Chapter 52 – Passed!…? Can we enter now?
25 minutes...
"Grandmaster..." The Elders who now arrived asked, frowning.
"She is not feeling any pain or discomfort." The Grandmaster said simply, staring at Aiko curiously.
The audience also increased incomparably as the words spread about someone who reached above 20 minutes and was a Demonic Beast, but now there was another Beast who reached 25 minutes and was sleeping soundly on those fluffy tails.
The Harem Kings narrowed their eyes. They were glared at from every side and they couldn't really move forward.
The consensus of the audience was simple.
'Even if we break the rules we won't let you approach them'
The Harem Kings had the right to choose first...
One person in the audience was already sharpening her blade, glancing at them.
Another person in the audience was counting some strange paper-no, those were talismans and oh boy were there many of them.
Another one was a counting flask full of viciously green pills. All of them had different poison effects and he smiled kindly at the Harem Kings, ready to use them at a moment's notice if those Kings moved.
They suddenly felt... threatened. Some less talented Harem Kings already stood back, they would fight the whole peanut gallery.
...
29 minutes and 49 seconds, that was the time that Aiko lasted.
Aiko furrowed her brows and jumped away from the lap, glaring at the Array.
'Can't you let me sleep more, you shitty bastard!' Aiko protested, ready to tear that Array.
The Grandmaster chuckled. "You could've waited for a few more seconds before jumping away." The Grandmaster was aware that Aiko didn't feel any pain yet, but only felt discomfort.
'It's hard to sleep with that sensation!' Aiko protested towards Grandmaster and everyone stiffened.
"But it was just sensation..." The Grandmaster put her hand on her cheek. "You could've beaten the record you know.
'I don't care about some shitty record! Give me back my sleep time!' Aiko spat.
The Grandmaster laughed. "You can sleep later, your Mate can join the Elites, but you only passed the normal way, what do you want to do?"
The Elders frowned and wanted to stop her, but she was quicker than they were.
Aiko stared at the Queen. 'Now do you have any plan mean Fox?'
"Pfft." The Grandmaster almost laughed out loud, but she immediately coughed concealing it.
That didn't stop the Elders from staring at her with astonishment and fear.
'G-Grandmaster just laughed!' One Elder trembled.
'Grandmaster laughed! She will go on a killing spree run!' Another Elder shook, but couldn't move otherwise he would lose his face.
Grandmaster spoke gently. "Are you interested in Pills?"
Aiko thought about it, was she interested? Aiko pulled out small marble out of her pouch.
"That is a Pill." The Grandmaster said.
Aiko nodded.
"How about Arrays or Formations?" Before Grandmaster finished Aiko already shook her head.
She didn't like Arrays, especially these stinky Arrays.
Grandmaster suppressed her laugh as she saw Aiko glare at the Array.
"How about Inscriptions?" Grandmaster asked once again. "By the way, that pouch is made through Inscriptions."
Aiko's eyes shined. 'Can I create bigger and more Storage Pouches?!'
The Grandmaster chuckled. "Yes."
"How about hunting?" The Grandmaster saw Aiko's complicated gaze.
If she were to say if she liked hunting... the answer would be no, after meeting that Fire Lizard she was not very interested in those things.
"How about hunting within shadows." The Grandmaster smiled.
Now that was tempting, as Aiko fought mostly from shadows and she could possibly keep doing that.
Aiko nodded.
"There you have it Elders." The Grandmaster smiled sinisterly.
The Elders looked at her with complicated expressions. Did they like Jade Fox? Fuck yeah! They would sell their wealth just for a one-night stand.
Did they like Aiko? No. She would rip them off if they were to teach her.
"In that case, anything important would be handled by me." The Grandmaster smiled and those old fogeys were left speechless.
"Wait a moment Grandmaster." One Elder spoke back.
"What is it, Array Elder?" The Grandmaster didn't remember this Elder's name so she called him through his occupation.
He frowned but didn't comment on that Array part. "Only Elders can take-"
"That is alright." The Sect Leader appeared here, already aware of this commotion.
If that little Fox wasn't so small and young the Sect Leader would definitely propose to her...
"Grandmaster will take care of the little one and the little one can live with either the Jade Fox or at Grandmaster's place." The Sect Leader concluded nodding at Grandmaster who, until now, had a dangerous smile on her lips.
"Sect Leader is wise." The Grandmaster said and other Elders had to follow suit unless someone would question their loyalty.
...
The Queen smiled. 'I can't teach her close-quarter combat as I was an Energy Cultivator, but she will need that if she picks up any assassination missions.' She concluded.
"With this let's go to the Memorial Stone." The Grandmaster said and all the reluctant Foxes dispersed and only those that passed stayed.
Aiko was picked up by the Queen and they moved along. While it was against the rules to follow them, the Grandmaster ignored that rule for this occasion.
The Sect Leader popped up midway once they were alone.
"Jade Fox." The Sect Leader nodded towards her.
"Do you have the herbs?" The Queen smiled.
"Almost, but there are also the collaterals." The Sect Leader said.
'Sweetie, can I take 10 Rings filled with Spirit Stones?' the Queen asked telepathically. 'Those are the herbs for baths and more tasty food.'
Aiko wagged her tail. She really enjoyed that bath and wanted to experience it again.
10 rings filled with Spirit Stones appeared in the Air and the Queen took them.
The Sect Leader gave her the rings filled with herbs and the Queen checked them.
Confirming the contents of the Storage Rings she handed over the 1,000,000 Spirit Stones.
The Sect Leader nodded and left.
Aiko stared at the mean Fox in expectation.
"First we need to prepare it you silly." She gently touched Aiko's nose and Aiko sneezed.
Grandmaster smiled and guided them to the Memorial Stone.
"Here we will record your Qi print. If your name turns into a shade colour that means you have died. Black when your Soul was extinguished and red when you have betrayed this Village." The Grandmaster explained.
The girl in front of the Memorial Stone was startled. "Grandmaster." She cupped her fist.
The Grandmaster nodded. "We are here to record their Qi."
"J-Jade Fox?!" The Girl was startled.
"She is just accompanying her Mate." The Grandmaster said.
"I-i see..." Yet another Girl with a broken heart...
There were a lot of greyed-out names, not many black, but also quite a few red ones.
Aiko stared at them curiously and the girl spoke.
"They don't need to be traitors to appear red, if they are contracted they would also appear red." The girl explained while gathering picking up a small Stone and letting the Foxes touch it. They would also say their names so that wasn't a blank space with a white aura.
Aiko touched the stone curiously and a blank space appeared on the Memorial Stone. The girl waited for Aiko to tell her name.
The Grandmaster coughed awkwardly. "She can't speak."
"Oh." The girl blushed from embarrassment and let Aiko go.
"Now you will receive your additional Bloodline that can help you Evolve." The Grandmaster said and the other Foxes widened their eyes.
"That is one of the benefits of joining our Village." The Grandmaster smiled.
It has to be known that getting an additional Bloodline was very difficult. You can get your first Bloodline through Evolution, but then you would be stuck with that Evolution tree.
There was very little chance of getting other Bloodlines as it was difficult to achieve all the conditions necessary to Evolve into them.
There were very rare instances in which you would be able to obtain additional Bloodlines and one of those instances would be this 'Fox Village' Shrine.
It was an extremely sacred place where one had a chance to obtain Bloodline.
They walked towards a larger cave, in front of it there were many Shrine Gates, they were densely inscribed and appeared majestic in the sight of the beholder.
Aiko was intimidated, but also curious.
"You will enter one at a time. You will know what to do once you arrive inside and you will also know when to leave." The Grandmaster briefly explained. "Elder." The Grandmaster nodded towards the Elder sitting nearby.
"So many?" The Elder widened his eyes and narrowed them at Jade Fox. "Have you changed your mind, Jade Fox?"
The Queen smiled. "No, I don't need another one."
The Elder snorted but didn't say anything. He levitated small tokens in front of them.
Each Fox got one.
"Use them before you leave, unless you are like Jade Fox or Demonic Beast, I do not wish to rot my eyes with your unsightly bodies." The Elder spat and didn't say more.
The First Fox entered, it took a while, but Aiko fell asleep in the meantime.
...
The Queen pushed Aiko. Aiko was frowning. 'Why won't they let me sleep!'
Aiko entered the Shrine slowly and disappeared from their sight.
"Will she be alright?" A gentle angelic voice asked in concern.
"I hope so." A slightly rough, but energetic voice shared similar emotions.
"She won't become scarier, right?" A shy voice asked.
"I hope she won't destroy that place." The Queen sighed.
They all looked at her flabbergasted.
"What? She already devoured an Earthen Shard." The Queen snorted at their disbelieving expressions.
The Queen shrugged and the Grandmaster understood why she was like that.
...
Aiko entered the Shrine. She walked for a while and her paws were making wet sounds.
Wet?
She was walking on a lake under a starry sky.
[What a troublesome User...] The system sighed.
Aiko frowned but didn't say anything, she continued walking.
[What am I going to do with you...] The system played with something.
[I should just ignor-AU AU AU AU, Senior!] The System cried and Aiko smirked.
No, she relished in this misfortune of this system as it didn't reward her for beating up the Blood Fox.
She was greatly upset at the system, but couldn't get revenge on it, so it was refreshing that someone else got revenge on her behalf.
[W-w-wait Senior Sister-Ah~]
'...' Aiko ignored everything. She was a Monk. Monk? A Nun.
Aiko walked forward when something wrapped around her. The whole world turned upside down. She didn't understand what was happening and felt dizzy.
[Poor little Fox]
Something or someone kissed Aiko's forehead and that feeling disappeared.
[Congratulations! You have obtained a new Bloodline! [Dream Beast Kitsune]!]
'Uh...' Aiko stared at the notifications, for quite some time.
[W-wait! This-] [Shush] [Ah~]
'I'm a Nun.' Aiko chanted. She didn't notice that her body was slowly transforming.
[Congratulations! You have obtained a new Divine Ability! [Pseudo-Human Body(Prototype)]!]
[Pseudo-Human Body(Prototype)]
[It allows the User to obtain a temporary Human form.]
[You can't Cultivate Human Cultivation Techniques!]
[As this is a prototype the consumption and penalties are more severe!]
[100 Stamina per minute and 1/10 of Stats]
Aiko stared at this new Divine Ability and frowned. 'This shit is completely useless.'
She narrowed her eyes, but noticed that she was bigger?
She looked down and saw a Human body, but it was strange, she didn't have any nipples or other parts. She looked like a doll.
'Is that because it's a prototype?' Aiko narrowed her eyes, but that wouldn't make sense. 'They wouldn't talk about sex if you couldn't have it in the first place.'
Aiko was unaware that because she was still cub the technique was even more nerfed when it came to the transformation as her body was still undeveloped.
Aiko noticed the shining Token and touched it. Clothes wrapped around her. They were simple, but comfortable clothes.
'I quite like them.' She still couldn't speak, but she was somewhat used to it.
She slowly walked towards the exit with her small petite form.