Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Moon Aiko stared at her greatest enemy.

The Garbage Pills. The Shit Pills. The Sewage Pills. The [Insert any kind of atrocity here] Pill!

She was supposed to eat 1,000 of those, and they were supposed to be good.

’Keep in mind that you can’t eat those with anything else.’

Mei’s words resonated in her mind, but she was so tempted to cover it with anything remotely tasty to cover that incredible stench.

’Don’t even try to cook it or do anything other than eat it.’

Moon Aiko really wanted to roast it, or just turn it into charcoal, as that would be more appetising than whatever this was.

”I don’t want to eat this.” Moon Aiko felt like she would die if she came any closer to it.

’There were a lot of Herbs used on this, so good luck.’

More and more of her sentences flooded her mind, so much so that Moon Aiko almost flipped the table and ran away.

”Ugh.” Moon Aiko’s body visibly shook the moment she tried to take a step forward.

It was incredible how her body reacted so far away from it!

’I will prepare something when you are finished.’

”Ugggggh.” Moon Aiko agonised over running away, but she was also curious about what Mei was preparing.

Not waiting for a bit, Moon Aiko left the room to seek Mei.

...

”Can I wrap it in the [Comprehension Leaves]?” Moon Aiko suggested that.

”It will become poison.” Mei frowned at her.

”But it will still restore Vitality, right?” Moon Aiko narrowed her eyes.

”I have not tested that yet, so I wouldn’t know.” Mei was not crazy enough to use precious [Comprehension Leaves] for something like this.

”The Comprehension Tree is sick, and all leaves are poisoned, so we can taste the effect.” Moon Aiko smiled.

”Right...” Mei already tested those leaves, and it caused quite explosive diarrhoea.

”So can we try it?” Moon Aiko pleaded her case.

”But it’s poison.” Mei was confused about this.

”That’s perfect, I need to collect different poisons for my physique.” Moon Aiko hummed. She would be able to at least get something from this if it were poison!

”...” Mei questioned Aiko’s sanity, but considering her chaotic nature, it was not like she could stop this.

’It might be a better idea to watch over the experiment, so I can help her if something goes wrong.’ Mei nodded her head. ”Fine, let’s see what we can do.”

Little did Aiko know that she just dug up her own grave...

...

......

”It seems like the Comprehension Tree is really dying.” Mei wanted to save this tree. That way, they would have two of them, but most of the vitality and nutrients were already in the sapling, so it was a lost cause.

”Yeah, it was poisoned over a long period of time.” Moon Aiko nodded her head.

”That’s an understatement.” Mei shook her head.

”Gather some willing Foxes.” Mei commanded a nearby Muscle Fox.

Soon, a few Foxes gathered, and Mei showed them how to harvest those leaves to preserve as much of the Essence as possible.

”It’s quite complicated.” Moon Aiko was fascinated by this.

”The better the Herb, the more complex it is to gather them. While lower-grade Herbs don’t require anything but a knife, the higher you climb, the more tools you need.” Mei explained.

”It starts simple, a knife with the given alignment, either Yin or Yang. Then you have to add elements to it. Moving further, you need a shovel with the right alignment and elements.”

”Then a pot, a box, special Qi and so on.” Mei chuckled at how ridiculous it was to get a high-grade Herb.

”...” Moon Aiko was questioning the sanity of the Pill Refiners, but it was obvious that this thing was more complex than Mei made it seem.

Mei already had a lot of experience in gathering materials, not just Herbs, so there might be some tricks that Aiko could use, like using her Divine Sense to pull those Herbs out, or something like that.

”I will teach you later, but for now, we don’t need it, as we have enough resources.” Mei chuckled. ”It will probably last us well into the Human Body stage, but by then you should be familiar with it.”

”You won’t half-ass it this time, right?” Moon Aiko felt like she should call out Mei like this.

”How rude.” Mei clicked her tongue. ”I was just not used to someone who was so...”

”...” Moon Aiko was concerned, seeing Mei not being able to find any word to call her.

”Yeah, so we have the Comprehension Leaves now, let’s move on to the Pill.” Mei quickly changed the topic, since she was quite embarrassed about it.

”Fine.” Moon Aiko would let it pass for now, but later she would question Mei about it.

”How was the Pill even called?” Moon Aiko couldn’t remember it for some reason.

”Netherworld Vitality Pill.” Mei pursed her lips.

”That’s... really fitting.” Moon Aiko felt like that thing was really from some kind of hell-like place.

”...” Mei couldn’t agree more, but she couldn’t really say it out loud, since it could deter Aiko from eating that abomination of a Pill.

”What’s next, some weird dance and ritual?” Moon Aiko was slightly annoyed at Mei’s attitude. She would have to suffer the pain of consuming that, while Mei just had to bear preparing it.

”Not that far, but we will be using rituals, en.” Mei nodded her head towards Aiko.

”How many Herbs does it even use?” Moon Aiko fished for more information.

”Above 100, depends on how effective you want it to be.” Mei didn’t mind sharing it, since most Mortal Pill Refiners wouldn’t be able to accomplish this.

”Does it have a limit?” Moon Aiko felt like this Pill was truly strange.

”In theory? No, but reality is often cruel.” Mei sighed. This was one of her life masterpieces, yet she was still unable to perfect it.

”What do you mean by that?” Moon Aiko was startled.

”You need to balance the energies well.” Mei sighed again. ”The Pill starts simply, you just need 9 common Herbs, and you can recover a bit of vitality, but with each step, the number of Herbs increases almost exponentially as the energy balance is harder and harder to maintain.”

”So the Pill needs to be perfectly balanced?” Moon Aiko felt like this was quite the hardcore Pill.

”No, but then you would be wasting a lot of potential and materials. This Pill only shines when it’s in its perfect form.” Mei smacked her lips, but she was still upset that she couldn’t perfect it.

”So, the closer to perfection it is, the greater the effects?” Moon Aiko nodded her head. If it were not for how smelly it was, she would definitely have tried to mess with the Pill.

Mei smiled at Aiko’s interest and slowly said. ”You can-”

”No.” Even before Mei completed her sentence, Moon Aiko instinctively rejected it.

”... What?” Mei was startled.

”What?” Moon Aiko was also taken aback. She just felt a chill down her spine, so she instinctively rejected that sentence or rather the intentions behind it.

”You would just use the system to give me the numbers. I don’t need you to eat it.” Mei shook her head.

”Hey! You can’t blame me after you did THAT!” Moon Aiko defended herself.

”...” Mei chuckled at Aiko. ”Yeah, that’s so like you.”

”Excuse me! You don’t have to eat THAT!” Moon Aiko almost started to cry again.

”Is that why you are looking for anything that could adjust the taste?” Mei narrowed her eyes.

”Or make it worth the pain.” Moon Aiko didn’t conceal her intention.

”Even if it’s poison, huh?” Mei couldn’t understand Aiko’s train of thought. Most would rather eat the Pill without poisoning themselves, as it would take a lot of Vitality out of them.

”Do you have a way to counter the poison?” Mei raised her eyebrow.

”Yeah~” Moon Aiko didn’t have, but Witch Aiko did have, so she would just swap during the eating!

’I won’t be the only one to suffer~’ Moon Aiko chuckled sinisterly.

Mei found Aiko’s face hilarious, and she was looking forward to the experiments.

...

”Is it done yet?” Moon Aiko was back in the room with those nasty Pills, but this time Mei was ’adjusting’ them with the Comprehension Leaves.

At first, she only added one, but that was not enough, so she added another. This turned into that, and now she is even weighing those leaves and adding them based on that!

”Do you have to do all that?” Moon Aiko didn’t want to eat it even now, so the more she waited, the more she wanted to run away from that smell.

Mei rolled her eyes at Aiko. ”I want to reduce the poison as much as possible.”

”The point of this is to make it poisonous...” Moon Aiko cried out softly. She felt like Mei was messing with her on purpose.

”And it will be, just not as much...” Mei shook her head. Aiko was being silly, and she would normally indulge her, but if she messed up the ratio of the energies, her Cauldron might blow up.

”It’s a very delicate thing.” Mei sighed.

”Okay...” Moon Aiko sniffled.

...

Moon Aiko transformed into Witch Aiko and looked around.

She spotted the smelly Pills and, with curiosity, nudged them.

Unlike Moon Aiko, Witch Aiko had quite the tolerance to these things, since her opponents often shit themselves. Her nose might be sturdy, but that didn’t mean she liked the smell.

She still hated it, but she was also curious about it.

*Nom*

”Hmhmhmh.” Witch Aiko almost vomited her guts since this Pill tasted as it smelled!

’What have you done, Moon?!’ Witch Aiko was now even more terrified about Moon Aiko, since she was subjecting her to this.

’I don’t wanna do this...’ Witch Aiko sniffled, but Mei was hard at work, and there was no possibility of escape...

”Here it is.” Mei came with the Pills prepared, not minding that a different coloured Aiko was sitting around that table.

”Do I have to do this?” Witch Aiko looked at Mei, full of grievances.

”It was your idea.” Mei found it amusing how much Aiko was repulsed by it.

’Curse you, Moon!’ Witch Aiko didn’t really want to do this, but she had to. Mei was watching, and it was ’her’ idea!

*Nom*

Witch Aiko braced herself against that strange Pill.

”-!!!!”

Witch Aiko saw her world spin. This Pill was so atrocious that her taste buds decided to kick her brain and make her spasm.

What was even worse than that was that the amount of poison inside it was so minuscule that this thing was not worth shit!

Witch Aiko is now dying from her taste buds!