Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Yue observed the fortress in the distance.

”And it’s supposed to be bigger than this?” Yue’s face twitched. This would be bigger than normal cities and could already rival some cultivation cities and if the next one was even bigger...

”What do you think?” Aiko spoke while still on the ground, so it was a bit awkward, one might say even comical.

”I don’t think I will make it.” Yue shook her head.

Aiko smiled at her and Yue flinched. ”No.”

”Oh, yes.” Aiko kept smiling at her.

”I won’t wear ’that’!” Yue protested.

”You will, otherwise we won’t be able to get out of this place.” Aiko clicked her tongue. She could buy something that could level it, but she wanted to save enough points for more tails as those were more important than what was happening right now with Yue.

”Why do you want to bully me?” Yue frowned at Aiko.

”Maybe because of your lessons or the fact you didn’t lock doors several times. I could name a few more.” Aiko rolled her eyes.

”Hey, that was for your own good!” Yue pouted.

”I don’t know. I’m pretty sure my eyes bleed from that sight.” Aiko shook her head.

”I’m not talking about the latter one! The former one was for your own good!” Yue’s body was visibly shaking. It was hard to say if she was afraid or upset.

”Well, we have to nuke that place in one go, so...” Aiko kept staring at her.

”...” Yue shook her head. Her pride would shatter if that happened.

”Anyway.” Aiko recalled them back which also allowed her to stand up again. ”Ugh, that was a pain.”

”This is nice.” Yue liked the fact she could return so quickly and she immediately started to run away.

”I didn’t even say anything...” Aiko was speechless. Did Yue have a great survival instinct or something?

’Anyway...’ Aiko sorted her things and prepared to teleport back with the possibly last walk for her. She didn’t need much food, but since her knees were weak each time, it was better to rest when she teleports.

’And so, let’s build a small house that I can carry around.’ The word Aiko was looking for was probably a tent, but considering the size she was planning to make, it was hard to say it was the common tent.

First for the floor. Since the senses were slowly returning, Aiko would make it on legs, so the coldness and possible insects couldn’t get to her as easily.

She also didn’t need to use the tough wood, since this was only supposed to be temporary and not something she would drag behind her.

’I already tested that I can teleport things without going with them, so I can always send this temporary tent back here.’ Aiko nodded her head gently. She was considering other things to do, but that would be a drag.

Next up, flooring, just wood, nothing wrong with that, but to make it not have a draft, she placed a couple of furs from a nearby store. Fortunately all of these were of low quality, so they didn’t cost her anything, but in the future, she should probably use something of higher quality.

With the floor and ’bedding’ sorted, it was time to get to the walls. She couldn’t overdo it because of the size and weight, but she still wanted to have enough room for everything.

The bed was nice, some table just in case she wanted to eat something nice, then some dresser or something she could store her clothes so they wouldn’t get in the way. Then add some night tables so that she could place her weapons there. The ceiling should also have some kind of light she could easily turn on, but far enough that she wouldn’t bonk her head on it...

”There is so much to do.” Aiko complained, but this temporary base was taking shape quite quickly.

”What’s next...” Aiko thought about it, the ceiling or rather roof was next, she also had to buy some stealth covers and make it waterproof...

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The waterproof part was done with wax, it easily sealed the rooftop, and she didn’t need to increase the weight further. She had to be careful so that the wax was uniform and without any spots that were left out.

The next step was ghillie cover, which cost her some Soul Points, which meant she had to exchange more marbles, but that couldn’t be helped.

With that, she sat inside and teleported with it while levitating it slightly.

Unfortunately she couldn’t use the support magic to ride it. It would allow her only to slightly lift it from the ground, and it also felt like the sides were nailed down, she couldn’t push it in any way. That’s probably the limit of this magic.

The scenery changed and as expected, Aiko’s knees were weak. She could easily change the scenery with a blink of her eyes, but she was quite tired. It felt like there would be a big battle in front of her and that she should get a peaceful rest before that happens.

...

Aiko slept peacefully, but not too comfortably. The furs were a bit itchy, rough on the skin. The wax held well even when it gently rained, but it probably wouldn’t survive a downpour. There were honestly many issues with her current build, but it was only supposed to be temporary and almost everything about this was for free, so she couldn’t complain too much.

Her next step would be to dress up. She was inside a ’zone’ where she wouldn’t be spotted, since she used the concealment drape, well a ghillie thingy.

”Maybe I should get some kind of nightgown?” Aiko pondered. Temperature was not an issue before, but since the senses were returning to this place, it was a bit chilly.

’Yeah, let’s do that later.’ Aiko nodded her head. She would just do some fashion terrorism while she was at it.

With her [Barbaric Nightingale Set] on, she left her home while using the staff to recall it with it. It was a bit clumsy, and it drained a lot of her Mana, but at least it didn’t weaken her knees.

’It would be nice if I could recall things, but it can’t be helped.’ Aiko clicked her tongue. She would appreciate it if there would be more quality of life improvements, but it couldn’t be helped.

While the system was generous at times, it was also stingy. It wouldn’t make her too comfortable which slightly upset Aiko.

’I will just talk with them once I visit them.’ Aiko nodded her head seriously while walking away.

She circled the whole city once again and embarked on, hopefully, the last journey.

...

The plains were even bigger than before, which was concerning. The visible thing in the distance was getting bigger which even more concerned Aiko as it seemed like that last one will be absolutely huge.

Shaking her head wearily, she kept walking...

And walking...

...

’More and more uglies.’ Aiko spotted even more patrols on her way. They were not numerous before, but now there were always groups of around 3 to 5 scouting this place as if they already expected her.

’Time to recall, but how do I tackle this?’ Aiko wasn’t sure if she would be able to hide in her base, so she would have to test it.

Teleporting back with her base, she picked more food because she wanted to test more things.

First, it seemed like the scouts were ignoring her, but whoever was able to ’find’ her was still outside, and it was possible that he would make those scouts look for her. If that person knew where she was located exactly, that would turn into death and her hard work would go to waste.

That’s why she brought more food. She would wait for some time before deciding to sleep or not.

This was to ensure that they wouldn’t be able to find her, so that she wouldn’t get game over.

’I also don’t want to get touched by those uglies.’ It never happened again, but this time she would be sleeping, so she definitely didn’t want to wake up to an ugly staring at her.

...

It was a long time since Aiko came over. Her supposed 3 days of food vanished, but those scouts were still unable to locate her.

’It seems like the radius is bigger, but it’s less accurate?’ Even the previous strange shaman ugly was unable to locate her completely, so it was possible that this one couldn’t either and just had a wider range of detection.

’But I’m still so far...’ It seemed like this ugly was of even higher standing than the previous ugly.

’I don’t want to fight an army.’ Aiko shook her head. It would be nice if it rained poison again, but even her Sun was now a normal Sun. The Moon was also just dancing around, not doing anything else.

’It wouldn’t harm them if they helped...’ Aiko complained in her mind while undressing.

It [Spatial Mage Set] was nice, but not for sleep. The material itself was really nice, but because of how long it was, it was very awkward to sleep in.

As for her other set, it was too tight to sleep comfortably, and she didn’t need to sleep uncomfortably right now, so that’s why she did that.

Now with just a blanket, she fell asleep...

...

Aiko woke up undisturbed. She was not inside the safe area, but still outside, in her temporary shelter.

Peering out, there were still some scouts, but they were obviously less enthusiastic than before, meaning that they either grew bored with searching or whoever tasked them with this didn’t have a good standing with them.

Well, Aiko didn’t mind that since it worked in her favour.

’I will be able to circle these huge things while mostly undisturbed.’ It was nice once again. The sleep was good, but she only had 2 days before she would be sent back to the safe area because of food, so she had to speed things up a bit.

Change clothes, leave the tent, teleport it and walk towards the citadel.

It was huge and Aiko hoped that this was the last place she had to visit, but there was this gnawing feeling that it wouldn’t be the last...

It took her some time, but she finally managed to get close, this one had a whole river in the front and back, or rather it was sitting on an island. At least that’s how Aiko felt about it.

As for the size, it was even more massive than the previous one.

This citadel had walls as tall as 50+ metres, making them absolutely massive. Aiko couldn’t figure out how thick they were, but they could probably compare to her walls when it came to thickness.

Aiko tried to circle the citadel, but there was one small issue.

’The damn river.’ It was a massive river, so Aiko would have to take a detour if she wanted to finish this...