Chapter 326 – Stolen Treasures!
Aiko looked around as nobody was paying attention to her. The Blood Fox was reviewing what she gained from the Evolution. The Twins were sparring to improve both their Skills, coordination and Divine Sense.
Mei was helping the Beasts with their Beads to increase their compatibility with Foxes. Everyone forgot about her.
Feifei was helping Mei since she was interested in those Beads too, so Aiko could not even bother her.
This whole thing was to help Aiko, but what is she supposed to do now?!
'Explore!' Aiko narrowed her eyes. She should probably visit the nest of that flying roasted chicken.
Aiko couldn't even bid farewell, since everyone was too engrossed in what they were doing.
She sighed before running away. Time was of the essence and she really wanted to explore that nest.
It should still be left intact, right?
...
Aiko dashed through the woods, spotting a few Cultivators, but she avoided them like the plague. She didn't need to rob them for the time being, since her Tails were full.
'I should've got rid of that strange water.' Aiko clicked her tongue. She was so engrossed in scolding and extor- gaining benefits from the Beasts, that she completely forgot about that water!
'I will get rid of it later.' Aiko sighed. She didn't want to dump it somewhere, since she worried that she would change the landscape once again.
Aiko narrowed her eyes. 'Maybe I should do it there, so there is something fun to observe?' She tilted her head and snickered. 'Let's find a suitable place for it!'
With that decided, Aiko sped up towards the towering mountain.
...
She arrived in a day, since she was running the whole time and this place was not that big. The mountain fortunately had only a slightly steep incline, so you could in theory climb it by just walking.
And that's where Beasts were superior to Humans, since they had 2 pairs of legs, it allowed to not only run faster, but also climb more efficiently as long as it was not too steep.
Aiko walked the steep mountain, but she then frowned. 'This will take a while...' She didn't want to use the double jump or [Earthen Walk] to experience climbing again, but her speed dropped significantly.
'Should I use the double jump...?' Aiko narrowed her eyes. It would certainly be quicker and her [Earthen Walk] would be able to save her if she fell.
'Well, it's a bit rocky terrain, so the [Earthen Walk] will be a lot slower...' Aiko shook her head. 'Let's just do it and deal with the consequences later!'
With that decided, Aiko started using double jumps to climb quicker. Her speed was incomparable to before, which pleased Aiko.
Like this, she would be able to arrive at the top of the mountain in a day or two!
...
"I hate this place." Aiko said as she kept climbing. The peak was in sight, but at the same time, it was so far that it made her frown!
Why is it so far away?! Make these mountains smaller!
Aiko huffed in annoyance as she kept jumping the mountain. It would take a lot more time to arrive at the peak, but she would persevere!
...
"I did it!" Aiko huffed, since this drained her Stamina by quite a large margin.
Aiko was so overcome with happiness that she almost cried.
"Hahahaha! I did it!" Aiko happily shouted.
She looked around while laughing.
"Hahaha.""Haha...""Ha...?""Haaaaa!?"
Aiko went through the 5 stages of grief...
Denial:"This can't be real. I'm dreaming, right? There is no way that on the other side of the mountain, there is a normal road that leads here...!" Aiko denied the reality vehemently.
Anger:"Those assholes! How could they do this!? If you are going to build a road, you are supposed to build a road on all sides!" Aiko cursed all the builders of this road!
Bargaining:"No, maybe the flying roasted chicken harassed them, so they were able to build just on one side..." Aiko tried to bargain with her anger.
Depression:"Why did they do it like that..." Aiko was depressed that they didn't even give directions to the road.
Acceptance...?"Hahahaha." Aiko laughed at the top of her lungs. "Everything can go to shit!"
She stuck out her tails and dumped that strange water down the mountain!
The water flowed especially well along the road.
"I will see if you can still enjoy this place you fucks!" Aiko roared in anger as she kept dumping that water down the mountain.
It was like boiling lava and it killed everything organic in its path whilst heating up some stronger rocks, and melting the rest.
"Hmpf." Aiko snorted as she dumped a last piece of the water down the mountain. "Now let's check the loot!"
Aiko forgot about her grief the moment she spotted that glorious nest!
It was magnificently big, with many hidden compartments and it-it-
"-It was looted!" Aiko banged her paws on the nearby rocks. "I can't believe someone looted this place before me!" She was crying because she had missed this loot.
"I know, I should've come sooner, but why didn't they wait for me?!" Aiko was throwing a tantrum and it took her a long time until she calmed down.
...
"Phew..." Aiko's eyes were quite puffy from the tears. "There is nothing of value, so I will just leave-"
Aiko went back to the edge of the peak, but she realised a small, just a tiny issue, with this place.
"Oh..." Aiko blinked innocently. She was surrounded by boiling lava and burning trees. "Oh, shit..."
...
{Meanwhile, somewhere else.}
"So..." A certain kitty came to a certain birdie. "I know that I shouldn't ask, but..."
The other Beasts looked at the kitty.
"Are you sure you have all of your Essence with you?" The kitty asked the birdie.
"Of course, why?" The birdie tilted his head.
"Well..." The kitty didn't know what to say and just pointed at a certain mountain.
"It's a nice and shiny mountain?" The birdie took a while to realise what was wrong with it. "Oh... it's melting...?"
"I can clearly feel our combined energy from that." A certain reptile said.
"..." A certain kitty blinked innocently."..." A certain birdie groaned unhappily."..." A certain reptile sipped his water while he watched the show unfold.
"......" A certain birdie groaned even more. "Fine, I will check what happened."
"Don't worry, we will keep working on those beads." The reptile smiled happily, now he could laze around and bath in his waters.
The birdie took off and flew towards the mountain.
He arrived at the peak to check the situation, but he spotted a certain small Fox.
It took him a while to process the information and his brain hurt badly.
"Do you need a ride?" The birdie surrendered to this absurd sight and situation.
"Please?" The little Fox asked softly.
The little Fox boarded the Bird Express without saying a word. The birdie likewise did not say anything.
...
Aiko arrived back at the camp riding the Three-Legged Crow.
"What happened?" The Black Tortoise asked.
The Three-Legged Crow shook his head.
"I'm back!" Aiko smiled innocently, like she just didn't burn a whole mountain down.
Mei immediately pinched Aiko's cheeks. "Are you causing trouble again?!"
"No..." Aiko answered briefly.
"You will stay inside this place until we are finished with your Evolution!" Mei ordered Aiko.
"Fine..." Aiko pouted. She intended to locate who stole her Treasures, but she was grounded before she could do that.
...
Days passed, then weeks, and Aiko finally decided to scribble on nearby rocks.
She was too bored to do anything. So she Inscribed a few Runes on each rock.
One made the rock lighter, while another made it heavier. Aiko was looking through the Runes, trying to find something interesting she could do with it, but her brain was locked and unable to come up with anything fun.
That was only natural since she was scolded by Mei a few times for trying to sneak out.
'Alchemy.' Aiko narrowed her eyes. 'Let's do that until I get bored!'
...
As such, Aiko turned into a Pill factory. She was creating so many Pills that Mei had to swap the ingredients and recipes a few times.
It was a funny sight to see a small Fox surrounded by heaps of Pills all around her.
[Alchemy Mastery: Lv.9->Mastered]
'Took a fucking while!' Aiko snorted unhappily. She was finished with Pills after a few months, but that was not only because of that, but she also wanted to talk with the Blood Fox.
Aiko cleaned her place and walked towards the Blood Fox who was meditating.
"You know what you did wrong?" Aiko narrowed her eyes.
"Yes, Mistress." The Blood Fox bowed. She was a bit unhappy that she was getting chewed out for her decision so much, but she was unwilling to rebel against Aiko.
"Good. Next time, you go through your Evolution it will be boosted with my Vitality!" Aiko proclaimed.
"Yes, Mistress." The Blood Fox understood that she did not grow as strong as the Twins. Sure, she got quite a few Treasures, but they could not compare to the raw growth that the Twins demonstrated.
"I have a few things for you, but I will give them to you later, once Mei decides you can Cultivate Beast Manuals." Aiko said gently.
"Yes, Mistress." The Blood Fox grabbed a brush and brushed Aiko's tails to soothe her anger. She wished that Aiko would forget about the previous situation as soon as possible!
"Do you know how to say something else?" Aiko narrowed her eyes.
"Yes, Mistress." The Blood Fox smiled.
"Now you are just messing with me!" Aiko pouted.
"Yes, Mistress." The Blood Fox laughed, while combing Aiko's tails.
Aiko sulked because of those responses and they didn't talk for quite some time.
"I heard that Mei will be Evolving soon." The Blood Fox tried to start a conversation with Aiko.
"Yeah..." Aiko stopped herself from reprimanding the Blood Fox again. "It will be a sight to behold and I already have a gift for her, for when she achieves the Human Form." Aiko smiled happily. This was a good way to use that Tea Set.
"We unfortunately don't have gifts, but we do have enough Spirit Stones to get them once we leave." The Blood Fox was a bit saddened that she did not have anything for Mei, but it couldn't be helped since Mei didn't share anything about this Evolution until they overheard Aiko and Mei talking.
"It's fine." Aiko giggled. "A small delay is no issue." She hummed gently.
