Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”What’s happening with the fishing village?” The bird lady asked her butler.

”Whatever could you mean, my lady?” The butler was smiling, obviously knowing what happened, but he was enjoying the current situation.

”Don’t be a bore and tell me why they are not consuming any Pills all of a sudden.” The bird lady was not in the mood for jokes, since she was attempting to make a deal with more Pills on the line.

”A certain Fox changed the way we ’extract’ the metal, so we merely adapted it.” The butler chuckled.

”... Huh?” The bird lady thought she heard from. Well, she was aware that the Fox would be at least slightly crazy, since she caused a whole damn stampede, but this crazy?

”How?” The bird lady was unaware what kind of technique that Fox used.

”They swing the fish around.” The butler gestured, making her stare blankly at him.

”That’s not even a good joke, you know?” Of course the bird lady didn’t believe him, since they already tried that technique. They would tie the fish by their tails and swing them around, but they never spat the metals out!

”Not by the tail, my lady.” The butler smiled even more, puzzling her.

”What do you mean by that? How else would you-” It took the bird lady a while, but then her facial muscles stiffened.

”No.” The bird lady tried to deny it.

”Yes.” The butler smiled even more, almost laughing.

”No...” The bird lady shuddered thinking about it.

”Oh, yes.” The butler laughed, seeing his lady in this state.

”They are flinging shit everywhere...” The bird lady made the most sour face she could before glaring at her butler.

”Indeed.” The butler laughed again, ignoring that dangerous gaze.

”And you are telling me that because of that the production suddenly went up by 10x?” The bird lady didn’t believe it.

”The fish are harmed less this way and while we lose a bit of metal to not make the fish completely starve, it usually takes only an hour for them to recover, instead of 2 weeks.” The butler explained.

”An hour...” The bird lady almost slammed her head on the table from that time difference. Sure, they were slinging shit around, but the production went up so much...

”We could actually increase the production further, but the chief promised the Foxy that she can bring over some Foxes.” The butler explained the current state.

The bird lady looked at him startled. ”Huh? Why are they-”

”Fishing.” The butler smiled again with an increasingly happier expression.

The bird lady looked at him blankly. ”... How would that even work? Foxes are weaker than-”

”They are as strong as our fisherman.” The butler caressed his chin. He still couldn’t believe that there were such muscular Foxes in the Fox Village!

”What...?” The bird lady felt like the butler was making fun of her today.

”Is it my birthday?” The bird lady asked him.

”No.” The butler shook his head.

”Some kind of special day?” The bird lady tilted her head.

”No...?” The butler was increasingly more confused about why his lady suddenly was asking this.

”Celebration?” The bird lady supported her chin with the top part of her hands.

”No.” The butler tilted his head this time.

”Why are you making fun of me?” The bird lady didn’t believe the Foxes would survive this heat, much less lifting the fishing rods.

”No.” The butler shook his head. He would only make fun of her when she was having birthday. That was the rule!

”And you want me to believe that Foxes were able to lift the fishing rods, the fish and other things?” The bird lady waved her hand like she was dismissing that report.

”If you would like to, you can oversee it.” The butler smiled again, it felt like he was making fun of her again, but he was genuinely happy that the production increased so much and that they didn’t need the help of the Deer Clan as much as before.

”...” The bird lady was weighing the pros and cons and eventually decided to stand up.

”Let’s go.” The bird lady was curious if he was really making fun of her or if it was the truth.

The butler gently bowed, guiding her towards the fishing village.

...

Over there, even the butler was stunned.

”They multiplied...” The butler murmured under his breath, but the bird lady could hear it easily.

”Is that really the important part? Look at the- whatever that is!” The bird lady pointed at the muscular Foxes that were getting along with her Crow Clan.

”They have muscles, yes.” The butler nodded his head, but he was more curious about why there were so many of them! The number might even approach 100 at this point!

Of course the most important Fox in question was relaxing under a parasol that blocked most of the ash falling from the sky, sipping on some kind of drink.

”No. You can’t say ’They have muscles’ and ignore the main point!” The bird lady was flabbergasted that her butler was like this.

”I mean, it’s not unexpected.” The butler tilted his head.

”You know that most Foxes are feminine right?” The bird lady looked at him like she was looking at someone stupid.

”En.” The butler didn’t know why his lady was bringing this up.

”And you know that includes male Foxes, right?” The bird lady pursed her lips. She hoped that she didn’t need to explain this for him, but this might actually be a lost cause, so she should prepare for the worst!

”But there is no rule against Foxes having muscles.” The butler shrugged like he expected this kind of reaction.

”You-” The bird lady pinched her nose bridge. ”Have you ever seen a muscular Fox before?”

The butler pointed at the ground of muscular Foxes in front of them.

The bird lady felt her blood rising. Her own butler was now making fun of her! She really wanted to punch him with all her might, but if he died then everything would go to shit!

”Come here.” The bird lady rubbed her hand, since she couldn’t punch him, she would just smack him ’lightly’.

”I’m fine, my lady.” The butler smiled from ear to ear before gesturing forward. ”It seems like they made new Treasures and they are better than before.”

”What?” The bird lady thought that he was trying to change the topic, so she was quite upset.

”I’m serious.” The butler didn’t cave in and pointed towards the group.

Not just the muscular Foxes, but even the Crow Clan were looking refreshed.

”... Now that you mention it.” The bird lady noticed that oddity and approached the fishing village.

”My lady.” The fisherman bowed, and the muscular Foxes awkwardly nodded before fishing more.

”...” The Fox in question pursed her lips. It seemed like she was still embarrassed about what happened in the core room.

”You have new Treasures?” The bird lady questioned them.

”En.” The fisherman nodded their heads. ”We have recycled the old Treasures and made new ones for everyone. It’s also much better, allowing us to actually adjust the heat, so it’s easier to gain fire resistance.” The birds were clearly overjoyed.

”Recycle? You are making fun of me. That’s pretty much lost art. Even Human Cultivators don’t really know how to do it.” The bird lady rolled her eyes. Even when she was young, the number of Cultivators that willingly took this path were few and far between!

”We are not.” The fisherman glanced towards a certain Fox.

”What?” The certain Fox coughed awkwardly.

”Is it true what they are saying...?” The bird lady would believe it if the person in question admitted it.

”Yeah.” The Fox just nodded her head gently.

”...” Both the butler and the bird lady looked at her like she was joking.

”I have dismantled the old Treasure to see how it worked and how it was created and then adjusted the blueprint. I have also added a few more metals to be able to control the heat isolation a bit better and make it more comfortable-” The Fox suddenly explained the whole process making everyone speechless again.

”YAYAYAYA~!”

Well... except the muscular Foxes who kept fishing like they never heard anything.

The bird lady kept glancing between the Fox and her Crow Clan, deciding if they told the truth or not.

It was hard to believe, but her people wouldn’t lie to her... unless it was her birthday.

”Today is not my birthday, right?” The bird lady asked again.

The Crow Clan rolled their eyes, like they were upset that their lady didn’t believe them.

”What?” The bird lady put her hands on her hips, clearly upset about this treatment. ”You are telling me that the newcomer and guest came over, came up with a new way to extract the metals from the fish without harming them. Was able to recycle the ancient Treasures that are barely working and improve them and-” The bird lady kept going on and on about the insane situations they were in.

”Indeed.” The fisherman nodded their heads in unison. While it was completely crazy what was happening in front of them. They say it with their own eyes, so it was hard to deny.

The bird lady felt even more flabbergasted that nobody backed on their words.

”Also, we would like to request more fishing rods.” The old birdie scratched his head.

The bird lady exchanged looks between him and the muscular Foxes, understanding why they needed more fishing rods.

Well, even if they didn’t need them, since there was now a new Treasure that could contain the heat, the youth would be able to fish too, allowing everyone to gain even more strength and resources to spend on their Bloodlines and Evolutions!

”Fine, fine.” The bird lady gave up thinking. It was true that there were more Treasures that isolated the heat and that there were more visitors that were looking like they were completely fine.

There were not enough Treasures and their quality was not high enough to invite so many guests, so that was the only thing that convinced her of some kind of plausibility that this actually happened.

”I feel like I’m still sleeping.” The bird lady massaged her forehead.

”It would be nice to sleep.” The Foxy yawned, like she was working really hard, while still laying on that comfortable chair with a parasol above her.

”You should rest more.” The fisherman encouraged it for some reason, making the bird lady even more confused...