Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”You and making a base?” Danji questioned her ears. ”Who are you and what have you done to Aiko...?”

”...” Witch Aiko stared at her speechlessly. She couldn’t believe that Danji, out of all people, was saying that!

”I’m normal Aiko.” Witch Aiko pouted.

”It’s so unlike you to make such plans.” Danji shook her head, still not believing this was Aiko.

”Hey! Unlike the other times, we could fall back, but it’s not like we can do that now.” Witch Aiko rolled her eyes. The only reason why she never made any effort with her bases so far was because there was no need to do it.

Witch Aiko walked to the few trees, but they suddenly distorted, vanishing from sight.

”...” Witch Aiko turned around at Danji.

”...” Danji wordlessly stared at Aiko.

”We should go.” Witch Aiko felt like this place would keep messing with her if she tried to make something safe.

”Now that’s more like Aiko.” Danji happily nodded her head.

”You are saying that like I’m the reckless type.” Witch Aiko puffed up her cheeks.

”Aren’t you?” Danji raised her eyebrow.

”N- Well, yes... but that’s beside the point!” Witch Aiko animatedly waved her finger around before she turned in a random direction and started walking.

”...” Danji just smiled and followed her. There was no need to question Aiko, as long as she acted like one.

”How big do you think this place is?” Danji was curious if Aiko was able to figure out anything about this place. While her affinity with dreams was not too bad, it still could still use some work.

”There are two options to that.” Danji didn’t even pause before speaking. ”1. This place is finite and we will find a boundary one day.” This was very likely as it was the simplest way to go about things.

”2. The ’centre’ is following us, making this place ’endless’.” The second option would be pretty bad, since it would be difficult to find anything, but it was not like they wouldn’t be able to deal with it.

When it came to the second option, you just needed 2 people to make it crumble.

That is unless the ’centre’ followed each person individually, in which case they would be pretty much fucked...

”The second one sounds fun.” Danji thought about it for a while and wanted to meditate to gather her thoughts, but as this place wasn’t too safe, she gave up on that idea.

*Swish*

”...” Both Witch Aiko and Danji stopped.

”Did you see that?” Witch Aiko doubted her eyes, so she asked Danji.

”I wanted to ask the same thing.” Danji even rubbed her eyes if they were still alright.

”...” They both fell silent for a few moments.

”So the ’thing’ that controls this place is not the smartest, huh?” Witch Aiko chuckled. To think that a roasted chicken would just fly past them was... hilarious.

”But it looked delicious.” Danji complained that this was just a dream, since that thing seemed delectable.

”Indeed, but let’s not taste anything or do anything inside this place.” Witch Aiko felt Danji’s gaze from time to time, so she was aware of her cravings.

”Very well.” Danji put on a professional smile, which was a bit scary.

”What are you planning?” Witch Aiko took a step back.

”Nothing, for now.” Danji smiled. It was not time to do anything yet, as they didn’t know what this place might have in store for them.

”Good.” Witch Aiko was cautious about Danji, but still kept walking.

*Swish Swish*

”More chickens.” Witch Aiko didn’t even pause or turn around and just kept walking.

”Do you think the frequency is increasing due to our location?” Danji was curious if the ’centre’ would have even more bizarre things.

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”I have no idea. It would be fun, but at the same time a headache.” Witch Aiko shrugged. This place was certainly nice, but it didn’t mimic the real world all that closely, so she was a bit tired of this.

Moreover, everything only seemed delicious, but there was no noticeable scent, outside of Aiko’s imagination.

”This place is...” Danji felt like they were walking for a while and the frequency of anomalies was also increasing.

”Boring, yeah.” Witch Aiko felt like things were repeating too much.

”At least it’s not a flying poop.” Danji said seriously.

*Swish*

Witch Aiko dodged like her life depended on it.

”...” Danji’s face stiffened.

”It’s shit with wings.” Witch Aiko couldn’t believe her eyes that even this ’thing’ manifested.

”That’s not my fault, right?” Danji tightened her lips. This was such an inconvenience, and it was even homing on them!

”No, I think you have done it. Chicken is one thing, but shit? Nuh-uh!” Witch Aiko would find the person in charge and give him good ass therapy!

Danji was able to conjure a small wall and the shit plastered on it.

”...” They both thought the very same thing, but neither of them voiced their thoughts.

If that flying shit really smelled, this place would turn into a nightmare!

”Let’s speed it up.” Witch Aiko broke into a dash and Danji followed.

”Should I deal with the flying hazards?” Danji suggested, since it was kind of her fault that it happened.

”If you could, I can’t still make anything, or rather it quickly dissipates.” Witch Aiko groaned unhappily. If she could, she would make an egg barrier around her and just ignore everything, but every one of her creations would just disperse, making her concerned about the upcoming boss fights.

”It’s not a normal dream, you can’t just leave it to the Dream Realm to do it for you, but you need to constantly reinforce your thought to put it into action.” Danji was a bit strained thanks to that, but her Dream Elemental Affinity was improving a lot.

”That’s such a bother...” Witch Aiko groaned even more. She was not like her Sis, Moon Aiko, she wasn’t able to maintain a steady stream of thoughts as her thoughts darted around constantly.

There was so much information to take in and navigate this place that Witch Aiko simply couldn’t focus.

[Exploration: 5%]

”...” Witch Aiko was concerned about the size of this place, but maybe she took it the wrong way.

”Do you think there should be an underground part?” Witch Aiko didn’t believe that running for so long could only net measly 5%!

”If the Treasure was built around that palace, I think that it’s possible?” Danji didn’t know if the Natural Formation would care about such details, but it was possible that this place might have a secret corridor.

”Maybe some kind of secret pathway?” Danji suggested it to Aiko.

”That sounds cool. Let’s hope that it’s really that and that it will speed things up. I don’t want to increase the number of flying shit in any way, shape or form!” Witch Aiko proclaimed as she dodged another shit and Danji smashed it into her shield.

”You know it kind of feels like your younger self.” Danji suddenly thought that this place might be messing with them only because whoever was controlling it was young.

”You mean mimicking words and the worst possible combinations of them?” Witch Aiko didn’t believe she was too bad when it came to this, at least she wasn’t throwing shit at others!

’No wait, that might be wrong considering I dumped whatever that liquid was into the spider nest.’ Witch Aiko seriously reflected on what she did before... but she would do it again if the situation called for it!

... Well... maybe even if it didn’t call for it...

...

”It feels like we are walking in a circle...” Witch Aiko sighed. Fortunately the flying shit eventually stopped and it was back to flying roasted chickens.

”At least it’s easier to defend.” Danji nodded her head seriously, but-

”I’m damn impressed you can maintain that round shield.” Witch Aiko smacked her lips when she saw Danji holding that shield. It was simply incredible that she was able to maintain it in that form and make it usable at the same time.

”I feel I have improved a lot.” Danji smiled happily before narrowing her eyes. ”Was that one intentional?” She pointed at what Aiko was holding in her hand.

”Believe it or not, but it was not intentional.” Witch Aiko awkwardly held a familiar stick with a cloth on it in hand.

”Hmmm...” Danji didn’t believe it at all, but she wouldn’t call Aiko out. As long as she was able to make weapons in this place, Danji wouldn’t complain!

”But this place doesn’t really feel all that threatening.” Witch Aiko changed the topic as she looked around, but there were no hostile monsters or sharp vicious traps.

All this place had flying roasted chicken and shit with wings.

”It’s probably because whoever controls this place is still learning how to control it.” Danji went along with the whole ’This place is controlled’, just because it was Aiko.

”Now that you mention it, could those inconsistencies be because of that?” Witch Aiko rubbed her chin, thinking about it.

”You know that only some Foxes can make life-like Dreams, right?” Danji felt like Aiko’s common sense went bonkers once again, so she wanted to correct it a bit.

”If they work hard, why wouldn’t they be able to do it?” Witch Aiko hummed innocently since only Moon Aiko was able to do that.

Danji rolled her eyes. ”Oh, it improved.”

”What?” Witch Aiko turned around only to see two Danjis.

”Whoa...” Witch Aiko nodded her head. ”... Where did your chest go?”

”I’m wondering that too.” The real Danji nodded her head seriously. The fake Danji had a picturesque face, but her body was severely lacking. So much so that nobody would believe that it was really the same person.

”A sister?” Witch Aiko suggested.

”Are you saying that I hogged these boobs for myself?” Danji’s back felt slightly offended from the weight of those foxies.

”I mean... you love pillows.” Witch Aiko shrugged and was almost jumped by the real Danji.

”I can’t help it alright!” Danji wanted to silence Aiko so that she wouldn’t talk about this again.

”Can you two stop complaining?” Some kind of black liquid spoke behind Danji.

”Is that normal?” Witch Aiko didn’t feel any hostility from it, but it was a strange thing.

”I found it in... was it Secret Realm? Or Sacred Realm?” Danji couldn’t remember any more, since this ’thingy’ was not useful at all.

”Oh? Where did you actually find it?” Witch Aiko was curious.

”I don’t remember, my apologies...” Danji apologised, but this was also a good time to introduce this to Aiko~!