Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Fang Jia pondered on it. This seemed like an incredible Technique which would bring her a lot of trouble...

”Only within my limits.” Fang Jia replied softly. She could not share it with others, the only one who could help was her Mother and possibly Patriarch, but she was not that trustworthy yet.

That only left her mother, so her testing and learning would be very limited.

”Of course.” Aiko nodded gently. He was not against her taking her time.

”Now, please, do help me with the basic shape.” Aiko split the ore, so that Fang Jia had plenty for herself, but Aiko still kept the majority.

Thanks to the Grandpa Flame purifying it, you didn’t need to use more to achieve the same benefit or at least that’s what he said.

Aiko didn’t really care about it all that much. What mattered to her was the fact that she would be able to work on her own Cauldron and the fact that she would have yet another defence when she fought.

Aiko nodded gently. She was ready to create her first Treasure, somewhat.

”Of course. I can show you.” Fang Jia pulled out several Cauldrons, each looking like it was unfinished or a work in progress.

Only one of those Cauldrons was finished.

”The progress is like this. You create the bottom where the ’Core’ is, then you add the legs, before strengthening the bottom again. You add walls and then you make the lid as a separate object. This is very easy, but the tricky part would be your Technique. I will try to help you start it, but you will have to figure out the rest.” Fang Jia sighed.

”It’s alright.” Aiko patted Fang Jia. She understood that it would be difficult to get knowledge on this, since everyone desired it too much.

They conversed for a bit before Aiko pulled out the melted and mixed meteorite with normal iron.

Separating it was not that difficult, since the meteorite was not fusing with the iron and it also felt like it wanted to separate from it.

Aiko used her Divine Sense to knead it away. This cooled the metal, making it a bit harder to move from the iron, but it was still manageable as Aiko had more control over her Divine Sense.

She was quite happy about this Form, since it allowed her to do things she would normally be unable to do.

Kneading more, the metal started to creak. It was too hard to move further without breaking it into pieces.

”Grandpa.” Aiko hummed.

”Yes, yes.” The Grandpa Flame nodded gently. He warmed up the metal again, so that Aiko could keep her little play.

She was quite skilful at this and he would not need to burn too much metal from the meteorite to purify it.

Aiko separated those two metals and moved the normal iron away. That thing was useless to her, since she had better materials on her.

The Grandpa Flame burned most of the impurities from the meteorite.

What turned out to be a dark silver colour, slowly turned into a sort of silver dirt colour and then into a dirty dirt colour.

”It needs a bit more refining.” The Grandpa Flame said as he took the meteorite with him in order to continue this process.

Aiko nodded gently. She would ask the Darkness why they picked this material later.

...

The Grandpa Flame spent quite a long time on it, but it was finally finished.

He gently swayed, satisfied with his work.

”You can use it now.” The Grandpa Flame said before disappearing.

Aiko was curious why the colour changed so drastically. It no longer felt like a dirt colour, it had some kind of ’pure’ feeling to it.

Aiko was confused and so was Fang Jia. She had never heard of such metal before.

[The Ever Shaping Cauldron: - ; -/-]

[Please Select Material.]

[Meteorite selected.]

[Please mould it into a desirable shape.]

Aiko was curious if she could shape it into anything that she wanted, but...

[This shape is unsuitable for Cauldron.]

She would get harassed by the system thanks to it, so Aiko had to make it very precisely.

It had to be shaped like a Cauldron with a few quirks, lids, and stuff.

Aiko was not the best at it, since moulding something into a desirable shape was much harder than simply separating things.

She kept shaping and shaping, for quite a long time.

...

[This shape is suitable for a Cauldron. Do you wish to proceed?]

Aiko was overjoyed and was in a playful mood.

She was back in her ’Shadow’ Form, looking for her prey, named Fang Jia.

Unfortunately, Fang Jia was not around.

Aiko spotted a Jade Slip nearby and touched it.

Fang Jia had a message written clumsily for Aiko that she had to leave. The Patriarch was calling her back now that she obtained the Divine Steel.

Aiko clicked her tongue. ”My prey escaped, I wanted to introduce her to my team later.” She lamented at her sneaky behaviour.

”Fortunately, she won’t be able to escape from me forever~” Aiko hummed happily. It was a matter of time before Fang Jia reappeared somewhere, and Aiko just needed to nab her in order to introduce her to everyone.

’Mei might not like her thoughts...’ Aiko knew that Mei had an aversion towards Humans. Feifei was different since she was very obedient, but Fang Jia might not be as obedient in front of Mei.

”Eh.” Aiko shrugged. ”Let’s collect more of the Moonlight Essence so I can finish this!” Her eyes shone.

...

Aiko collected enough Essence and was ready for a second round!

[The Ever Shaping Cauldron: Divine Meteorite (-); [Resonance]/100%]

”Divine Meteorite?” Aiko tilted her head. It was a lot to take in, especially since the system didn’t have information on it.

[Divine Meteorite (-)]

[Cauldron is missing Core.]

[Resonance]

[Strengthens the effects of other materials, especially the Core.]

[100%]

[Your Cauldron is fully functional.]

[Description: Non-standard Cauldron created by clumsy Craftsman. It will work and won’t blow up, but the Quality of Pills won’t be all that spectacular.]

A vein appeared on Aiko’s forehead. ”Who are you calling clumsy?! I did my best, okay!”

As seen by this outburst. Aiko was very angry about this. Even her Moon Form couldn’t completely contain her emotions.

Aiko was angry at her system, so she would just pick a bone with it!

[Divine Witch of Nightmares Fennec Fox]

[Rarity: ???]

[Unheard of Species of a Fennec Fox that lives in the desert. This kind of Fennec Fox specialises in brewing deadly poisons and protecting its body with Tails. If you are caught off-guard, you will slip into endless Nightmares, as other Bloodlines strengthen their Demonic Roots.]

[Blessed Moon Fennec Fox]

[Rarity: ???]

[Mythical Species of a Fennec Fox that lives in the desert. This kind of Fennec Fox specialises in the Moon, drawing its Energies and nurturing Nature. Blessed Moon Fennec Fox is feared due to her calculative nature and cold demeanour.]

’Oho~’ Aiko didn’t expect this kind of description. She was nicely surprised about it, but it also didn’t tell her much...

She could only click her tongue and move on.

[Bloodline: [Divine Witch of Nightmares(Dormant)=([Nightmare Goddess Kitsune]+[Dream Goddess Kitsune]+[Primordial Dew Goddess Kitsune])]]

’So it combines like that, how strange...’ Aiko tilted her head. She could understand why it turned out like this, but she didn’t expect that her Demonic side would be so strong, considering that the Shadow Fiend Fox was not that strong.

’Is it because it’s in the first place?’ Aiko pondered on this, but it was not like she could test this...

[Bloodline: [Vibrant Moon Goddess Kitsune(Dormant)=([Moon Goddess Kitsune]+[Primordial Dew Goddess Kitsune])], [Blazing Sun Fox(Dormant)]]

’Everything is dormant, but I’m pretty much overflowing with energy...’ Aiko shook her head. She couldn’t imagine what would happen once she cultivated all her strength.

[Foul-mouthed->Blunt Mouth]

[Blunt Mouth]

[You are more likely to say things bluntly than curse at others, but that doesn’t stop you from cursing! Go ahead and curse all you like!]

”Right... the other form will be like this...’ Aiko could feel that headache incoming.

[Little Princess->Not-so-Little Princess]

[Not-so-Little Princess]

[Raises your likeability with females and older members. Allows you to adjust your height from your Juvenile Form to Adult Form.]

[Your Beauty is increased by 100,000 and Beauty per Level by 5,000 with Luck by 1,000!]

”This is not bad, no wonder that I attracted so much attention.” Aiko nodded gently.

[Mischievous Juvenile->Mischievous Fox]

[Mischievous Fox]

[You have talent in teasing people and/or making other people suffer through your mischief.]

[Greatly increase the chance of success when doing Mischievous things!]

[Possibility to raise affection or sharply decline affection, use with care!]

[Possibility of seducing your targets, whether you like them or not!]

”And this would explain that hatred...” Aiko sighed gently, rubbing her forehead.

[Juve-barian->Full-Fledged Barbarian]

[Fledged Barbarian]

[”Violence is never the answer. Violence is a question, and the answer is ”yes”.”]

[Now, say yes to violence~!]

[Your ’weapons’ can be imbued with Qi! (It is automatic)]

[Your Strength is increased by 10,000, and Strength per Level by 500!]

”...” Aiko did not know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

[Little Baby->Big Baby]

[Big Baby]

[You will have an easier time sleeping if you cuddle/play with someone. Allows you to adjust your height from your Juvenile Form to Adult Form.]

”...” This one definitely wasn’t a good thing.

[Elemental Affinity: ...]

”There are too many of them, some even feel advanced to normal Affinities, but I don’t have any basis for this.” Aiko nodded gently.

’There are too many Divine Abilities now...” Aiko groaned gently.

[Dew Fox Incarnate]

[Focuses around Nature and Life. Dew Fox understands all Herbs slightly, since Dew sits everywhere. Dew Fox loves Vitality and doesn’t mind sharing it with others, even if it’s detrimental to her...]

’A pretty simple one.’ Aiko nodded gently. She could overdraw her Vitality which caused issues for her, so it feels like the system is taking a jab at her.

[Moon Fox Incarnate]

[Focuses around Moon, Observation and Defence. Moon Fox understands the Moon and cherishes her opportunity to observe them all.]

’It’s definitely talking about me!’ Aiko frowned gently.

[Nightmare Fox Incarnate]

[Focuses around Nightmares and Summons. Nightmare Fox is known for the Nightmares she can produce when it’s dark. Her little helpers are a deadly weapon for anyone who would approach her.]

’And I’m proud about this one, since it’s very useful.’ Aiko nodded gently.

[Witch Fox Incarnate]

[Focuses around Refining Pills and Deadly Poison Pills. Anything that includes liquids is her forte.]

’How vague...’ Aiko shook her head. This will take a long time to research.