Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Chapter 36 – Troubled Queen

'Am I imagining it or is this mean Fox glancing at me too often?' Aiko was puzzled as she felt the Foxes stare at her too often.

Meanwhile the Glancing Fox. 'D-did I overdo it?? I mean she was kind of nice to look at, but who would have thought it would make her fur so shiny!?' The Queen was struggling. She was extremely tempted to acquire human form so that she could pet her to her heart's content.

She breathed heavily. 'Calm down, don't rush, she might be a bit shiny, but we can just wait.' Then she paused and the air around her changed.

'No, wait a minute! If we arrive at the 'Fox Village' other bastards would also like to pet her!' Her murderous intent almost leaked and her thoughts warped and clouded her thoughts.

'Right... it would be a pain in the ass to kill them all.' She regained some clarity. 'Let's just announce her as my mate when I arrive there, that way nobody would go after her!' Never mind, her mind had already a few screws loose. This was not unexpected as she lived too long and Aiko's fur and love for meat constantly reminded her of someone.

'Since it didn't work out the previous time, let's make it work this time~' She hummed inside her mind and Aiko for some reason shivered, like some kind of beast was staring at her poor body.

...

Aiko was extremely apprehensive against this mean Fox. For some reason she would get licked much more often, not to mention whenever she would sneakily sleep on her mean Fox, the next day she wouldn't make any fuss about it?! And even made her delicious meat?!

This was too much for Aiko and she was very wary of this Fox. Such a strange, sudden and sharp turn in treatment... she wouldn't get eaten by her right?

Aiko ate her meat the Fox was suspiciously close to her, but since the Fox didn't do anything to her and only kept Aiko warm with her tail, she didn't say anything, for now.

The Queen strapped Aiko on her back again and moved through the Forest.

Aiko once again enjoyed the feeling of wind against her fur. Thanks to this Fox's [Clean]ing skill she was always squeaky clean. Sure it couldn't compare to the feeling of taking a bath, but it was much faster and less tedious when it came to drying.

She had to wait several hours on that beach to dry, yet this fox just used a skill and in the blink of an eye she was completely nice and dry!

She pouted a bit, it would be great if she could use that skill, but it seems like one has to have an affinity with the Water Element to do so. She only has Shadow and Earth, and neither of them is of any use when it comes to cleaning.

She even looked through her shop, but to her shock, some Abilities and Martial Arts were locked behind a wall named Elemental Affinity.

She wasn't completely locked, she could buy them, but those Abilities were incomparably more expensive than if she were to buy Abilities based on Shadows or Earth.

She stared at this mean Fox in a new light. It seemed like she was very good with Water Element. The Queen used her [Clean] on Aiko too many times, so Aiko thought she might have bottomless energy or it just cost too little.

Little did she know that it was actually quite expensive to use that Ability in terms of Qi, but the Queen couldn't get enough of Aiko's fur so she willingly burned through her Qi so that she could lick and cuddle that nice fur, especially now after the medicine bath! It was incomparably better! So good in fact that she questioned her morals as an Immortal!

Aiko naturally didn't know about this inner conflict that the Fox was having and even if she knew she wouldn't do anything about it unless it threatened her meat-producing capabilities.

"Evolution depends on several factors. Most beasts would evolve without unlocking any Bloodlines or they would have such a generic Bloodline that it would be useless to them. Then there are exceptions like that [Fire Lizard] you fought in the desert." The Queen smiled, but Aiko wasn't smiling.

Aiko slapped the back of the stinky Fox, still upset at the fact that she threw her inside that desert without telling her anything, not to mention she was forced to fight such an unfavourable fight.

If Aiko could she would be now hurling insults at the stinky Fox, but the Fox was just smiling happily running along the river.

"Most sources of food and water are contaminated with impurities." She suddenly explained.

"That is also one of the reasons that only some beasts make it in their lives. You shouldn't drink common water or food, since it would pollute your Core, but if you are around extreme environments, like Volcanos or Vast Iceland. Then you can drink and eat there. Those extreme environments cause the beast to adapt and the easiest way to do that is by keeping your Core clean." The Queen continued explaining.

"Especially those with pure flames inside their body. They naturally keep their bodies clean. That's why [Fire Cultivators] are so treasured, you don't have to spend nearly as many materials, compared to someone with Water or Earth, since those are easily polluted."

"But there are some benefits, for example [Nature Cultivators] thrive in zones with high pollution. They can use that pollution and turn it into Pure Qi, which is much more beneficial than Natural Qi, as natural Qi has all elements, while Pure Qi is more neutral and thus allows everyone to benefit."

"It is a good idea to keep one or two [Nature] or [Wood] Cultivators around yourself as it will speed up your Beast Core absorption capabilities. This in turn lowers your chances of polluting your Cores, if you would-" The Queen abruptly paused. 'Nonono, I can't tell her that Dual Cultivation with such individuals can improve her Beast Core Purity.'

A drop of sweat rolled down her back. 'I almost ruined my chances in keeping her for myself, I will have to be more careful in the future.' She nodded to herself. 'Of course, I will make sure that she has the necessary ingredients and time to develop without the need for Dual Cultivation with others.' She smirked.

Aiko thought for just a moment. 'I wonder if there is a possibility to get [Water] affinity for [Clean] or [Nature] affinity for that purification effect. She really liked the idea of being able to eat anything she wanted, while simultaneously turning it into more energy.

"We will rest for today." The Queen said. "Tomorrow we will be entering the territory of the 'Fox Village'. We will see more and more exotic species, so be prepared." The Queen had a serious voice. 'Especially since you are still a beast and others will try to go after you.' She snorted. 'I have gathered quite a few Beast Cores during my rampage, so let's use that to strengthen her a bit.

The Queen cooked her another meat and they went to sleep together.

...

'I realized some time ago that even though her Beast Core is full she is still able to benefit from absorbing Beast Cores.' The Queen thought. 'I will let her consume as many as possible in these 2 days since once we enter their territory it would be too dangerous for us to do that.'

While the Queen was powerful she didn't want to unnecessarily fight other Foxes just in case it would affect her time inside the 'Village'. Sure she wanted to spend only 50 years there before moving to the main Continent, but that didn't mean she wanted to spend those 50 years in unnecessary disputes.

Aiko played with the Beast Cores that the mean Fox gave in front of her. She was looking forward to it.

The Queen glanced at the excited Aiko and smiled. 'Yes, yes, I wonder if I was as happy as she was the first time I extracted Beast Cores.'

She nestled Aiko in front of those Beast Cores and would pierce one after another and let Aiko draw that energy in.

[EXP gained.][EXP gained.][EXP gained.][Level gained.][EXP gained.]

She was Levelling quite nicely, the unfortunate thing about this was that the nice feeling when extracting that energy was too quick. It was nicer than eating meat, but awful when it came to enjoyment as it was too quick to sate that desire.

[Level: 40 (2nd Evolution)]
[You can Evolve into [Common] Beast]
[Levelling further will allow you to Evolve into [Uncommon] Beast.]

There it was the notification she was waiting for! Previously you needed only Level 20 for Common rarity, but now she was at 40 and something in her mind told her that it would get only worse from here on out.

She licked her paws and waited for the mean Fox to give her more Beast Cores.

The Queen was again shocked. 'How can she improve her body so much without directing that energy into her Beast Core?!' Now she was absolutely sure that Aiko had some kind of ancient relic that was helping her body to strengthen. 'I hope it doesn't have any side effects, it would be bad if it polluted her Beast Core or caused some unwanted side effects.'

She really wanted to ask about this, but at the same time, she was worried that this would cause Aiko to distance herself from her. This plagued her mind but kept it hidden for now.

'As long as it doesn't cause anything negative to her I won't ask her, but the moment something happens I will have to force her to tell me.' She thought. 'I have vast knowledge and there wouldn't be anything that I couldn't solve!'

She placed more Beast Cores in front of Aiko and they resumed their spree for the next few days.

[Level: 80 (2nd Evolution)]
[You can Evolve into [Uncommon] Beast]
[Levelling further will allow you to Evolve into [Rare] Beast.]

Aiko consumed a vast amount of Beast Cores, but could only reach the Uncommon Rarity. This greatly disheartened her as she would have to consume too many Beast Cores if she wanted to Evolve later. Not to mention the Evolution in itself would consume a LOT of Spirit Stones/Energy.