Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Moon Aiko’s first creation turned out into a blob of smooth jiggly mess. It seemed like the soft metal would turn too soft and would not be able to maintain its form.

And as you warmed it up, it would harden, but then never return to its previous form.

This was a big issue and hurdle that Moon Aiko had to remedy.

The easiest way to remedy this would be by making a rubber outer shell, but then why would she use those metals?

She would have to find a mixture that would allow her to either somewhat maintain the form, or make a form that would return to its previous form under some kind of condition.

Heat would be the best condition, since it would lead to quite the amazing experience.

’I could use Runes to limit it, but then the consumption and durability would be...’ Moon Aiko groaned as she was unsure on how to tackle this.

The easiest way would be to find another mixture, which she would do immediately.

The Twins were curious about what Aiko was doing, but they were not naughty enough to bother her when she was making them some amazing toys.

They would just look- Well, fine, maybe a bit touchy-touchy until Aiko got upset.

Just a little bit...

*Whack**Whack*

”Don’t bother me when I’m making things for you.” Moon Aiko immediately scolded them once they got a bit too close to her comfort.

”But we didn’t do anything yet.” Yuxi defended herself, but forgot to exclude that last word.

”Your eyes were giving you away.” Moon Aiko rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe how shameless these two became.

Yuxi pouted, but Wanshu didn’t comfort her, since she also had to rub her head from Aiko’s ’kind’ treatment.

...

A few days later, Moon Aiko prepared a few metals that were mildly useful.

Well, she did find a metal that would return to its first form once it was heated, but...

’It’s expensive that Mei might spank me.’ Moon Aiko groaned, but seeing her team expectantly look at her...

’Fine, fine. This will be a small secret.’ Moon Aiko was convinced that Mei wouldn’t be able to find out.

The other mixtures included getting back to its form once it was cold and then, making it elastic as a jelly, but still able to maintain the general shape.

’Maybe...’ Moon Aiko narrowed her eyes. If she used 3 layers, then she might be able to produce something incredible!

The outer layer would be the elastic that somewhat maintained its form. The middle layer would be the one that hardened when heated up and also returned to its designated form. The inner part would be just supporting metal that was somewhat bendable, but still stiff, just in case these two got a bit too rough with it.

’That should do...’ Moon Aiko nodded her head and pulled out her [The Ever Shaping Cauldron].

She then melted those metals in big batches in order to be able to shape it for them.

Of course, she would shape it inside, to give them a small ’surprise’.

Moon Aiko chuckled. They wouldn’t expect this one, definitely!

The innermost metal was shaped in the shape of what it is supposed to look like.

Moon Aiko was currently creating just Yuxi’s, since Wanshu had the bothersome pointy feelers.

Yuxi only had the ’waves’, so it was much easier to create.

With the innermost part finished, then she would do the outermost, before filling the middle layer.

The reason being was that it would be harder to hold the middle layer together, while also shaping the outer layer.

Since the middle layer was quite mouldable, it would easily fill it in without any issue, while the outer layer would somewhat hold it together.

The only issue with this process was the significant gap between the innermost and outermost layer, but if she failed she would just have to redo it.

...

A few days later, she succeeded with the two layers and only the middle layer was left to do.

Moon Aiko melted the metal before slowly pouring it in.

’Dammit!’ However, she completely forgot that the middle layer was the hottest, so the outer layer melted, while the inner layer deformed.

She would have to repeat this whole process again.

But next time she would reinforce the outer and middle layer with Runes, just to be able to bear the heat and cooling process.

Those Runes would then become obsolete and she would be able to just scrape them off.

With this remedy plan in motion, Moon Aiko got to work again.

...

Two weeks later, the toy was finished, somewhat. Moon Aiko still needed to polish it and make sure nothing bad would happen to it.

The toy cooled down slowly, since she didn’t really need to temper it. Just maintaining this shape was enough, since with heat it would harden by itself.

How was she able to melt this metal when it hardened when it got hot? Well, that’s very simple, everything has its limits. Once you reach those limits, the material will turn into a soup by itself, but unless Sun Aiko used it, there was no chance that would happen between the Twins, so Moon Aiko didn’t need to worry too much.

Nodding her head slowly, the next process would be just a general feel. Moon Aiko recorded a different shape than what she was pulling out, since this was supposed to be a surprise.

She also had to adjust the metal that would allow her to ’attune’ those senses. That one was part of the outer layer since that was the most important one for ’feeling’.

As for the colour, it was shiny silvery-black. Quite nice and fitting for the Twins.

The feeling process was a mild success. Moon Aiko was able to spot many irregularities that might cause issues, but nothing too severe that would prevent her from finishing this thing.

That was the most important part, since Moon Aiko was quite tired of crafting this. She would probably do only these two before making the knives.

Her own toy would have to wait for later...

Shaking her head gently, Moon Aiko picked up those polishing stones and made them wet.

It was important to maintain a steady rhythm. She also had to be careful not to over-polishing, otherwise the most important layer would vanish.

Her only job right now was to smooth all those cracks and irregularities, so that the Twins wouldn’t be hurt by this.

’I also will make earrings, which would connect the toy. As long as the other one wore it, the one not using the toy would also ”feel” it.’ Moon Aiko nodded her head. This was quite a good plan, since the Twins didn’t mind having accessories, but earrings wouldn’t at least get in the way.

Moon Aiko noticed that the Twins always had something new and it was not because they were looking for shiny new things, but because the previous ones broke during training or ’training’.

Shaking her head, Moon Aiko went through the polishing stones.

It was quite the hard work, since she really had to be careful about the outermost layer, but with it polished, it should be fully functional.

’I will need to include a few Runes, just to adjust the effect, but they shouldn’t consume so much that it would affect the durability.’ Moon Aiko made some mental calculations and everything was going fine for the time being.

The last part of the polishing was the most important, since those ’waves’ were supposed to scrape the insides, but not making them sharp was quite difficult.

If she didn’t make them sharp, then they would just slide like they were just bumps, but if she made them sharp, then it was quite scarily sharp.

Not to a point that it would easily cut, but Moon Aiko didn’t know what would happen once it was heated up...

’One step at a time...’ Moon Aiko nodded her head.

...

Two days later, Moon Aiko finished the first toy.

The Runes were the easiest part, the most troubling was testing the shapes when it was heated up, while not being found out by the Twins.

Of course, she didn’t test it on herself. She was not stupid enough that she would endanger herself.

Moon Aiko used warm and then hot water to simulate the Twins fun and it was a great success.

The ’waves’ got a bit sharper at the end, but that shouldn’t be an issue, since Twins would hardly reach the boiling point.

And due to the heating up, the ’scrapiness(?)’ would increase, elevating the stimulus greatly, or at least that’s what Moon Aiko thought...

The next toy would be Wanshu’s.

The most important part, the small scraping feelers were solved thanks to Yuxi’s toy.

Of course Moon Aiko would have to adjust it further, so when it was cold you wouldn’t be able to feel them all too much, but once it warmed up, it should be able to simulate what Wanshu wanted well... hopefully.

With that out of the way, Moon Aiko got to work again.

...

A week later, the toy was finished... almost.

Moon Aiko had to polish it, which was the most troublesome part.

each one of those small feelers had to be polished, which meant Moon Aiko would definitely be bleeding blood by the end of this journey...

Well, since she already started this, she will finish it and maybe she will be able to get something in return?

Moon Aiko shrugged as she picked up those polishing stones again, it was time to work.

...

A week later, Moon Aiko was completely fed up with it.

The small shitty feelers would break if she was not careful, or just snap off and spill the insides.

This greatly bothered Moon Aiko, since she would have to redo the toy again and again, but at least she already knew the process, so it was not too bad.

However, even if it was not too bad, it still pissed her off.

”I will pole someone by the end of this!” Moon Aiko swore and all Souls inside the Fox Village shivered and clenched their bodies.

...

Another week passed and Moon Aiko was finally done.

The polishing was so troublesome that she even had to create contraptions that applied even force over smaller areas since that was the bane of her existence!

But once that contraption was working, everything suddenly turned out really well!

’I feel like I will have to create some unique tools for everything soon.’ Moon Aiko groaned since she could clearly imagine that happening...

’Well, it’s time to call them~’ Moon Aiko hummed. Her surprise, gift and punishment were nicely packaged in a single toy.

And before you ask. Yes, she did test the toxicity of the outermost layer by... well, licking it.

Witch Aiko confirmed that there was nothing wrong with it, quite the contrary as it seemed like the metal actually kept things clean, which pleased Moon Aiko greatly.

As such, there should be no issues whatsoever with her plan!