Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko woke up with a pillow made out of Sheepy and Dreamy. They were very fluffy and nice to sleep in.

Aiko yawned against her will and snorted, not satisfied with her sleep.

The Queen woke up looking over this little rascal, she smiled stealing her tails under Aiko.

Aiko rolled around unhappily. She wobbled up and stared at the hateful Fox.

She yawned again but knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep unless it was on a fluffy tail.

Aiko stared around and then in a particular direction.

"Don't even think about it." The Grandmaster smiled mischievously.

Aiko's ears dropped and she plopped back on the ground, she couldn't sleep, but she would be able to pass the time by browsing the store. She was looking at Skills that would allow her to raise her stats.

She stared at it for quite a while and Queen picked her up.

'I have found something for luck...'

[Four Leaf Clover]
[Passive Skill]
[Allows the User to increase their luck by 1% per Level.]
[Cost: 1,000 Skill Points]

It was not much, but enough for Aiko for the time being.

'I should find something for my mind too...' Aiko was looking through her stuff and found a few notable ones, but only one was %, which should be the most important for now.

[Charming]
[Passive Skill]
[Allows the User to increase their beauty by 1% per Level.]
[Cost: 10 Skill Points]

'It's almost nothing...' Aiko thought that the price for the effect was much more reasonable.

Aiko ignored their walk and they already arrived at the first gathering. It was outside, most Foxes were in their Human forms, but Aiko wasn't.

They all stared at Aiko curiously as they were also new guys. but from different parts of the continent.

They were under the impression that everyone had to be in their Human form, but apparently, someone got the preferential treatment.

Some pouted and some felt angry since it was difficult to stay in this Human form.

...

The 'teacher' arrived. He glanced at everyone in the class and spotted the infamous duo.

'Jade Fox and Vicious Cub.' He recited their nicknames. 'I never expected Jade Fox to be such a masochist...' He shook his head.

"Today we will be going through rules and at the end of the Class we will walk around the Sect and show you all the places you will need. Later it will be up to you to find the rest as not everyone will be interested in Alchemy, Arrays and so on." He explained.

"Martial Senior are we all supposed to be in Human form?" One upset youth asked.

"That is correct." The 'Martial Senior' said.

"Then what about them?" Another upset girl pointed at Jade Fox who was in Human form, but on her lap wrapped in tails was Aiko, in her Fox form.

The 'Martial Senior' pinched his nose bridge. He pointed at the girl first. "Are you a cub?"

"Well, no-" The girl tried to defend herself but was cut short.

"Are you a cub?" He asked the youth who was asking first.

"No, Martial Senior." He said with respect.

"Is there anyone who is a cub?" The 'Martial Senior' asked.

The room fell quiet and it took them quite a while to understand.

The 'Martial Senior' nodded as it was not that slow. "She is a cub and cubs need sleep to grow well, while I would normally reprimand anyone who didn't come in their normal forms, cubs have a lot less Stamina and she wouldn't be able to maintain her form throughout my explanation."

He pointed at the board and written on it with his Qi. The Rules were explained...

...

But not for Aiko as she was currently half asleep browsing the shop.

[Enhanced Mind]
[Passive Skill]
[User's Mind is boosted by 5% per Level.]
[Cost: 1,000 Skill Points]

'They are getting more expensive, but their effects are better...' Aiko thought, she had plenty of Skill Points so she could afford a few.

[Enhanced Mind] for 1,000
[Enhanced Beauty] for 100
[Four Leaf Clover] for 1,000

She needed those to Evolve and since it would take a while to train she should buy them now, so she has enough time.

This left her with 2,899 Skill points.

She also bought: [Assassin Mastery]

[Tracking: Mastered] + [Weakness Detection: Mastered] + [Hunting Mastery: Mastered] + [Throwing Mastery: Mastered] = [Assassin Mastery]
[Costs: 155 Skill Points]

'I will keep the rest of 2,744 in case I need something.' Aiko nodded to herself. 'I will keep the Stat Points and only spend them once I level up those Skills. I should be quite closer to my goal with those or maybe even achieve them.' Aiko nodded to herself

And the Class ended. Aiko looked around, Foxes were staring at her somewhat resentfully for not paying attention, but the 'Martial Senior' didn't mind or rather he couldn't mind.

'Jade Fox would wipe the floor with me if I would raise any issue with her Mate.' He sweated.

...

Leaving the gathering the 'Martial Senior' was guiding them around.

"It's hard to get lost here as each 'peak' represents a different occupation, but we are not here for those as they are easy to find. We will be heading to the Hunting Hall soon." He spoke slowly guiding them. He already realized that the only intelligent Foxes were gathered around Jade Fox and that little one, so he didn't need to pay attention to them they would find their way around much easier than those other Foxes.

He walked on the well-paved road. It seemed like roads were everywhere, but the actual classroom or combat zones.

They walked for about an hour and arrived in front of Hunting Hall. The Hall was very large and wide. They were butchering and processing carcasses inside so the smell of Blood spread.

It was the best place for Demonic/Blood Foxes as they would be able to enjoy the smell of Blood and learn how to keep their urges in check.

"This Hall presented all the Hunting/Butchering missions to everyone and you would be able to find Beast Cores, Beast Pelts, Meat, Bones and other things in here." He explained to them.

Aiko smelled meat and if it wasn't for the mean Fox she would already be running around stealing meat.

Not even wriggling helped Aiko escape. She soon gave up and made puppy eyes towards the mean Fox.

The mean Fox looked elsewhere, she wouldn't be tempted this time as Aiko was still a little bloated. She should eat in moderation.

Then he guided them to the Mission Hall.

This building looked strange as it was very high with thousands upon thousands of small parchments pinned against the walls. There were countless missions posted and the place was filled to the brim. It was difficult to move in there and everyone had to wait their turn.

"This Hall gathers missions from every Hall in this Sect, but even if you want to take that mission you need to first reserve it and then move to the Hall that posted that mission. This place is only for reservation or if you are looking for a specific mission. This place is not for returning loot or anything like that." The 'Martial Senior' warned.

They nodded slowly and he moved to another building. The Reinforcement Building.

This building was menacing as it was built like a Fortress Prison. There were moans and screams drifting from inside. It was a bone-chilling experience for them, even for those who were Demonic.

Everyone hated pain (Except the Muscle Peak), so everyone recoiled or flinched with each scream.

"Let's hope you won't get familiar with this building unless you become Enforcer. Everyone in here gives out punishments for breaking sect rules. This place is autonomous from other peaks and is directly under Sect Leader to avoid any mishaps." The 'Martial Senior' explained warning them as the punishments weren't light.

They moved for 2 more hours before arriving in front of the Cafeteria. This was built as multiple buildings and from each building drifted a different aroma. Each building also looked different.

One looked more like a seafood restaurant with blue tiles and everything.

Another was very light green, which Aiko didn't like.

Another one was normal wood/grey tiles. The meat smell drifted from that one.

And there were more, but not as interesting as the seafood and meat restaurants.

"Here you can spend your Spirit Stones or Contribution Points to buy yourself something to eat, but keep in mind that Sect is not responsible for your Beast Core. If you make it filthy you have to clean it yourself." The 'Martial Senior' warned in a stern voice as he was one of the idiots who didn't heed the warning and he almost was kicked out for his low purity Beast Core.

Aiko's mouth drooled and she tried to escape the mean Fox's clutches, but to no success.

The Queen shook her head. It seemed like she raised a glutton, which was not good since she needed to raise her Beast Core purity.

"Speaking of Beast Core purity, you have around 4-5 months to raise your Beast Core purity to the limit so you can obtain plenty of rewards, but beware if your purity is too low they may kick you out of this Sect!" He walked forward.

"The rest will be left to you to explore. This week we won't have normal classes so you can pick your specialization. We will be talking about the different specializations each day and you will be allowed to pick one of your liking. While it is not forbidden to pick up more, most of you are not intelligent/Used to this body yet, so you would struggle. Of course, you are free to pick whatever you want." He nodded towards the Jade Fox's group.

They walked slowly back to the class.

"Other than that we will have plenty of classes about Human behaviour and coordination of your fingers as none of you have ever experienced such long fingers. We are all used to digging with our paws, but fingers work differently! They are much weaker and more delicate!" He proclaimed in pride.

"It will be important for you to properly learn handwriting. After you get a bit more accustomed to that we will move to Inscriptions/Talisman Making. There will be your real first challenge as any hesitation or poor control will result in burning through resources at best and cracking your Beast Core at worst." He sighed, his friend was crippled because he bragged too much, but wasn't able to accomplish what he said and had Qi deviation.

He shook his head. "This will be all from me today, tomorrow we will start writing and learning about letters and if everything goes well maybe about some kind of sub-profession"

He let them go their way.

Aiko was looking around curiously and they met Grandmaster halfway there.

"There is Treasure Pavilion where you can find the more exotic Beast Cores." The Grandmaster spoke gently and guided them there.

"There are different scales, which determine the price. Purity, amount of energy inside, size and element." The Grandmaster explained to Jade Fox as Aiko was completely engrossed by the smell of the restaurants. She would have to check her book later.

They walked towards the large Treasure Pavilion that was half buried into the ground, but it should be called Vault more as the Arrays started way before they noticed the Treasure Pavilion.

It was an incredibly large building that had each piece Inscribed by dense runes and Arrays on top of those runes.

This is one of the most secure places in this Sect and even Soul Transformation Cultivators would have a hard time breaking it down.

Aiko looked curiously. She liked this place a lot~