Chapter 67 – Flying Ship
The Queen eventually recovered and found the listless Cub.
The Queen moved her on her tails and let her sleep there, focusing on what was more important.
'I need to get a bit more Inscription Ink and Chalk for Arrays.'
They still didn't fulfil the Grandmaster's side as she was currently away somewhere. This meant that they had this abode just for themselves and nobody would disturb them as everyone feared the might of the Grandmaster.
She packed a few things, this bath took longer as her Beast Core was now purer and as such it would take longer to extract the impurities.
'The next bath will take around 3 days.' The Queen clicked her tongue. 'I didn't expect that there would be such a difference when it comes to her body...'
The Queen shook her head, she was concerned that the Peak Elder would leave after a day, but that was also fine as she could rob the Human Cultivators of their treasures before arriving at the Inscription place.
'I will also need to pack a few things.' She glanced at the 'special' Storage Ring and moved it to her small Pouch.
She gathered the rest of the ingredients and placed them inside her Storage Ring, which she placed on her finger.
...
Aiko woke up again, and the Peak Elder called her and mean Fox.
They arrived at his Den.
"The departure is tomorrow, do you have everything you need?" The Inky Head asked giving the Jade Fox a Storage Ring with the things she wanted.
"We are ready, but the next stop might take a few days." The Queen gestured.
"That is fine, I have already notified the Sect Leader and she was fine with better preparations. This little one will also be stronger which is important since she is only a Beast Rank." The Elder nodded.
The Queen nodded back in appreciation, while this whole Village was almost useless, at least some of them had a conscience.
...
The Queen and Aiko returned back to the abode, Aiko was playing with her testing Pen and wrote down a couple of Runes.
She really hated the fact that out of all the useful runes, she learned only a couple and one of them was Rune of 'Vibration'. She really didn't want to use that Rune but at the same time...
'It would be good for a massage chair, but I will need some other moving parts and I don't know how to make those...' Aiko frowned cutely. Her Beauty was so high that even if she glared she would look cute.
"What is it?" The Queen gently caressed her hair. She then noticed something... she didn't really want to notice.
'W-why is she drawing the vibration Rune?!' The Queen was stunned and completely speechless.
She pinched her rascal's cheeks and Aiko protested back by slapping the Queen.
Unfortunately, because Aiko was so small she couldn't really slap the Queen's face for pinching her.
*Squish**Slap*
It took them a while to understand what happened.
"Y-y-you shamelesss cub!" The Queen was completely red. Never ever in her life was someone as daring as this little rascal.
'It's squishy...' Aiko made a grabbing motion with her fingers.
Seeing that motion the Queen couldn't bear it and stormed away, "I will remember that!" were her last words.
Aiko tilted her head. 'Is it that big of a deal? You touched my cheeks.'
She rubbed her slightly painful cheek.
...
"Grandmaster should stay and defend this Village." The Sect Leader said solemnly.
"Sect Leader is wise." The Elders agreed with her.
"We will have to make a stop during our journey." The Sect Leader told them like it was already concrete.
"Because of Jade Fox?" They heard some rumours about her deal with Peak Elder from the Inscription Peak.
"That is correct." The Sect Leader said smoothly. "We need her vast knowledge so it's only natural to give way here and there."
The Elders pondered on it.
"Is it truly wise? Won't she just take advantage of us?" The Elder from the Pill Refining Peak frowned.
"You are just bitter since she didn't choose your Peak." The Inky Head spoke haughtily.
"What did you say you bald bastard?! Just because you have more Disciples doesn't mean you are any better!" The Stomach Elder snapped at the Inky Elder.
The Inky Elder laughed at him.
"Who doesn't agree with this arrangement?" The Sect Leader suddenly spoke.
Only 3 Elders lifted their hands, that was not enough to cancel this arrangement.
Those 3 Elders frowned and put their hands down. They were upset that they would be giving preferential treatment to the Jade Fox, without tempting her to join their position.
...
Aiko spent the rest of the time playing with Runes, she wanted to level up her [Dexterous Fingers] and [Inscription Mastery] as much as possible.
It was not because she wanted to shine during that [Inscription Apprentice Test], but because she was curious about the Runes and their applications. She also wanted to improve her speed so that she could experiment without completely exhausting her Beast Core.
Aiko fiddled with her Pen when her mean Fox came back.
"We will be leaving soon." The Queen said towards her servant.
Aiko nodded cutely and picked up her stuff.
The Queen sighed if she didn't see that Ring she would think this little one was pure, but alas not any more.
Aiko turned into Fox and jumped at her mean Fox.
The Queen unconsciously dodged, but Aiko used [Quick Double Jump] to crash into that Fox.
The Queen was startled as her little servant didn't use any Qi but still was able to jump midair.
To be fair she really didn't want to carry this little rascal as the image completely changed. Unfortunately for the Queen. Aiko would jump on her until she succeeded.
It was a strange sight of Fox jumping at 'Human' and 'Human' trying to dodge the Fox.
Aiko was getting faster and the Queen panicked as this form was not good for her.
Aiko crashed into her bosom, which was not sizeable, but still nicely perked.
Aiko smirked towards the Fox and nuzzled into her bosom.
The Queen stiffened and wanted to shake her off, but also didn't want to repeat that fight.
"Ugh... Fine! I will carry you! Just stop it!" The Queen which never conceded to anyone conceded to a small Cub.
Aiko was happily carried away.
...
They arrived at the meeting point, there were many Inscription Disciples considering their very modest clothes stained with Inky colours.
Aiko... didn't like those clothes. She was happy that she didn't need to wear them.
'Now that I think about it... I stopped liking clothes, does this beast form rub me the wrong way?' She would never walk around nude, but also having clothes was a bit burdensome.
'I really like it when wind brushes on my fur or skin. It feels like I'm not being held down. Clothes on the other hand... yeah...' Aiko laid on Queen's arms and rested.
The group were glancing towards their direction, but neither of them really cared all that much about it.
Soon another group of Disciples arrived. Ignoring everyone and heading towards the Jade Fox and her Mate.
"Fancy meeting you here, Jade Fox." He was a Muscle Cultivator and had bulging muscles, but not enough that he could be considered hulking.
The Queen ignored him and his brows twitched. He was never before ignored since his body was highly desirable and his status spoke to all.
He was a Core Disciple of the Muscle Peak. He was a prodigy beyond prodigy. He was hailed and worshipped by all. Yet this ignorant Fox...
"We are responsible for your safety." He gestured towards her with the look 'Now bow, otherwise, I won't protect you.', he was haughty and he had good reason for that... except he met the wrong opponent.
The Queen clicked her tongue and kicked his shin. He defended with his Qi expecting it to be enough, but that was a mistake.
*Crack*
"AGH!" He stifled a scream in his throat, glaring at the Jade Fox.
The Queen nodded. "At least you will serve as a good meat shield."
Aiko didn't pay any attention as she was asleep.
The Muscle Head twitched. "I'm Wei and this is not over!" He yelled at the Jade Fox.
"Sure, sure. Now get lost or you might wake up my Mate and if that happens." The Jade Fox glared at Wei and he shivered.
He moved out of the way not saying anything.
The place was soon filled with murmurs, most of them were of admiration, but some of them were of fear, they couldn't imagine someone as fragile as her to be able to injure the Core Disciple of the Muscle Peak.
They had newfound admiration towards the Jade Fox and fear that they might lose their shins if they upset her.
...
They waited till a huge flying ship arrived in front of the plaza. It was the first time seeing this majestic ship for most of them.
Admiring sighs and whispers filled the plaza. Aiko was also shocked by the flying ship.
'Weren't ships supposed to sail? Why does it fly?!' Aiko was more shocked than others as she had some knowledge about ships.
Meanwhile, the Queen frowned. 'It's shabby.' She was currently questioning if this was the best that this Village could do, she might have to leave for a better Village at this rate.
The Sect Leader stood at the bow of the ship all dignified, but her face twitched from the piercing gaze of a certain individual.
The Queen questioned the Sect Leader with her eyes and the Sect Leader blushed.
'Don't stare at me like that.' She pleaded with her eyes, but the Jade Fox still stared at her. 'Ugh.' Hua silently grumbled.
They announced the names who would be boarding the ship. Naturally, Queen and Aiko were one of them.
The Sect Leader nudged their accommodations so they were closer to hers. Hua was planning to visit them often and built a positive rapport with the Jade Fox.
They boarded the ship, it was much wider than they expected, but still visually the same as a normal sailing ship, just without the sails.
"We should go to our rooms first." The Queen gently petted her fluffball.
Aiko nodded agreeing, they were getting quite a lot of stares as they were newcomers, while most of them were already in this Village for a year, two or more.
They went towards the Captain's Cabin as there were stairs leading down to their Quarters.
The stairs were quite narrow comparing the huge size of the ship itself, but when you arrived down in the hallways they were very spacious.
"This space is expanded by Arrays and Inscriptions." The Queen commented when she saw her curious fluffball looking around.
Aiko was mesmerized by the different Runes and wanted to know more as she was able to read some of them, but unfortunately, those runes were on all sides and she could only see them on one side. There were also no nails on the walls or on the floor.
It felt like those things were just glued together.
The Queen chuckled looking at her sweetie straining her head to look everywhere where she could.
Others passed them so they could get to their rooms, but a lot of them stopped to stare at the curious Cub. They didn't have as much apprehension and disdain as previously now that they saw her up close.
"We will be hosting night games if you would like to join us, Jade Fox?" One girl stopped next to her, gently saying. She looked a bit intimidated by the Jade Fox but braved forward to invite her.
"If my Mate is interested we will definitely visit." The Queen smiled, making the girl almost faint.
"I-i'm Hai." Hai bowed and stormed away.
The Queen sighed.
This girl would be disappointed if she knew that Aiko didn't even look at her, thus it was unlikely that they would visit.