Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

The bird lady guided around Aiko and even showed her personal accommodation. That was just in case that the Foxy wanted to stay here a while and not return every day. Of course, she didn’t have anything against her going back and forth, but it was always a good idea to prepare for everything.

Moon Aiko was greatly impressed by this place. Even given the extreme nature of this place, those living inside tried their best to battle against the unfortunate circumstances.

The most impressive was probably the bath and kitchen as both of them had to have more elaborate Runes than the other rooms.

Moon Aiko was also interested in the ’study’ since it had many Jade Slips everywhere, which meant a lot of knowledge.

”In the study you can only read from this wall.” The bird lady pointed at the south-facing wall and warned the Foxy.

”I don’t mind reading just this.” Moon Aiko would naturally not go for sensitive information since she was quite fond of this birdie.

At times, she was cheerful, at times she was prudent, Moon Aiko quite liked the dual emotions she was showing so naturally.

It felt like it could give her hints about how to merge things inside her, which would be very beneficial.

”It will take a few days to prepare everything before we can even attempt the severing of the Contract, so you can read or study for the time being.” The bird lady hoped that her daughter wouldn’t do anything stupid while she was not looking. It was very important that this Foxy was satisfied with their hospitality!

Moon Aiko nodded her head. She also didn’t expect to do this immediately, since she had to solve the lack of Essence for her Witch Transformation.

For something as delicate and as powerful as the bird lady, she needed her [Little #### Nightmares] to put in the work, otherwise it would be difficult to achieve what she set out for.

Moon Aiko parted with the bird lady and went over to the kitchen. She was not really hungry, her main aim were the Runes inside the room.

The main Runes she was interested in were the ones that dealt with the fumes out of the fire and the stability of temperatures in different parts of this room.

Of course there were many cool things like this, but starting simply was always better.

The first part was the open fire.

Moon Aiko expected them to use chimney or Spiritual Flame, but neither of those were true. They were using normal wood for this fire and it was not even carefully being manipulated by Arrays, which Moon Aiko found odd.

’The scent is a bit...’ Moon Aiko tilted her head.

”Would you like to have a taste, dear guest.” An elderly person greeted Aiko with a gentle bow.

”Are you also birdie?” Moon Aiko was curious if he was human or another bird.

The butler was momentarily stunned, but then he just smiled. ”That would be the case, Miss.”

”Oooo.” Moon Aiko observed him closely, unlike the other birdies, you wouldn’t be able to guess that he was a bird too.

Moon Aiko took the small sharp stick with meat stabbed on the other side and tested it.

’Whoa-!’ Flavours burst inside her mouth which greatly startled her. She didn’t expect this kind of quality considering where she was located.

”This is Spiritual Meat, which was not cooked by Spiritual Cook, but by a special wood and spices.” The butler gestured to the open flame, startling the Fox.

”Is that possible?” Moon Aiko always believed that it was difficult to achieve Spiritual Food, but that didn’t seem to be the case?

”It certainly is, didn’t it taste delicious?” The butler chuckled seeing the Foxy nod her head. ”But certainly, it would be difficult to achieve with other ingredients...” He shook his head gently.

”So it’s something that is only possible with this kind of meat?” Moon Aiko felt like this ruined her plans, but it was obvious that if Spiritual Food was so easy to make, everyone would eat it.

”En.” The butler smiled. ”This is meat from carefully bred animals. Those animals are given a lot of Spiritual Grass that is in tune with their element and nature. Moreover, the spices and wood are also carefully nurtured and picked in order to be able to accomplish something as incredible as this.” He slowly explained the process, which he did almost all the time.

”I see...” Moon Aiko nodded her head repeatedly. She didn’t expect cooking lessons suddenly, but she quickly realised that it was not just cooking.

”What if I used it on Pills...” Moon Aiko murmured and made a mental note, before quickly deleting it again. ’I already have so much to do, adding more is kind of...’ She groaned softly.

”You can certainly use it on Pills, but the whole process is much more complex.” The butler gently shook his head.

”I believe that. You can’t really use wood in the same way and that also goes for spices.” Moon Aiko nodded her head repeatedly. She was aware of the limitations, so she didn’t really hurry to test anything.

”Indeed.” The butler nodded his head. ”Seconds?” He asked her gently, since not many of the Beasts inside this place really liked to eat.

”I can clean all the snacks you can give me.” Moon Aiko smirked happily as she slowly savoured the meat.

In the meantime she studied the Runes inside this place, feeling more and more impressed by the scale.

They were able to compress the Runes and shorten the sentences, allowing for the same effects, but with less taken up space. This would allow for more elaborate Inscriptions and other shenanigans, but there was a problem...

The main problem being the uniqueness of these Runes, or rather you could call it ’slang’.

Moon Aiko was vaguely aware that some Runes could have multiple meanings and with slight adjustments even more meanings than before as they would become completely different Runes.

This naturally slowed her studying, since she had to account not just for the new Runes, but also for the old ones.

You couldn’t mix ’slangs’ easily as they would crumble or try to fight each other. At first glance the Qi flowed similarly, but when looking very closely, one would realise that the energies are quite different.

Not different enough that you would make a table into a tree from Runes, but something like an oak table and birch table.

Both of those tables were from wood, just different types.

The main Rune for the campfire was the gas gathering Rune.

This Rune allowed you to gather gases, and while that was quite useless alone, another Rune that trapped said gas could be introduced right under the first Inscriptions.

As the name implies, it would allow you to capture any kind of gas inside the container, or compress it until it became solid and easy to transport.

You couldn’t do that with everything, but it has enough uses for future Aiko!

’The main reason might be impurities.’ Moon Aiko believed that if she learned how to isolate things, it might be possible to ’take out’ the impurities out of the body without natural means!

That was probably the greatest thing that could happen!

The next thing was the temperature adjustment. This was a bit trickier since Moon Aiko couldn’t immediately decipher it.

She didn’t quite get why there were so many Runes, until she approached the edges of the different zones.

’It’s cold and warm?’ Moon Aiko was confused as one part of her body was cold, and the other part was warm.

This was very confusing since it was a surreal experience.

”It was difficult to maintain the temperatures, so we opted for more... conservative approach.” The butler explained, since this part was what he prided in. ”We merely ’shove’ the ’hotness’ and ’coldness’ around.”

”Does that mean there is some kind of filter that decides what to take and give?” Moon Aiko was curious since this was quite important for her.

If she could replicate this in her garden, that could mean she could create the perfect environment for every given Herb that she could grow!

”It’s a bit more complex than that, but yes.” The butler slowly explained the Runes. Nobody in this family really liked Runes, so he was probably the only one who could do this.

”This is very nice~” Moon Aiko hummed. She was very impressed by this craftsmanship, which rivalled Chen Shi.

She carefully observed the Inscriptions and Arrays with her new knowledge and noticed something odd.

”Is there a pause between the ’zones’?” Moon Aiko tilted her head.

”En.” The butler nodded his head and explained again. ”There was an... accident, where the wind would keep speeding up until it developed into a spiralling tornado and as you might expect... That’s never a good thing in enclosed space.”

”Did it go boom?” Moon Aiko chuckled.

”Yes, it went boom.” The butler also chuckled.

Moon Aiko liked to chat with him, since his Rune attainment was very high and wide. This allowed him to explain things in detail that even she could understand.

Moon Aiko also believed that it would be possible to use this kind of teaching on those that have no idea what Runes are. Not only would it help their knowledge, but it also might raise their interests!

Moon Aiko stepped outside the kitchen. She was very curious about what was in the middle, but first, she would read a Jade Slip before even attempting to get close to it.

”Are there any rules about me approaching that thingy?” Moon Aiko pointed to the middle of the room.

”There are no rules, but if I feel like you won’t be able to endure the pressure, I’m tasked to ’escort’ you to your room, so that you won’t get hurt.” The butler explained without concealing anything, since he was tasked to make this Foxy happy.

”Understandable.” Moon Aiko nodded her head. She was not sure if she could resist the heat if she got too close, but there was only one way to find out!

’First books.’ Moon Aiko stopped her impulsiveness and walked towards the study. She would pick a few Jade Slips to go through before attempting anything else.

At worst, she could just walk towards it right before the ’session’ where she would be cleaning the Contract.

’Right, I still have to figure out where to get that Essence.’ Moon Aiko groaned, but she was ready!