Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Another week later. Mei finally talked with Aiko again.

It was definitely because Mei wanted to make more Pills, as she would stalk Aiko whenever she lazed around.

”Back to Pill refining?” Aiko asked Mei who was one meter away from her.

”Yes. It’s time for you to make more Pills.” Mei smiled and Aiko just nodded.

Aiko was able to run only one full Pill refining a day, since she was not allowed to do it in her small form.

...

The first run was again a failure. Soot boiled over and almost filled the whole room.

The second run left a puddle of strange liquid on the bottom.

”Your temperature was too low.” Mei explained.

Aiko’s temperature was low, so the liquid didn’t dry and form a Pill.

The third run was in a similar fashion but...

”It looks like some kind of strange alien...” Aiko proclaimed. There was a half of a Pill that was attached to some kind of strange black liquid.

”...” Mei stared blankly as she never experienced something like that.

The fourth run left only a strange black liquid.

”I don’t understand how you are able to create these-...” Mei shook her head. She could not believe what Aiko had created each time.

”Don’t ask me how, I have no idea myself.” Aiko shook her head.

She was just glad that she didn’t stick her head inside this time.

The fifth run was-

”Does this count?” Aiko asked as she looked at the strangely shaped Pills. Nothing was burned or gooey.

”No. These are considered trash Pills, since they would spoil quickly.” Mei shook her head.

”Ugh...” Aiko frowned. She was quite upset that after 5+ tries, she could not create anything usable.

The sixth try was somewhat alright. The Pills still looked strange, but they were close to the ’marble’ form. There were a few bumps here and there, so Mei still discarded them.

The seventh try was finally the try that Aiko succeeded and with it came a few rewards.

[Alchemy Mastery: Lv.5->6]

Her Alchemy Mastery advanced by one, after such a long time and she also got Pill Candies from Mei.

Aiko was happy that something presentable was finally created.

”It’s the lowest quality, but this is still considered a success.” Mei smiled at Aiko.

”Finallyyyyyyyy.” Aiko plopped on her back, her heavy mountains shaking vigorously.

Mei ignored that and said to Aiko. ”Your temperature control is still poor. Your breathing is uneven. You can’t properly manage to roll the Essence.-” She immediately told Aiko what was wrong.

”So while you did achieve success. Now we will be training the control and everything around it. Moreover, I will whip you up, so that within 5 weeks you will be able to master Divine Sense.” Mei proclaimed.

Aiko didn’t even rest and she was already dragged away by Mei.

...

Aiko ran after Mei, trying to whip her with Divine Sense, but that lazy dog would only hit anything within immediate distance.

She had to do a lot of running, since Mei was incomparably more powerful than Aiko.

”How can you join the Secret Realm if you are so strong?!” Aiko was completely speechless.

”Preferential treatment for someone who can make Pills.” Mei snorted unhappily. She would not be allowed to enter if it was not for her Pill refining.

”Oh...” Aiko nodded. She now liked Pill refining a bit more.

...

Only after 7 weeks, there was a change in Aiko’s Divine Sense.

The large wolf disappeared, leaving a translucent energy behind.

”Congratulations.” Mei smiled. ”You can now use Divine Sense like anybody else.”

Aiko was still panting heavily, since Mei was completely ruthless, but she did earn quite a lot of things.

[Sprinter]

[Title]

[You have sprinted for a long, long, long, long, long, long time!]

[Effect: Your Stamina recovers even while you consume it.]

[Skirt Chaser]

[Title]

[You will be invigorated whenever you are chasing girls around!]

[Effect: Doubles your Stamina recovery if you are chasing a female.]

[Innocent Body Pillow]

[Title]

[You let your partner hug you during your sleep! Rest comfort is increased.]

[Effect: Your partner will be comfortable and more rested if they hug you to sleep.]

[Affectionate Partner]

[Title]

[You let your partner sleep in your bosom, encouraging rest!]

[Effect: Your partner will be more rested if they sleep on your bosom.]

Aiko blinked a few times. Excluding anything below [Sprinter], she liked the effects. She just wished that she would get a more significant reward for her accomplishments...

[Awakened Divine Sense]

[Title]

[You finally subdued your Divine Sense! Control over it increases!]

[Effect: It’s easier to control and order your Divine Sense to do things.]

’This is what I’m talking about!’ Aiko smiled happily. This kind of title was the best one!

”But your training is not over!” Mei proclaimed, shocking Aiko.

”Why?!” Aiko wanted to rest a bit, since she would achieve the awakening of the Bloodline soon!

”Because we got plenty of energy.” Mei smiled happily. She felt more rested whenever she trained with Aiko, so she wanted to take this opportunity to train even more.

”No!” Aiko cried out!

Mei was startled at Aiko’s attitude. ’She was so nice and obedient, till now...’ She could not understand what suddenly happened to her.

”I want to rest!” Aiko stood her ground. She would awaken her Bloodline and whip up Mei with her superior speed!

’I’m so close to catching her. No way will I pass on this opportunity!’ Aiko proclaimed in her mind.

Mei tilted her head. ”Sure, since you have Divine Sense now, we will continue with Pill refining.” She shrugged. ”But let’s have a rest for today.”

”3 days!” Aiko proclaimed.

”...” Mei stared at Aiko like she was a fool.

...

3 Days later, changes occurred in Aiko’s body.

[You have accepted a Mission from Dai Lu! (Completed)]

[Training Mission]

[Awaken: [Moon Goddess Kitsune(Dormant)]->[Moon Goddess Kitsune(Awakened)]]

[Reward: You will be able to see what each Bloodline Strengthens.]

[Failure: The difficulty of the Secret Realm will increase.]

[You have been rewarded.]

[Loading the Bloodline System..........]

Aiko felt energy rushing inside her body. It was not an unpleasant feeling. Her body was changing thanks to the Awakening of the Dream Bloodline.

Aiko could not move easily, so she just rested and waited until the whole process was over.

”... You are advancing your Bloodline?” Mei tilted her head. Aiko collected a bit too much energy for it to be the case, but seeing the paralysed Aiko... It’s likely that’s what was happening.

Mei nodded gently and let Aiko do her thing. She could not help in any way and it also seemed like Aiko had collected enough energy for the Bloodline to safely awaken.

”I hope that her mind doesn’t improve too much, so that we can continue with the Pills...” Mei tapped the table, slightly distressed.

These days she had a lot of energy, which also allowed her to clear the poison residue from refining Pills. That in turn gave her even more energy to do things.

’Is this how Dai Lu felt when she regained her vigour?’ Mei tilted her head. This was such a fascinating subject and she would definitely want to research it a bit more.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have enough test subjects to try everything, so this would have to be postponed...

Mei shook her head gently. Everything took time, but the Secret Realm was approaching. It was important to strengthen Aiko, since her big form was too weak.

’I should probably help her attain more tails...’ Mei narrowed her eyes. Tails would give quite a huge boost to strength and they were also easy enough to get if you had enough Souls.

’Aiko also has the system, so I don’t have to worry that she would overdraw her own Soul.’ Mei nodded. There was a problem with using Soul and that was the fact that if you used too much, it might degrade your Bloodlines or possibly straight-up kill you.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to worry about that with Aiko as the system was too useful in this sense.

Mei clicked her tongue. ’I wish I would have the same system.’ She did not have the system, as there was no connection with Aiko, other than the Karmic Bound.

If Aiko used any of the system items on Mei; she would naturally gain a sub-system of her own, but Aiko didn’t want to test it on Mei for now.

Aiko wanted to catch up and she was also worried that it might harm Mei.

...

{Grandmaster’s training plains}

The Blood Fox fought again with the newly joined Wanshu. She was now as fast as Yuxi, which bothered the Blood Fox.

She would have to find a way to further strengthen herself, but that was for later.

The twins were fast on the uptake and they were well synchronised. Moreover, their speed was incomparable to when they were alone.

”It’s good that you are more powerful together, but there will be places where you can’t be together, so keep that in mind while training.” Dai Lu effortlessly brushed off the twins, but she had to agree that they had too much energy!

””We will keep that in mind.”” They even spoke in sync! Dai Lu was completely speechless.

”You say that, but whenever I separate you, you quickly join together again.” Dai Lu snorted at them.

”We need to learn how to quickly join if we are separated. We can then later fight while completely separate.” Yuxi explained their reasoning.

”It’s fair reasoning, which makes me even more upset.” Dai Lu eased on her restraints and blasted away Wanshu with her blade.

She naturally didn’t slice her, but that didn’t mean that Wanshu was uninjured. Even that blunt strike was powerful enough to shake her internal organs.

”It might be a good idea for you to learn more about blood manipulation.” Dai Lu suddenly spoke to the Blood Fox.

”It’s quite difficult...” The Blood Fox was breathing heavily since she had to endure so many blows to her shield.

”Your Blood Shield mastery is commendable. If you can master blood manipulation, that would allow you to heal your own wounds.” Dai Lu praised.

”Thank you. I will do my best.” The Blood Fox knew that this was one of the end goals she was aiming for.

It would be a lot easier if it was so simple, but bodies were too elaborate for the current Blood Fox. She would have to find willing subjects that would be butchered and researched by her in order to attain that kind of skill.

Unfortunately, nobody was willing to do that, so Blood Fox could only train her outer skills...