Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”Hmmmmm...” Aiko munched on another snack. She didn’t believe him for a second that she wouldn’t be able to eat them.

You can eat anything if your conviction is strong enough, some things are just harder to eat than others...

Aiko munched with her team, they would be travelling towards the last Capital.

”With that being said I heard that there is a Princess in this Capital.” The Mirage Fox said, smiling.

”Good luck with that.” Aiko dismissed his intentions.

”But we are supposed to-” The Mirage Fox tried to use his Divine Ability to convince the Vicious Cub, but...

”Good luck with that.” Aiko dismissed him once again.

”Then where are you going?” The Mirage Fox asked, confused.

”To the last Capital and Princess.” Aiko answered blankly, like she was talking to an idiot.

”But there is a Princess right in-” The Mirage Fox was adamant about this since he wanted to retrieve all the liquid he could.

”Good Luck with that.” Unfortunately for him, Aiko had no intention of going back inside the Capital. She wanted to be done with this thing since they didn’t have the company of Lady Liu.

The birdie was good too, but she was scolded by Lady Liu because of her, so Aiko’s opinion of her decreased sharply.

Well, she wouldn’t need to worry about that any more and Lady Liu would visit her later so she would just apologise again for that, but her intentions were pure!

Aiko munched on more snacks before washing her hands off of the grease.

Her and her team climbed up a tree and went to sleep.

The Mirage Fox’s lips twitched. They were like bandits or savages, nobody would sleep like that.

He pulled a bed out of his storage ring and placed it down. The Shadow Passion blushed and fidgeted, but the Mirage Fox didn’t invite her.

She was confused and he rolled his eyes.

’We can’t do it in front of them. We need to stay like this so that they trust us more.’ The Mirage Fox said with a neutral expression.

Her face hardened. He would always whisper her sweet things into her ear as he fucked her, but now he rejected her? She was upset.

’So you can fuck them?’ Her lips tightened.

’Yes, since it seems like the Vicious Cub is mostly immune to my Divine Ability.’ The Mirage Fox explained his reasoning, but she didn’t listen to his words after the word ’yes’.

Her mind was blank, she felt awful that she was just thrown aside like this.

She stood up and turned around, ready to leave.

The Mirage Fox saw the signs and also stood up, embracing her from behind.

’It’s only a temporary thing, you are always the number one for me.’ The Mirage Fox whispered, but unfortunately for him, this time it didn’t work on her.

’Let me go, someone needs to guard throughout the night.’ The Shadow Passion tried to wiggle out of his embrace, but she was unable to... her body was quickly heating up.

”Get a room! And far away from here!” Aiko shouted at them and her team giggled.

She was so ruthless, but it was expected since they were disturbing them from their sleep.

”There is nothing going on.” The Shadow Passion said and she finally wiggled out of his claws.

Aiko glared at the Mirage Fox. ”Go into the city and fuck there, but don’t disturb others, that are trying to sleep or do their job!” Aiko didn’t glare at the Shadow Passion since she spoke gently towards her.

There was a great change in behaviour from their first encounter, so Aiko thought that there was something going on...

But she didn’t know what exactly, so she didn’t dwell on it too much and reprimanded only that male Fox.

”Now shoo, shoo.” Aiko shooed the Mirage Fox, since he had an unsightly expression.

Aiko went to sleep with her team and they were no longer disturbed.

...

The next morning, she woke up somewhat rested.

She borrowed the Blood Fox’s tail for a part of the night to sleep better and it worked wonders.

This greatly improved her rest and she was ready to tackle the next day.

”It will be rough sleeping outside.” Aiko stretched. Her team dressed her in her Assassination Uniform while everyone else was asleep.

”Alright, let’s go~” Aiko hummed.

[Soul Palace: Developed 1m3]

Aiko was overjoyed that it was so quick. She already had 1m3 developed, but she could not yet enter it. It seems like she would need to develop it more.

’I wonder if I can make it into a house...’ Aiko wondered if she could jump inside and sleep in it instead of outside, but only time would tell her that.

She would just keep developing it and watching over it. She also should develop her other skills, but that can wait until she returns to Mei.

The Mirage Fox’s team slept... Well, the Mirage Fox and Fatty slept. The Shadow Passion didn’t sleep at all.

”Here, have some.” Aiko gave her a small snack while going to the small pond.

The Shadow Passion was confused as to why the Vicious Cub was nice to her, but since she didn’t smell anything bad about it, she munched on it.

It was delicious, much more than what she was getting from the Mirage Fox...

Aiko took a bucket out of her Storage Ring. The Shadow Passion was confused about the bucket, since they didn’t need water.

Aiko went next to the conspicuous bed.

”Will you wake up?” Aiko asked the sleeping Mirage Fox.

”Too early-OGRHGG.” That cold water almost drowned the Mirage Fox.

*Cough**Cough*

He coughed multiple times since he breathed in the water.

”Awake.” Aiko smiled at him. ”Pack up we are leaving.” She hummed as she skipped a few steps deep into the forest.

The Shadow Passion bit her lips so she wouldn’t laugh. That was a brilliant way to wake him up, since if she woke him up normally she would just get pulled into the bed before he fucked her...

She sighed, maybe if she was a bit smarter she would be like this...

The Mirage Fox stared at the sighing Shadow Passion. ”If you wake me up like that, we will go for ’training’.” He immediately threatened the Shadow Passion.

She nodded obediently, since she couldn’t go against his words due to the shitty contract.

They caught up to the Vicious Fox who was jumping around and humming to herself.

The Mirage Fox clicked his tongue. ’Tomboys are not liked.’ He shook his head.

Aiko ignored his antics. ”Let’s speed up.”

She immediately dashed with her team, they wouldn’t keep walking at that slow pace, as at that speed it would take them years to get to their destination.

Aiko picked up the pace with a double jump. Her team was able to follow since they were well-trained, but the Mirage Fox’s team, especially the fatty, was far behind and falling further by the second.

”You need to pick up the pace.” Aiko shook her head and didn’t decrease her speed. She didn’t need reinforcements that were useless.

She easily bypassed most obstacles with her double jump. Her team was trained well enough that they could also avoid them without an issues.

The Mirage Fox’s team struggled greatly, as they would usually take the roads and conceal themselves with the Treasure Bracelets.

That was not the option here as the Mirage Fox needed to charm them, but if he couldn’t follow their pace they would lose them soon...

...

Aiko had made great progress, as she ran for multiple days before stopping.

”Let’s camp here~” Aiko hummed as her tail waggled. She was happy since there was a pond nearby and the place was a peaceful meadow.

”Very well.” The Umbra Fox followed suit.

One gathered the branches, another lit the fire and the last one prepared snacks.

They ate happily, not concerned about the Mirage Fox’s team, since Aiko had the same attitude.

It took them until the middle of the night to come to the camp.

All of them were wheezing. The least wheezing one was the Shadow Passion and the most was the fatty.

It also seemed like he lost quite a bit of weight from the tempo.

Aiko nodded at them. ”You can have the fire now, since we are going to sleep~” She hummed. ”Tomorrow we will continue once again.”

”Huh?” The Mirage Fox couldn’t believe his ears. ”We are not having a rest day?”

Aiko rolled her eyes. ”We are on a mission.” She snorted at him. ”No way, we can have a rest until we are finished.”

Let’s ignore the fact that Aiko played with Lady Liu for so many days before, since right now there was nothing fun to do...

The Mirage Fox was quite pent-up at this point and needed some relief.

”We should check the perimeter. Fa-” The Mirage Fox coughed, he almost called Gluttonous Fox Fatty... Vicious Fox’s word clearly having an impact on him, this will be a headache over time...

The Shadow Passion wanted to reject him, but once he wrapped his fingers around her, she couldn’t resist him.

Aiko shook her head, she couldn’t understand what was going on with them. At one point the Shadow Passion was upset, but at another, she was as meek as a sheep...

Aiko couldn’t be bothered to figure it out since she was tired and that was a good thing.

[Your [Soul Palace: Developing 1m3] is developing at greater speed!]

If she is tired, her Soul Palace will develop much faster, which was perfect~!

Aiko happily went to sleep, expecting a good harvest tomorrow morning...

...

The morning came, but Aiko was upset. Her [Soul Palace] did not develop. It didn’t improve, it didn’t change, nothing happened to it.

Meanwhile, the shitty Mirage Fox was sleeping happily instead of contributing to her sleep.

Aiko got up with a bucket in her hand. She slowly gathered the coldest water and dumped it on him.

”AAAAAH!” The Mirage Fox jumped out of his bed. ”What the f-” He stopped his words since he felt a chill down his spine from the Vicious Cub’s gaze.

”Pack up, we are leaving soon.” Aiko said grumpily. She couldn’t believe that her [Soul Palace] didn’t improve! But there was a lot less time she was able to make it develop... no, it’s the fault of this impotent Mirage Fox!

Aiko would train him well so she could develop her Divine Ability.

That didn’t mean she would slow down during her travel, she would just roast him until her [Soul Palace] developed. She was strong and while he felt intimidating, there was this odd feeling that he couldn’t truly hurt her.

Aiko would use this feeling and her instincts to make him upset in order to get targeted by that strange... strangeness, that made her stronger.

’Developed [Soul Palace] that I can turn into my home...’ Aiko really desired it since there were too many noises during her sleep and it would be nice to just get away from all of that!

Aiko nodded to herself and her brilliant plan before dashing deeper into the forest.

The Shadow Passion had a hard time standing, but still did her best to clean her stuff at least. The Gluttonous Fox was constantly whining that he didn’t get anything to eat, but both of them were ignored by the enraged Mirage Fox...