Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

It was fortunate that there was enough meat that Aiko didn't know what to do with it.

Well, the answer was obvious, but she would lack the means of transportation since those wolves seemed like they were being controlled by that collar.

Nothing could be done about the collar for the time being, so Aiko just decided to finish this journey.

Was she overly stubborn about this? Yes... but she was enjoying it so far, so she didn't mind it.

The easy way out would be to return and teleport with meat, and each time she would run out, she would just recall and teleport back again.

This way the process could be simplified, but Aiko didn't go for the simple method.

This exploration and survival stoked her feelings well, so much so that she didn't even consider speeding this process up.

With all the meat smoked, she bundled as much as possible into her cloth before placing it on her back.

'It's ridiculously big...' Aiko blinked her eyes a few times. This size was laughable, but she would also have to pay attention to her surroundings.

The branches and stuff could possibly pierce the cloth, which could mean that Aiko would start losing her provisions.

That would be no good, since her next journey was quite far.

There were around 2 villages before the main village. This was a rough estimate since the distance was so great that Aiko didn't even want to think about it.

'I will definitely buy some kind of steed.' Aiko nodded her head seriously. Her Spirit Slime was nice, but naughty, so she left it in base. In theory, that guy could be used as 'steed' but who knows what kind of ideas it would have and what kind of trouble Aiko would encounter because of it.

The plains were vast, but during the blanket of the night, nothing was visible for the uglies. Aiko had free rein over this whole place, which she liked.

'Ah, right...' Aiko smacked her lips. She wanted to try and assassinate some of those high-level uglies, but she was already packed and everything...

'I shouldn't have taken so much time to prepare the meat.' It was a blink of an eye to smoke it, but then just making sure the meat didn't have any dirt on it and then destroying all the mounds took her a lot of time.

'Whatever~' Aiko was convinced she could test it in the next village.

'It's kind of funny how small the village is from this distance.' Aiko knew that once she was closer, that place would be huge, enormous even.

...

The plains were pretty uneventful, mostly because she traversed during the night, where shadows wrapped this whole place like a gift and handed it to Aiko.

She didn't need to worry about being found out, since her stealth during the night was insane, but she also noticed that the powerful uglies only ever traversed the plains during the day and not during the night.

'Are they sleeping during the night?' No, that was obvious, but why were some of those uglies only up during the night? There were many questions and answers, but it was hard to say which one was right and which one was not.

Aiko slowly made her way throughout the plains. The grass was pretty much higher than Aiko, so the only thing you could see was this giant strange balloon moving through the tall grass.

However, as it was an inanimate object attached to a special set, it was pretty much 'invisible' to others.

Well, it was far from being truly invisible, since it was more about: Huh, this thing is moving, well, I better look around more.

They would just ignore it and not question why that huge thing was moving.

Aiko was fascinated by this process, but it was not like she would be able to figure it out without help. The most problematic thing being the uncooperativeness of the uglies, making this particularly difficult.

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'Well, maybe some things are better being undiscovered.' Aiko nodded her head seriously, like she was thinking about something.

'It's still far.' Aiko was still far from the village, but it already towered over her. It seemed like this 'village' was less of a village and more of a 'fortress'.

Of course the fortress was still mostly made out of wood, but you could also notice the base of those wooden walls being reinforced by stones.

Stones neatly stacked on top of each other and between those imperfections between individual stones, there were sharp wooden spears embedded into it.

This served dual purpose, not only did it stop attackers from trying to climb the wall, but if an attacker fell down, it could and would impale them.

Another thing would be the overall structural integrity, but let's not talk about that.

'So there is a main gate and river all the way around it?' Aiko would be this peculiar, like this place was set up to be hard to invade.

It kind of felt like it was trying to tell her something, but...

'I still have a lot of food, so how about I mess with them?' Aiko chuckled sinisterly. She would pull a few stones out here and there, maybe also take a few of those wooden spears...

'No, what can I do to make them miserable...' Aiko pondered on it. If she could create an increase in water level, then she would be able to flood this place along with its residents.

'Well, are they even residents?' Aiko tilted her head. It was hard to say if they were called residents or not, uglies was probably for the better.

'Their rewards are also shite, so it's hard to justify their slaughter as it would take too much work.' Aiko nodded her head again. If she could easily create a dam, she could easily flood this place by simply breaking the dam and letting it flow.

It was a good plan, but the problem was the amount of work that Aiko would have to put in, in order to make everything work. It was simply not feasible without her spending weeks on this.

...

"..." Aiko stood in front of the moat. It was startlingly wide, but what caught the most attention were the ridiculously tall walls.

'Did they just uproot the trees or something...?' Aiko could see the thin parts that were supposed to be part of the crown on top of those walls.

'How did they even manage to do this?' Aiko tilted her head. No, maybe this wall was sitting on top of those stone supporting walls, making it inherently higher, but then, what secured them from falling over and dragging everything with it?

Aiko noticed that all logs had 3 separate ropes that held a group together.

The top rope, which mostly ensured that those things were in line. The middle rope that seemed to hold the whole place from tumbling down and the bottom rope for whatever reason they could have.

The bottom was the most stable, so you didn't need anything down there, probably, but what if they used that rope as a separator? To make sure there was a noticeable nook that they could use to shoot through?

'That would be cool.' Aiko smiled. She would like it if that was the case, but it was difficult to say. The fortress was also locked down during the night, meaning that Aiko would have to swim across.

That was only a good idea if she was willing to sacrifice her food, since it would get wet.

She could take only herself over to the other side, but then her body would be wet which she didn't like.

'Could I light this place on fire?' Aiko tilted her head. She had the magic, but would it work on normal water too, or was the 'created' water special in some way?

Well, Aiko didn't want to waste her Mana on this, since not having Mana made her sluggish and sleepy.

'Should I just go home?' Aiko was deciding to ditch this journey since it seemed like obtaining food would be harder going forward.

She was also not too keen about dying due to starvation or something, so she was seriously considering it.

'Maybe it's a good idea to go back.' Aiko smacked her lips. She kind of missed a warm cosy bed. 'What if I teleported the whole caravan over?' She pondered on that part, but it was difficult to say if it would work.

The heaviness of her caravan was ridiculous and if the teleportation was all about weight, she would be screwed.

In similar fashion, if it was about size, then she would have to take down the roof, bed and-

'Yeah, not doing that.' Aiko was happy that she was able to build it, and now she was supposed to take it down? Yeah, no way!

'But the consumption...' Aiko simply shook her head.

...

She was back inside the safe area. This place was nice and peaceful and Aiko almost immediately fell asleep.

'I don't see anyone, so they are probably inside the castle.' Aiko was completely unaware that Yue was struggling for her survival... emotionally.

'Yeah, let's go home for now.' Aiko liked her small cosy house, with somewhat large rooms and carpets and furs that were both soft and warm.

The small cave at the side of her home attracted her attention.

There were still two slimes that hadn't grown up yet and Aiko didn't want to use too many Soul Points, so she didn't even consider speeding it up.

'I wonder if I can speed it up by making them happier?' There were some decoration tools and painting tools to adjust these tiny homes. Aiko didn't pick it before because she didn't want to touch it, but maybe if she changed it, those rascals would grow quicker?

'I still have enough marbles for this, but hmmm...' Aiko had to save up for those lures, but what if they were not powerful enough? That would mean waste of Soul Points!

'A test.' Maybe Aiko should test that last fortress with the bait and how it scales!

Aiko plopped on her bed. She didn't even bother undressing since these clothes were quite comfortable.

'The next day, I need the staff set, then I will pick up some lures...' Aiko had a plan in her mind, but drowsiness slowly overtook her, making her fall into a deep sleep.

...

Aiko slept throughout the night peacefully. She didn't even consider anyone disturbing her since she was always alone in this place.

'Right...' Aiko yawned. She would sleep until Yue would bother her and only then would she leave her sweet bed and go to war with that fortress~!