Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

This time, it didn't take Chen Shi too much time to recover.

Well, once again, 'recover' was a strong word, since he was pretty much so beaten up mentally that even his Inner Demon questioned reality.

Moon Aiko hummed gently. "I don't want too much from you."

Chen Shi almost coughed up blood again. "Bullshit!" He slammed the table with his fist, almost breaking it.

"I won't deal with the Spirit Boat. That's not my expertise, and you also won't find anyone with that kind of skill in this place. All those folk were dragged to the mainland, so you will have to wait." Chen Shi shook his head disapprovingly. "I will not ask why you have that vessel, but there is only one person who can work on it-"

"Because they are also on the mainland?" Moon Aiko snorted unhappily.

"You think that people with that kind of skill would like to be here? Not to mention, even if they wanted to be here, they would still be dragged onto the mainland to reduce issues arising in here." Chen Shi shook his head.

"So nobody can build them?" Moon Aiko tilted her head.

"It's not like nobody can build them, but it's more like they do not dare to build them." Chen Shi crossed his arms. "If you want to stay here, be mediocre, that's the general rule."

"But they don't want me." Moon Aiko pointed at herself.

"Of course, they wouldn't want you! You are a walking disaster!" Chen Shi rolled his eyes.

"Hey! That was uncalled-for!" Moon Aiko pouted.

Chen Shi rolled his eyes again before settling down. Yue massaged his shoulders for a bit, since it was obvious that he was exhausted.

"So we can only do the Lamp and Disc?" Moon Aiko pondered for a bit. "That's too little." She sighed gently.

"It can't be helped." Chen Shi shrugged.

"Wait, so you are still in this place because you are mediocre?" Moon Aiko mercilessly stabbed Chen Shi with her words.

"Bastard." Chen Shi almost coughed up blood again. "I'm here because they can't really offend me. There are simply too few Rune Cultivators, so they give me freedom to do whatever, as long as I don't raise an army against them." He shrugged gently.

"So they don't have to worry at all." Moon Aiko nodded her head.

"What was that?" Chen Shi's face twitched. For some reason, Aiko was digging into him today.

"Nothing. Let's make the makeshift of the lamp a few more times to solidify that idea and tinker with it later." Moon Aiko nodded her head.

"Then let's just make it a simple growth Treasure, you can upgrade it later since I won't help you refine it." Chen Shi suggested.

"Is that... that easy?" Moon Aiko blinked at him.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Chen Shi tilted his head. "You know, most Cultivators will never take growth Treasure over Spirit Treasure, much less Numinous Treasure." He shrugged his shoulders.

"What? Why?" Moon Aiko couldn't understand why they wouldn't want a nice Treasure that can grow with them almost forever.

"Durability is a big factor. If you invest a lot of resources into a growth Treasure, and it breaks..." Chen Shi shook his head. "You will lose all those materials, making the whole thing pretty much pointless."

"That can't be it, right?" Moon Aiko felt that it still could be worth it, since Spirit Treasures and Numinous Treasures were simply not enough in circulation.

"Because Spirit/Numinous Treasure can act on its own. Well, within reason." Chen Shi nodded his head gently.

"As long as your Divine Sense can reach it, your Treasure can move there. Of course, they won't be able to move through solid materials, but that's a different thing." Chen Shi explained.

"Then I want growth Treasures and teach me how to make them too~" Moon Aiko hummed mischievously.

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"What are you planning?" Chen Shi subconsciously shivered, as if there was a cold draft that just touched him.

"I will gear myself with growth Treasures, and I won't have to deal with rebellious Spirits~" Moon Aiko nodded her head.

"But the benefits...?" Chen Shi was slightly confused.

"There are not enough benefits if the Treasures choose to abandon you." Moon Aiko shook her head.

"But you are generous enough, so it should be possible for you-" Chen Shi raised his eyebrow, but Aiko stopped him with her hand.

"No. Too much trouble, let's get started." Moon Aiko rolled her sleeves.

"... Alright." Chen Shi conceded, since that meant less work for him, but he would try to explain it once again later.

...

Chen Shi took the blueprints and reviewed them. "Let's try with the Holy Steel-"

"Divine Steel." Moon Aiko corrected him.

Chen Shi's forehead twitched, but he didn't voice anything.

"The Meteorite is fine with its properties, but we should make the protective steel skeleton first." Chen Shi suggested.

"Why not start with the core first and build on it?" Moon Aiko tilted her head.

"..." Chen Shi wanted to argue with her, but he didn't have any good points.

"You would usually do the skeleton first, you know?" Chen Shi frowned at her.

"But why? If you make the core first, you won't have to scramble for space later on." Moon Aiko was slightly speechless at his thought process.

"..." Chen Shi rolled his eyes. It was definitely better, but there must be a reason why all Forging Cultivators did it that way.

"Let's start with the core." Moon Aiko nodded her head. "How do we shave the [Primordial Soul Wood]?"

"You need to give it enough Soul Essence, and you will be able to knead it like dough." Chen Shi gestured.

"And I'm supposed to provide that?" Moon Aiko narrowed her eyes.

"I will provide too, but it would be better if we didn't need to use finite resources that I have." Chen Shi shook his head.

"Is it that hard to acquire Soul Essence?" Moon Aiko tilted her head. She believed that Soul Essence was the same as her Soul Points.

"Nobody is willing to have their Soul tampered with. One wrong move and your Soul might shatter, or you might lose important memories." Chen Shi shook his head again. There were no fools who wished for that, but there were some desperate idiots who would still attempt that.

"Sounds complicated." Moon Aiko frowned, but she didn't mind.

"I didn't acquire that much Soul, so you will have to supply the rest." Moon Aiko gestured as she touched the wood.

As expected, when she spent her Soul Points through the system menu, she was able to bend the wood slightly, but it was obvious there would not be enough Soul Points from her.

"I thought you would get a bit more." Chen Shi sighed. It would cost him a lot, but this was still home for Yue...

"I can't help it, alright..." Moon Aiko pouted at him. The Soul that she had stored in the vessel was regenerating too slowly to be of use.

"I thought that Foxes would hunt more." Chen Shi rolled his eyes as he browsed his Spatial Ring.

"I can do that right now." Moon Aiko kept staring at him, like she was ready to take his Soul and make use of it.

"Forget it, unless you have sex with me, my Soul will never leave- No! Don't you even dare to try to give me a heart attack!" Chen Shi glared at Aiko, who was 'brushing' her tails.

"Tsk." Moon Aiko clicked her tongue. She was ready to pull out something that would make his Soul leave his body.

"You are too dangerous." Chen Shi clicked his tongue.

"Are you sure you should be saying that?" Moon Aiko narrowed her eyes.

"I might be a Rune Cultivator, but I'm not as shameless as you!" Chen Shi proclaimed as if he were in the right.

"What?" Moon Aiko tilted her head innocently.

"Don't play innocent, you know what I'm talking about!" Chen Shi clicked his tongue.

"Whatever, let's get to work." Moon Aiko rolled her eyes.

Chen Shi used the Soul Essence on the wood, and as he said, it turned into mouldable wood, so much so that even Aiko was shocked.

"I never thought that wood could turn so..." Moon Aiko was lost for words, since that wood didn't act as wood was supposed to.

"That's the normal reaction." Chen Shi nodded his head. At least some things were still the same, even for Aiko.

"I mean, it was still hard moments ago, and now it's all squishy and bendable." Moon Aiko's eyes shone gently.

"Why do you have to phrase it like that?" Chen Shi shuddered slightly since it felt like she was talking about the 'bamboo stick'.

I have no idea what you are talking about." Moon Aiko scratched her head with the same stick she used on Chen Shi.

*Crack*

The bamboo stick imploded, startling Aiko.

"Phew. I feel much safer now." Chen Shi nodded his head happily.

"I will get a new one." Moon Aiko threatened, without a care in the world.

"How should we shape it?" Chen Shi didn't care about that threat as long as she was not handling anything pointy.

"Would a ball shape work?" Moon Aiko asked.

"It should, but I'm not sure what it would do with the insides..." Chen Shi frowned. He never created such a Treasure, so he had very little to no information.

"Then let's just try it." Moon Aiko nodded her head.

"You know that the wood will harden, right?" Chen Shi scrunched his face.

"And?" Moon Aiko would use his wealth for the good of her research!

"See? This is what I'm talking about, shamelessness!" Chen Shi pointed at Aiko angrily.

"I have no idea what you mean." Moon Aiko shrugged like she didn't understand.

"Let's go with the ball." Chen Shi knew that it was better not to fight with Aiko, since the wood was hardening as they spoke.

"How about this?" Chen Shi tried to make a ball shape.

"The sides are a bit thicker..." Moon Aiko frowned.

"Are you talking about me or about the ball?" Chen Shi glared at Aiko, since he didn't know if she was looking at him.

"Both, you should exercise." Moon Aiko threw a jab at him. "And no, sex is not an exercise!" She proclaimed with narrowed eyes.

"Tsk." Chen Shi clicked his tongue as he adjusted the ball to Aiko's wishes.

"Can it be full or does it need to be hollow?" Moon Aiko tilted her head as she felt strange energy coming from it.

"It can be full, but we either have to achieve perfect fullness with no bubbles or perfect hollowness with the perfect proportions." Chen Shi proclaimed.

'I wonder if I could tie it to my physique...' Moon Aiko narrowed her eyes, but she would only test it in the future after she understood space better...