Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”You shouldn’t learn from her, Aiko. She is a really bad exhibitionist.” Grandpa Flame snorted. ”She went commando on us during pre-war preparation, distracting all of us from work!”

But he also forgot to mention that he was the one who conjured a water mirror on the floor, allowing others to see her sacred cave.

”Bastard!” Chang’e glared daggers at him.

Grandpa Flame snorted before wrapping up the Cauldron in his flames. ”Pretty beaten up. Will you do any upgrades, or should I maintain my flames like this?” He ignored that dirty exhibitionist and spoke to Aiko.

”I’m not sure yet. For now, we will just mend it, and I will decide what to do later.” Moon Aiko didn’t know how much patience she would have given these two rowdy individuals.

The major crack was mended quite easily, but it was not perfect. Without higher heat, this place would be more likely to crack in the future.

In that case, Aiko had to raise the temperature where the crack would naturally fill itself due to the intense heat.

That way, the crack would vanish, making this part perfect.

[Restoration R-1->2]

’Does this count as attainment?’ Moon Aiko pondered on it, but it was very likely. Her smithing and others also improved from minor things, so there should be some experience given from attainment, but that experience might not show until Aiko demonstrates her prowess!

This made Aiko ponder even more. Should she first gain as much knowledge as possible and think about everything, or just let it naturally flow?

There was no real competition, so she didn’t really have to study that hard, but other Beasts were a lot more powerful, so she should be careful...

Moon Aiko agonised over this, but didn’t come to any kind of conclusion. The best she could do for now is to naturally absorb information and then demonstrate her attainment.

That way, she didn’t have to make plans for the future. She already had too many plans, so adding another one would definitely burden her!

Moon Aiko gently shook her head. ”Raise the heat.” She would start working on perfecting the foundation of her Cauldron.

At first, Moon Aiko didn’t think much about it, but she soon realised a few things about her Cauldron.

The first thing would be durability and how much it can block. The lower part, which was for forging, was also used as the main shield.

Making it smaller and wider would allow her to block more attacks, but would make forging harder. She was not really into forging that much, but it was still useful, especially for her Spirit Boat.

She didn’t really like the bed and those tacky ornaments, so she really wanted to rip it up.

The unfortunate thing was that the Spirit Boat would just heal itself over time, so no matter what she would do to it, it would just restore itself.

This also raised a question. If she created floating barriers that were not attached to the Spirit Boat, would it still count for restoration? What was the cause of the ’restoration effect’? Could it be bestowed upon other things, or was Spirit Boat special?

Moon Aiko gently shook her head. There were too many questions, but she didn’t really want to ask the duo, as they were still bickering.

’It’s amazing how Grandpa Flame can maintain his emotions even when they are mocking each other.’ Moon Aiko had newfound respect for Grandpa Flame.

’Right!’ Moon Aiko suddenly realised that Mei had given her those Jade Slips. While they might not be normally usable because of her mission, since she was bedridden, this was a perfect opportunity!

’Let’s do that once I finish this.’ Moon Aiko didn’t like harder forging, so she returned the Cauldron to its previous position, but the top part was slightly lower, making it tougher than before without raising the difficulty of forging.

With this, nothing much would change, and she would be slightly tougher.

Unfortunately, this toughness didn’t show in her system. It seemed like she wouldn’t be able to raise it that easily, but that was fine.

Moon Aiko had plenty of time to perfect the Cauldron and max out her defence!

’Something like Supreme Coating that would raise its defence to max would be fine.’ Moon Aiko nodded happily as her body sucked the still-hot Cauldron into her body.

”Am I finished?” Grandpa Flame huffed, clearly exhausted from their bickering.

”For the time being.” Moon Aiko smiled gently.

Grandpa Flame smiled gently. He could finally rest!

Moon Aiko squirmed, but she still couldn’t move. She pulled out a Jade Slip from her Storage Ring and went to read it.

Chang’e was curious about what Aiko was reading, but she also understood that Aiko should have some privacy, so she didn’t ask anything.

...

Aiko kept learning for a whole week until she was interrupted by Chang’e.

”Nüwa will be here soon...” Chang’e said gently. It seemed like Nüwa stopped sulking now.

”Sure.” Moon Aiko didn’t really care. Others didn’t want to deal with learning, so everything was under her thumb.

Even if Chang’e brought over her girls, Aiko wouldn’t care, as she still had that mission to do.

’About 2 more weeks to recover?’ Even with her humming, some things just couldn’t be sped up. Or rather, Aiko didn’t know how to speed them up.

Any mishap might hurt her body, so Moon Aiko was overly cautious. She would definitely find other test subjects to see if her theories were right.

Moon Aiko gently nodded her head as she read Mei’s Jade Slip again.

That kind of knowledge was priceless, and Moon Aiko appreciated it greatly.

...

Nüwa popped back near the bed. Aiko was still lying there motionless.

It was an understatement to say that Nüwa didn’t feel guilty. She felt very guilty for squeezing Aiko like that.

Slithering near her, she was curious if Aiko could move now, but her eyes revealed an unfortunate truth.

’She is still healing herself.’ Nüwa pursed her lips. She couldn’t show her form to Aiko yet, as she was supposed to be sealed, and the same was with Chang’e.

At best, she would be able to see blurry figures for the time being.

Moon Aiko was naturally colder than Sun Aiko, so Nüwa was not really encouraged to ’hug’ her like before.

Slithering under the sheets, Nüwa quickly fell asleep.

Chang’e was quite speechless. One was a workaholic who didn’t know when to stop, while the other was a lazy bum who only sought warmth!

Shaking her head gently, she sipped her tea.

...

Time passed slowly for Aiko, since she kept learning and learning. Her knowledge was about 2nd Rank, which would allow her to make a few goodies, but the more she read, the more incredible Mei became.

’I don’t know how long it would take to reach 3rd Rank...’ The amount of knowledge from 0 to 1 was not much, 1 to 2 was quite a bit, but 2 to 3 was just ridiculous!

Sure, the 2-3 had the least amount of Herbs, but the number of combinations reached staggering numbers!

Moon Aiko couldn’t imagine how many years she would have to spend to attain that kind of knowledge.

Shuddering from Mei’s prowess, Moon Aiko returned to her reading.

...

Two weeks later, Nüwa still didn’t leave her blankets, and Moon Aiko didn’t store her Jade Slip.

At this point, Chang’e was convinced that both of them were embodiments of human sin, one was sloth, while the other was greed...

Shaking her head gently, she sipped her 1,426th tea.

Needless to say, she was no better...

Moon Aiko sneezed, startling them.

She stretched her sensual body before turning into Sun Aiko and immediately going to sleep.

The pair was completely speechless, but Chang’e roasted her lunch near Aiko while Nüwa wrapped her body around her.

All of them were happy and without complaints!

...

A few days later, Sun Aiko woke up in a familiar situation, but this time Nüwa was on guard and immediately let Aiko go.

Her warmth was wonderful, but it was not worth it if her tail was bitten like before!

Nüwa shook her head gently before wrapping herself in blankets again.

”Leaving?” Chang’e asked gently while Nüwa perked her senses.

”For now, I will return later since this is my current base.” Moon Aiko stretched her body again.

”Very well, but don’t go too deep. Those monsters are ancient and powerful; it would do you no good.” Chang’e warned Aiko.

”Didn’t you tell me to go north?” Moon Aiko rolled her eyes. This girl was so inconsistent!

”That might be true, but that is still not too deep, as long as you don’t wander around. You will be safe.” Chang’e smiled gently.

”Fine.” Moon Aiko rolled her eyes, but still listened to her warning.

”Should I bring out Grandpa Flame to keep you company?” Moon Aiko would get her interest back from them.

”Hell no! Get out!” Chang’e immediately kicked Aiko out.

Moon Aiko was slightly speechless, but she vowed to summon Grandpa Flame next time without asking.

’They really need to duke it out, so that I can have a peaceful time.’ Moon Aiko nodded her head. She turned into Witch Aiko, melting into the surroundings.

Her destination was north. It was too vague to just run there, so Aiko moved slowly while spreading her Divine Sense. She didn’t spread it in a ball shape, but made a wall in front of her that stretched to the sides.

That way, she would be able to explore her surroundings faster than if she didn’t do this.

’She said that it shouldn’t be too deep, but I will still explore until another border.’ Moon Aiko nodded gently. The deeper she would walk, the better the Treasures, but also greater danger...

She would have to balance danger with Treasures, since she already had a lot of them.

Well, with her improved skills, she could just rob those Herbs quicker, but that was actually not why Aiko was doing this.

[Spiritual Insight]

It was hard to increase its stage further, but Aiko believed it was worth it.

The more it improved, the less Aiko would need to rely on her Table Map.

However, as it was still not perfect, Aiko still used the recording beads and uploaded those findings into the Table Map, which then found any precious Treasures nearby...!