Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Chapter 78 – Karma

Aiko spent a lot of time playing with Runes. She was happily writing outside of Mei's place.

She was naturally banned from that place after she brought that book to Mei.

Aiko pouted for a few days, but her attention was soon dispersed by the Runes and Blood Fox's tail.

'It's nice and smooth, but it needs more tails.' Aiko evaluated Blood Fox.

Outside their residence was stormy. Elders would come and go. Most of them were trying to pressure Mei about the Array, but once one Human Elder pushed with his Cultivation the Fox Elders acted.

Now it was a nice deadlock. Those Elders couldn't do a thing to them even if they wanted to.

Aiko smiled at the bickering Elders, because of them this place was much quieter. She was enjoying the benefits and practised Inscribing until she ran out of materials.

She was constantly frowning since the [Inscription Mastery] did not budge. She was still stuck at Lv.9...

Aiko ignored that fact and focused on her [Calligraphy Mastery]. For some reason, she was unable to upgrade it, which caused her to frown. It seems like she will have to combine it with something else to get higher ranked Skill.

Aiko thought about it since she was currently focusing on the Art side of writing. She bought [Drawing] a Passive Skill that allowed her hand to flow better and she could even create some pictures... they were still stick-like bodies, but it was progress.

Since it cost only 10 points she looked at other Skills that she might want to upgrade.

[Nurture] and [Meditation] could be combined into [Breath of Life], but it cost 10,000 Skill Points.

[Health Recovery] + [Stamina Recovery] + [Vitality Recovery] could be combined into [Universal Recovery] for over 12 million Skill Points.

Aiko stared at the combination and found it useful, so she used one [Skill Combination Coupon] instead of waiting.

[You have acquired: [Universal Recovery]!]
[Universal Recovery]
[Passive Ability]
[1st Effect; Recovers: Health, Stamina, Vitality]
[####]

She then clicked [Intimidation].

[Demonic Intimidation]

[Enhanced Intimidation]

[Pressure]

She was interested in [Pressure] but soon gave up on it as she had to master it first before she could toggle it on and off. She would [Pressure] everyone constantly which was not ideal since it drained her Mental Power.

[Demonic Intimidation] on the other hand was much nicer since it allowed her to keep the Intimidation effect, but also strengthen it against Demonic Beasts.

[Demonic Intimidation]
[Passive Skill]
[Demonic beings are easier to intimidate.]

The Enhance Intimidation worked overall, but she was more inclined towards the Demonic upgrade. It was definitely not for the reason that she could bully Blood Fox... definitely not!

That cost her 1,000 Skill Points. Mone-Skill Points well spent!

[Enhanced Beauty] could be upgraded into:

[Picturesque Beauty]

[Beauty Aura]

[Picturesque Beauty] allowed her to increase the effect further, while [Beauty Aura] was more like a charm. It still made her beautiful, but not Stats-wise.

She took the [Picturesque Beauty] as it cost only 500 instead of 5,000.

[Dexterous Fingers] couldn't be upgraded for the time being, which made Aiko sad, she quite liked to play with the Pen and it made it easier to do tricks with it.

She looked through the rest, but most of them either had poor upgrades or couldn't be upgraded so she gave up on them.

'Let's master Drawing first.' Aiko smiled.

...

Aiko spends the month mastering [Drawing]. She didn't even use the skills on the Blood Fox, which upset her a little bit, but it was more important to increase her attainment in Inscriptions.

[Drawing] + [Calligraphy] could be combined into [Divine Calligraphy] for the simple cost of 1,5 billion Skill Points.

'Why is it so costly?!' Aiko cried.

'It must be amazing.' She calmed her heart and used another [Skill Combination Coupon]

[Divine Calligraphy]
[Passive Ability]
[####]

'Fuck your mother!' Aiko cursed. 'At least tell me what it does!' She protested in her mind.

She was angry since she spent that precious [Skill Combination Coupon], but even then she was unable to understand its greatness.

'How am I going to use it if I don't know its effects?!' Aiko felt lifeless.

Whatever let's just leave it there. Aiko picked up her Pen and Inscribed some Runes on the paper. She felt a strange force leaving her body.

Beast Cores(50%): 2,000 -> 1,999 (34,029)

'It cost Energy to write?!' Aiko wanted to cry, she was so dispirited that she didn't know what to do. Previously it was enough to use Beast Core Energy to finish the Runes, but now even writing cost Energy...

'Right... there was that.' She blankly stared towards the red tail.

Aiko stood up, blending with the shadows slowly approaching that fluffy tail. The Blood Fox had a strange feeling, but couldn't quite understand it.

Aiko used [Demonic Intimidation] to completely stun the Blood Fox and then she claimed the tail. She was giggling with glee, feeling a bit better about herself.

Meanwhile, the Blood Fox also had a heart attack. She was so scared when that terrific energy was released behind her that she didn't dare to move.

It took her around half an hour to finally brace herself for her doom.

She turned around only to see the sleeping little Vicious Cub.

She sighed in relief, all that tension was released and she almost collapsed onto that low table.

'She will give me a heart attack one of these days.' The Blood Fox pouted, but she didn't have anyone to protest to.

'I want to go home brother.' She silently cried. She was picked as the guard for the Inscription Foxes, but because her brother was about to break through he couldn't accompany her.

'Should I return to my place?' She suddenly thought and she thought about it longer than necessary.

'But I don't want to lose this freedom...' She felt dispirited. Those voices that haunted her didn't dare to approach her when she was around this little rascal.

The tension completely left her body and she drifted to sleep.

...

Aiko woke up again. She didn't have any intention of practising, so she left the Wing and strolled around.

It was a peaceful noon, nobody was walking around. Aiko was puzzled.

She used her superior hearing to track down some Humans.

...

She found Humans gathering around some kind of round gate. She was curious so she turned completely black and used her assassination Skills to get closer.

She was not spotted, except for the Patriarch, but he was too interested in her to rat her out. As such Aiko had free reign over this place as long as she was not spotted by the Elders.

She sneaked around listening to the Cultivators around.

This was the entrance to the Inscription Palace.

Aiko was curious about this place, but they sealed it for the time being and it would open only after the Inscription Test.

Aiko pouted, she was really curious about what was behind those doors.

She waited around until everyone left and approached the doors.

Those doors were Inscribed with countless Runes. Aiko was trying to read them when she suddenly felt startled.

'It's language?!' Aiko was shocked and she had a small epiphany.

[Linguistics: Lv.9->Mastered]

She could now read most of the Runes.

'If you wish... something something... press enter?' Aiko tilted her head. There were too many missing Runes and she couldn't figure out the rest, but!

'I'm too curious about these Runes to stop now.' Aiko shyly giggled and was looking for the other Runes.

She spent around 2 hours translating and looking through the countless Runes until she was able to find one strange Rune.

'It's literally 'Enter'.' Aiko frowned but pressed that Rune, it was now or never.

The Rune was touched and glowed faintly, the whole place glowed and Aiko disappeared.

...

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE DISAPPEARED!" Mei kicked that Elder until he was black and blue.

"P-please calm down!" The Elder pleaded with the Jade Fox, but she continued kicking.

"Jade Fox." The Sect Leader nodded towards her.

"What?!" Mei was pissed.

"Nothing happened to your Mate so please calm down." The Sect Leader tried soothing the Jade Fox.

Jade Fox glared at her but didn't say anything. She snorted and returned to her room almost destroying the doors behind her.

She sat down meditating spreading her Divine Sense to find her little sweetie.

...

Aiko blinked several times, she was in a dark place, but fortunately, she had [Dark Vision], so she could see everything.

This place was an old stinky cave. This cave was completely covered with Runes, even the pebbles on the ground had Runes inscribed on them.

Aiko read the Runes on the Pebble.

'Lot of strengthening and few I don't know about.' She picked up the Rune so she could play with something.

She threw it into the air, but it didn't return.

*BOOM*

Aiko was startled and looked up, the pebble was now lodged into the ceiling of the cave.

'What the fuck?" Aiko's mind blanked. She stared at another one...

*Kick*
*Swish**BOOM*

Aiko giggle. She kicked that pebble very lightly, but even then that pebble suddenly accelerated and blasted a hole into the cave wall.

Aiko kicked another rock and another, until.

*Kick*
*Swish*
*Ding**Ding**Ding**Ding**Ding**Ding**Ding**Ding*

Aiko was startled as that rock ricocheted from one wall to another speeding up. At first, Aiko was able to follow that rock but it soon sped up so much that she felt dizzy.

*Bang*

Aiko was blasted away and felt her head splitting.

-50,000HP

She temporarily passed out.

"Au, au, au." Aiko massaged her head. She felt like someone kicked her with the force of a cannonball. 'Next time I won't play around...' Tears spilt from her eyes as she felt that pain.

She hated this place and hated the one who created this place!

Aiko jumped up and glared at all the small pebbles.

She stared at the light deep inside the tunnel and walked towards it.

*Kick*
*Roll*
*Ding**Ding*

"Well, shi-"*Bang*

-10,000HP

Aiko lay on the ground motionlessly. She cried rivers of tears and was unable to stand up due to the pain.

'I will definitely skewer his ass!' Aiko cried but vowed in her heart.