Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Witch Aiko observed the black sludge-like matter, it would take the form of a small girl, but was that a defence mechanism or something that was normal for it.

"It also can change forms." Danji gestured as it changed into a small pile of fluffy tails.

"I see, a bedding, huh?" Witch Aiko nodded her head seriously. If it was not alive, Witch Aiko would seriously consider it, but since it was alive it was a bit iffy.

The main reason would be that Witch Aiko couldn't read its intentions, making her feel quite strange.

She would always read her opponents intentions and she would mostly ignore it since there were no bad intentions most of the time, but when she wanted to know the intentions, she couldn't...

Moreover, not even the system showed anything about this thing other than [It's not dangerous.].

Witch Aiko wondered what kind of material this was and if it was really alive or not.

Witch Aiko dodged another flying chicken. "Hold on, how are you able to get into this place?"

"Maybe a connection with me?" Danji also didn't know why this suddenly appeared.

"..." Grandpa Flame also popped up out of nowhere. "I wanted to rest more..." He groaned unhappily, but he didn't mind helping Aiko around.

"Oh, you are right. As long as it has connections it can go into this place." Witch Aiko nodded her head seriously when suddenly, the world spun.

...

Witch Aiko blinked her eyes. There was a familiar ceiling above her, the same ceiling before she went to bed.

She stretched sensually before getting out of this bed and looking around.

Everything seemed normal and nothing was out of place, but Witch Aiko would still look around and try to figure out if this was reality.

Walking outside, there were many sleeping Foxes and most of them weren't moving much, so it seemed like either Witch Aiko was not the only person being caught in that, or this was still that strange dream.

"Aiko?" Mei spoke softly towards her.

Witch Aiko noticed Mei's odd expression and couldn't help but to ask her. "What's wrong?"

"You were completely out of it for a week." Mei sighed as she stood up. She erected a protective barrier that guarded both Soul and Mind, but they would have to first wake up before it could be applied to them.

"Oh..." Witch Aiko nodded her head with a frown. She immediately explained to Mei what happened.

"Hmmm..." Mei listened attentively, but what Aiko was talking about was too strange.

"I have never heard about Natural Formation doing something like that. Well, I did, but those Natural Formations specialised in it..." Mei frowned. This was either a very rare Natural Formation or something was iffy about the situation.

"So you have to somehow leave that place to wake up?" Witch Aiko gazed around at the sleeping Foxes.

"From what you have told me, that appears to be the case." Mei nodded her head seriously.

"Then is there no way to wake them up?" Witch Aiko was concerned about them. "How about our team?"

"Nobody slept, except Danji." Mei shook her head. Their team had to take care of the Foxes, so it was natural that they wouldn't sleep for some time. They also didn't feel all that tired, so they just kept going until the Foxes got better.

"I'm awake." Danji yawned. That was a very unpleasant dream, so she was not looking forward to more sleep.

Witch Aiko and Mei stared at her.

"... You too?" Danji felt like their gazes were odd, but she wouldn't read into them too much, just in case it was something concerning.

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"Yeah." Witch Aiko sighed.

"So we won't dream of that place again?" Danji asked Mei. She was kind of looking forward to it and kind of not. The flying abnormalities were essentially what concerned her, and the lack of direction bothered her.

The only direction you got was: More enemies this way and less enemies that way.

"We will wait for a bit more, otherwise we will have to rescue them." Mei was concerned, since it was difficult to join other Foxes' dreams if you were not invited.

Sure, you could 'force' the invitation, but most of the time you would be designated as an 'enemy' by the mind, making conversation suddenly impossible.

The main reason for that is language. Once the brain perceives you as an enemy, it will distort the language that you won't be able to understand it and while this is a trait only related to Foxes and is not well known.

"Any way we can help them from outside?" Witch Aiko was still concerned about them.

"We can feed them and move them around so that they are not completely stiff once they wake up." Mei suggested this since she didn't like the forceful method. Moreover, she also noticed that Aiko grew stronger, so it was possible that this Natural Formation was also used for training.

But there was no manual about this, which made things dangerous for those that didn't know it was not real.

"Okay, but they should wake up soon, since the 'dreams' weren't all that good." Witch Aiko snorted unhappily. That whole exploration journey felt like a waste of-

Witch Aiko glanced at her system.

[Explore the Dream Realm]

[Special Mission]

[Explore the Dream Realm created by a Natural Formation that was taken over.]

[Requirement: At least 20% exploration done.]

[Current: 18->19%]

[Reward: Depends on total exploration.]

"..." Witch Aiko stared at Mei and Danji and they soon melted into nothingness.

"That's... concerning..." Witch Aiko frowned. This 'illusion' or 'dream' was too real for her liking. Or maybe it was not a dream- No, like...

"They are in a plaza and I stumbled on it." Witch Aiko was convinced that everyone was caught in this 'dream', but then how to exit it?

"Gosh, if only Danji and Mei were around..." Witch Aiko sighed when she noticed that next to her appeared both of them.

"Hm?" Mei was confused since she was just feeding a Fox, while Danji was trying to sleep comfortably, but she crashed onto the ground.

"Ugh..." Danji felt resentment towards whoever made this place!

"... Are you real?" Witch Aiko had a hard time telling what was real and what was fake.

"As much as I can get." Mei looked around. "So even others were caught up in it? But I don't remember sleeping."

"It's also concerning that the 'dreams' are way too realistic compared to what happened before." Witch Aiko nudged Mei and helped Danji stand up.

"So how about we wreck this place?" Danji suggested, since she couldn't sleep like this. She would much rather play with Aiko than play inside this place!

"How do you plan to do that?" Witch Aiko didn't see a way to touch the 'dream' making it difficult to explore.

Sure, she already got 19% exploration done, but now it was stuck again, with no progress in sight.

"That place felt safe, while this place feels cold?" Mei was concerned that they would become stuck in this place, but at the same time it was a good thing that Aiko called them.

With everyone in the same place, everything might go smoother and they can butt their heads together to come up with some kind of plan.

"We can summon things that are 'attached' to us." Witch Aiko demonstrated with Grandpa Flame. "Anything that doesn't have connection, like unrefined Treasure, would not appear, while refined Treasures would appear, but their performance would be reduced."

Witch Aiko didn't like researching, but it was necessary in this situation, so she would just bear with it.

"How about the flying boat?" Mei wanted to know if that would also work, considering it was a flying vessel.

However, another possible problem was that this whole place could be an illusion, so everything connected to them was just 'copied' rather than manifested.

"I must say, the Earthen Elephants must be quite savage." Witch Aiko didn't like this place, since she couldn't leave at will.

"I take that as a no." Mei nodded her head.

"What was left are our abilities, but I can't really use most of them as they relate to blood." Danji sighed in frustration, her bountiful weapons were taken away from her, making her a bit more vulnerable.

"So nothing that is directly tied to reality, other than our bodies?" Witch Aiko gestured, but even that felt wrong.

"I think that just our Soul got pulled, so we could use some Soul Treasures or meditate long enough that we can manifest our Treasures even in this odd place." Mei suggested this since it was better having some means of defence.

"Are we sure that all those Foxes back there were real?" Witch Aiko didn't like this situation, it creeped her out and she just wanted to leave...!

"Most likely." Danji said seriously. "Their hearts beat calmly, like they were sleeping."

"Wait, does that mean they are awake in the real world and are watching us sleep?" Witch Aiko raised her eyebrow.

"They were real, I could use blood techniques in that room." Danji felt like she was nerfed a lot since she was unable to observe the blood closely, or maybe that's how this place worked in which case that would concern her a lot...

"This is making me depressed." Mei sighed. She just wanted to have a place to rest, but now she was trapped in here.

"We will be fine, we just have to figure out how to deal with the 'centre'." Witch Aiko said seriously, already looking around to see if she could spot the way to the 'centre'.

"I know the way." The small completely pitch black 'girl', spoke softly.

"How do you know it?" Mei asked, but was startled by what she saw. "What is this?"

"Something I found and wanted to use as bedding for Aiko, but oh well..." Danji sighed. She then nudged her Treasure to talk more.

"I can vaguely feel the power of this place in a certain direction, but I can't ensure accuracy, so we might be walking in circles later." The girl didn't sugar coat it and ensured that they were aware of the risk.

One crazy Master was enough. She didn't need even more crazy people giving her orders and making her life difficult...