Chapter 15: Rose and Thorns

“I used to be a botanist before I married this useless rabbit,” Mimi said before she began to identify the sapling. No wonder that the house was full of potted plants and the garden was well kept when I first entered here. It would take some knowledge for someone to be able to keep it as pristine as this. From afar, this house looked like a plant nursery. If it was not because of the marker Popo gave earlier, I might miss the place.

“I’m not useless. I saved you, remember?” Popo retaliated behind my back. So, it was not just me who called this rabbit, a rabbit.

“Yeah. I remember alright. I remember that I saw your arse and bushy tail when you ran away with your ears dropped down and all!” His wife was not looking impressed. Though she had the sapling in her hands, her eyes were not focusing on the task at all.

“B-But I went to get help…” I was sure that this was not the first time they had their couple bickering. But, I needed my sapling to be identified, now.

“Alright folks. Keep your matrimonial arguments away until you identify this sapling. Do you have any idea what is it?” I asked. Elly just stood beside me and she too was interested in the topic at hand.

“This is a Rose Alraune sapling,” Mimi explained as she finished identifying the sapling.

“What’s a Rose Alraune?” I inquired for more clarification. Mimi looked at me with her whiskers moving slightly under that big rounds eyes of hers. “You don’t know?”

I shook my head.

“Pity.” Mimi sighed a little before she began to explain further. “A Rose Alraune is a type of plant that has humanoid form when fully grown. Considered to be the most beautiful but also the hardest to take care, hence the name.”

“So, how do I go growing one? I tried selling it earlier but since it was unidentifiable, it could not fetch me a proper amount.” Well, I could not sell it for a copper anyway. Mimi looked at me as if I had said the darnest of things.

“No one will buy it since it’s your pet.” Mimi pouted at me, raising her finger and then waving it around. She sure took her things seriously.

“Huh? What? A pet?”

“You need to awaken the sapling so that it would sprout its first leaf. Once she awakes, then you can form a contract with her.”

“I don’t get it.” I had heard about some players who had pets. But the chances to get one was extremely low and it was to be said that each pet was as unique as an ally. No two players would have the same pet even though it was from the same species. The official website only mentioned about players having pets all too briefly.

“You will know once you have awakened it first.” I was not so sure what Mimi had asked me to do. How would I go about this?

“First, you need the Spring Water and a pot of soil. But it would not be any ordinary soil. You have to plant it in the soil where you first found it. Once you had those two, I’ll do the rest for you and then give it a week to grow.”

“Well, where do I get the Spring Water?” The other item could be acquired quite easily.

“I have some. I could give it to you. But…”

“But?” I pursed my lips.

“I want you to take care of it like your own child. A plant is a delicate being; susceptible to your emotions and the manner of its upbringing. What’s more of a Rose Alraune.”

Taking care of a child? I wished I knew how. I only saw my boys during the live feed whenever I was not in combat at foreign lands. I was never there when they were born nor was I there when they grew up. And when I came back to the country, they were gone. With my wife.

I let out a deep sigh. I was really in doubt. Elly came and pat my back when she saw me looking like this; like she always did.

“It’s alright. I know you could be a great dad. You took care of me well, Ghost.” She really knew how to rub salt into the wound. I looked at her, managing a bittersweet smile. I think I could give it a try.

*****

The moment we had been waiting for. The sapling had sprouted it first leaf; a reddish one. And then it formed into a miniature Mandragora with a red top. Standing at 3 inches tall, it wiggled around like a worm in heat.

Rose Alraune

Congratulations!

You had Rose Alraune as your pet. Form a contract by giving your pet a name and register it within your pet itinerary screen. More details about your pet would be given once you establish a closer relationship with it.

You can now proceed to check its status at the ally’s status screen. Remember, that your pet grows with you. Take care of all pets well and you will succeed where everyone else will fail.

Good luck!

I think I received the same information screen when I got Elly before. Kind of anti-climactic, but nonetheless, I could not wait to check its status first. But something else caught my mind. The Rose Alraune tried to wiggle out of the pot and once it did, extended its root so that it could be elevated in front of my face.

“Ghost, it wanted to form a contract with you. Remember, give her a name.”

A name? I did not think about it before. I just wanted to see how it was like without really thinking about naming a pet. But somehow, I needed to do so to form a contract.

“Why not we call her, Petals?” Elly suggested. I immediately shook my head. Even the Rose Alraune seemed to dislike it as it jerked itself around. And how did Elly know that it was a ‘her’ and not a ‘he’?

“Why not Bobo? No? What about Dudu? Or Didi? Perhaps Tutu sounds good too.” What kind of names did Popo give to me, trying to name it as one of his own species? But if the Rose Alraune was my child, I should give something a more humanlike name. Something easy while describing its personalities. As Mimi said, the Rose Alraune was the most beautiful but hardest to take care after all.

“Rose.” I finally made my mind. “Her name is Rose.” And it was received well by her too, judging how much she waved around like a flower being swept by a gentle breeze. Though she looked kind of ugly for something to be called a Rose Alraune.

“It’s a good name, Ghost.” Mimi congratulated me, followed by Popo and Elly. Well, since I had my first pet, my group just became a little bigger. Understanding Rose’s abilities would do me a world of good. Scrutinizing her status screen, it finally dawned on me. She was what I would call supporter; someone who helped her party member by means of raising stats of her allies by using buffs and decreasing stats of her enemies with debuffing. But being a level 1, she was way too low to be of any use for now. And according to Mimi, as a plant, she had 6 level of growth; sprout, seedling, vegetative, budding, flowering and lastly maturity or ripening. Rose began as a seedling and it was my job now to see her into full growth.

I placed Rose on my palm and she climbed onto my shoulder. Place herself comfortably on me, I could see that she tried to speak me. But the only voice that came out of her was “Shh… Shh… shh…”.

I just patted her head and beckoned to Elly. “Let us go out to the field and level up Rose.” It was night time and I was sure that the night buff would do her a world of good.

“Ghost, remember what I told you about growing a plant.” Mimi reminded us for one last time before we set out journey.

“Yes, I remember.” I gave a thumbs up. Elly chipped in. “If he forgets, I’ll be sure to remind him.” Heh, talk the girl who could forget her own training and movements.

*****

Eating proper food was essential not only for health and growth, but also to keep our motivation high. This rang true whether in NPO or the real world; which I would often take a break from time to time. Fighting with an empty tummy was not ideal, and starvation could lead us to poor combat abilities, not to mention thinking, willpower and emotional prowess. All in all, good food meant good chances to further develop ourselves.

Though I clocked unearthly hours playing the game, proper health, nutrition and exercise must not be forgotten. As Popo once said, what I did in the real world mattered here too. As such, I often kept myself at the tip-top condition at all times. The discipline and the lifestyle which was shaped while I was a Special Force soldier could not be left to rot anymore.

For Elly and I, the cooking skill I learnt from Mimi had helped us tremendously. All the rabbit meats we gained had been made into smoked or roasted meats instead. Not only we could combine it with other dishes, but we could fetch a better price for it. I learned just a few recipes from Mimi which were all Beginner’s recipe level; Smoked Meat, Egg Sandwich, Roast Meat and Basic Salad and a simple Potato, Carrot and Meat Stew.

Since the meat was readily available by killing some rabbits, the vegetables were provided freely by Bill and Martha back at the farm. They too provided Rose with fertilized soil for her nutrients. However, as a Rose Alraune, she had another special need; to syphon my Health and Mana from time to time. Mimi said that Rose was some sort of parasite and as her father cum owner, I must give her my nutrients too. Couldn’t come more shocking to me seeing her stuck to my arms and syphoning my life force. I felt weird at first, but after a few times, it somehow became a routine.

“Papa, did I do good today?” Rose could now talk but in simple language. She was still a seedling but now she stood at 1 foot tall. Her level had increased to 15, just like Elly. I was the lowest at level 13. I swore that those two levelled up faster than I had ever imagined.

“You did well, Rose.” I patted her head as she gently purred while syphoning on my arm.

“What about me, Ghost?” Elly asked and I duly replied like how she wanted to hear. She let a deep and satisfying sigh and pump her fist. “I’ll do even better from now onwards. I’ll not lose to Rose.”

“I won’t lose to you too, Sis!” Rose replied with immediate intensity. Having these two around me made the whole situation merrier but not without their own set of problems. Rose was competitive and Elly was determined. Their skillsets differed greatly; their personalities not withholding.

Elly was efficient in disposing of her enemies with quick attacks and skilful usage of her skill sets. Something that she learned from me that I could be proud of. Meanwhile, Rose was not only a medium range attacker but could also use her skill in an AOE attack. Her Vine Hold, Poison Touch and Thorn Shot was her arsenal of defeating many enemies at range. Though slower that Elly, Rose could compensate it with sheer numbers of enemies she could attack at any one time.

As for myself, being some sort of pimp having two girls fought for me was kind of depressing. I did manage to find out some skill rotations that suits certain combat situations but then again, the two girls would have swept away most of the monsters before I could try it more than a couple of times at most.

We needed to farm only at night for the night buffs, while the day I went back to train at the Practice Hall for my skill rotations. Elly and Rose would do the same thing too as they followed my instruction to a tee. Having my own trio, I needed everyone cooperation to be utilized as the very best we could. One plus one plus one must never equate to three. In the battlefield, coordination, telepathic understanding of our comrades’ strength and weakness and willingness to follow instruction were the sacred rules that must be upheld at all cost. Victory or defeat could be separated by a fine line called ‘resources management’.

And for the next couple of weeks before the full moon, all I needed to do was to manage all the resources I had.