Her Beasts

Level Up

The next morning, Caspian awoke feeling more energetic than he had in months. He could feel as the elemental energy swirled throughout his veins. Caspian could feel that he had gotten stronger and was quite satisfied to see a fourth star on his person.

Thanks to his ice abilities, Caspian could now even be considered stronger than Basil, despite the other having more experience at the fourth level. Caspian did not care so much about being the strongest Mate, but it was good to know that he wasn't the weakest link anymore.

Caspian quickly awoke the others and got the final items packed up. They would need the beds and campfire materials in their travels after all. Caspian felt eager to get started on the traveling and test out his new stamina limits.

Basil had previously been tired, but not as much as Caspian, when they were traveling. Now, Caspian could keep up with Basil as they ran side by side, eager to keep up with Ember who flew above with Iris. Of course, Ember was still too fast for them, but this did not quell their desire to give chase.

In order to quell Iris's worries, the group still happily took an extra five minutes each time they stopped throughout the day. They also took breaks at high sun to have a mid-day meal on top of their sunset meal. However, this just felt like truly leisurely to Caspian who now felt quite energized.

Even despite the slightly slower travel, the group still made good progress. They would likely be able to reach the artic wolf tribe by the beginning of the hot season. This was a relief to Iris who quite missed her friends and was eager to return home.

Iris was eager to hold a feast with all her friends and chat about her adventures. Iris just knew that Holly would be eagerly hanging on her every word as she would animatedly retell the recent events. Holly would likely even look worried at the dramatic retelling of the troubles they faced, even despite Caspian bring alive and well at the table with them.

Iris was also eager to see what the system shop's upgrade would hold. Iris would definitely like things besides seeds for planting, but was also eager to have new foods to enjoy. There was no doubt in Iris's mind that she would spend the rest of the year farming lots of delicious fruits and vegetables to sell at market and store for the cold season.

After all, the farming could easily be taken care of by Ember alone during the rainy season. While the rainy season meant there was little need to water the plants, the irrigated farmland would only require slightly more work should it require watering. Simply going out together for a short while each day would surely be sufficient to manage the farmland since there were four in Iris's family.

After about a week and a half of travel, Iris heard the familiar chime of the system while having her mid-day meal.

[System 316: The system has finished updating. Please take a look at what's available in the shop, host!]

Iris eagerly opened the shop menu to take a look. There she saw all the previously available options as well as numerous new items. There were three big ticket one time purchases, new seeds, new saplings, and even a new section of premium goods.

[Tier One Shop]

[Potato Seeds 10 Points]
[Carrot Seeds 10 Points]
[Onion Seeds 10 Points]
[Spinach Seeds 20 Points]
[Sweet Peas Seeds 20 Points]

[Apple Tree Saplings 50 Points]
[Orange Tree Saplings 50 Points]

[Tier Two Shop]

[Dimensional Bag Upgrade 5,000 Points]
[One Time Purchase]
[Landmarks Map Upgrade 2,500 Points]
[One Time Purchase]
["Ancient Animal Husbandry" Book 1,000 Points] [One Time Purchase]

[Tomato Seeds 20 Points]
[Bell Pepper Seeds 20 Points]
[Celery Seeds 20 Points]
[Green Bean Seeds 30 Points]
[Grape Seeds 50 Points]

[Pear Tree Saplings 50 Points]
["Tea" Tree Saplings 100 Points]

[Vinegar 128oz 100 Points]
[Canola Oil 48oz 100 Points]
[Yeast 4oz 100 Points]

Iris's eyes widened as she took in all the good things that were now available for purchase. Iris quickly gathered her mates' attention as she explained

"The reward for completing the mining quest is finally available! I got many good things for this quest. Look here, I've got this vinegar, canola oil, and yeast. These are all good things for cooking!"

Iris quickly purchased one of each of the items. The vinegar, canola oil, and yeast were all packed in stone jars of various sizes with cork tops in them. Iris appreciated how the system always tried to make the items blend into the beast world even when the items were more at home in the modern day than the primitive beast world.

Next, Iris redeemed the three one time purchases. While they seemed a bit expensive compared to other purchases, Iris quickly became excited at the system's notifications.

[System 316: Congratulations host! Your dimensional bag has now been upgraded! Items will now remain the same as when placed inside the bag, preventing spoilage indefinitely!]

[System 316: Congratulations host! Your map has been updated to display landmarks! Wild landmarks like mountains, canyons, hot springs, caves, and more will now be more easily recognizable. Additionally, beast cities and tribes will be labeled on the map with their territory clearly outlined.]

The book was apparently considered self-explanatory as there was no notification for it. Iris's eyes were filled with joy as she excitedly explained to her mates

"I got an upgrade for my bag so that items stored inside it will no longer spoil no matter how long it is stored for! This means we won't have to worry as much about drying the food we grow and can sell it fresh at market!

There is also an upgrade for my map. Here look, see how there is a cave here and oh! over here is a set of hot springs on a mountain top. Plus, now we can easily see where various tribes and beast cities are located with their territories denoted by this dotted line and the names are here.

There is also this book on raising animals for food. Like those auroch that Ember used to catch for me and goats as well as some flightless birds would be perfect for raising as livestock. They can provide milk and eggs for cooking as well as be bred to birth new animals. When necessary, they can also be butchered for food.

I also have a selection of new seeds I can grow on our farm now too. This is great! Such things are sure to make our lives better in the future."

Ember was happy that Iris was happy. He was unsure what to make of most of the things Iris had shown them. However, Ember was actually quite happy about having new plants to grow as he felt this was one of the few things he could help with.

Caspian was happy that life would be easier for his family in the future. With only three mates, Caspian regularly worried that they could not keep up with Iris's ambitions while protecting her. If they could easily grow plants and raise wild animals for food, then more time could be dedicated to caring for Iris.

Basil felt his curiosity ignite his burning passion for knowledge. He hoped he might be able to convince Iris to read more of the books to him in the future as well as teach him how to cook with these new ingredients. Perhaps even learning how to read the map of the beast continent might be possible in the future. Basil could certainly only hope for these things as he hoped for a better future.

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