Ricardo Chickenheart

Isaac triumphantly returned with Marco and told him their plan moving forward. The man nodded excitedly and told them that he would be ready when the first round of experiments began. With that taken care of, Isaac decided to tackle other issues.

"Marco, I'll be honest with you, I'm very interested in your culinary arts," Isaac said bluntly, startling the chef a bit.

"Well, not a lot of young chaps like these types of things...are you sure young master?" Marco rubbed his hands nervously.

"Why not? What do i need to be your apprentice?" Isaac nodded and crossed his arms.

"Well, for starters... hmmm..." Marco was in deep thought for a moment, crossing his arms and furrowing his brows. "When you reach spiritual attunement would be the best time. It's when the body begins to adapt to all kinds of energies, and it wouldn't be harmful to you to get used to the fire." He nodded and continued. "And well, a blood contract to not spread it out without permission and...guess that's it?" Marco shrugged his shoulders and smirked. "That's what I've done with the boys so far if you're ok with that, young master."

"That's perfect." Isaac nodded with a smile. "I'll pay for it when i get the chance."

"Ehmm, pay?" Marco tilted his head in confusion. "Why would you pay young master?"

"You're doing a service for me. Naturally, I must pay," Isaac stated matter-of-factly. "No buts, It's my decision."

"I...understand." Marco sighed in defeat.

"See ya later!" Isaac patted him on the arm and left with Dustin.

---

With the issue regarding the jam done, and as he still had to wait a couple of days to start planting again, Isaac decided to take better care of the chickens at this time. Ever since he bought them, he never cultivated specifically using the Spirit beast codex, only Spirit herb nurture. The animals subconsciously absorbed the left-over energy that usually accumulated, and that was it.

Reviewing the technique once more, it had several extra steps and recommendations dealing with a spiritual beast from rank 1 to 6. It went from branding techniques to prevent them from attacking their owners to talking about the habitat, depending on their element, and materials to nurture them.

Isaac knew that stuff would come up when he entered energy gathering, so he didn't bother trying to understand what a 'soul brand' or a 'Hellspawn red lily' was. For now, he had three hens and a rooster watching him expectantly. He sat on the ground and deeply sighed.

"I know that this is very boring to you. You don't have to be here on your day off, Dustin." Isaac looked at the boy sitting beside him. "Don't you play outside or...stuff like that?"

"Well...you're my only friend Isaac." The boy blushed slightly and averted his gaze. "And if i go outside, the Dahars will come for me surely..." He trembled for a moment before breathing deeply. "I'll be here with you if it doesn't bother, but if it does...i can go outside..." His voice began to trail off at the end until it was just mumbling.

"Don't worry then, make yourself comfortable." Isaac sighed and ruffled his hair. "Let's not think about those brats, ok?"

"Mmh!" Dustin nodded.

"Well, let's get started them." Isaac returned his attention to the chickens. He gently grabbed one and scratched its head softly. "This is Roxanna. She likes to cuddle a lot. Wanna pet her?"

"A-are you sure?" Dustin nervously said while Isaac passed him the chicken. He held it in his arms for a moment without knowing what to do.

"Come on, don't be scared." Isaac gently took one of his arms and made him touch her wings. "See? Nothing wrong happened."

"Y-yeah..." Dustin began petting Roxanna gently on the torso. Seeing this, Isaac smiled and released his hand. Dustin took a look at the chicken and noticed the colored feathers under the white ones. The majority of them being sky-blue or red. "Is this normal?"

"I guess it is." Isaac shrugged. "Wilson said they were accumulating wind and fire energy, and that is the reason they're not producing eggs yet." Then, he grabbed another one and put it on his lap. "We're not in a hurry, though. There's still a lot of time until we have to go, so take your time, Kiara~" Isaac smiled and petted the hen.

"Ohhh." Dustin nodded a couple of times. "What is the name of the third one?"

"That one is Lily. She's a bit shy and doesn't like patting." Isaac tried to pat her, only to receive a peck. "Ouch! Still with that attitude, eh?"

Lily 'scoffed' and began to eat the multicolored grass. Isaac sighed in defeat and rubbed his hands until the pain passed away. Dustin giggled after seeing him fail, and Isaac glared at him for a second before laughing too.

"Yeah, yeah. It was funny. You win." He then let Kiara go and grabbed the rooster. It protested for a moment but soon calmed down when Isaac left it on his lap. "This is Ricardo. He's only loud when you try to touch him, but after a while, he calms down."

"So...he just admits defeat?"

"You can see it that way, yes." Isaac shrugged and scratched the rooster on the neck a bit. "Ricardo is different than the hens. Well, apart from being a male and having dark orange plumage. His special color is this one." Isaac carefully lifted Ricardo's wings, revealing some light brown, almost golden, feathers underneath. "I asked Wilson about it, but he said he was accumulating wind and fire energy like the rest, so i guess he's just a bit special. He scratched a bit more and freed the rooster. It cried once and then ran back towards the wooden pen. "Now he runs away." Dustin giggled once more and let Roxanna on the ground too.

Isaac cleared his throat and assumed a cross-legged position. Dustin nodded and copied his stance. They relaxed and began practicing their versions of the Path of the spiritual guardian. Little by little, they accumulated enough energy to test the spirit beast codex.

"Inhale..." They took a deep breath, absorbing as much energy as they could. They felt warmth in their stomach before it dispersed through their bodies. "Guide it...don't get lost in it..." After Isaac's reminder, they guided the feeling towards their palms and pointed them towards Roxanna. "And push..."

The multicolored spiritual energy entered the hen, startling it for a moment. After a couple of seconds, Roxanna sat on the ground with closed eyes, silently absorbing the power.

The boys patiently waited until she finished cultivating. Then absorbed the energy she sent back. After doing nine cycles of absorbing and sending, they finished with Roxanna and let her rest. They noticed how some of her feathers glowed in red and sky-blue colors before dimming once more. Isaac touched those and felt them warm.

"No matter how many times i see it, it still amazes me." He sighed and continued repeating the exercise with the other chickens.

Kiara was equally cooperative as Roxanna. She patiently cultivated by their side and didn't make a fuss when they touched her plumage at the end. Lily wasn't so nice. She attacked them a few times during the first cycle but managed to calm down by the second. However, she cried and charged at them again when they finished the ninth and wanted to pet her new shiny plumage. With wry expressions, they left her be.

Ricardo was another case. They tried to grab him, but the rooster seemingly had enough touching for the day and ran away. Dustin and Isaac had to pursue him for the next 5 minutes. It wasn't until the scared rooster emptied his energy reserves that Isaac could catch it. Finally, the boys could do the cultivation session with the animal. When they finished, some of Ricardo's feathers turned golden for a second before dimming and turning light-brown.

"Finished!" Dustin cried in victory, and Isaac laughed a bit.

"Great, let's eat a snack and call it a day," Isaac said before standing up and dusting his robe. "Tomorrow, we do this again and re-start physical training."

"Again?... We'll have to pursue Ricardo and endure Lily again?"

"It's part of the business, Dustin." Isaac shrugged. "Prepare yourself for when we get better animals. You'll wish we get to only deal with chickens."

Dustin made a dismayed expression and dropped to the ground. Isaac nudged him a couple of times until the boy finally stood up and followed him to the mansion. Geode watermelon jam tarts waited for them inside.