Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

[Gale Steps reached 2nd Stage]

Aiko dashed after the nerdy Fox since he was the most skilled with [Gale Steps].

As such, Aiko had to try really hard to keep up with him.

The nerdy Fox clicked his tongue and used another Beast Technique to shake off this beautiful yet scary Fox.

Aiko narrowed her eyes as she noticed that he was escaping. Well... splitting into multiple individuals.

'Is that some kind of Illusion Technique?' Nightmare Aiko's ears perked. She hasn't practised with her Illusion Technique, which could give her an edge over the others.

Especially if she plays her cards right, she would be able to fool Beasts that might threaten her.

Trying to mimic his steps, she was trying to make his Technique her own.

Noticing that, he frowned and suddenly stopped.

"Stop!" The nerdy Fox raised his hand, but she was too focused on her Technique to stop.

They crashed into each other, and Aiko sent their bodies flying against a tree.

"Auchie." Aiko rubbed her nose. "Why would you stop?!" She glared at him and threatened with her sharpened stick.

He was quite handsome looking more closely, and he also was no longer shrouded in Illusions.

His eyebrows were thin, well, his whole body was very thin, thinner than what Aiko was used to.

The only thing somewhat masculine about him was his face. He had round glasses and was the epitome of nerdiness.

His overly long hair and 'dress' also didn't help his case.

With purple eyes and purple streaks running down his hair, Aiko assumed that he was partially Illusion-oriented.

His tail was pitifully thin, and that was probably why Aiko didn't pay attention to his looks.

'Tail is about 2/10...' Aiko clicked her tongue. The only redeeming feature was that he had 5 tails.

"You can't use that Technique like that, or you would get a rebound!" The nerdy Fox scolded her.

"Ah... he is back at it..." The curious Fox tucked her tail and glanced at her associates.

"We should run before he picks on us too." The other delegation Foxes nodded at each other and sped at the highest speed yet.

"Where do you think you are going?" The nerdy Fox readjusted his glasses as he picked up Aiko and set her aside so that he could drag his colleagues back.

...

"We are sorry!" The delegation Foxes had their heads close to the ground. They were terrified of his teaching, since it would always take a lot of time and he liked to scold them for not doing the Techniques properly.

"Beast Techniques are the backbone that allows us to compete with Humans." The nerdy Fox readjusted his glasses. "As such, you have to perform them perfectly."

Aiko was sitting on the side, looking at them. 'They... completely forgot about me...' She didn't know how she should feel about this, but maybe if she stuck a stick up his...

Aiko sneaked behind him and used the stick, but his body slowly melted, like it was never there to begin with.

"When it comes to ambushes, the Illusionary Steps can help you avoid them a few times, but you still have to pay attention." The nerdy Fox readjusted his glasses as his stern eyes looked at his colleagues.

"There is a perfect student for this Technique." Once the nerdy Fox got into his teaching personality, nothing would stop him, not even strange rumours.

At this point he didn't care he was against the Vicious Jade Fox. He just saw her as a student that needed to be corrected.

"Come here, student." The nerdy Fox adjusted his glasses. "And you lot don't try to run away, or I will recite the whole Buddhist Scripture to you." He threatened, and they shivered and swayed with the wind.

"???" Aiko was still confused about this situation. 'How did he dodge? My eyes told me that I should've hit him.'

The nerdy Fox had a very serious expression, like a stern teacher, but... 'Divine shit! I almost got impaled!' On the inside, he sweated buckets if the Vicious Jade Fox used the same Technique that allowed the Fairy Jade Fox to sneak up on him...

*Gulp*

He must learn more about the Vicious Jade Fox so he can prevent that!

Aiko got close, stuck still in her hand.

"You will need to focus, so throw that away." The nerdy Fox, with his still serious expression, said.

But Aiko just put it into her Storage Ring for later use.

The nerdy Fox's face twitched, but it was not like he could command her.

They still didn't completely agree to leave this place, so it was important to butter them up.

"I will show you how you should use this, and you will mimic me. I will then adjust the Technique so it fits your body." The nerdy Fox explained.

It was not that he was a kind teacher who wanted to explain the Technique to everyone, but...

'The more I know about them, the less worried I have to be if they want to hurt me.' He wanted to gather as much information as possible about troublesome Foxes that might threaten his life... or backdoor.

"No nerdy stuff?" Aiko was so shocked that she stared at him speechlessly.

"Would you listen to what I have to say if I did that?" The nerdy Fox crossed his arms like he was in a bad mood.

"Nope!" Aiko laughed happily.

The nerdy Fox coughed. This kind of smiley Fox was his weakness, so he would have to chant calming heart mantras later.

"Then watch me." The nerdy Fox took a few steps, his body slowly distorted, and there were three of them.

"How did you do that?" Aiko tilted her head.

"The Illusions are create-" The nerdy Fox tried to explain it with pride, but Aiko stopped him.

"How did you switch places with the Illusions?" Aiko sinisterly tilted her head since this was the thing that allowed him to dodge her stabby stab.

The nerdy Fox stiffened. He didn't expect that she would notice that.

He adjusted his glasses again since the rims were uneven from fighting his colleagues constantly.

"You have progressed on your insight well." The nerdy Fox was both impressed and terrified. He didn't expect her to notice this so soon. It would take most Foxes around 2-3 years to even learn about the existence of illusion switching, but this Vicious Jade Fox already realised that on the third try.

This was terrifying talent and he was questioning if it was a good idea to take the Fairy Jade Fox and not the Vicious Jade Fox...

"Tell meeee." Aiko really wished she could impale him, but he would just run away through his illusion clones.

The nerdy Fox coughed awkwardly. "You can call me Ru. I will first teach you how to create illusion clones, and we can move from that."

"Tsk." Aiko clicked her tongue unhappily. If she could figure out how he did that, catching him would be a lot easier.

It seemed like Ru realised that and chuckled. "You will have to work harder if you want to catch up to me." He provoked her on purpose since most of his colleagues were too lazy to do anything without that.

However, we are talking about Aiko...

"I will definitely impale you." Nightmare Aiko immediately grabbed two sharpened sticks and chased Ru.

"You need to have some attainment in Illusions if you want to create illusion clones. Moreover, it's also difficult to move them since you have to think how to move your body, but somewhere else." Ru explained as he was chased by the Vicious Jade Fox.

'I'm really a genius at teaching Foxes.' He nodded to himself happily.

Suddenly, a chill went up his spine, and he quickly switched his place with an illusion clone.

"Tsk. Almost." There were two Vicious Jade Foxes chasing after him.

'What...?' Ru couldn't believe his eyes that the one that chased him was an illusion and not the real one.

A realisation hit him like a tsunami. 'I might've provoked her a bit too much...!'

He saw that those two Vicious Jade Foxes were almost indistinguishable from each other. They were almost a perfect carbon copy.

"I can do this faster." Aiko narrowed her eyes and mimicked his steps again, but something felt wrong.

"Your third and fifth step need to be a half-step to the left and right respectively." Ru told her and she adjusted her steps.

[You have learned [Illusionary Steps].]

The illusion clone that Aiko created was now much more solid than before, so much so that Ru was concerned for his rear.

"You shouldn't overdo it, since Illusionary Steps drain too much of your Beast Core, it should only be used when you know that it would be difficult to avoid damage." Ru explained as he let the Vicious Jade Fox chase after him again.

Since he knew that she was not of the same Beast Rank as the Fairy Jade Fox, he was convinced that she would eventually run out of Beast Core energy.

...

And he was right. Not long after, her breathing got uneven, and her illusions appeared murky.

"You should stop now. Your Beast Core has almost hit rock bottom." Ru gently dissuaded her from chasing after him.

"Dammit." Aiko glared at him. She didn't expect that he would have so much energy.

When it came to simple Stamina, it would be difficult to rival Aiko, but she was still not at a Beast Rank that would allow her to match their Beast Core capacities.

'I'm glad she got tired. I can't believe that her Beast Core has such a high capacity for her Beast Rank...!' Ru sweated a few buckets since he didn't think that the Vicious Jade Fox would be able to chase after him for so long.

His associates also realised the abnormality of this Fox and now regretted that they picked the Fairy Jade Fox over this unpolished brilliant.

"I will get you next time!" Aiko glared at him.

"You did well." Mei appeared out of nowhere, and her expression was not all that good.

It took her 2 weeks to teach Aiko Gale Steps, yet this Fox only took a few hours?! Despicable!

"I still ran out of energy..." Aiko whined to her.

Mei hugged Aiko protectively and soothed her.

Ru believed that he was catching animosity for something he didn't do, but his Beast Core energy was quite exhausted and that glare was not at normal one, so he withdrew.

"You were still able to learn the beginning of the Illusionary Steps. You should be proud." Ru praised the Vicious Jade Fox in order to appease her partner, but he noticed that the Fairy Jade Fox's expression got even more severe.

"If you excuse me." He tucked his tail between his legs before running away.

His associates followed since they realised that this situation was abnormal...