Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

"That's about everything you need to know to start your Forging Cultivation Path." Old Lei finished his teachings on the 19th day.

"Thank you for teaching me about Forging." Aiko bowed towards him. He was very knowledgeable about the general technique, which allowed Aiko to harness a lot of knowledge.

Thanks to that, a few things happened.

[Forging Mastery: Mastered] -> [Arts Mastery: Lv.1 (Inscription, Alchemy, Assassin, Smithing, Forging)]

[Mission Completed!]

[Forging Path: Learn the basics of Forging and finish moulding metals together.]

[Reward: Advanced Knowledge about Forging Cultivation]

[Appraisal is progressing!]

Aiko understood a few more things now.

First: [Arts Mastery]'s level won't rise no matter what for the time being, even when she kept practising her Skills under those names.

Second: Missions give you a headache since they compress all of that information and send it into your brain.

Third: [Appraisal] is not all-knowing but hinges on your own knowledge + a bit more on World Knowledge.

What that meant was that unless Aiko had the bare minimum knowledge about a given thing, [Appraisal] would not activate, or if it did activate, it would just tell you [Rock] or [Dirt], which was not useful at all...

Aiko concluded that the more research she did, the more [Appraisal] would improve since once she got the basic knowledge about a thing, the [Appraisal] would start working, but it would also tell her things she didn't know at all.

It didn't tell her everything about the given thing, but it was enough to make a difference to the observant Moon Aiko.

It was still an incredible thing that Aiko acquired that knowledge, since she now better understood the [The Ever Shaping Cauldron].

What the lower part and upper part were supposed to do, and how they would interact with each other.

Aiko still had some time, and she also wanted to get a bit more acquainted with the Demonic Foxes, so she dragged Fang Jia away.

"Thanks for everything. I have more things to do, so let's meet one day again!" Moon Aiko said goodbye to Old Lei.

"She is too lively." Old Lei shook his head, but he understood why she was like that.

It had been quite a while since she came here, and she was always restless about staying here for too long.

'Well, we will definitely meet again.' Old Lei munched on a piece of bread that was made by his daughter, chuckling to himself. 'With that kind of talent, she will become famous sooner than she might think.'

...

"Why are you in a hurry?" Fang Jia was slightly confused.

"I almost finished everything, so I wanted to spend some time with you and my other companions before I embark." Aiko explained as she stopped near Fang Jia's home.

"Oh..." Fang Jia was quite sad, but she was not strong enough to keep Aiko around, so she didn't try to stop her... for the time being.

"And why the other Foxes?" Fang Jia tilted her head.

"Because they created groups last time I had them around. There are around 70 Foxes in my tail, so I want to know them a bit better before we move somewhere." Aiko wouldn't be able to have them around in the Fox Village since they were the ones who sold them.

This left her with no way to deal with this situation. Other than to talk with them here and outside the Fox Village.

Here, it was safe since everyone knew that there were Demonic Foxes.

The Demonic Foxes were also obedient to Aiko, so she didn't need to worry about them throwing some kind of tantrum.

Nodding to herself, she smiled. "And you need to get used to them since I feel like you will be sticking to me."

Moon Aiko didn't know why she thought that, but she believed that would be the case.

"W-what are you t-talking about?!" Fang Jia immediately turned red and ran inside her house.

"Did I say something?" Aiko tilted her head slowly. She couldn't understand why Fang Jia acted like that.

'It will probably sort itself out.' Aiko didn't think it was that big of a deal, so she just pushed it to the back of her head.

'Now then.' Aiko narrowed her eyes and started pulling out all the Demonic Foxes, but not Feifei.

She worried that this place would have something against her-

"You can take out my sis, too. Nobody will hurt her when I'm around." Fang Jia peeked from behind the door with a blushing and pouting expression.

Aiko paused for a moment. "Sure." She had nothing against having Feifei outside... She also needed some stretching.

...

"Aiko?" Feifei was surprised that she was also outside.

"Jia wanted you outside." Aiko shrugged and pointed at the pouting girl.

"Oh~" Feifei immediately ran towards her and tackled her.

"Now, as for you." Aiko narrowed her eyes.

"Please command us, Mistress." It seemed like Yu was the perfect leader as everyone obediently followed her steps.

"No command, I just want to know more about your groups and Cultivation Paths." Moon Aiko believed that with that information, both her system and [Appraisal] would be able to advance significantly.

"Of course, Mistress." Yu smiled and bowed towards Aiko.

"I will begin." Yu smiled with a genuine expression like she was never burdened in her life. "I'm both a Sound and Music Cultivator. I specialise in both Destruction and Calming down one's mind."

"How do they differ?" Aiko tilted her head.

"Sound Cultivators are Cultivators that use sound purely for destruction. They are very devastating, and one of them could easily change the tides of the war." Yu explained Sound Cultivation just slightly so that they could go more in-depth later on.

"Meanwhile, Music Cultivation has no physical destructive potential, but they still can harm your mind if they play the notes incorrectly. Their main purpose is to aid other Cultivators during meditation or comprehension and are usually seen as essential for big Sects." Yu then added. "Since there are so few Music Cultivators, they usually skip from Outer Disciple all the way to the Inner/Core Disciple, depending on their skills."

"Ohhhh..." Aiko was very curious about that since she might really like music.

"I'm the leader of both the Sound and Music group, since I have the most experience." Yu bowed gently.

"I'm very curious about it, so we will talk about it later." Aiko smiled happily.

"Next up are the Body Cultivators. They are slightly different from what you might've learned." Yu pointed at quite the slim Foxes, which confused Aiko.

"They challenge their bodies with burdens and poisons in order to create the perfect bodies that can hold the biggest Soul, or so they say." Yu chuckled. "Most see them as crazy lunatics that run around with heavy weights and bathe in painful, poisonous baths." She shrugged when that group rolled their eyes.

"That's still interesting. Can they gain poison immunity?" Aiko narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, but it takes a long time before your body will be able to develop it." Yu sighed. "It's very taxing on both resources and their bodies, since their pain receptors are quite numb."

"I see. We can expand on this later and see if we can improve it." Aiko nodded lightly.

"Thank you, Mistress." While Yu did say those harsh words, none of them discriminated against each other, and they made fun of each other rather than being spiteful.

"I will skip Energy/Qi Cultivators, since that's what you are, Mistress. The next ones are Sword Cultivators." Yu pointed at yet another group of slim Foxes, but it was obvious that their hands were once quite rough.

"They practise the sword and are one with the sword. They can utilise powerful Sword Energy/Aura/Heart, whatever you want to call it." Yu explained.

"Their Cultivation lives by the sword and dies by the sword, so breaking Sword Cultivators' sword was like killing them." Yu explained.

"I see, so they are very expensive when it comes to materials." Aiko nodded her head slowly. All of these groups would be exceptionally useful.

"Yes..." Yu pursed her lips. None of these groups were cheap, since all of them needed their own specialised equipment or Pills.

"Continue." Aiko immediately dismissed her gloomy expression and pressed on.

"Another group would be Art Cultivators. They can range from painters to sculptors. It could also include Massage Artists, but those are so rare that they might as well be extinct." Yu sighed.

Aiko nodded her head. While the rave about her Massage Chairs was great, it also attracted many enemies. The Massage Artists would have it rough since they needed to live.

"They can and can't fight. It depends on their specialisation." Yu scratched her head.

"What do you mean by that?" Aiko tilted her head.

"Paint Artists can create a small living world with creatures, allowing others to train in them. Meanwhile, the same Artists could drag Cultivators into their paintings and let them be slaughtered by Cultivators or Beasts inside." Yu smiled.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh!" Aiko's eyes shined. That sounded quite exciting.

"The sculptors are quite difficult since they don't have any real combat power. However, they can create golems that would do their bidding, so you could say that they were the generals of their armies." Yu smiled, but deep inside was quite nervous. None of these groups were cheap to maintain, and they also required extensive knowledge...

"They sound like fun. I really want to see them in action. We could make so many things with them." Aiko giggled happily.

This would allow her to maintain gardens with Herbs, among other things.

"I'm also in the Art class!" Feifei suddenly 'ambushed' Aiko.

"You are?" Aiko tilted her head. She knew that Feifei liked to draw, but to think she would choose this path...

"She is very talented in drawing, and with a bit of help, she could allow her drawings to come to life." Yu giggled, trying to support their small sister.

"Oho~" Aiko giggled. She was quite happy for Feifei.

"Yep. I will do my best!" Feifei's eyes burned brightly.

"Then what about the Herbs?" Aiko teased her.

"A-uh... I can do both of them!" Feifei was startled, but she still proclaimed it with the same enthusiasm.

"Is that so~" Aiko giggled happily about how things were turning out.