Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko slept peacefully for a few days until a cool soft and squishy feeling greeted her one morning.

”Mhm?” Aiko squirmed her eyes a few times as that feeling tickled her body.

Lifting the quilt, she found a small friend rolling on the side of her body.

”Hm?” Aiko blinked her eyes a few times. She remembered this small fellow. ”Spirit Slime?”

That happy smile was definitely that of a Spirit Slime, but it was now much bigger than before. There was a trickle going from its body somewhere and when Aiko tried to find it, she found a huge slime by the side of her bed!

”Whoa...” Aiko was speechless at how big that little guy became.

”What are you?” It liked to nudge and feel Aiko, as if it was happy that it finally grew up.

”Alright, alright.” It didn’t seem like it would stop, so Aiko got out of her bed and looked around.

The slime pretty much covered the entire floor, so she had to step on it, hoping it wouldn’t get hurt.

”Mmmm...” The cool feeling on her feet was nice and Aiko liked it quite a lot. She hoped that she would be able to get out with this little guy since its texture was quite addictive.

”Are you fine?” Aiko asked the not-so-little Spirit Slime.

It kept smiling at her like it was enjoying itself.

’Is it some kind of pervert?’ Aiko humoured that thought for a moment, but that wouldn’t make any sense.

How could a slime have feelings like that? Simply impossible.

Shaking her head gently, she walked to her wardrobe. There she took her delinquent set before changing into a mage set.

She had to take the mage set so that she could use teleport more efficiently. The slime liked the mage set a bit more too for some reason.

”You want to remake these clothes out of slime...?” Aiko didn’t even humour that idea and immediately rejected it.

The texture was nice for her feet, but what if she was forced to wear it all around her body? That was simply incomprehensible for her.

”Why do I feel like I know you...” Aiko sat down on the floor, not minding the fact she didn’t have any underwear.

She could feel something caressing her. ”Oh, you naughty guy.” Aiko giggled, feeling kind of weird since this feeling was very familiar to her.

”You think I will let you do this without any work?” Aiko snorted unhappily, making the Spirit Slime freeze.

It immediately gathered into a big blob and saluted at her, as if it was ready to work.

Aiko was startled, but then she giggled at this cute display of a chubby slime with its tendrils trying to salute.

”Okay~” Aiko stood up. She would keep in mind that feeling and why this felt so familiar and ask the system later.

”We will have to gather all the small marbles that the enemies dropped. A lot of them are under the water, are you fine with that?” Aiko asked the slime as they left the house.

The Spirit Slime nodded its head, like it was not a problem at all.

Aiko went and tried to use teleport, but...

[You need to include a special sub-spell to allow others to join you.]

As the system said, she was unable to leave with the Spirit Slime, so she would have to visit the library first.

The Spirit Slime nudged her when they were walking around a specialised shop.

”No.” Aiko immediately rejected that idea since it was a clothing shop all about slimes and its ’tools’.

She didn’t want to wear slime clothes since she couldn’t get over that ’texture’. Sure it was nice for her hands and legs, but her whole body? She would actually feel too cold!

This text was taken from NovelFire. Help the author by reading the original version there.

”No, I’m not going inside, we have to collect over 10,000 marbles, so there is no time to waste.” Aiko said this as an excuse, but she didn’t actually want to wear it at all.

She was concerned that the clothes would fit her too well and that she would become addicted to it. After all, this place was not a reality, so she couldn’t bring things out, other than her experience and knowledge.

’I wonder whose idea this place was...’ Aiko tilted her head a few times before adjusting her mindset. She needed to find that spell in this endless library and fast, otherwise that guy might come up with some kind of naughty scheme again.

Shaking her head gently she looked through the books, and it was surprisingly easy to find.

’Do I have to enter with the intention of finding something?’ Aiko tilted her head as she purchased this spell for 50k Soul Points.

It was very pricey, but she hoped it was worth it.

She only needed this for the teleport spell, but maybe she could use this for other things as well?

Nodding her head slowly, she could try the [Wind God’s Blessing], [Iron Maiden’s Embrace] and [Fairless Wings] and see if it works. It would be nice if it did, since she could speed up the Spirit Slime quite a lot.

”Let’s hope it doesn’t consume all of my Mana again.” Aiko nodded her head seriously as she cast the [Party Magic] and [Teleport] in tandem.

The space distorted, and they arrived at their destination, near her caravan, but Aiko immediately collapsed to her knees.

”Haha...” Aiko laughed awkwardly. ’Since when did spells also consume HP?!’ She couldn’t believe that she lost half of her HP during the transfer. Did that mean that the teleport consumed more Mana than she had, and it was off-set by her HP to make it happen.

’I would’ve died if it didn’t work, huh?’ Aiko sighed, shaking her head.

”I will rest a bit, do you see that lake? I have made that and most marbles are probably at the bottom of it.” Aiko explained her situation when the Spirit Slime suddenly slid under her.

”What are you...?” Aiko was confused when her body was suddenly lifted by the large blob.

”Oh?” Aiko didn’t expect to be able to use a Spirit Slime as a mount, mostly because she didn’t expect it to be so large, but this was nice.

The cool feeling on her legs paired with the quiet atmosphere made her feel nice.

”Ah, there is my caravan, can you take me to it?” Aiko asked the Spirit Slime and it actually listened.

It slowly glided on the grass field and got her to her caravan.

”Whoa...” It was quite the surreal feeling since Aiko expected it to wobble at least a little bit, but that was not the case.

It slowly moved her onto the ground, so that she could enter the caravan herself, but then a small Spirit Slime popped out of the large body and onto her head.

”Hm?” Aiko was confused about what this meant.

”You want to stay with me, that way if the main body dies you will be safe?” Aiko nodded her head slowly. There shouldn’t be any monsters inside the lake, but just in case this was not a bad idea.

”Does that mean you are some kind of colony or how does that work?” Aiko tilted her head trying to figure it out, but that almost made the Spirit Slime on her head fall down.

”Ah, sorry, sorry.” Aiko giggled, seeing the cute slime on her head trying to maintain its balance so that it wouldn’t fall down.

”You don’t know what you actually are?” Aiko felt that being a bit bizarre, but maybe that was only expected.

It was born only some time ago, so it probably didn’t understand many things.

”You can communicate from a distance as long as your main body is safe?” Aiko nodded her head. What she currently had on her head was the main body, and it was able to both control and talk to its other parts, making it very versatile in this aspect.

”I didn’t think you would be so complex, but this is nice.” Aiko nodded her head. She wouldn’t need to wait for the other body to surface, she could just ask the main body to recall the other body, which was perfect.

”This is convenient.” Aiko hummed happily, trying to get up onto the caravan, but it was kind of hard since her stamina was rock bottom.

The large Spirit Slime helped her up and into her bed. It didn’t tuck her in, since that was the main body’s mission, but Aiko wouldn’t let them tuck her in.

”It’s too hot for that, so let’s leave it as is.” Aiko grabbed the Spirit Slime and hugged it. ”I will wait for you until you finish or until I can recover enough.” She cuddled with the small Spirit Slime, making it quite ecstatic.

The large Spirit Slime slowly wobbled away as if it was impaired without the main body before it merged with the lake’s water.

”That is quite amazing...” Aiko never expected for the Spirit Slime to so perfectly merge with the body that it could not even be seen.

’This would be nice for covert operations.’ It also reminded her of her shadow abilities. It was so similar, but different at the same time...

’Well, whatever~’ Aiko would play with the small Spirit Slime later, she had to rest now as she couldn’t afford to die again...!

...

The huge slime returned even before Aiko was able to heal up.

”Hm? You are smaller?” Aiko blinked at it. ”There was a fight and there is a monster inside?” She was surprised that the lake she artificially created was suddenly occupied.

’Does that mean that all of my decisions have such consequences?’ Aiko pondered about that real hard, since this was unexpected.

She did expect many things, but she didn’t expect new monsters to be able to spawn.

’Does that mean this would also work in real life?’ Aiko tilted her head, this was such an enlightening experience that she wanted to experience it again.

[That will be possible later, Princess.]

”Mind telling me why I feel familiar with this guy?” Aiko lifted the Spirit Slime that still had that laughing face.

[Our apologies, Princess. We are unable to tell you anything about this.]

[However, do keep in mind that anything that can grow and stay in your home or safe area is your friend and ally.]

”So I shouldn’t bully it too much, I know.” Aiko waved her hand.

”On that note, what do you eat?” Aiko tilted her head.

”Marbles? Can you regenerate with them?” Aiko blinked her eyes at it. This was kind of unexpected, but since she had a lot of marbles, she could indulge her Spirit Slime for the time being.

’I don’t think I will be able to use all those marbles right now.’ Aiko nodded her head seriously.

”Okay, you can use the marbles to heal up, but don’t eat too many, okay?” Aiko warned the Spirit Slime, but other than that, she gave it a green light to play around with whatever monster resided inside the lake...