Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

'Should I just buy more clothes since I have enough marbles to bump my level very high?' Aiko tilted her head a few times. Maybe she should even buy dedicated gear for teleportation and stuff like that, since it would improve her transportation capabilities, but also reduce Mana consumption.

'I'm seriously considering it.' Aiko tasked the Spirit Slime to collect the rest of the scattered marbles.

As expected, the Spirit Slime was very smart. It split its body into many parts and spread them out. Its efficiency was pretty much unrivalled when it came to collecting things.

'I didn't think that purchase would be so good.' Aiko hoped that the slime would be able to collect her loot, but she didn't expect this efficacy!

Aiko ate the rest of the Kraken with the small Spirit Slime while waiting for the rest of those small blobs to do their work...

...

"I have too many..." Aiko groaned.

[Level: 50 -> 99]

"Seems like the limit is either 99 or I need to do something to get 100." Aiko nodded her head slowly. She didn't expect to get blocked like this, but this was still fine.

'I wonder if there are any nuclear options...?' She did want to test other weapons, but she was kind of getting sick of the black and white that was outside her little safe area.

The safe area was fully coloured now, even the impossibly and almost endless wall that protected her from the outside world, was coloured.

Moreover, the faint sense of smell and warmth on her skin was also slowly manifesting over time, making her feel like this place was evolving quickly.

Aiko liked this place. The sense of comfort that she never obtained outside and the powerfulness without a worry about being killed.

Her... impulsive nature and sharp tongue was hard to change. It kind of felt like it was just part of her being and that would never change or adjust.

She might get more eloquent, making her sharp words be masked behind cute expressions, but that was about the extent that her mind allowed. Anything past that and she would just blow up even worse than what she was normally.

Looking around, there were even flowers growing here and there.

"It kind of feels like this place should be populated by something or someone." Aiko nodded her head slowly.

"It kind of feels that way." A sweet and soothing voice answered her back.

"I know right?" Aiko smiled as she kept nodding, but then suddenly turned towards that voice with eyes that almost flew out of her eye sockets.

"Y-Yue?!" Aiko didn't expect her here.

"Yeah, I'm also surprised." Fang Yue nodded her head. "I know I taught you manners, and that you allow me into your Treasure, but isn't this too much?" No matter how she looked around, this was not something that Aiko was supposed to have at this point!

"Nononono." Aiko immediately stopped her. "You first should explain how you got here?"

"I didn't. I got dragged here." Yue tilted her head. 'Was she always so cute? Although those eyes are a bit scary.' She patted Aiko's head gently.

"By whom?" Aiko tilted her head.

"He called himself your Uncle? Anyway, I have no idea since I couldn't even see his silhouette before I suddenly appeared here." Yue sighed like she was bothered by this situation.

"..." Aiko was trying to figure out what this meant, but it was kind of hard to do. The system often-times made no sense or didn't share enough information with her, so she was limited in many ways.

"Are you feeling alright?" Aiko wanted to make sure that she was fine.

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"I feel fine. No, more than that." Yue nodded her head. "It kind of feels like I'm more alive here."

*Squish*

"That doesn't mean you should squish my boobs." Yue's lips twitched.

"Oh, but they were so enticing." Aiko pouted. She didn't understand why she suddenly did that, but-

"You are now warm, you know that?" Aiko tilted her head.

"What kind of nonsense..." Fang Yue sighed. It was fine if Aiko got a bit touchy, but using such a sorry excu-

"Hm?" Yue did actually feel warm, and it was very strange feeling since Chen Shi didn't bone her y-

*Cough*

Yue awkwardly coughed. She shouldn't have those thoughts, but this situation made no sense.

If you wanted to be warm, there was a certain baseline of Yang Qi that you needed to obtain if you wanted to achieve that.

If you didn't have enough, you would be as chilly as a Ghost. However, too much of it and you would get killed.

There was nothing in between. You either were warm, or you died.

That's why Ghosts only picked opponents that they can perfectly devour, since if they got greedy, they would cease to be.

"I'm always amazed." Yue sighed.

"That should be my line." Aiko pouted. "So... if you are fine, do you know what to do in here?" She wanted to know why Yue suddenly appeared here. Moreover, her figure was still shrouded, making Aiko feel strange.

"Ah, my Soul is unstable, otherwise you would be able to see me. If you come here later, I can show you how I looked when I was still alive in the Immortal World." Yue giggled.

"I figured as much. Chen Shi wouldn't chase after you through lifetimes with a boner if you weren't beautiful." Aiko nodded her head.

*choke*

Fang Yue choked on her words since she didn't expect Aiko to be so outspoken. It's been a while since they were able to talk, but Aiko never changed...

"As for what I'm supposed to do..." Yue changed the topic since she was a bit embarrassed. "I'm supposed to be the manager for this place, but I will probably have to be a guard too." She nodded her head looking around.

"You think that wall needs guards?" Aiko chuckled at her.

"Of course, since this is your Soul- WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Yue almost ascended when she saw that absurd wall.

"Wait, isn't that like 100 metres thick?! And how high does it reach?!" Yue shook Aiko by her shoulders since she couldn't comprehend what she just saw.

"Well, one thing turned to another and here we are." Aiko whistled innocently.

"..." Yue sighed. "There are many things that you can brush off, but this is not one of them. Nobody is supposed to have such a thick wall since it would make Souls impervious to outside interferences, that includes the Reincarnation."

"Don't ask me about this place. I really have no idea." Aiko waved her hand like she was innocent, but that was far from it.

"Let's go with that..." Yue's lips twitch. "Oh, and I'm still connected to your Treasure, so if you wish to call me out, you still can."

"Okay." Aiko was a bit concerned about that part since Chen Nipples would bother her if she couldn't bring out Yue.

Aiko sighed. "I wonder if there will be others coming over..."

"You can't host living here yet. Only Ghosts, since they learned how to survive outside, can come into this place, so 'that' guy would be able to come later too. That also includes my sister." Yue nodded her head seriously.

"Okay." Aiko nodded her head. She didn't know enough about this place, but maybe Yue would be able to answer some of those questions for her.

"I will settle down in that place, since it feels like I'm most suitable for it." Yue pointed at the huge castle in the middle of this place.

"I kind of expected it, but it's not that surprising." Aiko chuckled.

"It really is." Yue agreed. "I have never seen this kind of architecture and to think it was completely built out of stone is unthinkable since most would use either wood or a mixture of wood and metal."

"Why not stone?" Aiko tilted her head.

"Transportation was too costly, and you can't easily purify stone, so you mix the Qi with impurities which will haunt you later." Yue shook her head. She did try to build from stone at one time, but it was simply not feasible.

"What about bricks?" Aiko suggested, since there were plenty of houses in this place that had those strange things.

"You know that a 'brick' is pretty much a Treasure, right? In other words you have to use at least a Forge Expert to be able to create it, and you need a way to make anyone want to make it for you." Yue found that the most troublesome part.

All craftsmen were very prideful, so if you gave them any kind of menial or repetitive work, they would throw a tantrum or even possibly leave your faction for another.

"So they are so coddled that they won't take such simple work, huh?" Aiko shook her head. She couldn't imagine them not wanting to take this job, since there were plenty of things they could learn from this. 'Or maybe they are simply too dumb.' She nodded her head seriously since that was a big possibility.

"Indeed." Yue stepped onto the grass that was nearby.

"Do you have to float everywhere? It's kind of strange to look at you when you do it." Aiko tried to gently pacify Yue since there were some problems with her 'floating'.

Yue tilted her head. "Why? I kind of like not having to-"

"I can see you are not wearing any underwear." Aiko cut her short to tell her this part.

"Ahem." Yue immediately stopped floating and actually walked around. "You should've told me sooner." She was quite awkward about this, but that was only natural since she didn't expect Aiko to see those parts when she couldn't see anything else.

"Hey, I'm not a pervert. I have no idea how this place works." Aiko shook her head.

"I know." Yue would never accuse Aiko of something like this, since there were some things that couldn't be explicitly explained. "I will help you explore this place, so just keep this place running while I'm inside. I don't want to die..." Sure, she already died a few dozen if not more times, but that didn't mean she wanted to repeat that feeling.

"Only the outside world is scary, so everything will be fine." Aiko was just relieved that those villages wouldn't multiply any more...