Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Another week passed. The Foxes adjusted to their fingers and only broke a few hundred feathers.

Naturally, Aiko was asleep, seeking tails for her blissful sleep. The Blood Fox was already used to these ambushes and could even predict them. She would always shift her tail so it wouldn't be uncomfortable for her.

The Queen was working hard on her Pills. She was able to extort-borrow a Pill Caldron for her needs. She didn't need knives since she used her Divine Sense slightly infused by the needed elements to do the cutting.

As such her wealth was slowly building, but she hadn't joined any Peak yet and the Elders were quite restless.

Unfortunately for the Elders, the Sect Leader protected her, because she brought in too many high-quality Pills and as such she was too precious to lose because of internal conflict.

And today was the day Aiko was looking forward to the most as she was interested and confused about Inscriptions.

"Today we will talk about Inscriptions, some basic techniques and some Ancient ones." The 'Martial Senior' huffed with annoyance seeing the Jade Fox's ground once again raise their hands.

They were the only ones interested in it since they had almost Human-like hand precision. He sweated several times as even he was defeated by that little hateful sadistic cub!

"Inscriptions is the art of Inscribing things, giving them power through runes." He gestured on the board.

"We have countless runes, each giving different effects and different combinations."

"For Inscribing you need to prepare the Inscription Pen if it's soft material, with Inscription Ink or Inscription Carving Pen if it's hard materials."

"For example, the soft materials would be the pouch you have been lent during the tests, it was created by our Founder and had many great uses. Like gathering live Humans for Soul extraction, as it was too dangerous to do that on the site of conflict. You just needed to steal a few humans and slowly devour them."

"For hard materials, it would be Storage Rings or any buildings like the Housing Pavilion that most of you reside in. Those are Inscribed with reinforcements, space expansion and Qi Gathering Arrays, but those Arrays are weak so you won't probably notice it."

"Inscription Pen is created by Inscribing. It is difficult to create without another Inscription Carving Pen. As you would have to Inscribe with your Divine Sense, you would need an exceptionally powerful Divine Sense to be able to carve.

"Keep in mind that it's not enough if you can crush things with your Divine Sense as that is still easy, but you have to crush very narrow lines to create those runes."

The 'Martial Senior' pointed at the Board. "These are the runes and sequence you need to carve into the Inscription Pen. It is longer for the Inscription Carving Pen as it doesn't use Ink. You only use Inscription Ink once you carve those grooves. You usually carve it either with powerful Divine Sense or Inscription Carving Pen as it's easier."

"When it comes to the art of Inscription you need to remember runes and their sequence. Not every rune will act as you wish, they have some order in which you need to carve in."

The 'Martial Senior' wrote on the Board more Runes and Aiko tilted her head.

#### #### Strength #### #### ####

For some reason, Aiko was able to read one of the Runes on the Board.

The 'Martial Senior' explained the runes, but Aiko was too engrossed in figuring out why she could understand that rune that she ignored him.

"Inscription Pens come in many shapes and sizes. The cheapest ones are Feathers, but they don't have good durability so I wouldn't recommend it. Next would be a Wooden Inscription Pen. Which is a lot better in terms of durability, but if you are not careful you could pierce the fabric or Skin."

"Lastly there are Metal Inscription Pens. They are ridiculously expensive, but their craftsmanship is that good. You don't have to worry about durability unless you use it as Defensive Artefacts."

"You don't have to worry about piercing the cloth or skin that much as the Metal Inscription Pen has a small round top, so unless you use too much pressure it would never pierce the soft fabric."

"You also have something called Inscription Brushes, but since they have low accuracy and high Skill ceiling, most of the Inscription Masters don't use them."

"Inscription Carving Pens are only made out of metal, but that doesn't mean there is a single type of metal as you will need to change them depending on the material. You will need the Yin Inscription Carving Pen, Yang Inscription Carving Pen and Normal Inscription Carving Pen."

"Materials need care, not as much as herbs which might explode you in the face if you tickle them the wrong way, but it is possible to degrade the materials or grooves if you don't use the right Carving Pens."

"Degradation material doesn't mean that the material will lose quality, but that it will crumble or break. You would have to reforge the whole thing again."

"Meanwhile improper grooves will give you headache and scorn of the forgers, but are much cheaper to repair."

"The Inscription Carving Pen unlike the Inscription Pen only makes grooves, so you will need to fill it later with Inscription Ink, but you can't spill it! Especially no dipping into the Inscription Ink as that would degrade both the Ink and Inscribed thing you are trying to make."

"The Inscription Ink is created from Normal Ink and Neutral Beast Cores. That is the most basic as such it doesn't have many uses, but it is good for starting Inscribers."

"Meanwhile higher quality Inscription Ink use Beast Ink, Beast Core and either liquid Minerals or special Herbs. Those are expensive and very specialized. There isn't single Ink, but multiple types."

"For example if you want to create space expansion Inscription, like those on Storage Ring. You can't use basic or elemental Inscription Inks, but special mixed Space imbued Inscription Inks."

"Those inks were imbued with Space element, it is impossible to create advanced Elemental Inscription Inks, so do not believe or buy them from your Seniors, those are Fake. They can only be Imbued by other Energy Cultivators."

"That is pretty much it for Inscriptions, it might seem like it's cheaper than alchemy, but that is not the case. If you are not careful and break too many Inscription Pens it might cost you more than what you would get paid for."

"As we Beast are not very used to these delicate fingers we struggle with more complex Inscriptions, as someone said, haste makes waste, slowly progress and get the feel of your fingers and as you improve your coordination you will be able to Inscribe more runes."

"A few warnings, you should never underestimate Inscribing as it also depletes your Qi reserves in your Beast Cores, you will need to replenish that or you might lose your Rank and revert to the Animal Rank. Another thing is that not every type of rune likes to be interrupted."

"What I mean by that is that you should finish the Inscription once you started it as it will be difficult to stop mid-way. There are too many runes that don't like to be left alone and might degrade your material if you leave them like that."

"If you are interested in Inscriptions you should join the Inscription Peak. That will be all." The 'Martial Senior' dismissed the class.

He was always so unimposing and nerdy that Aiko wanted to giggle, he even had glasses to go with his dull and bleak look.

Aiko stared at the Queen wagging her tail.

The Queen sighed. "You really want to join that Peak? What about hunting?"

Aiko was startled, she liked to hunt, but she had to choose her enemies.

"Let's do it like this." The Queen seemed to be able to read that expression. 'No way will I allow you to pick my opponents.'

"We will go and look at the Intel Gathering Peak, Hunting Peak and Inscription Peak. How about it?" She smiled.

Aiko frowned, she was not interested in those Peaks, but on the other hand, she would enjoy riding this mean Fox.

Aiko nodded unaware of the trap set by the Queen.

"Good." She smiled mischievously.

The Intel Gathering Peak had two faces. One was Intel Gathering where you would request herb locations/people/ores/etc. while the other would be about Assassinations.

What the Queen set up was that she wanted Aiko to find the other face as it would be very important for her later.

Aiko rode on the stinky Fox and they soon arrived at the Intel Gathering Peak.

"Welcome~" a nice sensual Fox greeted them, but she was also very professional.

"What can I do for you~ fufu~" She smiled seeing the duo as they were already pretty famous/infamous.

"We would like to 'explore' the Intel Gathering Peak." The Queen gave a gentle signal.

"Would you like to or your little sweetie~?" She gestured.

"This little sweetie~" The Queen said in the same sensual voice making the girl blush.

"*Cough* well there are few Seniors and Juniors outside so if she is able to track them and follow them back she would be allowed to 'Explore'." She dropped the sensual act or she might need to stick something inside from the arousal that the Queen might built inside her.

"You heard her." She caressed Aiko.

Aiko snorted. 'You cheated me!' She protested but still jumped down.

She went some ways away and blended into the surroundings startling the reception girl. "Amazing." She was also a Shadow Beast, but she wasn't able to do that, her understanding was too shallow and that's why she was only a receptionist, even though she had the goods to extract information from Cultivators.

...

Aiko waited in the bushes, there should be Foxes returning so she would just tail them later, but for now.

[Camouflage: Lv.7] + [Stealth: Lv.7] = [Basic Presence Concealment]
Cost: 440 Skill Points

[Camouflage] for 10
[Stealth] for 10

Skill Points: 2,744 -> 2,284

Now she was prepared, she also had the [Assassin Mastery], which would guide her through this test.

A youth was spotted, he was in Human form and much more charming than those Harem Kings.

He was cautious. "Heya gorgeous, finished that mission, how about it?" He winked at the receptionist girl.

"Nope, but good work, you can return to the headquarters. She winked back and the youth was taken aback but smiled.

'Seems I will be followed, so my next mission is to lose this tester.' He licked his lips.

Aiko used her Skills and Abilities to their fullest and was tailing the youth.

The Youth was confused. 'Did I lose her already? I don't feel any presence.'

But even if he didn't feel any presence he still took many detours upsetting Aiko as it was taking longer than she would like to.

...

The Queen arrived in front of a strange gate, the 'guards' were startled.

"Jade Fox?" They were both surprised.

"Don't mind me, just waiting for my Mate." She sat down nearby.

Those guards' minds were in turmoil.

'How did she find us? How was she able to find us without a 'guide'? Did we screw the concealment Array? Did anyone leak our location?' They brainstormed but didn't understand this situation as they would be the first ones to get notified by this, but they still reported this to the Peak Elder.

"Jade Fox." A ravishing female Fox in an alluring dress greeted her while puffing her pipe.

"Peak Elder." The Queen cupped her fists, she was slightly impressed by her prowess.

"Mind if I wait with you?" This was the perfect situation for her to seduce the Jade Fox, she didn't mind that the Jade Fox would have other Mates, but she really wanted a taste of this gorgeous Fox.

"Sure, but keep your thoughts to yourself, my Mate can be... a little vengeful." The Queen licked her lips, charming the Peak Elder.

The Peak Elder giggled. "Fine, but only this time." She lost the initiative, but that was only this time, if she would be able to attract the Jade Fox's mate it would be like getting the Jade Fox.

They waited together while the Peak Elder smoked.