Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko went on the stage for her last fight, this time she was pit up against a very thin feminine looking Fox.

Aiko could tell that he was a male from his scent, but from what she saw, he looked like a female. There was not even an Adam’s apple on his neck. Aiko was slightly curious about him, but realizing that there were a lot of Illusions in this Fox Village, since they are Foxes, her interest, and curiosity pretty much halted.

”Junior Sister.” He cupped his fists, even his demeanour was that of a female.

”Ju-Senior Broster?” Aiko still wasn’t used to the greeting scheme and it didn’t help that his demeanour confused her.

He giggled. ”It is alright, you can call me what you are comfortable with.”

Aiko felt a shiver down her spine, it would be best if she didn’t call him anything and just ran away.

”Please?” He took a fighting stance, but it looked strange.

”Begin!” Mei announced the beginning of the fight.

The peanut gallery mostly dispersed at this time, since they didn’t want to get hit by stray rocks.

Aiko dashed towards him.

She couldn’t use rocks, so she would just slap him away like the last one.

She took a jab at him, but it missed?

She went with her trusty lead hook.

But when she connected it with his hand, the direction was completely twisted and she missed again.

A question mark appeared above her head. She didn’t understand how such a slim and fragile-looking hand could divert her fist.

This was a completely different bepuzzlement compared to when the Muscular Fox blocked her fists, as Aiko knew her opponent was weaker.

Her right uppercut was dodged by stepping backwards.

Her left jab was slightly put out of course, with his gentle hand.

She couldn’t hit him at all!

Aiko pulled a hidden rock and threw it at him.

He performed a strange dance.

Aiko was puzzled why she didn’t hear any ’Ding’, but soon she had to dodge aside as a rock blasted past her.

An uncountable number of question marks appeared above her head. She couldn’t understand this situation at all!

”Jade Fox.” He cupped his fists and left the arena, leaving Aiko dumbfounded at the situation.

Mei nodded at him, this one pleased her greatly and she would seek him out later, but first she would need to placate Aiko, since she would be feeling do-Hm?

Mei arrived next to Aiko. ”How are you feeling?”

”Confused?” Aiko tilted her head, even her powerful mind couldn’t process what had just happened.

Mei chuckled, she was happy that Aiko didn’t feel down. ”How do you like him.”

”He is creepy, but strong.” Aiko evaluated him.

Mei was slightly taken aback. ”Why creepy?”

”His gender confuses me, I don’t like it.” Aiko looked away from Mei’s attentive gaze.

Mei giggled. ”That’s really bad, since he will be your teacher in the future.”

Mei already thought about it and while the Grandmaster and Blood Fox were great when it came to close-quarter combat, it was not the case for Aiko.

Mei had already realized that Aiko had little to no interest in fighting with her fists. If she didn’t like you, she would just throw rocks at you. If you got too close to her and appeared unyielding, then she would grab the nearest flag.

Mei was quite happy about this, since most deaths came from close-quarter combats, but very little from ranged combats. You would always have enough time to rip a Transportation Talisman to get away.

’This is good, but she still needs something to protect herself when her enemy gets close.’ Mei stared at the departing Feminine Fox. ’He is perfect for that.’ Mei nodded at her plan.

”My teacher?” Aiko frowned, but she was not all that against it, if she didn’t need to watch his feminine behaviour... something about that just went against her nature.

Aiko sighed.

Mei misunderstood that sigh and said. ”Don’t worry it won’t be anytime soon, we still have a bit more to do and I will have to negotiate with him.”

Aiko didn’t say anything and followed Mei back to the Grandmaster’s abode.

’I will have to deal with him later...’ Aiko sighed and picked up the Inscription Carving Pen.

...

10 weeks passed... Aiko finished another 10 parts yet again.

”Guess what?” Mei was really bubbly around Aiko.

”What?” Aiko had a bad feeling about this...

”I got Souls for you~” Mei giggled.

”Fuck.” Aiko spat those words and was ready to run away.

”You don’t trust me?” Mei looked exceptionally pitiful, which stunned Aiko.

”Well-”

”It’s fine, I know you don’t like me...” Mei looked incredibly hurt.

”No, that’s-”

”Just go.” Mei wiped a tear that was about to roll down her cheek.

Aiko felt incredibly bad about Mei and she could only stay in her place.

’She helped me many times... She helped me many times... She helped me many times...’ Aiko chanted in her mind, calming herself. She would just have to face those ugly Souls.

Mei hugged Aiko, but in her mind, she was laughing happily. ’I didn’t think this would work so well on her~’ She found yet another thing that she liked about Aiko. ’And here I thought she really disliked me.’ Mei giggled.

”Come, come.” Mei dragged Aiko into her little corner with Herbs.

”You already know about the different parts of the Souls, but now we will put it into practice, since your type of Soul consumption is different.” Mei commented.

Aiko tilted her head. ”Different? How so?”

”Here.” Mei pulled out a vague outline of a Soul.

Aiko immediately stiffened and shielded herself from the Soul... but nothing happened?

Aiko waited and waited, but nothing was happening. She peeked towards Mei.

Mei was holding some strange ball that vaguely resembled a Soul.

Aiko waited a bit longer before she got close to it out of curiosity. She couldn’t understand why it didn’t scream at her.

She nudged it cautiously, but it didn’t move nor make a sound. Aiko was confused yet again and she stared at Mei suspiciously.

Mei coughed awkwardly. ”Don’t look at me like that, I’m not tricking you.”

*Staaaaare~*

But Aiko continued staring at Mei without blinking.

”Fine, I might’ve done something to the Soul, so that it wouldn’t scream at you.” Mei blushed, she didn’t really like how Aiko was staring at her, like she was some kind of shameless thing.

”What did you do?” Aiko asked, staring at the unmoving Soul.

”Compressed it.” Mei proudly said.

”Compressed?” Aiko didn’t understand.

”You take a Soul.” Mei pulled out another Soul, this one was the ugly one.

”MURDEEEEEEEER-SGKJAVGNVGHHG-.......” Mei squished it again and again, until the Soul stopped screaming.

”And you have a compressed Soul.” Mei smiled.

Aiko didn’t have any time to react and in front of her was another small Soul ball.

She nudged it, expecting it to scream again, but it didn’t?

”By compressing the Soul, you squish its senses. This causes the Soul to enter slumber until it passes through the Reincarnation River.” Mei pointed at the compressed Souls.

Aiko was curious so she took one of the Souls into her Hands.

Neither did it scream nor did it try to run away. It most certainly didn’t try to curse at her as well.

Aiko smiled happily, charming Mei.

*Cough*

Mei coughed awkwardly. ”Now listen well, since this is a different way of consuming Souls you have to listen to my instructions, alright?” Mei warned.

Aiko nodded obediently.

First, the compressed Soul has the advantage of having it’s layers naturally separated, but this is also a disadvantage as you will need to be extremely gentle and careful!” Mei gestured again.

”Moving onto the next part, you can either dig your nails or bite into the Soul to create a crack. I would suggest the nails until you learn this part properly.” Mei stabbed the outer part of the Soul with her nail.

”Then you can carefully peel it. It’s a lot more fragile than it looks, especially since it was compressed, so just carefully peel the outer layer.” She peeled the outer layer and munched on it. ”And that’s it, the peeling and stabbing part is the hardest.” She happily munched on that Soul with a light blush.

Aiko nodded slowly. She used her claws to make a crack.

*Shatter*

The Souls dispersed and Aiko stared in shock. She applied very little to no strength, yet the Soul just popped.

Mei handed her another Soul.

Aiko was much more careful about stabbing it. The Soul was leaking so Aiko wanted to peel it as soon as possible.

*Shatter*

Aiko sniffled, these Souls are way too fragile!

Mei smiled, but still handed her another Soul. She expected some losses so it didn’t pain her all that much.

...

10 Souls later Aiko managed to pierce and peel it. It was very fragile, even more than cotton candy.

She placed the peeled and cracked pieces into her mouth.

They melted with mint flavour, making Aiko unconsciously smile.

[Soul: 33,060 -> 33,061]

Mei tapped her forehead in worry. ”Do not get tempted by the taste.” She warned Aiko in a grave voice.

”Taste? Is mint flavour bad?” Aiko asked.

”Mint flavour?” Mei didn’t understand. ”No, suppress any blissful feelings!”

”But I don’t feel all that happy?” Aiko tilted her head.

”Then why did you smile while eating it??” Mei couldn’t understand.

”Because it tasted like mint candy?” Aiko looked at the confused Mei.

”???” Mei was completely lost. ”It tastes like that...?”

She could never taste the Souls, there was just a feeling of endless fulfilment and happiness that plagued her. Even when she tried this new technique she didn’t feel any taste...

She stared at Aiko oddly. ”So you don’t feel like eating it endlessly?” Mei asked cautiously.

”No, while mint candies are good, they get boring really quickly.” Aiko shook her head.

Mei was taken aback and lost. She always had to fight this urge, insatiable urge, well most Foxes had to, yet her little sweetie didn’t have to? How strange...

Aiko smiled at Mei. ”I like you~” She hugged Mei gently.

Mei hugged Aiko back. She was lost, but still happy that Aiko didn’t have to fight that never-ending feeling of hunger for Souls.

...

Aiko sat down.

[Tail Manifestation Unlocked]

She stared at the system.

[Manifest Tail for:]

[Shadow Fennec Fox] for 10 Soul

[Moon Fennec Fox] for 10 Soul

Aiko stared at it for a while, she didn’t know if this was a good idea or not.

”Mei, how do you manifest more tails?” Aiko asked gently.

”That’s pretty simple to do, but hard to master.” Mei smiled. ”First you need enough Souls to create the Tail, you will know this by a feeling, but it’s not always advised to do that.” Mei warned. ”You will get weaker if your Soul gets too weak.

Aiko nodded attentively.

”Next up, you need to explore your old tails. You can strengthen them with Souls or recover them as long as they are not cut off.” Mei lectured.

”Like the Grandmaster?” Aiko asked.

”Yes, she will need more things to recover her tails.” Mei nodded.

”Next up is to make a copy of your healthy tails in your mind. You then guide the Soul into that image and your tail will slowly grow out. Of course, you can speed this up by spending more Souls, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you will have a more powerful tail. Do not waste Souls just because you are impatient!” Mei caressed Aiko’s hair. ”Okay?”

”Okay.” Aiko nodded obediently. She got only 1 Point from that Soul and she needed 10. She already knew that it would get only more expensive so she shouldn’t waste those Souls.