Chapter 314 – Cleaning and Pills
Aiko was squirming the whole time, but that did not wake up Mei, who continued to sleep peacefully on Aiko's bosom without a care in the world.
Aiko soon gave up trying to weasel her way out of this and she tried to get some sleep in as well.
Unfortunately or fortunately, her escape attempts lasted for such a long time that Mei woke up fully rested.
Their eyes met, Aiko's face went red and it was not just her face. Her Human ears and neck were also coloured in deep red.
Mei was no different. At first, she was nonchalant about this whole situation, but once she realised where she slept... yeeah. Mei woke up very quickly with a completely red face.
Neither of them said anything and Mei turned to work on the Herbs. Meanwhile, Aiko was somewhat tired and since Mei slept on her, she thought that it would be only natural to do the same.
They slept together in the business and Aiko always slept on Mei's tails, so this situation was no different... is what Aiko told herself.
Considering how little time Mei needed for rest, it should be fine for Aiko to do the same.
She snuck behind Mei and wrapped her hands around her waist, and put her head in the nook of Mei's neck before dozing off.
Mei's body went stiff. She didn't expect Aiko to continue this whole thing, but what made everything worse was the fact that Aiko was breathing on her neck!
That gentle and slow breath tickled Mei and constant shivers went down her spine.
The Blood Fox noticed this situation and sighed. She stepped next to Mei whilst shaking her head.
Mei glared at her, but before she could say anything...
The Blood Fox peeled Aiko off and placed her in her own tails. She didn't mind Aiko sleeping on her since she had been used to it from when she was small.
The only one overly conscious about this whole situation was Mei, or so the Blood Fox thought.
...
Aiko woke up later wrapped in the Blood Fox tails. She didn't question anything and rested a bit more to recover completely.
Aiko dressed up in a new kimono and walked next to Mei. She was sorting a few Herbs constantly, like she was in a loop.
"Can I get a bucket?" Aiko asked Mei.
"What for?" Mei was confused.
"For the water." Aiko gestured towards her tails. She would use the [Heavenly Blessed Light-Water 1,000L] for Mei, so that she could clean the Herbs properly.
Mei unfortunately didn't have a bucket, but that didn't matter for her. Mei's Divine Sense could not be compared to Aiko's or her team's, so she could use her Divine Sense as an improvised bucket.
"I will just use my Divine Sense so give me a bit of it." Mei was intending to get only 100 units, but Aiko dumped a few litres out of her tails.
"I meant a bit!" Mei cried out as she caught that special water with her Divine Sense.
"It is a bit." Aiko dumped 3 litres for Mei.
"Listen, even 100 units are priceless, so don't take out so much of it!" Mei scolded Aiko, but inside; she was feeling warm and fuzzy.
Mei used that special water carefully to wash the Herbs prepared. Aiko kept placing more Herbs on the plate when Mei was not looking, but Mei ignored them.
Right now she was focusing on this batch, because she wanted to see how many Pills she could get out of them.
After the clean-up, Mei prepared the Cauldron for Pill Refining. She wanted to refine one batch of the Human Transformation Heavenly Pills.
She had all the materials thanks to Aiko going around and robbing everyone.
Mei had nothing against such an approach. It is a rob or get robbed world after all.
Aiko watched Mei work. She wished to help Mei, but she also didn't wish to mess up the Herbs, since they looked expensive.
Mei worked elegantly, so much so that it shocked Aiko. She could not turn her gaze away from Mei's performance.
...
Soon, the Cauldron hummed and a Pill scent spread to the surrounding area. It smelled nice and inviting.
"Burn anyone who would wish to get close." Mei said sternly.
"You don't have to tell me." The Dragon wanted to roar to drive away everyone without the need to use his flames, but that would mess up the energy around the Cauldron, so he could not.
He would just spit on the incoming Beasts when they got close...
"It's unfortunate we are not outside." Mei sighed. While the number of Pills didn't increase, the jump in quality was staggering.
She could feel her attainment in Alchemy growing. This meant that she could reach a higher Grade using these Herbs alone.
Mei, however, was not in a hurry. Haste makes waste, she would slowly polish her skills and let herself achieve the next Grade as naturally as possible.
The Pills coagulated and Mei lifted the lid with her Divine Sense to escort the Pills out of the Cauldron.
They were perfectly formed without any imperfections.
"If the Heavenly Dao saw this, it would definitely bless these Pills..." Mei sighed, like it was such a waste for these Pills to not be blessed.
Unfortunately, they could not leave this Secret Realm, since they would be unable to return.
"It's the second-best thing, but even without the blessing, these Pills should be at least twice, maybe even thrice as strong as normal Perfect Grade Pills." Mei nodded.
"I will show you how to wash the Herbs again, so you can help me." Mei turned towards Aiko who was still staring intently. She pursed her lips. "Would you like to learn more about Alchemy?"
She intended to teach Aiko more, but with the washing, everything would be much easier on Aiko since there were a lot fewer impurities.
"Can I?!" Aiko was startled. She knew that these Herbs were very expensive.
"Of course you can." Mei pinched Aiko's cheek gently. She would indulge her as much as she wanted, but without spoiling her.
"Wouldn't it be better to start on easier Herbs?" Aiko's control was not the best yet, so she wanted to wait.
Mei's smile widened. It seems like her little sweetie listened well during the scolding.
"I had prepared Herbs for this in advance, so you can practice on those as much as you would like to." Mei also brought a few Cauldrons, just in case Aiko blew them up.
Aiko nodded happily and waited for Mei to show her how to wash them.
Mei carefully demonstrated her skills in washing, but this could be simply summed up as:
1. Squeeze it gently with the water, so the water penetrates the Herbs.2. Let the water sit for a while and watch as the water gets cloudy from the impurities.3. The Herbs are cleaned, so you can store them away.4. You need to separate the impurities from the precious water.5. Reclaim almost all the water and start the cleaning of the dirty Herbs.
Aiko found these steps easier said than done, but she had her own plans.
She used her [Tails Storage] to separate a few Herbs. She then separated a bit of the [Heavenly Blessed Light-Water 997L] with the separated Herbs.
Aiko tried to gently push the water inside the Herbs and then she waited.
"Are you watching?" Mei asked gently as she saw Aiko distracted.
"Y-yes!" Aiko stuttered and nodded repeatedly.
"Just watch carefully, I will show you one last time." Mei said affectionately.
"Okay." Aiko nodded gently while watching the small portion in her [Tails Storage] mingle.
"So, you do it like this..." Mei started to explain once again.
...
"And you are done." Mei placed the cleaned Herbs in front of Aiko.
"And I'm done." Aiko pulled a batch of the Herbs from her [Tails Storage], startling Mei.
"They are indeed mostly cleaned..." Mei nodded. "But you forgot to squeeze the water out, so that the Herbs wouldn't change the element." She warned Aiko.
Aiko nodded, but sighed. "I already tried that, but my Divine Sense is not gentle enough to not crush the Herbs..." She whined slightly, complaining to Mei while hugging her.
Mei nodded. "I expected something like this to happen." She had some hopes that Aiko's Divine Sense would be gentle enough, but these Herbs were too rare and as such much more fragile than common Herbs.
"If you can clean the other Herbs like this, then I will finish the rest." Mei nodded at this plan and pinched Aiko's cheek. "And stop hugging me, or I won't be able to work properly."
"Yes, ma'am!" Aiko sat next to Mei and saluted.
"You..." Mei sighed, shaking her head.
Meanwhile, Aiko went into her system and combined the Herbs with the [Heavenly Blessed Light-Water] and let them mingle with a few squeezes.
Meanwhile, Mei was working on the Herbs with a puzzled expression. 'When did she clean them? She was staring at me for the most part...' She could not figure out when Aiko did this.
...
Mei cleaned the Herbs and asked Aiko for more. "Have you cleaned anything else?"
Mei noticed Aiko staring at her the whole time, so she didn't believe that Aiko did anything...
"Yes, I cleaned everything." Aiko nodded gently.
"... What?" Mei thought that Aiko could no longer surprise her after pulling that light-water out of nothing, but it appears that was not the case!
"I cleaned everything." Aiko repeated. She was a bit bored, so she also cleaned the [100 Ghost Parade Lamp(Damaged)] and [Primordial Soul Wood].
She did not clean her Tools or anything else, since she didn't see the point in doing so.
Mei's head throbbed once again. Aiko did not know the word moderation or just chose to ignore it.
Aiko sat next to Mei and caressed her head.
"What are you doing?" Mei asked, trying to push away Aiko's hand, but Aiko simply replied. "You seemed to be in pain..."
Mei sighed and let Aiko do her thing, since it did help her for some reason.
"Just pull a few Herbs at a time and I will clean them. Store the [Heavenly Blessed Light-Water] after I'm done with it." Mei explained Aiko's duty.
"Okay." Aiko smiled like an angel and waited for Mei to finish cleaning the Herbs.
"You can also give me the dirty light-water and I can separate it too." Mei smiled at Aiko gently.
"About that..." Aiko didn't know how to say this to Mei, but...
[Tails Storage(2,400m3): [Heavenly Blessed Light-Water 100L], [Primordial Soul Wood], [100 Ghost Parade Lamp(Slightly Damaged)], [Talismans], [Tools], [Herbs - lots mixed with Heavenly Blessed Light-Water], [Filth - too much, ditch it as soon as possible!]]
Would Mei scold her again...?