Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko breathed in and breathed out. She was concentrating on her tails, but no matter what she tried she could not clearly imagine them in her mind.

She tried to caress her tails, but her own fluff was blocking her investigation.

’Should I shave my tails?’ Aiko thought. That would solve her issues about not being able to imagine her tails.

She went to Mei to ask about this.

”Are you crazy?!” Mei suddenly yelped.

Aiko flinched. ”Well, I can’t imagine my tails, so I need to know how they look.” Aiko defended herself against that piercing gaze.

”Rejected!” Mei slammed her fist on a nearby table.

”But-” Aiko wanted more tails.

”No! You have Divine Sense or we will shave someone else’s, but not your tails!” Mei stated clearly.

”Divine Sense?” Aiko asked, she couldn’t move her Divine Sense so she couldn’t use it.

”Divine Sense is not just for moving things, you can also investigate, or rather the investigation is the main thing for Divine Sense, while the manipulation is secondary.” Mei shook her head.

”Oh...” Aiko did not know that, she thought that Divine Sense was just for moving things.

Seeing Aiko’s expression Mei massaged her temples. ”It’s time for you to learn all the common sense!” It was now decided that Aiko would go into a cram school, with a ruthless teacher called Mei.

...

15 weeks later. Aiko finished her course with a painful expression.

”I have only taught you the basics, why are you making that expression.” Mei stared at Aiko oddly.

’You wouldn’t understand...’ Aiko shook her head and looked at the translucent panel.

[Happy Birthday!]

[You are now 8 years old!]

[Please choose a gift:]

[1. Meat - 800]

[2. - ]

[3. Stat and Skill Points - 800]

[4. Surprise - Surprise]

’Why is the second option nothing?’ Aiko couldn’t understand.

Aiko tapped her fingers on her leg, she was deeply bothered by this, but she didn’t know how to ask or express herself since the system wasn’t always listening.

’Should I go for the Surprise option?’ Aiko narrowed her eyes, but at the last second, she picked the first option.

[Meat x985->1,785]

’I still don’t know what was the previous Surprise from the system.’ Aiko frowned.

She sighed, it was time for more tails since she had finished this hellish course...

’Maybe later, I don’t want to do anything...’ Aiko staggered into the bed called Mei’s Tails and slept peacefully.

Mei’s lips twitched. She did not expect this to happen, but she thought that Aiko would at least give her a chance to move from her current place.

She was so wrong and now she had to sit next to the table since Aiko had a very bad habit...

’She would always bite me when I tried to move my tails.’ Mei sighed. She almost messed up her Pill Concoction because of this.

’Seriously this little rascal...’ Mei shook her head.

...

Aiko yawned and looked through the shop. Since she could use Divine Sense to spot things and she needed it for Alchemy too, she might as well find something in the shop to help her.

[Improved Divine Sense] - 1,000,000,000 Skill Points

[Strengthened Divine Sense] - 1,000,000 Skill Points

’...’ Aiko stared at it blankly. She still had one [Ability Coupon], but she didn’t want to use it on this. She knew that she could improve her Divine Sense over time, so she didn’t want to waste those precious items.

She was deeply bothered and unsettled. It was time to create some Inscriptions.

’I should finish that Massage Chair for us...’ Aiko thought. ’I have not tried it yet...’ Aiko cried out in her mind. She vowed to absolutely try the Massage Chair once it’s built!

...

66 weeks passed. Aiko was pretty much in a trance working on the Chair so that she couldn’t think about the Cultivation Shop and the stinky System.

Now she just required a few weeks before she finished this and 9 weeks later it was fully assembled.

Aiko immediately jumped on it with the temporary padding and turned it into the first gear.

”Rrrrrrrrrnraice...” (Nice...) Aiko enjoyed the vibration looking over the system again.

[Happy Birthday!]

[You are now 9 years old!]

[Please choose a gift:]

[1. Meat - 900]

[2. - ]

[3. Stat and Skill Points - 900]

[4. Surprise - Surprise]

Aiko stared at it for a while, enjoying the massage, she turned it up to the second gear since she was disturbed by the fact that the system didn’t give her a second option... yet again.

She sipped from her small cup. Sometime before, she heard from Mei that they were testing Beast Core Purity again, but fortunately, the Grandmaster created a pardon for them, so Aiko wouldn’t need to bother with those things.

It was definitely not because the Grandmaster wanted to sit on the Massage Chair again, but definitely not!

Aiko sighed. It seemed like she would have to rebuild her massage chair again and again, because of the Grandmaster.

[Meat x1,785->2,685]

Aiko picked the meat again, she didn’t trust the Surprise thing.

...

”Mei...” Aiko came to Mei, she learned how to be more obedient in front of her so she could get more goodies from Mei.

”What is it?” Mei caressed Aiko’s hair.

”I want more tails...” Aiko pleaded with her eyes.

”Okay, I will teach you how to investigate with your Divine Sense.” Mei smiled at Aiko gently.

”Thank you~!” Aiko giggled, clearly happy about this.

Mei sighed and caressed Aiko’s head for a bit longer.

This time, she didn’t walk with Aiko to the deserted place, but they stayed at the abode.

”First thing you need to do is feel your Divine Sense again.” Mei explained slowly. ”Then you need to, at the same time, imagine observing your surroundings and your Divine Sense will respond to it. The better you train your Divine Sense in this, the faster reaction you will get.”

”Oh... so it can take days to just observe with Divine Sense?” Aiko was suddenly crestfallen.

”At first, but your Divine Sense will improve in its response time over time, so you don’t need to worry too much.” Mei smiled softly.

Aiko nodded, she didn’t want to spend weeks on it, but it seemed like she didn’t have any other option at this point.

She sat down, meditated and focused on her Divine Sense.

Her perception was expanding very slowly over time until she could see things from 3rd person perspective.

It was a strange feeling...

”Now you need to focus and observe.” Mei’s voice drifted into Aiko’s mind.

Aiko breathed in and out, calming herself and focusing.

Her body was in bad shape, she could see the veins and how they pulsed with poison, yet the poison could not leave her arm thanks to Mei’s soft hue that was wrapping her shoulder.

It looked like the poison was terrified of this light, as it didn’t dare to approach it.

Aiko felt slightly enlightened.

She observed further as her vision expanded.

’Whoa... Mei is sexy...’ Aiko ’blinked’ several times when she observed Mei’s silhouette.

’I thought Mei had very little boobs, but that’s not the case...’ Aiko observed Mei’s body intently. The thin waist and perky peaks, even-

”What are you observing?!” Mei’s angry voice drifted inside Aiko’s mind and Aiko coughed awkwardly.

”N-nothing.” Aiko blushed, she was embarrassed about being caught.

Mei was cowering and likewise blushing. ’This little rascal always takes advantage of me!’ She huffed with red cheeks.

Aiko moved to observe her tails...

One was shrouded in endless darkness, while the other shone roughly with injuries. Yet that tail was healthy and doing well.

Aiko observed the darkness again, since she had a strange feeling from it.

An eye appeared from the darkness, staring at her.

Aiko was startled, but curious.

More and more eyes appeared.

Aiko felt a shiver down her spine, she cancelled her Divine Sense.

But it was a moment too late.

A large eye opened, compared to the other eyes, this one was 100x bigger.

The eye was cold and merciless.

Aiko flinched, she felt intense pain in her mind and she closed all her senses.

She was unaware that the largest eye widened even more and a barely noticeable tear slid down its corners.

...

Mei noticed that abnormality a moment too late. She didn’t expect that anything could happen to Aiko in a what should have been a safe environment.

She moved closer to Aiko to lay her down, but Aiko’s whole body was convulsing...?!

Mei gulped nervously and used her powerful Divine Sense to wrap around Aiko.

Aiko’s still half-feral Divine Sense was rampaging. It was clearly terrified of something, yet Mei didn’t understand what it was, since there was only Aiko’s and Mei’s Divine Sense in here.

She wrapped her Divine Sense around Aiko’s.

Mei panicked greatly, there was a deep hole in Aiko’s Divine Sense. She probed it and found a completely destroyed Soul Palace.

Inside the Soul Palace Aiko was rolled into a ball, shivering and crying.

’It hurts, it hurts.’ Aiko cried out continuously.

Mei strengthened her Divine Sense to subdue the animalistic Divine Sense.

She felt the backlash, a trickle of blood escaped her lips, but she pushed forward until Aiko’s Divine Sense calmed down, so that it would no longer hurt her.

Aiko settled down, still sobbing, but no longer crying out.

Mei moved close to Aiko, now that Aiko’s Divine Sense was pacified.

’It’s alright.’ Mei grasped Aiko close to her.

Aiko was still shivering, exposed to the outside world.

Mei soothed her mind gently, until Aiko’s mind fell asleep on Mei’s bosom with peaceful expression.

Mei sighed. Wiping the trickle of blood. She was upset at Aiko ogling her body, but at the same time happy that it was able to put her to sleep.

Mei’s mind was complicated.

Not just because of Aiko, but about many things. She wondered if she had changed her ways before, would she have ended up with him like this? Hand to hand, sharing fortune and misfortune?

But it was useless to think about those things... her faction was destroyed...

That was the message from that shitty Fox.

At first, Mei didn’t believe it, but over time it became more and more obvious that was the case.

’They would’ve picked me up already if my faction was still standing...’ Mei sighed. She had to face reality...

Mei looked down at Aiko. She was sleeping peacefully, nuzzled into her bosom and drooling on her.

Mei blushed lightly, it was not bad when someone was affectionate towards her. Aiko was both affectionate and obedient, which made Mei happy, very happy.

Aiko was easy to read, she knew when Aiko was upset or happy. This was much better than her previous boy-toy who hid his feelings and she had to do her best to please him so that he would stay with her.

She didn’t need to do that any more. She could just read Aiko’s expression.

Mei... liked this life. Any regret from losing her people was washed away by the affection Aiko was giving her.

’Even if it’s one-sided affection where I play with her... It’s alright as long as she doesn’t push me away.’ Mei smiled melancholically. She wouldn’t allow Aiko to leave her side. She would protect her and pamper her, but without hurting her progression.

It was decided by Aiko that she would be her Karmic Companion. So they should act as one...

But not yet, there are still more things to do...