Chapter 9 - Companion Spirit

  Inside his room, Juan pulled out all the branches he got from the park. With his knife, he practiced carving the image of the dog. His very first trial looked like an unknown deformed animal.

  ~Ting!~

  He dismissed the window and started sculpting again. He did it several times. Once in a while, he received a stat bonus.

  He created something until it resembles a dog.

  He was still not satisfied with this result. He sculpted the figure of the dog again. Tried several times.

  Improvement of the dog figures occurred. It has now details.

  Again. He was not satisfied. He started crafting again. Until all of his logs were depleted.

  He went outside of his house and cultivated the land in his front yard. He loosened the soil with his hoe and mixed the soil with his homemade compost. He was preparing his land like a veteran farmer. His moves were all calculated like a martial artist. Then, he went to the tree in his front yard. He prayed to the spirits and ask some small branches.

  "Spirit of the trees, here my call. Can I ask for some branches to cut off and plant?"

  The tree wiggled and Juan extended his hands to cut off some branches from the tree.

  He planted the branches on the cultivated front yard. He then prayed to Goddess Lakapati

  "Oh Lakapati, the goddess of fertility and cultivated lands. With your gift to man, please hear my prayer. Grow the trees and give this lowly man his craft. Bless this field with your grace"

  The green light from Juan expanded to the land around him. The small branches planted on the ground grew into trees with thick branches.

  "Thank you, Your Grace, Goddess Lakapati"

  Juan cut off some branches from the trees after asking the spirits. "Spirit of the trees, here my call. Can I ask for some branches to cut off and plant?"

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  Then, he proceeded back to his room. Feeling a little tired, he started meditating to restore the magic and faith he used. After meditating, he started sculpting again. Every time he sculped, an improvement occurs

  However, Juan is still unsatisfied with his result. He continued sculpting until all of his logs were depleted. When the logs are depleted he will go the front yard to cut off some branches after praying. He continued creating it until he received a new level up

  In his hands, is the perfect sculpture of his dog's figure it is very detailed up to the furs. Right now, he was confident to create the perfect image of his dog on to the spiritual tree branch. He took out the spiritual branch and inspected it. He looked for its details, the growth of its fibers, dimension, etc. He was so focused on it and started sculpting with his 100% mind on it. Unknowingly, during his crafting, energies inside his body move as to respond to his passion. He started to gather his magical and faith energies into his breath and knife. Every time he moved his hands, his breath will bathe the sculpture and his knife will add some energies onto the wood. His psi energy started to circulate faster in his brain, successfully increasing his mental capacity resulting in his increased focus. It can be said that right now, he had 200% focus on his sculpting. His Qi energy supplemented his arms and wrists to properly control his strength and movements. If you viewed him right now, he looked like a heavenly craftsman. His movements were so refined. All of his actions are calculated. And his whole body was covered with colorful lights from his energies. There is also an additional halo around his body giving off a godly aura.

  ~Ting!~

  He thought of a name and it appeared on the window box.

  Looking at his masterpiece he was so excited. He called the spirit dog Zoe if it liked his sculpture.

  When the dog saw his art, it barked, jumped, and wagged his tail. He jumped over to Juan and licked his face.

  "Will you live inside this art" - Juan asked his dog

  "Arf!" Zoe barked then it jumped into the sculpture in Juan's hand.

  The spirit melded with the sculpture in his hand.

  ~Ting!~

  -To be continued-

  Mythical terms

  Diwata - Minor or local goddess

  Dumakalem - Tagalog God of Hunting, Guardian of the Mountains

  Bathala - Tagalog God Creator

  Lambanas - Small winged creature of the forest

  Lakapati - Tagalog Goddess of Fertility and Cultivated Land

  Idiyanale - Tagalog Goddess of Good deeds, Labor and Craftsmanship