Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

It took almost a week for Aiko to adjust to her awakened Bloodline.

During that time, Mei would be too curious about the fact that it was taking so long. She would come and tease Aiko about it from time to time, since she knew that Aiko would not be able to move.

At one point Mei even considered tickling Aiko, but fortunately, at that time, she was already able to glare at Mei, which dissuaded her.

...

”It’s nice to be able to move again.” Aiko smiled.

It was a nice morning and she felt a lot more familiar with this big body. She no longer had that strange foreign feeling, but that also didn’t mean that she liked this body.

’My shoulders hurt more and more, my back is also no better.’ Aiko shook her head.

”Oh, you are finally up.” Mei smiled from ear to ear.

”Oh, shush.” Aiko glared at Mei. She would not forget those things that Mei did to her.

Aiko was quite petty, so even if Mei didn’t do anything bad, the fact that Aiko was poked and almost tickled, ticked her off.

”Keep glaring.” Mei laughed. ”You will soon be watching my alchemy and using your Divine Sense to observe the insides.” She smirked. ”But first you will try to find the twins, only relying on your Divine Sense.” Mei told Aiko.

Unfortunately, the system didn’t accept this as a mission, but as a command, so Aiko could not benefit from it.

She walked outside. It was a quiet and foggy morning.

What was even stranger was the fact that her senses spread a bit too far.

She was able to pinpoint the twins almost immediately, thanks to the fact that they were hiding inside the fog. It was a surreal feeling. It truly felt like that fog was part of her body.

’I really want to evolve my Species...’ Aiko narrowed her eyes. She would have to work much harder to obtain grander Bloodlines, but not so much for species. The main issue was the catastrophe that would come with it.

’I can’t Evolve inside this Village, but once we enter the Secret Realm.’ Aiko smirked. She already had a few plans in her head, but those could wait for the time being.

...

Mei told Aiko that she could already find them, but she also said that she couldn’t go searching for them in her big form.

”You can share your senses with fog...?” Mei almost fainted when she heard that.

Well, it was not exactly like Aiko was sharing the senses. She could not find Treasures or pinpoint who she found, but since there were only the Twins hiding... yeah, it was obvious.

Mei held her head. ”Fine, you have your system, yeah?” She suddenly asked.

Aiko nodded gently.

”I will allow you to obtain more tails if you can observe the insides of this cauldron.” Mei placed a somewhat small and cute cauldron on Aiko’s hands.

”It’s cute.” Aiko had the urge to look inside, but she was unable to lift the lid.

”Don’t even try cheating. I created a small array that will be powered for 30 days. If you can find out what is inside, I will allow you to watch my Pill Refining. Once you get used to that too, I will allow you to obtain more tails.” Mei explained and commented.

She would not deprive Aiko of more tails. Those were important since Aiko was too weak in her big form, but at the same time, she didn’t want Aiko to gain too much strength at a time.

This would allow her to buy around half a year of time before Aiko would be able to gain more strength.

There was an issue with the system and sudden strength leaps, but that should be alright since Aiko was quite obedient.

”Candies too.” Aiko demanded since Mei shifted the goalpost.

”Sure.” Mei readily agreed, since those Pill Candies would be unable to hurt Aiko even if she consumed a bit too much.

Aiko nodded happily. ”So I just need to guess what is inside, or what exactly do you need from me?” She asked curiously.

”The general shape is your first goal. Afterwards, it would be the total number of items. Then their shape and lastly their colours.” Mei explained.

”E-even colours?!” Aiko was shocked.

”Unlike your other senses. The Divine Sense is almost universal. You can get a lot of information from it, but you will have to develop it well in order to achieve that.” Mei said gently.

Aiko nodded. She left the room quietly, pondering on how she was supposed to see the colours.

...

Aiko sat at the table on the ground. She tapped the small cauldron.

It would be easy to break it, but Aiko didn’t want to do that for the time being. She was curious about the colour thing, so she would try it out until she could achieve the ’see colours’ state.

The first day, she couldn’t even peer inside. It was hard not to crush the small cauldron by accident, but thankfully the [Awakened Divine Sense] was of great help in preventing that.

At night, she would Cultivate her Moonlight Qi that was depleted, but for some reason, she was unable to gain any?

[You are spending your Moonlight Qi on your Bloodline. Once your Bloodline finishes adjusting to its fully awakened form, you will be able to conserve Moonlight Qi.]

This was very useful information. She liked this system a lot more.

’Why does my Divine Sense look like a wolf?’ Aiko asked the system.

[*Redacted.*]

’......’ Aiko snorted unhappily. It seems this system is still useless...

...

On the second day of training, she found out that the small cauldron had holes in it.

But that was only because of Divine Sense. If she tried to look at it with just her eyes, she was unable to see anything!

’Is it something like a really, really tiny hole?’ Aiko tilted her head. It was possible since she could not see them with her eyes.

...

On the tenth day, Aiko was finally able to invade the inner workings of the small cauldron. This was a great success and Aiko was very proud.

Unfortunately, she still could not grasp the shapes inside, which slightly disheartened her.

Mei also happily overlooked Aiko and she could see her progress. It was very slow progress compared to her peers, but if someone challenged her into a duel of Divine Senses... heh, let’s hope that they already bought a coffin.

Even Mei was slightly worried, but not because of the Divine Sense. That wolf-like creature was quite terrific. It was able to condense the power of the Divine Sense into a single point and use it as a power. That was very rare and way too powerful for anyone below Void Amalgamation!

You needed to fully develop and enforce your Soul just to hope to defend against it!

...

On the 20th day, Aiko was finally able to see some shapes to it. The progress slowed down greatly, but Mei was still satisfied.

Aiko had not complained yet about this training. Something was her driving force, but Mei couldn’t put her finger on it.

’If I can restrain Mei with my Divine Sense...’ Aiko was already making plans in her head while training with the small cauldron.

Of course, Mei was unaware of Aiko’s thoughts, but on the other hand...

Dai Lu would always bring around nuts to munch on whenever she observed the duo!

...

On the 25th day. Aiko finally was able to conserve some Moonlight Qi. She also got a special prompt from the system.

[Would you like to combine [Moon’s Eyes] with [Moon’s Crust] into [Moon Fox Incarnate]?]

[Yes/No]

’Does that mean I will get a lot of Abilities, like it was with the Twins and Dew Fox Incarnate?’ Aiko narrowed her eyes.

[Correct.]

The system confirmed it, so Aiko didn’t hesitate.

[You have obtained [Moon Fox Incarnate]!]

[You can use all Abilities from this tree. Your mastery is slowed down by the sheer scale and power of this Divine Ability!]

’That is fine.’ Aiko would be happier if she had more Abilities than less!

...

On the 50th day. She was finally able to see the outlines of the ’things’ inside, but she was unable to count them.

Whenever she tried counting them, they would become quite blurry and she would lose control over her Divine Sense.

She needed a lot of time to gain a proper sense of it...

...

On the 120th day. She was able to count the number of the Herbs and Pills inside.

There were a total of 43 things inside.

Aiko wondered how they could all fit inside, but maybe they were just really small? It should be possible, considering the fact that she was able to invade it through cracks that could not be observed by sight alone.

At this time Aiko also advanced another year and there was less than 1.5 years till she would leave for the Secret Realm. So she should speed things up!

...

Unfortunately even after another 100 days. She was unable to see the colours and Mei paused her progress.

”It’s fine to work hard, but we need to do other things now, since the Secret Realm is approaching.” Mei sighed. Those at the top changed things up, so Mei would have to dedicate more time for Aiko to get stronger.

”But I can almost imagine those colours!” Aiko believed that she would be able to see those colours really, really soon!

”We don’t have time. You will observe my Alchemy for a few days and afterwards, I will once again explain how to gain more Tails.” Mei nudged Aiko while caressing her hair.

”Okay.” Aiko pouted. She was not skilled enough to tie Mei with her Divine Sense, which slightly upset her!

”Let’s go.” Mei smiled gently, guiding Aiko.

...

”It’s like mush inside?” Aiko tilted her head.

”You are right, but observe more.” Mei smiled.

Aiko kept observing. At first, it was a herb. That slowly turned into some kind of sludge. Then those still hard things within the sludge were separated, leaving a liquidy substance and a hard substance.

That hard substance was placed on the ’corner’ of the Cauldron, where it lay motionlessly.

”Why don’t you just let it burn?” Aiko noticed that Mei kept her Divine Sense wrapped around it.

”Those are impurities.” Mei smiled gently. She liked the proactive Aiko.

”Impurities? Like those in our bodies?” Aiko was curious.

”Yes. Then what will happen if you burn those impurities in an enclosed space?” Mei narrowed her eyes.

”If you burn them properly they will disappear.” Aiko believed that would be the case.

”Then what happened when you failed your Pills?” Mei giggled sweetly.

”Ah! It will turn into soot and pollute the liquid!” Aiko suddenly had an enlightenment.

”Correct!” Mei smiled from ear to ear and gently caressed Aiko’s head.

”Now you know why your Pills are of such low quality.” Mei chuckled.