Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”Here.” Mei presented Aiko with a couple of Neutral Cores. ”The rest will have to wait once we return.”

”Okay.” Aiko picked up the Beast Cores. ”So how is this supposed to work?” Aiko tilted her head. ”Like always or?”

”You can stay in this form. I will again separate those energies and you try to slowly consume them. If anything happens I will plug the pole and make sure you are alright.” Mei said gently.

”Okay.” Aiko sat on Mei’s lap and Mei stiffened.

”What are you doing?” Mei’s brows twitched.

”Sitting like we always do?” Aiko concealed her smile.

”Rascal!” Mei ruffled Aiko’s hair.

Aiko jumped away, protecting her hair. ”Mean Fox!”

Mei’s lips twitched, but she didn’t say anything about that. ”Come back, let’s start, we only have a few hours before we have to go there.”

Mei picked the biggest Neutral Beast Cores, they were supposed to be for her Refining, but that can’t be helped. They needed to recover her energy for the test.

...

The extraction was successful and Mei couldn’t believe her eyes. Both of those Beast Cores were working normally, like they were always there, neither of them was dud, or tried to consume one another. They just coexisted. This puzzled Mei as two Beast Cores are not supposed to coexist.

Sure there are a few races that have multiple Beast Cores, like the Dragon-kin, but those are exceptions.

”There is nothing wrong about your body...” Mei still didn’t believe it so she was observing Aiko.

”Those Beast Cores only recovered 500 energy.” Aiko pouted.

Beast Cores(50%): 999 -> 1,499 (33,529)

”That should be enough, focus on the tests, we can have a duel once you recover more Beast Core Energy.” Mei said gently, caressing Aiko’s head.

”Okay.” Aiko didn’t like that, but as long as that mean Fox didn’t try to run away she should be able to win.

”I already checked your Beast Cores, but I have no idea what to make of it, we will probably have to ask the Dragon Clan about this, but there are probably no Elders in this place, so we will have to wait after you to ascend.” Mei frowned. ”For now there is nothing wrong with it, but if something happens tell me, okay?”

”You already looked? But I didn’t feel anything.” Aiko commented, clearly upset. ’I lost the chance to have a personal cook.’ She clicked her tongue.

”You only think about one thing.” Mei sighed. ”Whatever, let’s go for the test for now.”

...

”So you did come.” The Patriarch said clearly not happy. ”And here I thought I would be able to rest some more.”

The Elders whom Aiko never saw before were sitting around him, looking at Patriarch speechlessly.

”We can’t miss this opportunity.” Mei smiled, pleased at his misfortune.

”Whatever, let’s skip those steps and get straight to Inscribing.” The Patriarch waved his hand.

”B-but Patriarch!” One Elder frowned.

”She knows more Runes than I do, now shut it and give her the assignment!” The Patriarch glared more and more at his stupid Elders and they shivered.

An old and gentle Elder stepped forward. There was a table with a few tools for Inscribing. The Elder stepped in front of it and gestured towards Jade Fox.

He was under the impression that she would be taking the test but was stunned once Aiko went forward.

His eyes widened for a moment from the shock, but he recovered, he has done this for many, many years. It was not that shocking that someone so small could come forward.

”The first assignment is just a demonstration of your Skills, after that, we will assign you certain Inscriptions and surfaces that you have to Inscribe.” The Elder smiled kindly.

Aiko nodded and doodled a couple hundred of Runes and a few connections. Just from the effects and sparkles the Elders knew that this was high-grade stuff.

’Not bad.’ The second Elder commented telepathically.

’There is a lot to polish, but considering how small she is.’ The third Elder agreed.

’It seems that she has vast knowledge as the Patriarch said. Look at the power behind those Runes.’ Fourth commented.

’We will only know once we assign the personal Inscriptions.’ The First Elder standing in front of Aiko said gently.

Second Elder spat. ’You already like her.’

Other Elders shook their heads. They also liked her Skill, but that was not enough to keep her here. They didn’t really like Foxes.

Foxes are clean animals, because of their beauty and charms, if that little Fox lived with their lifestyle all the good perks about females would disappear and since there were no high-ranking female Inscription Cultivators... There are bound to be some inconveniences.

The Elders quietly observed Aiko and her somewhat smooth strokes. It was a great shock to them since they could remember their beginnings.

They nodded at each other. ”You have passed this stage, we will now assign you our personal Inscriptions and you are to recreate them.”

Of course, most Elders were petty and would assign them things that they couldn’t do when they arrived at this point, so Aiko was swarmed by different, but still difficult Inscriptions.

Aiko stared at the first Inscription.

The First one was an Extension Inscription.

This Inscription was one of the first Inscriptions in line towards the ultimate Storage Ring Inscription.

One learned about the capabilities of materials and how they interact. How much they consume Spiritual Energy and how much burden they can withstand.

It’s one thing to extend something, but it is another to maintain it. If even a light breeze can destroy it then the Inscription is a failure.

The Elders didn’t tell Aiko much about it, nor did they give her a time limit. Every Intelligent species has its mental limit. Aiko was no different.

These tests were also tests about Mental Power. Which correlated to Mind. If she spends all of her Mental Power on the first Inscription then she is not worth that Rank.

Aiko slowly revised the Runes in the Inscription, she didn’t change anything and picked up a practising Pen and drew it. She revised her drawing a few times, fortunately, her Beast Core had plenty of energy for now, so she could practice some more.

Aiko did this for about an hour and then picked up the Inscription Pen. This Inscription had 4 parts, but just because it had only 4 parts it didn’t mean it was 2nd Rank Inscription. Because of the difficulty connecting it and needed to have basic knowledge about space, it was considered a 3rd Rank Inscription.

Aiko failed a couple of times during connecting since she was trying to simulate the connections in the Jade Slip, but it was more difficult than she expected.

She gave up on that profound way and connected it simply, it lowered the final Grade of the product, but it was usable and finished.

The Elders were silent as they didn’t dare to breathe when they saw Aiko trying to accomplish that Rune in such a profound way, but breathed a sigh of relief once she couldn’t accomplish that.

Their ego was hurt, but not that much so they were able to recover quite quickly.

The first Elder stepped forward and picked up the Stick with the Extension Inscription.

He activated it with his Qi and the stick extended, slamming into the roof.

The room went silent. The Patriarch was the first to recover and coughed.

”You have passed well.” He commented, but inside he was shocked. ’What the hell is that?! That’s not supposed to be so powerful!’ He was sweating.

The Elders were still flabbergasted by the hole in the roof, but Aiko didn’t need to pay that much attention.

She picked another piece of paper looking through the Inscription.

This one was much easier, it could be considered beginner-friendly for the [Inscription Master]s.

It was a Sharpening Inscription. As the name implied it could sharpen things at the expense of Spiritual Energy. These kinds of Inscriptions were used on Forging and Refining tools and rarely on swords.

Sword Cultivators hated Inscription Cultivators and called them cheaters as they could create much sharper swords with very little effort, while Sword Cultivators had to work for decades to sharpen their swords thus sharpening their Intents.

Aiko finished that Rune without any problems, she spent 100 Beast Core Energy, which was a little bit less than the previous Inscription which was 115 Energy.

The first Elder picked it up and tested it’s sharpness. He picked up a rock and placed it on the cutting board. He tried to test the sharpness, but...

*Slice*

It went through the rock, through the Inscribed cutting board and through the Inscribed table.

The Elders went silent again. They really liked that table, but now that table had a very nasty cut.

”You have passed.” The Patriarch recovered first again. He stared at his useless Elders who were still stunned and unable to recover.

Aiko scratched the back of her head and stared at them. ’There are so many weirdos...’ She shook her head and picked up another.

This one was Triple Strengthening Inscription. It was used on smaller supporting pillars to create the magnificent halls.

This was also simple for Aiko as most Runes were used as support Rune and only one Rune had any significant effect. She passed without problems and only with 50 Beast Core Energy spent.

She passed the rest as they were also simple. One was Dust Removing Inscriptions, used to clean Arrays and Pill Furnaces, while the other was Preserving Inscriptions used on old books to keep them from withering.

The Elders were unable to speak as they expected to spend many many days in here, but it only took 2 days to finish.

Aiko stared at them sleepily. ”Finished?” She yawned, she wasn’t able to have a good sleep for quite some time.

”You have passed all the tests, we will finish the Evaluation a bit later and prepare your [Inscription Master Card].” The Patriarch cursed his useless Elders as there was even more work for him.

”Thank you.” Aiko thanked them and left with Mei.

...

The Patriarch slapped every single one of the Elders back to senses.

”Incredible!”

”Astonishing”

”Amazing!”

”Unbelievable!”

”Prodigy!”

One Elder after another praised causing the Patriarch to have a headache.

”Shut it, we need to complete the evaluation today, otherwise I will drown you in work!” The Patriarch threatened and every Elder recovered with solemn expression.

”Patriarch I believe we should give her the Black card.”

”I second this.”

”I third this.”

The Elders agreed with the first Elder.

”Really?” The Patriarch narrowed his eyes. The black card was the highest card in each stage, which meant that that person was godlike in that stage and would be unmatched by others.

”Could you match those Inscriptions Patriarch?” The first Elder asked with mischievous eyes.

”Of course.” The Patriarch answered dully.

”Even when you were young?” The first Elder smiled.

”...” The Patriarch didn’t want to say it, but that little one was much better than he was at that age... no wait, he wouldn’t be able to even walk at that age!

The Patriarch glared at the first Elder slapping the back of his head.

The first Elder chuckled. ”I will prepare the black card.”

The Elders were pleased. The Patriarch was upset...