Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Observing everything was quite difficult for Aiko. There was so much she had to pay attention to that it hurt her head.

Why did Mei do this or that, was constantly on her mind.

Aiko spent around half a year watching Mei make Pills.

Mei prided herself in Alchemy and it was obvious why. Almost all Pills were of Perfect Quality and most of the time she got 10 Pills from one batch.

From what Mei said, 10 Pills is the max from a batch. You could gain more than ten Pills if they got blessed by the Heavens, but that was a very difficult thing to do. So Aiko had to discard that idea.

After watching Mei for a long time, she suddenly said. ”Now it’s time for you to gain more tails.”

”Already?” Aiko thought that she would have to keep watching Mei for longer.

”You can already see colours, can’t you?” Mei smiled ambiguously.

”Yeah.” Aiko has obtained the ability to see colours through her Divine Sense in the past week.

”In that case, we can make you stronger through Tails.” Mei smiled gently.

”Okay.” Aiko wanted to gain tails already, but was stopped by Mei.

”What’s wrong?” Aiko asked.

”Use this Pill while creating your tails, it should save you some Souls during creation.” Mei was finally able to create the necessary Pill to lessen the burden on Aiko.

[Soul Strengthening Pill]

[It will temporarily strengthen the User’s Soul.]

’But if it’s temporary, what happens when it runs out?’ Aiko asked.

[Your own Soul will replenish that deficit.]

’Then this Pill is useless...’ Aiko shook her head and Mei watched her silently.

[You can use it during the breakthrough into Soul Formation with no detriments.]

’Oh...’ Aiko nodded and Mei still watched over her with narrowed eyes.

”What do you think about this Pill?” Mei feigned ignorance, but she knew there was something wrong with it. She just didn’t know what exactly was wrong.

Naturally, if Aiko tried to eat it, Mei would stop her, but it was important to give this Pill to Aiko so she could investigate.

”You can’t use it in order to gain tails.” Aiko suddenly said.

”Why not?” Mei asked. She was already creating notes in her head to make sure she didn’t forget.

”Because this is temporary.” Aiko said and then explained. ”Since it’s temporary, you can gain a tail, but since that boost is temporary you will have to replace it with your own Soul?” Aiko didn’t know how to explain it, so she spent 10 minutes narrating what the system told her.

Mei paid very close attention to Aiko. She could say that she was the victim of this Pill, but she didn’t know why. Now everything made sense and why she was so much weaker than her peers.

’Good thing I didn’t use it in this lifetime.’ Mei nodded her head. ”That is enough, thank you for telling me.”

”Ah! But don’t throw it away. This Pill is very good in our Human stages!” Aiko immediately stopped Mei.

”What?!” Mei was shocked. This was purely a Beast Pill, so there was no way this could be used in their proper Human Form.

”It’s apparently a very good thing during the breakthrough into Soul Formation.” Aiko narrated once again.

”Hmmmm...” Mei narrowed her eyes and observed the Pill. It was unlikely that Aiko was joking around, but it was outrageous that there was a Pill that could help that kind of breakthrough.

There were Pills for other stages, but not for the Soul stages. So this could greatly strengthen the Human Cultivators...

”Not a word about this outside, okay?” Mei narrowed her eyes dangerously.

”Okay.” Aiko ignored that kind of gaze, since she already realised how Mei worked. This kind of gaze was not targeted at Aiko, but for those who would obtain this information.

”Thank you for helping me.” Mei smiled gently and wanted to give Aiko more candies, but Aiko hugged Mei before she could do that.

*Smother Smother*

Aiko rubbed her face between the soft pillows for some time, leaving Mei speechless.

”That hit the spot.” Aiko giggled, separating from Mei.

”You-!” Mei finally snapped out of it and wanted to reprimand Aiko for abusing her small form.

”So how do I gain a new tail?” Aiko immediately changed the topic.

”Don’t think you can just change the topic!” Mei immediately pinched and rubbed Aiko’s cheeks.

”Au auauaua.” Aiko pleaded mercy for some time before Mei finally stopped.

Her cheeks were inflated and red from that treatment, so Aiko pouted at Mei.

”So in order to gain a new tail-” Mei changed the topic this time.

”This is unfair! Why can you change the topic, but I can’t?!” Aiko cried out.

”Because I’m an adult.” Mei smirked.

”I’m an adult too!” Aiko beat her chest, but there was nothing there.

”Just wait 8 more hours!” Aiko proclaimed and Mei laughed loudly.

”Don’t laugh at me! I will smother you to death!” Aiko yelled at Mei.

Mei just kept laughing. It was nice to have such a strange, chaotic fluff on her side.

...

After 8 hours Aiko sneaked on Mei and smothered her real good.

”Who is laughing now, huh~!” Aiko kept Mei pinned, but Mei didn’t resist for some reason.

”What’s wrong~, can’t-” ”Auch!” Aiko jumped back. On her right boob was a clear toothmark.

”Y-y-you!” Aiko stuttered, covering herself.

Mei licked her lips. ”That’s what will happen if you keep smothering me with your boobs!” She proclaimed righteously, making Aiko speechless.

Aiko’s cheeks inflated like balloons and she stopped talking with Mei for 10 days.

...

”Come on, talk to me.” Mei nudged Aiko. She was startled that Aiko stopped talking to her completely.

”No.” Aiko inflated her cheeks. ”I’m working on my tails.” Aiko proclaimed.

”It’s dangerous to do it alone...” Mei nudged Aiko, but she was adamant.

”No, I will be fine. I have the system.” Aiko would not be swayed this time!

Mei sighed. ”Fine, but I will watch over you.

Meanwhile, Aiko was theorising about something.

’The Dew Form overwrites everything, but it still follows the same rules as my normal form. I get 2 tails per form, one is normal while the other is pseudo.’ Aiko pondered.

’If I want to increase my tails in my normal form, it will be twice as expensive to obtain them, but what if I obtain one tail in the Dew Form?’ Aiko tilted her head.

’If it works, I will gain two more tails in my normal form while paying only one tail!’ Aiko nodded happily. Even if this wouldn’t work right now, it was a good thing to experiment.

’I still have 4 hours for my Dew Form, so let’s test it!’ Aiko’s eyes shined.

[Would you like to use your Soul to obtain one more tail?]

[Cost: 100 Souls]

[Yes/No]

’How long does it take to fully form the tail?’ Aiko suddenly asked.

[Around one hour for normal tail, 4 hours for true tail.]

’Barely enough time for it...’ Aiko frowned. It would be bad if she missed this window!

[Yes]

Aiko clicked on the button and waited. She could feel her Soul stir inside her as something was gently scooping it. It was not painful or unpleasant.

’I have 901 Souls for use, so let’s see if it works just fine...’ Aiko narrowed her eyes.

One hour passed and the scooping didn’t end.

Two hours passed and the scooping stopped. There was a large ball of Soul Essence inside her body that slowly moved downwards.

It was a strange feeling, especially when it passed her stomach. That warmth made Aiko feel strange...

Soon it stopped at the place where her tails grew and she could feel a strange sensation.

It was a strange sensation, like Aiko was trying to push something outside. She was still conscious and in about 2 hours the sensation disappeared.

”This... is so unfair.” Mei said. She also had tears in her eyes!

Aiko was startled. ”What is unfair?” She didn’t understand.

”You grew a tail without doing anything!” Mei cried out. One had to shape the tail, strengthen it, and lengthen it. They had to do everything by hand, but Aiko just sat there and waited for it to finish!

”Isn’t that how it usually works?” Aiko tilted her head. The system didn’t ask her to do anything and she previously had to form it herself because it was a different type of tail, but now that she was creating the same type... why was it needed?

Mei coughed up blood from Aiko’s comment, which startled Aiko.

”W-what’s wrong? Are you alright??” Aiko panicked when she saw Mei coughing up blood.

Mei felt really unwell. It was so hard to form one tail, but Aiko did it like it was nothing! What’s more, that tail looked special as Aiko’s presence was even more powerful!

[You have gained Second Tail.]

[You will obtain a special boost from having more than one Tail.]

[If your tail/s gets cut off, this boost will decrease/vanish.]

[Current Boost: 2*1.5 (Thanks to True Tail.)]

’Oh! This is nice~!’ Aiko smiled from ear to ear, but quickly snapped out of it and moved Mei to bed.

She looked sick, so Aiko took care of her gently before she checked her bounty. Her Dew Form also should soon vanish, so Aiko will know if she will be able to obtain 2 tails for the price of 1!

The Grandmaster walked around when she spotted a strange sight.

”What happened to Mei?” The Grandmaster tilted her head.

”She felt unwell...” Aiko avoided her eyes, but Dai Lu had already read her mind.

She also coughed up blood, but unlike Mei, she also fainted.

”What’s wrong with them?!” Aiko was left flabbergasted by their condition.

Aiko moved the Grandmaster into the same bed and nursed both of them. She really didn’t get what was so difficult about making a copy of an existing tail...

...

After a few days, both of them recovered from their shock.

And Aiko was also able to confirm that she gained 2 tails for the price of one!

’The Dew Form is not that bad~’ Aiko hummed happily, but when the duo saw how many tails Aiko had... both of them fainted.

”...” Aiko was gazing at them with a deadpan expression, not really surprised any more.

’I get it, I have one more tail than I’m supposed to have, but you don’t need to have to make such a big deal out of it!’ Aiko proclaimed in her mind. It seems like she will have to educate these two grannies soon!