With a long sigh Beligor slumped into the soft grass that encompassed the grounds of their meager camp and gave his companion, currently busy sorting an array of crates, a long glare.

"I don't suppose you've had a change of heart about resigning Vuln? General Fehner would gladly resend your resignation, it's no exaggeration to say your cooking was the heart of the le-" Vuln raised a hand to pause Beligor's verbal onslaught and took a seat on a large crate a few feet away from his companion.

"You know I have already made peace with my decision, besides my essence focus has no place on the battlefield, much less the frontlines," Vuln proceeded to place his index finger on a blade of grass and after a moment the grass began to grow at a visible pace, having surpassed the neighboring grass by a few inches.

Beligor, clearly unimpressed by Vuln's explanation, delivered his rebuttal in a frustrated tone "Oh but it has a place in this damned empty field in the middle of nowhere you spent your life savings on?" having got most of his frustration out he continued "well you said everything would be explained once we set up camp so go ahead, fill me in on your surely brilliant plan Vuln," he quickly rose to his feet and took a seat in another crate facing Vuln.

Vuln let out a light chuckle, "still quite spry for an old man, though I guess a high tier full body enhancement focus would do that," Beligor looked more than a little irritated at the quick jab which caused Vuln's grin to develop into a full ear to ear smile "well I am a man of my word," he proudly placed his right hand above his heart to signify the fact. Beligor grunted, "get to the damned point already," at this Vuln stood abruptly and casually circled to the other side of a wall of crates stacked high towards the edge of the encampment.

A few minutes had passed and Beligors frustration had grown, approaching a breaking point, only to be quickly simmered by the sight of his lanky friend, red faced and sweating, dragging a sturdy metal cage that came up to his waist across the dirt at a slime's pace towards him. Inside the cage slept several hand-sized fuzzballs, each covered in fur of varying shades of grey and blue fur with short, rounded snouts, pointed ears, and a small ball of fluff for a tail. each had their paws curled up beneath them to better fit into the pile they formed in the center of the cage.

"So this is what you took the wagon to get this morning? I can't wait to find out how a handful of house-hold pets and a bunch of farm equipment is going to save the human race," Beligor looked disappointed, he had some faith in his friend before but the last drop of it had just vanished. Vuln, unperturbed retorted by asking a question "Every creature in these god-forsaken lands has the ability to grow stronger, do you know what the method is for the native beasts is?"

Beligor pondered for a moment before replying, "well sure, the ability to go through some kind of strange growth into a different, slightly stronger form, but it never brings them anywhere near strong enough to match humans in a fight and we are barely surviving ourselves," he gave Vuln an inquisitive look, "so they wind up being food, pets, or livestock and that's about it, so why are you asking me this anyways?"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Following a quick rummage through a pack Vuln now held a weathered scroll, "I have been testing the effects of certain plants on men and beasts for some time now and found something interesting," he then tossed the scroll to Beligor, "everyone knows that certain plants bolster the growth of different aspects of one's ability by a very miniscule margin, thus this effect is only utilized to give children a small head start," barely containing his excitement he gestured for the old man to open the scroll, "that scroll contains the culmination of my research, the effects of these plants is magnified to an excessive degree for beasts and can help shape the evolution they will undergo!" Beligor skimmed through the contents of the scroll as instructed.

After spending several minutes spent completing his lengthy assignment Beligor spoke up in a bored tone, "well as interesting as this piece of paper is I still don't see how wasting resources on making pets slightly stronger is going to help? Quite honestly I don't understand any part of your ingenious plan so far," Vuln grinned at this conclusion, "listen, you said you would return in one years-time to see if I am still alive, by that time you will see what I have envisioned," the two men agreed to disagree and the day passed peacefully.

Dawn came and Beligor stood at the gate of the rudimentary fence he had begrudgingly constructed over the course of the past week for his friend, "duty calls, sure you won't be a pile of bones by the time I return?" he gave vuln a genuine look of concern, "I will be just fine, I can't wait to prove you wrong next year so don't die on me out their old man," said vuln with his usual shit eating grin. With a small exchange Beligor bid farewell and thus Vuln was alone in the wilderness.

Currently having a heated play session near the center of camp the twelve "pets" had been released to do as they pleased in the now sealed off area. Vuln observed calmly noting that despite each being from a separate litter they displayed the same affinity towards each other as they would blood relatives. Additionally, there was no clear differences in behavior between male and female pups with the only telling difference being a small difference in size and the more obvious genitalia.

While the festivities continued Vuln set to work preparing a hearty meal for the furballs, one of the primary factors in choosing this species was their status as omnivores, it was absolutely crucial to the plan. Firstly, he walked towards the north-east corner of the camp to a patch of exposed dirt, here he planted Arigock's Tendon, Marrow Flower, and Wit Stalk, the name of the last one always sounded a bit on the nose to him. With his palms placed firmly on the dirt patch a faint green tinted light emanated from the soil and the seeds began growing. After a few minutes of exertion, the plants had grown and an exhausted Vuln harvested them slowly and methodically making sure to maintain the integrity of each one.

These ingredients were then processed and transferred to an oversized mortar and pestle alongside some boiled rye oats and grinded into a fine paste, a hefty serving of cubed meat preserved via an ice crystal infused chest was added to the gruel and alongside a bit of water to help ensure the pups were hydrated, they much prefer eating than drinking, the damn gluttons. Vuln then prepared twelve small wooden bowls of this concoction and served it to the now exhausted pups in the center of camp.

Half an hour of preventing the more glutenous fiends from procuring a second bowl of food later the pups had joined Vuln in his small tent to rest while he scribbled some notes about his findings and the first day of the experiment passed without a hitch.