chick was now interested.

“Ya, you like it?” he replied

“Peep! Peep!” the bird finally looked back and trotted towards Rick evidently happy with her new name.

“Okay. I will call you Pip from now on.” Rick picked up the tiny chick in the palm of his hand.

 

Ding

[Congratulations!]

[Your familiar has accepted the name “Pip”]

 

Oh. I almost forgot to check the notifications.

Right after Pip called him mommy, he received a bunch of notification. But he was too busy to get through them because he had the greater priority of justifying his gender first.

“It's fine I can check them in a little while. I should take care of you first.” He reasoned talking to the little Pip on his hand. The little chick was staring at him from his palm. The pudgy looking yellow chick seemed like it could roll over with a little push.

‘Even if she is not a ferocious bird from mythologies, its special enough for me. At least it is much smarter than a normal chicken,’ Rick reflected.

“Hey, you want to eat something?” Rick asked Pip.

He put her down and pushed the saucers with water, milk and rice grains towards her. He had no idea how much to feed or even what exactly they eat. So he took the best shot and hoped that Pip was smart enough to figure out what to eat.

Pip walked towards the plates and took a whiff at the saucers. Disinterested she immediately wrinkled her tiny nose. She turned around and started trotting towards a different direction.

Rick could not understand where the little bird was trotting off to, but then when he realized what she was after he immediately screamed.

“No. Not my talismans again,” the little rascal was trotting her way towards the talismans he had piled. The pain of redrawing all the talismans was still fresh in his mind.

He rushed and thankfully grabbed the little thing before she could peck at all the talismans. 

“No. You can’t eat those. Let’s get you something better to eat?” he asked.

“Peep! Peep! Peep! Peep!” the bird replied.

“Oh okay, let’s get some of that,” Rick spoke.

As it turned out, Pip wanted to eat beast meat. There were tons of them since the time Samira and Jay had gone out hunting.

“Peep! Peep! Peep! Peep! Peep! Peep!” she chirped seeing all the food. She jumped off Rick’s hand and ran off towards the drained carcasses.

Rick smiled and closed the spare bathroom door. He walked to the kitchen and placed the Lemegeton on the table before taking a seat.

It was a time to check the notifications.

He opened the Lemegeton and a new title came up.

 

[Beast Master]

[The Beast Master can form a consciousness connection with a Spirit Beast to help him in fights.

The first rank of a Beast Master is the Novice Beast Master.

The requisites of becoming a Beast Master are…]

 

Rick quickly flipped through all the information. He finally realized how he became a Beast Master. First, the beast could not just be an ordinary mutated beast. It had to be a Spirit Beast. Next, the Beast Master had to unlock the [Mana] stat. Lastly, the beast should have developed by an intimate connection by feeding off from the Beast Master’s Mana.

Although he did not know it yet, this is why his Awakenment process took over a day when generally it took less than a quarter of a day!

Another surprise was that he realized that Pip was definitely not an ordinary chicken. Even if it had no significant powers, it was definitely a Spirit Chicken.

‘Let’s check what the other notification is,’ he pondered.

“Blessed Stones.” He shook his head disappointed. On the very first day of the Heaven’s Dictate, he received two things, the Blessed Stones and the City Central Library Entrance Portal. 

He tried to look into what they were and how to use them. But there was no sign of the portal, or of the Blessed Stones. By now he had given up on trying to get them. It was like a glitch in the system.

He decided to give some alone time while he packed up for going to the Library Dungeon. He quickly rushed to the basement to prepare. He cleaned up all the mess and came back up wearing the overcoat.

It would be sunrise within a few hours and then at first light Rick planned to head off to the Library.

He went into the bedroom to check on Pip.

The room was completely different from when he had left it.

Instead of all the carcass, there were piles of leather instead, Pip had somehow managed to turn the beast flesh into leather!

“How did you do it Pip?” he whispered to the sleeping Pip with a smile. She was sleeping on top of one of the leather pieces, clearly tired from the overeating.

'The little bird did have some use,' he thought.

He carefully picked up all the leather pieces and arranged them into a pile. “I am sure I can use it for something.”

He slowly picked her up without waking her up and left to the living room. It was time to go visit the dungeon

 

---

 

At first light, Rick picked up his backpack and in it packed his overcoat and all the talisman. He put the Lemegeton in his pocket and rode the bike to the Library. Pip was there too, sitting on Rick’s head refusing to get off!

 

Within less than an hour he reached the periphery of the Library and just as Rick suspected there would be, the place was completely different from the last time he had seen it.

The Library was no longer a shunned empty road.  

Rick quickly got off his cycle behind one of the nearby empty back streets, a block away and locked it to the railing nearby.

“Looks will matter here. I have to appear imposing.” Rick tried to relax. He had to give the performance of a lifetime to make sure that his cover is not blown. He took out his overcoat wore it. He stuffed all his talismans and the Lemegeton in one of the many pockets.

With the staff on his hand and Pip on his head, Rick walked in towards the Library.

There were cars double parked across the road leading up to the Library, creating a vehicle blockade. Rick looked around in awe as people bustled about opening up the makeshift stalls on both sides of the road, preparing for the day.

Rick was deeply impressed as he saw the people continued to trickle out of the buildings around him in preparation for the day’s work. The settlement here was defiantly well managed for the population here to not turn into a maundering mob and trust that their goods would not disappear overnight.

 

 

---

 

“Okay, okay” he intoned “There is no use delaying this.” 

Rick stood before the mahogany double door entrance to the library, gathering his confidence to enter.

“Hey mate! If you wanna go, just go. If not get out of the line,” a voice spoke up from behind Rick.

“Going, going,” he called back.

There was a short queue behind him, waiting to enter the Library after him. The queue had thinned after locals from the settlement warned them that no one who ever entered returned back.  But to Rick’s dismay, there were still a few who persisted, insisting on entering.

“Here goes nothing,” he took a deep breath and walked in.

There was a sudden flash of white light and the next moment, he found himself on the throne room on the Eighth Floor of the Library.

He was standing before the Central Throne and before him, the four Kings of Hell kneeled.

“Rise my subjects,” Rick gestured grandly and sat down on the throne.

The four Kings slowly looked up but refused to stop kneeling.

“Did you not hear me? Get up!” Rick bellowed. Anything out of the ordinary could send him into a heart attack. And this behaviour was definitely not ordinary.

“Young Master, did we err anywhere?” Aaymon, the mental bodied King of the East finally spoke.

“Uh?” the question finally shocked Rick.

“Young Master, if you are displeased with us, w- we c-can correct ourselves,” Corson. The grey-skinned King of West stammered, “You need not have got the Divine Firebird to punish us.”