Chapter 156 – Sleeping Beast
Along the way, Aiko yawned. She and her team got lost on the ship, since they didn't know where the training room was.
She looked around and checked every room, but still could not find it.
What she did find however, was a very interesting room with a very large and strange stone that was held together by the ship.
Aiko was curious and wanted to get closer to it when a very displeased voice drifted from behind her.
"You are not supposed to be here." The Chen boy said.
Aiko turned around. "Maybe if you told me where the training room was, I wouldn’t need to fucking wander around!" Aiko cursed him openly.
His brows twitched. "Let's go." He didn't really want to deal with an angry child.
Aiko didn't go with him. "What is that?" Aiko pointed towards the strange stone.
"That is the Levitation Stone. You need one if you don't want to burn a hole through your finances when you build a flying ship." He said dismissively, but Aiko was too interested to care about it.
"Where do you find one?" She really wanted a floating home.
"Not in this small continent." He snorted. "You would have to travel to the mainland for that."
"Oh..." Aiko nodded. "How can you find them?" Aiko kept asking questions, which annoyed the Inscription Saint.
"You need to find a floating island that is not occupied by lesser dragons." He didn't want to deal with her, but Lady Liu was behind him and it would be troublesome if she reprimanded him in front of everyone.
"Floating island?!" Aiko's eyes shined, which burdened the Chen boy.
There was a chuckle.
"They are quite amazing when you see them up close, but lesser dragons would burn you alive if their eyes fall upon you." Lady Liu said gently.
"Are they that dangerous?" Aiko asked her.
"Yes, and also grumpy, so be careful." She gently caressed Aiko's head.
"I see..." Aiko nodded slowly and walked with Lady Liu to the training room.
Aiko kept staring at Lady Liu. "Liu... it's dangerous to be here with us." Aiko didn't want to hurt her, since she couldn't control her Divine Sense properly.
Lady Liu smiled and looked at the Chen boy.
He shrugged. "She will be fine. I have given her an artefact that can nullify Divine Sense temporarily." Which would give him enough time to move her out of the room if something went awry.
Aiko sighed, but didn't try to convince them. It didn't seem they would believe her.
"So I can train my Divine Sense here?" Aiko asked.
"En, but only when I'm around." The Inscription Saint said flatly.
Aiko nodded, this place was big enough that it should be able to hold her Divine Sense. She also noticed many Inscriptions and Arrays, which means it should be all right to train freely.
...
"Stop, stop!" The Chen boy was shouting.
"What's wrong?" Aiko yawned, since she was exhausted from her own Divine Sense.
"Y-you! You dare to ask when you made this mess?!" He currently had conjured a barrier around the other participants that was protecting them from the previous onslaught from Aiko. "What are you?! That Divine Sense is way too powerful for your Rank!" He couldn't believe that he almost got injured by her Divine Sense.
Aiko tilted her head and rubbed her eyes...
...
2 hours before...
Aiko entered a meditative state and her Divine Sense leaked. It looked like a hunched black beast ready to pounce on anything that got too close to her, but what was more ridiculous was that the beast was observing them.
The Chen boy conjured a light barrier subconsciously when the beast looked over.
He was shocked by this and he was very wary when it came to this Divine Sense.
'It's still growing...' He frowned.
The beast was still growing in size, soon filling up the entire room.
The room started to creak, which upset the beast. It thrashed around due to the limited space.
'What the fuck?!' The Inscription Saint couldn't help but curse when his ship started to creak and crumble.
This ship cost him pretty much his entire fortune, yet that little bastard was turning it into kindling!
He yelled at the bastard that was destroying the ship, but Aiko was deeply meditating. It was impossible to get through her.
'Jade Fox must be insane if she wants to nurture her!' He sweated buckets as he felt his light barrier getting pushed back by the sheer volume of her Divine Sense.
...
Aiko remembered the events and blushed slightly. "It's not my fault you didn't build this ship properly." Aiko murmured, but this made the Inscription Saint enraged.
"What the f-" The Chen boy yelled at the bastard who destroyed his ship.
"That is enough, Chen Shi." Lady Liu reprimanded him.
"But... Liu Zhi..." He almost cried when she reprimanded him.
"You said that this room would be able to bear her training. It's your fault since you have underestimated her abilities." Liu Zhi reprimanded him again, it was definitely not because she was fond of those girls... definitely not.
Chen Shi opened his mouth, but then closed it in silence. He couldn't believe that he was reprimanded for something he didn't do.
Liu Zhi sighed. "Now you." She stared at Aiko. "What in the world was that?"
"Pardon?" Aiko tilted her head. The confusion was written all over her face, which made the rest of the participants feel even stranger.
"You don't know what was happening?" Liu Zhi asked carefully.
"I made a mess...?" Aiko had a recollection of the events, but that recollection was vastly different from what they saw.
She believed that her Divine Sense went out of control and caused this mess. She was unaware that a beast formed from her Divine Sense. That beast was very grumpy and disliked being in confined spaces, which prompted him to thrash around.
Liu Zhi sighed while massaging her temples. "It's better for you not to train your Divine Sense on this ship." She comforted Chen Shi, who was almost crying over the destroyed rooms.
Liu Zhi left with the heartbroken Chen Shi, leaving the team behind. She was not angry at Aiko, since it didn't feel like she was lying or did this whole thing on purpose.
Unfortunately, that didn't mean Chen Shi was as understanding as she was, she would have to comfort him for a few days before he returned to normal...
...
Aiko's team looked at her with both fear and admiration.
If the Inscription Saint didn't protect them, they would surely die a painful death. Crushed by Aiko's thrashing Divine Sense.
Aiko noticed their gazes and felt pretty awful about this entire situation. This was all the fault of that Inscription Idiot, who was nudging her to connect with the Inscription Carving Pen!
Aiko snorted coldly a few times. She was upset that he wanted to blame her, but also upset that she almost hurt her team.
It was a mixed feeling that she just couldn't suppress, so she silently went back to their room.
Her team followed her. The Umbra Fox was shivering in fear, while the Blood Fox looked quite excited.
Why excited? Because for some reason, those voices screamed in pain when that strange beast got big enough. It felt like those voices were being torn to pieces, slowly and painfully.
This might be the root of whatever allows Aiko to suppress her condition.
The Blood Fox suddenly paused and she was no longer smiling. 'That doesn't make sense...' She knew that Aiko hadn't awakened her Divine Sense when she suppressed her the first time...
'Is it possible it has something to do with Aiko's Energy?' She thought about it.
Whenever you were close to Aiko, she would subconsciously leak her Energy and smother those next to her with it.
The Blood Fox was reminiscent of the first time she was tenderly attended by Aiko's rocks. That Energy also imbued those rocks...
The Blood Fox narrowed her eyes dangerously. She either has to be beaten by Aiko's Divine Sense to shut those voices completely or...
'I will have to wait for her to mature...' The Blood Fox thought. This was the less painful option, but that also meant that she would have to build a much different rapport than what she was currently building.
'Everything will take time.' The Blood Fox chanted her old scripture to calm her mind. 'If I rush it, I won't get what I want and I will have to resort to the painful option…'
She sighed. This was too troublesome to think about. She will have to be satisfied with her current condition and slowly change Aiko's outlook on her...
...
Aiko tapped the table slowly. She was annoyed and concerned.
She stared at the Inscription Carving Pen and her irritation only increased.
It got to the point that she manifested a part of her Divine Sense, shocking her team.
The Divine Sense yawned, since it was exhausted like Aiko.
It looked bored and tired, but it took a whiff of something and its gaze strained on a certain treasure.
It nudged the Inscription Carving Pen and the Pen shivered.
It played with it for a bit, finding it funny how the Pen shivered and tried to roll away from it, but he still had to fulfil the wishes of his owner.
He licked that Inscription Carving Pen, creating a connection between it and Aiko.
The beast snorted happily and rolled around before disappearing.
...
Aiko opened her eyes. The Inscription Carving Pen was still in one piece and she even felt some kind of strange feeling towards that Pen.
She was staring at it for a long time, when she realised someone was panting painfully.
She looked around and found that the Blood Fox was clutching her chest like she was in extreme pain.
Aiko's heart dropped. She was so irritated that she didn't consider the fact that she might hurt them without the Inscription Saint there to stop the rampage.
She hurriedly came close to her.
"I'm sorry." Aiko immediately apologised, looking incredibly sad.
The Blood Fox tried to smile, but she was still in pain. "I'm alright..." She weakly replied.
Aiko's lips twitched and a tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm sorry..." She sniffled.
The Blood Fox felt much better when Aiko cared about her like this, so she tried to gently pat the crying Aiko and reassure her that everything was alright.
Meanwhile, the Umbra Fox was confused. She could swear that she was also crushed by that rolling beast, but the only feeling she got from it was... warm and fluffy?
She didn't understand how she could feel like that, while the Blood Fox was rolling in pain.
The Umbra Fox suddenly paused like she figured it out. 'Maybe it's because of her Demonic Nature?' She tilted her head, but that was the only explanation she could come up with to explain this situation.
She was not of a Demonic origin, at least not completely, which might have caused the difference in what they experienced...