Chapter 8: The Purple Starvines’ Pilgrimage, Roxy’s “Illness”

The Purple Starvines began to grow, twisting and coiling until they nearly choked the plant room.

But not a single vine grew within half a meter of Violet.

Purple Starvines were not graded beasts. They were ordinary plants, though excellent food for many herbivorous beasts.

They had no beast intelligence, so Adrian could not see their panels. But through Living Affinity, he could still feel their emotions.

It was celebration. Joy.

The relationship between Violet Orchids and Purple Starvines was something like that of a saint and worshippers.

The former granted the latter the energy to grow strong.

The latter’s growth also reflected the former’s strength, quality, and condition.

Adrian had read in a document that there had once been a case where a Purple Starvine mutated into a Violet Orchid and became a beast companion.

That kind of evolution was also a special case, called Leader-Effect Evolution.

But such cases were extremely rare. No one knew what conditions had to be met.

Judging by how the Purple Starvines were growing, Violet had already taken the first successful step on its evolution path.

At this moment, a faint purple glow surrounded Violet’s body.

The two flower buds trembled slightly, as if resonating with the materials and energy within them.

A very thin mist drifted out from the buds.

Before long, it covered the area around Violet, roughly half a meter in radius.

The time required for beast evolution varied in the records.

Generally, evolving from common quality to Exceptional quality took one to three days.

Many factors influenced it: the quality of the evolution materials, the beast’s condition during evolution, and the space it was in.

Some beast tamers also mastered [Tamer Arts] that could shorten the time and increase the success rate.

Yes. Not all evolutions were one hundred percent successful.

So Adrian’s mood was still a little uneasy.

But the information on the panel in front of him eased his worries somewhat.

[Violet Orchid]

[Evolution Path]: Evolving into [Violet Spirit Treasure Orchid], Progress: 1%

Let Violet slowly digest the energy. The only thing Adrian had to do now was believe in it.

He took out the scissors he had prepared in advance and began cutting down the Purple Starvines that were “blocking the way.”

Their color and quality were the best Adrian had seen in years.

For Vale’s Beast Feed, this was good news too.

Twenty minutes later.

Adrian walked out of the plant room.

In the second-floor hall, quite a few Purple Starvines were also planted. They had clearly been affected by Violet’s energy just now.

Roxy was already dealing with the grown vines.

Roxy had her own room, right next to the plant room.

Keeping the house perfectly organized had been her “belief” ever since she came to this home.

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When she sensed Adrian’s arrival, she only turned her head, smiled with narrowed eyes, then continued working.

Adrian set down the basket packed with Purple Starvine leaves beside her. “Roxy, I’ve already handled the ones in the plant room.”

“Today was the Awakening Ceremony. The talent I awakened can help beasts evolve. Just now, I helped Violet take the first step.”

“Starting today, our Purple Starvines might grow much faster than before. I’ll have to trouble you to work even harder.”

Hearing that, Roxy rarely showed joy. The red glow on her tail brightened, and the Purple Starvine branches around her grew even fresher.

Adrian could feel Roxy’s emotions.

This household beast had a very typical household-beast personality: she cared for the home and looked after people.

But Roxy seemed to have a kind of obsessive-compulsive bias in that regard.

In many situations, she suppressed her own emotions. Only after finishing everything she had to do would she allow herself to think, to express her feelings.

So now, she only briefly showed joy at hearing her young master’s awakening success before returning to work.

Adrian was used to it.

This household beast had been purchased by his parents six years ago.

The reason was that their health was getting worse and worse. They could no longer do much physical labor.

Three years ago, when they realized their bodies might not last much longer, they hired a breeder to evolve her.

Unlike Violet, Roxy had succeeded in one try.

She evolved from a [Spirit Raccoon] into a [Spirit-Tailed Raccoon].

That was the most standard evolution path for this kind of beast.

But in Adrian’s memory, before her evolution, she had not been like this—she had not treated household work as something so overwhelmingly important.

Adrian did not know whether that was good or bad.

He only felt that the distance between them seemed to have grown.

They lived under the same roof, yet he rarely saw her during the day.

Maybe that was the “sense of distance” beasts gradually developed as they grew.

He looked at Roxy’s panel again.

[Spirit-Tailed Raccoon]

[Attribute: Spirit]

[Quality: Exceptional—Lower]

[Sex: Female]

[Level: Exceptional 3]

[Traits: Keen Mind, Spirit Tail]

[Personality: Hardworking, worry-prone, organized]

[Status: Happy, but due to the incompleteness of [Spirit Tail] during her last evolution, her emotional expression is instinctively suppressed by her body. Whenever her emotions fluctuate strongly, her body produces a certain degree of pain.

This also makes it difficult for her level to rise, and her overall growth is suppressed.

Can be cured with Exceptional-quality [Red Spirit Tail], ground into powder and placed into Exceptional-quality [Spirit Red Clear Liquid], then drunk over fifteen days.]

[Evolution Path]:

[Evolution Path One: Red Spirit Raccoon, Quality: Commander—Lower, Compatibility: 2%]

[Hidden Evolution Path One: Unlocked after physical and mental state is repaired.]

[Hidden Evolution Path Two: Unlocked after physical and mental state is repaired.]

Adrian’s eyes went wide.

Before he awakened Eye of All Spirits, the Status column had mostly shown simple emotional expressions.

After awakening, when he checked Violet’s and the Swiftwing Courier’s statuses today, it had been the same.

He had originally thought the only change in the panel was that the evolution path was finally lit.

Now it seemed that was not entirely true.

The [Status] column could also produce more information under certain conditions.

Roxy’s emotional expression had been suppressed because her last evolution was incomplete. The reason was written out clearly.

Not only that, even the solution was written out.

Exceptional-quality [Red Spirit Tail] was originally the material needed for her first evolution.

Adrian did not know why Roxy’s first evolution had been incomplete.

But now he finally understood the root cause of why she had seemed “strange” after evolving.

He also understood why, whenever her emotions fluctuated, red light would uncontrollably appear on her tail.

At this moment.

The [Evolution Path] seemed less important.

First, cure Roxy’s “illness”!

Adrian did not rush to give Roxy hope or make promises. Her situation was different from Violet’s. Violet had suffered from inner conflict and lack of confidence in the past, so she needed a little “pep talk.”

For Roxy, what he had to avoid now was causing her emotional fluctuations.

Back in his room.

Adrian immediately looked up the cost of the treatment materials.

Exceptional-quality [Red Spirit Tail] was not expensive. It cost between fifteen thousand and twenty thousand crowns.

But Exceptional-quality [Spirit Red Clear Liquid] was not so cheap. It cost between eighty thousand and one hundred thousand crowns. He could not afford it right now.

At this point, he could not help complaining. If the breeder who had evolved Roxy back then had been more professional and had not left her with this root problem, things would be better.

Then he thought of the two breeders who had given Violet the “wrong” evolution.

Adrian felt a great deal of emotion.

A breeder did not just evolve beasts.

They also had to understand a beast’s personality and emotions, and perceive its physical and mental health.

Even after evolution was done, it did not mean “finished.” They also had to check whether any flaws had appeared during the evolution process.

But he felt that those three breeders were probably representative of most breeders in this world.

As for him, he had Living Affinity and Eye of All Spirits.

He could absolutely walk a path with his own “Adrian” characteristics.

He shut down the computer.

He lay on the bed, exhausted.

He had to admit, mixing evolution materials was hard work.

Especially when his mind was completely tense.

Right now, he was extremely tired.

Rest first.

Tomorrow, he would go to the cultivation center and look at the three beasts Mr. Caldwell had recommended.

Late at night.

Adrian fell asleep while thinking.

From the plant room next door came fresh air and a faint floral fragrance, slowly dissolving the fatigue in his mind and body.

Tomorrow would be a new day…