Chapter 51 – Heart Afire

The Queen followed the Grandmaster as Aiko was curiously looking at what she would do.

The Grandmaster was surprised when she saw the Foxes cooperating on tearing apart one particular body.

She clapped and the Foxes snapped out of it. "You have all passed this test, there is only one test left." The Grandmaster said.

Those Foxes looked at each other. "We have not collected enough Humans."

The Grandmaster nodded in agreement. "You have good fighting prowess, but you lack the control necessary to utilize your Abilities to the fullest. We have recorded everything that happened here and we will show you your weaknesses, you will have a year to correct most of them or we will kick you out of the Fox Village." The Grandmaster recited the Sect Leader's words.

Aiko who was happily snoozing while being held by the Queen stiffened.

'R-recorded?' She sent a burning glare towards the Grandmaster.

The Queen giggled and the Grandmaster stiffened her face with Qi on purpose so that she wouldn't smile. "Of course, we have all seen your fighting style."

Aiko almost fainted and glared at the Grandmaster.

"Is there a problem?" The Grandmaster asked the Foxes and Aiko jumped down, slapping her paw on her feet.

[Title [Courageous] Activated!][Title [Plushie Princess] Activated!][Title [Mischievous Cub] Activated!]

'Delete it, delete it.' Aiko was embarrassed. 'Those are my treasures.'

The Foxes froze in fear and the Queen laughed out loud.

The Grandmaster also stiffened as she didn't expect this little one to be so courageous. "What is it? You know we have already seen your grubby little paws robbing everyone."

Aiko protested as she was picked up. 'Sniff, delete it, sniff.' Aiko had teary eyes and the Title [Mischievous Cub] was so effective the Grandmaster almost caved in.

"You will learn from those scenes." The Grandmaster returned Aiko to the Jade Fox, she was bothered by her stare.

The Queen was still laughing, but the Grandmaster didn't mind. 'I might even believe they are Mates right now.' She thought. It was very strange to see so well-synchronized and caring Foxes. 'It's like I'm looking at those two.' She glanced towards the boom-boom Fox and Shadow Fox. Then she shook her head.

"We will be leaving soon, the pouches are almost retrieved by the others, we will still count your wealth and assign Contribution points when you pass the next test.

The next test was the heart/loyalty test. They would be giving them the access tokens so they needed to know if they would betray them and how likely would they stay loyal.

...

They returned to another ground. Probably because they didn't expect such a great turn over there were only 4 Arrays prepared for this.

"The next is the Heart Test." The Grandmaster said. "It is a very simple test, where your heart will be tested.

They arrived at the destination and there were Foxes all around peeking curiously.

Once Aiko appeared in the Queen's arms, damage was inflicted on their hearts and an uproar began.

"Little one please go out with me!" One girl screamed."I will let you #### and ####, I also don't mind #### and ####!" Another girl screamed."I will treasure you as a mate!" A guy screamed and the place went silent.

The female Foxes turned at him already with their weapons in their hands.

"Would you repeat that again, bimbo trash?" The first girl smiled, she was a prodigy when it came to swords, so not many would offend her.

"W-well..." The guy was pressured by 67 sharp pointy blades aimed towards him. "N-no." He shook his head.

They smiled and then stiffened, The Grandmaster was looking at them with narrowed eyes.

"I didn't think there were so many traitors..." She sighed touching her burn wound.

The colour was drained from their faces, they remembered the rules.

'Never date an outsider.'

They gulped, sweating buckets, but Grandmaster ignored them. Aiko had burrowed her head in the Queen's arms as she was bothered by this attention.

The Queen ignored them. 'Mmmmm, it's so, so nice to pet her fur...' Then she thought. 'I wonder how many Spirit Stones we could get from a single pet...' But then she shook her head. 'This fur is mine! The Medicine bath helped her greatly and that was because of me!' She nodded happily.

The Grandmaster made a line of the Foxes. The attribute-less Foxes were the first ones as they were less likely to succeed.

Aiko was waiting in line.

"You need to activate the Array for at least 1 minute to pass.' The Grandmaster said.

How this Array worked is that it would test your emotions against your heart and experiences. At first, the effect would not be noticeable, but soon your heart would slowly burn, causing you pain. The more you try to shield your heart or endure the worse it will become.

That was why there were still traitors, some of them had extremely high pain thresholds and endured the pain until 1 minute passed.

The attribute-less Foxes failed after a few seconds and only one passed. Now it was time for Yellow Fox, Purple Fox, boom-boom Fox and Shadow Fox.

They surprisingly passed. The Yellow Fox had 2 minutes and 13 seconds. The purple Fox had 1 minute and 46 seconds. The boom-boom Fox with Shadow Fox had exactly 3 minutes.

...

The Elders who were looking from afar, with few harem kings, stared at them and evaluated them.

"It's not bad, shadow is also close to demonic lineage so she would be really beautiful, it would be worth teaching..." The Female Elder said.

"I really like the shadow one." One of the harem kings said.

"What? You would go for something so mediocre? Why not the Fire/Earth Fox(Boom-boom Fox)? She would bounce nicely." Another king ridiculed his friend and licked his lips.

The Elder shook her head and watched others entering the circle.

...

Now it was time for the Blood Fox, which everyone thought would fail immediately, but everyone wished she didn't as they already saw Demonic Foxes and without any exceptions, they were all ravishing beauties!

Another was the Ice Fox, which was the black horse, they didn't expect she would survive so far.

Then there was Aiko, who... looked angry?

To use this Array you would be in an asleep state, but there was a problem.

[Filthy RICH Den Master]

This 'half asleep' state was counted as sleeping, so the Title [Filthy RICH Den Master], was being triggered constantly. Aiko couldn't 'sleep'...

The Queen giggled and adjusted the Array. At first, the Elder wanted to stop her but then noticed that the addition was an Exclusion Array and the Jade Fox activated it for herself.

The Elder tilted his head not understanding.

The Jade Fox sat in place of Aiko and patted her thighs. The other Foxes almost went feral over this and were extremely tempted to jump at those delicious thighs and squeeze them.

Fortunately, the Grandmaster's cold aura was bone-chilling so they didn't act on their impure thoughts.

Aiko sat down since she was 'kicked' out of the Array and stared at Queen not moving.

The Queen's lips twitched. 'Do you even know what others would do if I did the same?! They would conquer the Upper Realm for me!' She moved her tails on her lap and Aiko was quick as lightning already settled on them.

The Queen sighed and shook her head as the Array activated almost immediately.

Grandmaster suddenly asked. "There won't be a problem, right?"

The Elder shook his head. "That small Array is better than what I created..." He sighed, normally he wouldn't say this, but Grandmaster would be able to read his thoughts so there was no point in lying.

Grandmaster nodded and they observed.

...

The Ice Fox lasted 1 minute and 50 seconds.

"Another good seedling." Another Elder spoke, but the Harem Kings were not as interested.

"The Blood Fox was also holding on quite well. It was already 5 minutes." Another Elder spoke in astonishment. The Harem Kings were really interested in her.

"The little one was also not bad." They stared at Aiko, who was... sleeping?

"Wait is she asleep?" One Harem King laughed. That little one would fail immediately.

The Elder spoke coldly knowing his thoughts. "It's been 7 minutes already."

The Harem King stiffened and looked at the hourglass in front of him. "What the fuck?" He didn't last even 5 minutes since he fell asleep and the difficulty increased.

At the 20-minute mark, the Blood Fox quit.

The Elders nodded, they would try to get her as their Mates but paused as an extremely handsome prodigy approached her.

...

"I'm glad you made it Sister." The youth smiled gently. "If you didn't..." He narrowed his eyes. "I would have to beat up quite a few Elders." He laughed.

The Grandmaster sighed. This pure youth loved his Sister more than anything and wished only the best for her.

"I will also solve that little bully for you." Her brother smiled gently.

"No." The Blood Fox rejected him and the youth was completely stunned.

"Y-y-you..." Tears rolled down his cheeks and he smiled widely. Most female Foxes temporarily forget about Aiko and their cheeks flush.

He could've been another Harem King, but he chose to be alone to have more sway over Elders so that his Sister would have an easier time.

He hugged his Sister gently. His time was 22 minutes at that time. "If you need anything just tell me." He spoke gently, but his voice was still slightly cracked.

The Blood Fox nodded and sat nearby staring at Aiko...

...

Aiko was still asleep in a white space. She had a pleasant sleep until something hit her.

"Let me sleep, you shitty bastards!" The Aiko roared but was soon startled.

"What the fuck?" She tilted her head, she couldn't see her body.

"Please calm down little one." A gentle voice drifted. "You are being tested currently, but your Soul was too powerful blocking everything, so I invited you here.

"And who the fuck are you?" Aiko stared into the empty space.

"Spirit of this Array." The gentle voice spoke again.

"?" Aiko was confused.

"Just know that I mean no harm and am here only to test you." She soothed Aiko.

"Fine." Aiko 'sat' down and stared at the completely white space.

...

"D-do you feel uncomfortable?" The Spirit asked startled.

"What do you think jerk?" Aiko snorted at her. 'I want to enjoy those fluffy tails but you!'

"Uh..." The Spirit was confused as it was already 25 minutes and this little one didn't feel a thing. That never happened to her...

...

"Grandmaster...?" The Elder asked looking at his nearby hourglass.

"She doesn't feel any pain." The Grandmaster spoke.

The Elder wiped his sweat. 'What the fuck is going on?! She is just Beast!'

...

The Elders who were observing were likewise speechless.

"Could it be that Array not working since she was Beast?" One Elder hypothesized, but was cut short.

"Once you learn Arrays you can speak." Another Elder snorted at him. He was the creator of those Arrays and they were tested even on Animals and other Elders, they were flawless.

One of the Harem Kings said. "I'm reserving that little one."

The other Harem Kings cursed as they were too slow, from being stunned, but that didn't stop them from cursing him. "Fuck you, bastard, don't you have enough petite Foxes on your side?!"

"No." The Harem King maintained his dignity and expressionless face.

"You bastard! Did you really cut off your emotions so you can appear cool!?" They were left speechless.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." He feigned ignorance while keeping his emotions constantly severed.

They cursed and Elders shook their heads.

"Who would like the little one?" One Elder asked, but none of the Elders spoke. They weren't into small petite females.

There was consensus that they would only tempt her so that they could obtain Jade Fox...