Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Chapter 111 - Mission and Outfit

Aiko arrived in front of the Peak Elder.

”Did she really clear everything?” The Peak Elder asked, doubting the Vicious Cub.

”That is correct, some were just passable, but passable is good enough for her to take the solo mission and go around the world.” Grandpa Lin kept kneeling.

”Vicious Cub.” The Peak Elder spoke gently. ”You are now a 1st Stage Assassin, the more missions you complete and the higher grade they are, will determine: your position, rate of advancement, and what kind of rewards you can obtain.”

Aiko didn’t like that nickname, but she didn’t say anything and nodded.

”Go, go.” The Peak Elder shooed her away and Aiko rolled her eyes. It was obvious what she wanted to do.

”Can I take my companions?” Aiko asked.

”No. The first ten missions must be done alone, to make certain you can both handle yourself and protect them.” The Peak Elder paused for a moment. ”If you don’t care about your position, you can just pick the close and easy missions.”

Aiko thought about it a few times and she didn’t really care about those things, so she would take this opportunity to go on some nearby missions.

...

The Blood Fox kept hugging Aiko, and refusing to let go as if she was a tick taking its first meal after years of waiting. She didn’t want to separate from her, as this half year was blissful and quiet.

”I won’t pick any missions that are too far away.” Aiko tried to soothe the Blood Fox, but she still refused to let go.

Aiko waited until the Blood Fox let her go, at last.

”Come back soon.” Blood Fox nuzzled into Aiko one last time. She would have to ask someone close to Aiko about what she likes so she could tie her fluffy serenity closer to herself.

Aiko sighed. ”Of course. I will.” Aiko could still vividly remember those soft tails. She was definitely planning sleep in them again.

...

”Seriously...” Aiko rushed towards the Shadows Bulletin Board Hall.

The building was small on the outside, but on the inside, it was quite spacious. There were rows after rows of papers stuck to the walls, pillars... ceiling? Aiko felt a bit overwhelmed.

”You!” A shadow appeared in front of Aiko.

Aiko screamed internally as she was startled.

”Are you here to take missions?!” He seemed impatient, so Aiko nodded.

”Good fucking heavens! Finally! Finally!” He prayed loudly, startling Aiko even more.

”What kind of missions would you like?” He asked in a gentle and attentive voice.

”Close to here and short ones.” Aiko didn’t mind his sudden change, as she didn’t feel as energetic as before.

”Got it.” He immediately rushed around the room, picking up several missions. ”Please come here.” He said this as he landed behind the counter, which was littered with papers.

Aiko stared at those papers. Those seemed like they were mission papers, but because they ran out of space, they didn’t even bother putting them up.

”There are multiple missions in nearby towns. They are still a few hundred miles away, but that shouldn’t pose any difficulty to you.” He flipped a few pages. ”You are here to prove yourself, right? Do you care about the grading or...?” He asked Aiko gently.

”That is correct. I need to finish 10 missions before I can go with my team. I don’t care about the grading or rating or whatever.” Aiko shook her head.

He nodded. ”There are 3 missions in one town. One is high grade and two are low grade. Normally I wouldn’t give them together, but since you want to finish your solo missions as soon as possible, I can make an exception.” He nodded to himself again and suddenly asked. ”How is Elder Punisher doing these days?”

”Asking to have his rosebud deflowered.” Aiko murmured absent-mindedly while looking at the missions.

”... What?” He stared blankly at Aiko.

”What?” Aiko stared back at him, puzzled.

”Ass virginity?” He asked, unsure if he heard her right.

”What?” This time, Aiko stared at him blankly.

”Nothing... must’ve been my imagination. So how is he?” He’s brows twitched, but he asked again.

”Cruel and strict.” Aiko snorted.

”So he is doing well...” He sighed. He also got tender love from the Elder Punisher.

Aiko knew that kind of expression. ”You have suffered.”

”You too.” He gently smiled and a thread of understanding formed between them.

”There are other towns with multiple missions, but those are rather far away, so you probably aren’t interested since you want to stay as close as possible.” He smiled. ”I’m the Libra Fox.”

”Libra Fox?” Aiko tilted her head.

”Well... it was supposed to be Librarian Fox, but... well, this isn’t a library.” He shook his head.

”It might as well be...” Aiko looked at the piles and piles of missions, but no one was in sight.

”They are indulgent bastards...” He cursed them openly, not worried about being heard.

”Yup. So about the missions...” Aiko pointed at them.

”Ah right...” He made an apologetic face. ”The first, and most important one is an assassination mission. You are to kill this bastard who is trying to incite harsher harassment towards us. He is currently in the mayor’s mansion.”

”The second one is getting information from the gossip in the Drunken Water Inn.” He then added. ”It needs to be something substantial, like if the nearby Sects are having parties with each other or if someone has a crush on another. Anything that we can use to blackmail or affect them.”

”The last one...” He paused. It was obvious he didn’t want to read it.

”I know... I don’t really want to do that mission, but it’s simple and counts.” Aiko shook her head.

”Steal this Cultivator’s... panties...” He blushed. ”Ahem. It’s also written that, just confirming their colour alone is good enough, so if you don’t need the whole rating and just want to finish the mission... yeah...” He didn’t know what to say about this.

”That’s fine. Is there any time limit?” Aiko asked.

”Only the high grade one has... a month.” He browsed through them. ”Yup, that’s it, just that one, the others don’t have a time limit, but it’s better if you return soon as I still have a few more. But once you get back with a few missions under your belt you can take them to quickly clear this chore.” He nodded.

”Got it~, Thank you~!” Aiko smiled sweetly, blinding him.

”S-s-sure, come again.” He blushed, avoiding Aiko’s gaze.

Aiko left the Hall without looking back, now that she had a mission she would visit Mei, she hadn’t seen her since she started her training proper after all, and leave after that.

...

”Mei~!” Aiko tried to jump at Mei but was avoided.

”Stinky little rascal, you still remember me?” Mei glared at the pouting Aiko, although she was still happy to see her after half a year.

”Of course I do, but that Elder was really mean and strict.” Aiko spilt her aggrieved heart on Mei.

Mei gently patted Aiko. ”Sure, sure, I bet.” Mei teased Aiko.

”It’s the truth.” Aiko softly glared at Mei and used her double jump to tackle her.

”Gotcha~, hehe.” Aiko smiled foolishly.

Mei was startled as Aiko was much more proficient in her movement. It was much smoother than before. ’He has been training her well...’ Mei thought and Elder Punisher’s image slightly improved.

”So, why are you here?” Mei played with Aiko’s hair.

”Going on a mission outside, so I just wanted to tell ya.” Aiko smiled mischievously.

”What kind of mission?” Mei was slightly interested.

”Assassination, gossip gathering, panty observation.” Aiko said passively.

Mei nodded until she heard the last one. ”Observation?” She glared at Aiko. ’What do you mean by observation?! What kind of dirty mission are you taking?!’ Mei felt irritated, even more so since there was an odd scent on Aiko, which made Mei displeased.

”They were in the same place and I don’t want to bother with the solo mission, so I just took them.” Aiko shrugged, nuzzling into Mei’s belly.

”Stop.” Mei said with slight laughter in her voice. It was too ticklish for her.

”So you came to tell me you are leaving me and going to explore the outside world without me...” Mei pretended to be hurt, so she could watch Aiko’s expression.

Aiko didn’t play by the rules and nibbled Mei’s hand, startling her.

”What are you-?” Mei was confused, but there was a strange ticklish sensation, Aiko giggled.

Mei glared at her, she didn’t like this rebellious side of Aiko. ”Come back soon.” She hmpfed away from Aiko’s gaze.

Aiko felt slightly bad, but that was washed away soon after she heard her next line.

”Here, take this and be careful.” Mei said somewhat gently as she handed Aiko a small Storage Ring.

Aiko probed it and found quite a few Pill Bottles.

”The instructions and what they do are written on the underside of the bottle, don’t cherish them, use them when needed and I will replenish them for you.” Mei said, staring at the attentive, yet happy Aiko.

”Okay!” Aiko beamed happily, which made Mei avoid her brightness.

Aiko took this opportunity to give her a peck on the cheek before disappearing from this abode.

”Seriously...” Mei sighed, gently rubbing her cheek. ”You should’ve visited more often.” Mei sulked alone in the room.

...

Aiko traversed towards the gate that led out of the Fox Village.

”Halt.” The guard stopped Aiko. ”Why are you leaving?”

”Got some assassination missions.” Aiko replied, curious about this huge, ripped Fox.

”Token.”

”Here.” Aiko placed the Assassination Token into his hands.

He looked surprised. ”Where is your Assassination Uniform?” He was confused. At first, he didn’t believe that this little Fox was telling the truth, since a lot of Foxes were just too horny to stay inside the Village, so they would often sneak outside to ”play” with Humans.

Likewise, he was suspicious since this little one didn’t have the slu- *Cough* proper Assassination Uniform. So he immediately placed her into the ’Slut that wants to play with humans’ category.

”Oh...” Aiko looked embarrassed. ”I didn’t think they had a dress code, most of them had just black clothes...”

”But yours are white.” The guard pointed at the obvious.

Aiko nodded shyly, this was truly not a good outfit to go outside in, since this was too bright and eye-catching.

”I will come back later.” Aiko took the Token from his hands and rushed back.

The guard sighed, but he had a smile on his lips. This little one was nice and polite and he liked her. Normally he was supposed to report this little Fox for not wearing the proper dress code, but since she wasn’t all that bad, he ignored this little error.

...

Aiko rushed back towards the Peak, startling the guards.

”You already finished?!” He was dumbfounded.

”No, the guard at the gate warned me about the dress code.”

The guard flicked his own forehead. ”Right! I completely forgot about that, since you normally get the Assassination Uniform once you completed the basic training.” He looked at her in understanding. ”Go, go, so you can finish quickly, but don’t bicker with the Clothier too much. He is an old prideful bastard who wields enough influence to make your life difficult.” He gently pushed and warned the Vicious Cub.

She was one of the few that the guard actually liked, since the little Fox was one of the only Foxes here that didn’t look at him as a living fuck toy. He hoped that there would be more Foxes like this, but alas, his dreams were never fulfilled and he continued to suffer sexual harassment left and right.