Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Their room was as big as the Grandmaster's place. Aiko was left dumbstruck as other's rooms were incomparably small.

"I'm glad you like your room." The Sect Leader sneaked behind them startling Aiko, but Queen already knew about her.

"It's appreciated." The Queen nodded and with her Mate she was guided around.

"It's a complete replica of Grandmaster's abode." The Queen murmured.

"That is correct~, since you are already used to that place I just replicated it here so you can feel at home." She smiled mischievously.

The Queen narrowed her eyes. "And the real reason?"

"We really need you to 'win' this Apprentice tournament." Hua said with a firm voice.

"As long as you fulfil your part of the deal I will fulfil mine, but I might lose to my Mate~." The Queen licked her lips as her little fluffball was exploring and she didn't need to mind her image that much.

The Sect Leader shivered, she really wanted to be that Mate, but couldn't. "That is alright, as long as the Foxes win and not the Humans."

"Any other races?" The Queen asked. There were a couple of races that might cause her issues if she were to fight them head-on.

"This is only between Humans and Foxes as all other races don't have pseudo-human forms." The Sect Leader assured.

"That's fine then and since you already accepted my demand for the stop for bathing I don't believe there should be further issues." The Queen nodded.

The Sect Leader was shooed away by the Jade Fox.

Aiko was running around the place and jumping around. She could not discern what was an illusion and what was reality. The soil, trees, grass, everything felt so real that it was unreal.

'I like this place, but it's made from Inscriptions and Arrays. I wonder if it would be possible to create places like this with only Inscriptions or what's the reason for incorporating Arrays.' Aiko jumped around but crashed into her mean Fox.

"Here you are, do you like this place?" The Queen gently asked her sweetie.

Aiko paused but nodded. She did like this place, but it felt so out of place since there was even an open sky!

The Queen chuckled. "The Sky and some of the soil are the product of the Array, so far nobody was able to make those illusions only with Inscriptions."

Aiko frowned. She wanted this kind of illusion in her home, but now she was told that it was impossible!

Aiko's ears dropped and the mean Fox tried to console her.

"We can test Runes later, alright? I have a lot of knowledge about Arrays and Inscriptions so we can experiment." The now doting Queen soothed her sweetie.

Aiko nodded gently and jumped down transforming into her Human form.

She wanted to practice some of the Runes and they would spend a lot of time on the ship, so she might as well create some pseudo-massaging nests.

Aiko ran around towards the Grandmaster's main abode and seated herself around the low table. She immediately pulled her tools for learning and practising Runes.

She scribbled a few Runes, completely forgetting her time.

The Queen was watching her patiently. Her sweetie didn't know how to connect Runes just yet and she was struggling.

At first, she wanted to scold her when she saw the 'vibration' Rune but paused once she noticed other Runes.

'Why does she make them softer, but bumpy?' The Queen tilted her head. 'I might be able to figure it out if she learns how to connect Runes.'

The Queen sat down and moved her sweetie on her lap. She picked up her own Pen. Inscribed a few Runes and made connections between them.

Aiko stared at those Runes, they ran well and those strange endings were used as the tunnels between the Runes, powering them up in sequence.

'But how am I supposed to know which ending is the right?' Aiko tilted her head and Queen spoke gently.

"You can use any ending on the Runes, but those connections can't go over each other, so when you connect more Runes you have to be careful about the placement, usually you want the connection to be as short as possible, since even those connections take Energy out of the given item." The Queen explained slowly Inscribing several Runes and pointing at their differences.

Aiko was very happy with this.

[Inscription Mastery: Lv.5->6]
[Linguistics: Lv.6->7]

Aiko's eyes shined and she stared at the mean Fox. It was a burning gaze that made the Fox blush.

*Cough*

"I will teach you more, but you need to focus." The Queen rubbed her nose.

Aiko nodded sitting back down on her lap and preparing her Pen.

...

2 weeks passed in the blink of an eye. Aiko was now bored with Runes as they went through so many of them that her head hurt, but it was not wasted time.

[Linguistics: Lv.7->9]
[Dexterous Fingers: Lv.5->Mastered]
[Inscription Mastery: Lv.6->9]

She was incredibly happy about this turn of events, but at the same time she was slightly fed up about the Runes, she needed some time to relax.

"Enough?" The Queen asked her sweetie who was walking away after cleaning up her stuff.

Aiko nodded.

"Let's go on the stern and rest under the stars." The Queen said gently.

Aiko walked forward, she wanted to enjoy this form a little longer since she was very used to this after spending so much time in it.

The unfortunate thing was that this form didn't last long and she had to recharge her stamina quite often, so often, in fact, that her [Meditation] went all the way to the Mastered Level.

For some reason even when it reached mastered, it didn't improve the speed or the fact that she had to have a blank mind while meditating. She didn't like it, but it was the fastest way to recharge her stamina.

...

They left their room attracting attention since they were the only ones not walking around the deck and socializing with others. Some even thought that they died inside.

Aiko was a bit too conscious about those gazes so she hid behind her mean Fox.

*Crash*

Aiko heard a loud crash and looked around. One female disciple was on the floor blood flowing from her nose. Aiko blinked a few times but shook her head soon. She didn't want to spend time in the same room with other weirdos.

The Queen sighed, but guided her on the deck and stern. The stars were incredibly nice as Aiko liked to stare at them while fulfilling the Conditions for her Evolution.

She almost fulfilled all the conditions, she was just missing the Mind and Luck part, but now she had enough Stat Points to just sink them into those Stats.

For some reason, she was unable to raise her level in [Enhanced Mind] and [Four Leaf Clover] Skills. She was upset at first, but soon once she noticed that because of her Beast Core, she was able to reach those requirements by just spending her Stat Points.

[Moon Fox]
[#### Rarity]

[Requirements:
Bath in the rays of the Moon for 30,000 consecutive days - 62 days
Nurture Moon Stone - Obtained
Core Purity of at least 50% - Obtained
During Evolution User needs to be bathed in the rays of the Full Moon - Pending
]
[Hidden Requirements:
####
]
[Stats Requirements:
Mind: 10,000+ - Missing 910
Soul: 1,000+ - Obtained
Beauty: 50,000+ - Crushed
Luck 10,000+ - Missing 2,696
]
[Title Requirements:
Something/Someone that means being loved - Obtained
]

She still didn't know how she was able to fulfil the Title requirements, but since they were already fulfilled she wouldn't dwell on it.

"There is still about 3 weeks till Full Moon..." The Queen murmured and Aiko snapped her head at the Fox.

The Queen smiled gently and caressed Aiko's head. "How about learning how to write?" She smiled mischievously.

Aiko thought that that was a good idea. She would be able to talk with this mean Fox and wouldn't need to rely on her interpretation or Grandmaster.

Aiko nodded readily.

The Queen pulled the dictionary in front of her and it crashed onto the floor.

Aiko jumped staring warily at the ridiculously thick unnatural Book and the odd smile coming from the mean Fox.

... It was a nightmare.

...

2 weeks of unbearable torture abruptly stopped as the Queen proclaimed bathing time.

Aiko was freaking overjoyed that the stinky mean Fox finally let her go. She even teared up a bit.

The ship moved to stand still and landed on nearby plains. The other Foxes were startled and confused as to why they abruptly stopped.

Murmurs spread throughout the ship, but the Queen ignored all of them as she debarked from the ship with a few Elders in tow.

'Nice place, nice~'
'This is a good place.'

Aiko was startled as the Darkness didn't speak to her all that often, but whenever it did it was important.

'Exploration~!'
'You should explore, thoroughly.'

Aiko paused. 'This place must be special and the time of the Full Moon is approaching, if I stall and then breakthrough?' Aiko smiled.

The Queen found a nearby pristine lake and started to prepare the Herbs.

As always Aiko was watching her with interest as those Herbs were also used to create those tasty Pill Candies.

'I wonder if I should become a candy maker.' Aiko had such strange thoughts and even felt that it might be possible. 'Candies for days~' Aiko hummed.

The Queen was burdened by her humming sweetie, if she messed up that would mean great embarrassment.

The Queen carefully prepared everything and even used that Heavenly Graded Pill. The Elders stood on guard nearby protecting this place. The Queen and her Mate were of great importance if they wanted resources from the mainland and since even the Sect Leader favoured them they couldn't say anything bad...

The Medicine Bath was prepared and Aiko dived inside. She stayed in her Fox form as otherwise she would be scolded by the mean Fox.

...

[Medicine Bath 5]
[Beast Core Purified by 5%!]
[Beauty per Level increased by 50!]

[[Bath Enjoyer] Triggered!]
[Medicine Bath 3]
[Beast Core Purified by 10%!]
[Beauty per Level increased by 100!]

[Enhanced Beauty: Lv.4->Mastered]

'That's... not bad.' Aiko thought. 'It's good that I got another Mastered Passive Skill.'

She was unaware that each time she took the bath the efficacy halved, but because her Fox form and Human form were counted separately she didn't feel that change.

Now that her Beast Core reached above 50% every cleansing effect halved, so it would be harder to cleanse her Core from here on out.