Ves patiently spent two more hours viewing all of the biomes and exhibits that Wexal Park had to offer.

He pretended to be captivated in the beauty of the light of the aquariums. Different shades of light shone over the waters, causing the fish and other sea creatures to look more colorful than they already were.

He made all of the right noises as Trisha led him to a special chamber which simulated the conditions of space in order to offer a friendly living environment to tiny astrobeasts the size of fingernails.

He even showed interest in the icky insects that were crawling their way through the tunnels of giant terrariums. The different species of insects had been warring against each other since Wexel Park came into operation. The soldier creatures fought and died while their queens bred more and more replacements by laying lots of eggs.

At the end of the tour, Ves pretended to be a little dissatisfied. "It's a shame I haven't encountered anything that resembles a mutated beast."

Trisha smiled back in an apologetic fashion. "This is the usual state of affairs, Mr. Larkinson. We constantly try to identify any mutants as quickly as possible in order to isolate them. The biomes cannot guard against every newly-developed ability, so it is irresponsible to keep them here. We do not wish to subject our guests to any harm."

"That's understandable, I suppose." Ves nodded and relaxed. "I guess I'll stick to my original plan, then. I have quite a few gardens on my flagship that are awfully barren of wildlife. I'd like to purchase batches of harmless, exotic-looking creatures to populate these areas. I have made a few choices, but could you provide me with some additional suggestions?"

"Why certainly. That is what I am for. Please tell me your requirements and I shall make sure to point you to the right species."

They spent over half an hour on considering and selecting different species. With the help of Trisha, Ves selected several dozen individual creatures of every species, no matter whether they were natural or artificial in nature.

Ves made no distinctions in this regard. While he suspected that wild exobeasts had a higher chance of developing spirituality, he knew that artificial creatures also possessed a chance. Otherwise, Zeigra would have remained stuck as a dumb cat that could only threaten mechs with its physical prowess.

Along the way, Ves picked up a batch of arganids that he had previously eyed.

"These mammalian octopods are adorable.They're like kittens with eight legs." He said. "Am I right, Lucky?"

"Meow." The gem cat responded flatly as he lay on Ves' shoulder.

"So you agree! I'm sure they will provide you and your fellow cats aboard the Spirit of Bentheim with good company."

It was as easy as that for Ves to purchase a number of arganids without drawing any special attention to the creatures in question.

Ves did not let Trisha or the other staff of the park choose the specimens. Instead, Ves pretended to be a bit of a control freak and insisted on viewing and inspecting the data on every individual creature.

Out of a selection of hundreds of individual arganids, he picked out ten who were either younger or cuter than the adult population.

The arganid with the crippled limbs happened to be among this little group.

When Trisha saw that Ves casually tapped his finger at the specimen's profile, she made a remark.

"This individual creature is defective. According to the degree of inadequacies this male beast exhibits, we provide a 27 percent discount on the list price. Is this acceptable to you, Mr. Larkinson?"

If Wexal Park knew that this harmless-looking mammal actually possessed a spirit that almost matched that of a newly-ascended expert pilot, they would have never offered any discount, let alone sell the mutated arganid at all! The researchers working for the park would be crawling all over the poor creature in order to study the unique phenomenon further.

Ves did not reveal any of his excitement. He carefully suppressed his growing anticipation and merely waved his hand as if he didn't care about any discounts.

This should be his natural behavior considering his status. Even if his clan had lost a lot of strength, his mech company was still going strong. After the LMC abandoned its operations in Coalition-aligned space, the Fridaymen had no means left to hinder its growing business activities!

While Ves was mindful of the fact that the Larkinson Clan was spending enormous sums of money on purchasing raw materials to build its mechs and other necessities, it was still remarkable how much money he had at his disposal.

Even if he had to save trillions of hex credits to fund the development of his expert mechs and the procurement of capital ships, no one cared if he spent a few hundred million hex credits here and there.

He bought way more animals from Wexal Park than necessary, but this was a small price to pay to keep his target acquisition as unremarkable as possible. The arganid would have attracted a lot more attention from the staff if he bought the undetectant mutant alone. Now that Ves had ordered hundreds of exobeasts and designer beasts at once, the chance of discovery should be minimal!

After making his selection of beasts, Trisha guided him to an office building where he formally signed a contract that set the transaction in stone. Ves transferred the necessary amount of money on the spot.

Even though he had to pay a bit more than the list price due to the need to convert hex credits to the local currency, Ves didn't even look at the final price tag.

All he cared about was securing his little Arnold as soon as possible.

Yup. He already named the critter he had his eye on. Perhaps his naming sense wasn't on point today, the name of the mottled grey creature was less important than his potential abilities.

No entity who developed spirituality was average. Not when they grew this strong.

As Ves finally bid farewell to Trisha and entered his shuttle, he continued to keep himself under control.

While he was very excited at securing his new prize, he still had to wait until the exobiologists working for Wexal Park performed a final health check before transporting the batch of beasts to Gentle Lotus Base.

As Ves returned to his base of operations, he waited an entire day before a branded transport finally shipped over the goods.

Since the purchased beasts had to be cared for by the Larkinson Biotech Institute, Ves summoned Dr. Ranya Wodin to his side in order to discuss the exact arrangements.

"You should have consulted me before purchasing any of these beasts. None of our ships are set up to support a large and diverse population of different species." She told him. "I've read the properties of each species you've bought. Half of them will die by the end of the year if you just dump them in the gardens aboard the Spirit of Bentheim."

"It doesn't matter. Let the creatures die if they can't make it. I only care about one specimen in particular. You need to do your best to accommodate the creature and keep him alive unless ordered otherwise."

"Pardon?"

Ves turned to the exobiologist. "You heard me. All of the other creatures I've bought have no value in my eyes. You can do whatever you want with them. Putting them in the garden compartments is just one suggestion. If that's too difficult, then use them as test subjects if you wish."

"None of our experiments require the use of animal testing. Simulations and testing on cloned flesh are more than sufficient to test our treatments. Even if we resort to something as barbaric as this practice, we would choose animals whose genes resemble the human genome more closely. An ordinary laboratory mouse has worked well enough for thousands of years. Alien creatures and designer beasts are too different to serve as suitable surrogates.

Disapproval dripped from her tone. A modern biolab engaged in proper research never performed any experiments on live test subjects! Only madmen and incompetent scientists resorted to this inferior, low-tech solution.

Ves merely shrugged. "Then check whether they are edible and butcher them if declared safe. I think we could all use some more diversity in our meals. The LRA happens to be a mecca for gourmets I hear."

"And what if they aren't edible?"

"Throw them into an incinerator or something. We don't need to waste any resources on useless assets."

As the transport unloaded the enclosed cages that precisely regulate the temperature and other environmental conditions in their spaces, a crew of Larkinsons moved them over to loading vehicles that would bring them to a storage site.

Ves and Ranya accompanied the loading vehicles to a warehouse. As the crates were all placed inside, a number of exobiologists working for the Larkinson Biotech Institute went through them one by one to inspect the beasts slumbering inside.

In order to minimize the disruption to the lives of the animals as much as possible, Wexal Park had already sedated them. The beasts wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.

"Where is the beast you are interested in? I'd like to take a look for myself." Ranya said.

"You will have ample opportunity to. Let me seek him out."

Ves moved between the stacks of crates and swept his spiritual senses outwards like a radar. He quickly felt a familiar presence and hastened his steps until he reached his destination.

He pointed at a specific crate. "Please lift this one out for me and put it under my care."

Fifteen minutes later, Ves stood besides Ranya as she operated a scanner that thoroughly peered into the furry body of a sleeping Arganid.

"Meow."

Lucky looked curious at the alien critter as he hovered a short distance away. He behaved a bit ambivalent towards the new beast. Did Ves intend to adopt a new pet or something?

"Have you spotted anything that stands out?" Ves asked as the initial scans came to an end.

"I'm not sure, sir." Ranya admitted. "I only have a passing familiarity of the arganid clisenta species. I do not specialize in studying small mammalian exobeasts like these. I'm more into flora myself. I have exobeast specialists under my staff who can provide you with more detailed judgement."

"No. Don't let anyone else study Arnold. Only you are allowed to handle him." Ves declared.

"My subordinates can be trusted! It is unreasonable to leave this task up to me when I am not the most suitable specialist! I am already preoccupied with a number of research projects and administrative duties. I'm also doing my best to hire the biotech experts we need to expand the capabilities of our research institute!"

Ves looked at her with a measuring gaze. "While I trust every Larkinson, I don't want certain secrets to be spread any further than necessary. Right now, I am presenting you with an opportunity. I know you are aware of some of the more unusual and extraordinary phenomena our clan has exhibited. Have you ever been interested in studying the more esoteric aspects of what I do? Do you want to hear the answer why this random exobeast is related to my work?"

Ranya paused her work. "Are you saying…"

"I'm offering to turn you into one of my confidantes of sorts." Ves carefully spoke. "I have already let you handle some sensitive materials beforehand. I'm quite satisfied with your discretion. I'm willing to let you in on a couple more secrets in order to point you in the right direction with regards to the beast lying on your testbed. All I am asking from you is to share everything you learn with me and no one else."

"Not even your wife?"

"Not even my wife." Ves confirmed. "The secrets that I am talking about are very dangerous if word of them ends up in the wrong ears. Now, do you agree or not? I am offering to enlighten you into one of the fundamental truths of reality. All you need to do is to keep your mouth shut."

Dr. Ranya did not hesitate for a second. She offered Ves an accepting smile. "As a loyal member of the Larkinson Clan, I am at your disposal. I would be glad to be of service to you, my patriarch."