Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

With the newfound determination, Aiko went outside her safe area to test the new monsters.

They were hideous, so Aiko didn’t want to engage with them in melee combat, as such she brought with herself a help.

The help of a sling. It should have enough force to crack the skull of those fuckers~!

Aiko nodded her head as she happily swung the rope around, the damage would be directly determined by her aim.

’Maybe I should’ve bought more skills.’ In this place, many things were different, so she had to be careful about everything.

However, she didn’t think much about it for the time being, since her current skill should be enough.

And if her skills were not enough, she could just snipe them from a safe distance.

Not to mention, nobody said she couldn’t play a little arson with those grassy fields~!

Aiko hummed happily as the rocks flew with force incomparable to what she was used to.

”Eh?” Aiko did know it would have greater force, thanks to her tests she did against the walls, but-

*Boom*

”Eeeeeeh...?” Aiko blinked blankly as she created a small crater inside the grassy fields.

[You have killed Goblin.][You have killed Goblin.][You have killed Goblin.][You have killed Goblin.][You have killed Goblin.]

[You have gained 110 Soul Points.]....

”Eeeeeeeh...” Aiko scratched her cheek. That explosion pretty much alerted all of them which was concerning, but not enough that Aiko saw this as an issue.

”I definitely should raise my level.” Aiko grinned sinisterly. She was looking to bigger explosions eventually, but for now she would settle for what she had.

The way to raise her level was a bit problematic, since it required her to surrender some of her loot. As one might expect, she didn’t want to do that considering she was also feeding her pets and buying precious things.

”What to do...” Aiko went into the safe area and waited for the aggro to decline enough so that she could return to hunting again.

The uglies posed a threat to her from a distance, but how would her pets fare?

Of course, she wanted to figure that out, but that would take a lot of time, since she still had to nurture them.

”Well, anyway.” Aiko stepped outside the safe area with an already swinging sling.

More explosions spread throughout the field as it slowly became something unrecognisable to what it was once before.

The main reason being the extreme craters, but some of it also caught on fire for some reason.

Aiko had no idea why that happened, but she was happy, since she didn’t need to pay as much attention to the uglies as before, since they were forced out of the grassy field and into the open.

That’s how pretty much the whole 2nd wave ended, but this time Aiko collected that loot before the changes happened.

The loot this time was very different. This time she didn’t get specialised beads, but something that was called the [Common Bead]

Apparently, you could use this with any kind of element, and it would work at a reduced rate, but its main purpose was levelling up. The [Common Bead]s got a fat rate up on the conversation, allowing you to gain more levels for less resources.

Of course, you could also use it to buy the products from the other elements, but again, it would cost more.

It was obvious that these were supposed to be only used on levelling up, so Aiko would do that for now.

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Even the Spirit Slime was not too enthusiastic about them, which made Aiko sad.

If the Spirit Slime required very specific beads, it would make everything very complicated. Mostly because she didn’t know if she could encounter those sludges again.

And if she couldn’t, she would have to feed the Spirit Slime her Soul Points, which was a bit... yeah...

...

Aiko bought those levels and looked at her stats. It seems like each level would give her both 10 HP and MP and since she was level 8 now, she would be able to accomplish a lot more.

That also included [Fireball]. It was not really off-limits if she didn’t mind-blowing herself up, but now with more MP, she would be able to actually send it far away and not let it blow it up right under her nose.

With this, she decided to look out to see what kind of new monsters she would encounter.

And this time it was wolves. They were pretty basic, all things considered, and they only looked ferocious, but not ugly, which was a plus.

However, that didn’t mean Aiko would show it mercy.

The terrain generated this time was short plains with a forest and as you might expect. Forest was the part where all those monsters were located.

She didn’t necessarily need to go inside, as long as she found a way to lure those little bastards out of the forest.

But this was small... no, severe issue.

The wolves were quite intelligent, and their intelligence was probably shared from the slightly bigger wolf.

In other words, those wolves would not be easily lured out of the forest.

And that’s where her slingshot would come in.

At first, Aiko wanted to take something like a bow or crossbow, but considering her inclinations again, the slingshot would probably deal a lot more damage.

The slingshot was also lighter, unlike both crossbow and bow.

Not that she was not strong and couldn’t move as easily with or without them, but it was better that it didn’t ’get in the way’.

The main reason being is that she would attack from the tree crowns. She would have to be careful about branches and getting stuck somewhere.

Both crossbow and bow were quite large, not to mention you also needed a quiver for both arrows and bolts, which would once again take up space.

And yeah, you could also tie it to the bow, but in that case you would be very limited in the ammunition which was a bother.

Aiko nodded her head seriously as she approached the forest.

The trees were very tall and there were many smaller branches on the lower parts, making it very hard to climb.

It seemed like these were either pines or something similarly prickly.

Climbing a little higher, it kind of felt like you entered one large highway.

The trees were connecting between each other, and she could very naturally walk, like she was walking on a road.

Aiko found this very amusing, but what she found more amusing were the monochrome colours.

It was... hard to spot those wolves, due to the lower branches, and they also shared similar colours to their surroundings, so once they stopped moving, they were very hard to detect.

The many small bushes also didn’t pay her any favours, so this one would be the most troublesome wave ever.

”I wonder what the next wave will be like.” Aiko aimed the slingshot as she pulled back the band.

Releasing it, the rock swished past a few wolves before hitting one square in the head.

”This...” Aiko scratched her head. It didn’t deal nearly as much damage as she hoped.

”Well, tactical retreat~” Aiko immediately ran away and fortunately, she was not chased.

...

In the safe area, Aiko looked over the bow and crossbow once again.

”Let’s find if there are more weapon-smiths.” Aiko nodded her head seriously. Each wave would unlock something new, giving her the ability to tackle the upcoming waves easier.

It was a bit of a tall task, but she should be able to find something worthwhile.

And a worthwhile treasure she found.

They were throwing weapons... Well, they were called Meteor Hammers.

You would have a round iron(?) ball tied to a chain and use that chain to fling the ball towards something.

The ball was quite heavy, which would allow for greater impact, but then, would the chain be long enough for her?

She wanted to drop those balls to the ground, without worrying about retrieving everything. It would take her a while to find any kind of alternative, but it was possible.

...

Aiko left the safe area and was perched up in the middle of the crown- Well, it was not really a middle since those trees were tall, but it was already past the messy small branches that blocked her vision.

Aiko would try her strategy as always before attempting anything else.

It was very well possible that those wolves would mistake her ball for plaything and snatch it.

Aiko had some brute strength, but would it be enough against those wolves? She didn’t know.

Well, even if they had a bit better defences, that didn’t mean much against a very heavy ball.

”Wait, isn’t this used in like, prisons and stuff?” That round metal would usually be used for prisoners, so that they couldn’t escape.

”Oh, it had different versions?” Aiko previously couldn’t see it, since she was quite overwhelmed with everything.

Instead of Meteor Hammer, it was a Morning Star. Both of them were connected to the chains, but they also were a bit different.

The Morning Star was pretty much a round ball with spikes and those spikes looked quite nasty.

Aiko found it both amusing and impressive that someone could come up with something like this.

But as for the damage, it was a bit of both worlds when it came to the spikes. You would be able to pierce their skin, while the blunt part would deliver enough force to shake the whole room.

There were other shapes, like a ball with small bumps and so on. Those were not as impressive as Aiko hoped for, but they might still be useful for certain enemies.

For now, she would try the Meteor Hammer and see where it would take her...