Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Moon Aiko opened her eyes, only to not find anyone around her.

”Where did everyone go?” Moon Aiko was completely clueless as to what she caused.

Thanks to her fervent focus, the dream space was not under her control, making it slowly crumble. This would endanger everyone, except because of the thick wall she pretty much kicked everyone that didn’t have a very close connection to her.

And those that had close connections to her knew enough and would rather book it than get injured.

It was all thanks to their insight that Aiko didn’t cause any significant disasters... for the time being.

”How strange...” Moon Aiko felt tired, maybe because she used a lot of her ’energy’ to try to conjure that ’wall’. She found it hard to maintain this current space, so she just gave up on it and went to sleep...

-----

”She causes so many problems.” Mei chuckled as she gently caressed Aiko’s hair.

”But if not for her, we wouldn’t be where we are.” Danji giggled alongside her.

There was noticeable tension between them, but less than before. That didn’t mean the other Foxes wanted to approach them, rather they wanted to keep away from them if those two were in the same room.

”What trouble.” The overly old Fox was now even older than before.

”What’s wrong?” Yuan spoke gently towards her.

”Can’t believe that this whole journey will be without hiccups.” The overly old Fox lost even more of herself, but she was only able to figure out that this journey was completely safe.

”Can you be a bit more specific?” Mei now understood why others hated when she was vague.

”Simply put, even if we didn’t meet the Southern Sect folk, nobody would interfere with us.” The overly old Fox snorted unhappily. So many precious resources wasted on such useless divination!

”That’s good.” Mei didn’t mind her sacrifice because she never asked for it. She already figured out that because of Aiko’s presence it would be harder to track them and... well, they did take the whole Fox Village, so it would be strange if they were looking for them.

Normally it was impossible for a whole Fox Village to disappear, so even if they made divination about where all those things disappeared to... Well, Aiko’s tails were not particularly fond of divinations, so it was simply impossible to figure any kind of information relating to that.

And since nobody left their belongings behind, that meant they had even less information to work with.

”Ah...” Mei sighed unhappily as her ears twitched. ”I would love to see their faces when they realised they lost everything.” She lamented that she wasn’t able to see that, but it was dangerous to leave any kind of recording devices behind since it could cause them to be found out.

”You won’t have to wait for too long. You will get plenty of that on the mainland.” The overly old Fox snorted. She already knew what would happen to her, so she was not too worried, but her Disciple...

”Are you still worried about her?” Mei’s lips twitched. The Seer was laughing and running around with a cracked body, but she was never before so energetic as she was right now.

”Obviously.” The overly old Fox shook her head. ”You are also worried about that rascal.”

”Hmmmm...” Mei was not too sure about that. Sure, it was natural to worry, but every time she did try to worry, Moon Aiko just turned the situation upside down, making her worry meaningless.

”You are starting to get on my nerves.” The overly old Fox didn’t like the smirk that Jade Fox had on her lips, making her grumble and walk away.

’I wonder if I should dabble in divinations too...’ Mei pondered on it, but there was nothing good about knowing the future.

It didn’t seem that even the journey to the mainland was dangerous, so there shouldn’t be a reason why she should sacrifice her precious information for something meaningless.

’Maybe I should teach Aiko?’ Mei tilted her head.

[That is not advised.]

’Right... Aiko would cause a cha- Hm?’ Mei rubbed her eyes only to see that familiar box in front of her.

’It’s the system, huh?’ Mei rubbed her eyes a few more times and when it didn’t disappear she figured out it was real.

However, it didn’t seem like the system was too talkative, or maybe they couldn’t talk.

’I wonder if the system talks with Aiko often...’ Mei found it strange that the system would suddenly contact her, but thinking about the topic.

’Are they just trying to avoid trouble?’ Mei was convinced that was the case.

[Indeed.]

’...’ Mei’s lips twitched again. ’You don’t have to be so honest, since we would have to take the brunt of that trouble, you know?’

The system didn’t answer her, but it was obvious they were happy that Aiko was being entertained enough that she was not thinking about causing any sort of problems.

But Mei knew that was just a temporary stop. Once Aiko achieved her Human Body Stage...

’She would be weak, making her use much more of her abilities and that will be...’ Mei’s body that could sweat was dripped in cold drops. ’What a scary thought.’ She shook her head several times to not think about that disaster...

-----

Moon Aiko stirred awake and yawned.

’That was a nice rest.’ She bobbed her head slowly. It seemed like she was still a bit tired, but since they were travelling, she would only get a bit of rest.

The main reason being the flying boat, which drained her a lot. It seemed like she would have to revamp the whole flying boat if she wanted to use it more frequently. That also meant she would need better materials.

Moon Aiko looked into her tails. Spidey was happily snoozing, but it was not idle. It gathered a lot of its spider silk for Aiko to use. She would make it into a nice long thread and then build pretty much everything from it.

’Cushions are...’ Moon Aiko was missing a few parts. She didn’t like the feather cushions since they were hard to maintain, but Mei’s wasn’t all that bad.

”Slept well?” Mei smiled at Aiko.

”It was somewhat nice.” Moon Aiko bobbed her head softly. ”Where did you go?”

”The dream was too unstable for us to stay, and you kicked out the others because you didn’t include a ’door’ from the beginning.” Mei chuckled, explaining what happened.

”Nobody was hurt, right?” Moon Aiko was concerned since her team could be reckless sometimes.

”Nobody was hurt.” Mei patted Aiko.

”This is a nice cushion, but what is inside it?” Moon Aiko patted it again, but she couldn’t figure it out.

”It’s something called latex. It was processed in a special way, allowing it to retain its form, while also being soft enough that you could lay on it.” Mei explained.

”While also being hard enough to not sink too much into it. It’s truly amazing.” Moon Aiko nodded her head repeatedly.

Mei narrowed her eyes, but she quickly figured out why Aiko was talking about this. ”You wanna redo the mattress, right?” She chuckled softly at Aiko’s idea, but she understood that it was a good idea.

The flying boat, while luxurious, couldn’t really meet Aiko’s severe standards.

Especially since Aiko had a distorted sense of wealth right now.

But even while knowing all of that, Mei had no intention of correcting it for the time being.

There is nothing more destructive than an innocent and clueless person asking for ridiculously expensive rewards while smiling happily.

Was it dangerous since she would be meeting those Beasts? Yes, but Mei believed that Aiko wouldn’t go overboard. Was that wishful thinking? Probably, but Mei also believed that Aiko wouldn’t endanger the lives of others.

”I would use the spider silk to make some nice fabric and then use the latex to mate the padding.” Moon Aiko nodded her head repeatedly. ”What about the cover?”

”That might be a bit difficult...” Mei shook her head.

”That is right.” Danji chimed in, since her family loved these kinds of paddings. ”If it’s too thin, then it will crumble quickly, so it can only be used on mattresses.”

”It could be possible if we strengthen it?” Mei never studied something like this, so she was not too sure about it herself.

”It might be possible if we find other materials we can incorporate into it, but then we would have to adjust the ratios...” Danji shook her head. It was unrealistic to just whip something out of nothing.

”True, the softness and everything might change too much, making it no longer the best material for such things.” Mei nodded her head, but then she realised she agreed with that damn Vixen and groaned unhappily.

”Well, knowing Aiko we just need to provide enough materials so that she can try it for herself.” Danji giggled.

”Well... That might be difficult.” Mei pursed her lips.

”What do you mean?” Danji was unaware of the way to get latex, only that it was a very good material and everyone wanted it.

”Even during ’my time’ the trees that produced these materials were near extinction. I don’t believe we will be able to find those trees again.” Mei shook her head sadly, but that was the reality and reality was unforgiving.

”I see...” Danji nodded her head seriously. ”That’s a big issue. I was not aware of that fact.” That would explain why her family would scold her when she damaged it.

”Yeah, but it’s not like all hope is lost.” Mei nodded her head slowly. ”While all trees in the Mortal World were used, there are still the Secret Realms.”

”I see, if it takes time to collect the ’latex’ then it would be natural that the Secret Realms would have more than enough trees for us to take.” Danji liked that kind of thinking.

”We can just take the seeds and nurture them. That will give us much higher quality than what we would obtain from wild trees.” Mei shrugged like it was not a big deal, but that would be a feat to accomplish.

”Do you know what those trees need to grow?” Danji narrowed her eyes. She didn’t want to lose in this department, but it seemed like an inevitable truth.

”More or less. I did try to grow them a few times, but the seeds would always go dormant when carried out of the Secret Realm, so we would need something to deal with that.” Mei groaned unhappily.

”Is it something similar to what the Demonic Foxes are experiencing?” Moon Aiko suddenly interrupted their talk.

”Hmmm-” Mei paused. ”Yes, that is it.” She smiled from ear to ear. ”If we can use those ’discs’ we should be able to revitalise the seeds!” She happily lifted Aiko and spun her around, making her very dizzy...