Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko stood before the small doors, nudging them a few times.

It was locked tightly, alright. She would have to use a lot of her strength just to open it, but that also meant this was very well-made.

Aiko nodded her head as she pushed the door open. They would slowly close behind her, so she would have to take some kind of stopper as they were very heavy and would be hard to open from the outside.

It seemed like the doors were slightly tilted on purpose, making automatic closing possible.

While Aiko didn’t quite like the tilt, she could appreciate the simplicity of such a mechanism.

With the doors now open, she could see the carnage outside. Most of the floor was completely molten in green goo that was bubbling. The places where there was no goo were occupied by those slimy things that tried to get into her safe area.

Aiko found them disgusting and had no intention of befriending them. Anything ugly was a no-no in her books, with some exceptions of course.

Readying her Needle Blower, she aimed for one of those slimy things.

She took a deep breath and-

*Cough Cough*

Aiko almost swallowed the dart that was inside since her lungs were quite strong.

Glaring at the Needle Blower, she covered the pipe entrance before taking another breath. She then removed the finger and blew at full strength.

The force was compared to a canon as that needle just went through one, two, many slimy things like they were never there.

”Whoa...” Aiko blinked at the Needle Blower. She quite liked it, and she could also troll with it, so it was a good idea to make this later on.

However, as for the damage to the actual slimy things, it was... negligible. The problem was that it was like a strange jello, so the whole body would just jiggle from the impact, but no perceivable wounds were spotted on their bodies.

Aiko frowned, while she could use it, she would have to use it with some kind of poison, but...

”I thought this already had poison on it...” No matter how much she looked, the tip was coated in something, and that something was supposed to be a poison.

That only meant one thing. These slimy things were immune to poison, or it was impossible to poison them to begin with as it would be hard to inject them.

Shaking her head, she placed that thing to the side, it was time to use some other things.

The Needle Sword couldn’t be used, since it would end up similarly to the Needle Blower. The bows and crossbows would have the same issue.

That left the Sword Breaker and whips.

The metal sword should have some impact on them, but what about the whips? Would they even deal any damage?

Aiko tested that right away since she was still standing at the doorway.

She picked up a normal whip, so that things would start simply.

Aiko used whips only briefly, so she would have to be careful not to hurt herself.

One slimy thing was approaching, but it was stopped by a barrier.

”This is nice.” Aiko marvelled at the idea that she could farm while also being protected.

She brandished that whip and tried to whip her enemy.

*Crackle*

The whip made a crackling sound as it impacted part of the slimy thing. That part was completely obliterated like it was hit by a hammer.

”I didn’t expect this.” Aiko blinked at it blankly. She knew that whips would rip the hit spot apart, but this much? Did it get some kind of buffs making it stronger?

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’How strange.’ Aiko didn’t know what to think about this, but she would comment on it for the time being. She would just explore the other whips and then figure out what was wrong with them.

The metal whip had much greater impact, but it was also much harder to wield as the chains were not quite cooperative compared to the leather.

However, once it did hit, not just the noise, but even the impact force felt in her hands felt great!

She really liked that she could even create craters with this, but it was too unwieldy.

Shaking her head gently, she placed it down.

Next one was the whip with the blades-

*Swish*

Aiko was flustered as she dodged the whip to the side, before rolling back next to the door to stop it from closing.

The blade whip was a no-go for Aiko, since she almost beheaded herself. It was not much more difficult compared to the metal chain whip, but the problems were the blades.

She could touch the leather and metal whip, but she couldn’t touch the blade whip.

That was an issue, since Aiko did a lot of corrections with her other hand in order to make the whip crackle.

As you might expect, that was an issue when there were blades in the places where Aiko wanted to touch.

Could she improve her skills enough to wield it safely? Yes, but she didn’t really want to bother with it, since whips were supposed to be used for bedroom activities anyway.

’Well, I might make a few for breaking things.’ For battle, it was impossible for Aiko to use. She liked her primitive slings more which she just swung around and then released.

Shaking her head once again, she placed it down. It was time to try something easier.

...

The crossbows were one of the easiest ranged weapons. The only thing you had to actually do with it was load it and aim.

The loading was easy, you just pull a hefty string back until it clicks, and it’s loaded.

As you might see, the loading time was less than favourable since you needed to use your leg to actually pull the string back. The leg was used as sort of a brace against your body, but yeah.

The bolts were short, shorter than arrows, but they were more reinforced since the forces inside crossbows were greater than in bows.

Aiko really liked the ease of use of these. The aim was also steady and the range and accuracy was also predictable.

However, she couldn’t get over the issue of the reloading and while she could make some fancy repeaters with enough trial and error, it just didn’t feel as fast as a sling or a bow.

As for the destructive force towards those slimy things? As she predicted, there was not much impact on those slimy fuckers, because their jell-like bodies were perfect against small penetrations.

It also didn’t help that the actual point where she was supposed to hit was quickly moving through their bodies, making aim very difficult for the inexperienced.

It was unfortunately not something she was able to use in this place, but she would definitely test it in the real world later on.

Next up were bows, but she had less success with those. Aiko thought she could handle them, but everything was a lot harder in this place, making simple tasks such as aiming with bows quite difficult.

It was unfortunate since Aiko quite liked the feel of these things, but the problem was once again, the slimy things completely ignored the damage from the bows.

Shaking her head, she might try them later on, but she was not too happy with them.

And now came the slings. Slingshots, slings and a few other iterations, like the spear thrower.

First was the spear thrower, since the spear was quite hefty and should be able to finally deal some damage to those slimy things, maybe she should call them sludgies? Anyway, the hold over the spear was quite awkward since Aiko never used these before, or at least she couldn’t remember if she ever used them.

And as for the force, she was too clumsy with it, so she delivered barely a fifth of what she could do with her hands alone.

It was easier for her to throw it by hand and the force was comparable to Qi siege weapons.

Now for the slings. She was very familiar with them, so she skipped the whole testing phase.

*Tack*

[You have gained 1 Soul Point.]

And as expected, rocks were still the best weapons. Not only did they obliterate the sludge, but the ammunition was easily found everywhere around her, so she didn’t need to bother with resupplies.

*Tack Tack Tack*

[You have gained 1 Soul Point.]

[You have gained 1 Soul Point.]

[You have gained 1 Soul Point.]

”Neat~” Aiko hummed happily. This was easy to do, but she was slightly bothered by the amount.

She would have to defeat... 10,000...!

’No way am I going to do that.’ Aiko immediately rejected that idea, since she was losing a point each time she ’picked’ up a rock from her walls to use as ammunition.

Aiko would have to get two kills at once to make this worth it, but were there even enough enemies to tackle...?

[Once you leave the safe area, you will be able to earn a full amount, but your life will also be in danger, so please consider what to do next.]

At least her system was still useful.

’So I’m not getting the full amount because I’m sniping them.’ Aiko nodded her head. She was not too thrilled about having to go outside, but maybe she could pick some more things in the armoury?

Her main goal would probably be a hammer and some kind of armour since she couldn’t use her abilities here.

Well, she could use them, but they did cost Soul Points, so...

Aiko tested the Sword Breaker and the Needle Sword, but neither dealt any significant damage to them, so it seemed like she would have to pick blunt, impact weapons.

Those were limited in scope, you had morning stars, hammers, bigger hammers, longer hammers, wide hammers, you get the point.

Now don’t get her wrong, there were other blunt weapons, but Aiko was too picky...

...

For now, she picked the hammer and shield, but she would have to find something to wear too, since she was not comfortable about those slimy things...

Looking around, most armours were bulky and those that weren’t, didn’t look all that pretty.

Aiko gave up on those for the time being. Her next plan of action was to explore this whole place and figure out if there were any other shops that were usable outside this place, or rather if there were any alternatives to armour.

It was time for shopping~! And she could enjoy it at her own leisure, which was perfect~!