Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Witch Aiko observed her surroundings closely.

Everything was ’tainted’ by some sort of Qi, but this foreign Qi didn’t quite fit any of the bills that Witch Aiko knew about. Even with the knowledge of Moon Aiko and Mei, the Qi was just a strange Qi that just consumed everything.

”You don’t think this is Karma, right?” Dai Lu glanced at Mei.

”Unlikely, while it might be fuelled by it, it definitely isn’t karma itself.” Mei vehemently denied it, but who knows if she was right. There were too many questionable things about this.

”Do we continue?” Witch Aiko asked them cautiously, since it seemed like this was a bigger deal than she expected.

”We should reconsider for the time being.” Mei nodded her head. They didn’t have enough defences to pass through here safely, and it seemed like things were getting worse by the minute.

At this point even Witch Aiko didn’t mind not getting any Treasure, what was the most important right now was getting out of here and into the safety of their small reformed Fox Village!

”Let’s turn back.” Dai Lu picked them up and dashed away at greater speed than what they would be able to do by themselves, taking them to safety within moments.

”We should always traverse like this.” Witch Aiko nodded her head.

”Spare her, Dai Lu needs to keep at least some of her dignity.” Mei chuckled.

”Dai Lu or you? Since you are the one being carried like a sack of rice.” Witch Aiko didn’t mind being carried like this, since her reputation was questionable to begin with.

It would be difficult to make her reputation worse than it is now, so Witch Aiko could enjoy moments like these to the fullest and not mind the questionable gazes~!

”...” Mei didn’t say anything. She did want to retort and really bad at that, but she also knew that Witch Aiko wouldn’t really care about those things.

They arrived at their temporary camp, where the Foxes resided.

”Okay.” Witch Aiko nodded her head. There was only one Clan left, but for that she would have to heal up a bit. That ’thing’ ate quite a bit of her HP and Vitality, but she had plenty of Vitality for now so she didn’t need to mind that part as much.

She did have to be more mindful of her HP, since who knows if anyone would try to attack this place and make everyone miserable.

Sure, the Crow Clan and Nightmare Owl Clan were guarding this place, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be any stragglers trying to get revenge or Beasts trying to expand their territory.

”Would you like to have a look at the new continental flying ship?” Mei asked as they were both put down by Dai Lu.

”Oh~” Witch Aiko ignored Dai Lu and her plea for something and turned towards Mei. ”I was wondering when you would be able to take me around that thing.” It was still under construction so it was kind of weird to call it a flying ship when it was just a flying shipwreck right now.

”Well, we had to reinforce it, just in case.” Mei teased Aiko, since everyone by this point knew what she was capable of while she was not supervised.

”Very funny.” Witch Aiko rolled her eyes. Just for this she would look everywhere and nitpick everything!

”Then I will call over Danji, so she can give you a tour.” Mei didn’t see the current state of affairs when it came to the continental flying ship, so it was better to call over someone who was still working on it.

”Are you just dumping your work on me again?” Danji was quite displeased by Mei, but she wouldn’t say anything as she ’adjusted’ the blueprint for the continental flying ship.

”I can’t help it, there is too much work to do.” Mei caressed her head awkwardly. There was still so much to do that she might die of overworking!

”Fine, just this time.” Danji rolled her eyes. Sure, she was one of the most free Foxes, but that was pretty natural for all Demonic Foxes.

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They didn’t have too many issues with cultivation. They didn’t have issues with their tools- They were pretty much the perfect workforce as Demonic Foxes were overly cunning.

”Let’s start with the bottommost part. It’s pretty much a large warehouse, but I have also added nets so we can layer the materials.” Danji showcased the bottom hull of the ship. It was huge and hollow, which would allow them to put many materials inside.

”I see, you intend to use those materials as another form of defence.” Mei nodded her head. While this plan was not too bad, they would lose some materials because of it, which was less than ideal.

However, nobody really built continental flying ships this big, since they were cumbersome, pricey and consumed a lot of power.

It was not much about the lift, but about the propulsion part. Thanks to the additional weight, most conventional Arrays and Formations just wouldn’t cut it. Even if you added Inscriptions, you would still be a bit short.

The solution? Main power source that makes the flying ship move forward and then 2 more propellers to the side to make the turns.

It was not perfect since they didn’t have materials for the more expensive, but less cumbersome version, but at this point, anything that could fly them to the mainland would be good enough. Of course, safety was the biggest priority.

”I think we will be able to finish this in a few weeks.” Danji commented on the power sources, since there were only few Foxes skilled enough that they were allowed to work on this.

”Should I join?” Witch Aiko was craving some simple work.

”No. You are too skilled, so we can’t allow you to work on this.” Danji immediately stopped Aiko, since her powerful Runes would throw everything into disarray.

”Awwww...” Witch Aiko sniffled. It didn’t seem like she would be allowed to do anything around, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t criticise anything.

”This pathway is not done correctly.”

”This wall is built backwards.”

”There are missing ceiling Runes.”

”The light is too bright. We need to have a way to adjust them-”

Witch Aiko kept nagging and nagging. It took her until the main deck that she realised something upsetting.

”Gah! You did this on purpose!” Witch Aiko glared at Mei and Danji was looking at her strangely.

”Whatever could you mean~?” Mei had a Jade Slip in her hands and was recording what Aiko was saying so that they could use it to improve this continental flying ship.

”Grrrr...” Witch Aiko almost flipped out, but it was not time yet. She would have to blow some steam on something else...

’Should I visit them already...’ Witch Aiko still needed to heal, but it might not be a bad idea to visit the Nightmare Owl Clan.

’Maybe not...’ Witch Aiko was not really in a mood for socialising and since almost every Clan was a mess, she was worried that this one would also end up in a mess.

Thinking about it a bit more, she decided to look at the border between this place and the ’Holy’ Deer Clan. Witch Aiko wondered if she would be able to do something about it. After all, it would be bad if that stuff spread into their temporary base.

Witch Aiko toured the flying ship a bit more.

The personal spaces weren’t too big, but they weren’t small either. It would be able to fit all the Foxes and then some, so it was a good flying ship. The size was a bit too massive for Aiko, which meant that she wouldn’t like flying bases too much.

’Maybe a flying island will be better.’ Witch Aiko considered many things while trying to set up her future business, but a flying island could also have Natural Formations, which would greatly enhance its strength, among other things.

Witch Aiko observed the rooms a bit more. The bunk beds didn’t seem all that bad, they did lack any bedding, but that could be remedied later. Moreover, each bed had their own furniture, albeit limited.

None of that furniture was the special one, probably since it would mess with the whole flying ship once it was above the ocean, but that was just Aiko’s conjecture.

Witch Aiko left the continental flying ship for the time being. She saw a bit, but she was currently more interested in the strange Qi. She will do another tour later and make it up to Danji because of it.

Witch Aiko arrived at the supposed border, but there was nothing there. It seemed like the concentration greatly changed its effects.

’So the epicentre must be even worse than this, huh...’ Witch Aiko slowly nodded her head. While things were a bit weird, there was nothing wrong in this place, unlike what the Table Map was telling her.

’Maybe I should return it then?’ The Table Map was used by the Fox Elders to guard the temporary base, so having it nabbed like this might’ve been bad, but Witch Aiko was really curious about this place, so it couldn’t be helped... right?

’It will be fine.’ Witch Aiko would return it once she was finished over there.

’First thing first.’ Witch Aiko pulled up her sleeves... ’I really have to remake the sleeves of my clothes so they actually can be rolled up.’ She was greatly bothered that she couldn’t just roll them up and be done with it, so some fixes were in order later down the line.

Witch Aiko scooped a bit of the soil and watched the reaction of her system. Her HP was going down by about 1 hp per second, which was not much, but normal Mortals would die very quickly over here.

’Strange. It’s not a curse, and it’s considered a Qi, what an odd thing...’ Witch Aiko frowned. This thing was too complex for her for the time being. So the best she could do was sample it and analyse it later once she becomes Moon Aiko.

’Well, scooping a bit of it shouldn’t be a problem~’ Witch Aiko chuckled as she prepared her now famous technique.

Digging tails~! Or demolishing tails? It had quite a few nicknames, but the general premise was all the same. You dig like your life depended on it.

”She is at it again.”

”And she is laughing too...”

”Should we tell Jade Fox...?”

”We definitely should.”

The peanut gallery increased over time, but some of them were going between eating and reporting, just in case something serious happened while nobody was watching Vicious Jade Fox!