Chapter 707 – Rivalry

Danji guided Aiko to the table where others were already sitting around.

Moon Aiko joined them and immediately started eating alongside others, enjoying the taste.

"It's tasty." Moon Aiko licked her lips, making the others slightly flustered.

They were quite on edge due to the transition, so any kind of stimuli was amplified by a lot.

The foods were quite varied. From skewers to biteable chewy dough filled with veggies and meat bits.

Aiko especially enjoyed the chewy dough, since the fillings were quite varied.

"What is this?" Moon Aiko stretched something white, she was somewhat familiar, but the taste was too different for it to be cheese.

"It is cheese, but extra aged." Mei chuckled. She quite liked aged cheese, since the taste was stronger and it was better for certain special wines.

"I like the old one more." Moon Aiko chewed on it. It was not too bad, but she just didn't like the cheese overpowering everything, so she was happier with the milder cheese.

"You like the mellow cheese more?" Mei found that interesting considering how spicy Aiko was.

"Yeah, the dough has a nice taste, so do the other things, but the 'aged cheese' is just too strong for something like this." Moon Aiko nodded her head seriously as if evaluating her life choices.

"How about this one?" Mei smirked and pulled a... very colourful cheese.

"Geh!" Moon Aiko almost fell from her seat, that cheese smelled so bad that she wanted to punch Mei!

"Don't tease her too much." Danji stashed the cheese away, so that Aiko wouldn't suffer.

"What? I just wanted to show her there are more types." Mei pouted. This was definitely not a revenge against Aiko's bedtime!

"You can say that, but your face is still smiling." Danji rolled her eyes.

"Gosh." Mei massaged her face and sure enough, her smile was still stuck on it. "I can't, with you."

"You are the one smiling. What does that have to do anything with me?" Danji was flabbergasted at how shameless Mei became.

"So about the furniture..." Moon Aiko changed the topic because she was worried that they might ruin the food with their fight.

"I should be able to do something small within a day. It will probably be just decoration, but it should help you to evaluate my skills." Danji smirked as she licked her lips, making Mei frown deeply.

"Furniture?" Mei said as if she was not interested, but she was fishing for any kind of information that would allow her to get an edge over this situation.

"The overly old Fox has some nice furniture that can amplify natural Qi, but I don't understand it at all." Moon Aiko sighed, still bitter about that. "But Danji said she can make something, so I'm looking forward to that~"

"Thank you~" Danji smirked again, taunting Mei.

"There is more than one way you can amplify natural Qi." Mei wouldn't lose over something as simple as this! She simply refused!

"I know, there are also Treasures and Arrays and stuff." Moon Aiko nodded her head.

"But did you also know that you can increase the ambient Qi by simply arranging flora?" Mei chuckled, taunting her back.

"There are such things." Danji didn't conceal it. "But you can't take it with you."

Sparks flew between their eyes, it seemed like they might fight any moment.

"But would furniture also apply floral effects?" Moon Aiko tilted her head.

"En.""Naturally."

They replied in sync, before snapping their eyes at each other. Now it felt like they were fighting with flying knives, making Aiko even more concerned.

"How about furniture that has flowers in them?" Moon Aiko wanted to find out more, but she also felt like they would keep fighting until the end of time.

"Ah, you might've misunderstood." Mei stopped Aiko's thoughts. "While there are flowers that can increase the natural Qi, they can't usually amplify it."

"She is talking about large natural formations that can amplify what is already there." Danji added to it, since neither of them wanted to lead Aiko astray again.

"Oh..." Moon Aiko didn't expect that. She thought that she could just plant a few flowers around the furniture and call it a day, but it seemed like it was a lot more elaborate than she expected.

Mei didn't want to see Aiko sad, so she coughed awkwardly. "It's not like it's impossible..."

"Hm?" Moon Aiko perked her ears. She was curious if that was true or if Mei was just comforting her.

"You can surround your home with such natural formations." Danji stole Mei's spotlight, making them growl at each other.

"Hmmmm... What if that home is moving?" Moon Aiko tilted her head. So far everything depended on a certain location and while furniture could violate that rule, it didn't mean it would be able to amplify something that simply wasn't there.

"If you are thinking about floating islands I would suggest against it." Danji shook her head.

"And if you are talking about flying a ship, you would consume more Qi trying to balance it than actually doing it on the ground." Mei chimed in too.

"So it's absolutely impossible?" Moon Aiko tilted her head.

"I wouldn't say it's impossible..." They both paused, before Mei kept going. "It's just the flowers we need might already be extinct."

"Is it that hard to find them?" Moon Aiko was surprised that her plans went through so quickly. 'System?'

[We can assign special missions, but freely giving out things would have severe detrimental effects if others noticed. Once the mission is completed you are free to spread them as far as you would like to.]

Moon Aiko nodded her head slowly. While she wanted to get seeds the natural way, if it was impossible she would just do the missions from the system.

"I wouldn't say hard, but impossible." Mei frowned. She didn't expect Aiko's sudden interest in this.

"That is because most Cultivators pull out Herbs and flowers without giving them the chance to spread. Everyone wants to gift something precious without caring about the consequences." Danji sighed. It was hard for her father to gift mother her favourite flowers because of that.

"That's right. They take everything without leaving anything behind." Mei clicked her tongue. Her eyes were truly unkind.

Moon Aiko almost choked on her food. "I'm sorry..." She pretty much went and took anything that she fancied without thinking about consequences.

"It's fine, we will teach you." Mei chuckled sinisterly.

"Indeed." Danji followed suit.

Moon Aiko audibly gulped. She didn't understand them. How could they be at each other's throats one moment, while another moment they went hand to hand?!

Moon Aiko finished her food quickly since she felt like she would get indigestion if she stayed any longer.

-----

Moon Aiko visited one of the enthusiastic Demonic Foxes before settling down on the soft bed and sleeping.

"Hehehe~" The Demonic Fox chuckled.

"Tsk, no fair, my bed is softer." Another Demonic Fox pouted.

"Our escape might've been successful, but we should be careful. We don't want to rouse the suspicion of others too much, we can't endanger our Mistress." Yu said sternly, reprimanding them.

"En." All Demonic Foxes were obedient due to their intelligence and understanding what might happen if they were not careful.

"Those strange 'voices' might've let us out, but that doesn't mean we should take it for granted. Aiko controls that space and we should be happy if she doesn't forget us." Yu nodded her head seriously. It happened once and might happen again, so the most important part was to store as much food as possible, especially since their numbers went from around 2 thousand to over 10 thousand...

"En!" The Demonic Fox giggled, but still paid attention to their surroundings.

"Now, for now, sleep, the space might be cosy with so many things floating around, but the state of 'floatiness' messes with your head." Yu had some trouble walking if she spent too much time in Aiko's tails, so she had to be careful.

When Demonic Fox- well, any Fox, wasn't powerful enough then they would have trouble with such scenarios, making things difficult later down the line.

Their main goal should be to rest, get used to gravity and gain more Qi to deal with such problems in the future.

"We will listen." The Demonic Foxes scattered into their 'homes' and went to sleep.

The city fell dark once everyone was resting. Only the Elders were still changing their shifts and guarding this place.

The Nightmare Forest was too close and the Human Cultivators might also try to conquer this land, so they had to be careful with their presence.

Of course only the skilled Elders were left, so there were no hiccups and since their Disciples were much happier, that made them even more enthusiastic and protective over this place!

Overall, this was a good net positive~.

-----

Moon Aiko woke up, yawning softly. She still felt tired, because of that constant drain. Fortunately, she didn't need to-

'Gosh, my brain...' Moon Aiko completely forgot to retrieve her flying boat and that caused her the current predicament.

'Look at me forgetting such a thing.' Moon Aiko shook her head. It seemed like stress and too much work was getting on her, so she would make sure she was paid handsomely from the Ancestral Beasts!

She walked outside, only to see everyone haggling and playing around.

'I suddenly hate morning birds...' Moon Aiko's lips twitched. She couldn't believe that these Foxes didn't rest.

'But I'm glad I took this bed.' Moon Aiko turned around, appreciating the soundproofing Array.

She went to her flying boat and retrieved it.

*Thud*

"Hm?" Moon Aiko turned around to see what that noise was.

There was some kind of worm on the ground quivering.

"DAMMIT CAN'T YOU LET ME REST FOR ONCE?!" It was a certain sloth girl that suddenly yelled at top of her lungs.

Moon Aiko was startled by her strong lungs, making her change her evaluation.

"Gosh." The girl ruffled her hair. "I just want to sleep..." She sniffled a few times.

Moon Aiko was quite off-putted by this, but she wouldn't voice her opinions since she was like that before too...